Date: April 25, 2011

Time: 4:30 PM -

Location: Friend Center 101

Carlos Ghosn, the chairman and CEO of the Renault-Nissan Alliance and an outspoken advocate of all-electric vehicles, spoke at Princeton about the alliance’s unusual business strategy and its emphasis on diversity and growth.

In addition to serving as president and chief executive officer of Nissan, Ghosn (pronounced “goan,” rhymes with “phone”) is president and CEO of Renault S.A. The alliance between a French company and a Japanese company, established in 1999, was the first industrial and commercial partnership of its kind. Together, Nissan and Renault have annual global sales of 6.1 million vehicles.

Ghosn is widely credited with having rescued Nissan from near bankruptcy and revitalizing the company sales and operations. In recent years he has led the company in investing heavily in electric vehicles, leading to the launch of the Nissan Leaf in December 2010.

Prior to joining Nissan in 1999, Ghosn served as executive vice president of the Renault Group, a position he had held since December 1996. In addition to supervising Renault activities in most of South America, he was responsible for advanced research, car engineering and development, car manufacturing, powertrain operations and purchasing.

Ghosn graduated with engineering degrees from École Polytechnique in 1974 and from École des Mines de Paris in 1978.

This lecture, which took place on April 25, 2011, was hosted by Princeton’s Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment and sponsored by the G.S. Beckwith Gilbert ’63 Lecture Fund. Other speakers in Princeton’s Gilbert lecture series have included Google executive Eric Schmidt and former Ebay CEO Meg Whitman.