Company: Adobe Systems, Inc.
Company Description: Billion dollar software co. Adobe Systems Inc. has helped people and businesses communicate images, information and ideas better and more costeffectively for more than 20 years. Its innovations in digital imaging, design and document technologies have set the standards for excellence in these markets and enabled millions of people to leverage the power of visual communications.
Nomination Category: Individual Awards Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Best Executive

Nomination Title: The Overachiever: Adobe CEO Bruce Chizen Drives Innovation and Double-digit Growth

1. Tell the story about what this nominee achieved in the past year (up to 500 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:

As Forbes recently reported in Dec. 2004:  “Adobe Systems Inc. is an old-school
Silicon Valley tech company growing at bubble-era rates.  But unlike those bubble-era companies, Adobe’s growth is based on solid products wrapped in a business plan and market execution that’s being embraced by corporate and retail customers.” 

With the rest of the software industry in a slump, how has Adobe managed to
outperform its peers? 

During the past two decades Adobe products have had a deep impact on business.  Its Postscript printer language revolutionized typesetting and helped spark the desktop publishing market.  The Adobe Reader has become ubiquitous for interacting with portable document format (PDF) files.  And Adobe Photoshop has achieved a cult following and become part of the cultural lexicon. 

But Adobe president and CEO Bruce Chizen knew that for Adobe to continue to grow it could not rest on its laurels.  Adobe is growing faster today than it did during the Internet boom, largely as a result of the platform product strategy that Chizen
introduced – including the focus on enterprise applications for the company’s
document technology, and a keen focus on global expansion of the powerful Adobe
brand. 

Under Chizen’s leadership, Adobe is expanding its presence in the enterprise through its Intelligent Document Platform strategy, addressing a growing market need to connect paper-based processes with corporate data systems. The company also is extending its digital imaging franchise into the consumer market, while continuing its historic leadership in design and publishing software.

In 2004, the company introduced the Adobe Creative Suite, an integrated package of applications that previously were sold separately. Adobe also launched an aggressive effort in the enterprise market with a line of new server-based products, and partnerships with IBM, SAP, EMC and others. 

Chizen’s strategy has helped transform Adobe into one of the largest and most
diversified software companies in the world today in terms of revenue, global reach, the broad scope of its customer base (creative professionals, enterprise, consumers) and solutions (digital imaging/video, design/publishing, document technology). 

In the third quarter of fiscal 2004, ended Sept. 3, Adobe achieved revenue of $403.7 million, representing 27 percent growth on a year-over-year basis.  In fiscal 2003, ended November 2003, Adobe's business grew 11 percent over fiscal year 2002, achieving record revenue of $1.295 billion.  Under Chizen leadership, Adobe’s shares have risen more than 60 percent in 2004, compared with a 6.7 percent year-to-date increase in the NASDAQ Composite Index.

In a testimony to his leadership, Adobe was named by FORTUNE magazine as the sixth best company to work for in America and the Best High-Tech Employer in America in the magazine's "100 Best Companies to Work For" 2004 annual report. 

Chizen has also become an increasingly visible champion of philanthropic causes.  In Dec. 2004, Adobe announced an increase in its corporate giving by $1 million.  Chizen has also called upon Silicon Valley companies to increase their funding for the arts.  Adobe is leading the way by providing seed funding for an innovative new organization -- called First ACT (arts, creativity, technology) – aimed at enhancing the region’s creative and cultural infrastructure. 

2. List hyperlinks to any online news stories, press releases, or other documents that support the claims made in the section above. IMPORTANT: Begin each link with http://, and enclose each link in square brackets; for example, [http://www.youraddress.com]:

Dec. 6, 2004
Forbes:  Adobe Systems’ Pretty Picture
By Lisa DiCarlo
http://www.forbes.com/personaltech/2004/12/06/cx_ld_1206overachiever.html

Oct. 26, 2004
Adobe Systems Raises Q4 Targets and Provides Fiscal 2005 Financial Targets
http://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/pressroom/pressreleases/200410/Q404IntraQuarterU
pdate.html

Oct. 26, 2004
Adobe Highlights Progress Against Business Strategy at Annual Financial Analyst
Meeting  
http://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/pressroom/pressreleases/200410/102604Roadmap.html

Sept. 27, 2004
Canadian Business:  Picture Perfect
http://www.canadianbusiness.com/article.jsp?content=20040927_62017_62017##

http://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/pressroom/pressreleases/200412/121704COMMUNITY.html

NOTE:  Please also see the profile of Adobe in the Financial Times, and Bruce
Chizen’s Op-Ed on arts funding in the San Jose Mercury News (both attached in
PDF). 

3. Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about this nominee:

Bruce Chizen is president and Chief Executive Officer of Adobe Systems, one of the world's largest software companies. Chizen’s customer-focused vision is transforming Adobe from a desktop software business to a technology platform provider for consumers, creative professionals and enterprises.

While evolving Adobe’s market strategy and extending its customer reach, Chizen also has maintained the company’s legendary employee culture. In 2004, Adobe ranked sixth in Fortune Magazine’s annual report on the “100 Best Companies to Work For.”

Prior to becoming CEO in December 2000, Chizen was executive vice president of
worldwide products and marketing. At Adobe since 1994, he has defined new market opportunities and led the development of products as vice president and general manager of both the graphics professional division and Adobe's consumer division.