Mayberry Lecture focuses on successful product development

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. (Oct. 8, 2003) – IBM executive Victor Tang will give the College of Business Administration’s 2003 Mayberry Lecture on “Key Enabling Factors in Successful Product Development” beginning at 9:30 a.m., Thursday, Oct. 23, in Johnson Auditorium.

The lecture is free and open to the public.

Tang, currently on sabbatical at MIT, has served as IBM’s directorof strategy, market development, and technology development for the IBM AS/400. He led the initial Baldrige application that ultimately won the coveted national quality award. As an executive in IBM corporate finance and strategy, he was responsible for the development and board approval of IBM’s six-year investment strategy. For IBM’s CEO, Sam Palmisano, he led the strategy formulation for IBM Global Services, a $35 billion organization.

Co-author of three books in high-technology management as well as author of numerous articles, conference presentations, and inventions in large computer systems, Tang has received a number of IBM Outstanding Contribution and Excellence Awards. He has consulted with global F100 companies, governments, and organizations including the United Nations, China, Finland, Taiwan, and the Economic Forum.

A Ph.D. candidate in MIT’s Engineering Systems Division and a researcher at the Center for Innovation in Product Development, Tang is researching ways to improve the product development capabilities of R&D organizations and strategic decision-making so they are maximally robust under unpredictable conditions. Educated in a French lycée, Tang has an electrical engineering degree and an advanced degree in applied mathematics from Purdue, and an advanced degree in business from Columbia University.

For more information, contact W.E. Mayberry Professor of Management Nat Natarajan at 3001 or rnat@tntech.edu.

--Lelia Gibson
This information posted 8 October 2003