May 2, 2025 • 19 mins
Gary Shapiro is an acclaimed author, speaker, and CEO & Vice Chair of the Consumer Technology Association (CTA)® which represents over 1200 consumer technology companies and owns and produces CES® — The Global Stage for Innovation.
Over a more than 30-year tenure as head of CTA, Shapiro expanded the association’s influence and impact alongside the growth of the technology industry. He has also transformed CES, expanding its reach globally to attract exhibitors from more than 50 countries, regions, and territories and attendees from some 150. Drawing big global brands and innovative new startups alike, CES is both the world’s most powerful technology show and one of the most transparent - adhering to rigorous auditing standards and making attendance data publicly available.
A Georgetown Law graduate, Shapiro worked on Capitol Hill and served as an associate at the Squire Sanders law firm before joining CTA in 1982. This legal experience and a passion for advancing policies that empower entrepreneurs and unlock technology innovation has earned him annual recognition as one of The Hill’s top lobbyists; Washingtonian’s Tech Titans; and Washington Life magazine’s most influential people in Washington. In 2021, Shapiro was recognized with the prestigious Legion of Honor Award, conferred by French President Emmanuel Macron.Shapiro has embraced a people-first approach to the workplace, directing a staff of 150 employees and hundreds of industry volunteers. Under his leadership, CTA has won numerous awards for its healthy workplace, family friendly employment practices, and environmentally friendly exhibition practices.
A New York Times bestselling author, Shapiro has written “Ninja Future: Secrets to Success in the New World of Innovation” (HarperCollins, 2019), “Ninja Innovation: The Ten Killer Strategies of the World’s Most Successful Businesses” (HarperCollins, 2013), “The Comeback: How Innovation will Restore the American Dream” (Beaufort, 2011) and “Pivot or Die: How Leaders Thrive When Everything Changes,” (HarperCollins, 2024). Through these books, numerous television appearances, and as a columnist whose more than 1200 opinion pieces have appeared in publications such as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and The Washington Post, Shapiro directs policymakers and business leaders on the importance of innovation and technology in the U.S. economy. He has also testified before Congress over 20 times, advancing the technology industry’s perspective on cutting-edge issues including intellectual property, artificial intelligence and self-driving vehicles.
Shapiro is active in policy, thought leadership, government, and community development alongside his position at CTA. He sits on numerous boards and advisory councils, including the Northern Virginia Technology Council, CEO Update Roundtable, Council of Manufacturing Associations board, and Focused Ultrasound Foundation board.Shapiro holds a JD from the Georgetown University Law Center and a BA in economics and psychology from Binghamton University.
Over a more than 30-year tenure as head of CTA, Shapiro expanded the association’s influence and impact alongside the growth of the technology industry. He has also transformed CES, expanding its reach globally to attract exhibitors from more than 50 countries, regions, and territories and attendees from some 150. Drawing big global brands and innovative new startups alike, CES is both the world’s most powerful technology show and one of the most transparent - adhering to rigorous auditing standards and making attendance data publicly available.
A Georgetown Law graduate, Shapiro worked on Capitol Hill and served as an associate at the Squire Sanders law firm before joining CTA in 1982. This legal experience and a passion for advancing policies that empower entrepreneurs and unlock technology innovation has earned him annual recognition as one of The Hill’s top lobbyists; Washingtonian’s Tech Titans; and Washington Life magazine’s most influential people in Washington. In 2021, Shapiro was recognized with the prestigious Legion of Honor Award, conferred by French President Emmanuel Macron.Shapiro has embraced a people-first approach to the workplace, directing a staff of 150 employees and hundreds of industry volunteers. Under his leadership, CTA has won numerous awards for its healthy workplace, family friendly employment practices, and environmentally friendly exhibition practices.
A New York Times bestselling author, Shapiro has written “Ninja Future: Secrets to Success in the New World of Innovation” (HarperCollins, 2019), “Ninja Innovation: The Ten Killer Strategies of the World’s Most Successful Businesses” (HarperCollins, 2013), “The Comeback: How Innovation will Restore the American Dream” (Beaufort, 2011) and “Pivot or Die: How Leaders Thrive When Everything Changes,” (HarperCollins, 2024). Through these books, numerous television appearances, and as a columnist whose more than 1200 opinion pieces have appeared in publications such as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and The Washington Post, Shapiro directs policymakers and business leaders on the importance of innovation and technology in the U.S. economy. He has also testified before Congress over 20 times, advancing the technology industry’s perspective on cutting-edge issues including intellectual property, artificial intelligence and self-driving vehicles.
