Event registration banner
 
Our 2016 Speaker Line-Up


David Adams
Partner
Performance Methods, Inc.

David Adams is a sales and management veteran, offering 20+ years of experience in field sales, sales management, account management and corporate leadership. David most recently served as VP of Learning and Development for a Global Fortune 500 organization where he specialized in leading enterprise wide sales and sales leadership training initiatives. As a former PMI client, David is well versed in designing, developing and delivering PMI programs.

Prior to PMI, David held various sales, management, and training positions in the service industry and has a track record of sales success throughout his career. David frequently achieved “President’s Club” status (for individual sales performance), but has also been consistently recognized throughout his career as a leader in designing sales training programs that helped others deliver bottom-line results. David’s success in coaching others is what led him into the field of sales consulting and training.

In addition to holding numerous roles in corporate sales and leadership, David served as an instructor for the University of Washington’s Professional Continuing Education Program where he developed curriculum and facilitated workshops for those obtaining a certificate in training and adult learning. David has participated in a number of industry leading sales, training, communication, and leadership programs and organizations.


 
Rafique Ahmed
Managing Director, Consulting Partner
FORUM India

Over the last 20 years, Rafique has played various roles within a diverse array of responsibilities to deliver success and excellence to organizations. From start-ups to global powerhouses, like Siemens, Nortel, Dell and Lenovo, organizations have experienced the advantage and value differentiation his training brings to the table with his hands-on approach and theoretical knowledge.

His main areas of expertise include driving B2B sales force transformation initiatives, sales management, global account management, channel sales, CXO engagement and managing complex global RFP.

Mr. Ahmed has managed sales in the high-tech industry meeting the great challenges faced by sales makers. He has managed retention and acquisition accounts at regional and global levels. His strong business acumen translates into the ability to build learning strategies and training initiatives.

He is a CTP-Certified Training Professional from the Asian regional training and development organization.


 
Jerry Alderman
Founder and CEO
Valkre

Jerry Alderman is the founder and CEO of Valkre. Through Valkre, he has helped companies including GE, Owens Corning, Philips, Amgen, Varian, Sabre and others leverage technology to improve Customer Value Creation and Co-Creation. He started his business career at Boise Corporation where he spent 12 years learning and experiencing the unique challenges of B2B companies. Before starting his business career, Jerry served six years on nuclear submarines as a Naval Officer through the Admiral Rickover program. These experiences, combined with a Bachelor Degree in Civil Engineering, a Master’s Degree in Nuclear Engineering, and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business provide the basis for his work.


 
Steve Andersen
President and Founder
Performance Methods, Inc.

Steve Andersen founded Performance Methods, Inc. following a successful 20-year technology career within the high-growth business applications software industry. As President and Founder, he is involved in client projects, solution development and establishing strategic direction for PMI.

Steve served as “senior sales executive” multiple times during his career, and his background includes extensive experience in sales, sales management and sales leadership. He is the primary architect of Performance Methods’ Keys to Effective Strategic Account Planning Methodology™, Integrated Opportunity Management Methodology™, Customer Engagement Methodology™, Collaborative Planning Methodology™, SAM Portfolio™ and Engage/Win/Grow™ customer engagement methodology.

He has addressed a variety of audiences on a wide-range of sales and account management topics and has published numerous articles in the areas of sales, sales management and account management best practices. Steve is a frequent speaker at Strategic Account Management Association (SAMA) conferences and universities and is a member of the SAMA Certified Strategic Account Manager (CSAM) faculty. In July, 2015, he published The Keys to Effective Strategic Account Planning eBook with SAMA, which features best practices from the most successful SAM implementations around the globe. Steve’s new book, Beyond the Sales Process: 12 Proven Strategies for a Customer-Driven World (April 2016), was co-authored by Dave Stein.


 
0Gary Arakelian
Consulting Executive
Corporate Visions, Inc.




 
Doug Baker, Jr.
Chairman of the Board & CEO
Ecolab

Doug Baker is chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Ecolab Inc. Baker joined Ecolab in 1989, following seven years in brand management at Procter & Gamble. At Ecolab, he has held roles in marketing, sales and general management in both the U.S. and Europe, and leadership positions including vice president and general manager of Kay, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ecolab; senior vice president, Institutional Sector; and president and chief operating officer. In July 2004, Baker was named president and chief executive officer and in May 2006, added chairman of the board to his duties. In 2011, Baker led Ecolab’s merger with Nalco, an $8 billion transaction which nearly doubled the size of the company. In 2013, he strengthened Ecolab’s energy services business through the $2.3 billion acquisition of Champion Technologies.


 
Jenny Beazley
Global Customer Advocacy Director
EMC

An 11+ year veteran of EMC with a strong technical background, Jenny is the Global Customer Advocacy Director in EMC's award winning Total Customer Experience (TCE) team. Its mission is to use a data-driven approach to identify service improvements and technology that will create the greatest value, consistently exceeding customer and partner expectations. Jenny holds a BSc in Mathematics, an MBA with Financial Strategy and Knowledge Management electives, and specializes in transforming the Customer Experience through Data Visualization.


 
Steve Bistritz
President and Founder
Learning Solutions International

Steve is President and Founder of SellXL.com, a global sales training and consulting company based in Atlanta. In that role, he has developed several exciting sales methodologies that have been delivered to thousands of professional salespeople around the world, including Selling at the Executive Level (SellXL) and Sales Opportunity Snapshot (SOS).

Prior to forming his own company, Steve spent eight years as Vice President of Product Development for OnTarget, where he led the development of world-class sales training programs. He also spent nearly 28 years with IBM in sales, sales management and training management positions.

His articles on managing and winning major sales opportunities, selling to executives and other sales and marketing related issues have appeared in numerous publications including Velocity - the Quarterly Journal of the Strategic Account Management Association, Selling Power magazine, the Journal of Selling and Major Account Management, BtoB Magazine and Sales and Marketing Management Magazine.


 
Guy Bizzoco
Associate Director, Customer Centricity
Merck

Guy Bizzoco has been an instrumental member in building the Strategic Account Management program at Merck. He has been involved in developing the overall strategy to implement and execute on the vision of partnering with our top customers. He has led the development of the learning plan, the partnership with SAMA, the capability strategy, and the creation of the tools and resources needed to launch and maintain the program. He is now responsible for steering the program from launch phase into the execution phase, working with country based colleagues at the local level.


 
Rick Blasgen
President and CEO
Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals

As president and chief executive officer of the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) in Lombard, Illinois, USA since 2005, Rick D. Blasgen is responsible for the overall business operations and strategic plan of the organization. His efforts support CSCMP’s mission of leading the supply chain management profession through the development and dissemination of supply chain education and research. Blasgen was recently designated by the U.S. Department of Commerce to serve as the Chair of the Advisory Committee on Supply Chain Competitiveness (ACSCC) providing the Administration advice and counsel on issues and concerns that affect the supply chain sector.


 
Hugues Boulnois
Strategic Account Program Coordinator
Air Liquide

Hugues currently serves as Strategic Account Program Coordinator within Air Liquide’s Customer Development Group. He is based at the headquarters in Paris and provides guidance and support to SAMs across the company. Hugues has an extensive experience in customer satisfaction, customer surveys and employee workshops at Air Liquide – prior to his current position, he strongly contributed to the deployment the Customer Mindset Program in more than 60 countries. Before joining Air Liquide, Hugues co-founded a social business company in Indonesia aiming at fighting drinkable water stress. He also worked at EDF on the life extension program of the French nuclear park. Hugues is French, holds an engineering degree from ENSMA and a masters degree in business from ESSEC.


 
Phil Bounsall
President
Walker

As president at Walker, Bounsall is focused on the development and execution of strategies and operating plans designed to enhance Walker’s position as a global leader in customer intelligence. Bounsall also works with Walker’s client service teams to help meet the needs of Walker’s clients.

Bounsall first joined Walker in 1994 as chief financial officer after a 12-year career with public accounting firm, Ernst & Young, where he focused on entrepreneurial companies and corporate finance transactions, including public and private offerings. He also spent five years as the chief financial officer of BrightPoint, Inc. (NASDAQ:CELL, now a subsidiary of Ingram Micro), a global company providing distribution and logistics services to the wireless communications industry. He then joined Walker again as executive vice president in January 2004. Bounsall also served as an independent member of Walker Information’s board of directors from 1988 through 2003. Bounsall is very active with the Indiana Chapter of the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America and Special Olympics Indiana. He currently serves as Treasurer and a member of the Finance and Audit and Executive Committees of the Indiana Chamber of Commerce. He also serves on the board of directors of the Greater Indianapolis Progress Committee and on the board of directors of Tri-Gen, Inc., a privately-held company.


