Greg Sebasky has represented Philips in several different roles, which have
allowed him to speak at conferences about the company's role in areas like
sustainability and health care. Sebasky is currently chairman of Philips North
America. He's been interviewed by media outlets such as The Wall Street
Journal and Fast Company about his leadership skills. In this abridged
discussion, he talks about the energy efficiency of LED lighting.
Q: What cities, nationally or internationally, can you point to as models of
sustainability?
A: In the U.S., there are a number of them, but I would point to New York
City as a model. We have recognized Mayor Michael Bloomberg for putting in
place energy standards that require building owners at the time they do
renovations above a certain size to upgrade their buildings to new codes that
are among some of the strongest [in the] nation around energy efficiency.
Amsterdam and Denmark also come to mind.
Q: What partnerships does Philips have with cities, counties or states?
A: We have been attending the National Conference of Mayors for a number of
years now. Mayors have an interest in how Philips can help them become more
sustainable. A lot of the discussions have been around street and roadway
lighting, because they face the dilemma of trying to bring down their costs.
Through the use of advanced LED lighting and swapping out street lighting,
they have improved energy efficiency [and] can control the lights from a
Web-based application.
Q: Do you think this is a trend? Will this continue happening in the future?
A: It is accelerating from where it was a couple of years ago. We are doing
a number of projects with mayors around the U.S. The last couple of years,
they have also been intrigued by unique design lighting solutions because they
feel that by enhancing the environment with light in the evening for safety
and color, they also can improve tourism.
Q: What's on the horizon for government as far as Philips is concerned?
A: We have been building up our government relationship programs to try to
work with energy ministries at the local level to do three things. One is to
enhance communities through light, either by energy efficiency or improving
design and ambiance. The second is to help connect patients at home into the
health-care system through our health-care business. The third is to provide
healthy appliances for people in their homes. People in the U.S. have seen our
Sonicare and Avent product lines, but if you go outside the U.S., we have a
range of products for healthy food preparation. In China, people are worried
about the quality of food coming out of the farms, so we have appliances that
can wash fresh vegetables and fruits and disinfect them through light.
Distributed by MCT Information Services
