Vineet nayar
Chief Executive Officer
HCL Technologies Ltd.
Vineet Nayar is CEO of HCL Technologies, India’s leading global IT services company. Employing a team of
50,000 professionals, HCL is located in 18 countries and reports annual revenues of some US $1.8 billion. Since
becoming president in 2005 and CEO in 2007, Mr. Nayar has instituted several radical programs that began a
quiet transformation across the organization. His mantra of “Employee First” and a strong belief in value-based
leadership has been recognized globally. FORTUNE has articulated his leadership style as “The World’s Most Modern
Management” and the London Business School calls him “the leader of organizational Innovation”. The Harvard
Business School has written a case study on the transformation at HCL, based on his leadership. Mr. Nayar began
his career with HCL as a senior management trainee in 1985. He has held leadership positions in sales and strategic
marketing, and was the CEO of the infrastructure business before he took on his present role.
nicholas negroponte
Founder and Chairman
One Laptop per Child
Nicholas Negroponte is founder and chairman of the One Laptop per Child nonprofit association. He is currently
on leave from MIT, where he was co-founder and director of the MIT Media Laboratory, and the Jerome B. Wiesner
Professor of Media Technology. A graduate of MIT, Mr. Negroponte was a pioneer in the field of computer-aided
design, and has been a member of the MIT faculty since 1966. Conceived in 1980, the Media Laboratory opened its
doors in 1985. Mr. Negroponte is also author of the 1995 bestseller, Being Digital, which has been translated into more
than 40 languages. In the private sector, he serves on the board for Motorola, Inc., and as general partner in a venture
capital firm specializing in digital technologies for information and entertainment. He has provided startup funds for
more than 40 companies, including Wired magazine.
Zach nelson
President and CEO
NetSuite, Inc.
Zach Nelson has more than 20 years of leadership experience in the high-tech industry, where he has held a
variety of executive positions spanning marketing, sales, product development, and business strategy with leading
companies such as Oracle, Sun Microsystems, and McAfee/Network Associates. Mr. Nelson began his tenure as
NetSuite’s CEO in 2002. Under his leadership, the company’s revenues have grown tenfold, the workforce has
quintupled to more than 500 employees, and its customer base has expanded to thousands of companies worldwide.
CRM magazine named him as CRM Influential Leader of 2006 by for his efforts on behalf of NetSuite. Mr. Nelson
holds a patent in the field of application integration, and has several others pending approval. He earned BS and MA
degrees from Stanford University.
Brian nesmith
President and CEO
Blue Coat Systems, Inc.
Brian NeSmith was appointed president and CEO of then-privately held CacheFlow in 1999. He took the company
public later that year and has led it on a strategic evolution to Blue Coat Systems, profitability, and the No. 1 proxy
appliance position worldwide. He currently leads Blue Coat Systems in its mission to provide organizations with total
visibility and control of all web communications. Mr. NeSmith previously co-founded, in 1995, and was CEO of Ipsilon
Networks, the pioneer of IP switching technology. Ipsilon was acquired by Nokia in 1997; Ipsilon products became
the basis for the market-leading Nokia firewall appliance. Mr. NeSmith served as general manager of Nokia’s Firewall
Appliance Division, a business that has grown to $500 million in annual revenues. Mr. NeSmith co-founded Newbridge
Networks’ local area networking business, VIVID, in 1993, and served as the unit’s first general manager. Under his
direction, VIVID developed and executed Newbridge’s product strategy for layer 3 switched routing products.