 
Robert Box
Partner
Mercuri International

Robert has been with Mercuri International since 2000.

Robert has responsibility for the sales and delivery of international projects within Central Europe. In this capacity he has successfully developed solutions for customers to support their development requirements in sales, sales management and Key Account Management. This also included the deployment of Consultative Selling and Account Management for Business Relationship Managers in several IT organizations in Europe, Asia and South America.

Robert has worked as an international project manager for a key customer in Europe, Africa and Middle East. In the role of the International Project Manager, he has implemented Consultative Selling and Sales Coaching skills as well as managed the customer relationship globally.

In addition, Robert has responsibility for Mercuri’s own development and coverage in 3 countries. In this role he has developed the business to support the needs of international clients in the region. Robert has also contributed to internal product development and the skill and knowledge development of other Mercuri Consultants.

He is based in the Czech Republic, in which he is the local champion for analytical tools and analysis. He has performed client work focused on improving the results of global KAM organizations.

Prior to joining Mercuri Robert worked as a Manager in an International company and gaining extensive experience in project management and sales management.


 
Mark Bradford
President, Direct Channel
Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A., Inc

Mark began working for a New York-based copier sales and service subsidiary of Minolta Corporation in 1985. His leadership skills quickly became apparent as that company grew and changed throughout the late eighties and early nineties. In 1996, he experienced the first of several mergers as his company was merged with a sister subsidiary, forming Minolta Business Solutions. Mark was named VP of Sales in the new company and moved to their corporate headquarters in nearby Ramsey, NJ.

In 2014, Mark was given an opportunity to put his long-term experience to use on a broader scale. He was promoted to President of the Direct Channel for Konica Minolta, with $1.2 billion in annual revenue and 5,000 employees spread across 125 locations in the US. A diverse and widespread sales force of 1,200 sales reps and nearly 180 sales managers, with varying levels of talent and experience, represented the challenge he faced.

Konica Minolta had begun a relationship with SAMA a year or two earlier, in an effort to refocus their Enterprise Account Managers to be more customer-centric. The transformation in our approach has led to a significant broadening and deepening of our client engagements at the enterprise level. Mark recognized the benefits of this program, and quickly launched a formal internal training program known as Evolve. Based on SAMA principles but geared towards an old-school, product-focused sales force, “Evolve for Sales” and “Evolve for Managers” have transformed the Konica Minolta Direct Channel’s sales organization.


 
Tim Braman
VP Corporate Strategy
Revegy

Tim is an industry veteran with significant experience in technology and strategic sales consulting. He brings to Revegy a rich background in sales and sales management that spans more than 20 years and numerous industry verticals. He has a working knowledge of the challenges faced by companies – from start-up organizations to global enterprises – in the Management Consulting, Financial Services, Supply Chain, Government, Technology, Manufacturing and Retail verticals. At Revegy, Tim applies his breadth of experience to help companies optimize and realize their revenue potential by achieving consistent sales processes and employing collaborative tools that cover the spectrum from strategy to execution. Previously, Tim spent six years with InfoMentis (acquired by The TAS Group), where he worked with global accounts to help them achieve strategic improvements in revenue growth, market share, client loyalty and renewals. He began his career at Dun & Bradstreet Software (formerly Management Science America), where he worked in various sales positions over a 12-year tenure. Tim is an honors graduate of the University of Florida with a BSBA in Computer Science.


 
Volkhard Bregulla
VP, Global Accounts Manufacturing and IoT - EMEA
HP Enterprise

Volkhard Bregulla is VP of Global Accounts Manufacturing and IoT - EMEA. Mr. Bregulla is responsible for addressing and solving business and technology issues with HP Enterprise's global customers and as a result delivering significant business value for both HP and its largest clients. The responsibility includes profitable share of wallet growth based on strategic account planning and management. Key measures of success include technology and business solution leadership as well as executive relationship management.

Since joining HP in 1985 from Siemens AG, Mr. Bregulla has held a series of executive management positions in regional as well as global business units. This included multiple lines of business in the Consulting and Systems Integration Organization of HP as well as global services and technology R&D.

Mr. Bregulla has a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Fachhochschule Nuremberg and a business master’s degree in Finance and Quantitative Methods from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland.


 
Corrado Cesti
Head of Heavy Industries
SKF

Corrado graduated in Mechanical Engineering in Politecnico of Turin. He started his career at SKF working in The Netherlands as a Product Manager and gained good European knowledge of main customers in the process industry, then moved into a sales role within SKF Italy. He spent some years being in charge of the SKF Reliability Systems organization in Italy, with several successes in building value approach to customers. In 2005 he moved into a Global Account Manager position, and since 2008 has been in charge of Service Division Global Accounts for EMEA region.


 
Dennis Chapman
Founder/CEO
The Chapman Group

Dennis J. Chapman Sr. is the Founder and President / CEO of The Chapman Group. The Chapman Group is a sales consulting firm that specializes in creating world class Strategic Account Management organizations through the implementation of innovative engagement processes, methodologies, best practices, and metric-based software tools, including unique and proprietary approaches to capturing and utilizing Voice of Customer feedback. Dennis brings over 25+ years of executive level experience in sales, marketing, and business management to his clients in helping them achieve their goals. He is a dynamic, enthusiastic speaker whose ideas and vision consistently inspire and motivate his audiences. Dennis is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts School of Business and is a past member of the SAMA Board of Directors.


 
David Chapnick
Principal
Vantage Partners

David Chapnick is a Senior Consultant and leader in the firm’s Sales and Account Management and Alliance practices, where he has advised F500/G1000 clients across industries including technology, medical device, pharmaceutical and biotechnology, telecom, consumer packaged goods, energy, and healthcare.

Mr. Chapnick's sales and account management work has ranged broadly from advising account teams on the development of sales and negotiation strategies for specific accounts and transactions, implementing customer-driven innovation strategies, developing winning responses to RFPs, and establishing strategic account management programs, including processes for gathering customer perspectives on market opportunities, trends, and product needs, launching strategic accounts, and customer segmentation.

Mr. Chapnick has been a speaker on effective management of strategic customer and alliance partnerships including as chair of the Strategic Alliances Conference, the Heads of Alliance Management Meeting, Strategic Account Management Association Conferences and University, Selling Power, and the Drug Information Association’s annual conference.His work has been featured in Harvard Business Review, Velocity Magazine, the Journal of Trading Partner Practices, and he is a co-author of a chapter on “Negotiation Systems and Strategies” in the 2008 International Contracts Manual, and Vantage's recently published study on The Value of Pricing Discipline.


 
Jeff Cochran
Principal/Master Facilitator
Shapiro Negotiations Institute

Jeff has coached and trained groups within organizations from 45 minutes to three days in length. His audience size has ranged from five executives around a boardroom table to 1000 people in an auditorium. And, he has done all of this in 6 continents across all industries. A few sample clients include Verizon, PwC, Chicago Bears, Bristol Myers Squibb, ESPN, Corporate Executive Board, TEKsystems, and Tony Robbins.


 
Joe Coffey
Vice President, U.S. Sales, Core Histology
Leica Biosystems

Joe Coffey is Vice President of U.S Sales, Core Histology and has full P&L responsibility for developing and achieving annual revenue targets to ensure growth goals. He does this by developing customer-centric regional sales plans to deliver excellence in the customer experience through leading, managing, and mentoring Regional Sales Managers and Field Sales Representatives to advance their professional development, conduct, effectiveness and efficiency.

Mr. Coffey is responsible for the entire Core Histology product and service portfolio for the U.S. market of over $120M in revenue and over 80 field sales assets. This portfolio is comprised of highly differentiated systems and the broadest consumable portfolio in the anatomic pathology segment.


 
Dominique Côté
Commercial Operations and General Management Pharmaceutical

Dominique Côté is recognized as a chief architect of global account program set up, leading corporate changes and cultural shifts for customer centric innovation and patient value. She has been a panelist as well as a keynote speaker in Europe and US in the area of customer centricity/engagement, Global Account Management programing and Pharma Commercial Excellence as a subject matter expert.

Dominique comes from Pfizer and most recently was at Zoetis (Former Pfizer AH) where she set up the international commercial operation organization based in Belgium. She was in this capability also leading digital marketing strategies, learning & development, business intelligence as well as customer engagement innovation and initiatives.

