Merrill Lynch names new CEO

John Thain

Merrill Lynch has appointed NYSE CEO and former Goldman Sachs president John Thain as their new CEO. Mr. Thain will replace Stan O’Neal who was dismissed in the wake of a $7.9B write-down related to the “Subprime slime” that has been sticking to executives. Mr. Thain is currently scheduled to speak at the Potomac Officers Club in January. Hopefully Mr. Thain will maintain his planned trip to Washington so that executives here can have a chance to hear from him in person.

XM Satellite shareholders approved the deal by voting overwhelmingly to approve the proposed merger. The deal would require Sirius to pay 4.6 shares for each XM share. The final approval rests in the hands of the FCC. A tough requirement since the FCC had previously stated its opposition along with a number of consumer groups.

Mark Ein

Local investor Mark Ein seems to be close to both our news items today in that he is on the board of XM Satellite and has also worked directly for John Thain while at Goldman. Ein, who we reached for comment was not surprised by Thain’s appointment and said “John was always a great source of wisdom”. Thain is distinguished by the fact that he took the NYSE public and engineered the merger with Euronext, the European group of exchanges. Mr. Thain was chosen over Larry Fink, head of Blackrock and long suspected of being named successor to Stan O’Neal.

David Young

ExecutiveBiz Spotlight: David Young

Our ExecutiveBiz Spotlight falls on David Young, who, along with his partner Jodi Johnson has built Oberon Associates into $48 million federal IT services company in a relatively short span of time.

John Garing, CIO event

Meet John Garing, Chief Information Officer of the United States Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA). Register for this December 6th ExecutiveBiz event.

What do you think?

Our local executives are bullish in their hiring. According to our survey, hiring continues to increase. Be sure to take this weeks survey on the subprime problems here.

Looking to hire?

Be sure to visit the continually improving Web 2.0 job board offered by ExecutiveBiz.

Best of the ExecutiveBiz Blog

• Media and Bloggers Find Real Stuff, not Fluff at Web 2.0 Conference
  November 14, 2007 by Brian Lustig
  As ExecutiveBiz The New New Internet Conference panelist Brad Feld reflected in his post-event blog, many of his Silicon Valley friends rarely stray from the “startup center of the universe.” In mingling and engaging with Conference speakers and attendees at the DC event, it did not take long for Feld, Managing Director at Foundry Group and Mobius Venture Capital, to realize how far markets such as DC have come as an incubator of innovation and talent.
• For political candidates, Web 2.0 getting a little Trippi
  November 8, 2007 by Brian Lustig
  While the Internet may not quite be the great equalizer when it comes to political campaigns pitting heavyweight candidates against underdogs, Politics 2.0 has certainly caused front-runners to sweat a few buckets.

Read and comment these posts and more at blog.executivebiz.com

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FightNight 2007

Over 2.000 attended last week’s FightNight event at the Washington Hilton. FightNight was able to obtain an exception to allow cigar smoking inside the ballroom. Some of the notables that attended included: BET Founder Bob Johnson, DC Mayor Fenty, Former DC Mayor Williams, Actor Chris Tucker, Gen. Peter Pace, Rep. Jim Moran, Ken Bajaj, Jim Kimsey, MC Hammer, among many others. Check out our exclusive pictures below.

DC Mayor Fenty, BET Founder Bob Johnson with former Mayor Williams
Mayor Fenty speaking with Former Mayor Williams	Mayor Fenty and Bob Johnson catch up
Redskins Cheerleaders	Rep. Jim Moran
Actor Chris Tucker	Viget Labs Founder Brian Williams and MC Hammer
Joe Robert, Mayor Fenty and Quincy Jones

Youth Leadership Foundation (YLF) Annual Spirit of Service Award Dinner

On November 15, 2007 please join the Youth Leadership Foundation (YLF) as they honor Ted Leonsis of AOL and the Washington Capitals at this year’s Annual Spirit of Service Award Dinner at The Fairmont. As a successful businessman and generous philanthropist Mr. Leonsis truly exemplifies the strong character that YLF promotes. He is a role model for today’s youth and an inspiration to many. The evening will benefit YLF, whose mission is to serve disadvantaged youth from Washington’s inner city by boosting academic performance while developing their character.

Event Details:
Thursday, November 15, 2007
6:30 PM Cocktail Reception
7:30 PM Dinner & Award Program
The Fairmont Washington, DC (2401 M Street, NW)
Business Attire

27th Annual Kidney Ball benefiting the National Kidney Foundation
Stir It Up!
An Evening with Patti LaBelle
November 17, 2007
The Hilton Washington
1919 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Cocktails & Silent Auction at 6:30 pm
Dinner at 8:00 pm
Live Auction at 9:15 pm
Entertainment at 10:00 pm
Black Tie

Braintech, Inc., appoints Russell Lewis, Tien Wong to Board of Directors

Tien Wong

VANCOUVER, Canada (Nov. 14, 2007) -- Russell S. Lewis of Leesburg, Va., and S. Tien Wong of Chevy Chase, Md., have been appointed to the Board of Directors of Braintech, Inc. (BRHI:OB).

“I am extremely pleased to have such entrepreneurs and business leaders of the caliber of Rusty Lewis and Tien Wong join the Board of Braintech, Inc., " Chairman of the Board and CEO Rick Weidinger, a resident of the Washington, D.C. area, said. “They have excelled for years in their business endeavors and bring tremendous expertise and experience to our company."

ExecutiveBiz works in partnership with The Potomac Officers Club. The Potomac Officers Club is a non-profit board of trade dedicated to improving business conditions in the Greater Washington area. For more infomation, please visit www.potomacofficersclub.com.

Thanks, Potomac Officers Club Sponsors

J.D. Kathuria

Message from the Editor

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J.D. Kathuria
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