Jesse Greene ’75, former vice president of financial management and chief financial risk officer for IBM, and Jack Mitchell, chairman and CEO of retail stores Mitchells/Richards/Marshs and Wilkes Bashford, have joined Columbia Business School as executives in residence.
Greene is currently a senior fellow at the School’s Richard Paul Richman Center for Business, Law, and Public Policy and serves on the board of directors for Caterpillar. His areas of interest include US tax and energy policy, corporate governance and strategy, and risk management, as well as the education and development of leadership skills in young people.
Greene recently retired from IBM, where he was responsible for the identification, assessment, and monitoring of financial risks and the company’s Enterprise Risk Management Program. He began his career at the company in 1971 and has served as an engineer, tax attorney, and financial executive. In 1994, Greene left IBM to join Eastman Kodak as treasurer and later served as vice president of finance, acting CFO, then senior vice president of strategy and information technology. In 2000, he joined Compaq Computer Corporation as CFO and senior vice president of strategic planning before returning to IBM as vice president and treasurer in 2002.
Greene earned his MBA from Columbia Business School and his JD from Columbia Law School in 1975. He also holds degrees in mechanical engineering from New York University’s School of Engineering and Science.
Mitchell brings to the School extensive retail, customer service, and management experience. Mitchells/Richards/Marshs is a three-generation family business that operates men’s and women’s specialty stores in Connecticut, New York, and California. In 2003, Mitchell began speaking at events to share his “Hug Your Customer/Hug Your People” message for corporations including Morgan Stanley, Condé Nast, Payless, Nike, Starbucks, and Harvard University. He has appeared on numerous radio and TV shows and has been quoted in national magazines as a customer service and management expert. In April 2005, Inc. magazine listed Mitchell as one of “26 Most Fascinating Entrepreneurs.”
After completing a bachelor’s degree at Wesleyan University in 1961 and a master’s degree at the University of California, Berkeley, Mitchell joined the family business, Ed Mitchell, Inc., which was founded by his parents and later became Mitchells of Westport. Mitchell went on to acquire Richards of Greenwich, CT, Marshs of Huntington, Long Island, and Wilkes Bashford in San Francisco and Palo Alto, CA.
Among the first of its kind when it was founded nearly three decades ago, the Executives in Residence Program integrates senior executives into the life of the School. Current executives in residence include experts in media, investment banking, private equity, and management, from such companies as Goldman Sachs and McKinsey. These retired or semi-retired leaders also teach classes, participate in student-run conferences, and organize informal activities for students with common interests.
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