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Louis J. D'Ambrosio is an American business executive and a partner at Goldman Sachs. He is the former CEO of Sears Holding Corporation and Avaya, and he also served as executive chairman of Sensus. D'Ambrosio also worked at IBM for 16 years and served on its worldwide management committee.

Early life and education

D'Ambrosio earned his Bachelor of Science degree from Pennsylvania State University (summa cum laude and Valedictorian) in 1986 and received his MBA from Harvard Business School.

Career

D'Ambrosio joined IBM after college, working there for sixteen years. During his time at IBM, D'Ambrosio held various leadership roles in IBM Global Services, Software, and sales and marketing, including leading the company's worldwide strategy for IBM Global Service and field operations for IBM software. He led a vertical business unit in Asia Pacific and was a member of IBM's worldwide management committee. When he left the company in August 2002, he was responsible for worldwide sales and marketing for IBM's $12 billion software group.

D'Ambrosio joined Avaya in 2002 as vice president for services and by July 2006, he became president and chief executive officer. He had been president of global sales and marketing at Avaya, and prior to that had been in charge of Avaya's $2 billion global services business unit, including network consulting, integration, maintenance and managed services. His work turned Avaya into one of the leading companies in the IP Telephony market. His leadership also saw Avaya transition from selling hardware to selling software as the company continued to grow in value. Additionally, during his tenure as CEO, he took Avaya private, delivering attractive returns to its shareholders.

In February 2011, Sears Holdings named D'Ambrosio chief executive officer and president after a 3 year long search to find a new CEO, for the six months prior to his election as CEO, he worked on the company's board of directors. He had worked as a consultant to Sears' board for the previous six months. D'Ambrosio was brought to Sears with the hope that he would be able to reverse the company's declining public image and sales, restoring the store to prior relevance which had faded since the adoption of online shopping. Prior to his hire, the company suffered from consistent declines in both sales and its stock valuation, mostly due to the ongoing macroeconomic environment, as well as delays with the new Kenmore product line. On January 7, 2013, it was announced that he would step down at the end of its fiscal year on February 2, 2013 due to family health matters.

On August 19, 2013, it was announced he would be chairman of the board for Sensus, based in Raleigh, North Carolina. After serving as executive chairman of Sensus, D'Ambrosio was a senior advisor at Goldman Sachs. He later became a partner at the firm and leads its Value Accelerator.

Other

In February 2010, D'Ambrosio was elected to the board of trustees of the Jackson Laboratory, a nonprofit biomedical research institution in Bar Harbor, Maine. D'Ambrosio presented at the World Economic Forum and served on panel discussions. D'Ambrosio was one of the executive producers of Mandy Gonzalez's debut album Fearless.

References

1. ^ "Penn State Distinguished Alumnus Lou D'Ambrosio embraces a life of learning". Penn State. June 14, 2023.
2. ^ "Biography of Louis D"Ambrosio". RILA.com. Archived from the original on 2011-11-24. Retrieved 2023-07-24.
3. Byrne, John A. (May 5, 2011). "Fortune 500 CEOs: Where did they go to B-school?". CNN Money. Retrieved 2018-03-29.
4. ^ DeMarzo, Robert C. (August 12, 2002). "IBM Software Exec D'Ambrosio Abruptly Quits". CRN. Archived from the original on May 19, 2007. Retrieved March 29, 2018.
5. Shropshire, Corilyn (January 8, 2013). "Sears CEO Louis D'Ambrosio to step down". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on January 9, 2013. Retrieved 2018-03-29.
6. ^ Skariachan, Dhanya. "New Sears CEO needs to fix sales, image". Reuters. Retrieved 11 June 2023.
7. ^ Banerjee, Rajiv. "The big connect". The Economic Times. Retrieved 11 June 2023.
8. Coleman-Lochner, Lauren. "Sears Holdings Appoints D'Ambrosio as Chief Executive Officer". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 2 July 2023.
9. ^ Norris, Floyd. "At Sears, Excessive Confidence Has a Price". The New York Times. Retrieved 2 July 2023.
10. Lawson, Stephen (July 25, 2006). "Avaya CEO steps down". InfoWorld. Retrieved March 29, 2018.
11. Bustillo, Miguel; Lublin, Joann S. "Sears Names New CEO With Technology Resume". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2 July 2023.
12. Solsman, Joan E. (February 23, 2011). "Sears Names Former Avaya CEO As New Chief After 3-Year Search". Dow Jones Newswires. Archived from the original on 5 March 2011. Retrieved 30 Aug 2011.
13. "Sears Holdings announces CEO is stepping down". USA Today. January 7, 2023.
14. Shropshire, Corilyn (8 January 2013). "Sears CEO D'Ambrosio to step down". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on 8 January 2013. Retrieved 27 December 2018.
15. Smith, Rick (2013-08-20). "Exclusive: Smartgrid firm Sensus looks to hire after landing huge contract in UK". WRAL TechWire. Retrieved 2018-03-29.
16. "D'Ambrosio, Evnin elected to The Jackson Laboratory Board of Trustees". BioSpace. March 16, 2010.
17. Taylor, David (August 21, 2018). ""Hamilton" Star Mandy Gonzalez Brings Her Fearless Show to Bay Street". Dan's Papers.

• Living people
• American retail chief executives
• Harvard Business School alumni
• Pennsylvania State University alumni
• Avaya employees
• American technology chief executives
• Goldman Sachs people