Shapiro is active in policy, thought leadership, government, and community development alongside his position at CTA. He sits on numerous boards and advisory councils, including the Northern Virginia Technology Council, CEO Update Roundtable, Council of Manufacturing Associations board, and Focused Ultrasound Foundation board.Shapiro holds a JD from the Georgetown University Law Center and a BA in economics and psychology from Binghamton University.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
M and T Bank presents CEOs you should Know, powered
by iHeart Media. Let's meet Gary Shapiro. He is the
CEO and Vice chairman for the Consumer Technology Association also
known as CTA, an organization that's been around for one
hundred years and is the creators of the Consumer Electronics
Show in Las Vegas every January. Before we talk more
(00:20):
about Gary's organization, I first asked him to talk a
little bit about himself, where he's from and his origin story.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
I grew up in New York.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
I went to school in upstate New York and Georgetown
and Washington d C. For law school, worked on Capitol
Hill and ended up working for an am player that
was representing this association, and they offered me a job.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
And here I am.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Well, we're going to talk a lot about the CTA
and CEES. As you were going out of school, there
was louring what you wanted to do? What dewo was
the plan?
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Well, like most people in their early twenties, I didn't
have a great plan. I just had the excitement and
looking forward to getting a paycheck in like not starving
eating mac and cheese.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
So the plan was.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
To get any job I could and what I found
is that working for a law firm is really not fun,
but working for the right client, it's like amazingly fun.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
So I found I was lucky. I found the right client.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Literally when I was a law student, stayed at a
law firm as a summer associate and as an associate,
and stayed with the client, and the client just said,
you're always working for us anyhow, you might as well.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Come in house.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
And that was a CTA.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
I was a predecessor organization to the Consumer Technology Association, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
So I have to say that's a big pivot in
not knowing exactly just as a layman what a lawyer
does and going to CTA. Tell me about that change
and why you decided to do that.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
That's a really interesting question.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
I mean, a lot of kids graduate school and their
started job is very important and it is a matter
of luck, but you should learn something. I really didn't
want to work at a law firm. I found that
a lot of lawyers are happy. I really did not
enjoy billing my time for a lot of reasons. But
I was advised that stayed on the law firm for
(02:05):
a couple of years and do what you want, so
you get that experience. It's the same in a lot
of professions like accounting and others, where you pay your
dues with a firm.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
And then you do what you really want to do.
And I didn't know I was making that decision.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Even when I was making a decision, I know some
of the partners at the law firm advised me not
to do what I was doing. Said, associations are a
place that people go to die and there's not a
lot of work there. I found out to be the
total opposite experience for me, because you could change in industry,
you can make a difference, you can make the world better.
And so I've definitely thrived at this trade association environment.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
So, Gary, the Consumer Technology Association has a great and
rich history. Can you tell us the origin about it?
Speaker 3 (02:49):
Well, we're about one hundred years old. We started as
the Radio Manufacturers Association. Some in iHeart rady, of course,
and we work closely with the broadcasters and shared an
office in New York City and started a trade show
in New York. We had together for least one year.
By the way, I'm not that old. I just have
been told a lot of this. And we shifted to
(03:11):
radio and television and became electronics and eventually morphed into
what we are today, the Consumer Technology Association. And what
we do is in a nonprofit association, is we represent
American technology companies and we look out for their interests
in policy, and we do research, statistics, marketing, industry communications,
(03:32):
talking about great things like high definition television, home theater.
We've done cool things like developed airplane mode on airlines.
We've convinced Congress to allow hearing aids to be sold
basically at drugstores the way eyeglasses are. And what we
try to do is focus on innovation, making the world
better and making sure consumers can have access to it
at a reasonable price.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Gary, what is the mission of the CTA.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Our mission is to make the world better through innovation,
and that's what we try to do, don't We're not
exactly innovating or inventing products ourselves, but our members are,
and there are. Every big technology company you can name
is probably a member of ours, and a lot of
companies that you wouldn't consider it to be technology companies,
whether they're in healthcare or automotive or mobility, or all
(04:17):
sorts of different things, food creation and production. There's a
focus on innovation because right now, no, what's changed is
historically now, just in my career, is the companies used
to go to loan and now every company in the
sense has to partner with many other companies to succeed.
So that's what innovation is, is getting together different ideas
(04:39):
and forming something of value.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
So companies cross license patents, they.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
Work together, they put their brands on each other's products.
Think about a car today versus a car of twenty
or thirty years ago. Now when you go into your car,
you'll see all sorts of brand names inside it. You know,
you're connected to the internet, you do all sorts of things.
That requires a lot of partnerships. So a lot of
organizations use our association, use our trade show, the CES
(05:03):
to basically establish those relationships and partnerships, and they have
deals which benefit both parties involved. And we try to
encourage that as much as possible.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
And what's the criteria to be a member of CTA.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
You have to be an American company.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
You could even be like Sony or Samsung and have
a US subsidiaria that certainly their members are like Apple
or Walmart or best Buy or others that are members
of ours.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
And you have to be willing to join.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
And you know, we don't have a lot of rules,
so obviously we want companies which are ethical, good, strong
companies and not on any.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Barred list from our US government.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
Other than that, it's a we want to make sure
that there's the criteria they meet or you know, you
pay the dues based on your revenue. And we like
it when people participate because if you show up, you
make a difference in terms of what we do and
what we say.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
So Gary, tell me about the origin and the partnership
of CTA and the Consumer Electronics Show. How did it
all come about?
