From 2001 to 2004, Mr. Johnson was the president of Targus Group International (TGI), the leading global provider of mobile computing solutions with sales of $488 million. (http://www.targus.com/) With offices in 36 geographies and sales in more than 150 countries, Targus designs and markets a broad range of notebook carrying casesand accessories for mobile computing consumers.
During his tenure as president of TGI, Mr. Johnson led a comprehensive restructuring of the business and grew EBITDA from a proforma loss of $2 million in 2000 to $42 million in 2004.
Prior to his promotion to president of Targus, Mr. Johnson served as managing director of Targus EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) and Asia-Pacific from 1997 to 2001. During this role, he resided in London, England.
Under Mr. Johnson’s management, Targus EMEA/Asia-Pacific’s sales increased from $25 million in 1997 to over $125 million in 2001. Targus EMEA received the Queen of England’s “Award for Enterprise,” in 1999 and 2000, one of the most prestigious business honors awarded by the Queen and one of the few companies to repeat as a winner of this award. In addition, Targus EMEA was awarded Best Vendor six times at Gartner Group’s Retail Vision trade show. Mr. Johnson began his career with Targus in 1995 as the sales director for the western region of the United States.
Prior to joining Targus, Mr. Johnson served as an associate at Montgomery Securities in San Francisco and as a senior analyst of mergers and acquisitions for InterMedia Partners.
Mr. Johnson continues to serve as an executive director on Targus Group International’s board of directors and as a member of the Young Presidents Organization. Mr. Johnson earned a bachelor’s degree from Brown University in Providence, R.I. and an Executive Masters of Business Administration (EMBA) from Pepperdine University, in Malibu, California in April 2005.
Mr. Johnson is a Member of the Board of Trustees for Choate Rosemary Hall and is a volunteer for the Teak Foundation in New York City.
Linda Tarr-Whelan, Demos Distinguished Senior Fellow on Women's Leadership, is currently writing a book on the topic. Demos is a network for ideas and action based in New York City. Ms. Tarr-Whelan has had a varied career as a nurse, management consultant, advocate, non-profit leader, communicator, union negotiator and government official at the State, national and international levels.
She served as Ambassador to the UN Commission on the Status of Women in the Clinton Administration and as the Deputy Assistant for Women's Concerns in the Carter white House. She was the first nurse appointed to these positions. Ladies Home Journal named her as one of the 50 most powerful women in Washington. She is a co-founder of the Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW), the Center for Women in Government at SUNY Albany, and Quantum Leaps, Inc.
Her policy experience also included a sub-cabinet appointment in New York State government, director of policy for a large public sector union and chief lobbyist for the National education Association. As CEO fo the Center for Policy Alternatives, the leading progressive policy and leadership center for the 50 states, she focused on women and the economy. She and her husband created a successful international management consultancy that worked with leaders of foundations, non-profits and international organizations.
Linda began her career as a nurse and holds a BSN from Johns Hopkins, an MS from the University of Maryland, and honorary PhDs from Chatham University in Pittsburg and Plymouth State University in New Hampshire. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing. Linda and Keith, who have two adult children and three grandchildren, live on St. Helena Island, SC.
Managing Partner, Cohen & Gresser LLP
Senior Advisor, United States
Lawrence T. Gresser is a founding partner in Gresser & Cohen, a Manhattan-based law firm serving clients in United States, Europe, Asia and Australia. Lawrence specializes in commercial litigation, corporate law, arbitration, and intellectual property.
He is a member of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York (Member, Committee on Private Investment Funds); American Bar Association; Federal Bar Council; New York Lawyers for the Public Interest (Member, Board of Directors).
Larry graduated from the University of Michigan, J.D., magna cum laude, 1986 and holds a BA from Columbia University.
Larry has been a frequent visitor to Africa and appreciates the elegant solution that ZanaAfrica offers as a lowest-cost solution for long-term poverty alleviation in Kenya, with the possibilities for sustainability through business and replication in other countries.
Whitney Tilson is the founder and co-manager of T2 Partners LLC, a group of value-oriented investment funds that includes: Tilson Growth Fund, L.P., Tilson Offshore Fund, Ltd., and T2 Qualified Fund, L.P.
Mr. Tilson has written a regular column on value investing for the Motley Fool Web site for nearly five years, has written for TheStreet.com, and teaches financial statement analysis and business valuation for The Dickie Group. He has been a guest on Lou Dobbs Moneyline and Wall $treet Week, and profiled by the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post. He serves on the Board of Directors of Cutter & Buck, a public company that designs and markets upscale sportswear.
Prior to launching his investment career in 1999, Mr. Tilson spent five years working with Harvard Business School Professor Michael E. Porter studying the competitiveness of inner cities and inner-city-based companies nationwide. Mr. Tilson and Professor Porter founded the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City where Mr. Tilson served as Executive Director. Mr. Tilson also led the effort to create ICV Partners, a national for-profit private equity fund aimed at minority-owned and inner-city businesses that raised $130,500,000.
Before business school, Mr. Tilson was a founding member of Teach for America, the national teacher corps, and later spent two years as a consultant at The Boston Consulting Group.
Mr. Tilson received an MBA with High Distinction from the Harvard Business School, where he was elected a Baker Scholar (top 5% of class), and graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College, with a bachelor’s degree in Government.
Mr. Tilson spent much of his childhood in Tanzania and Nicaragua (his parents met and married in the Peace Corps and have lived in Ethiopia and Kenya for the past eight years). Mr. Tilson serves on the Board of the US arm of the Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) Fistula Hospital and is Vice Chairman of the Board of the KIPP Academy, a charter school in the Bronx. He lives in New York City with his wife and three daughters.
