Ari Banerjee is Vice President of Yankee Group’s Enabling Technologies Service Provider Group leading and overseeing all telecom software research. Banerjee examines the breadth of software used by communications service providers in customer, business and service and infrastructure management. His area of research covers all aspects of telecom software solutions used in service provide environment from order to cash to care. Prior to joining Yankee Group, Banerjee worked for Lucent Technologies and CSG Systems. He holds a bachelor’s degree in electronics and communications from Manipal Institute of Technology in India, a Master’s degree in computer Information Systems from Bentley College and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Glasgow Business School.
Dan Baker, Research Director, OSS/BSS KnowledgeBase, Dittberner Associates
Baker is the research director of Dittberner's OSS/BSS KnowledgeBase. Before joining Dittberner in 2004, he founded and served as director of Technology Research Institute (TRI), a firm tracking OSS/BSS trends since 1994.
Baker has authored and published dozens of multiclient and custom reports studies that span the breadth of BSS/OSS systems, including wireless and wireline billing/mediation systems; revenue assurance and cost management; OSS/provisioning and assurance; customer care/CRM and OSS integration. He has presented his research findings in conferences and private briefings in Asia, Europe and South America.
Baker is a former market analyst at Venture Development Corp. (VDC), where he tracked the telecom and real-time computer markets. He has a philosophy degree from the University of Notre Dame.
Alice Bartram has been in the telecommunications billing industry for almost a decade, currently as associate vice president of marketing for Comverse’s line of billing and active customer management solutions. She recently oversaw the successful launch of the Comverse ONE Billing and Active Customer Management solution, the industry’s first system to provide complete BSS functionality — from the network to the customer to the bank, for any service or payment type — built as a single system. Prior to joining Comverse, Bartram held a variety of sales, marketing and product management roles for companies such as Lucent, Silicon Graphics and Texas Instruments. Bartram has a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering from The University of Vermont and a Master of Science in management from the London Business School.
Tony Bates is a partner and the COO of PSC, a leading PCI and PA DSS assessor. With global experience in the e-payment, enterprise software and ASP services industries, Bates has a deep understanding of the technology solutions and business relationships related to credit card payments, international corporate business development, global payment processing, merchandizing, marketing and sales. Prior to PSC, Bates was the senior business development executive for WorldPay Inc., the global online payments provider of the fifth-largest banking group in the world, RBS Group. He also has held management positions with InfoSpace Inc., QSI Payments Inc. and CyberSource Corp.
Paul Bertino is the director of
marketing and product management at HickoryTech where he has spent the past
decade leading the product efforts for DSL and IPTV for the incumbent and
competitive local exchange carrier business. He has more than 20 years of
management experience covering sales, marketing, customer service and
product management functions with a concentration in new product
development and commercialization. Bertino served on the Blandin
Foundation’s Broadband Initiative Strategy Board and has presented at
several IPTV related tech events, including TelcoTV.
Gianni Burzi has spent his career in telecom sales, holding vice president and director-level positions with companies like AT&T, Bellcore/Telcordia and Leica Geosystems. He is a co-founder and general partner for Adivent, a sales outsourcing company focused on the European telecom market.
Brad Cornett is responsible for
driving Operations and Business Software (OBS) business development
activities for Nokia Siemens Networks in North America. He joined Nokia
Siemens in 2005 from Telephia, where he was vice president, responsible for
sales, delivery and service of the product portfolio to the largest U.S.
wireless provider. Prior to Telephia, Mr. Cornett was a strategy consultant
in mobile telecommunications for four years for PwC Consulting. He holds a
Master of Business Administration degree from the Goizueta Business School
at Emory University and a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the
University of Colorado at Boulder.
Chris Couch is co-founder and
CEO of Transverse. A pioneer in the telecom software market, Couch was
instrumental in establishing Transverse’s commercial business model for
their open source billing and operations support system. He launched the
product design of the blee(p) platform and spearheaded the selection and
integration of best-of-breed open source projects to integrate with blee(p)
to form the Transverse Telecom Solution. He currently oversees development
and operations and is working with his team to rollout the Transverse
Community. Prior to co-founding Transverse, Couch spent 16 years focused on
telecommunications software solutions, serving as senior vice president and
chief marketing officer at ACE*COMM Corporation, CTO at RateIntegration,
Inc., consulting practice leader at American Management Systems and Logica
and as a wireless software designer and engineer at Evolving Systems.
Camilla Dahlen is responsible for Highdeal’s strategy and
operations in the Americas. Previously, Dahlen had global account
management responsibilities for EHPT, a joint venture between Ericsson and
Hewlett-Packard, where she served customers throughout Europe, South
America and North America and helped build EHPT's South American operations
into one of the most successful OSS/BSS software businesses in the region.