Speaker 3 (06:03):
Well, the CTA the Association started the show in nineteen
sixty seven in New York City. It was a spinoff
from the Musical Instruments Show, the National Association Music Merchants.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Because there's this new.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
Thing out there called the basically you know, the TV,
the console, the phonograph.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
All these things.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
And it started in very small in sixty seven. It
just grew, you know, like wildfire. So you know, from
one hundred companies or so to now. We had the
last edition in January of twenty twenty five had forty
four hundred companies that attracted one hundred and forty thousand
people from around the world. It's not open to the public,
but anyone with a legitimate business interests attracted six thousand
(06:43):
media from over one hundred and forty countries. Actually the
people that came forty percent were from outside the US.
It's the biggest thing done in the United States in
terms of attracting foreign visitors to an event, and it
also is one of the very very few US events.
It's globally dominant in category of what we do. And
(07:04):
that's for a lot of reasons. But in some Las Vegas,
and you know, Las Vegas is a phenomenal place has
three of the ten largest convention centers.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
We use all of them.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
We have over two and a half million square feet
of exhibit space. Nobody could see the whole thing, and
but we do preserve it and have in a sense
of an online version where people could see some of
the great talks that are given. We had over one
thousand speakers, including the CEO of Delta who is in
the sphere, as well as the CEO of Navidia who
spoke to Not only did he speak, but two million
(07:34):
people watched it live.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Wow, extraordinary. You know, I've been to ces. I've been
one of the lucky people to attend it a few times,
and I don't know what year it was for me
that I got on my raider because I'm a big
tech guy like a lot of people out there, but
it seems to be bigger than life. Now you and
your team have made this it's almost like, you know,
the super Bowl of tech and electronics and all that
(07:56):
goes with technology, and it really is truly incredible, but
it's kind of like a super Bowl event. Now everybody's
talking about it on all the channels and all the
streamers and it's just a really amazing event. Was there
a year because you've been involved with it for many
years now you and your team that it took a
paradigm shift that it became almost bigger than life.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
CEES Well, since my first.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
Event, I have a tendency, yes, where I was just
so excited to see these incredible exhibits where every major
company in technology could show how they want the world
to see them, rather than rely on retailers or a
website or something else. It's been a process of growth
throughout the years. I mean, we respond to recessions and
things like that. But we certainly have expanded beyond the
definition because every company is now a technology company.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
It's just a fact.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
If you're not part of technology, you're left behind. And
you have to do the partner and you have to
have the relationships. You have to do all these things
and be able to operate in a team environment to
succeed as a technology company, or even a healthcare company
or a mobility company, or even in the financial world
world or broadcasting world, you have to go there and partner.
We also have a portion of the show which is
(09:04):
focused just on literally technology and chief marketing officers, people
who market and have platforms and others to see what
is happening in a technology because it's so important that
you see what's out there if you're a marketer, because
everything is moving quickly, because if you're the last person
to embrace something, you're going to lose. But if you're
the first, you could get quite a deal. And so
in that world has changed dramatically, but literally every world
(09:27):
has changed between COVID, between the technology, between our political
situations and things like that. We have world leaders come
into the event. Certainly, everyone wants to be affiliated and
have that halo of cees to say they were there,
they exhibited, or if they're really good, they want an
Innovations award, which are very highly coveted.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Gary, I know everybody's got a different agenda and that's
very cool. But as you've speak to everybody that is
either a member of CTA or attend cees, what kind
of feedback do you get from everybody about what they
want out of it to be a member but also
be a part of C.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
Well, what companies want as a member maybe different than
what they want out of CS as a member. They
want to know that someone's there looking at for their
interests that they share with others in the industry, whether
it be public policy, focusing on issues like tariffs and trade,
or focusing on being able to introduce new technologies that
consumers want. Because a lot of Washington d C and
(10:23):
even state legislatives is you're fighting legacy industries that want
to preserve the status quo, preserve the way things always are.
But we are a nation of immigrants. We are a
nation of people who want things better. We want them
the coolest, best stuff. We want to grasp everything. That's
how we've succeeded as a country, and our mission and
our vision is that we got to be there.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
We got to be first as Americans.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
Even though we welcome international participation, we're rooting for the
home team here, and we wanted these things for our members,
our companies in the United States so they could succeed
in this environment where consumers have a tremendous choice and
our government doesn't usually get in a way and block
that choice, but we have to fight for it. We're
fighting all the time because there's a lot of status
quo industries which want to send us back fifty or
(11:06):
one hundred years, or do all sorts of things, or
freeze technology, or put burdens on or put new rules on,
which will not only hurt the Americans as consumers, but
hurt our country's.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Ability to lead the world in innovation.
