Overview
James C. Morgan ran Applied Materials Inc. for nearly three decades — one of the longest tenures of any Fortune 500 CEO. The company was near bankruptcy when he joined; when he retired as Chairman in 2009 Applied was a multi-billion dollar global leader with more than 15,000 employees. Quite an achievement for a former Cayuga, Indiana farm boy who grew up herding cows, harvesting corn, and working in his family’s vegetable cannery. Along the way, Jim collected and tested his management principles in such realms as the military, the diversified conglomerate Textron, in venture capital, on corporate boards and government commissions, and in the non-profit arena. He has served on Boards of the Nature Conservancy. Recently he and his wife, Becky, founded the Northern Sierra Partnership, which fosters collaboration among conservation organizations in order to preserve and restore one of the world’s great
mountain ranges.
Jim also served.as Vice Chair of President George W. Bush’s President’s Export Council, an adviser to President Bill Clinton and Congress on U.S.-Pacific trade and investment policy, and The National Committee on Semiconductors for H.W. Bush. He has BME and MBA from Cornell University, and he co-authored the 1991 book, Cracking the Japanese Market: Strategies for Success in the New Global Economy.
Among Jim’s many recognitions are the Semiconductor Industries Award, the IEEE Robert N. Noyce Medal; the Silicon Valley Leadership Group Lifetime Achievement; the Global Humanitarian Award; and the National Medal of Technology and Innovation by President Bill Clinton.
His new book, Applied Wisdom: Bad News Is Good News and Other Insights That Can Help Anyone Be a Better Manager (November, 2016) is published by Chandler Jordan Publishing.