Willy Shih (born 1951) is a Professor of Management Practice, having joined Technology and Operations Management in January 2007. He teaches Technology and Operations Management in the first year required curriculum, as well as Building and Sustaining a Successful Enterprise in the second year elective curriculum. He also teaches in the Executive Education program.
Prior to joining the Harvard Business School, Willy spent 18 years in the computer industry, 14 at IBM, mostly in product development. He subsequently managed Digital Equipment Corporation’s Alpha microprocessor-based engineering workstation business, and its Windows NT and UNIX marketing operations. This was followed by a stint at Silicon Graphics Computer Systems, where he led marketing for the Advanced Systems Division and its high-performance computing systems and advanced graphics systems.
From the computer industry, Willy moved into consumer electronics. From 1997 until early 2005, Willy was president of the Consumer Digital unit at Eastman Kodak where he oversaw the establishment and growth of the consumer digital camera and associated consumables and service businesses to the first $1B in revenue. Most recently, he was an Executive Vice-President at Thomson, based in Paris, France, where he was co-head of the Technology Group. He oversaw Corporate Research, Intellectual Property & Licensing, and two smaller businesses.
Willy is an experienced practitioner in the field of intellectual property, having structured numerous IP licensing programs, with work in license negotiations and litigation. Willy has S.B. degrees in both Chemistry and Life Sciences from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley. He serves on the board of directors of Atheros Communications, Inc., Santa Clara, CA, and Singapore registered Flextronics International.
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