Johnson School students share TV spotlight with high-tech CEOs

Photographs by Frank DiMeo/University Photography Statler Auditorium was transformed into a television studio March 28 for the PBS telecast of "CEO Exchange."

By Linda Myers

Cornell's Johnson Graduate School of Management was in the spotlight Tuesday, March 28, when it hosted "CEO Exchange." The nationally broadcast PBS program features candid conversations on topical business issues with prominent CEOs.

The program, filmed at Cornell and to be broadcast on a Friday evening in mid-May, had a high-tech focus and attracted about 600 students, faculty, staff members and business executives to the Statler Auditorium. The guests were William Haseltine, CEO of Human Genome Sciences, a company that harnesses human genes to develop new ways to treat illnesses; and David Huber, founder and CEO of Corvis Corp., a firm that is developing better, faster methods for transmitting data via fiber optics. The program's host was Jeff Greenfield, CNN senior analyst. The Johnson School is the fourth business school to host "CEO Exchange."

Fred Schneider, executive producer of the show, welcomed the crowd, telling them that the familiar room they were sitting in was "now a television studio, and you are our studio audience." And indeed, the Statler stage did seem transformed into a kind of Disney-inspired corporate boardroom ringed with sophisticated lighting and sound equipment, with crews of technicians running about making adjustments.

Looking relaxed and at home in those surroundings, Greenfield opened the show by comparing the current surge in high-tech companies with the growth in computer companies 20 years ago. "Of the top five back then, only IBM is still with us," he noted. He then conducted half-hour, one-on-one interviews with each guest, followed by a conversation with both and questions from the audience. The final program will be edited from those segments.

Haseltine predicted that "it's going to be possible to use our generative capacity as a source of new medicine. That power is contained in the gene." Patented gene-based substances, such as one that causes the body to grow new blood vessels, are already in use in some hospitals, Haseltine said, and he expects to see many more such discoveries as more genes are isolated and tested.

William Haseltine, left, CEO of Human Genome Sciences, and David Huber, CEO of Corvis Corp., talk with host Jeff Greenfield before the broadcast.

Those discoveries "will give people the capacity to live the full human life span of 125 years, with healthy, active aging, including the ability to make love at an advanced age," said Haseltine. However, he cautioned that "you have to be careful about crossing some borders or you'll change what humanity is." As an example, he said that imbedding an encyclopedic chip in people's brains, while offering instant knowledge, "raises serious issues of mind control." Human Genome Sciences has a medical ethicist on its board to look at potential consequences before new products and processes are developed, he noted.

Huber's fascination with all things electric led to a Ph.D. in electrical engineering, a job working for a large electronics manufacturing firm, then the founding of his own highly successful electronics company, Sienna. But when the leadership at the company decided not to pursue an opportunity to develop an optical amplifier that promised faster communication, Huber quickly saw the error and decided to leave and found a new company, Corvis, centered on fiber optic communication.

"I risked everything financially because when I see something I want to go after, I get very single-minded," said Huber, who said he has no regrets about abandoning electronics for optics because "there's no medium other than optical to provide the backbone for the Internet."

Its great virtue is that it offers, he said, "the ability to process information entirely in the optical domain without having to translate it into another domain" -- which he likened to not having to convert dollars into foreign currency when one travels, then convert it back at a loss. In addition, optically transmitted information can be sent over greater distances than electronically transmitted information.

If his gamble proves right, said Huber, in just a few years we'll see entire roomfuls of electronic equipment replaced with small optical devices that process more information cheaper, faster and better. While that suggests much of the equipment currently owned by telecommunications giants like AT&T may become obsolete, he said, "the big players still have lots of advantages." Nevertheless, "it's not size, it's how nimble you are" in today's global market, he asserted. And "if there are performance increases to be had, you have to take them to remain competitive," or end up like IBM's now-obsolete competitors.

Robert Frank, the Goldwin Smith Professor of Economics, Ethics and Public Policy, asked the CEOs, "Do you feel lower tax rates on top earners would stimulate new wealth creation in your companies?"

Huber said that he didn't think most people in positions like his were in it primarily for the money. Haseltine agreed, but stressed tax laws should allow compensation in the form of stock options. He commented that France, which doesn't allow stock options, has only a handful of new biotech companies, while Germany, which does allow them, now has several hundred companies.

"It was great for the Johnson School to be the host," said Alex Ivanov, a second-year MBA student interested in venture capital, who was part of the audience for the broadcast.

The "CEO Exchange" program is sponsored by A.T. Kearney. Michelle C. Berry, communications and media relations officer at the Johnson School, helped coordinate the event.