Author Sessions

Jerry (Yoram) Wind joined Wharton in 1967 with a doctorate from Stanford and since 2017 is the Lauder Professor Emeritus and Professor of Marketing. He founded the Wharton Think Tank – The SEI Center for Advanced Studies in Management and ran it for three decades. Among his many innovations at Wharton he led the development of Wharton Executive MBA, the Lauder Institute and Wharton School Publishing. He has edited top marketing journals, published over 300 articles, and 26 books, and received the 4 major marketing awards: Buck Weaver, Parlin, Converse, and AMA/Irwin Distinguished Educator Award. He was inducted to the inaugural group of AMA Fellows. He was one of the original Legends in Marketing, with an 8-volume anthology published by Sage in 2014. He has consulted with over 100 companies, is a member of the executive committee of SEI, sits on the advisory boards of various companies and nonprofit organizations, and testifies in intellectual property cases. He is a trustee of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Curtis Institute of Music and Grounds for Sculpture. He is a co-founder of the first private, non-profit university in Israel, The Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzliya. His current research explores marketing-driven business strategy, creativity and innovation; and challenging our mental models. His recent books include Beyond Advertising: Creating Value Through All Customer Touchpoints and The Network Imperative: How to Survive and Grow in the Age of Digital Business Models. He is a 2017 inductee into the Marketing Hall of Fame. He is the Co-founder of the Purple Project for Democracy and of the Reimagine Education global competition and conference.

Nitin Rakesh, a distinguished leader in the Technology and Financial Services industries, is CEO of Mphasis, a leading Global Software Services firm. Early in his tenure at Mphasis, Nitin introduced Mphasis’ C=X2C2=1TM formula for success, (hyper-personalization; drive n=1 powered by Cloud & Cognitive); driving multi-dimensions of business value with an integrated consumer-centric Front2BackTM (F2B) Digital Transformation, enabling Business Operations, Technology Transformation and Service Transformation, driven by IP assets. Under Nitin’s leadership, Mphasis set a remarkable growth turnaround, with a record of highest deal wins in the history of the company, re-defining benchmarks. His laser focus on quadra dimensional growth – consistent, profitable, competitive, and responsible, led to enhanced shareholder value. Nitin’s motto to accelerate value creation for customers, shareholders and employees builds a growth-focused culture within the company. Nitin is passionate about Innovation & Technology, and its impact on everyday lives, and works closely with many Fortune 500 companies in advising them on their transformation roadmap with an “Applied Technology” mindset. He was awarded the Gold Stevie for ‘Executive of the Year - Computer Services’, under the Management award category. He won the ‘2019 American Business Awards & International Business Awards – Gold Stevie’ under the ‘Tech Innovator of the Year – Services’ category. He is one of the first 250 CEOs globally across 26 countries who has committed to build an inclusive work environment, end disability inequality through business performance and create social and economic value of people living with disabilities across the world. Nitin is a founding member of Plaksha University in India, a new model of engineering education and research through collective philanthropy to transform higher education in India. He also serves as a founding Trustee of Ashoka University.