Bill LaRosa

Principle embodied: Excess is Not Possible – X-Principle #4

Bill LaRosa is a seasoned senior executive with leadership experience ranging from Fortune 10 companies through grass-root start-up businesses. More specifically, he worked in a variety of global and executive assignments at General Electric (GE) during a 20-year association and was an executive with IBM for nearly ten years. He has also founded, or been associated with, several small technology companies.

In addition to his broad range of company experiences, Bill has an extensive familiarity with most regions around the world. He is multi-lingual, speaking English, basic French and a modest amount of Spanish. He has lived and worked in more than 15 countries on four different continents, ranging from North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. After more than four decades of managing and leading organizations around the world, Bill has acquired an eclectic set of experiences.

Bill earned an MBA, and graduated cum laude, from the Lubin School of Business at Pace University in New York.  He also has a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering (BSEE) from Manhattan College, in New York City.

During his career at General Electric, Bill earned increasing responsibilities in various parts of the GE empire, ultimately becoming the Vice President and General Manager of Global Electronics Trade. His areas of experience include sales and marketing, technical support and field services.

After 20 years of service and growing responsibility, Bill left GE and founded Lead Group International Inc. (LGI), and developed it into a $25 Million venture in three years. As Chairman and CEO, Bill built LGI into a multinational, high technology, sales, marketing, distribution, licensing and contract manufacturing organization with a subsidiary in Switzerland and field offices in fifteen countries including the USA. The company serviced Fortune 50 companies, including GE, and the Defense Department of the U.S. Government. It was sold in 1990 earning a 42% ROI.

After the successful sale and transition of LGI to its new owners, Bill was recruited to join American Motion Systems, Inc. as President & COO. After substantially revamping the organization resulting in quarterly sales increases of more than 50%, Bill was recruited to join IBM Corporation to develop the international sales, marketing and services organization for the IBM Microelectronics Division in Somers, New York.

During the next ten years at IBM, Bill continually earned increased responsibility, ultimately being named Vice President, Worldwide Sales & Marketing, Technology Group, Distribution Channel & e-Business. He built a global organization of more than 300 professionals and developed multiple sales and distribution channels, including rep firms and franchises. During his tenure, IBM was transformed from a captured (in-house) technology into a global merchant technology supplier generating more than $1 Billion in annual merchant market revenue.

Prior to joining AMD, Bill worked for two other corporations in various general management positions with varying degrees of success. They were primarily turn-around opportunities that included CommVault Systems and Silicon Graphics (SGI, Inc.).

Bill has elected to retire from AMD in September of 2008. After an exceptionally successful career in business, he has chosen to direct his skills, passion for leading, and insatiable appetite for serving shareowners, into the corporate boardroom.

Bill is an outstanding candidate for corporate board service. He has global operations experience earned while working and living around the world. He is multilingual and sensitive to various cultures. Also, he has a variety of operational/functional experiences. Bill has worked in sales, sales support, marketing, technology and customer service. He also has solid general management and P&L experience.

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