Linda Sanford to receive The Business Council's 2011 Corning Award for Excellence

ALBANY, NY (08/30/2011)(readMedia)-- Linda S. Sanford, Senior Vice President of Enterprise Transformation at IBM and past chairman and co-chairman of The Business Council, will receive the 2011 Corning Award for Excellence. This is the most prestigious award presented by The Business Council of New York State, Inc.

Sanford will receive the award Thursday evening, September 22, at The Business Council's Annual Meeting at The Sagamore Resort in Bolton Landing, NY. The Business Council gives the award each year to a New Yorker who has shown outstanding accomplishment and a deep and sustained commitment to the people of New York. The first Corning Award was presented in 1979.

"Linda Sanford is one of the best business and civic leaders in New York. She has given a great deal to The Business Council and other institutions that are part of the fabric of our state. She has championed the push to create an innovation economy in New York by bringing together talented leaders from business, government and academia to collaborate to restore our state as the innovation capital of the world," said Heather Briccetti, acting-president and CEO of The Business Council.

Sanford has served on The Business Council Board of Directors since September 1998. A member of the Board's Executive Committee, she chaired the Board in 2005 and 2006, and then served as co-chair from 2007 to 2008.

At IBM, Sanford leads the company's transformation strategy. In this role, Ms. Sanford is responsible for working across IBM to transform core business processes, create an IT infrastructure to support and integrate processes globally, and help create a culture that fosters innovation.

Sanford has held a number of senior leadership positions at IBM, including heading the Storage Systems Group, Global Industries and the mainframe division. Ms. Sanford is a member of the Women in Technology International Hall of Fame and the National Academy of Engineering.

Linda co-authored "Let Go To Grow: Escaping the Commodity Trap" a book that details how successful companies are pursuing strategies to drive long-term growth and innovation.

In addition to her service as a member of The Business Council Board of Directors, Sanford serves on the Board of Directors for the Partnership for New York City, ITT Industries, St. John's University and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Sanford also serves on the Board of Trustees for the State University of New York. The native New Yorker is a graduate of St. John's University. She holds an M.S. in Operations Research from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and was awarded an honorary doctorate in commercial science from St. John's.

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