She was previously with Pfizer Pharmaceutical Emerging Markets between 2010 -2013, whereas part of the European Regional Leadership team led business effectiveness in EURIT (Eastern/central Europe – Russia-India and Turkey). She managed teams in 36 countries leading activities to optimize profitability and effectiveness of Field force. She has had key role in enabling new business models and was also the lead for the Global EMBU in the area of L&D / KAM and customer centricity strategies and execution; spearheading these strategies for the 70 emerging markets.

She comes from Canada where she worked for the first 20 years of her career in the human pharmaceutical industry. She has a scientific and research background in genetic/immunology and Oncology.

Before 2010, Dominique held positions of increasing responsibilities in line management (sales & marketing) while in Canada in the area of Specialty/Oncology and many therapeutic areas. She has acquired solid management background in leading the Canadian oncology business where she won a global award on leading through changes.

Her career has also provided her with global experience /varied markets experience and diversified culture knowledge. Dominique has been on many global councils for learning and development / KAM / patient centricity as well as diversity councils.

Since 2011 she has served as a Board of Director for the Strategic Account Management Association, as well as part of the HBA (Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association), where she sits on the steering team for the globalization project.


 
Jeff Crampain
Director of Commercial Partnerships
WBM Office Systems

In his role as Director of Commercial Partnerships at WBM Office Systems, Jeff leads a Strategic Account Management Team, and is a member of the WBM Executive Leadership Team focusing on strategic business development across the organization.

Jeff joined WBM in 2004 in the role of Account Manager, working to grow the customer base and developing value-driven long term relationships. Jeff has led the organization through a period of exceptional growth and a customer driven focus, resulting in WBM’s emergence as one of North America’s most respected brands as a best in class provider of managed technology services, delivering tangible business results to a portfolio of over 3,000 client organizations.

In striving to build WBM’s client community, Jeff has built his career through the execution of the evolving Strategic Account Management strategy that he now works to teach and deliver. Through the development of strong relationships at all levels of client enterprises that are now Strategic Corporate Allies, Jeff has contributed to the creation of a sales driven technology organization, and these relationships have charted WBM’s path, transforming the company through an ever changing and fast moving industry.


 
Graham Cross
Director of Commercial Alliances and Supplier Innovation
Unilever

Dr Graham Cross achieved both his Bachelor of Science and his Doctor of Philosophy titles at Imperial College, the Royal College of Science and Technology, University of London. England. His Ph.D was in collaboration with Pharma multinational Pfizer. Graham left the UK in 1985 to conduct scientific research at the University of Groningen on a NATO scholarship. He joined the Unilever Chemicals world in 1988 as a chemist moving later into Foods R&D.

From 1994 Graham worked in interface management between marketing, R&D and Supply chain aligning R&D programmes to business needs. Graham represented Unilever Foods in the design and implementation of the current innovation stage-gate business model; the goal being the optimal integration and alignment of functional efforts for innovation excellence.

Getting back to the real world between 1994 and 2004 Graham was senior technical project leader reporting successively to Marketing, R&D and Supply chain. These were innovation projects that started with blank pages and ambition and ended with factories and products in markets.

From 2005 Graham started to focus on innovation through partnership becoming the Foods Collaborative Innovation Director. Graham is now the Director of Commercial Alliances, being the deal architect and relationship manager for a portfolio of innovation alliances operating across the full Unilever portfolio.


 
Frankie Cusimano
Senior Manager of Certification & Training
SAMA

Senior Manager of Certification and Training, has been with SAMA since 2008. Born in New York City back when it was cool and graduated from University of the Arts (real college) with a BFA in theater. He has won multiple regional “RISK” competitive events which qualify him to work in this strategic environment. One day he aspires to be like Michael J. Fox’s character, Brantley Foster, in “The Secret of my Succe$s” or his character from “Doc Hollywood”, really any MJF character other than teen wolf, due to the itchy nature of all that hair.


 
Michele D'Alessandro
VP & CIO, Manufacturing IT
Merck & Co., Inc.

Michele D’Alessandro is Vice President and CIO for the Manufacturing Division with Merck & Co., Inc. In this role, she provides strategic leadership, oversight and delivery of information technology and digital solutions for the Merck Manufacturing Division. This includes Small Molecule, Large Molecule, and Sterile/Biologics lines of business, as well as the enabling functions of Supply Chain, External Manufacturing, Global Science, Technology, and Commercialization, and Global Quality.

Most recently, Ms. D'Alessandro served as the IT Transformation Supply Chain Management Leader responsible for supply chain management strategy and integration with the MMD lines of business through information-based productivity, IT enabled efficiency and effectiveness, and integrated IT platforms. This included conceptualization, architecture, design and delivery of solutions and managing aspects of critical business initiatives including Merck’s SAP program, Supply Chain Information Visibility, Merck’s Serialization program; and platform leadership for all domain analytics across the supply chain and manufacturing landscape.

Prior to that, Ms. D'Alessandro led the ERP Competency Center with additional responsibilities as the Global Program Director for Merck’s SAP program, where she partnered with senior business leaders in planning and executing the road map for enterprise integration, process standardization and information visibility. During her tenure at Merck, she has held various IT leadership roles, focusing on delivering business value through information and systems technology, including key roles on a number of transformational initiatives across finance, supply chain, and sales and marketing.


 
Martin Davies
Global Account Manager
Fette Compacting GmbH

Starting his career as a sponsored student in a co-operative education program and acquiring a Dipl.-Ing. diploma in industrial engineering and business management from Fachhochschule Nordakademie, he held different positions in Product Management and Area Sales responsibility in Europe before supporting the start-up of the Global Account Management department as first team member. Key elements of his work are the creation of the GAM methodology, developing the necessary tools and tailoring new products and concepts aiming to start a new paradigm in customer partnership for Fette Compacting. Today, the GAM team takes responsibility for cooperative growth of the business and takes the lead in defining new ways of working, standardization initiatives and launches fleet management programs. Martin is the trusted ambassador for a selection of Top 10 global pharma companies.


 
Adrian Davis
President
Whetstone Inc.

For over 20 years, Adrian has been devoted to understanding and applying the principles of successful selling in business. In 2002, Adrian founded Whetstone Inc, to assist Chief Executives and Chief Revenue Officers of mid-sized, B2B corporations create profitable growth by helping them win, keep and grow key accounts. His highly talented team has developed a reputation for leading organizations to innovative and practical solutions that enhance customer value and dramatically increase revenue. Adrian is frequently called upon to advise senior management teams and sales groups on the subjects of sales and corporate strategy, competitive advantage, relationship management and sales excellence.


 
Ron Davis
Executive Vice President, Global Customer Management
Zurich Insurance

Ronald E. Davis is Executive Vice President, Global Customer Management, Zurich Insurance. He has more than 25 years of business experience dealing with many of the world’s largest multi-national companies. Before joining Zurich, Mr. Davis worked for Arkwright/Factory Mutual Insurance Company for 19 years in various positions in Canada and France.

Mr. Davis is President of the Board of Directors of the Spencer Educational Foundation where he also Chairs the Risk Manager in Residence Committee, as well as on the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of the Strategic Account Management Association (SAMA). He is on the David Rockefeller Fellows Alumni Committee, and for 2006-2007 he was selected to be a member of the David Rockefeller Fellows Program, which is associated with The Partnership for New York City.

He holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Ottawa’s Carleton University, as well as an MBA from Concordia University in Montreal.


 
Josh Dey
Vice President
The Summit Group

Joshua is a B2B sales and marketing expert with over 15 years of experience facilitating strategic transformation in two of Canada's largest organizations. While previously working with The Summit Group as a client, Joshua was inspired by the opportunity to apply his skills and experience to help a broader group of sales and marketing teams elevate customer business relevance and value creation capability. Joshua is based in Toronto and supports clients not only across Canada, but globally as well.

As a versatile, insightful, and creative change leader, Joshua brings specific expertise in telecommunications, digital media, marketing to and creating value for SMBs, and designing and executing sales enablement strategies that align to corporate strategy.

Prior to joining The Summit Group, Joshua had a progressive career in B2B marketing and sales enablement with Bell Canada and Yellow Media. He has worked with both senior leaders, and face-to-face and inside front line sales teams to make lasting business impacts.


 
Dennis M. Donelon
Sr. Director Customer Supply Chain Integration
PepsiCo

Dennis Donelon is responsible for leading all strategic customer supply chain engagement for PepsiCo's $10B+ warehouse delivered businesses & brands such as Gatorade, Quaker Foods & Snacks, Tropicana, Naked Juice, Frito Lay Growth Ventures and Pepsi BIB product lines. Examples of this work include strategic customer engagements to drive productivity & service, developing and implementing all warehouse logistic & supply chain related customer policies, leading a 130 member team to support day to day order management processing, and CPFR & VMI strategic replenishment processes involving Grocery, Mass, Club, Drug, Foodservice and C&G channels of business.


