“Think smart, move fast” was Steve Bennett’s mantra during his eight years as president and CEO of Intuit. He shared this and other insights about his time at both Intuit and General Electric as part of the M. Keith Weikel Executive Leadership Speaker Series for MBA students, faculty and staff. The talk was also webcast live to Wisconsin School of Business alumni. Watch the archived webcast.

During Bennett's tenure, the firm, known for popular business software such as Quicken, QuickBooks and TurboTax, nearly tripled its revenue and quadrupled its earnings. Fortune magazine ranked the company on its “Best Places to Work” list six years in a row (2002-2007) and as the most admired software company (2004-2007).

Bennett, who earned his BBA in finance and real estate from the Wisconsin School of Business in 1976, stepped down from his posts with Intuit the end of 2007, but remains on the company’s board. Prior to joining Intuit, he spent 23 years with GE, many of them in finance. His relentless focus on customer-driven innovation attracted national media attention and led the way for other companies to form partnerships with their customers.

“Having an executive of this caliber interact with our students is a tremendous benefit,” said Michael Knetter, dean of the Wisconsin School of Business. “When someone like Steve takes such an active interest in our program, it helps us produce the next generation of business leaders.”