Speaker 3 (11:18):
And so we advocate for things like, let's get the
smartest people around the world to keep coming. Let's make
sure we have immigration policies which makes sense so we
get people help. Let's make sure that we could do
all sorts of different things and don't have other people
blocking us. And that's requires whether it was the audiologists
which tried to fight against hearing aids that could be
sold in drug stores and with competition in the marketplace,
(11:41):
not having to go to a doctor. We were fighting them.
We were fighting. We fought Hollywood for example, and that
they tried to block every recording technology.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
They tried to make the Internet illegal.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
They tried to do all sorts of things so they
didn't face competition. But there was new companies forming which
used us as a venue, whether it was Netflix or
Pandora or others. And it came along and they provide
these great services and Americans love because Americans want the
next best thing, and that's what we have to provide
the world, well said Gary.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
In this series, cybersecurity and AI come up a lot
with a lot of different companies, no matter what they do.
As you see the state of technology with those things
and other is that what everybody's talking about right now?
And I know it's fluid and moving fast, but what
is really the hot items out there right now?
Speaker 3 (12:25):
Well, certainly artificial intelligence is real, it's hot, it's changing
the world.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
It's not the answer to everything.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
I mean, there's a lot of things that you know
sometimes are false or whose nations that come because of
data sets it's not going to replace search engines totally
the way some people think it might. It's not going
to replace databases that are accurate, but it will provide
a huge amount of predictive intelligence which allows us to
make really good decisions, whether it's in healthcare and factory automation,
(12:56):
or even how we get around in a self driving
vehicle and save literally forty thousand lives a year and
literally millions of people going to the Murden's room.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
It'll help solve a lot of our health care costs.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
It'll solve a lot of things evolving global production of
food and hunger and health and clean air and clean water.
There's so many great things that artificial intelligence is going
to do. It'll make our lives better and we'll be
living longer and we'll be healthier.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
Gary wanted to talk about philanthropic and charity work. When
you do have an opportunity, whether it's through work or
with your family or you personally, what do you like
to be part of.
Speaker 3 (13:28):
Well, we have our own foundation here that focuses on
people with disabilities and older people and how technology can
help them. It's a grant giving organization and a lot
of participation of the major tech company representatives because they
really want to help the world and help especially those
people that are lonely and older and isolated, or people
with disabilities, because the solutions we're providing are helping so
(13:49):
many people with disabilities. Also personally, I'm involved with something
called the Focused Ultrasound Foundation, which provides waves which are
now using a whole range of medical treatments. It's an
alternate to chemotherapy, surgery, or radiation. It's an outpatient especially
effective for people with a nervous tremor. For most people
that totally cures them in a couple hours, and it
(14:10):
does all sorts of other things. And I urge people
to look at the Focused Ultrasound Foundation website. They want
to learn about us, the CTA Foundation website. It's easy
if I don't or even learn about us. Generally, it's
CTA tech to ech to learn about what we're doing.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
I appreciate you sharing that, Gary. I did want to
talk to you about leadership if I could. As you
can imagine, there's a lot of leaders that listen to
this series, but there's also a lot of future entrepreneurs
and leaders, and you deal with so many people and
we love to talk about leadership, and I realize that
your journey is specific to yours, But what does leadership
mean to you?
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Well?
Speaker 3 (14:46):
I care a lot about leadership because we're leaders of
an industry. We employ a lot of leaders that are
leading people. Even with their intense competitors. We're trying to
get them to agree on things. And leadership to me
is helping set a positive direction even in moments a crisis.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Because in crisis, I mean anyone.
Speaker 3 (15:03):
I mean when I first got my job was during
a recession and the chairman said, Gary, an idiot could
run this place when times are good.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
This is now, there's a recession. We need someone who's smart.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
So leadership is about actually in a crisis where giving
people a realistic set of facts, but doing it in
a way where they could see understand the mission and
have hope and contribute and want to make things better.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
And I think it's easy for me.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
I think, not that I'm a natural leader, but I
believe in our mission so much about innovation making the
world better. I've written a couple of books about leadership.
My most recent is Pivot or Die. How Leaders Thrive
When Everything Changes. Very timely was more inspired by COVID.
