“WORLD’S REIGNING STRATEGY GURU” GARY HAMEL
TO SPEAK AT SLA 2005 IN TORONTO
Bolsters Already Impressive Speakers’ Line-Up

Alexandria, Virginia USA, 18 April, 2005 — Business strategy legend Gary Hamel will deliver the Keynote Address at the Closing General Session of the Special Libraries Association’s (SLA) 2005 Annual Conference in Toronto. Hamel’s speech will take place on Wednesday, 8 June, at 9:00 a.m. local time.

“Gary Hamel is one of the most sought-after management speakers in the world. He is an expert on innovation, and we believe his address adds great value to the conference experience,” said Ethel M. Salonen, SLA president.

Hamel is chairman of Strategos, director of the Woodside Institute, and a visiting professor of Strategic and International Management at the London Business School. The Economist has labeled Hamel “the world’s reigning strategy guru,” and MIT’s Peter Senge has called him “the most influential thinker on strategy in the Western world.”

His landmark book Competing for the Future is the best-selling business strategy book ever and was Business Week’s management book of the year in 1994. Hamel’s most recent book, Leading the Revolution, is a global bestseller and industry revolutionaries like Virgin’s Richard Branson and Dell’s Michael Dell have described it as the essential guide to business innovation.

Hamel originated concepts such as “strategic intent,” “core competence,” “corporate imagination,” and “industry revolution.” The 2003 Global Ranking of Business Thinkers, the most recent survey available, ranked Hamel fourth – higher than notables such as Bill Gates, Stephen Covey, Jack Welch, and many others, including Branson and Dell.

“Our ability to offer a speaker of this caliber says a lot about our association, our membership, and our mission. This kind of learning opportunity positions our members to grow – as leaders within SLA and in their individual careers,” said Janice R. Lachance, SLA executive director.

Hamel’s appearance is made possible through the generous support of Factiva®, a Dow Jones and Reuters Company. Factiva provides essential business news and information together with the content delivery tools that enable professionals to make better decisions faster. For more information, visit www.factiva.com/press.

Hamel bolsters an already impressive keynote speaker line-up at SLA 2005. Keynote sessions will feature Don Tapscott, an international authority on business strategy, and Bill Buxton, designer, researcher, an expert on the relationship between technology and creativity.

SLA’s 25 professional interest-related divisions – including the Competitive Intelligence division, which along with Government Information, is among the newest professional interest units – have designed conference events crafted especially for their members. More than 250 companies are exhibiting at the SLA 2005 INFO-EXPO.

For more information about SLA 2005, please visit www.sla.org/toronto2005.

About SLA
The Special Libraries Association (SLA) is a nonprofit global organization for innovative information professionals and their strategic partners. SLA serves nearly 12,000 members in 83 countries in the information profession, including corporate, academic, and government information specialists. SLA promotes and strengthens its members through learning, advocacy, and networking initiatives. For more information, visit us www.sla.org.