Bio
Matt Marshall
Matt Marshall is the editor and CEO of VentureBeat, which he founded in 2006. He covered the venture capital and startup beat for the Mercury News from 2001-2006. Marshall significantly expanded the newspapers coverage of venture capital and startups during that time, in daily articles and a weekly column called the VC Insider, and then online with his blog SiliconBeat from 2004.
Marshall was awarded Journalist of the Year by the Northern California Society of Professional Journalists in 2002, and the James Madison Freedom of Information award in 2003. These awards were for a series of articles he wrote in conjunction with two successful Mercury News lawsuits, in part instigated by Marshall, against California's public pension fund (CalPERS) and the University of California. The lawsuits sought disclosure of the financial performance of venture capital and other private equity funds that CalPERS and UC had invested in, arguing that state taxpayers and retirees had a right to know these results. As a result of these laws suits, public employees now have full access to information on the performance of their retirement investments.
Marshall was a correspondent for the Wall Street Journal in Bonn, Germany from 1995 through 1998. In 1999 he wrote a book while in Germany, The Bank: the Birth of Europe's Central Bank and the Rebirth of European Power. He has also written for the Washington Post and several other publications. Marshal is also the executive producer of DEMO.
Marshall has a PhD in Government and an MA in German and European Studies from Georgetown University.
Bill McDermott
Bill McDermott was appointed co-CEO of SAP on February 7, 2010. In this capacity, and also as a member of the Executive Board of SAP, he oversees SAP's strategic business activities relative to all customer operations, sales, marketing, communications, field services (consulting), corporate development, and ecosystem activities.
As the world's leading provider of business software, SAP is a €41 billion company with €10,671 million in revenue in 2009. SAP's more than 47,500 employees and its vast ecosystem enable 95,000 customers of all sizes in more than 25 industries and 120 countries worldwide. SAP AG is headquartered in Walldorf, Germany and McDermott is based at the company's North American headquarters location in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania.
McDermott was first named to the SAP Executive Board in 2008 to manage global field operations, a responsibility he continues to maintain as co-CEO. During this time, McDermott has been instrumental in re-architecting the company's go-to-market strategy, closely aligning the field organizations and product development teams, led by co-CEO Jim Hagemann Snabe.
Prior to this role on the SAP Executive Board, he led SAP's operations in the Americas (United States, Canada and Latin America) and Asia Pacific Japan regions. Since his arrival in 2002, the company has delivered unparalleled growth in market share, revenue and customer satisfaction in key markets.
Prior to joining SAP, McDermott served as executive vice president of Worldwide Sales & Operations at Siebel Systems, and president of Gartner, Inc., where he led the company's core operations. He spent 17 years at Xerox Corporation, where he progressively rose through the ranks to become the company's youngest corporate officer and division president. He also served on the board of directors for two company subsidiaries. In 1997, through his leadership, McDermott's division received the Malcolm Baldrige Award, presented annually by the President of the United States to businesses judged to be outstanding in several areas.
McDermott is a member of several external boards, including the boards of ANSYS, a company that designs and develops engineering simulation solutions used to predict how product designs will behave in manufacturing and real-world environments; PAETEC Communications, a nationwide integrated communications provider; and Under Armour, a performance apparel company dedicated to technologically advanced products. He is a member of the National Advisory Board for KIPP (Knowledge Is Power Program) and the Advisory Board for Villanova University.
McDermott is an active community leader and advocate for corporate social responsibility. In 2008, he was named Idealist of the Year by City Year Greater Philadelphia for his civic leadership and "commitment to improving the community and the lives of those who live in Philadelphia." In 2006, McDermott received the Yitzhak Rabin Public Services Award in recognition of his contributions as a civic leader who has demonstrated a commitment to Israel as a source of technological innovation. In 2005, McDermott was elected to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the world's largest business federation representing three million companies and organizations, and to the Chamber Foundation Board.
McDermott received an MBA degree from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University, and he completed the Executive Development Program at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton Graduate School of Management. He received his B.S. degree in business administration from Dowling College.
Encyclopædia Britannica Article
- software
Instructions that tell a computer what to do. Software is the entire set of programs, procedures, and routines associated with the operation of a computer system, including the operating system. The term differentiates these features from hardware, the physical components of a computer system. Two main types of software are system software, which controls a computer's internal functioning, and application software, which directs the computer to execute commands that solve practical problems. A third category is network software, which coordinates communication between computers linked in a network. Software is written by programmers in any number of programming languages. This information, the source code, must then be translated by means of a compiler into machine language, which the computer can understand and act on.
- software on britannica.com
© 2010 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
