Salem State College Series

Jack & Suzy Welch
A Conversation With Jack & Suzy Welch

Moderated by award-winning journalist and SSC alumna Anne Driscoll

Presenting Sponsor

Thursday
May 5 2005
8 p.m.

Jack Welch was born in Salem, the only child of a railroad conductor father and an adoring mother who fostered his self-confidence and competitive spirit as a young boy. He learned how to win and lose as co-captain of the Salem High hockey team and got his first lessons in character by caddying for successful businessmen at the Kernwood Country Club in Salem. After receiving his B.S. degree from the University of Massachusetts and his doctoral degree in chemical engineering from the University of Illinois, he began his career with the General Electric Company in 1960, and in 1981 became the company's eighth chairman and CEO. During his tenure, GE's market capitalization increased by $400 billion, making it the world's most valuable corporation. In the last half of the 1990's, GE was also consistently voted the most admired company in the world by Fortune magazine and The Financial Times. Upon retiring from GE in 2001, Mr. Welch published his autobiography, Jack - Straight from the Gut, which became an international bestseller.

Suzy Welch is the former editor of the Harvard Business Review. She attended Harvard University and Harvard Business School, from which she graduated as a Baker Scholar. Her professional experience includes several years at Bain & Company, a management consulting firm, where she focused on manufacturing clients. Although she has written a novel set in Marblehead, Mass., she is probably best known as the writer and editor of numerous books and articles dealing with leadership, change, and human resource management issues. The Welches currently make their home in Boston and are now working together on Winning, to be published by Random House in May, 2005, based on the questions most frequently asked of him by the more than 300,000 businessmen he has spoken to since he has retired.

Anne Driscoll is an award-winning journalist who has written for the New York Times, Boston Globe and People magazine and is an alumna of the Salem State College social work program. She will moderate the discussion between the Welches and the audience.