Prior to EHPT, Dahlen led strategic marketing and competitive analysis
initiatives at Telia. She holds a bachelor’s degree in business
administration from Boston College and a master’s degree in Spanish and
English from Instituto de Empresa in Madrid, Spain.
Michael Devlin, vice president
of business development for VPIsystems, has a broad range of experience in
software design and product management spanning wireless and wireline
networks. He has designed and built network simulation models for mobile
military networks and has been responsible for planning RF wireless network
design tools and network for several major corporations. While at Bell
Labs, Devlin led business development efforts in IP video networking, GbE
IP/MPLS products, packet filtering next generation firewall and VPN
products and next-generation content delivery networks. He also has
extensive experience in IPTV networks and IPTV middleware. Devlin has
appeared as a speaker at industry shows including Billing & OSS World 2008,
Management World Africa 2008 and Internet Telephony Conference & EXPO East
2009.
Derrick Duczek is AVP, marketing and sales, for the OSS
Solutions division of SaskTel International. He has more than 18 years of
experience in the telecommunications industry, having held a wide range of
roles in areas including product management, market research, and sales.
Prior to joining SaskTel International, Duczek worked in the IPTV
department for SaskTel.
Naras Eechambadi, Ph.D., founder, senior vice president and general manager of CSG Systems’ Quaero Solution, is a widely recognized thought leader and innovator in marketing. He has helped a variety of companies, in a number of industries, improve the effectiveness of their marketing efforts and marketing technology investments, making him a sought-after speaker on marketing performance. Naras is the author of the marketing metrics and measurement book, “High-Performance Marketing: Bringing Method to the Madness of Marketing,” and has held senior marketing management roles for BBDO, McKinsey & Company, First Union and The Bases Group.
Brian Eltom was named the director of marketing of digital interactive video for SaskTel Telecommunications Ltd. in August 2000. Eltom was one of the original two employees responsible for developing the business case for SaskTel’s entry into the broadcast market, and went on to establish the business unit responsible for the overall operation of Max Interactive Services and SaskTel’s Internet portal, mysask.com. He led the team in charge of all marketing activities, including advertising and channel management, as well as overseeing the development of new products and services, and later, supervising all content negotiations and management.
After SaskTel reorganized its marketing department into two new groups, Eltom led the Take To Market Group, managing the promotions, campaigns, channels and advertising for the company’s consumer and business products.
Eltom holds a Bachelor of Administration at the University of Regina and a Master of Business Administration at the University of Saskatchewan.
As vice president of systems development for Intercall, Rob Ewing and his team oversee all business systems development, integration and support, as well as advise on new products and services. Since joining InterCall in 1997, Ewing has held various IT positions including leading and architecting the company's CRM initiative, ecommerce initiatives and Web conferencing integration projects. Prior to InterCall, he spent 10 years as a senior systems consultant with Enterprise Computer Systems and Spartan Electronic Consultants.
Jennifer Fellows has more than 18 years of experience with telecommunications billing systems, access management and content filtering systems, CRM, OSS software and telecommunications consulting. Currently vice president of product management for Intec, she is responsible for Intec’s Singl.eView product line focusing on real-time convergent billing, customer care and wireless solutions. Before Intec, Fellows held key management positions providing product direction and market strategy for convergent billing and interconnect solutions, real-time billing, MVNO and access management products, as well as customer acquisition, prepay and fraud management solutions. She has a degree in telecommunications from Michigan State, is a knowledgeable speaker in the industry and has authored several articles on telecommunications billing and operational support systems.
With 20 years of business, market, and product development experience developing communications and software products for service providers and enterprises, Dan Geiger joined Infonetics Research in November 2008 a seasoned industry veteran. Prior to Infonetics, he was Director of Telecom Marketing for Kabira Technologies, where he managed their Service Delivery and OSS product portfolios, bringing real-time charging, subscriber management, and network application integration solutions to market. Previously, Dan was Group Manager for Routing and Switching Marketing at Cisco, Telecom Industry Solutions Director at BEA, and Product Marketing Director for Lucent’s Edge Access business unit.
Dan is now focused on expanding Infonetics’ Next Gen OSS and Policy coverage to include deeper reporting of important communication industry players, technologies, and trends, such as the changing service delivery infrastructure, the evolution of Telco 2.0, the role of integrated communications providers (ICPs), new service models (software-as-a-service, hosted services, third party providers), and new ways for service providers to better leverage their competitive advantages for profit. Dan tracks next gen OSS and policy software, services, subscribers, and equipment, including policy servers, service delivery platforms (SDPs), and subscriber data management (SDM). He is a consultant to startups, service providers and manufacturers, identifying new market opportunities and advising on positioning, product development and business plans.