 
Jeff Durr
Partner
Gallup

Jeff Durr, a Partner at Gallup, is responsible for leading large and complex consulting engagements. Jeff has extensive experience in helping companies develop and execute performance improvement programs that drive both top- and bottom-line results. In addition to his work with clients, Jeff provides strategic leadership to Gallup’s B2B consulting business and to client development teams in the Eastern United States.

Jeff received his bachelor’s degree in information systems from Purdue University’s Krannert School of Management and his master’s degree in business administration from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.


 
Martin Eckert
Business Development Manager
AXA MATRIX Risk Consultants

Martin is Senior Business Leader with extensive expertise in risk management for the entire course of risk; from analysis, assessment and mitigation to optimized risk financing solutions. Being dedicated to risk management as a holistic discipline, Martin has worked very successfully with project consultants, risk managers, intermediates and insurers on challenging and complex risk situations across a wide range of industries and geographies.

Martin has over 25 years of insurance industry expertise as Underwriter, Risk Consultant, In-house Broker, Global Practice Leader and Business Development Manager. Prior to joining AXA MATRIX in 2014, he worked for 16 years as an Underwriter and Key Account Manager for Allianz Global Corporate & Specialties dealing with all lines of business and changed to Siemens Financial Services in 2004 as an In-house Consultant and Global Practice Lead for the global project portfolio. As a Business Development Manager and Global Business Development Practice Leader, Martin has strong focus on marketing, content-leverage and permanent evolution of AXA MATRIX global service portfolio, fostering customer base and creating a forward-looking business development culture joining all internal forces to meet customers’ existing and future demand.


 
Teri Elliott
Strategic Account Manager
Nalco Champion

Teri is a global sales, marketing & business development professional with 15 plus years’ experience with multimillion dollar energy related companies. In her role as a Strategic Account Manager she manages all aspects of a key strategic account. Prior to that she served as Vice President of Marketing & Business Development for MCKENZIE COMPRESSED AIR SOLUTIONS.


 
Jim Ellis
Director of Sales
Sensient Technologies

Jim has over 18 years of sales and marketing experience with private, leveraged and publicly traded companies engaged in worldwide consumer products manufacturing and marketing, heavy equipment manufacturing and syndicated data consulting. He has contributed to a wide range of strategic initiatives surrounding sales and marketing strategy development, implementation and execution. Deutsche Post DHL and PepsiCo have internationally recognized Jim for his sales leadership. Jim has a degree in marketing from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and currently leads the business development group at a consumer goods company in suburban Chicago.


 
Mike Enkerlin
Consulting Executive
Corporate Visions, Inc.

Through teamwork and innovative thinking, Mike directs companies and their talent into world-class leaders. He has the ability to build, lead & motivate dynamic, fast growing teams in a fast-paced international environment; and his proven management methodologies accelerate time to market with new products. Mike also organizes ideas into actions to solve complex global value chain and logistic challenges, and achieves challenging cost goals while maintaining high service levels. Mike's background and experiences ensure that he is an expert in developing and managing strategic supplier/partner relationships.


 
Martin P. Finkle
CEO
Scotwork

Marty Finkle, CPT, renowned industry expert and sought-after speaker, leads the team of Scotwork NA negotiators, who work with more than 100 companies in various industries. Through his work on negotiation strategy, process and behaviors, many organizations have achieved an exceptional return on investment, while participants have been able to adapt the skills to other workplace and personal situations.

Before joining Scotwork in 2003, Marty held various sales and executive roles, where he helped increase revenues for firms including Lever Brothers, Franklin Quest, AT&T, General Mill, and Oxford Health Plans. To a large degree, Marty’s success comes from his ability to think strategically and holistically about issues in order to develop long-term solutions. His strengths include creating and exploring ideas for clients as well as for Scotwork, which have helped maximize their potential. Throughout his career, Marty has been able to develop meaningful connections with customers while helping them nurture their own relationships.

Marty received his Bachelors in Business Administration and Communication from Rochester Institute of Technology and earned his Masters in Human Resource Education from Fordham University. He is one of fewer than 1,000 Certified Performance Technologists worldwide.


 
Ross Forbes
Director Corporate Accounts
Medtronic Australia

Ross began his career as a registered nurse in the late 1980s, spending the next 14 years working clinically, in nursing management and nursing education in Australia and the Middle East, within public and private institutions. Eight years ago Ross embarked upon a new career within Medtronic as Director of Corporate Accounts ANZ. Ross is personally responsible for accounts, including global healthcare giant Ramsay Healthcare, encompassing all business units with Medtronic, In December 2014 Ross gained certification in Strategic Account Management through SAMA University.

Ross has been active with consultants Gordian business on Strategic Account workshops with for Varian, Sanofi Australia and Sanofi Malaysia.

Ross has a passion for Value Creation and was be a panel member for the Medical Technology Association of Australia conference in 2016. More recently has been instrumental in writing and presenting “Value Creation” workshops with Medtronic businesses.

Ross is a certified Scrum Master and is working with a dedicated Medtronic team to build Scrum discipline within the sales environment.


 
Norm Fraser
Chief Customer Officer
Hydro Ottawa

As Chief Operating Officer, Distribution and Customer Service, Norm Fraser is responsible for all distribution and customer operations including distribution planning, system operations, distribution design and construction, field operations, billing, metering and customer services.

Norm has more than 36 years of experience in the electricity industry in the areas of power system planning, design and operations. Before joining Hydro Ottawa in 2000, he held senior positions at Hydro One and its predecessor, Ontario Hydro.

Norm holds an Honours bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Manitoba and is a member of the Professional Engineers of Ontario.


 
John Gardner
President Global Strategic Accounts
Emerson Process Management

In his current role, John has global leadership and sets the direction for the Global Strategic Accounts Program across the Process Group. The Global Strategic Accounts Program focuses on those Accounts that are driving growth at multiples of the total Process Management business and have established a desire to collaborate with Emerson to drive increased value and business results enabled thru the Technology, Products, Services, Processes, and People of Emerson Process Management.

Under John’s Leadership, The Global Strategic Accounts Program has grown by a Growth Factor of 5X over past 5 years with the same number of total Strategic Accounts and now represents over 45% of the Total Process Group Sales. The Program was recognized in 2012 as the SAMA [Strategic Account Management Association] Global Strategic Account Program of the Year [POY] Award Winner.

John is a member of the Process Executive Group [Large-PEG], Group Global Sales Leadership Team, Sales Council, and participates actively in setting direction for sales processes and as an active Executive Sponsor & member of Executive Steering Groups with multiple Strategic Accounts. John is active in the Emerson Global Leadership Institute where he serves as a Resident Executive and Guest Speaker by actively coaching & mentoring the next generation of Leaders in Emerson Process Management.


 
Pat Gibbons
Senior Vice President, Marketing
Walker

As Principal and Senior Vice President of Marketing for Walker, Gibbons has global responsibility for definition, branding, and promotion of the company and its solutions.

Gibbons has published and/or contributed to a number of articles, papers, and blogs on customer intelligence topics and has a regular column in CRM Magazine. He has been a featured speaker at a wide range of conferences, and has produced a series of educational events for customer experience leaders. He is also one of the primary developers of Face Value – an award-winning, patented educational exercise that unveils the business impact of customer-focused decision making. Gibbons came to Walker in 2000. Previously he held product management and marketing leadership roles in the publishing and online recruitment industries. He earned his bachelor’s degree in industrial design from the University of Cincinnati and his master’s degree in business administration from Butler University.


 
Eric Gillenwater
Business Head US & Europe
Airtel

Eric Gillenwater is Responsible for Bharti Airtel's operation in the Americas and Europe across both sales and cost items. Manage team with focus on revenue growth, margin targets across large carrier, OTT and VAR space. Eric is an innovative thinker and operates at the leading edge of the technology curve in the telecommunications industry.


 
Michael P. Golden
Executive Vice President, North American Global and Risk Solutions
Willis

Michael Golden is a member of Willis' North American Global and Risk Solutions team. He previously served as the Chief Operating Officer and Sales Leader for Willis’ global Technology Media & Telecom (TMT) group, concentrating mainly on strategy, business development, communications and marketing. His current focus is on delivering content, insight and connectivity to the Willis Risk Solutions and large account communities and creating an accountable, results oriented business development culture.

Michael has over 30 years of insurance industry expertise as a Broker, Customer Relationship Leader, Industry Practice Leader and Corporate Executive. Over the years, he has worked with brokerage and underwriting colleagues who are solving their customer’s most challenging and complex risk issues across a wide range of industries and geographies.

