Panel: Outsourcing
Topic: Cross-Border Outsourcing of Services: A win-win strategy?
American workers face direct global competition at almost every job level. White-collar jobs are increasingly migrating across borders joining lower-paid manufacturing jobs. What are the short and long-term implications of offshoring and outsourcing for the U.S. economy? What are the considerations for U.S. firms thinking about offshore outsourcing? What is the real story in terms of cost savings and competitiveness for these companies? What are the benefits to their shareholders and end customers?
PAUL E. ALMEIDA : Panelist
President, Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO
Paul E. Almeida is the president of the AFL-CIO’s Department for Professional Employees (DPE), a coalition of 25 national unions representing some 4 million highly skilled professional, technical and administrative support workers. Prior to joining DPE in 2001, Mr. Almeida served as president of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE), a position he held since 1994.
An engineer by profession, from 1971 through 1994, Mr. Almeida was employed by Stone and Webster Engineering Corporation where he worked as a senior electrical designer.
Mr. Almeida currently serves on several policy committees of the AFL-CIO including education and training, immigration policy, and legislation He was also involved in the National Policy Association’s project, “Crossing the Digital Divide to Digital Economic Opportunity,” which is examining workforce development issues related to the emergence of new, information-based industries.
Mr. Almeida has testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Small Business Committee on the Globalization of White Collar Jobs, the Maryland House of Delegates on Procurement: Services Rendered in Foreign Country – Prohibition. He has debated the issue of Offshoring American Jobs in numerous venues including: CNN’s Sunday Morning Show; The Economist and the World Affairs Council of Northern California; and a forum at MIT sponsored by The Indian Entrepreneur of Boston and the Indian American Political Forum for Political Education. Almeida also addressed the Technology Management Program and The Technology Management Education Association of George Mason University on “Offshore Outsourcing: Exporting Technical Jobs or Importing Value?”
RAYMOND E. VICKERY, JR : Panelist
President, Vickery International
Ray Vickery heads Vickery International, an international business consulting firm in Washington, D.C. focusing on US relations with South Asia. Mr. Vickery served as President Clinton's policy advisor when he returned to India in 2001 as a private citizen. Mr. Vickery also served the Clinton Administration as Assistant Secretary of Commerce, Trade Development, from 1993 through 1997. He was in charge of the Department's industry sector desks under Secretaries Brown, Kantor, and Daley and was a leader in implementing the Administration's National Export Strategy. As a part of that strategy, Mr. Vickery set up and supervised the Advocacy Center and the interagency Advocacy Network that advocated successfully projects with a U.S. export content of billions of dollars.
While at the Department of Commerce, he served as a member of the U.S.-India Economic Sub-commission, the Co-Chair of the U.S.-China Joint Committee on Commerce and Trade Business Development Working Group, Chair of the interagency Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee Environmental Trade Working Group, and the Secretary's representative on the Ex-Im Bank Board of Directors. Mr. Vickery also led infrastructure advocacy missions to India, China, Mexico, Pakistan, Kuwait, Turkey, Argentina, and Sri Lanka. He is the author of articles on the National Export Strategy, international trade, and U.S.-India commercial relations. Before joining the Clinton Administration, Mr. Vickery was the managing partner of the law firm of Hogan & Hartson's Virginia office where his practice included international technology licensing.
Mr. Vickery is a graduate of Duke University, was a Fulbright Scholar in South Asia, and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. He is an active member of the bars of the District of Columbia and Virginia and is admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court.
DR. ARUN MAHESHWARI : Panelist
CEO, CSC India
Arun Maheshwari is a pioneer in the outsourced services business in the US-India corridor and brings three decades of experience in business development and operations to his role as the CEO of CSC India. He started his career in the mid seventies at TCS, the largest India-based IT Services Company, as the leader of international marketing and large systems. In the mid eighties as the Head of IT at Continental Insurance he pioneered the concept of cross-border outsourcing, and shaped the market as the largest American client for Indian IT Services providers. In the nineties, he founded one of the first cross-border companies focused on IT Services based on domain knowledge (financial services). This company was acquired by CSC, an IT industry leader with about $12 billion in revenues, and Arun currently manages over 1000 professionals based in two world-class delivery centers in India. Mr. Maheshwari holds a Ph.D from Wharton and an MBA from Columbia Business School.
Josh Bivens joined the Economic Policy Institute in 2002. His areas of expertise include international trade, labor markets and macroeconomics. Some of his recent publications have been Shifting blame for manufacturing job loss: Effect of rising trade deficit shouldn't be ignored(2004), Mending Manufacturing(2003), The benefits of the dollar's decline: Maintaining an overvalued dollar means missed opportunity for U.S. economy and manufacturing and Rights Make Might: Ensuring workers' rights as a strategy for economic growth(2003).
He was an assistant professor of economics at Roosevelt University in Chicago for the previous year and has worked for the Congressional Research Service and as an independent consultant. His work focuses on international trade, labor markets, and macroeconomics.
Mr. Bivens has his Ph.D. in Economics from the New School for Social Research (2001) in New York and B.A. in Economics from the University of Maryland at College Park (1993)
MAX P. MICHAELS : Moderator
Managing Partner, CRYZTAL Capital
Max Michaels is the Managing Partner of CRYZTAL Capital, an investment group focused on outsourced services. He is the Chairman of The Magus Group, an outsourcing company serving multinationals from its delivery centers in India since 1989.
Max is the Chair of the TiE CEO Council for NY, NJ and CT. He is a corporate member of the US India Business Council, and has participated in its trade delegations to India. His views on Global Outsourcing have been featured in publications such as Business Today, Economic Times, Effective Executive and Nikkei National.
Max has spoken at various conferences organized by MIT, Wharton, NYU, Canadian Consulate, TiE, SAJA and Atlas Group.
Max brings over 17 years of experience in cross-border operations, business development and investments. He has worked in the London and New York offices of McKinsey & Co. He has also worked as an investment banker at Morgan Stanley. Along with Professor Ed Roberts of MIT he co-founded KnowledgeCube, a venture capital firm with operations in the US and Europe. He has also worked for five years in emerging markets such as India and South Africa.
Max has served on the Boards of several companies including DeepBridge, an IT company, Cirqit, a BPO company, MolecularWare, a company that won the first prize at the MIT entrepreneurship competition, and M-Brussels, a venture capital firm launched by Siemens and Belgacom.
Max's contributions to strategy and corporate finance have been applied at several Fortune 500 companies and have been featured in Financial Times, Journal of Corporate Finance, Strategic Management Journal, McKinsey on Strategy and 20/20 Foresight. His pioneering work on "Growth Options" was the 'Ultimate Winner' at McKinsey's Worldwide Practice Olympics. Max holds a Joint Masters Degree from MIT School of Engineering and Sloan School. He can be reached at mpm@CRYZTAL.com.
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