Andrew P. McAfee

In April 2008, Ziff Davis honored Andrew McAfee as the highest ranking and one of only four IT management thought leaders on their “100 Most Influential People in IT” list.

Andrew McAfee, the founder of the term “Enterprise 2.0,” joined the faculty of the Technology and Operations Management Unit at Harvard Business School in 1998. His research investigates how managers can most effectively select, implement, and use Information Technology (IT) to achieve business goals. He was the recipient of a US Department of Energy Integrated Manufacturing Fellowship for his doctoral research, which focused on the performance impact of enterprise information systems such as SAP's R/3.
His current work falls into two categories. The first is an ongoing investigation of why large-scale IT initiatives fail so often and what general managers can do to guide these efforts to success; some results from this work have been published in a Sloan Management Review Article. The second is a project to understand what kinds of multi-company IT-based efforts succeed, and what impact new technologies such as Web Services will have on competition and collaboration.
McAfee developed and teaches the MBA course Managing Information Technology. He also teaches Executive Education courses, such as Delivering Information Services and Senior Executive Program from the Middle East. He was awarded a Doctorate in Business Administration at HBS in 1999. He also holds dual MS degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Management from MIT as a Leaders for Manufacturing fellow, and BS degrees in Mechanical Engineering and in Humanities from MIT.
Prior to coming to HBS, Professor McAfee worked as a consultant in operations management, advising clients in a range of industries including aerospace, consumer electronics, white goods, and OEM electronics. He continues to consult, primarily on helping companies formulate and execute IT strategies and he speaks frequently to industry and trade groups. His new book on Enterprise 2.0 will be published by Harvard Business School Press in late 2008.

Don Tapscott

Don Tapscott is specialized in business strategy, organisational transformation and the role of technology in business and society. He is an internationally sought speaker and founder and chairman of the business strategy consulting company New Paradigm (now nGenera).

He has authored or co-authored eleven books on the application of technology in business and society. His latest book, co-authored with Anthony Williams and published in 2006 is Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything (with an expanded edition to be published in April of 2008). It explores how some companies in the early 21st century have used mass collaboration (also called peer production) and open-source technology such as wikis to be successful. His penultimate book, co-authored with David Ticoll in 2003 is The Naked Corporation: How the Age of Transparency Will Revolutionize Business. The Naked Corporation describes how corporate transparency, accountability, and stakeholder relationships are the new frontier for competitive innovation.

Don earned a B.Sc. in Psychology and Statistics, and an M.Ed. specializing in Research Methodology and holds two honorary Doctor of Laws (honoris causa) awarded by the University of Alberta in 2001, and Trent University in 2006. Furthermore he is Adjunct Professor of Management at the Joseph L. Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto.

Bret Swanson

The father of the “Exaflood” is Senior Fellow and Director of the Center for Global Innovation at The Progress & Freedom Foundation. “Exaflood” refers to the rapidly increasing torrent of data transmitted over the Internet. The amount of information people upload, download and share on the Internet is growing at an exponential rate while the capacity of the Internet is limited to a “flood” of data equal to multiple exabytes (one exabyte is the equivalent of about 50,000 years of DVD quality video).

As an international sought speaker Bret Swanson also writes for the editorial page of The Wall Street Journal related topics ranging from communications bandwidth to monetary policy. His writings on the “exaflood” and other aforementioned topics can be read in numerous book chapters and papers. Prior to joining the Foundation, Swanson was Senior Fellow at the Discovery Institute's Technology and Democracy Project, where his work focused on telecommunications, technology and economics. For eight years he also advised technology investors, first as a technology analyst and then as Executive Editor of the Gilder Technology Report, a popular investment strategy service focused on semiconductors and communications. Swanson spent time as an analyst at Empower America and Sagamore Associates, where he researched and wrote about tax, monetary, trade, and telecom policy. He started his career as an aide to U.S. Senator Richard Lugar. Swanson studied economics at Princeton University.