James Whitehurst on self-awareness

Inaugural Rice Engineering Leadership Speaker Series September 12, 2023 Rice University Speaker Timestamps 0:13 Reginald DesRoches, President of Rice University 2:13 Theo Schweitzer, Senior, Computer Science - Moderator 2:34 Jim Whitehurst '89, former CEO of Red Hat - Guest Speaker 47:46 Fred Higgs, Faculty Director for the Rice Center for Engineering Leadership ABOUT THIS EVENT Rapid technological change is transforming the world and the workplace, and the skills required for successful leadership in all areas of engineering are changing too. Join the Rice Center for Engineering Leadership for a fireside chat with Jim Whitehurst ’89, former President of IBM and Red Hat, to discuss how engineers can prepare themselves to lead and thrive in those challenges. Whitehurst will share his journey from being a Rice engineering student to becoming Chief Operating Officer of Delta Airlines, President and Chief Executive Officer of Red Hat, and President of IBM, as well as the transformations he has led along the way. ABOUT JIM WHITEHURST Jim Whitehurst joined Delta Air Lines as Chief Operating Officer on September 11, 2001, and successfully steered the company through the shock of 9/11, financial restructuring, and hostile takeover attempts by rival airlines. As President and CEO of Red Hat, Whitehurst grew the Linux software firm into the world’s first billion-dollar open-source company, increasing revenue eightfold and ultimately engineering Red Hat’s $34 billion acquisition by IBM. Under his leadership, Red Hat was named to Forbes’ World’s Most Innovative Companies list, and Barron’s named him one of the World’s Best CEOs. ____ RICE ENGINEERING LEADER SPEAKER SERIES – a leading engineer’s perspective Hosted by the Rice Center for Engineering Leadership, the Rice Engineering Leader Speaker Series features executives and thought leaders from technology organizations who uniquely employ or depend on engineers. These accomplished leaders share experiences in navigating change and how engineers can equip themselves to lead the way. Through this series, the Rice and Houston communities learn about how products and workplaces are being disruptively transformed through technological advancements, and how engineers will be expected to not just adapt to but lead this transformation.