Michael Dell, chairman of the board and founder of Dell, was the featured speaker at Abilene Christian University’s College of Business Administration 2004-05 Distinguished Speakers Series on Feb. 8, along with ACU alumni Kyle Tippens and David Culp.  Dell spoke via videoconference at 11:15 a.m. in Hart Auditorium in the Biblical Studies Building. In order to view the complete videoconference, click on the following link:  Dell videoconference.

Tippens, who works in Dell’s international services finance department, addressed luncheon guests in the Living Room of the Campus Center at noon, and after the luncheon, David Culp, a retired senior manager for Dell, spoke to guests in the Mabee Business Building Room 201 from 1:45-3 p.m.

The Distinguished Speakers Series is designed to bring principled business leaders to Abilene and to ACU to share their keys to success and how they integrate faith into their work.

Michael Dell, the youngest CEO of a company ever to earn a ranking on the Fortune 500, founded Dell in 1984. The company currently ranks No. 6 on Fortune magazine's Global "Most Admired" list.

Dell is the author of “Direct From Dell: Strategies That Revolutionized an Industry,” his story of the rise of the company and the strategies he has refined that apply to all businesses. Dell is an IT governor of the World Economic Forum, serves on the executive committee of the International Business Council and is a member of the U.S. Business Council. He also serves on the U.S. President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, the U.S. President's Export Council and the governing board of the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad, India.

Tippens is a 1991 graduate of ACU with a Bachelor of Arts in international studies. He earned a master’s in international business studies at the Univ. of South Carolina. After working for EDS in Plano; Rochester, New York; and Wellington, New Zealand, Kyle joined Dell in 2000. He spent three years in various roles in worldwide procurement finance and moved to Dell International Services finance in 2003.

David Culp received a Bachelor of Business Administration in marketing and management from ACU in 1978. He worked with Texas Instruments in Abilene as a manufacturing & quality control supervisor and moved to Austin in 1983 with TI as a contract negotiation specialist. In 1991, he started with Dell Computer as a new product procurement specialist. During his 12-year career at Dell he managed several commodities such as hard drives and memory. Culp retired from Dell as senior manager, memory procurement, in October 2003.

Select this link to view newsclips from the Michael Dell videoconference.