Dan has a BA from Harvard University and an MBA from Stanford University.
Larry Goldman co-founded OSS Observer, now part of Analysys Mason, where Goldman is head of Analysys Mason’s global telecoms software research program. His research focus is on service fulfillment, billing and customer care. Goldman has more than 25 years’ experience in telecoms software and network management. Prior to founding OSS Observer in 2003, he was with RHK, Tellabs, GTE (now Verizon) and Hewlett-Packard.
Michael Gossman is director of global marketing and product management for the Martin Group, a global provider of software solutions, next generation engineering and business services to telecommunications providers. His 25 years of experience in telecommunications span management assignments at U.S. and European wireline/wireless carriers including BellAtlantic, Verizon, Vodaphone, AT&T, Mercury One2One and Comcast.
Prior to joining Martin group, Gossman was a managing principal in IBM’s telecommunications practice, a senior manager at KPMG and the founder of two tech startups specializing in churn reduction and predictive analytics.
An industry veteran, Elaine Haher has more than 20 years experience in the industry, the last 14 with Telcordia where she has held various leadership positions across product management, sales and marketing. She remains focused on anticipating and solving the business challenges for carriers worldwide and employs deep domain expertise and best practices to increase revenue and drive value. In her current role, she leads the total order management solution initiative at Telcordia, focused on service catalog, order management and fulfillment processes. She is also a member of the product lifecycle management working group for Telemanagement Forum.
Rick Halton is head of solutions management for subscriber data management products at Nokia Siemens Networks where he is responsible for the strategy, management and business development of new innovative customer solutions. Halton has 19 years of experience in the communications sector. He holds a master’s degree in business administration and marketing from the Instituto de Directivos de Empresa (IDE-CESEM), in Madrid, Spain, and an honours degree in electronic, control and systems engineering from the University of Sheffield, U.K.
Jim Hayden, Executive Director, Business Intelligence for
TEOCO, has more than 20 years’ experience in management, design, and
delivery of enterprise-class software solutions to Fortune 500 companies.
Prior to joining TEOCO, he was vice president, business intelligence for
Vibrant Solutions; chief strategy officer for Mantas; and director of
knowledge, discovery solutions at SRA International, where he managed the
creation of award-winning pattern technology.
John Heveran is senior vice president of information technology for Level 3 Communications with responsibility for business methodology and process improvements. He leads vendor partner and resource management with primary oversight of the enterprise quality assurance team. He also is responsible for IT finance and budget management. Heveran joined Level 3 in 2007. Previously, he served as vice president of information technology with AT&T, formerly BellSouth. Prior to BellSouth, he held numerous leadership positions with MCI, including vice president of information technology and senior director with a focus on global sales force transformation and sales and order management.
Richard Hoffman brings more than 10 years of expertise in
corporate finance and technical operations to his role as vice president of
technical and operations at OSG Billing Services. His duties include the
tactical planning and development of new technologies at the company along
with supervising the day-to-day operations. He has established innovative
methods and processes that continue to ensure the company’s commitment to
quality and efficiency. Prior to joining OSG, Hoffman worked as manager of
financial planning at the MTV Networks. He also worked as a cost accountant
at Atlas Air and has an extensive background in public accounting. Hoffman
holds an Master of Business Administration degree in finance and operations
from Lehigh University and a bachelor’s degree in economics from Clark
University.
Mike Holleran has more than a decade of experience in IT infrastructure design, ASP operations and telecom customer care and billing with OSS/BSS software solution provider Info Directions. As the company’s senior product manager of ASP, he uses his knowledge of network operations and best practices for the operation of the Info Directions data center. Holleran was a driving force in establishing the processes that earned Info Directions’ ASP its SAS 70 Type II report, helping to ensure the highest standards for the company’s ASP operations. Combining technical acumen and business insight, he helps service providers find practical solutions to their customer care, operations and billing needs. Prior to joining Info Directions, Holleran held IT positions with Citibank and IKON Office Solutions.
Robert Hritsko serves as a
communications/media industry principal for SAP America, Inc. He has more
than 20 years of experience serving the telecommunications industry,
specializing in telecom business support software systems and services and
has worked for leading companies in this field including Convergys, Amdocs
and Infosys. He works closely with leading communications service provider
companies in each of the traditional communications and media segments,
helping to guide and enable business transforming initiatives that leverage
information technology. Hritsko holds a Master of Business Administration
from Xavier University and a Bachelor of Science degree in computer and
information science from Ohio State University.
