The Salina Area Chamber of Commerce announced the featured speaker for the 2017 annual banquet on Friday.
Carly Fiorina, Chairman and CEO, Hewlett-Packard Company (1999-2005), best-selling author, and challenger for the 2016 Republican Presidential Nomination, will be the featured speaker at the Salina Area Chamber of Commerce Annual Banquet and Membership Meeting, which takes place on Wednesday, February 8, 2017. The banquet will be held in the Arena of the Salina Bicentennial Center beginning at 6:30 p.m. A membership networking reception will be held from 5 to 6:15 p.m. in Heritage Hall of the Bicentennial Center.
“We are extremely excited to have Carly Fiorina as the featured speaker for our Annual Banquet,” stated Brian Richardson, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Chamber. “Not only is she one of the top female executives in the United States, she has a great message regarding how human potential is a limitless and a uniquely powerful resource that can be unlocked. We are looking forward to an enlightening and entertaining evening.”
The banquet will be held on the floor of the arena (tables of eight which includes dinner). Tickets for Chamber members are $60 per person for the banquet. Tickets for non-members are $85 per person for the banquet. Reservations can be made by Chamber members now through November 30 by calling the Chamber office ticket hotline at 785-827-9310, ext. 123, stopping by the Chamber office, 120 W. Ash, or email Sandy Cole at [email protected]. Tickets will go on sale to the general public beginning December 1. Tickets will be reserved on a first-come, first-serve basis.
A limited number of sponsorships are available. For details regarding the cost and amenities of the sponsorships, persons can contact the Chamber office.
The evening will consist of remarks by outgoing Chairman Brian Richardson and incoming Chairman Guy Walker, a brief review of the Chamber’s accomplishments in 2016, and the address by Carly Fiorina.
For more information on the banquet and Carly Fiorina, people can go to the Chamber’s website at SalinaKansas.org.
Carley Fiorina Bio:
Carly Fiorina is a true leader and a seasoned problem-solver. She is a passionate, articulate advocate for conservative policies that advance economic growth, entrepreneurship, innovation, and effective leadership. Through extensive experience she has learned that human potential is a limitless and uniquely powerful resource that can be unlocked, inspired and focused on worthy goals and common purpose. She knows that conservative principles, applied in a twenty first century context, are the most effective way to unleash this potential for positive change in communities, organizations of all kinds and our nation.
Being underestimated is nothing new to Fiorina. She started her career filing and answering the phones as a secretary in a 9-person real estate firm. She then joined AT&T in an entry-level sales position. Fifteen years later she led AT&T’s spinout of Lucent Technologies and then Lucent’s North American operations. In 1999, she was recruited to Hewlett-Packard where she would become the first woman to lead a Fortune 50 business and allow HP to survive the worst technology recession in 25 years. In her six years as chairman and CEO of Hewlett-Packard, Hewlett-Packard not only survived the dot-com bust—they became the leader in every market segment and every product category. HP doubled revenue to over $80 billion, quadrupled the growth rate to 6.5 percent, and tripled innovation to 15 patents a day. While household names went out of business, Fiorina saved 80,000 jobs and would grow the company to 160,000 jobs. Carly transformed HP from a lurching bureaucracy into an agile, tech industry leader. As a result, HP grew from the 28th to 11th largest company in the United States during her tenure.
Fiorina has always believed in giving back to the community and has been an active participant in government and politics. She has served in a large number of advisory and policy-making positions for national and state governments, including as chairman of the external advisory board for the Central Intelligence Agency; as chairman of the American Conservative Union Foundation, which annually hosts CPAC (the largest annual gathering of conservatives) and was founded by William F. Buckley and others; as chairman of Good360, the world’s largest product philanthropy organization; and as chairman of Opportunity International, a Christian-based organization that lifts millions out of poverty through microfinance.
Taking on tough challenges has been a hallmark of Fiorina’s life. In 2010, she didn’t shy away from a challenging run for the U.S. Senate when she took on one of Washington’s most entrenched liberals, Barbara Boxer, from the deep blue state of California. She earned more votes than any Republican nationwide that election-cycle and raised over $25 million dollars in 12 months. On the campaign trail, Fiorina became known for her proud adherence to conservative philosophy and her mastery of the issues.
During the hard-fought battle for votes and ideas, Fiorina was also battling breast cancer. At the same time, she and her husband Frank suffered the terrible tragedy of the loss of their younger daughter, Lori. Throughout these difficult times, they were sustained by the redemptive power of their Christian faith and the strength of their family. Fiorina has many blessings but the most important are her husband, their oldest daughter Tracy and her two granddaughters. They inspire her to make a positive difference every day.
In 2015, Fiorina announced she would seek the Republican nomination for President of the United States, capturing national attention for her platform of citizen government. She was credited for changing the landscape of the Republican field, winning debates, and fighting for conservative principles that lift people up and recognize all Americans have the right to fulfill their God-given potential.
In her best-selling memoir, Tough Choices, Fiorina credits her parents with providing an unshakable foundation for her life. Her mother taught her: “What you are is God’s gift to you. What you make of yourself is your gift to God.” Her father, a strict constructionist jurist who would eventually sit on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, taught her conservative philosophy and the importance of fighting with integrity and courage for one’s beliefs. Her lifetime of experience has taught Fiorina that the highest calling of leadership is to unlock the potential in others.