Monday, November 13, 2006

Ogilvy and Louise Kehoe as RiOS media advisors

We have been getting some great help with our media work on the Summit from Louise Kehoe, a longtime presence in the Silicon Valley media landscape. She established the Financial Times' editorial presence in the Valley and in the process became one of the best-known and respected technology journalists in the region. In her 25 years in the Valley, Louise has interviewed everybody there is to interview.
She is now at Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide and together with Luma Khatib has given us a probono hand in shaping our message for the Summit. Thank you, Louise and Luma!

Jim Fruchterman in the San Jose Mercury News

Jim Fruchterman, the Founder and CEO of the Benetech Foundation (www.benetech.org) and a participant in the Summit's morning panel, published an op-ed piece in today's San Jose Mercury News, entitled "Build great companies, then help build a great world." In it, he argues that "the same skills and sophistication we use to build great companies can and must be applied to the world's biggest problems. One great way to explore how you can apply your business and technical skills is to link up with other like-minded people." The Silicon Valley Challenge Summit is one opportunity to do just that.

Fruchterman received the MacArthur Genius Award for his work with Benetech, which focuses on literacy, human rights and landmine detection.

We especially like Benetech's business model: "sustainable technology solutions for
social needs with a focus on ROH - Return on Humanity." ROH instead of ROI - how might this redefine the market-driven focus of especially corporations working in the ICTD area?