Leadership in Technology: Distinguished Lecture Series

The Leadership in Technology: Distinguished Lecture Series invites you to hear from industry leaders and find inspiration in their journeys as you embark upon your own path to challenge the present and enrich the future through the innovative use of technology.

Leadership in Technology: Toomas Hendrik Ilves

September 28, 2022

Dr. Ravi Pendse, vice president for information technology and chief information officer at U-M, held a virtual fireside chat with Toomas Hendrik Ilves, the president of Estonia from 2006-16. The conversation covered the intersection of technology and government, cybersecurity, and more — Ilves was in office when Estonia was a victim of a massive cyber-attack, believed to have originated in Russia, in 2007. 

Ilves is renowned for making Estonia one of the most digitally advanced nations through innovative policies that invested heavily in the future. He used his office to further the country’s leadership in digital governance as well as in cyber security. His interest in computers stems from an early age — he learned to program at the age of 13 — and he has been promoting Estonia's IT-development since the country restored its independence. Ilves was born to Estonian refugees and raised in the United States, and holds a BA from Columbia and an MA from the University of Pennsylvania. 

Students, staff, faculty, and community members are invited to submit questions in advance, during the registration process, or live in the session.

Speakers

Toomas Hendrik Ilves 

President of Estonia from 2006-16

Toomas Hendrik Ilves served as president of Estonia from 2006-16. Ilves is renowned for making Estonia one of the most digitally advanced nations through innovative policies that invested heavily in the future. 

Ilves was born to Estonian refugees and raised in the United States. He holds a BA from Columbia and an MA from the University of Pennsylvania.  He moved to Munich in 1984 to work as an analyst and researcher for Radio Free Europe, eventually becoming Director of the radio’s Estonian Service. 

From 1993-96 he served as Estonia’s ambassador to the United States. In 1996 he was appointed country’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, a post he held until 1998, and again from 1999 to 2002. In that time he successfully steered Estonia into the EU and NATO in 2004. He ran for the presidency of Estonia as a joint candidate of the Social Democratic, Conservative and Liberal Parties and was elected in 2006 and re-elected in 2011. 

Ilves used his office to further the country’s leadership in digital governance as well as in cyber security. Since November 2016, Ilves has co-chaired The Global Futures Council on Blockchain Technology. Since leaving office Ilves spent three and a half years as a distinguished visiting fellow at Stanford University and the Center for Advance Study in the Behavioral Sciences, while lecturing all over the world on the digitization of governance and public services. Most recently he is also advising the WHO-Europe on technological solutions to the Covid-17 pandemic and cross-border health more broadly while teaching at Tartu University in Estonia.

Ravi Pendse

Vice president for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer
University of Michigan

Dr. Ravi Pendse serves as an executive officer of the university and provides university-wide leadership and strategic direction for information technology.

Dr. Pendse has extensive experience as a successful and collaborative university leader, most recently as Brown University’s vice president for computing and information services and chief information officer. He has also been a professor, researcher, teacher and advisor to students. His successes include securing more than $21 million in external research grants, developing university courses, earning several teaching awards, and publishing numerous scholarly articles and papers co-authored by students.

Dr. Pendse holds a B.S. in electronics and communication engineering from Osmania University in Hyderabad, India. He received his M.S. and Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Wichita State University.

Past Events

Leadership in Technology: Antonio Neri of Hewlett Packard Enterprise

October 13, 2021

Antonio Neri, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), joined Dr. Ravi Pendse, VP for IT and CIO at U-M, for a fireside chat and Q&A at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business. Neri is a global citizen, story teller, and innovative leader focused on connecting people through technology. Students, staff, faculty, alumni, and guests were invited to submit questions in advance and throughout the session.

 

This Leadership in Technology: Distinguished Lecture was co-sponsored by the College of Engineering, the School of Information, the Business+Tech Initiative at the Ross School of Business, and Information and Technology Services.

Speakers

Antonio Neri 

President and Chief Executive Officer
Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Antonio Neri is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Hewlett Packard Enterprise – the global edge-to-cloud platform as-a-service company – responsible for the development and delivery of enterprise technology solutions and services that help organizations accelerate outcomes by unlocking value from all of their data, everywhere.

During his more than 25 years at the Hewlett-Packard Company (HP) and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), Antonio has held numerous leadership positions. Most recently, he served as Executive Vice President and General Manager of HPE’s Enterprise Group, which included the company’s Server, Networking, Storage and Technology Services business units. Prior to HPE’s separation from HP, Antonio ran HP’s Server and Networking business, where he was responsible for bringing new innovations to market and the execution of the go-to-market strategy. Before that, Antonio led HP’s Technology Services business, which provided technology support and consulting services for HP’s products and solutions. Antonio spent the earlier part of his career in various engineering and leadership roles in HP’s Printing and Personal Systems business units.

