Leadership. It’s the key to success no matter what your field or industry. It navigates your company through the uncertainty of today’s ever-changing corporate waters and it empowers your workforce to be innovative and decisive. It is also the key factor behind Sir Howard Stringer’s remarkable success in the fast-paced world of technology and communications.
Praised for his charisma, humor and eloquence, Stringer is a rare and exceptional presence at the lecture podium. He addresses the extraordinary challenges facing business in the digital age, from the evolving landscape of the global marketplace to the nuts-and-bolts of managed competition and corporate re-engineering.
Stringer, Chairman of the Sony Corporation and formally President & CEO, currently serves as Representative Corporate Executive Officer, a member of the Sony Board of Directors, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Sony Corporation of America (SCA), as well as corporate head of Sony Corporation’s Entertainment Business Group. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Sony Music Entertainment and oversees Sony’s other music-related holdings in the U.S. He will relinquish the Chairman title and become Chairman of the Board of Directors of Sony Corporation effective upon Board approval following the annual shareholders meeting in June 2012.
He began his career at CBS in the 1970s as producer, director and writer of several ground-breaking CBS News specials, and later as executive producer of the award winning CBS Reports. Stringer’s work during this time earned him nine individual Emmy Awards. By 1981 he was Executive Producer of the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather and by 1984, Executive Vice President of CBS News. In 1986 he was named President of CBS News. During his two year term, CBS News developed 48 Hours and CBS This Morning. In August 1988 he was named President, CBS Broadcast Group, responsible for all the broadcast activities of CBS, Inc.
Serving as President of CBS from 1988 to 1995, he orchestrated the miraculous turnaround of the network from last place to first. His leadership was credited with dramatically strengthening all broadcast divisions of CBS, including one of the greatest coups in television history when he successfully convinced David Letterman to bring his late night show to CBS. Following his celebrated tenure at CBS, he was recruited by telephone giants Bell Atlantic, NYNEX and Pacific Telesis to head up Tele-TV, the bold start-up venture that sought to deliver interactive programming via the world’s telephone networks.
Stringer is a native of Cardiff, Wales who came to America amidst the turmoil of the 1960s. A man of remarkable character, he served two years in the US Army including one year in Vietnam, even though he was not yet an American citizen. His service earned him the U.S. Army Commendation Medal for meritorious achievement (1965-67). Sir Howard received the title of Knight Bachelor in the New Year Honours list of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on December 31, 1999.
Stringer is the recipient of numerous media and philanthropic awards including: The Visionary Award for Innovative Leadership in Media & Entertainment from The Paley Center for Media; Steven J. Ross Humanitarian Award from UJA-Federation of New York; First Amendment Leadership Award by the Radio & Television News Directors Foundation in Washington, D.C.; and was inducted into the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame in 1996.
Stringer holds a B.A. and an M.A. in modern history from Oxford University. He is the Chairman of the American Film Institute and is a trustee for Carnegie Hall, New York-Presbyterian Hospital and Teach for America.
He became a U.S. citizen in 1985. Sir Howard and his wife Jennifer have two children, David Ridley and Harriet Kinmond.
