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Michael J. Birck, 68 a founder of Tellabs, Inc., currently serves as chairman. Birck began his telecommunications career as a member of the technical staff at AT&T’s Bell Telephone Laboratories. He then managed the Transmission System Design department at Continental Telephone Laboratories. From 1968 to 1975 he was director of engineering at Wescom, Inc. Birck received the Illinois High Tech Entrepreneur award from Peat Marwick and Mitchell/Crain’s Chicago Business in 1984 and the Outstanding Master Entrepreneur award by Inc. Magazine/Ernst & Young in 1995. In April of 1991 he was named a Purdue University Distinguished Engineering Alumnus, and in 1992 an Outstanding Electrical Engineering Alumnus. He was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Engineering by Purdue in 1995. Birck was inducted into the Chicago Business Hall of Fame in 1998 and received the Chicago Area Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999. He was honored as a 2001 recipient of the IEEE Ernst Weber Engineering Leadership Recognition award. In 2003, the Electronic Industries Alliance (EIA) presented him with the Medal of Honor Award, for his achievements and leadership in the U.S. telecommunications industry. He serves as a director of the Purdue Research Foundation and is a senior member of the Dean’s Advisory Council of the Krannert School of Management. He is past chairman of the Purdue Alumni Foundation Board and is a trustee of Purdue University. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of Benedictine University and of the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy Fund Board. Birck is a member of the Board of Directors of the Lincoln Foundation for Performance Excellence and the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry. Corporately, he serves as a Director on the Boards of Molex Incorporated and Illinois Tool Works, Inc. Birck holds a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Purdue University and a Master of Science degree in electrical engineering from New York University. He is a member of Tau Beta Pi and Eta Kappa Nu national engineering honorary fraternities. Tellabs advances telecommunications networks to meet the evolving needs of users. Broadband solutions from Tellabs enable service providers to deliver high-quality voice, video and data services over wireline and wireless networks around the world. Ranked among the BusinessWeek InfoTech 100, Tellabs (NASDAQ: TLAB) is part of the NASDAQ-100 Index, NASDAQ Global Select Market and the S&P 500.
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