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April 13, 2018 | Chicago, Illinois
On Friday, April 13, 2018, Phanesh Koneru, PhD, LLM, President and CEO of Exela Pharma Sciences interviewed the Honorable George W. Bush, 43rd President of the United States of America at the 9th Annual Becker’s Hospital Review conference in front of 4,000 attendees. The conference is attended by the nation’s leading healthcare CEOs, CFOs and hospital personnel responsible for decision making in America’s hospital networks.
President Bush was the Keynote Speaker at Friday’s meeting. During the one hour of highly entertaining and informative interview, Dr. Koneru explored many aspects of the Bush Presidency, including 9/11, the financial bailout of Wall Street, and the current events affecting this country, including hotspots like Syria, China, Russia and North Korea. It was clear that President Bush was impressed with Phanesh’s immigrant background, having grown up in India in a village of 80 people with no running water or electricity, and then to have immigrated to the US, got himself Ivy League education, became a US Citizen and founded a pharmaceutical company that created hundreds of jobs in rural America. President Bush stated “How great it is that someone who grew up in a small village in India can come to the US, be successful and be interviewing a President of the United States of America. How great a country is this?,” to which Phanesh received a standing ovation from the overflow crowd and President Bush.
Over the course of the interview, President Bush entertained the group with his insights into today’s political environment, his past successes and failures, and his new passion of painting. He spoke of the values of the Presidency and that the Office of the President is much bigger than the person who occupies the spot. His candor and honesty were evident in his discussions on leadership, where he not only spoke about his successes, but also some of his failures and what decision making was involved in each. He offered advice to those in the audience that will strengthen them as leaders in the healthcare field and ensure America continues to improve its healthcare leadership role in the world.
Exela Pharma Sciences was proud to have sponsored President Bush’s Keynote address. It was truly a memorable experience for all who attended, and a special occasion for those of us that work at and continue to build this great company we call Exela.