Local firm hosts world leaders in technology and finance

sanjuanislander.com Posted 06/04/03

The Strategic News Service®, headquartered in Friday Harbor, held a party for world leaders in technology and finance last week, and everybody came.

The first annual SNS Future In Review Conference was held in San Diego last week, at the Hotel del Coronado, with an international gathering of 200 top executives in computing, communications and finance. Participants and attendees on the technology front included Dell Computer Chairman and CEO Michael Dell, Microsoft CTO and SVP Craig Mundie, Intel CTO Pat Gelsinger, Hewlett-Packard Chief Scientist Greg Astfalk, and Cisco GM and VP (and Sun co-founder) Andy Bechtolsheim.

Finance speakers and attendees included Vice Chair of Warburg Pincus Bill Janeway; NEA partner (and Fortune columnist) Stewart Alsop, London School of Economics R and D head Neil Gregory; Christof Ruehl, Chief Economist, Russia Country Department, The World Bank; and Steve Smith, past Managing Director of GE Equity.

The intent of the meeting was to look forward five years in describing technology markets worldwide. Highlights of the meeting included: Michael Dell's hourlong conversation with SNS CEO Mark Anderson on his view of world markets and competition; author Sidney Rittenberg's personal evaluation of China Premier Hu Jintao's background and personality; and past Vice Chair of the Joint Chiefs Admiral William Owens' comments on the future role of the American military in world affairs.

The FIRe conference examined the future of markets in chips, software, hardware, and general computing, and included context discussions on the world economy and global investing, with particular emphasis on China, Russia, Japan, and Venezuela.

Final predictions, made by the participants themselves, will be published by SNS in book form later this month.