January 12, 2005
Whitley Auditorium, 3:30 – 4:45 p.m.
Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, and President of Raleigh-based software company Red Hat, Matthew Szulik has been a leading software executive for more than 20 years. He has become one of the most visible proponents of the open-source movement—the concept of distributing computer software in which the source code is freely available for others to view, amend and adapt—while positioning Linux software provider Red Hat to be the defining technology company of the 21st century. Since joining Raleigh, N.C.-based Red Hat in 1998, Szulik has led the company through successful public stock offerings in 1999 and 2000 and has helped Red Hat develop global partnerships with Oracle, IBM, Dell, Intel and HP to deliver open-source technology. Szulik was recognized by CIO Magazine in 2002 with its 20/20 Vision Award, which honors outstanding creators, marketers and practitioners of information technology.