Former Virgin America CEO Talks about Driving Innovation in the Airline Industry
Fred Reid is president of Flexjet, a business unit of Bombardier, a $16 billion aircraft manufacturer. He previously was chief executive officer of Virgin America. Before Virgin America, Reid served as president of Delta Airlines, where he also headed Delta Connection. He also was the first U.S. national to become president and chief operating officer of Lufthansa German Airlines. His career also includes executive positions with Pan American World Airways and American Airlines. Reid graduated from the University of California at Berkeley. He sits on the board of AMB Property Corporation, a global real estate firm specializing in warehouse logistics properties.

 Intel's Global Director of IT Innovation and Research Talks About How They Carry Out and Measure Innovation
Martin Curley is the global director of IT innovation and research at Intel Corporation. He previously was director of IT people, intellectual capital and solutions for Intel IT. Curley has held a number of IT management positions for Intel, including co-director of IT strategy and technology. He also has held senior IT management and engineering positions at General Electric in Ireland and Philips in the Netherlands. Martin has a degree in electronic engineering and a master’s degree in business studies from University College Dublin in Ireland. He is an adjunct professor at the national University of Ireland, Maynooth, and the author of Managing Information Technology for Business Value, published by Intel Press.

 CIO of Flextronics, Talks about the Challenges of Controlling IT Costs while Driving Innovation
David Smoley is senior vice president and chief information officer (CIO) for Flextronics International, based in San Jose, Calif. In 2009, Smoley was named a “Global Top 50 CIO” by InformationWeek. He was also named to Computerworld’s “Premier 100 IT Leaders Class of 2010”. Prior to this, Smoley held multiple roles at Honeywell, including vice president and CIO of Honeywell’s Aerospace Electronics Systems with global responsibility for IT support of a $6 billion revenue business. Previous roles over the past 20 years also include progressively responsible positions in information technology, business management and customer service in General Electric.

 Zappos’ CEO Talks about Cultivating a “Wow” Customer Experience to Drive Growth & Profitability
Tony Hsieh is CEO of Zappos. He originally got involved with Zappos as an advisor and investor in 1999, two months after the company began. He joined Zappos full time in 2000. Before joining Zappos, he co-founded Venture Frogs, an incubator and investment firm that funded Internet startups, including Ask Jeeves, Tellme Networks, and of course, Zappos.com. Hsieh also co-founded LinkExchange, an advertising network that Microsoft bought for $265M in 1998.

 CIO of UPS Talks About Creating New Products and New Businesses
David Barnes is the senior vice president and chief information officer for UPS worldwide. He is a member of the Management Committee, the executive group which oversees the day-to-day operation of the company, and also chairs the UPS Information Technology Governance Committee which is responsible for the direction of UPS technology investments, ensuring they stay aligned with the company's business vision and strategy.

 CEO of W.W. Grainger Talks About Making Key Technology Investments to Support Company Expansion 
In 2008, Jim Ryan became chief executive officer of W.W. Grainger Inc. (Grainger), following his appointment to Grainger's board of directors in 2007. Prior to his current role, he served as president and chief operating officer. Ryan joined the company in 1980 and over the years assumed several roles throughout the organization with increasing responsibilities, such as executive vice president of marketing, sales and service, and vice president of information systems.

1800flowers.com President Talks About Technology to Capitalize on Customer Experience
Jim McCann, founder and CEO of 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, INC., opened his first retail store in 1976 and successfully built his own chain of 14 flower shops in the New York metropolitan area. In 1986, he acquired the 1-800-FLOWERS phone number and continued to grow his business under the 1-800-FLOWERS® name. His immediate focus was to create a reliable brand name built on trust, and over the next few years he achieved this through his understanding of his customer base and market. Today, 1-800-FLOWERS.COM has a well-known web site, and maintains strategic online relationships with a number of online services, including America Online, Microsoft Network (MSN), and Yahoo!

CEO of E-Printing Company Talks about What Powers the Company's 50 Percent Yearly Growth
Robert Keane is the president and CEO of VistaPrint, the company he founded in 1995 to provide small businesses with everything they need to market their business. Bringing knowledge in direct marketing, desktop publishing, manufacturing operations and strategy, Robert has led VistaPrint to the success it has achieved to date. Robert previously served as an external consultant to Microsoft with the Microsoft Publisher desktop publishing product team for whom he researched and advised on the graphic design and printing needs of small businesses in Europe. He earned his B.A. in Economics from Harvard College in Cambridge, Mass. and his M.B.A. from INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France.