Antonio led the strategy, development and introduction of many breakthrough innovations at HP and HPE, including: HPE Apollo, the industry leading high performance compute platform; HPE Superdome X, the world’s most scalable and modular in-memory computing platform; and HPE Synergy, the world’s first composable infrastructure platform. He was also responsible for HPE’s acquisitions and integrations of Aruba Networks, SGI, SimpliVity, Nimble Storage, Cloud Cruiser, Cloud Technology Partners. Cray, MapR and BlueData.  

He currently serves as a director of Anthem Inc. 

Antonio graduated from Escuela Nacional de Educación Técnica in Argentina and attended the Universidad Tecnólgica Nacional.

Ravi Pendse

Vice president for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer
University of Michigan

Dr. Pendse serves as an executive officer of the university and provides university-wide leadership and strategic direction for information technology.

Dr. Pendse has extensive experience as a successful and collaborative university leader, most recently as Brown University’s vice president for computing and information services and chief information officer. He has also been a professor, researcher, teacher and advisor to students. His successes include securing more than $21 million in external research grants, developing university courses, earning several teaching awards, and publishing numerous scholarly articles and papers co-authored by students.

Dr. Pendse holds a B.S. in electronics and communication engineering from Osmania University in Hyderabad, India. He received his M.S. and Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Wichita State University.

Leadership in Technology: David Goeckeler of Western Digital

April 19, 2021

The explosive growth of connected devices is fueling an ever-increasing demand for access to data—and driving a massive wave of new opportunities. Join David Goeckeler, chief executive officer at Western Digital, Ravi Pendse, vice president for information technology and chief information officer at U-M, and Michael Wellman, professor and division chair of Computer Science & Engineering at U-M for a discussion on innovation, leadership, and opportunity in today’s technology landscape. 

Speakers

David Goeckeler

Chief Executive Officer
Western Digital Corporation

David Goeckeler is CEO of Western Digital.

Prior to joining Western Digital, David was Executive Vice President and General Manager of Cisco’s Networking and Security Business, a $34 billion global technology franchise. A 19-year Cisco veteran, he led a team of more than 25,000 engineers and oversaw Cisco’s networking and security strategy and market acceleration, including development operations for the company's expansive technology portfolio and strategic acquisitions. 

Previously, David oversaw Cisco’s Security Business and was instrumental in defining Cisco’s threat-centric security strategy, transitioning the business to a software and recurring revenue-based model, and returning the business to share-gaining growth. Under his leadership, the Security Group also acquired and successfully integrated multiple companies, solidifying Cisco’s place as the largest IT Security vendor in the industry.

David holds bachelor’s degrees in computer science and mathematics from the University of Missouri at Columbia, a master’s degree in computer science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a master’s degree in business administration from both Columbia University and the University of California at Berkeley.

David is widely recognized for his leadership and operational excellence. In 2012, he received Frost and Sullivan’s Excellence Award in Engineering Operations.

Michael Wellman

Lynn A. Conway Collegiate Professor of Computer Science & Engineering and Richard H. Orenstein Division Chair of Computer Science & Engineering
University of Michigan

Michael P. Wellman is a professor and division chair of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Michigan. He received a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1988 for his work in qualitative probabilistic reasoning and decision-theoretic planning. From 1988 to 1992, Wellman conducted research in these areas at the USAF's Wright Laboratory. For the past 15+ years, his research has focused on computational market mechanisms for distributed decision making and electronic commerce. As Chief Market Technologist for TradingDynamics, Inc. (now part of Ariba), he designed configurable auction technology for dynamic business-to-business commerce. Wellman previously served as Chair of the ACM Special Interest Group on Electronic Commerce (SIGecom), and as Executive Editor of the Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research. He is a Fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence and the Association for Computing Machinery.

Ravi Pendse

Vice president for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer
University of Michigan

Dr. Pendse serves as an executive officer of the university and provides university-wide leadership and strategic direction for information technology.

Dr. Pendse has extensive experience as a successful and collaborative university leader, most recently as Brown University’s vice president for computing and information services and chief information officer. He has also been a professor, researcher, teacher and advisor to students. His successes include securing more than $21 million in external research grants, developing university courses, earning several teaching awards, and publishing numerous scholarly articles and papers co-authored by students.

Dr. Pendse holds a B.S. in electronics and communication engineering from Osmania University in Hyderabad, India. He received his M.S. and Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Wichita State University.