Distinguished Speaker Series - The Digital Silk Road: Struggles Going Global

Chicago Booth Alumni Club of Singapore

September 22, 2009: 7:00 PM - 9:30 PM

Distinguished Speaker Series - The Digital Silk Road: Struggles Going Global Join us as Bill Amelio, former Lenovo CEO, provides insights into combining the best of East & West business practices. The presentation will include examples from Bill’s experiences in global roles during the past 30 years, including stints in Asia at Dell and Lenovo. During his tenure as President and CEO of Lenovo, for example, Bill was tasked with integrating two companies that had vastly different cultures, languages, and pay structures -- not to mention dual headquarters in Beijing and North Carolina. Bill will share some rich stories on building trust, and the struggles faced when combining east and west viewpoints and values. Bill believes successful companies in today’s evolving era of globalization need to shift their ideas to live in the new world Bill calls Global 2.0. Worldsoucing at Lenovo and other companies has become an organizational design to help global companies thrive in the Global 2.0 world. In this world, talent can come from anywhere and everywhere, and the astute leader needs to be able to tap into this talent pool to produce extraordinary results. Bill will also discuss the requirements of becoming a successful global executive, including the importance of building trust across cultural divides, and the value of balance in one’s life. In Bill’s case, this includes his and his wife’s work in Cambodia. His wife Jamie founded their charity, Caring for Cambodia, which touches over 5,000 children in need. They believe everyone deserves a hand up, not a hand out.

Where

Chicago Booth Campus
101 Penang Road
Singapore, Singapore

Driving Directions:Corner of Penang Road and Clemenceau Avenue. Parking available at Vision Crest Building, Park Mall and Plaza Singapura.

Event Details

The Digital Silk Road: Struggles Going Global. William J. Amelio is the former President and CEO of Lenovo Group Limited. He joined Lenovo in 2005. During Mr Amelio’s tenure he managed the integration of China’s first successful acquisition of a foreign company. With the addition of the IBM PC company, Lenovo was transformed from a $2.9B China local competitor to a $16B global PC powerhouse. Mr Amelio is an execution oriented executive who brought a disciplined management system to the company. He established a culture built on trust, where diversity of ideas became a competitive weapon. He currently is in an advisory role to the company. Prior to joining Lenovo, Mr. Amelio served as senior vice president, Asia-Pacific and Japan, for Dell Inc., with responsibility for strategy and operations across the region. He joined Dell in 2001 and during his tenure, sales more than doubled in the region and service levels improved significantly. From 2000 until 2001, Mr. Amelio was executive vice president and COO of NCR Corp.'s retail and financial group. From 1997 to 2000, he was with Honeywell International Inc. and its predecessor, AlliedSignal Inc., where he was president and CEO of Honeywell's transportation and power-systems divisions and head of the turbocharging-systems business at Allied Signal. Under Mr. Amelio, the turbocharging-systems business, doubled in revenues to more than $1 billion, implemented Six Sigma and SAP, and successfully integrated acquisitions. From 1979 to 1997, Mr. Amelio was with IBM, where he held a wide range of senior management positions, including general manager of operations for IBM's personal computing division. Bill, Jamie, and five of their six children live in Singapore and have been in Asia for over eight years. They founded a charity in Cambodia called Caring for Cambodia (www.caringforcambodia.org) that supports over 5,000 children in grades K through 12. Mr. Amelio has a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering and an Honorary Doctorate degree in engineering from Lehigh University. He also has an MS in Management and is a Sloan Fellow from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Cost

$35 / pax. Please use PayPal link below to secure make payment and confirm your position.

Registration

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Deadline: 9/21/2009

Program

7:00 PM-7:30 PM: Reception drinks & canapes

7:30 PM-8:30 PM: Speaker's address with Q&A

8:30 PM-9:30 PM: Networking with drinks & canapes

Questions

Jerry Dimos 
Chicago Booth Alumni Club President
+65 9336-9000