Richard Lechner of IBM

"What we hope is, at IBM, is that through our Smarter Planet Initiative, by making the macro system smarter through the use of technology, that we can fundamentally change the way the world works.” – Richard Lechner

In this episode of On Paper, Richard Lechner, Vice President, IT Optimization, shares his thoughts on investing in sustainability for infrastructure, operations and industry solutions, as well as IBM's Project Big Green and Smarter Planet initiative.

Rich Lechner was named Vice President of IBM's newly formed IT Optimization business unit in March, 2007. In his current role, Mr. Lechner oversees an extensive portfolio of solutions that combine hardware, software and IBM services to help IBM customers simplify, better manage and do more with their existing infrastructures. As part of this, he is responsible for IBM's virtualization, grid and platform management offerings.

Prior to this role, Mr. Lechner has held a number of business leadership positions at IBM. From November, 2005, Mr. Lechner served as Vice President of IBM Virtualization where he was responsible for overseeing and growing the industry's largest and broadest portfolio of software, server and storage virtualization solutions. From 2004 through late 2005, he served as Vice President of Marketing for IBM's Storage Systems Group where he was responsible for IBM's product management strategy for the complete line of hardware and software storage products. Prior to that, Mr. Lechner was IBM's Vice President, Marketing and Sales, for Enterprise Servers within IBM Systems Group, including its flagship IBM eServer zSeries (System z) mainframe portfolio from 1999 through 2003.

Once again Earth Day means business. Top environmentally-minded business leaders and the green movement's brightest thinkers will convene in Laguna Niguel, California on April 20-22, 2009 for Fortune magazine's second Brainstorm: GREEN Conference.

Fortune, the world's premier business magazine, is also the quality leader in executive conferences. Extending the magazine's cutting-edge content and exclusive insider access Fortune Conferences bring together the world's business people with government officials and thought leaders. A big-picture focus, innovative formats, peer-level interaction across industries, and attention to detail guarantee a world-class experience for every participant.

A graduate of the Ivy League's Columbia University, Maureen Kedes spent several years as a freelance public relations and advertising writer, and as spokesperson for several major corporations including: Toshiba, Yamaha, Sharp Electronics, Con Agra Foods, and Oxford University Press. Ms. Kedes also worked as a Test Marketing Director at CBS Television and also recently served as Sr. VP of Public Relations at Fortune Broadcasting in West Hollywood.