Wendell P. Weeks is chairman and chief executive officer of Corning Incorporated. He was named chief executive officer in April 2005 and chairman of the board in April 2007. He has been a member of the company’s board of directors since December 2000.
Weeks began his career with Corning in 1983 in the corporate control group. In his 30 years with the company, he has held a variety of financial, business development, commercial, and general management roles, including strategic positions in the company’s television and specialty glass businesses.
In 1993, Weeks was named general manager of external development in Corning’s telecommunications business. He was named vice president and general manager of the company’s optical fiber business in 1996. In early 2001, Weeks was named president of Corning’s optical communications businesses, where he led through both dynamic market growth and the subsequent challenges of market declines.
Weeks became Corning’s president and chief operating officer in April 2002. In this role, he helped lead the company’s restructuring and return to profitability following the telecom industry crash. Weeks was the chief architect of Corning’s Corporate Strategy Framework, which provides a foundation for mitigating the company’s inherent volatility and managing through good times and bad.
As CEO, he has focused on creating new growth opportunities and building a bigger, more balanced company.
Weeks is a graduate of Lehigh University and earned a Master of Business Administration from Harvard University as a Baker Scholar. He serves on the board of directors at Merck Co. Inc., the Corning Museum of Glass, and the Corning Incorporated Foundation.
Corning Incorporated is an American manufacturer of glass, ceramics, and related materials, primarily for industrial and scientific applications. The company was known as Corning Glass Works until 1989, when it changed its name to Corning Incorporated.[2] In 1998, Corning divested itself of its consumer lines of CorningWare and Corelle tableware and Pyrex cookware selling them to World Kitchen, but still holds an interest of about 8%. As of 2014, Corning had five major business sectors: Display Technologies, Environmental Technologies, Life Sciences, Optical Communications, and Specialty Materials. Corning is involved in two joint ventures: Dow Corning and Pittsburgh Corning. Quest Diagnostics and Covance were spun off from Corning in 1996.[3]
