William W. George

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article or section is written like an advertisement.
Please help rewrite this article from a neutral point of view per Wikipedia policy.
Mark blatant advertising for speedy deletion with {{db-spam}}. (help, talk)

William W. George is a professor of Management Practice at Harvard Business School, former Executive-in-Residence at the Yale School of Management, and former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Medtronic. His 2003 book, "Authentic Leadership" located at www.authenticleaders.org [1], was a BusinessWeek best-seller.

Jossey-Bass will be releasing his newest book, "True North (non-fiction)(www.truenorthleaders.com [2])," in March 2007. In True North, George develops Authentic Leadership through interviews with 125 leaders ranging from ages 23 to 93 including Charles Schwab, Howard Schultz (founder, Starbucks), David Gergen (Advisor to 4 U.S. Presidents), Wendy Kopp (founder of Teach For America), John Donahoe (President, eBay), Anne Mulcahy (Chairman & CEO, Xerox) Reatha Clark King (Former Chairman, General Mills Foundation), Brenda Barnes (Chairman & CEO, Sara Lee), Andrea Jung (Chairman & CEO, Avon Products), Dick Kovacevich (Chairman & CEO, Wells Fargo), Keith Krach (Founder, Ariba), Jon Huntsman Sr. (Founder, Huntsman Chemical), and more.

He joined Medtronic, a medical technology company, in 1989 as President and Chief Operating Officer; he was elected Chief Executive Officer in 1991 and Chairman of the Board in 1996. He retired from Medtronic in 2002. Prior to leading Medtronic, he held several executive positions with Honeywell and Litton Industries, including president of Honeywell's Space & Aviation business.

George serves on the boards of Exxon Mobil Corporation (since 2005), Goldman Sachs, and Novartis AG. Formerly, he was a director of the National Association of Corporate Directors. He is a trustee of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and World Economic Forum USA.

George received his Master's in Business Administration from Harvard University in 1966, where he was a Baker Scholar (highest honors). He holds his B.S. in industrial engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology, where he graduated in 1964, where he became a member of the Beta Psi Chapter of the Sigma Chi fraternity. More recently, he received an honorary doctorate of business administration from Bryant University.

George is the recent recipient of East Grand Rapids Schools Foundation's Distinguished Alumni and Community Service Award.