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Date: April 2, 1999
President of eBay to Speak at Princeton University
PRINCETON, N.J. -- Meg Whitman, president and CEO of eBay, the company that pioneered person-to-person online trading, will deliver the 1999 G.S. Beckwith Gilbert '63 Lecture on Wednesday, April 14, at Princeton University. Whitman, a 1977 Princeton graduate who majored in economics, will speak at 8 p.m. in McCosh 46 on the University campus.
The annual Gilbert Lecture was established in 1988 to bring innovative leaders in business, government and the professions to campus to discuss their companies and their careers.
Whitman, who earned an MBA from Harvard University, has held senior leadership positions in several major firms. From 1989 to 1992, she was senior vice president of Disney Consumer Products Division and managed key aspects of Disney's major businesses. She then became president and CEO of Florists Transworld Delivery (FTD), the world's largest floral products company, serving from 1995 to 1997. While there, she oversaw the company's transition from a florist-owned association to a privately owned company. Before coming to eBay, Whitman served as general manager of Hasbro Inc.'s Preschool Division, responsible for overseeing the toy manufacturer division's reorganization and its resulting increase in profits.
eBay(tm), which was founded in 1995, operates a trading site on the Web that is available 24 hours a day. Currently, there are more than 2.1 million registered users and more than 1.8 million items listed for sale in over 1,000 categories, including: antiques; books, movies and music; coins and stamps; and collectibles. The company also has established the eBay Foundation, which provides grants to community service programs.