| BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE : JUNE 14, 1999 ISSUE | ||||||||
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| INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Lawrence Robert Ricciardi BORN Aug. 14, 1940, Bronx, N.Y. EDUCATION B.A. in literature, Fordham University, 1962. Received law degree from Columbia University in 1965 and was a Fulbright Teaching Fellow in Law at the University of Rome in 1965-66. CAREER After working at a New York law firm and for government agencies, Ricciardi joined American Express in 1973 as international counsel and served in a variety of executive positions during his 16-year-tenure. He followed American Express' then-CEO, Louis Gerstner, to RJR Nabisco in 1989 as general counsel. After a brief stint as president, he left to join Gerstner at IBM in 1995 as general counsel. FIRST EXPOSURE TO BUSINESS Father was an investor in four film-processing companies that were merged and taken public in 1961. He let his 18-year-old son sit in on all the discussions with the bankers, lawyers, and PR people. ''It was a great lesson.'' TECHNOLOGY Although his kids call him a ''techno-dolt,'' Ricciardi has taken a crash course in technology. Coming in to the office every day by 7:30, he was tutored in the basics of PCs. Having mastered Windows 95, he's on to Windows NT. An avid fan of the Internet, he takes brief breaks to surf the Web. ''I tell them to hold the calls. I get on the Web, and I'm off in cyberspace. It's like taking a walk.'' FAMILY Wife Lucy, retired former CFO at software maker Hyperion Solutions. Two sons: Andre, 30, writes fiction and does creative work for ad agencies, living in San Francisco; Niccol, 33, consultant and former managing director for Goldman Sachs in Asia, living in Kyoto, Japan. PASSIONS Collecting books, art, travel. Voracious reader, dives into a single topic exhaustively. Recently spent 18 months reading everything he could find on the Ottoman Empire. Now reading Islamic Tiles, by Venetia Porter. ''If I'm not absolutely crazy in the office, I read a book a day, on average.'' _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ BACK TO TOP |
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RELATED ITEMS Big Blue's Blunt Bohemian TABLE: Ricciardi's Mark on IBM RESUME: Lawrence Robert Ricciardi INTERACT E-Mail to Business Week Online | |||
