Being a Terp Changemaker

Symposium Speaker Highlight – Steve Fludder

kcan410 — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 16:29:10 +0000

Steve Fludder, VP of Ecomagination

Steve Fludder, 48, and a 25-year GE veteran leads ecomagination, GE’s company-wide business strategy driving innovation and growth of profitable environmental solutions in a world where the environment and the economy have become inextricably linked. Ecomagination represented nine percent of GE’s total revenue in 2008 and grew, that year, by 21 percent.

Fludder brings to the assignment years of international leadership experience in Asia and the Middle East and his career spans GE’s portfolio of leading technology and infrastructure businesses.

Fludder joined GE Aircraft Engines as a design engineer and rose to lead GE’s CF34-3B regional jet engine program. In 1994, Fludder moved to Asia for a series of start-up and growth roles across multiple GE businesses, initially launching GE Aircraft Engine’s Marine & Industrial business in Hong Kong. In 1995 he moved to Jakarta and led this business across Southeast Asia. In 1998 he led GE Energy Services’ business in north Asia. Fludder was appointed General Manager of GE Energy Services for the Northeast USA in 1999. He returned to Shanghai in 2002 to lead the start up of GE Wind Energy in Asia. In 2003 he was promoted to CEO of GE Energy China, based in Beijing, and led the phenomenal growth of GE’s Energy and Oil & Gas businesses in this strategic market. In 2006 he was appointed Vice President of sales for GE Water & Process Technologies, and in 2007 he relocated the global commercial headquarters of this business to Dubai to drive international growth for this new GE platform. He was appointed to his current position in 2008.

Fludder was elected a GE company officer in 2006. He holds a Master of Science degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Bachelor of Science degrees from Providence College and Columbia University.

Spring Break!

kcan410 — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 18:06:11 +0000

Even though the university is on break, Terp Changemakers are still hard at work. With the symposium coming up March 26th and the fundraising deadline for the Film Festival fast approaching – Spring Break is more of an opportunity to catch-up then take it easy.

Back to the grind - Monday, March 23rd.

What is Social Entrepreneurship?

ddsafran — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 22:40:43 +0000

I like to think of social entrepreneurship as the love child between the for-profit & non-profit worlds. Social entrepreneurs are driven individuals who take market-based approaches to make a positive impact in the community. From an engineering perspective, I think specifically of technology that serves the most impoverished societies. However, transformative social change is not just about technology transfer; social entrepreneurship is relevant across all disciplines.

Other Definitions of Social Entrepreneurship:

PBS - ”A social entrepreneur identifies and solves social problems on a large scale.” (http://www.pbs.org/opb/thenewheroes/whatis/)

Ashoka – “Social entrepreneurs are individuals with innovative solutions to society’s most pressing social problems. They are ambitious and persistent, tackling major social issues and offering new ideas for wide-scale change.” (http://www.ashoka.org/social_entrepreneur)

NY Times – “A Social Solution, Without Going the Non-Profit Route” (Link)