Jeff Jonas is chief scientist of the IBM Entity Analytics group
and an IBM Distinguished Engineer. The IBM Entity Analytics group was
formed based on technologies developed by Systems Research & Development (SRD),
founded by Jonas in 1984 and acquired by IBM in January 2005. Prior to
IBM’s acquisition, he led SRD through the design and development of a
number of extraordinary systems, including technology used by the
surveillance intelligence arm of the gaming industry. Leveraging facial
recognition, this technology enabled the gaming industry to protect itself
from aggressive card count teams, the most notable known as the MIT team
and the subject of the book “Bringing Down the House” and recent movie
“21.” Today, possibly half the casinos in the world use technology created
by Jonas and his SRD team. His work frequently is featured on the Discovery
Channel, Learning Channel and the Travel Channel. And it has a significant
bearing on how service providers might start thinking about their customer
databases.
Dawn Kaplan has more than 20 years experience in software architecture, development and consulting solving complex business problems for various major ILECs. She represents Telcordia Technologies on industry standards and has held numerous leadership positions within the ATIS Ordering & Billing Forum (OBF), including her third year as OBF Co-chair, leading this group on defining industry standards for convergence and carrier interconnection.
Michael Khalilian is chairman and president of the NGN Forum and IMS Forum and also serves as CTO, CIO, and board member to a number of telecom, cable and wireless start-ups. He has supported the telecommunications, multimedia and converged IP communications industry for more than 20 years with speaking engagements, bylined articles, published books, executive leadership and receiving numerous awards. Khalilian has served as chairman of the Softswitch Consortium, International Packet Communications Consortium and IP Carrier Multimedia Coalitions.
A thought leader in the digital media space, Rich Koehler is vice president – products of Amdocs International, responsible for setting the direction and evolution of the company’s interactive offerings. He came to Accenture in 2006 when it acquired his previous employer, Qpass. Throughout his career Koehler has remained close to digital media and experience design, launching the unique media exhibits of Seattle’s Science Fiction Museum and working with streamed media and other communication formats in Microsoft’s real-time collaboration division. An avid game designer, he self published Burn Rate: the dot-com card game, which was sold throughout the United States and Canada and has been printed in three languages.
Scott Kolman is global marketing lead of customer management for Amdocs. He has more than 20 years of high-tech marketing experience, spanning product marketing, strategic alliances, industry and channel marketing, market management and marketing communications. He currently is responsible for defining the market strategy and direction, creating awareness, positioning, and bringing to market Amdocs’ customer management products and solutions. With his marketing expertise in CRM, Kolman frequently is asked to brief industry analysts, speak at events and officiate at thought-leadership customer events. Prior to joining Amdocs, he held a variety of senior marketing management roles at Lucent Technologies in product marketing, strategic alliances and market management for the Asia-Pacific region. He also has held key marketing positions at Octel Communications, Develcon Electronics and Tymnet McDonnell Douglas Network Systems. Kolman holds a bachelor’s degree in advertising from San Jose State University.
Unmesh Kulkarni is director of software architecture and delivery at Covad Communications Group, responsible for execution of Covad’s IT strategy in for broadband, VoIP and network services business lines. A hands-on technology leader with expertise in distributed software development in the IP communications field, he is passionate about delivering high-quality, rapid OSS solutions to business problems in a cost-effective manner. Kulkarni’s innovative approach of running “distributed scrums” has brought substantial productivity benefits to Covad’s telecom OSS/BSS. He earned a graduate degree in computer science from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur.
Vercie Lark is the CIO of EMBARQ Corp., which operates in 18
states offering voice, data, high-speed Internet, wireless and
entertainment services to more than 5 million customers. EMBARQ generates
more than $6 billion in revenue annually and is included in the Fortune 500
list of America’s largest corporations. Lark is responsible for strategy,
planning and operations of internal IT systems, applications and
communication services. Prior to becoming CIO, Lark was vice president of
IT infrastructure services at EMBARQ, where he led teams responsible for IT
data centers, voice and data communication services and computing
platforms. He began work at EMBARQ during November 2005. Prior to joining
EMBARQ, Lark worked for four years at Hewlett Packard and approximately 12
years for Compaq Computer Corp., where he held several executive leadership
positions in IT and HP Managed Services. He currently serves on the
technical advisory councils for Prairie View A&M and Florida A&M and is an
active board member of the Boys Hope Girls Hope organization in Kansas
City. Lark earned his bachelor’s degree in electrical systems engineering
from Wright State University of Ohio in 1985 and subsequently began his
career in technology as an electrical systems engineer at Monsanto Research
Corp.
Grant Lenahan leads the specification of Telcordia’s
next-generation of OSS, service platforms and technologies that will enable
wireless and cable operators to offer content-rich, IP-based and converged
networks. Lenahan’s experience includes 20 years with Telcordia, working in
such diverse areas as generic requirements, transmission engineering, video
services design, economic analysis and operational analysis of new
communications technologies/services. Lenahan is also the author of
numerous papers in the areas of NGN wireless services.
