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THE UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON ALUMNI MAGAZINE

Toys and Tech: Alumni CEOs Share Secrets at Lunch Series

Three highly respected companies in the fields of business technology and retail will be represented by their top "dawgs" as the 2002 CEO Lunch Series continues in Seattle. All are UW business school alumni who have recently led their companies through tough economic times.

Toys 'R' Us CEO and Chair John Eyler, '69.
Toys 'R' Us CEO and Chair John Eyler, '69.

Toys 'R' Us CEO and Chair John Eyler, '69, will speak at noon, Tuesday, March 12. Toys 'R' Us is the second largest toy store chain in the world and the largest online toy retailer. Two years ago, Eyler, formerly the CEO of FAO Schwarz, was tapped to head the company, which was then facing serious business challenges. Under Eyler's leadership, New Jersey-based Toys 'R' Us has revamped its online presence, formed new partnerships and embarked on a vast remodeling program, catching the attention of investors.

Suzan DelBene, '90, CEO of Nimble Technology.
Suzan DelBene, '90, CEO of Nimble Technology

Suzan DelBene, '90, CEO of Nimble Technology, will speak at noon, Tuesday, April 2. Seattle-based Nimble enables businesses to glean valuable information from its broad array of customer, financial, research and product databases. Nimble Technology was recognized as one of the top 25 companies in the Northwest for 2001.

Evan Kaplan, '89, president, CEO, chair and co-founder of Aventail Corp.
Evan Kaplan, '89, president, CEO, chair and co-founder of Aventail Corp.

Evan Kaplan, '89, president, CEO, chair and co-founder of Aventail Corp., will speak at noon, Tuesday, May 7. In recent years Aventail made a major shift of focus from writing and selling Internet software to providing customer services that allow secure, "anywhere" access to their clients' virtual private networks. Aventail is based in Seattle.

The lunch talks, which are open to the public, are held in the Columbia Tower Club of the Bank of America Tower, 701 5th Ave., in downtown Seattle. Reservations are required and the cost for each lunch is $30 for UWAA members, $35 for non-members. For more information or to register, go to or call (206) 543-3839.

The CEO Lunch Series is one of the many services resulting from the partnership between the UW Alumni Association and the UW Business School. "The goal is to take the best that the business school and the alumni association have to offer and create a single entity that represents all business school alumni," says Helen Rockey, '78, '80, chair of the partnership's joint advisory council. The effort began more than a year ago, the brainchild of Business School Dean Yash Gupta and former UWAA Board Presidents Geoff Vernon, '65, and Trish Bostrom, '72.

Chris Marx, '95, who coordinates the alumni efforts of the business school and UWAA, noted that this year's CEO Lunch Series highlights alumni speakers. "We're really proud of our alumni and delighted to have such distinguished CEOs from our own ranks," she says.


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