Derek Lidow


Derek Lidow is a New Jersey-based author, speaker, entrepreneur, former CEO and founder of iSuppli, and former CEO of International Rectifier. Lidow is author of the book Startup Leadership: How Savvy Entrepreneurs Turn Their Ideas Into Successful Enterprises. He is also a media commentator; Lidow’s coverage to date includes The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, Forbes, Bloomberg, The Economist, Nikkei, Reuters, and Taipei Times as well as many top bloggers.
Lidow's book, articles and speeches cover topics on entrepreneurship, startups, leadership and creativity. He joined Princeton university's Keller Center as the James Wei Visiting Professor in Entrepreneurship for the academic year 2011-2012, where he currently teaches a course titled "Innovation, Creativity and Design".

Early years

Lidow holds degrees from Princeton and Stanford. He received his BSE summa cum laude from Princeton University in 1973, and a PhD in applied physics as a Hertz Foundation Fellow at Stanford University in 1976.
In 1977 Lidow began a 22-year career at International Rectifier, founded by his grandfather and his father Eric Lidow in 1947, as a Production Engineer. He then served as Vice President of Operations, and was promoted in 1985 to Executive Vice President for Marketing and Administration.
Lidow became President of International Rectifier’s Power Products Division in 1989, and was elected to the Board of Directors in 1994. In March 1995, Mr. Lidow replaced his father as the Chief Executive Officer, serving alongside his brother Alex Lidow who remained CEO until 2007.

Career

After leaving International Rectifier, Lidow founded iSuppli in 1999, a market research firm sold to global information company IHS in 2010 for $95 million. Lidow is also a member of the Board of Directors for United Silicon Carbide Inc., a technology company.
Lidow is widely cited as an expert on the electronics industry. His contributions range from multiple technology patents to supply chain applications used by companies like Sony, Samsung, Philips, Goldman Sachs and IBM.
Today, Lidow is a professor of Entrepreneurial Leadership at Princeton University.

Author

Lidow is author of the book Startup Leadership: How Savvy Entrepreneurs Turn Their Ideas Into Successful Enterprises.
In addition, his writing has been published in numerous blogs and publications, both online and off. He is also author of Building on Bedrock: What Sam Walton, Walt Disney, and Other Great Self-Made Entrepreneurs Can Teach Us About Building Valuable Companies.

Boards