Founder and Former CEO of Europe's Largest Designer Outlet Malls Talks About Risking It All to Build a Billion Dollar Business Overseas
J. Byrne Murphy is an expert in the field of international property development and investment management. His real estate experience includes urban, suburban, and ex-urban development, ranging in product classes from office to mixed-use, shopping centers, data centers, factory outlets, and leisure facilities. He has twice worked on growing small start-ups into companies with over $1 billion of assets under management. His current projects include the $225 million re-development of a 15th century Medici palazzo in Florence into a private residence club, as well as a joint venture with principals of The Carlyle Group for a data center operation in Scandinavia. A cum laude graduate of Harvard University, Murphy received his MBA from the Colgate Darden Business School of the University of Virginia. He and his family currently reside in Washington, D.C.

 Microsoft Executive Talks About the Role of Collaboration in Innovation
Aiming to take a leadership role in defining structured processes and technologies that manufacturers can use to spur innovation, Microsoft Corp. recently launched an Innovation Process Management initiative. According to Don Richardson, Microsoft's director of worldwide innovation management sales strategy, "Customers we talk to say they feel they can't rely on ad hoc innovation any longer. Innovation needs to be driven by a more structured, formal process." As a result, Richardson is focused on making innovation repeatable.

 CIO of Family-Owned Grocery Chain Talks About Offering More Customer-Centric Services
In 1956, Tommy, Joe and Gus Longo opened their first fruit market. It was a small 1,500 square foot store on Yonge Street in Toronto that was committed to providing customers with the best fresh food experience possible. Forty-five years and 14 stores later, this philosophy remains as the heart and soul of this family owned and operated company. Longo’s continues to grow to meet the demands of its customers in order for them to benefit from the full range of Longo’s products and services.

 Federal Signal CIO Talks About Tying SOA to the Business Architecture
Michael K. Wons is president and chief information officer at Federal Signal Corporation. He is the former lead technology financial product strategist for Microsoft. He has an MBA from the Kellogg Management Institute at Northwestern University.

 Craigslist Founder Talks About How He Drove Success in Innovation
When it comes to looking for a job, an apartment, or even a good garage sale, more than 26 million unique visitors each month turn to a Craigslist.com site in one of 450 cities in 50 countries. No one can dispute the cult-like reputation Craigslist, founded by Craig Newmark, has earned. As a company, Craigslist runs pretty frugal with 25 employees working out of an old Victorian building in San Francisco.

 1800GotJunk CEO Talks About Building a Customer-Centric Platform
Originally known as The Rubbish Boys, the company was re-branded in 1998 as 1800GotJunk to take advantage of its new, e-commerce platform called JunkNet. The Rubbish Boys began as a no-tech company when Brian Scudamore, fresh out of high school, bought himself an old pick up truck and invested $700 in the business. His goal was to become the FedEx of junk removal. The company is on target to do $150 million this year.

 Dartmouth Professor Talks About the 10 Rules for Strategic Innovators
Dr. Vijay Govindarajan (VG) is the Earl C. Daum 1924 Professor of International Business and director of Tuck's Center for Global Leadership. VG is an expert on strategy. He has been cited by BusinessWeek, Forbes, and The London Times as a top ten professor in strategy. He has been named to a series of lists by influential publications, including: “Outstanding Faculty” in BusinessWeek’s annual Guide to Best B-Schools; “Top Five Most Respected Executive Coaches on Strategy” by Forbes; “Top Ten Professor in Corporate Executive Education” by BusinessWeek; and “Eight Leading Executive Advisors” by the Wall Street Journal Online.

 Former HBS Professor Talks About Creating an Innovation Nation
Dubbed "Mr. Creativity" and "a serial innovator" by The Economist, Dr. John Kao describes his job description as "instigator of new things." He is considered a leading authority on the subjects of innovation, organizational transformation, and digital media. He is author of the best-selling Jamming: The Art and Discipline of Business Creativity, a BusinessWeek best seller that has been published in a dozen languages, and Innovation Nation, published in October 2007.

 Former Control Data CEO Talks About An Eye for Innovation
In 2006 Price, drawing on his forty year career at the forefront of the computer industry, wrote The Eye for Innovation: Recognizing Possibilities & Managing the Creative Enterprise. It details how business leaders and entrepreneurs can apply the principals of innovation to every aspect of their organizations. In fact, Price's book received high marks from Lee Iacocca, former CEO of `Chrysler; Rick Wagner, CEO of General Motors, and Walter Mondale, former U.S. vice president.

 Aflac CIO Talks About Innovation and Project Management
Gerald W. Shield has been CIO and Senior Vice President of Aflac Inc., since July 2005. He joined Aflac in 2002. Computerworld selected him as one of the 100 Premier CIOs for 2006. During his tenure, both Computerworld and Information Week have consistently named Alfac as one of the Best Places to Work in IT.