Speaker Biographies
Keith Krach, Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment, U.S. Department of State
Keith Krach took the oath of office as Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment on June 21, 2019.
Previously, he was a businessman and entrepreneur, noted for bringing transformational leadership to many sectors, including factory automation, engineering, commerce, education, philanthropy, and even the way people sign official documents. He is the former CEO and Chairman of DocuSign (2009–2019), which provides electronic signature and digital transaction management solutions to accelerate commerce between companies, while reducing the ecological impact of paper transactions. Mr. Krach led the company through its transformation from a startup to a publicly traded global enterprise with 400 million users in 188 countries.
Concurrently, Mr. Krach served as Chairman of the board of Trustees for Purdue University (2007–2013) where he recruited Governor Mitch Daniels, and initiated a new model for STEM education that drove progress in student affordability, online learning, global reach, and retraining the workforce.
Prior to that, Mr. Krach co-founded Ariba serving as Chairman and CEO (1996–2003), creating the world’s largest business-to-business e-commerce network. After taking it public, Ariba achieved a market capitalization of $40 billion, and today, more than $1.7 trillion of commerce is transacted annually through the Ariba network.
Mr. Krach also served as Chairman of the Board for Angie’s List and was instrumental in taking the company public as the nation’s leading provider of consumer reviews for home services. Mr. Krach was also the COO of Rasna Corporation (1988–1995), a leading provider in mechanical design automation software. He served as the first Entrepreneur and CEO-in-Residence for Benchmark Capital (1995–1996), a premier venture capital firm.
At 26, Mr. Krach was named the youngest-ever Vice President of General Motors. He led the formation of the company’s first Japanese joint venture, GMF Robotics, an alliance between GM & Fanuc, which gave rise to one of today’s largest robotics companies.
Mr. Krach is the recipient of many awards, such as the Ernst & Young National Entrepreneur of the Year Award, the World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer Award, the Bay Area’s Most Admired CEO Award, Life & News 2018 Transformational Leader of the Year award, and Harvard Business School’s 2019 Business Leader of the Year award.
Mr. Krach earned a B.S. Degree in Engineering from Purdue University in 1979, and MBA from Harvard Business School in 1981, receiving a full scholarship from GM for both schools. In 2018, he received an Honorary Doctorate in Industrial Engineering from Purdue University.
Ambassador Arthur B. (A.B.) Culvahouse Jr., United States Ambassador to Australia, U.S. Embassy
President Donald J. Trump nominated Ambassador Arthur B. (A.B.) Culvahouse Jr. to be the United States Ambassador to Australia on November 6, 2018. Confirmed by the U.S. Senate on January 2, 2019 by unanimous consent, he was formally sworn in by Vice President Mike Pence on February 19, 2019 and presented his credentials to the Governor-General, Sir Peter Cosgrove, on March 13, 2019. Ambassador Culvahouse serves as the President’s personal representative to the government and people of Australia. He leads the U.S. Mission to Australia, which is comprised of the embassy in Canberra and three consulates in Melbourne, Sydney, and Perth. Ambassador Culvahouse has a long and distinguished career. He is the former Chair of O’Melveny & Myers, an international law firm he was associated with for more than four decades. He began his career as Chief Legislative Assistant to United States Senator Howard H. Baker, Jr. and later served as White House Counsel to President Ronald Reagan. In 1989, President Reagan awarded Ambassador Culvahouse the Presidential Citizens’ Medal, an award to “recognize citizens who performed exemplary deeds of service for the country or their fellow citizens.” In December 1992, then-Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney awarded Ambassador Culvahouse the Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service for his work on the Federal Advisory Committee on Nuclear Failsafe and Risk Reduction. Both President Trump and the late-Senator John McCain tapped Ambassador Culvahouse to head the search to select their running mates. Ambassador Culvahouse was raised in Ten Mile, Tennessee and attended the University of Tennessee and the New York University School of Law. He is the proud father of three accomplished daughters.
Shekar Ayyer, General Manager - Telco and Edge Cloud, VMware
As head of VMware’s Telco and Edge Cloud business, Ayyar leads a global team focused on helping Communication Service Providers modernize their network operations spanning Core, Edge and Access. Leveraging the agility and security of VMware’s telco and edge cloud platforms, Ayyar and team enable customers to deliver 5G-enabled enterprise and consumer services.
Ayyar previously led the company’s strategy and corporate development efforts including incubating the telco Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) business and making key platform acquisitions including Nicira, AirWatch, VeloCloud and Heptio.
With more than 20 years of leadership experience in software, communications and semiconductors, Ayyar has held management roles at multiple companies including Lucent and McKinsey. He has a PhD in electrical engineering from Johns Hopkins, an MBA from Wharton where he was a Palmer Scholar, and an Engineering degree from IIT, Mumbai. Ayyar serves on the boards of several tech companies and philanthropic organizations including Room to Read.
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