But given the situation we're in as a country right now,
everything is changing and leaders need to stand up. Change
(15:48):
is the most natural thing in the human condition, but
we fight it and we have to learn as humans
how to deal with change in a way where we
viewed as an opportunity.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
And the thing is about leadership. Leadership comes from failure
as well.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
We're lucky for us, the United States is the only
country in the world where failure in a business is
actually a learning experience.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
That's not like the rest of the world.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
So you learn from your mistakes and you look at
them possible and you say what you learn from them,
and then you move on. And we learned a lot
from COVID. We're putting those lessons to work. We're learning
a lot as we see changes in our government and
changes in how we do things, and you have to
approach those and say, look, this is the situation, here's
what I could change, here's what I can but I'm
going to make the best of this. And also like, look,
(16:30):
we go through life. We have relationships that don't work,
things that happen. As young people, we try to make
decisions about where to go to school or what our
first job is, and we fret over it. But the
reality is the biggest decisions we make in life are
not those decisions. It's who we marry, it's whether we
have children, it's whether we commit a felony, and it's
whether we do something unsafe.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
Everything else is a.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
Learning experience that has value and merit and things like that,
and the rest of it is just a ride, if
you will. So those big decisions make carefully. The other decisions,
view them as opportunities to learn. Whether it's your first
job or where you go to college, You're going to
meet people and make things and learn more about yourself,
so you'll get to know yourself as you get on
(17:12):
in life.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
But those are not fatal decisions to make.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Well, Sed, I appreciate you sharing that. I didn't want
to get some final thoughts from you on our chat
and just kind of recap everything and then we'll give
the website one more time, but gary to some final
thoughts on CTA CES. The floor is your, sir, well.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
The Consumer Technology Association is a great trade association is
focused on innovation making the world better.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
CES is the venue event.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
One of the tools we have which people from around
the world come to over one hundred thousand people every edition,
including a lot of press.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
You have to be part of that.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
But that's where thousands of companies exhibit, with a special
place for startups because we love startups, we love small companies.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
It's eighty percent of our membership.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
And of course we want to make sure that people
make good decisions in Washington and stay legislatures, that we
get out our information to them, that we have factual
information so companies, businesses, policy leaders and others can make
decisions that are good decisions.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
And website for everybody one more time.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
CEES dot TECHCS dot tech and CTA dot Tech Tech.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
Gary can't tell you how much I appreciate your time,
and as a tech guy, I know it takes a
whole village to do what you and your team do,
but I'm very appreciative. CES is just an amazing thing
and what you're doing at CTA since nineteen ninety one
is fantastic. So really appreciate all your hard work and
your valuable time, and thank you so much for joining
us on CEOs.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
You should know, thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
Dennis.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
Our community partner M and T Bank supports CEOs you
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As a Bank for communities, M and T believes in
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M and T Bank presents CEOs you should Know, powered
by iHeart Media. Let's meet Gary Shapiro. He is the
CEO and Vice chairman for the Consumer Technology Association also
known as CTA, an organization that's been around for one
hundred years and is the creators of the Consumer Electronics
Show in Las Vegas every January. Before we talk more
(00:20):
about Gary's organization, I first asked him to talk a
little bit about himself, where he's from and his origin story.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
I grew up in New York.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
I went to school in upstate New York and Georgetown
and Washington d C. For law school, worked on Capitol
Hill and ended up working for an am player that
was representing this association, and they offered me a job.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
And here I am.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Well, we're going to talk a lot about the CTA
and CEES. As you were going out of school, there
was louring what you wanted to do? What dewo was
the plan?
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Well, like most people in their early twenties, I didn't
have a great plan. I just had the excitement and
looking forward to getting a paycheck in like not starving
eating mac and cheese.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
So the plan was.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
To get any job I could and what I found
is that working for a law firm is really not fun,
but working for the right client, it's like amazingly fun.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
So I found I was lucky. I found the right client.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Literally when I was a law student, stayed at a
law firm as a summer associate and as an associate,
and stayed with the client, and the client just said,
you're always working for us anyhow, you might as well.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Come in house.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
And that was a CTA.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
I was a predecessor organization to the Consumer Technology Association, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
So I have to say that's a big pivot in
not knowing exactly just as a layman what a lawyer
does and going to CTA. Tell me about that change
and why you decided to do that.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
That's a really interesting question.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
I mean, a lot of kids graduate school and their
started job is very important and it is a matter
of luck, but you should learn something. I really didn't
want to work at a law firm. I found that
a lot of lawyers are happy. I really did not
enjoy billing my time for a lot of reasons. But
I was advised that stayed on the law firm for
(02:05):
a couple of years and do what you want, so
you get that experience. It's the same in a lot
of professions like accounting and others, where you pay your
dues with a firm.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
And then you do what you really want to do.
And I didn't know I was making that decision.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Even when I was making a decision, I know some
of the partners at the law firm advised me not
to do what I was doing. Said, associations are a
place that people go to die and there's not a
lot of work there. I found out to be the
total opposite experience for me, because you could change in industry,
you can make a difference, you can make the world better.
And so I've definitely thrived at this trade association environment.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
So, Gary, the Consumer Technology Association has a great and
rich history. Can you tell us the origin about it?
