The Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Friday, October 13, 2006 7:00 pm
“Leaders of the Pack: Executive Vision” is the theme for an interactive program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln between UNL students and the executive board and corporate partners of the J.D. Edwards Honors Program in Computer Science and Management.
Keynote for the Oct. 20 event is a public address by Microsoft executive Robbie Bach, 10:30 a.m. at the Nebraska Union Auditorium.
The Oct. 20 Executive Vision events bring world-renowned executives who are advisers to the J.D. Edwards Honors Program to campus to meet with and speak to the program’s students.
This year, they are Bach, president of Entertainment and Devices Division at Microsoft Corp.; Ed Zander, chief executive officer at Motorola; Michael Marks, partner at KKR; Larry Probst, CEO of Electronic Arts; and Warren Jenson, Chief Financial Officer of Electronic Arts.
At the 10:30 a.m. keynote at the Nebraska Union, the public is invited to hear from Bach in an address, “Connected Entertainment,” about product development for Xbox 360 and the new MP3 player under development by Microsoft, the Zune. A drawing will be held at that lecture for a new Zune, which is due on the market in November.
The J.D. Edwards Honors Program at UNL provides an education in technology and management while developing professional skills in leadership, communications and collaboration.
Bach leads a global division that is charged with bringing new focus to Microsoft's digital entertainment efforts in music, TV and video; interactive entertainment, which includes Xbox and games for Windows; consumer productivity experiences, which include peripherals, the Macintosh unit and consumer productivity applications; and the mobile and embedded unit, which develops and markets Windows mobile devices.
In addition to these businesses, Bach's responsibilities include leading innovation on the Xbox platform, defining a vision and product road map in digital entertainment, retail relationships for Microsoft, selling all Microsoft products to the media and entertainment and service provider businesses, and media and entertainment partner management for the company.
In his 16 years at Microsoft, Bach has been responsible for small-business marketing and original equipment manufacturers' programs to major product launches and marketing for Microsoft's family of productivity applications.