Sir Richard Branson is founder of the Virgin Group, consisting of more than 200 companies employing over 50,000 people in 30 countries, and recording more than $20 billion in 2006 revenues. An entrepreneur since the age of 17, Richard has built a variety of companies into global successes. From music and financial services to airlines and mobile telephony, the Virgin brand epitomizes innovation, exceptional customer service, and widespread customer loyalty. In the spirit of his own business activities, Richard started Virgin Unite, the not-for-profit entrepreneurial foundation that works together with business partners, non-profits, and Virgin Group employees on global environmental, educational, and health initiatives. Since 1985, Richard has also been involved in a number of world record-breaking attempts. Richard is married with two children.
Keynote Speakers
Jeff Ray Chief Executive Officer, Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corporation
Jeff Ray brings more than 25 years of experience in global technology
sales, management, and operations to developing the sales, distribution,
and marketing infrastructure of SolidWorks software. Previously, Ray served as vice president of worldwide field operations
at business software vendor Progress Software Corporation, as
well as vice president of global solutions at enterprise IT software
provider Compuware Corporation. He began his career at IBM, where
he held numerous management positions over a 17-year period. Ray
earned a Bachelor of Science degree in economics from Texas A&M
University .
Jon Hirschtick
Co-founder and Group Executive, Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corporation
As a young entrepreneur, Jon Hirschtick observed that most businesses fail to gauge what customers will buy and overestimate the market for their products. Hirschtick researched the computer-aided design (CAD) software market in depth to determine what it lacked. Based on his findings, he and five co-founders created SolidWorks Corporation in 1993 with a mission to provide affordable, easy-to-use, 3D mechanical design software that would slash design time and accelerate product time to market.
Within three years, Hirschtick and his partners had built such a successful enterprise that they were able to sell it to global product lifecycle technology giant Dassault Systèmes S.A. (Nasdaq: DASTY, Euronext Paris: #13065, DSY.PA) for $310 million. SolidWorks leads the mainstream CAD market with more than 490,000 commercial and educational users and revenues of $249 million in 2005.
Hirschtick’s entrepreneurial drive evolved shortly after earning his master’s degree at MIT when he and a partner raised several million dollars in venture capital to start engineering firm Premise Inc. They later sold the company to design software maker Computervision, and Hirschtick joined its management team for two years before resigning to launch SolidWorks.
Hirschtick is a sought-after speaker for national forums on business and financial issues and has spoken at MIT and Stanford on entrepreneurial education. He has been a guest lecturer on entrepreneurship at Babson College and has taught CAD engineering at MIT. Additionally, Hirschtick is chair of the Hirschtick Family Foundation, a philanthropic group dedicated primarily to supporting engineering education; he serves as president of the New England region of the American Technion Society; and he is a member of the MIT Mechanical Engineering Department’s visiting committee.
Why Attend
