A big domino just joined topple #0000003!
I am pleased to announce that Bill Coleman has generously agreed to be the keynote speaker at the Domino Awards banquet to be held April 8th. Bill exemplifies the notion of a "Toppler," and I know the students will be inspired by his story.
Bill has been at the helm of some of the most important technology companies of the last two decades. Also, together with his wife Claudia, he founded the Coleman Institute for Cognitive Disabilities.
I've yet to meet Bill, but I've heard so much about him over the years. I'm truly honored that he's agreed to help with this year's Domino Award.
It's ironic that I'm making this announcement this week, while at the same time Oracle Corp. is buying Bill's last company, BEA Systems, for $8.5 billion. Transactions of that size set in motion countless topples - and Bill was instrumental in making that possible. Under his leadership as the original CEO and first chairman of the Board, BEA became the fastest software firm to exceed $1 billion in annual revenue.
Currently, Bill is the founder, chairman of the board, and chief executive officer of Cassatt Corporation, an organization that helps companies run green data centers with innovative software to improve resource, operational, and energy efficiencies.
Before Cassatt and BEA, he was vice president of system software at Sun Microsystems, where Coleman's team transformed SunOS into the commercially successful Solaris operating system. While at Sun he also founded Sun's Professional Services Division and co-founded Sun's Federal Division.
He began his career in the U.S. Air Force where he served as chief of satellite operations in the Office of the Secretary of the Air Force. He is also chairman of the board of directors for the Silicon Valley Leadership Group.
He holds a bachelor's degree in computer science from the U.S. Air Force Academy and master's degrees in computer science and computer engineering from Stanford University. He also has an honorary doctorate from the University of Colorado.
Again, I can't express enough how honored I am to have Bill speak at this year's award banquet. It's all about "setting big things in motion" - something Bill knows a lot about!
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