October 2, 2013

UWEBC Annual Conference a Grand Success

James Giese | UWEBC Communications Director

The 15th annual Business Best Practices & Emerging Technologies Conference, hosted by the UW E-Business Consortium (UWEBC) on Oct. 1 at the Monona Terrace in Madison, was attended by more than 650 executives and senior managers from leading Wisconsin companies.

The conference featured a plenary keynote address by Thomas Kalinske, renowned business leader and University of Wisconsin alumnus; presentations by 25 thought leaders and experts; and a closing keynote by Daniel Burrus, technology futurist and business strategist.

 “Our annual conference is recognized as Wisconsin’s premier conference for business and technology executives,” said Dr. Raj Veeramani, UW-Madison professor and founder/executive director of the UWEBC. “This year marks UWEBC’s 15th anniversary, and we were able to offer an exceptional program of thought leadership on emerging technologies and innovative business practices.”

Tom Kalinske, eminent business executive and entrepreneur, delivered this year’s opening keynote address, "The Experts are Almost Always Wrong," and received the UW E-Business Institute 2013 Distinguished Fellow Award. His illustrious career includes leadership roles as CEO of Mattel, Universal Match Box and Sega of America. With Kalinske at the helm, these companies achieved remarkable success. Kalinske is currently Vice Chairman of LeapFrog and Executive Chairman of Global Education Learning.

The conference featured three parallel tracks – IT, Marketing, and Supply Chain Management – providing a unique opportunity for business and technology leaders to learn innovative strategies, emerging technologies, and best practices.

Daniel Burrus was the 2013 conference closing keynote speaker. Burrus is considered one of the world’s leading futurists on global trends and innovation. His presentation, “Technology-Enabled Innovation: Leading with Strategic Foresight and Certainty,” addressed the driving forces of predictable changes and how companies can develop game-changing strategies by capitalizing on emerging technological trends.

Founded in 1998, the UW E-Business Consortium is a university-industry partnership comprising Wisconsin’s leading companies and flagship university. The UWEBC serves as a collaborative learning forum that helps companies enhance their competitiveness through thought leadership and knowledge-sharing of business best practices and emerging technologies. The UWEBC has gained acclaim over the past 15 years as a model for university-industry collaboration and for exemplifying the Wisconsin Idea in action.