Prior to joining Willis in 2014, Mike was responsible for global broker relationship management for two major insurance companies. He also spent 25 years at Marsh where he served as Marsh’s Global Power Industry Practice Leader, Chairman of Marsh’s Global Industry Practices and Head of New England Operations and New York Operations. In addition, he was a Account Executive serving global customers and a member of Marsh’s Nuclear Consulting group. Prior to joining the insurance industry, he was an Engineering Officer in the US Navy’s Nuclear Submarine program.


 
Bo Golovan
Principal
Strategic Solutions Associates

Bo is an Executive Coach for high achieving executives and business owners. Bo uses her business acumen, her cross-cultural expertise along with evidence based coaching tools and methodology to help leaders leverage their performance and expand their potential.Bo has a 25+ years international business experience and honed her coaching skills while running businesses and teams.

During her career in Finance and in Real Estate, Bo partnered with organizations to create a strategic focus, align the organizational structures and the talent needed, and implement execution. Partnering with a group of real estate professionals, she co-founded a property management and consulting services company, and ran the organization as the Executive VP. She developed organizational effectiveness, financial systems and human resources best practices. Before that she partnered with a large French brokerage company and co-founded their international financial services subsidiary in Chicago, serving as its President. She focused on risk-management, operational efficiency, and hiring and developing a cross-cultural team.

Bo has an M.B.A. from H.E.C. Paris, France and a Masters in Economics from the University Paul Cezanne, Aix Marseille III, France. She received her Advanced Personal and Executive Coach Certification (ACPEC) from The College of Executive Coaching, Pismo Beach, CA. She is a Certified Practitioner for the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (M.B.T.I), the EQ-i 2.0. and the Hogan Assessment Tools.


 
Mark Gordon
Partner
Vantage Partners

Mark Gordon is a founder and director of Vantage Partners, and is a Senior Advisor to the Harvard Negotiation Project at Harvard Law School. As an expert in negotiation and relationship management, he has worked with leading companies across a range of industries including financial services, entertainment, healthcare, information technology, manufacturing, and telecommunications. He works with clients to help develop and implement strategies for maximizing the value from both intra-organizational collaboration and relationships with alliance partners, customers and suppliers. His work has ranged from advising clients on significant strategic negotiations to helping clients systematize negotiation and relationship management as key business processes, structure and launch new alliances, and transform their approaches to managing key suppliers as business partners rather than simply as vendors.

In addition to his work at Vantage Partners, Mark is a co-founder and former Chairman of Conflict Management Group, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization focused on disputes of international public concern. In 2004, CMG was merged into Mercy Corps, a worldwide humanitarian development and relief organization where Mark serves on the Board of Directors. In his more than thirty years of experience in the public sector, Mark has worked with President Ortega of Nicaragua on negotiations between the Sandinistas and Contras, President Duarte of El Salvador on negotiations between the Government and the FMLN, and the PLO negotiation support group reporting to Yasser Arafat and then to Abu Mazin. In addition, he has worked with the ANC in South Africa on the constitutional negotiations led by Cyril Rhamaphosa and Roelf Meyer, taught at the NATO Defense College in Rome, and conducted training for numerous foreign ministries around the world.

He is a frequent speaker on negotiation, alliance strategy and relationship management and has written for a variety of publications, including The Harvard Communication Update and the Harvard Business Review blog. Mark has appeared as a negotiation expert on MSNBC, and recently wrote a book on negotiation, The Point of the Deal, co-authored with Danny Ertel, published by Harvard Business School Publishing. The Point of the Deal has received the Outstanding Book of the Year Award from the International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution.

Mark has a J.D. from Harvard Law School and an A.B. from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University.


 
Francis Gouillart
President and Co-Founder
ECC Partnership

Francis Gouillart is President and co-founder of the Experience Co-Creation Partnership (ECC Partnership), a consulting firm built to implement co-creative management processes and organizational capabilities with corporate clients around the world.

Francis is considered a leading authority on the topics of strategy, innovation, transformation, and capabilities-building and is a recognized speaker, lecturer, and advisor on Experience Co-Creation, Blue Ocean Strategy, and Organizational Transformation. He works across the United States, Europe, and Asia, and has experience in most industries. Francis has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, and Fortune, among other publications, and has been featured on CNBC. He is currently working with global management consulting firm PwC Advisory to use co-creation concepts and methods to transform enterprise operations and business models across industries globally.


 
Matt Hall
Retired
Nestle UK (Formerly)

Matthew Hall is an experienced marketing and sales consumer packaged goods veteran with unique expertise in step change marketing initiatives. Matt returned to Canada from Europe, where he had a successful 31-year career with Nestle, the world’s largest food and beverage company. Having worked in several countries, including Nestlé’s head office in Switzerland, Matt gained extensive experience across continents, business functions and product categories.

Matt built a solid reputation as a leader in developing and implementing step change marketing, communications and sales capabilities. As Senior Vice President of Global Marketing and Sales in Vevey Switzerland Matt led a successful change management team delivering best practices resulting in sustained growth and profit for Nestle globally.

Before returning to Canada Matt initiated and executed organizational re-designs and new product launches, introduced leading edge sustainability processes, along with health, wellness and nutrition programs as the CEO of Nestle UK Food and Beverage in London England.

He is now a Consultant with Goodbrand in London England that is a leading advisor to several Fortune 500 companies in the area of Sustainability and Corporate Social responsibility.


 
Sue Hed
Vice President Business Development
Vanguard Cleaning Systems of Chicago

Sue Hed grows revenues by identifying “breakthrough” customer needs. She has a diverse background collaborating with channels and building alliances to drive customer driven innovation. Her expertise is in value creation, sales enablement, demand generation and sales within technology companies.

Sue has worked for Qlik, a business intelligence software company, Schneider Electric and IBM in a number of leadership roles including VP IBM Oracle Alliance, VP Global Solution in NE EMEA. Sue brings more than twenty years of global leadership and expertise in solutions sales from ERP, CRM, Smarter Cities and Supply Chain solutions across multiple industries.

Sue is active an active member in the Association of Strategic Alliances (ASAP). Plus, she is a mentor with Women Unlimited & the Executives’ Club of Chicago and volunteers at the Ronald McDonald House. Sue has her business degree from University of Minnesota and advanced studies at Syracuse.


 
Bruce Hembree
EVP Global Sales
Metaswitch

Bruce has 25 years of experience in sales, both domestic and international, within the communications industry. Before joining Metaswitch, he led the global sales organization at JDSU. Prior to JDSU, he held senior positions at Acterna Corp., including vice president and general manager of the service assurance solutions business unit. He also served as the North America major account sales director at Telecommunications Techniques Co., LLC. Bruce has an electrical engineering degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and he is based in Atlanta.


 
Andreas Hinterhuber
Partner
Hinterhuber & Partners

Andreas Hinterhuber is a Partner of Hinterhuber & Partners (www.hinterhuber.com), a visiting professor at USI Lugano, Switzerland, and was acting chair and head of the Department of International Management at Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt (Germany). Previously, he worked for ten years in global management positions in the chemical and pharmaceutical industry. His main research interest is pricing, and he has published articles in Industrial Marketing Management, Long Range Planning, MIT Sloan Management Review, Journal of Strategic Marketing, Business Horizons and other journals. Together with Stephan Liozu he is co-editor of the books Innovation in Pricing (Routledge, 2012) and The ROI of Pricing (Routledge, 2014).


 
Dr. Linda Hui Shi
PhD, Associate Professor
University of Victoria

Linda Hui Shi, PhD, is an associate professor of marketing and international business in the Peter B. Gustavson School of Business, University of Victoria, Canada. She also visited, taught, and conducted collaborative research in Shanghai Jiaotong University, Hunan University in China, and Vienna University of Economics and Business in Europe, among others. From 2001 to 2005, Linda pursued her PhD in Business Administration at Eli Broad School of Business, Michigan State University, and received her PhD degree in 2005. She studied and received her Bachelor’s in Business and Finance from Lingnan School of Business and Finance at Zhongshan University.

Her research interests include global account management, global marketing strategy, China marketing, customer relationship management, service recovery and customer satisfaction. Her work has appeared in Journal of International Business Studies, Management International Review, Journal of International Marketing, International Business Review, and Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing, among others. She is a winner of IMR Best Paper Award in Academy International Business 2011 Conference and former winner of the ISBM Business Marketing Doctoral Support Award Competition for her dissertation proposal about global account management capability. Her research received funds and administrative support from the prestigious research institutes and consortiums, including Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), the Institute for the Study of Business Markets (ISBM) at Pennsylvania State University, etc. Linda teaches at doctoral, MBA, and undergraduate levels in the areas of international marketing, global account management, doing business with China, marketing principles, and business research methodology.


