Presentation: Culture in a Material World

Track: Building Great Engineering Cultures

Location: Seacliff ABC

Duration: 11:50am - 12:40pm

Day of week: Wednesday

Level: Beginner

Persona: General Software

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Abstract

W.L. Gore & Associates believes that a strong company culture is more than just a nice thing to have. They believe culture drives positive business results.

The company is well known for its distinctive culture, which has been detailed in numerous case studies and books, including The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell, The Future of Management by Gary Hamel and Bill Breen, and Reinventing Organizations by Frederic Laloux.

Gore invests significant time, energy and resources into nurturing the right environment, knowing that this foster innovation, contributes to customer engagement and yields a company culture in which highly motivated people thrive.

In the presentation, you’ll learn about the principles, beliefs and practices that were put in place by the founders and are still key to Gore’s successful growth nearly 60 later, leading to more than 2,000 patents and inclusion in the U.S. Great Place to Work list every year from its inception in 1998.

Speaker: Linda Elkins

Leader Silicon Valley Innovation Center

Linda Elkins’ career spans 17 years, where she’s served in multiple roles at W.L. Gore. In the Sunnyvale, CA based Medical Products Division, she led new product development teams from ideation to commercial launch; drove technical resourcing for manufacturing engineering; and owns 2 patents, including work on endovascular repair of aneurysms approximate to side branch vessels. She made a short career pivot as a professional triathlete, where she competed in Ironman Hawaii multiple times as well as several International World Championship races. Linda earned an MS in both Biomedical and Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan, and a BS in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame.

Linda dedicated the past 2 years to the creation and launch of the Silicon Valley Innovation Center, where she took it from its original concept to the facility’s execution, completion and launch. Now, she’s working to integrate complementary emerging technologies that expand Gore’s capabilities to create new product opportunities within the Silicon Valley ecosystem, advancing Gore’s mission of transforming industries and improving lives. Linda is particularly looking to develop relationships with partners in academia, the startup community, and venture capital, pursuing strategic partnerships in Gore’s specific focus areas.

Find Linda Elkins at

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