MEDIA ADVISORY

Contacts:
Nichole Wenderlich (315) 634-3039 info@fes-cny.org

4th Annual Famous Entrepreneurs Series Continues with Vijay Govindarajan, Founder of the Center for Global Leadership at Dartmouth

Lecture Series to Spur Entrepreneurial Success in Central New York

SYRACUSE, NEW YORK - March 23, 2010 - Vijay Govindarajan (VG), Earl C. Daum 1924 professor of International Business, founding director of the Center for Global Leadership at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College and professor-in-residence and chief innovation consultant for General Electric will join the Syracuse community on March 24, 2010 to continue the fourth season of The Famous Entrepreneurs Series (FES). FES, a non-profit, member driven organization, was formed in 2006 to foster entrepreneurship in Central New York by connecting the business community with high-profile CEOs or management thought leaders.

VG's lecture will focus on his personal successes, guiding management strategies and bold visions on how to transition companies from good to great. Drawing on his experience as the Founder of the Center for Global Leadership at Dartmouth, VG will also discuss how to invest in your company today to influence and create the future, pulling from his book Ten Rules for Strategic Innovators.

The fourth season will conclude with:

May 19, 2010 - Marilyn Carlson Nelson - Chairman and former CEO of Carlson Companies and author of How We Lead Matters

The 2009 - 2010 season will be held at Onondaga Community College, 4585 West Seneca Turnpike. In addition to the Platinum, Gold and Silver Membership levels, two new membership levels are now offered - a Small Business Member level for those with under 50 employees and a Student Scholarship Member level, through which more than 100 students have been awarded scholarships this season. With these new opportunities, season memberships range from $500 to $10,000.

Another new addition to the FES program is the introduction of The FES Start-Up Spotlight to increase awareness, promote collaboration and tout success of entrepreneurial start-ups in our community. Through nominations from FES members and partners, start-up companies are chosen based on the criteria of being a true start-up or early-stage venture; showing success to date; having relevancy to FES attendees; and complimenting the FES topic area of the evening. The two local companies chosen for the March FES Start-Up Spotlight are Blue Highway, a wholly owned subsidiary of Welch Allyn formed to "create economic value through new customer insight, products or services, policy and regulatory insight, or business models," and TERACAI, a leading provider of Cisco authorized technologies focuses on "helping customers build, manage and optimize core networking, communication, and data center solutions." TERACAI was launched as a spin-off of CXtec last year.

For more information on FES, email info@fes-cny.org or visit www.fes-cny.org. Students are encouraged to still register for an opportunity to receive a scholarship to the remaining lectures in the series by filling out the form found on the "Scholarship" page of the Website. Speakers for the past seasons included C.K. Prahalad, Carly Fiorina, Michael Treacy, Richard Teerlink, Jon Luther, Rod Beckstrom, Mark Thompson, Anne Mulcahy David Barger, Dov Seidman, Ron Heifetz and Doug Hall. The fourth season has included Chris Hughes, co-founder of Facebook, and Tom Kelley, founder and GM of IDEO, thus far.

FES is a non-profit, member based organization. Members for the 2009 - 2010 season include Anaren; Clear Channel Radio & Event Group; The CNY Business Journal; Communigration; O'Brien & Gere; The Post-Standard; PPC; Sensis Corporation; Syracuse University; United Radio Service; C&S Companies; Leadership Greater Syracuse; Onondaga Community College; Quartier Printing; Syracuse.com; Syracuse Research Corporation; Baily, Haskell & LaLonde Insurance & Financial Services; Bond Schoeneck and King, PLLC; Bristol-Myers Squibb; CNY Community Foundation, Inc.; DoubleTree Hotel; Ernst & Young; The Metropolitan Development Association; National Grid; Summit Software Company; The Falcone Center for Entrepreneurship & Women Igniting the Spirit of Entrepreneurship (WISE); Air Innovations; The Central New York Technology Development Organization; China Towne Furniture; Creekside Books & Coffee; The Daily Orange, Corp; David Revette Photography; The Events Company; The Gifford Foundation; Greater Syracuse Chamber of Commerce; Merrill Lynch - Syracuse Office; Salt City Technical Corp.; Selflock Screw Products Co. Inc.; The Tech Garden; Dellas Graphics; The iSchool at Syracuse University and Seaboard Graphics.

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