Carly Fiorina, the chair of the Unlocking Potential Project, former chair and CEO of Hewlett-Packard, author, community change agent and political activist will be the keynote speaker for the New Hampshire High Tech Council’s Entrepreneur of the Year award event. The celebration, which has a 27-year history of honoring the state's innovative and entrepreneurial leaders, will be held on Friday, May 8 at the Radisson Center of New Hampshire in Manchester. The Tech Council is now accepting applications and nominations for the honor; nomination forms and more information can be found online nhhtc.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/2015-EOY-Application.pdf.
Fiorina, who started her career as a secretary for a small real estate business and an entry-level sales person at AT&T, shattered glass ceilings as she became a top executive at AT&T’s spin off Lucent Technologies and its North American operations 15 years later. In 1999, she was recruited to HP, where she became the first woman to lead a Fortune 50 business. In her six years as chairman and CEO of HP, she doubled its revenues to $90 billion; more than quadrupled its growth to 9 percent; tripled the rate of innovation to 11 patents a day; achieved market leadership in every market and product category; and quadrupled cash flow. She is the chairman of the American Conservative Union Foundation, a political activism group, chairman of Good360, a product philanthropy organization, and the chairman of Opportunity International, a Christian-based organization that lhelps those in poverty through micro-finance.
“We’re thrilled to have Carly Fiorina as our 2015 keynote speaker. As the first woman to lead a Fortune 50 company and an individual who climbed ladders and broke barriers in internationally-known tech companies, her experience, stories, wisdom and advice will make this year’s Entrepreneur of the Year event quite memorable,” said Matt Cookson, the Tech Council’s executive director.
In addition to Fiorina’s technology and business-focused accomplishments, she credits her family and faith for inspiring her to help unlock the potential in others through leadership and fighting for one’s beliefs. Her best-selling memoir, Tough Choices, credits her parents with providing her an unshakable foundation for life.
The Council’s EOY event, regularly attracts hundreds of influential leaders of tech-based companies from throughout New England. Since its inception in 1988, the Council has recognized more than 60 New Hampshire entrepreneurs for their leadership, ingenuity, innovation and contributions to the technology sector. At the event, the Council will announce and recognize the 2015 winner of the prestigious award.
For more information, email info@NHHTC.org.
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