Speaker 3 (02:49):
Well, we're about one hundred years old. We started as
the Radio Manufacturers Association. Some in iHeart rady, of course,
and we work closely with the broadcasters and shared an
office in New York City and started a trade show
in New York. We had together for least one year.
By the way, I'm not that old. I just have
been told a lot of this. And we shifted to
(03:11):
radio and television and became electronics and eventually morphed into
what we are today, the Consumer Technology Association. And what
we do is in a nonprofit association, is we represent
American technology companies and we look out for their interests
in policy, and we do research, statistics, marketing, industry communications,
(03:32):
talking about great things like high definition television, home theater.
We've done cool things like developed airplane mode on airlines.
We've convinced Congress to allow hearing aids to be sold
basically at drugstores the way eyeglasses are. And what we
try to do is focus on innovation, making the world
better and making sure consumers can have access to it
at a reasonable price.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Gary, what is the mission of the CTA.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Our mission is to make the world better through innovation,
and that's what we try to do, don't We're not
exactly innovating or inventing products ourselves, but our members are,
and there are. Every big technology company you can name
is probably a member of ours, and a lot of
companies that you wouldn't consider it to be technology companies,
whether they're in healthcare or automotive or mobility, or all
(04:17):
sorts of different things, food creation and production. There's a
focus on innovation because right now, no, what's changed is
historically now, just in my career, is the companies used
to go to loan and now every company in the
sense has to partner with many other companies to succeed.
So that's what innovation is, is getting together different ideas
(04:39):
and forming something of value.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
So companies cross license patents, they.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
Work together, they put their brands on each other's products.
Think about a car today versus a car of twenty
or thirty years ago. Now when you go into your car,
you'll see all sorts of brand names inside it. You know,
you're connected to the internet, you do all sorts of things.
That requires a lot of partnerships. So a lot of
organizations use our association, use our trade show, the CES
(05:03):
to basically establish those relationships and partnerships, and they have
deals which benefit both parties involved. And we try to
encourage that as much as possible.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
And what's the criteria to be a member of CTA.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
You have to be an American company.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
You could even be like Sony or Samsung and have
a US subsidiaria that certainly their members are like Apple
or Walmart or best Buy or others that are members
of ours.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
And you have to be willing to join.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
And you know, we don't have a lot of rules,
so obviously we want companies which are ethical, good, strong
companies and not on any.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Barred list from our US government.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
Other than that, it's a we want to make sure
that there's the criteria they meet or you know, you
pay the dues based on your revenue. And we like
it when people participate because if you show up, you
make a difference in terms of what we do and
what we say.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
So Gary, tell me about the origin and the partnership
of CTA and the Consumer Electronics Show. How did it
all come about?
Speaker 3 (06:03):
Well, the CTA the Association started the show in nineteen
sixty seven in New York City. It was a spinoff
from the Musical Instruments Show, the National Association Music Merchants.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Because there's this new.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
Thing out there called the basically you know, the TV,
the console, the phonograph.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
All these things.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
And it started in very small in sixty seven. It
just grew, you know, like wildfire. So you know, from
one hundred companies or so to now. We had the
last edition in January of twenty twenty five had forty
four hundred companies that attracted one hundred and forty thousand
people from around the world. It's not open to the public,
but anyone with a legitimate business interests attracted six thousand
(06:43):
media from over one hundred and forty countries. Actually the
people that came forty percent were from outside the US.
It's the biggest thing done in the United States in
terms of attracting foreign visitors to an event, and it
also is one of the very very few US events.
It's globally dominant in category of what we do. And
(07:04):
that's for a lot of reasons. But in some Las Vegas,
and you know, Las Vegas is a phenomenal place has
three of the ten largest convention centers.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
We use all of them.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
We have over two and a half million square feet
of exhibit space. Nobody could see the whole thing, and
but we do preserve it and have in a sense
of an online version where people could see some of
the great talks that are given. We had over one
thousand speakers, including the CEO of Delta who is in
the sphere, as well as the CEO of Navidia who
spoke to Not only did he speak, but two million
(07:34):
people watched it live.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Wow, extraordinary. You know, I've been to ces. I've been
one of the lucky people to attend it a few times,
and I don't know what year it was for me
that I got on my raider because I'm a big
tech guy like a lot of people out there, but
it seems to be bigger than life. Now you and
your team have made this it's almost like, you know,
the super Bowl of tech and electronics and all that
(07:56):
goes with technology, and it really is truly incredible, but
it's kind of like a super Bowl event. Now everybody's
talking about it on all the channels and all the
streamers and it's just a really amazing event. Was there
a year because you've been involved with it for many
years now you and your team that it took a
paradigm shift that it became almost bigger than life.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
CEES Well, since my first.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
Event, I have a tendency, yes, where I was just
so excited to see these incredible exhibits where every major
company in technology could show how they want the world
to see them, rather than rely on retailers or a
website or something else. It's been a process of growth
throughout the years. I mean, we respond to recessions and
things like that. But we certainly have expanded beyond the
definition because every company is now a technology company.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
It's just a fact.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
If you're not part of technology, you're left behind. And
you have to do the partner and you have to
have the relationships. You have to do all these things
and be able to operate in a team environment to
succeed as a technology company, or even a healthcare company
or a mobility company, or even in the financial world
world or broadcasting world, you have to go there and partner.