 
Bradley Humbles
Global Account Consultant
Bunnell Idea Group, Inc.

Bradley Humbles is an experienced Certified GrowBIG® Facilitator. He is an engaging, knowledgeable presenter with a deep background in business development training, coaching and consulting.

Bradley has 34 years of experience in business development, business development management, and training, focusing primarily on helping clients gain an understanding of what value means to their clients, and on implementing business strategies to provide that value.

In recent years Bradley has also worked increasingly in customizing GrowBIG® training for our clients. This involves conducting client interviews to understand a company’s business, then integrating that understanding into highly relevant and realistic case studies, scenarios and simulations that help tailor our trademarked business development system specifically for our client's culture, lingo, market experience and industry.

Bradley’s career includes serving as Director of Business Development Training for UPS, which is the world’s largest transportation and logistics company. In his 17 years with UPS, Bradley held a variety of management positions, and was responsible for developing and implementing business development and management training initiatives worldwide. He also worked in various positions with companies in the manufacturing and health care sectors.

Bradley has international business expertise. His extensive international experience includes working throughout North America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America. Working with both very large and medium-sized companies around the world in a variety of industries gives Bradley a broad perspective of business that enables him to quickly understand the challenges facing companies in business development both domestically and internationally.


 
Cam Hyde
Senior Managing Director
The Summit Group

Cam Hyde is senior managing director for The Summit Group.

Cam is recognized in the industry as a successful, customer-centered leader with a passion for innovative sales transformation and sustainable business performance. He has been involved in SAMA for the past several years, in addition to being active as a board member in many organizations over the past 20 years.

Prior to joining Summit, Cam spent almost 40 years with Xerox Corporation, where he worked throughout the U.S. and Canada, as well as internationally. He served as a corporate officer from 2004-2012. Cam has vast experience from both senior strategic and field leadership roles, and was responsible for leading Xerox’s Global Accounts Operations through a highly successful business and performance transformation.


 
John Inwright
President
Quality Supply Chain Cooperative (Supply Chain Co-op for Wendy's)

John led the launch of QSCC, the independent purchasing co-op that serves the Wendy’s system, in January 2010. He works closely with QSCC’s Board of Directors and Wendy’s senior leadership, ensuring that his team accomplishes everything needed to exceed member and Brand expectations.

John’s range of executive experience -- including supply, distribution, procurement, and operations -- gives him powerful insight into every link of the supply chain and a keen understanding of how they interact.

Most recently, he served in the supplier and manufacturing community as EVP for the Commercial Division of Nice-Pak/PDII, the global expert in preventing infection and cross-contamination from bacteria in foodservice and healthcare settings.

Previously, John served as Chief Procurement Officer of U.S. Foodservice, one of the country’s largest broad-line foodservice distributors. He also served as SVP of Purchasing, Distribution, and Logistics for Unified Foodservice Purchasing Co-op, LLC (the co-op for Yum! Brands), overseeing the procurement and distribution interests of franchise and corporate stores across A&W, KFC, Long John Silver’s, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell.

John serves on the boards of the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption and GS1. He also co-chairs the Supply Chain Sub-Committee of the National Council of Chain Restaurants.


 
Javaid Iqbal
Professor of Customer-Centric Innovation
DePaul University

Javaid is a strategist, advisor and an educator helping businesses and governments across North America, Europe and Asia transform and achieve objectives through the use of disruptive and innovative technologies across Healthcare, Telecommunications and Public Sector verticals. At present, Javaid serves as a Global Engagement Leader at Salesforce advising customer C-level executives on strategies for acquisition, implementation and adoption of solutions to help drive value proposition and ensure customer success. Prior to Salesforce, Javaid ran P&L’s for practices within various consultancies and developed go-to market strategies for multiple product and solution development offerings including Customer Engagement and Supply Chain initiatives. Additionally, he teaches Graduate level courses in Customer-Centric technologies with a focus on Cloud, Big Data & Analytics, and Mobile.


 
Michael Johnson
Corporate Account Manager
SAMA

Mike Johnson is a Corporate Account Manager with SAMA. He is a Chicago native with a degree in Finance from the University of Illinois at Chicago. In addition to his 20 years’ experience in the commodities industry, Mike is a 15-year veteran of the Chicago Improv scene. Mike has performed at such venerable institutions like Second City’s training Center, iO Theater, the Annoyance Theater, CIC Theater and The Playground Theater. Mike is currently an instructor at iO Theater.


 
Christopher Kelly
Key Accounts Coordinator
Hydro Ottawa

Christopher Kelly, previously to joining Hydro Ottawa, worked for a Property Management firm and then in a business development leadership role for an Energy Efficiency Program Design and Implementation firm, One Change. He joined Hydro Ottawa in the Conservation and Demand Management group. Christopher for two years worked in the Property Management and New Home Developers sales vertical. Since then he has joined the Key Accounts group and is continuing to serve many of the same customers on a wider array of topics and equipped with a broader basket of services


 
Brian Kiep
COO
Valkre

Brian has spent over 12 years focusing on the strategies, processes, and technologies of Differential Value Proposition (DVP) and Customer Relationship Management. He has worked in many industries including telecommunications, finance, insurance, health care, building materials, and technology. As a result, he has extensive practical experience in general management, eCommerce, B2B marketing and sales, and change management. Brian holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a BS in Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.


 
Kristi Kierulf
VP for Strategic Government and Health Care Accounts
Evry

Kirsti Kierulf brings over 25 years of Customer Innovation in her roles as a Strategic Account Leader. As Executive VP for Strategic Government and Health Care Accounts for Evry, the leading Scandinavian Technology Provider / Integrator, Kristi implemented the latest tools and techniques for driving and demonstrating thought leadership through IoT, Social and Customer Behavior Analysis.

Prior to this, she drove new innovations and customer development practices for KommIT, a government agency responsible for providing technology to Norwegian municipalities. Kirsti’s experience leading Customer Driven Innovation through technology started in key account sales with IBM. She has also built and grew numerous startups and served as Director Global Strategic IoT Platforms with Accenture.


 
LaVon Koerner
President & Chief Revenue Officer
Revenue Storm

With over two decades of international consulting experience, LaVon Koerner is recognized worldwide as a leading expert in diagnosing and transforming sales and marketing organizations. LaVon passionately believes that companies and people can tap systematic disciplines and rigorous analysis to unleash profitable revenues and professionalize the business of sales.

Since co-founding Revenue Storm in 2001, LaVon remains zealous in his pursuit to provide organizations a comprehensive suite of proven tools and techniques that drive profitable revenue growth. As Chief Revenue Officer, LaVon helps organizations achieve revenue acceleration through demand creation and reap immediate, sustainable gains.

Prior to co-founding Revenue Storm, LaVon spent fifteen years with Holden Corporation, ultimately as its president. LaVon developed Holden’s core training methodology, which has been installed in hundreds of organizations worldwide. Called upon as both a thought leader and coach, LaVon traveled the globe to help organizations uncover the true cost of sales.

A major portion of LaVon’s work involves evaluating and assisting under-leveraged sales and marketing organizations and analyzing market dynamics in a wide array of industries. As a result, he has helped create sales processes that reduce the cost of sales while increasing revenue through aggressive market share acquisition.

LaVon has been privileged to help many of today’s Fortune 500 companies achieve sales excellence, including ABB, HP, IBM, Schneider Electric, TCS, and Wipro. He is uniquely positioned at the forefront of the design and installation of sales and marketing methodologies.


 
Pertti Korhonen
President and CEO
Outotec

Mr. Pertti Korhonen has been the president and CEO of Outotec Oyj since January 2010, and has also been its executive chairman since 2010 and member of its Executive Board since 2009. Prior to his roles with Outotec, Mr. Korhonen worked in various leadership roles with Nokia Corp. and Micronas Oy, and has made a significant career in product development, technology, production and logistics.


 
Dan Kosch
Co-President
IMPAX Corporation

Dan Kosch is Co-President of IMPAX Corporation and co-author of Beyond Selling Value: A Proven Process to Avoid the Vendor Trap. Dan is a leading authority in the areas of strategic account selling, strategic account management (including account planning), sales management/leadership and the integration of strategic selling efforts into broader management systems. His concepts enable organizations to catapult themselves beyond today’s challenges; steering them away from selling based on price and product alone–a long-term formula for failure–and establishing unwavering competitive immunity by creating high-level, long-term strategic customer relationships.