Alex Leslie guided the GBA, through 10 years of enormous change, challenge and opportunity for the communications industry. He has provided thought leadership, insight and direction to the billing community and the changing business models that confront the communications and media industries. He produced Europe’s first conference on Telecommunications Billing, which he developed into a major industry conference, with associated trade show.
Eugene Levitsky is the worldwide sales lead for Google Apps Partner Edition that ISPs and portals use to power their messaging and collaboration offerings. His primary focus is on North and South American opportunities, but he has also structured deals in Asia, Europe and the Middle East. He manages large provider relationships from initial contact through deal negotiation and signing. He coordinates successful partner launches by working with both internal company and external partner resources. Google Apps Partner Edition is one of the top performing products for Google Enterprise.
As senior staff program manager for the Office of the Chief Technology Officer in Cisco’s Service Provider Group, Gale Lightfoot he assists with business development by pursuing business/technology opportunities. He is also assists in intellectual property management and development; internal collaboration of business and technology groups, and co-chairs the IPTV standards strategy. Lightfoot has taken on a variety of roles in the International Telecommunication Union – Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) and the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS). He earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Emory University.
Christopher Lowe is senior director of information systems and technology for RCN Metro, responsible for the development and management of all BSS/OSS systems. He began his career as a statistician for telecommunications companies creating analyses of optical switch data and developing applications to run and manage business processes. Since 2003, Lowe has been in charge of the IS/IT department for NEON Communications, Globix Corporation and RCN Metro. He has a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Elizabethtown College and a master’s degree in applied statistics and a client server technology certificate from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
Tom Lybarger has more than 23 years of experience in delivering advanced telecommunications OSS and BSS solutions to service providers, with a focus on evolving technologies and services, and their impact on evolving operations environments. As senior director at Aricent, he works with communication service providers around the world to define innovative solutions to maximize operational efficiencies while also improving customer satisfaction.
Michael Manzo is chief marketing officer for Openet, overseeing
all aspects of marketing and product management. Prior to joining Openet in
July 2006, Manzo worked in the Enterprise Solutions group at Nokia, where
he consulted on M&A integration and marketing of enterprise mobility
solutions. He also has held executive positions at Traverse Networks
(acquired by Avaya), Omnisky (acquired by EarthLink), Telocity (acquired by
Hughes DIRECTV), and Notify Technology Corp. He has a bachelor’s degree in
journalism from the University of New Hampshire.
Cathal McGloin is vice president of sales Americas for Arantech. He was previously the CEO of Performix Technologies, an international technology company delivering business performance improvement solutions to the CRM market. He led the company to great success in the U.S. and Europe and in 2000 relocated to the U.S. to direct its day-to-day operations and the U.S. launch of its business performance management solutions.
Susan McNeice is the global program director of communications infrastructure and support systems for Frost & Sullivan, and head of the OSS/BSS group in its Stratecast Division. She focuses on emerging trends, technologies and market dynamics in the communications infrastructure and OSS/BSS domain of the global Communications, Media and Entertainment (CME) industry.
McNeice has written and consulted extensively on subjects such as the competitive and strategic uses of data analytics and business intelligence platforms; OSS/BSS platform strategy; real-time rating and charging; lawful intercept and data retention; and revenue assurance and project management in telecommunications software development.
McNeice’s experience includes strategic planning, market research, technology marketing, project/product management, program turnaround, sales, process engineering, requirements analysis, and solution software definition.
She received her Master of Science from The George Washington University School of Business with a concentration in project management, where she continues to pursue post-graduate work in business. She received her bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Delaware and is certified as a software developer and project manager.
As vice president for salesforce.com, Pat McQueen is responsible for the company’s Americas Sales Engineering organization which provides solution design and demonstrations of salesforce.com’s offerings. He is charged with advancing the company's winning on-demand strategy, customer success, and growing the customer base. McQueen is a deep technologist bringing more than 18 years of experience delivering business applications. Prior to joining salesforce.com in 2004, McQueen held marketing and sales roles in the formative years of several start-up companies including Netscape, E.piphany and Verity. McQueen holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from Western Michigan University.
Alon Meller, currently head of the enterprise product catalog business unit for Amdocs, has more than 15 years of experience in marketing, business development operational roles for various telecommunications and CRM vendors. He holds a master’s degress in business from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley and a master of science degree in industrial engineering from the Technion, Israel’s institute of technology.
