Howard Stringer

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Sir Howard Stringer
Born	1942 Cardiff, Wales
Occupation	Chairman and CEO, Sony Corporation

Sir Howard Stringer (born 1942) is a British-American businessman and Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Sony Corporation. Previously he was chief executive of Sony Corporation of America before being promoted to the highest post.

Born in Cardiff, Wales, and educated at Oundle School and Merton College, Oxford University where he earned BA and MA degrees in modern history, Stringer moved to the USA in 1965 to work for CBS. He was drafted after six weeks in the US^[1] to serve in Vietnam^[2], earning the U.S. Army Commendation Medal for meritorious achievement. Stringer worked as a journalist, producer and senior executive for 30 years for CBS, including as President from 1988 to 1995.

He became Chairman and CEO of TELE-TV, a media and technology company formed by Bell Atlantic, NYNEX and Pacific Telesis in February 1995, and joined Sony in April 1997, becoming Chairman and CEO of Sony Corporation of America in 1998. He continues to head the American subsidiary after being promoted to CEO of the parent company in mid-2005. As of November 2006, Sony's stock has underperformed the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq, as well as competitors Matsushita and Phillips, though it has outperformed Microsoft, which is a recent entrant into the consumer electronics market. Stringer's performance has been called into question based on stock performance as well as numerous missteps by Sony in relation to digital copy-prevention snafus, the very expensive PlayStation 3, and significant problems in manufacturing safe and reliable laptop batteries.

Sir Howard is notable for being the first foreign-born CEO of a major Japanese electronics corporation. At the time of his appointment, Sony was facing steep competition from rivals such as Matsushita and Samsung, and challenges in converging its media production with its traditional electronics business. He is credited with pushing Digital Rights Management (DRM) initiatives onto their computer and electronics products. It is widely believed that he will focus on restructuring the company while allowing the presidents of each division to manage their divisions autonomously. [3]

He became a US citizen in 1985, but also maintains a British residence and British citizenship.

He was awarded a knighthood in the New Year Honours list released in December 1999.

His brother, Rob Stringer, heads up Sony BMG in the UK.

He and his wife, Dr. Jennifer A.K. Patterson (Lady Stringer), who practices dermatology in New York City, have two children, David Ridley (now at Oundle) and Harriet Kinmond (at the Dragon).

Appeared on Conversations with Michael Eisner on CNBC in 2006. [4]

[edit] Notes

1. ↑  Stahl, Leslie. "Sir Howard Stringer: Sony's Saviour?" CBS News, 8 January 2006
2. ↑  Griffiths, Katherine. "Sir Howard Stringer, US Head of Sony: Sony's Knight." The Independent, 18 September 2004