Outsourcing and Offshoring: One Practitioner's Perspective

This seminar is part of SPRIE's Fall 2003 series on "High-Tech Regions and the Globalization of Value Chains."

Eric Benhamou is the chairman of the board of directors of 3Com Corporation, of Palm Inc. and of PalmSource, Inc. He served as chief executive officer of 3Com Corporation from September 1990 until December 31, 2000. In 1981, Benhamou co-founded Bridge Communications, an early networking pioneer, and was vice president of engineering until its merger with 3Com in 1987. Before joining Bridge Communications, he worked at Zilog, Inc. as project manager, software engineering manager and design engineer.

Benhamou holds honorary doctoral degrees from Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Widener University, Western Governors University, and the University of South Carolina. He has a master of science degree in electrical engineering from Stanford University and a Diplome d'Ingenieur from Ecole Nationale Superieure d'Arts et Metiers, Paris.

Benhamou currently serves as chairman of the board of Cypress Semiconductor and as a member of the board of Legato. He serves on the board of directors of privately held companies, Intransa and Atrica. He serves on the board of the New America Foundation, a Washington DC-based think tank. Benhamou serves on the executive committee of TechNet and of the Computer Science and Technology Board (CSTB). In addition, Benhamou is a champion of Smart Valley II, an initiative for deployment of state-of-the art information technology in Silicon Valleys health care, transportation, and education to enhance the quality of life for community members.