He has more than 40 years of experience in direct sales, sales management, and sales consulting and training. He is a highly sought-after speaker on a range of sales topics including selling value, strategic account selling, strategic account management, account planning and sales leadership, presentations and gaining competitive immunity.


 
Randall Lane
Editor
Forbes Magazine

Randall Lane is the editor of Forbes Magazine, and believes strongly that entrepreneurial capitalism and market-based thinking can solve the world's problems. This is his second stint at Forbes -- between 1991 and 1997, he was a reporter, a staff writer (five cover stories), associate editor and Washington bureau chief. In between, he caught the start-up bug and co-founded P.O.V. Magazine (Adweek's Startup of the Year), and then launched Doubledown Media (Trader Monthly, Dealmaker, Private Air, etc.). As a fattening hobby, he has reviewed restaurants for various magazines since college (and was a National Magazine Award finalist for his wine writing). Rndall used to think chronicling the world's greatest business minds made him a great entrepreneur, but now realizes his time as an entrepreneur made him an acute business journalist. For the full story, check out his book, The Zeroes: My Misadventures In the Decade Wall Street Went Insane.


 
Janet LeBlanc
President & CEO
Janet LeBlanc + Associates Inc.

Janet LeBlanc is a business strategist, keynote speaker and Canadian best-selling author with eight international awards to her credit. She is recognized as a leading authority in customer value and experience management. As president of Janet LeBlanc + Associates Inc., Janet coaches senior leaders on how to use client-centric strategies to drive performance results to new heights. Janet helps organizations including public sector institutions and global Fortune 500 companies overcome silo-based obstacles, connect with client perspectives, and collaborate on how to deliver the ideal client experience.


 
Axel Leichum
Partner
Blue Canyon Partners, Inc.

Axel J. Leichum is a partner at Blue Canyon Partners and serves on the firm’s Executive Council. He has been turning insights into actionable strategies for clients for nearly 15 years. His clients span a wide variety of industries and markets, ranging from IT hardware and software to wholesale distribution to process control and beyond. Axel has written and contributed to a number of articles and white papers, ranging from adjacent markets to pricing strategy. He also has been a guest speaker at numerous business events on topics such as adjacent markets, strategic pricing, customer experience, and segmentation.


 
Peter Linn
CEO
AXA MATRIX Risk Consultants

Peter Linn has over 25 years’ experience in the Property & Casualty insurance industry and is currently serving as CEO of AXA MATRIX Risk Consultants in USA. His responsibilities include leading all aspects of AXA MATRIX US and Canadian operations including business performance, business development, finances, operations, vendor relationships, and all internal and external relationships (domestic and international). Peter is also leading the global digital initiatives in his group.

Peter is a senior business leader who understands and supports organizational strategy & vision and is an outstanding collaborator with customers, distributors, and all internal & external business partners to promote business results and brand value.

Peter has also enjoyed past career experiences at Zurich, Liberty Mutual, Frank B Hall, and Home Insurance.


 
Stephan Liozu
Chief Disruption Officer and Assistant Professor of Strategy at Chatham University
Value Innoruption Advisors

Stephan M. Liozu specializes in disruptive approaches in strategy, innovation and value management, and is a creator, disruptor, and designer. Stephan has over 20 years of global business experience, and has worked for both Fortune 500 companies and family-owned businesses. Most recently he served as President & CEO at ARDEX Americas. He specializes in crafting and designing unique innovation and business strategies leading to differentiated business models. Stephan moderates brainstorming, mind mapping and creativity sessions with executives, partners and customers to generate ideas, value models, value propositions and innovation strategies.


 
Anne-Sophie Lucier
Strategic Customer Director
Air Liquide S.A.

Anne-Sophie currently serves as Strategic Customers Director within Air Liquide’s Customer Development Group. She is based at the headquarters in Paris and manages Strategic Account Programs across the company; she is also directly involved in Strategic Account Teams for specific customers. She joined Air Liquide in 2009 and initially worked in the Industrial Merchant division as Business Developer for the French optoelectronics market. In 2011, she joined the Large Industries business line as Marketing Manager before taking the position of Customer Relationship Manager. In this role, she led the development and launch of a worldwide CRM dedicated to Strategic and Key Accounts, coordinated the Large Industries KAM platform, managed Air Liquide’s presence in major international conferences and organized large-scale customer events. Anne-Sophie is Canadian; she holds a Bachelor’s and a Master’s Degree in Physics from McGill University, and a further Master’s Degree in Operations Management from HEC Montréal.


 
Jake Lustig
Executive Director Supply Chain, External Manufacturing IT and DtD Analytics
Merck & Co., Inc.

Jacob G. Lustig, Executive Director, Merck Manufacturing Division, leads the Supply Chain and External Manufacturing IT organization. In this role, Jake partners with the business to develop the business strategy and objectives, then defines and delivers the IT capabilities required to support the realization of those objectives. In addition, Jake leads the Manufacturing Analytics Center of Excellence that supports Plant, Quality and Supply Chain.

Previously, Jake worked within the Merck Research Laboratory (MRL) IT organization leading the Regulatory, Pharmacovigilance and Observational Research teams.

Prior to joining Merck, Jake was a Senior Manager with Accenture leading large system implementation projects for various life science organizations. In addition, he built and ran several global outsourcing capabilities.

Jake holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame.


 
Rodolfo Luzardo
Principal, B2B Commercial Transformation
ZS Associates

Rodolfo Luzardo has extensive experience advising companies across industries and geographies. Rodolfo’s expertise is in B2B sales and marketing strategy and effectiveness, with a focus on large-scale commercial transformations relating to go-to-market strategy, sales effectiveness initiatives and integrations, strategic account management and pricing optimization. Rodolfo’s experience spans a diverse range of commercial topics, including multiple sales models (global, strategic and key accounts management, generalist and specialist field sales, channel partners, and inside sales), go-to-market redesign, and pricing. He has broad industry exposure spanning specialty chemical, industrials, basic materials, distribution, and private equity.

Rodolfo has over 20 years professional experience spanning finance, operations and consulting. He lectures on sales strategy topics at the Kellogg School of Management Executive Program. He has been advising the world's premier companies over the past decade, and has first-hand operating and sales experience. His pragmatic hands-on approach has been an asset to clients around the world. He has published 18 articles and whitepapers on sales force performance, strategic account management and commercial transformation.

Rodolfo has an MBA, with honors, from the University of Chicago and a BA in Economics from the University of Miami. Prior to ZS, Rodolfo was an Associate Principal at McKinsey & Company, and also held positions in Private Equity and Investment Banking earlier in his career.


 
Lisa Maggiore
Vice President Global Strategic Account Management and Intermediary Group Sales
Hilton Worldwide

Lisa has worn many hats in her 31 years with Hilton, but she currently serve as Vice President, Global Strategic Account Management and Intermediary Group Sales. She and her teams aim to drive incremental growth for our business across Hilton’s portfolio of more than 4,300 properties. Since beginning her career in 1984 as a guest service agent at Hilton New York’s front desk, she has steadily moved up the sales ladder, ultimately joining Hilton’s corporate team. In the process, she became familiar with sales and catering, worldwide business travel sales, marketing, international sales and strategic account management. This cross-training through Hilton’s sales segments armed her with a holistic understanding of Hilton sales, which in turn, equipped her to provide a higher level of strategy and guidance to her team and her clients.


 
Sean Mahoney
Vice President of Sales, Americas
Honeywell Building Solutions

Sean Mahoney is the Vice President of Sales for Americas within Honeywell Building Solutions. HBS installs, maintains and upgrades systems that keep workplaces and schools safe, comfortable and productive.

HBS provides world-class solutions for all facilities operational needs, including Building Automation and Control - Emergency Communications - Fire and Life Safety Systems - HVAC Install, Maintenance and Retrofit - Integrated Energy Services and Integrated Security Solutions.

Sean has been with Honeywell for 18 years in a variety of leadership roles, including General Manager in the Southeast U.S., Service Sales Leader for the Americas, and General Manager in Western Canada. Sean helped start the 1st Honeywell Users Group Symposium 12 years ago and continues as part of the Steering Committee today.

Sean holds a Bachelor’s Degree from San Diego State University. He is a former President’s Club winner, Leadership Excellence Recipient and achieved his Six Sigma Black Belt Certification for Business Improvement Results. Sean is located in Atlanta, Georgia.


