The panel discussion, held in Washington, D.C.,
was part of the Council on Competitiveness' National Innovation and Security
Summit, and was attended by several hundred U.S. business and political
leaders, including U.S. Secretary of State Colin L. Powell. The panel
discussion was meant to inform the Council on Competitiveness' National
Innovation Initiative, which is meant to:
- Identify the key challenges and opportunities to strengthen U.S.
innovation capacity;
- Develop strategic recommendations for the public and private sectors,
and;
- Create consensus among all elements of the national innovation enterprise – the
companies, workers, universities and governments – on a vision and
strategy.
The panel was moderated by Georgia Institute of
Technology President Wayne Clough, who sits on President George W. Bush's
Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. Other panelists included
IBM Chairman and CEO Samuel J. Palmisano, Lucent Technologies CEO Patricia
Russo, Stanford University President John S. Hennessy, and University
of North Carolina President Molly Corbett Broad.
For more on the event, please read the press release.
About Jerry Sanders
In 1969 W.J. (Jerry) Sanders III and seven other
cofounders launched Advanced Micro Devices, a company that has since
become a leading U.S.-based merchant semiconductor manufacturer. Prior
to that, Mr. Sanders held positions in the Engineering Department of
Douglas Aircraft Co., in sales and marketing at Motorola Semiconductor,
and in the Semiconductor Division of the Fairchild Camera and Instrument
Corporation, where he worked as a sales manager, area sales manager,
department head, director of marketing, and eventually group director
of marketing worldwide from 1967 to 1969. The Wall Street Transcript
named Mr. Sanders the Best Chief Executive Officer in the semiconductor
industry for the years 1983, 1984, and 1985, and runner-up in 1991. Mr.
Sanders received the Robert N. Noyce Award, the industry's highest honor
for leadership, from the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) in
1998, and in 2001 Mr. Sanders joined a select group of high-tech leaders
including to receive the Medal of Achievement from the AeA, the nation's
largest high-tech industry association. AMD was named Comeback Company
of the Year by Electronic Business in 1991.
Mr. Sanders co-founded several prominent industry
groups including the Semiconductor Industry Association, the Santa Clara
Manufacturing Group, the Semiconductor Research Corporation and the Microelectronics
and Computer Technology Corporation.
Mr. Sanders earned a bachelor of science degree
in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois in 1958.
About the Council on Competitiveness
Founded in 1986, the Council on Competitiveness
is a nonpartisan forum with an action agenda to drive U.S. economic competitiveness
and leadership in world markets in order to raise the standard of living
for all Americans. The Council shapes the national debate on competitiveness
by concentrating on a few critical issues. These issues include technological
innovation, workforce development, and the benchmarking of U.S. economic
and academic performance. Members and Council staff work together to
assemble data, develop consensus-based recommendations, and implement
follow-up strategies in every region of the country. Its members are
corporate chief executives, university presidents, and labor leaders.
National affiliates include nonprofit research organizations, professional
societies, and trade organizations.
