Alumni: Award for Exemplary Service

  Dave Lincoln, Weekend Executive MBA '08

    Vice President and General Manager, Dell

Dave Lincoln is Vice President of Dell’s Networking and Emerging Servers Business Unit, comprised of the Networking, Cloud Service Provider, Telecom and Edge businesses, and spans both hardware and software offerings. His worldwide functional responsibilities include:  BU strategy, product management, portfolio planning, product marketing, business operations, and overall financial results.

Dave joined Dell’s Infrastructure Group in March 2017 leading Server Sales Strategy and Business Operations before moving to Client Group in April 2018 to lead CPG Strategy. Shortly after, he was selected to serve as the Vice President of Dell’s Fixed Computing Business Unit, comprised of the OptiPlex desktop and Wyse thin client businesses. Dave returned to the Infrastructure Group in April 2021. Prior to Dell, Dave served in leadership roles across multiple Technology companies including most recently at Lenovo where he led the Storage, Converged and Software Defined Business Units.

Originally from Detroit, Dave graduated from Michigan State University with a Supply Chain degree and later received his MBA from Duke University. He and his family live in North Carolina’s Research Triangle area.

What impact has your Fuqua experience had on your career/life?

The impact is incalculable. So many to list but here are a couple that stand out to me:

1. Fuqua taught me how to think. I know this is a strange sweeping statement, but what I mean by this is that as one advances up the ranks, the nature of problems faced becomes more complex with usually no clear-cut right answer - usually there are many "right" answers. Fuqua taught me frameworks and methods to process business issues effectively, that otherwise might have been overwhelming or led to a suboptimal decision & result.
2. Fuqua taught me the value of diversity. Specifically, the value of diverse experience and thinking to help guard against inherent (unintended) bias, blind spots, and groupthink. When I matriculated, I had been in the tech industry for 8 years; not surprisingly, my POV on business was largely shaped by this. Teaming and interacting with folks from different sectors, stages in careers, and geographic locations was very eye-opening and as I say, helped me quickly value different perspectives. This practical life lesson was reinforced by classroom learning and research.

Professionally or personally, what are you excited about right now?

I love being a father. My excitement is a function of watching my 11-year-old son, James, and 8-year-old daughter, Lorna, develop and mature. Vicariously reliving experiences through their eyes is just the best.

For instance, this coming weekend we will be in Washington DC; that moment when they see our national landmarks for the first time is going to be so awesome. Or even less grand experiences such as last Saturday at Koskinen where we bid on, and won, one of the game-worn helmets of one of James's favorite players. That was a blast and got to enjoy it with my mom and stepdad. James also got to hang out with many Duke lax alumni (many of whom his heroes) in the reserved pavilion overlooking the field. For some odd reason, he preferred to stay with them versus sitting with grandma, grandpa, and me in the stands. :)

What does Team Fuqua mean to you? What does this Fuqua award mean to you?

Let me talk about the award but quickly, the Team Fuqua ethos and culture is real - I see it daily here inside the walls of Dell, but also in everyday life. Within the cohort here at Dell, we talk about the Fuqua Family and how we need to look out for one another, not just now or in the interim but forever. I like to say that who knows how long we'll be Dell colleagues, but we will be fellow Fuquans forever.

With respect to the award, well, this is incredibly unexpected. I'm very humbled by the recognition. Of course, my contributions to Fuqua are done altruistically - I'm not ever ever ever looking for some sort of quid pro quo for my efforts (awards or otherwise). The way I see it is over my lifetime, there have been countless folks, and institutions like Fuqua, that have helped me realize the life I have today. How can I ever repay the great fortune I find myself having today? Not sure I can but I sure am trying! Whether that is helping fellow Fuquans or others in my local community, it's a lifelong debt that I love making payments on. :)

  Yi Shi PhD '97, Daytime MBA '99

    Managing Partner, Lilly Asia Ventures

Yi Shi is the Managing Partner of Lilly Asia Ventures, a biomedical venture capital firm founded by him in 2011, which focuses on China and cross-border investment opportunities. Prior to his current role, Yi worked at Eli Lilly and Company in business development and corporate ventures, from 2001 to 2011. He received an MBA degree from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University in 1999; and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry, also from Duke, in 1997. He received a Bachelor of Sciences degree in Biology from the University of Science and Technology of China in 1993. Yi has served on the Boards of over twenty biomedical companies. He has been a member of the East Asia Regional Advisory Board at Fuqua since 2016.

What impact has your Fuqua experience had on your career/life?

I was trained as a scientist prior to the MBA, so Fuqua basically opens the door for me to the business world. I also met my wife, Weiwen Wang, who is a fellow MBA classmate. I would not be where I am today without the Fuqua experience.

Professionally or personally, what are you excited about right now?

We are at an incredible time of biomedical innovation, which is transforming human therapeutics and medical care worldwide, and China’s fast-rising biotech industry is becoming an important part of this global transformation. I am excited with the opportunities in biomedical venture capital.

What does Team Fuqua mean to you? What does this Fuqua award mean to you?

Team Fuqua means a community of trusted colleagues and friends, who can always count on each other for professional, social, and emotional supports. I am extremely humbled by the award, and genuinely felt that I need to do much more for this community to live up to the honor of this award.