We all hear about high performing Pakistanis in their respective industries and areas all around us but we rarely get to hear about success stories for Pakistanis as a community. There will be an opportunity to do exactly that this weekend at the OPEN Forum 2008.
OPEN, the Organization of Pakistani Entrepreneurs of North America (see earlier post on OPEN here), will hold its 5th Annual Business Conference, called OPEN Forum 2008 in Palo Alto, CA, on June 14, 2008. The theme of this year’s conference is “Leading through Change.”
Past conferences have attracted business and social leaders such as Imran Khan, Fmr. California Gov. Jerry Brown, Pervez Musharaf and Syed Babar Ali, Founder of LUMS. This year the speakers and panelists are no less impressive.
A star attraction is this year’s keynote speakers Gov. Howard Dean, Chairman of the Democratic National Committee and former US Presidential candidate. But the other speakers in teh lineup are equally inspiring. They include Green Energy poster child Steve Westly and Mike Moritz of Sequioa Capital who was #1 on the 2007 Forbes list of top Venture Capitalists and was the man behind upstarts like Google, EBay, YouTube etc.
The conference agenda also features some leading lights of the Pakistani-American community. Prominent amongst them are Munawar Hidayatallah, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer at Allis-Chalmers Energy, and Sohaib Abbasi the Chairman and CEO of Informatica and who spent 20 years at Oracle Corporation where he was most recently a member of the Oracle’s executive committee and was senior vice president of two major divisions, Oracle Tools and Oracle Education. His gift to Stanford Univeristy created the Sohaib and Sara Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies at Stanford.
These are just some of the luminaries that will be brought together in a jam-packed program of intellectual stimulation and entrepreneurial inspiration. If you are planning to be in the Bay Area this weekend, then this is an event not to miss. If you are not there, follow-up on the proceedings at the conference website. Conference will be held at the SAP Campus, 3410 Hillview Rd, Palo Alto, CA; all day, Saturday, June 14, 2008 (8:30 AM to 6:15 PM).
Sohaib Abbasi is one of the great Pakistani success stories. While his success as one of Oracle’s earliest employees and corporate leaders is commendable, the charitable works by him and his wife, including for opening schools in Pakistan are even more impressive. As mentioned, he has also endowed (I think with a 2 million dollar gift) the Islamic Studies Program at Stanford University. This is really an impressive Pakistani.
Unrelated: I can see Owais right now; watching the game and not being able to wait to write a post about Pakistan’s impending victory!! Enjoy the match!
Go for it OPEN, all the power to the Pakistani Business community in USA to make a difference for the betterment of Pakistan & its international interests.
P.S – Guys, please do not crib openly about whats so good about the US and whats so bad about Pakistan! Remember, you all have to come back one day or the other!
RESPECT YOUR COUNTRY ALL THE TIME AND PEOPLE WILL RESPECT YOU IN RETURN!
I hope you will video record the presentations and put them up on the web.
Wow. Thats impressive. You have some real heavy hitters in the lineup there. Getting someone like Howard Dean at the height of the election season is quite something. And, also, Mike Moritz is a huge huge name in this business. Wish I could be there!