du proudly presents Chris Anderson at CEO Forum 2012

Press release

Published April 25th, 2012 - 09:24 GMT

Chris Anderson

Online pioneer, author and editor-in-chief of ‘Wired’ magazine, Chris Anderson, will address the who’s who of the UAE’s top business leaders at du’s CEO Forum 2012, the third held under the aegis of the du Leadership Series.

The CEO Forum 2012 is an invitation-only event, and will be held at Madinat Arena on 9 May. Through these innovative, inspirational events, du aims to bring together the UAE’s top business leaders for a series of sessions with some of the world’s most thought-provoking thinkers – such as Chris Anderson.

Described as ‘one of the most knowledgeable, insightful and articulate voices at the centre of the new economy’, Chris Anderson is globally renowned for his thought leadership on new business models. He is the author of two ‘New York Times’ bestsellers, ‘The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More’ and ‘Free’, and the founder of DIYDrones and 3DRobotics. During his time as editor-in-chief of ‘Wired’, he has led the magazine to two dozen National Magazine Award nominations with three wins (2005, 2007 and 2009) in the prestigious general excellence category.

“We are proud to present our third CEO Forum, which will be yet another joining of the best business minds in the UAE – this time with the inspirational presence of Chris Anderson as our event’s speaker. His forward-thinking in terms of web innovation and proposing business models to make the most of current trends represents the exact thinking that we hope to encourage at our CEO Forum events, expanding possibilities by combining industry expertise, innovation, and leadership tactics,” said Osman Sultan, CEO, du.

In the first CEO Forum, held in 2010, top business leaders were inspired by Harvard Business School Professor Clayton Christensen, who shared his views on the disruptive innovation and growth opportunities in the local and regional markets, while demonstrating the methods behind ‘Innovating to Create Growth and Shareholder Value’.

The audience at the second CEO Forum, held in 2011, was left spellbound by speakers Robin Sharma, author of bestselling books ‘The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari’ and ‘The Leader Who Had No Title’ and Pranav Mistry from the MIT Media Lab, hailed as one of the youngest and best inventors in the world today.

du’s Leadership Series aims to host CXO forums and round-table discussions annually, bringing some of the world’s most prestigious leaders to speak to invited guests on a variety of subjects, including capital management, strategy, human capital and technology, among others.

Background Information

Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company (du)

Ever since we opened for business in 2006, we have worked hard to enhance and expand our bouquet of services in an industry that is at the heart of economic and social transformation. Bringing people and businesses together is what we do best, offering mobile and fixed telephony, broadband connectivity and IPTV services to people, homes and businesses all over the UAE. We also provide carrier services, a data hub, internet exchange facilities and satellite services for broadcasters.