Featured Speakers

Colin Angle
Co-founder & CEO
iRobot Corporation

Colin Angle’s leadership has transformed iRobot Corp. (NASDAQ: IRBT) from a Massachusetts Institute of Technology spin-off to a $142 million business and a leader in the robot industry. One of the world’s leading authorities in mobile robots with almost 20 years experience, Angle is a true pioneer in the field. Under his guidance, iRobot has inspired a growing consumer robot industry by delivering the world’s first affordable home robot, the iRobot Roomba® Vacuuming Robot, with more than 1.5 million sold so far, and its newest sibling, the iRobot Scooba™ Floor Washing Robot.

A long-time sailor, Angle is known for his ability to bring together and inspire a winning crew.  His vision for the future of robots and keen sense of business strategy is behind iRobot’s successful identification and execution of expansion opportunities.  By setting a winning course of team empowerment, collaboration and innovation, Angle is enabling iRobot to deliver cutting-edge, market-leading robots that save time and lives. Today, more than 300 iRobot’s PackBot® Tactical Mobile Robots are at work in Iraq and Afghanistan. These robots have completed tens of thousands of missions and credited with saving scores of soldiers lives.

Under Angle’s leadership, iRobot has joined forces with exceptional strategic partners – including The Clorox Company and Deere & Company – to create new and innovative robot solutions that build on decades of leading expertise from each partner’s respective industry.

In iRobot’s early days, Angle and his team designed the behavior-controlled rovers for NASA that led to the Sojourner exploring Mars in 1997. Angle’s team won the NASA Group Achievement Award for its accomplishments, and his name is inscribed inside the case of the Mars exploration rover, Spirit, now on display at NASA.

Before co-founding iRobot in 1990, Angle was president of Artificial Creatures Inc., a robot design firm that ultimately become part of iRobot. Earlier in his career, Angle worked for three years at MIT’s Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, where he first teamed with iRobot co-founders Rodney Brooks and Helen Greiner. Angle’s master thesis at MIT introduced “Genghis,” a six-legged autonomous walking robot that was later installed at the Smithsonian Air and Science Museum in Washington, D.C.  

iRobot robots are highly decorated with awards, and Angle has also been honored for his leadership. In 2005, Angle was named one of Fortune Small Business Magazine’s “Best Bosses.” He also was awarded in 2003 the Ernst and Young New England “Entrepreneurs of the Year” Award with iRobot co-founder Helen Greiner. Angle has spoken at leading industry conferences such as International CES, The Wall Street Journal’s D: All Things Digital, Future in Review (FiRe), Wired Magazine’s NextFest, and RoboNexus. Angle has appeared on CNN and CNBC, and has been profiled as an industry expert in media outlets such as Business Week, CNET, the New York Times and Newsweek.

Angle holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and a master’s degree in computer science, both from MIT.

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David Bonderman
Founding Partner
Texas Pacific Group (TPG) and Newbridge Capital

David Bonderman is a founder of Texas Pacific Group (TPG) and its Asian affiliate, Newbridge Capital. Mr. Bonderman serves as a principal and founding partner of both firms. The firms invest primarily in restructurings, recapitalizations and buyouts in the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia.

TPG and its affiliates have under management more than $30 billion of equity capital and have investments with board representation in these companies. Portfolio companies controlled by TPG have combined revenues of $65 billion, operate in over 120 countries and employ over 550,000 people. Among the portfolio companies of TPG, Newbridge, and its principals are: J. Crew; Burger King; Gemplus International, S.A.; ON Semiconductor; Seagate Technology; Ryanair; Debenhams; MEMC; Shenzhen Development Bank and Raffles Holdings, Ltd.

Prior to forming TPG in 1992, Mr. Bonderman was Chief Operating Officer of the Robert M. Bass Group, Inc. (now doing business as Keystone, Inc.) in Fort Worth, Texas. Prior to joining RMBG in 1983, Mr. Bonderman was a partner in the law firm of Arnold & Porter in Washington, D.C., where he specialized in corporate, securities, bankruptcy and antitrust litigation. From 1969 to 1970, Mr. Bonderman was a Fellow in Foreign and Comparative Law in conjunction with Harvard University and from 1968 to 1969, he was Special Assistant to the U.S. Attorney General in the Civil Rights Division. From 1967 to 1968, Mr. Bonderman was Assistant Professor at Tulane University School of Law in New Orleans.

Mr. Bonderman serves on the Boards of the following public companies: CoStar Group, Inc.; and Ryanair Holdings, plc, of which he is Chairman. He also serves on the Boards of The Wilderness Society, the Grand Canyon Trust, the World Wildlife Fund, The University of Washington Foundation and the American Himalayan Foundation. 

Mr. Bonderman graduated Magna Cum Laude from Harvard Law School in 1966. He was a member of the Harvard Law Review and a Sheldon Fellow. He is a 1963 graduate of the University of Washington in Seattle. 

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Marc Lautenbach
General Manager, Americas
IBM Corporation

Marc Lautenbach leads the IBM sales and distribution operations in the United States, Canada and Latin America. He has been responsible since July 2005 for sales and support of the full range of IBM's information technology products, services and solutions, generating $40 billion in revenue. His organization works with corporations, government agencies, educational institutions and small businesses to help them achieve competitive advantage through innovation and On Demand technology solutions. 

He was previously General Manager, IBM Global Small and Medium Business. He was responsible for all aspects of IBM's efforts in support of small and medium businesses worldwide, including strategy; offering and channel development; marketing and sales. 

Mr. Lautenbach joined IBM in 1985 and held numerous sales management positions including Marketing Manager for the Sears Merchandise Group based in Chicago. In 1996 he became a Vice President and has held a number of general management positions. In February 2001 he was appointed to IBM's Worldwide Management Committee and has been a member of the IBM Performance Team since January 2006.

He graduated Phi Beta Kappa, magna cum laude from Denison University and earned an M.B.A. from The Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University.

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Jim Steele
President
salesforce.com

View Jim Steele's PowerPoint presentation.

As president of salesforce.com, Mr. Steele oversees global sales. He is charged with advancing the company's winning on-demand strategy, customer success, and growing the customer base. Mr. Steele joined salesforce.com in October 2002 from Ariba Corporation, where he served as executive vice president of worldwide sales. Mr. Steele brings over 25 years of technology sales and executive management experience to his new role at salesforce.com.

Previously, he served in a variety of executive roles at International Business Machines (IBM) Corporation. Most recently, Mr. Steele was vice president of the North America western area, where he was responsible for over $9 billion in hardware, software, and services sales of a 10,000 employee organization. His prior positions at IBM include nearly four years in Tokyo as vice president of systems sales as well as general manager of telecommunications in Asia Pacific where he led IBM to record revenue and market share growth. Mr. Steele holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from Bucknell University.