We also have a portion of the show which is
(09:04):
focused just on literally technology and chief marketing officers, people
who market and have platforms and others to see what
is happening in a technology because it's so important that
you see what's out there if you're a marketer, because
everything is moving quickly, because if you're the last person
to embrace something, you're going to lose. But if you're
the first, you could get quite a deal. And so
in that world has changed dramatically, but literally every world
(09:27):
has changed between COVID, between the technology, between our political
situations and things like that. We have world leaders come
into the event. Certainly, everyone wants to be affiliated and
have that halo of cees to say they were there,
they exhibited, or if they're really good, they want an
Innovations award, which are very highly coveted.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Gary, I know everybody's got a different agenda and that's
very cool. But as you've speak to everybody that is
either a member of CTA or attend cees, what kind
of feedback do you get from everybody about what they
want out of it to be a member but also
be a part of C.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
Well, what companies want as a member maybe different than
what they want out of CS as a member. They
want to know that someone's there looking at for their
interests that they share with others in the industry, whether
it be public policy, focusing on issues like tariffs and trade,
or focusing on being able to introduce new technologies that
consumers want. Because a lot of Washington d C and
(10:23):
even state legislatives is you're fighting legacy industries that want
to preserve the status quo, preserve the way things always are.
But we are a nation of immigrants. We are a
nation of people who want things better. We want them
the coolest, best stuff. We want to grasp everything. That's
how we've succeeded as a country, and our mission and
our vision is that we got to be there.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
We got to be first as Americans.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
Even though we welcome international participation, we're rooting for the
home team here, and we wanted these things for our members,
our companies in the United States so they could succeed
in this environment where consumers have a tremendous choice and
our government doesn't usually get in a way and block
that choice, but we have to fight for it. We're
fighting all the time because there's a lot of status
quo industries which want to send us back fifty or
(11:06):
one hundred years, or do all sorts of things, or
freeze technology, or put burdens on or put new rules on,
which will not only hurt the Americans as consumers, but
hurt our country's.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Ability to lead the world in innovation.
Speaker 3 (11:18):
And so we advocate for things like, let's get the
smartest people around the world to keep coming. Let's make
sure we have immigration policies which makes sense so we
get people help. Let's make sure that we could do
all sorts of different things and don't have other people
blocking us. And that's requires whether it was the audiologists
which tried to fight against hearing aids that could be
sold in drug stores and with competition in the marketplace,
(11:41):
not having to go to a doctor. We were fighting them.
We were fighting. We fought Hollywood for example, and that
they tried to block every recording technology.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
They tried to make the Internet illegal.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
They tried to do all sorts of things so they
didn't face competition. But there was new companies forming which
used us as a venue, whether it was Netflix or
Pandora or others. And it came along and they provide
these great services and Americans love because Americans want the
next best thing, and that's what we have to provide
the world, well said Gary.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
In this series, cybersecurity and AI come up a lot
with a lot of different companies, no matter what they do.
As you see the state of technology with those things
and other is that what everybody's talking about right now?
And I know it's fluid and moving fast, but what
is really the hot items out there right now?
Speaker 3 (12:25):
Well, certainly artificial intelligence is real, it's hot, it's changing
the world.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
It's not the answer to everything.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
I mean, there's a lot of things that you know
sometimes are false or whose nations that come because of
data sets it's not going to replace search engines totally
the way some people think it might. It's not going
to replace databases that are accurate, but it will provide
a huge amount of predictive intelligence which allows us to
make really good decisions, whether it's in healthcare and factory automation,
(12:56):
or even how we get around in a self driving
vehicle and save literally forty thousand lives a year and
literally millions of people going to the Murden's room.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
It'll help solve a lot of our health care costs.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
It'll solve a lot of things evolving global production of
food and hunger and health and clean air and clean water.
There's so many great things that artificial intelligence is going
to do. It'll make our lives better and we'll be
living longer and we'll be healthier.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
Gary wanted to talk about philanthropic and charity work. When
you do have an opportunity, whether it's through work or
with your family or you personally, what do you like
to be part of.