Catherine Michel is co-founder and CTO of Tribold. She is the principal architect of the company’s product management solutions portfolio and is responsible for product strategy, development and delivery. Prior to joining Tribold, Michel was a senior executive in Accenture’s communications practice. She is an active member of TM Forum’s advisory board.
Debbie Miglaw, director of product management for DST Output,
has been with the company since June 1998. She is responsible for defining
and executing product vision and strategy, managing the roadmap process,
pricing, product rollout and managing product profitability. Her team
shapes the standard product offerings, determines new features and services
to recommend to customers and influences the product marketing
communications plan. Miglaw holds a Master of Business Administration
degree and a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of California
at Davis.
Mary B. Morris, senior technical director in corporate systems BI/DW delivery for AT&T, has been involved in wholesale product development from a network and billing perspective for more than 15 years. She was a critical resource in the development of the wholesale data warehouse and continues to provide expertise and broad business knowledge. The wholesale organization is responsible for product and market management, customer contract negotiations and professional services for telecom carrier, wireless and local exchange customers. Morris joined BellSouth in 1973 and has worked in many areas of the business, gaining extensive knowledge that has made her an invaluable resource to the wholesale organization.
John Myers has more than 10 years’ telecommunications experience in customer care, billing, revenue assurance and business analytics products and services. During his career he has led many successful cost and revenue assurance deployments and has been a frequent presenter at global telecom and business intelligence industry events.
Brian O’Rourke has more than 15 years of experience in technical and functional team leadership and management on business and technical projects for Fortune 50 and large commercial and federal clients. He has extensive experience leading efforts to implement SAAS CRM solutions, optimize IT performance, develop sourcing strategies, develop custom J2EE applications, integrate geographic information systems applications and implement business intelligence solutions.
As vice president of customer management, Kelly Owens St. Julian leads Boost Mobile’s efforts to improve overall
customer experience, overseeing churn reduction, customer lifetime value
and account replenishment. St. Julian has worked in the United States and
abroad designing growth strategies in telecommunications, consumer products
and financial industries. Prior to Boost, she consulted Fortune 500 and
startup organizations on enterprise transformation and strategic growth.
For 10 years she worked in Central and South America conducting audits and
launching businesses, primarily in the telecommunications industry. St.
Julian holds an accounting degree from Mississippi State University.
Originally from Texas, she now resides in Orange County, Calif.
Maria Pardee, now managing director of global integration for BT, joined the company in September 2005 as CIO for BT Retail. With the goal of identifying and shaping opportunities to gain strategic and operational advantages through the use of IT solutions, Pardee and her team focused on three basic e2e customer experiences — concept to market (C2M), lead to cash (L2C) and trouble to resolve (T2R) — to develop new services and practices.
In July 2007 she became president of global integration. In this role, Pardee expanded the scope of her responsibilities to include key partner relationship management, ensuring value generation and alignment with BT Global Services major partners.
Previously, she worked for BearingPoint Inc., a company that provides business consulting, systems integration and managed services to Global 2000 companies, medium-sized businesses and government organizations.
She has more than 25 years of telecommunications and IT experience, and at BearingPoint, she was managing director of the Communications and Content Division where she quickly increased revenue, pipeline and engagement opportunities. Before that, she was a vice president at American Management Systems Inc., where she managed more than 20 software development and management consulting initiatives.
John Petrie is vice president, Industry Business Development with Progress Software where he has been the visionary figure in developing the company’s software solution for supporting OSS/BSS integration using the TM Forum’s SID model. He previously held management positions with IBM, IONA Technologies and Pantero. Petrie also serves as a TM Forum Advisory Board member, has taken leadership roles in several TM Forum Catalyst projects and has worked with service providers worldwide to champion practical application of industry standards and frameworks to reduce the cost and complexity of OSS/BSS integration.
As director of network operations solutions for Motorola
Networks, Krishna Putcha manages the OSS, BSS and NMS solutions and in
particular WiMAX and IP-TV triple play solutions. Prior to Motorola,
Krishna worked at Nortel and Lucent Networks and managed OSS-BSS solutions
portfolio, specializing in billing solutions.
Raj Rao is a solutions partner for Web/portal strategy with EMC
Consulting, responsible for guiding service providers with Web/portal
strategy, business architecture, Web site business case development, and
content/metadata strategy. He has 20 years of experience in information
technology and product management, including roles with service providers
in OSS/BSS enterprise and business architecture. Rao earned a Bachelor of
Arts degree in finance from Drexel University.
Rob Rich is Managing Director of TM Forum’s Transformation Information Resource Center. Rich has 16 years of research experience in technology and communications markets, and was previously Executive Vice President of Communications & Networking Research at the Yankee Group, as well as Director of Communications Research at Dataquest. Prior to that, he held management positions in research, professional services and IT in the networking and computing industries.
