William J. "Bill" Amelio is an American business executive who was the CEO of

Lenovo Lenovo Group Limited, trading as Lenovo ( , zh, c=联想, p=Liánxiǎng), is a Chinese multinational technology company specializing in designing, manufacturing, and marketing consumer electronics, personal computers, software, servers, conv ...

. He was also the CEO of

Avnet Avnet, Inc. is a distributor of electronic components headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, named after Charles Avnet, who founded the company in 1921. After its start on Manhattan's Radio Row, the company became incorporated in 1955 and began t ...

Education

Amelio earned a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

chemical engineering Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of the operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials ...

from

Lehigh University Lehigh University (LU), in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, United States, is a private university, private research university. The university was established in 1865 by businessman Asa Packer. Lehigh University's undergraduate programs have been mixed ...

. He also holds a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

in Management from

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

, where he was a

Sloan Fellow The Sloan Fellows program is a middle and senior-career master's degree program in general management and leadership offered at MIT, Stanford University, and London Business School (LBS). Initially supported by a grant from Alfred P. Sloan, fo ...

Career

Amelio began his career with

IBM Corporation International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is a publicly traded company ...

in 1979 and worked his way up to General Manager Worldwide Operations, Distribution and Reengineering of the Personal Computer Division before leaving for AlliedSignal in 1997. Between 2000 and 2001, Amelio was Executive President and Chief Operating Officer of

NCR Corporation NCR Voyix Corporation, previously known as NCR Corporation and National Cash Register, is a global software, consulting and technology company providing several professional services and Electronics, electronic products. It manufactured Self-c ...

's Retail Solutions, Financial Solutions, Worldwide Customer Service and Systemedia businesses, responsible for $5 billion in revenue and 27,000 employees worldwide. He arrived at NCR after a stint with

Honeywell International Honeywell International Inc. is an American public company, publicly traded, multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. It primarily operates in four are ...

Inc. (formerly

AlliedSignal AlliedSignal, Inc. was an American aerospace, automotive and engineering company, created through the 1985 merger of Allied Corp. and The Signal Companies. It purchased Honeywell for $14.8 billion in 1999, and adopted the Honeywell name and iden ...

). Between 1999 and 2000 he was the company's President and CEO in charge of Transportation and Power Systems. Amelio, who started with the firm in 1997, was initially responsible for Turbocharging Systems and reestablished AlliedSystems as the industry leader in the technology. Between 2005 and 2009 he held the chief executive officer position with Chinese technology company

Lenovo Group Lenovo Group Limited, Trade name, trading as Lenovo ( , zh, c=联想, p=Liánxiǎng), is a Chinese Multinational corporation, multinational technology company specializing in designing, manufacturing, and marketing consumer electronics, person ...

Ltd., manufacturers of personal computers, laptops, servers and other computer hardware. As Lenovo's president and CEO, he oversaw the integration of the

IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...

PC Division, which the company purchased in 2005 for $1.75 billion. Lenovo, with 30,000 employees, experienced an annual revenue growth increase from $13 billion to $15 billion by 2008 under his leadership. During that period the company grew its brand internationally and, for seven successive quarters, had sales profits greater than the market. Amelio's three-year contract was not renewed after Lenovo posted a 2008 fourth quarter loss of $97 million. In August 2010, Amelio became the CEO of CHC Helicopter Service AS. In February 2015, CHC Group Ltd., the parent company of CHC Helicopter, announced that the board of directors had appointed Karl Fessenden as chief executive officer and a member of the board of directors, replacing William Amelio. In July 2016 Amelio was appointed as Interim CEO of

. Amelio was officially appointed Avnet CEO in September, 2016. As CEO of Avnet, Amelio executed the divestiture of Avnet's Technology Solutions to Tech Data in September 2016, a transaction valued close to US$2.6 billion. A month later, he led the acquisition of UK-based

Premier Farnell Premier Farnell Ltd. is a distributor of products for electronic system design, maintenance and repair throughout Europe, North America and Asia Pacific, with operations in 36 countries and trading in over 100. In October 2016, the firm was pur ...

, a distributor of technology products and solutions and also known for manufacturing and distributing more than half the world's

Raspberry Pi Raspberry Pi ( ) is a series of small single-board computers (SBCs) developed in the United Kingdom by the Raspberry Pi Foundation in collaboration with Broadcom Inc., Broadcom. To commercialize the product and support its growing demand, the ...

single board computers. In August 2020, Amelio stepped down from Avnet, with Phil Gallagher being named as Interim CEO.

Philanthropy

Amelio and his wife Jamie, through the Amelio Foundation, founded Caring for Cambodi

in 2003, a non-profit organization which educates Cambodia children by building schools, training teachers and providing for basic needs. Milestones achieved by 2011 included supporting 5,300 students, training 100 teachers, managing and supporting six schools and stocking four libraries with books and resources. He also adopted two children from Cambodia.

Education

Career

Philanthropy

References

Further reading