Speaker 3 (13:28):
Well, we have our own foundation here that focuses on
people with disabilities and older people and how technology can
help them. It's a grant giving organization and a lot
of participation of the major tech company representatives because they
really want to help the world and help especially those
people that are lonely and older and isolated, or people
with disabilities, because the solutions we're providing are helping so
(13:49):
many people with disabilities. Also personally, I'm involved with something
called the Focused Ultrasound Foundation, which provides waves which are
now using a whole range of medical treatments. It's an
alternate to chemotherapy, surgery, or radiation. It's an outpatient especially
effective for people with a nervous tremor. For most people
that totally cures them in a couple hours, and it
(14:10):
does all sorts of other things. And I urge people
to look at the Focused Ultrasound Foundation website. They want
to learn about us, the CTA Foundation website. It's easy
if I don't or even learn about us. Generally, it's
CTA tech to ech to learn about what we're doing.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
I appreciate you sharing that, Gary. I did want to
talk to you about leadership if I could. As you
can imagine, there's a lot of leaders that listen to
this series, but there's also a lot of future entrepreneurs
and leaders, and you deal with so many people and
we love to talk about leadership, and I realize that
your journey is specific to yours, But what does leadership
mean to you?
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Well?
Speaker 3 (14:46):
I care a lot about leadership because we're leaders of
an industry. We employ a lot of leaders that are
leading people. Even with their intense competitors. We're trying to
get them to agree on things. And leadership to me
is helping set a positive direction even in moments a crisis.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Because in crisis, I mean anyone.
Speaker 3 (15:03):
I mean when I first got my job was during
a recession and the chairman said, Gary, an idiot could
run this place when times are good.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
This is now, there's a recession. We need someone who's smart.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
So leadership is about actually in a crisis where giving
people a realistic set of facts, but doing it in
a way where they could see understand the mission and
have hope and contribute and want to make things better.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
And I think it's easy for me.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
I think, not that I'm a natural leader, but I
believe in our mission so much about innovation making the
world better. I've written a couple of books about leadership.
My most recent is Pivot or Die. How Leaders Thrive
When Everything Changes. Very timely was more inspired by COVID.
But given the situation we're in as a country right now,
everything is changing and leaders need to stand up. Change
(15:48):
is the most natural thing in the human condition, but
we fight it and we have to learn as humans
how to deal with change in a way where we
viewed as an opportunity.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
And the thing is about leadership. Leadership comes from failure
as well.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
We're lucky for us, the United States is the only
country in the world where failure in a business is
actually a learning experience.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
That's not like the rest of the world.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
So you learn from your mistakes and you look at
them possible and you say what you learn from them,
and then you move on. And we learned a lot
from COVID. We're putting those lessons to work. We're learning
a lot as we see changes in our government and
changes in how we do things, and you have to
approach those and say, look, this is the situation, here's
what I could change, here's what I can but I'm
going to make the best of this. And also like, look,
(16:30):
we go through life. We have relationships that don't work,
things that happen. As young people, we try to make
decisions about where to go to school or what our
first job is, and we fret over it. But the
reality is the biggest decisions we make in life are
not those decisions. It's who we marry, it's whether we
have children, it's whether we commit a felony, and it's
whether we do something unsafe.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
Everything else is a.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
Learning experience that has value and merit and things like that,
and the rest of it is just a ride, if
you will. So those big decisions make carefully. The other decisions,
view them as opportunities to learn. Whether it's your first
job or where you go to college, You're going to
meet people and make things and learn more about yourself,
so you'll get to know yourself as you get on
(17:12):
in life.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
But those are not fatal decisions to make.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Well, Sed, I appreciate you sharing that. I didn't want
to get some final thoughts from you on our chat
and just kind of recap everything and then we'll give
the website one more time, but gary to some final
thoughts on CTA CES. The floor is your, sir, well.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
The Consumer Technology Association is a great trade association is
focused on innovation making the world better.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
CES is the venue event.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
One of the tools we have which people from around
the world come to over one hundred thousand people every edition,
including a lot of press.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
You have to be part of that.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
But that's where thousands of companies exhibit, with a special
place for startups because we love startups, we love small companies.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
It's eighty percent of our membership.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
And of course we want to make sure that people
make good decisions in Washington and stay legislatures, that we
get out our information to them, that we have factual
information so companies, businesses, policy leaders and others can make
decisions that are good decisions.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
And website for everybody one more time.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
CEES dot TECHCS dot tech and CTA dot Tech Tech.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
Gary can't tell you how much I appreciate your time,
and as a tech guy, I know it takes a
whole village to do what you and your team do,
but I'm very appreciative. CES is just an amazing thing
and what you're doing at CTA since nineteen ninety one
is fantastic. So really appreciate all your hard work and
your valuable time, and thank you so much for joining
us on CEOs.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
You should know, thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
Dennis.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
Our community partner M and T Bank supports CEOs you
should know is part of their ongoing commitment to building
strong communities, and that starts by backing the businesses within them.
As a Bank for communities, M and T believes in
dedicating time, talent, and resources to help local businesses thrive
because when businesses succeed, our community succeed.
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