Kathy Romano is executive director of revenue assurance and
billing, for Verizon Communications Inc. She has achieved a diverse
knowledge of the industry during her 28 years with Verizon by leading
myriad departments including product line management, human resources,
finance, systems integration, billing operations and others.
Will Rotch, CTO, Comverse Billing Group Americas
As CTO for the Americas at Comverse, Rotch is responsible for being a “technical evangelist” for the company’s industry-leading convergent billing and customer care software solutions across the Americas region. He has worked at Comverse and in the telecommunications billing space for more than 17 years.
Rotch has a Master of Business Administration in decision sciences and strategic management from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Arts in engineering from Harvard University.
Nancee Ruzicka, senior research analyst, OSS/BSS global competitive strategies for Stratecast has more than 25 years of experience in network engineering, network operations and OSS. She focuses on monitoring and analyzing emerging trends, technologies and market behavior in the global OSS/BSS industry with emphasis on network-facing operations and has published extensively in the areas of fulfillment and assurance. Her research has been acclaimed in publications including Forbes, Billing World, Technology News, CRM News and numerous other industry publications. Ruzicka managed the development and deployment of network infrastructure and OSS for communication service providers, large enterprises, and the federal government.
Julie Sehrt is IT vendor service delivery manager for EMBARQ,
responsible for managing the service delivery and relationships with key
revenue management vendors. Previously, she was involved with the
transformation of long distance billing from initiation and implementation
to customer conversion. During her 11 years with EMBARQ, Sehrt has
developed extensive knowledge and experience in billing production
operations, project management and vendor relationship management. She has
a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Missouri
- Kansas City and is a member of Biltmore Who's Who.
As director of platform strategy and management for Boost Mobile, the prepaid arm of Sprint Nextel, Gautam M. Shah directs the investment, development and delivery of technology solutions for billing, service delivery, operations and handsets. With more than 10 years of product and technology management experience in hardware, software, telecommunications and Web industries, Shah is responsible for managing Boost Mobile’s technology decisions, influencing its architecture and driving the development of holistic solutions that are rapidly delivered, profitable and operationally excellent. Prior to Boost Mobile, he was director of product development at Pacific World in Hong Kong. Shah has an engineering degree from California State Polytechnic University.
Daniel Sieff is the West and Midwest Region Project Manager for the salesforce.com deployment to Sprint’s direct sales force. This work included the planning, design and packaging of the application and the logistical deployment to the field for a successful launch.
Doug Smith is CIO of Digital Bridge Communications, a broadband firm that launched the first commercial WiMAX system in the U.S. in 2007. At Digital Bridge, he has created a totally SaaS-based back office infrastructure. Smith was previously vice president of business systems development at AOL, responsible for their back-office and online advertising systems. He has more than 18 years of IT and management experience.
Scott Sobers,
Global Program Director, Service Provider Solutions
Scott Sobers is the Global Program Director for Service Provider solutions within the Tivoli business unit, IBM. He is responsible for managing Tivoli’s solution and marketing strategy for the Communication Service Provider industry on a worldwide basis.
Sobers joined IBM in February 2006 via the acquisition of Micromuse Inc. Mr. Sobers technology & marketing experience includes positions at Micromuse, where he was the Director of Marketing for Service Provider industry, AOL Time Warner, managing marketing programs to increase customer acquisition and retention. Prior to that, Sobers advanced through a series of management positions at PeopleSoft. He holds a BA in Economics from the University of Maryland and a MBA from Georgetown University.
Rene Sotola is the vice president industry lead in CGI’s Global telecommunications sector, where he provides strategic direction for the next generation offering development. His experience includes senior management and technical roles in Europe and the U.S. Sotola was awarded a patent in the area of order orchestration. He is a regular speaker at numerous U.S. and international events and a contributor to various publications and analyst briefings. He is a Chartered Engineer in IEEE, a Chartered Member of the British Computer Society and serves on the board of directors of the SIP Forum.
Brad Soutiere joined Vertek in 1999 and has been involved in all aspects of the business including operations, sales and service delivery. His strong focus, vision and commitment to the customer continues to broaden and expand Vertek’s service offerings. Soutiere has more than 25 years’ experience in the finance and telecommunications industry, including software development, operations management and product development. Prior to Vertek, he worked for Alltel Corporation for 10 years as manager of operations, providing outsourced telecommunications and data center services.
Mary Ann Tillman is director of product marketing for Convergys Corporation, a global provider of relationship management, customer care, human resources and BSS/OSS technology and services. She has more than 15 years experience in telecommunications, product management, product marketing and customer service arenas and is currently responsible for front office and customer relationship solutions for the communications industry.
