GRADUATE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
GEORGE F. BAKER FOUNDATION
Richard L. Nolan
Philip Condit Endowed Chair Professor of Management]
University of Washington, and William Barclay Harding Professor
of Business Administration (Emeritus)
Harvard Business School
Boston, MA 02163 USA
FAX: 617-495-8736
Phone: 617-495-6417
June 16, 2009
To: Whom it may concern
Subject: Recommendation of Richard L. Crandall
It is my pleasure to recommend Richard Crandall to you as a unique talent in the fast changing field of Information Technology. I had known of Rick for many years through his reputation in the field as an effective CEO and leading industry “thinker.” During the past 5 years, I have observed first-hand Rick’s leadership as a board member and Non-Executive Chairman of the Novell Board of Directors.
As Chairman of the Novell Governance Committee, our committee was unanimous in selecting Rick as our Board Chair. He has performed effectively as an industry expert, strategy and industry-positioning advisor, and counsel to the CEO. Our Board has been uniformly impressed with Rick’s deep understanding of what makes a high tech software company successful, and an insightful overseer of our executive’s team execution.
Rick has continued to maintain his deep understanding of the IT industry through his consortium of IT industry CEO’s that he has organized, and chairs. His skill in peer collaboration is exceptional, and he invariably brings out the best thinking in the group, as well as providing good operational execution sense to the discussion.
I have always found my interactions with Rick as challenging, and extremely productive in respect to the diverse subjects at hand.
Sincerely,
Richard L. Nolan