Press Releases
July 31, 2001 |
Council for
Entrepreneurial Development |
Leading Management and Technology Expert to Keynote CED's InfoTech 2001
East Meets West in the South as CED, TiE Carolinas and Kenan-Flagler Business School Team Up for Regional Conference
July 31, 2001, Research Triangle Park, NC - The Council for Entrepreneurial Development (CED) announced that Rajat Gupta, managing director of McKinsey & Company, will deliver the kick-off keynote address at CED's Research Triangle InfoTech 2001 in Chapel Hill, N.C. on October 30-31.
The keynote presentation will take place at the Carolina Club on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on October 30 at 4 p.m. The rest of the conference will take place at The Friday Center in Chapel Hill on October 31.
Presented by CED in partnership with The IndUS Entrepreneurs (TiE) Carolinas and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Kenan-Flagler Business School, the kick-off session of the 11th annual conference will bring together East and West in the South, blending the Indus and American entrepreneurial communities.
InfoTech 2001 will provide IT entrepreneurs, industry experts, technology executives, and investors opportunities to network and to explore critical issues affecting the IT industry through lively panel discussions. In addition, product demonstrations will showcase hot new technologies from a variety of companies. Last year more than 900 attended CED's InfoTech 2000.
"We are honored that someone of Mr. Gupta's caliber has agreed to be a part of this event," said Jim O'Connell, partner of Kilpatrick Stockton LLP and InfoTech 2001 conference chair. "The combination of his worldwide reputation and his interest in this region, the strength of the TiE organization nationally and locally, and the continued success of CED in support of entrepreneurship, speaks strongly of this burgeoning region and the InfoTech conference."
"McKinsey is widely viewed as the most influential consulting company in the world, and Rajat has been the driving force behind it," said Vivek Wadhwa, founder and CEO of Cary-based Relativity Technologies, and president of TiE Carolinas. "This event will truly bring together the best of many worlds."
Other confirmed speakers include:
- Sandeep Chennakeshu, chief technology officer, Ericsson Inc.
- Walt Mossberg, personal technology columnist, The Wall Street Journal
- Raju Narisetti, news editor, technology/media & marketing, The Wall Street Journal
- Ed Paradise, vice president and general manager, mobile wireless, Cisco Systems Inc.
- Alex Salkever, technology editor, BusinessWeek.com
- Jai Singh, editor-in-chief, CNET News.com
- Sreenath Sreenivasan, Columbia University journalism professor and administrator of the Online Journalism Awards
More information on the conference and speakers can be found at www.cednc.org/infotech/2001. A complete agenda will be announced at a later date along with other keynote presenters and speakers.
About Mr. Gupta
Mr. Gupta joined McKinsey's New York office in 1973, assumed leadership of its
Scandinavian offices in 1982, and joined the Chicago office in 1987. He assumed
the role of office manager there in 1989, was elected managing director of the
firm in 1994 and re-elected twice, once in 1997 and again in 2000. Under his
leadership as managing director, McKinsey opened 22 new offices worldwide and
now has 84 offices in 43 countries. Since joining McKinsey, Mr. Gupta has directed
a number of projects aimed at helping companies develop new product/market strategies
and reorganize for improved effectiveness and operations capabilities. He has
a broad range of consulting experience with a variety of industries, including
telecommunications, energy, and consumer goods.
Mr. Gupta is Chairman of the Board of the Indian School of Business, and is associated with many other professional and business affiliations, including: Trustee of the University of Chicago; Associates of the Harvard Business School; Advisory Board, Kellogg School of Management; Co-Chair of the American Indian Association (AIA); Metropolitan Museum of Art Business Committee. Mr. Gupta has a bachelor of technology degree in mechanical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.
About CED
The Council for Entrepreneurial Development, located in Research Triangle Park,
NC, is a private, non-profit organization formed in 1984 to stimulate the creation
and growth of high-impact companies in the greater Research Triangle region.
CED provides education, mentoring and capital formation resources to new and
existing high-growth entrepreneurs through annual conferences, seminars, workshops
and monthly programs on entrepreneurial management and finance. CED is the largest
entrepreneurial support organization in the nation with more than 5,000 members
representing 1,300 entrepreneurial companies, financiers and professional firms.
www.cednc.org
About TiE
Established in Silicon Valley in 1994, TiE is the world's leading organization
for the advancement of entrepreneurship. TiE is a not-for-profit organization
chartered by entrepreneurs, corporate executives and senior professionals with
roots or interest in the Indus region. TiE's explicit goal is to benefit all
entrepreneurs, would-be entrepreneurs and professionals with an interest in
entrepreneurship. Today, TiE is a worldwide organization comprised of 500 charter
members and 6000 members from 25 chapters across five countries. www.tie.org;
tie-carolinas.org
About Kenan-Flagler Business School
The Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill offers a full range of top-ranked, innovative programs designed to prepare
business leaders to manage successfully in a global business environment. The
School offers degree programs - Bachelor of Science in Business Administration,
Master of Business Administration, Executive Evening and Weekend MBA, Master
of Accounting and PhD in Business -- and nondegree Executive Education programs.
Through its Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise, the School
works with business, government and academia to foster the development of private
enterprise worldwide. www.kenanflagler.unc.edu