Dr. Willy Shih
Professor of Management Practice, Harvard Business School
Dr. Willy Shih is a Professor of Management Practice, having joined Technology and Operations Management in January 2007. He teaches in the second year elective curriculum, as well as the Executive Education program.
Prior to joining the Harvard Business School, Dr. Shih spent 18 years in the computer industry, 14 at IBM, mostly in product development. He subsequently managed Digital Equipment Corporation’s Alpha microprocessor-based engineering workstation business, and its Windows NT and UNIX marketing operations. This was followed by a stint at Silicon Graphics Computer Systems, where he led marketing for the Advanced Systems Division and its high-performance computing systems and advanced graphics systems.
From the computer industry, Dr. Shih moved into consumer electronics. From 1997 until early 2005, he was president of the Consumer Digital unit at Eastman Kodak where he oversaw the establishment and growth of the consumer digital camera and associated consumables and service businesses to the first $1 B in revenue. Most recently, he was an Executive Vice-President at Thomson, based in Paris, France, where he was co-head of the Technology Group. He oversaw Corporate Research, Intellectual Property & Licensing, and two smaller businesses.
Dr. Shih is an experienced practitioner in the field of intellectual property, having structured numerous IP licensing programs, with work in license negotiations and litigation. Dr. Shih has S.B. degrees in both Chemistry and Life Sciences from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley. He serves on the board of directors of Atheros Communications, Inc., Santa Clara, CA, Singapore registered Flextronics International, and he is the Non-executive Chairman of QD Vision, Inc., Watertown, MA.