As vice president, product management, customer intelligence for CSG Systems, Ron Vernon manages the company’s customer intelligence solution designed to leverage critical customer billing data to predict subscriber behavior. This solution lets communications service execute more advanced marketing and customer care strategies. By combining this predictive intelligence with individually addressable interaction channels, they can address more relevant and timely messaging to their subscribers. Vernon has been with CSG Systems for eight years, serving in various roles including vice president of business development and, before that, managing the Professional Services division.
Mr. Sankaranarayanan Viswanathan heads the North American Communication Service Provider industry service unit of TATA Consultancy Services (TCS). He is responsible for strategic growth, relationship and delivery for telecom service providers including Qwest, AT&T. Verizon and Rogers Communications. Viswanathan has served as the chief strategy officer and chief IT architect for TATA Teleservices Ltd. and as part of the TCS executive leadership team within British Telecommunications Plc. He holds a master’s degree in computer science and engineering from Anna University in India.
Jim Warner is vice chairman of the TM Forum and heads their content, media and advertising practice. In this role, he is responsible for ensuring TMF meets the management needs of all the players in the converging value chain of telecom, cable, media, entertainment and Internet. He previously was the president and CEO of Forum. Warner has more than 25 years of marketing, product management and executive experience in the communications and media industries.
Rebecca Wartchow is a senior industry consultant for Teradata Corp., with responsibility within the communications, media and entertainment industries for large network systems. In this role, Wartchow helps companies identify and validate business improvement opportunities within their OSS operations. She joined Teradata in 2002 from Ultrapro International where she worked as a principal consultant to major telecom equipment providers, CLECs and state governments with recommendations on broadband and converged services. Previously, Wartchow worked for AT&T beginning in 1971, most recently serving as a network engineering vice president. In that role, she was responsible for capital planning, spending and the implementation of a multivendor, satellite-based network.
Google’s Jack Weixel is an excellent strategist, team builder and communicator with extensive experience in managing budgets, revenue targets and staffing requirements. He also has a strong background in the enterprise software market, with particular strength in messaging and networking. Weixel came to Google from Global Market Development where he was a partner and helped high technology companies looking to establish or expand international distribution. Prior to this he founded The Thunder Bay Company and Bluetrain Inc. He also served as managing director of Asia Pacific operations at Candle Corporation.
Karl Whitelock is a deep diver. He thinks of all the business and technology angles so you don’t have to. Here, Whitelock dissects something we all thought we knew inside and out: billing. It turns out we were wrong. His latest research reveals much about how this most fundamental yet critical element of the business has evolved and how that evolution must be directed to secure the industry’s future.
Charlotte Yarkoni is Chief Executive Officer of
Xeround Inc., a database virtualization software company based in Bellevue,
Wash. A seasoned executive with more than 15 years’ experience in the
telecommunications industry, Yarkoni was a customer business unit president
with Amdocs prior to joining Xeround. She also spent six years at AT&T in a
variety of executive roles. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in
management science/industrial engineering from the Georgia Institute of
Technology, graduating with highest honors.
Erez Yarkoni is the vice president of enterprise architecture
for T-Mobile, USA. A 15-year veteran of the IT industry, he is a leader for
T-Mobile’s Enterprise IT (EIT) team, responsible for aligning and guiding
the organization through the architecture road map and delivering solutions
and software to support the business. Yarkoni joined T-Mobile in October
2007 and has since reinvented the development organization to be
capacity-driven and to operate as a business unit managing active and
pipeline activities. He is also driving the transformation of the
organization to migrate to SOA as the architecture framework. Prior to
joining T-Mobile Yarkoni held positions with Amdocs Inc. and Cingular
Wireless (now AT&T Wireless). He holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics
from Haifa University and a master’s degree in business administration from
Southern Methodist University’s Cox School of Business.
William K. (Bill) Zimmer is a solutions manager for Hewlett Packard’s World Wide Communications and Media Solutions group. He leads identification and development of new HP business intelligence solutions for communications providers.
Zimmer’s focus is on providing value to customers through applications that further develop customer understanding, foster innovation, optimize operations, and enhance the customer experience. His solutions portfolio includes real-time monitoring, predictive analytics, HP revenue protection, generation and optimization.
Zimmer has more than 29 years of industry and data management software experience. His background includes leadership positions in professional services sales and delivery, industry marketing, product management, systems engineering, and industrial engineering at HP, Compaq, NCR Corp. and Gleason Corp.
He holds an undergraduate degree in management science from St. John Fisher College in Rochester, N.Y., a Master of Business Administration from the University of Dayton in Ohio, and has performed post-graduate studies at Cranfield University in the U.K. and at INSEAD in France.
