2009 SAS® Global Forum Executive Conference
Leading with Confidence in an Era of Uncertainty
Reserve your spot today.
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Madeleine K. AlbrightFormer US Secretary of State
Principal, The Albright Group LLC, a global strategy firm
In 1997, Madeleine K. Albright was named the first female Secretary of State and became, at that time, the highest-ranking woman in the history of the US government.
As Secretary of State, Albright reinforced America’s alliances, advocated democracy and human rights, and promoted American trade and business, labor, and environmental standards abroad.
Albright is currently a Principal of The Albright Group LLC, a global strategy firm where she uses her extensive experience in global affairs and renowned diplomatic skills to help domestic and international businesses and nongovernmental organizations foster strategic partnerships, address geopolitical risks and manage crises.
Founded in 2001, The Albright Group assists clients in building successful strategies to meet their global business objectives, including brokering strategic agreements, identifying and addressing political and regulatory risks, and developing public-private partnerships. She is also Chair and a Principal of Albright Capital Management LLC, an investment advisory firm.
Albright earned a BA with honors from Wellesley College, and master’s and doctorate degrees from Columbia University’s department of public law and government, as well as a certificate from its Russian Institute. She is the first Michael and Virginia Mortara Endowed Distinguished Professor in the Practice of Diplomacy at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service.
Her autobiography, Madam Secretary: A Memoir, was published in 2003. In 2006, Albright published The Mighty and the Almighty: Reflections on America, God, and World Affairs. Her latest book, Memo to the President Elect: How We Can Restore America's Reputation and Leadership was published in January 2008.
Stephen L. Baker
Senior Writer
BusinessWeek
Stephen Baker has written for BusinessWeek for more than 20 years, covering Mexico and Latin America, the Rust Belt, European technology and a host of other topics, including blogs, math and nanotechnology. But he’s always considered himself a foreign correspondent – an approach that was especially useful as he met “the Numerati.”
“While I came from the world of words, they inhabited the symbolic realms of math and computer science,” Baker says. “This was foreign to me. My reporting became an anthropological mission.”
Baker has written for many publications, including the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times and the Boston Globe. He won an Overseas Press Club Award for his portrait of the rising Mexican auto industry. He is the coauthor of blogspotting.net, featured by the New York Times as one of 50 blogs to watch. He’s also launching thenumerati.net.
Baker will embark on a national author tour in support of The Numerati this fall. Cities will include New York, Boston, Washington, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Austin, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland and Seattle.
Jim Davis
Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, SAS
Jim Davis provides worldwide marketing direction for SAS solutions and services. He is responsible for managing product direction, professional services, education, advertising and communications.
A respected thought leader, Davis co-authored the book Information Revolution: Using the Information Evolution Model to Grow Your Business.
Since joining SAS in 1994, Davis has pioneered many key initiatives, including global projects that incorporate customer feedback in the development process. Today, he continues to refine the model for continuous collaboration and innovation among engineers, marketers and customers, enabling SAS to meet the global demand for enterprise intelligence.
Jim Goodnight
CEO, SAS
Since he co-founded SAS in 1976, Jim Goodnight has served as the company’s Chief Executive Officer. A worldwide leader in enterprise intelligence solutions and services, SAS has more than 10,000 employees in 53 countries. In 2007, the company’s 32nd consecutive year of growth and profitability, its revenue was $2.1 billion.
In 2004, Harvard Business School named Goodnight as one of the "20th Century’s Great American Business Leaders," citing his impact on "the way people have lived, worked and interacted in the 20th century."
Goodnight has a PhD in statistics and speaks internationally on leadership, education and innovation.
Eric Webster, CLU, ChFC
Vice President – Marketing
State Farm Insurance
Eric Webster joined State Farm in July 2000 as Assistant Vice President in the area of Customer Insights, Marketing. He was promoted to his current position in April 2007. Before coming to State Farm, Webster was Vice President of FCB Direct in Chicago, and previously was a Senior Database Marketing Manager for IBM, responsible for marketing analytics for IBM worldwide.
Webster received a bachelor's degree and master's degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He received his Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) designation and his Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC) designation in 2006.
