Entrepreneur Shares Success Story at RIT College of Business’ Gasser Lecture

It began as a two-man operation housed within an abandoned chicken coop. The story of how that company became a producer and global distributor of computer technology is the focus of an upcoming discussion at Rochester Institute of Technology.

Jeff Green, chairman and cofounder of Hutchinson Technology, will share his insights as RIT’s College of Business resumes the William D. Gasser Distinguished Lecture Series in Business. The event, 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 17, will be held in the Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science auditorium on RIT’s Henrietta campus.

Hutchinson Technology, headquartered in Hutchinson, Minn., designs and manufactures suspension assemblies for computer disk drives. These precise metal springs hold the read/write head of the disk drive at a microscopic distance above the disk. High-precision suspensions are critical to the operation of the drive.

Technology pioneered by the company is also improving the quality of health care. Its "biomeasurement" device provides real-time, non-evasive analysis of the oxygen levels in human tissue.

Since its creation in 1965, Hutchinson Technology has grown to over 4,000 employees with manufacturing facilities in Minnesota, South Dakota and Wisconsin. Sales support offices are located in Singapore, China, Thailand, Japan and the Netherlands.

The Gasser Lecture is hosted annually by RIT’s College of Business to advance interaction and dialogue between business and academic communities. The lecture series is made possible by a gift from the late John Wiley Jones, former honorary member of the RIT Board of Trustees and founder of Jones Chemicals Inc., in memory of William D. Gasser. Gasser taught accounting at RIT from 1967 until his death in 1977.

A reception will immediately follow the Gasser Lecture, which is free and open to the public. To register for the event, contact Donna Slavin at 475-2199 or dlsbbu@rit.edu.


Recommended News