 
Jeff Marr
Vice President, Consulting Services
Walker

Jeff Marr provides thought leadership to Walker and the customer strategy profession. In keeping with the newest proven approaches, Mr. Marr designs services used in client engagements. This includes facilitating customer-driven action by clients at the corporate, functional and account team levels, and creating new measurement solutions. Formal approaches Mr. Marr helped create and launch include value mapping, account engagement, strategic assessment, won/lost bid assessment, and assessing lost/diminished customers. Since joining Walker in 1978, Mr. Marr has gained extensive client management and program design experience, supporting his leading role in Walker’s innovation and consulting with senior client contacts.


 
Mike McCool
Vice President, Business Development
Freeman XP

Based in Chicago, Mike is currently Vice President, Business Development. He leads Feeman XP’s effort to build a best-in-class, enterprise-wide (Global) Strategic Account Management practice. He understands that the key to achieving relevance with a target audience is built on a foundation of data-driven insights – not guesswork.

In fact, Mike is one of the few marketing experts who holds a joint degree in computer science and mathematics. Consequently, he brings a scientific and practical approach to business challenges.

He originally joined us in 2000 as our Director of Technology Services, and in 2008, he transitioned into the role of Director of Customer Intelligence. In both positions, he continually championed the need to leverage qualitative and quantitative data to drive smarter business decisions.

Currently, in his work with FreemanXP on its Strategic Accounts, he continues to insist on this rigorous methodology. For every project, he assesses the client’s goals and objectives and carefully measures progress against clearly defined benchmarks and key performance indicators; ambiguous, “soft” definitions of success are simply not good enough for Mike. This approach might not always be the easy route, but it ultimately empowers us to leverage best practices and the latest innovations as we help to transform, grow, and extend our clients’ live-event engagements. As a result, our clients are able to achieve their goals, advance their businesses, and build stronger, mutually beneficial relationships with their own target audiences.

Mike has served as Chairman for the Major American Trade Show Organizers (MATSO), is a member of the International Association for Exhibition Management (IAEM), Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA) and served as a commissioner for the Convention Industry Council’s APEX initiative. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science/Mathematics from the University of Illinois. He is currently working on the requirements to become a Certified Strategic Account Manager (CSAM) through the Strategic Account Management Association (SAMA).


 
Jamie McLellan
Director Corporate Accounts
South West Region, Medtronic Australia

Jaime started with Medtronic as a territory manager in June 2006. From there he worked his way up to Senior Product Manager CRDM High Power Devices and for the last 6 years has served as the Director of Corporate Accounts S/W Region.

Prior to joining Medtronic, Jamie held a variety of positions in the healthcare industry. In addition to being certified under SAMA’s CSAM program, he is also a Certified Scrum Master, and holds a Masters of Business Administration from the Swinburne University of Technology.


 
Patrick Mitchell
Former Chief Procurement Officer
Mars Inc.

Patrick D. Mitchell was Chief Procurement Officer of Mars Inc. (formerly known as William Wrigley Jr. Co.) from 2010 to 2015, and joined Wrigley in 2002 as Senior Vice President Global Procurement. Mr. Mitchell arrived at Wrigley following a long career at Kellogg and Keebler across a wide range of finance, manufacturing and purchasing roles. A high impact procurement and supply chain executive with a proven history of leading teams and delivering results across global organizations, Mr. Mitchell leads with vision and an entrepreneurial spirit that has made a difference for companies at all levels.


 
Bill Moore
Sr. Vice President
SKF

Working for more than three decades with OEM’s, End Users and Channel Partners, Bill has demonstrated his talent at understanding customer needs and how to deploy resources to identify and capture customer value. For the last decade, Bill has been the principle architect for the industrial aftermarket and channel strategy for the world's largest manufacturer of bearings, SKF, where Bill has been able to integrate his knowledge of strategic account selling, field sales strategies and customer value propositions. An acknowledged industry leader, Bill has authored more than 25 articles, presented at SAMA conferences and served as a guest lecturer at London Business School. He enjoys working with and leading collaborative teams in the process of understanding value chains and how to capture them for mutual gain.


 
Alfredo Morate
VP, Global Customer Excellence Program
Schindler

Alfredo Morate is vice president, Global Customer Excellence Program at Schindler, a world leader providing vertical transport in the urban environment. He previously led key account management practice and was directly responsible for key account business in EMEA.

An engineer by education and a marketer by vocation, Alfredo has spent most of his career in international B2B environments and his previous experiences include management functions in the commercial insurance business and the automotive industry as well as various international assignments in Europe and the Americas.


 
Margaret Neale
Adams Distinguished Professor of Management
Stanford University

Margaret A. Neale is the Adams Distinguished Professor of Management. Professor Neale’s major research interests include bargaining and negotiation, distributed work groups, and team composition, learning, and performance. She is the author of over 70 articles on these topics and is a coauthor of three books: Organizational Behavior: A Management Challenge; Cognition and Rationality in Negotiation; Negotiating Rationally; and one research series Research on Managing in Groups and Teams.

In addition to her teaching and research activities, Professor Neale has conducted executive seminars and management development programs worldwide for public agencies, city governments, health care and trade associations, universities, small businesses and Fortune 500 corporations in the area of negotiation skills, managerial decision making, managing teams, and workforce diversity. She is the faculty director of three executive programs at Stanford University: Influence and Negotiation Strategies, Managing Teams for Innovation and Success, and the Executive Program for Women Leaders.

She received her Bachelor’s degree in Pharmacy from Northeast Louisiana University, her Master’s degrees from the Medical College of Virginia and Virginia Commonwealth University and her PhD in Business Administration from the University of Texas.


 
Rena Neville
Senior Vice President
Sotheby's

Rena has been the Senior Vice President, Business Development for Sotheby's for the last 9 years. Prior to that she set up and ran the global compliance department for Sotheby's, which included drafting policies, auditing compliance, training and enforcement. Prior to that, she served as the Director for Sotheby's London.


 
Ed O'Boyle
Global Practice Leader
Gallup

Ed O’Boyle leads Gallup’s analytics into engagement and helps organizations around the world with his expertise in branding, purchasing patterns, and behavioral economics to better understand and managing the intricacies of human nature.

As Gallup’s Global Practice Leader, Ed is responsible for turning ideas into innovation using Gallup’s leading-edge science and discoveries as a guide. Ed was instrumental in developing the company’s B2B framework, which empowers clients to achieve exponential increases in performance through customer engagement and impact.

Ed brings more than 18 years of marketing and branding experience to Gallup. He previously served in roles in brand management, strategic planning, and innovation at Diageo, Capital One, and Frito-Lay. Ed earned his master’s degree in business administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and his bachelor’s degree in business administration from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia.


 
Erin Pallesen
Registration & Meetings Manager
SAMA




 
Kim Park
Worldwide VP, Customer Strategy and Innovation
Merck

Kim leads Merck’s Global Customer Strategy and Innovation Team. The team includes Customer Centricity a company-wide commitment to strengthen Merck's relationship with its leading customers around the world and several Centers of Excellence focused on Launch Excellence, Commercial Excellence, Digital Marketing Excellence and Innovation. All of which are essential contributors to Merck’s growth strategy.

With over 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, Kim has extensive sales and marketing expertise, having held leadership positions in Managed Care and HIV at Merck and in Primary Care and Innovation later at Johnson and Johnson (J & J). Kim is a strong, strategic leader with a demonstrated ability to develop clear, actionable plans by leveraging customer insights and focusing organizational resources to deliver results.


 
Tom Peurach
Corporate Storyteller
Articulus

Tom Peurach is a Corporate Storyteller at Articulus, Inc. His responsibility is simple: he helps people advocate ideas. Tom started at Articulus in 2001 and since then has instructed 1000s of people through Corporate Storytelling Workshops. He continually applies his Corporate Storytelling skills by consulting with sales teams at his clients. Tom’s consulting expertise is messaging and presenting extremely large and complex solutions. Tom’s formal education is in computer science. With bachelor’s and master’s degrees in computer science, Tom refers to himself as a “computer geek.” How do you go from being a computer geek to becoming a Corporate Storyteller? Tom spent about 10 years at a mix of software and research companies in product development, marketing, research, and sales roles. He learned an important lesson: you can have great technology, but if no one knows about it or understands it, it is of little value. He was trained as a Corporate Storyteller in 1997. From that point on, he found success in advocating the use and application of his products, services, and ideas.


 
Eric Pinard
Strategic Account Management Vice President
Schneider Electric

Eric Pinard has more than 16 years of successful solution sales for Global Strategic Accounts in several segments: food & beverage, mining mineral metal, life science, utilities, and power generation. He has extensive experience in managing complex large projects, account strategy definition and implementation, account management, C-level networking, frame agreement negotiation and implementation, coaching and managing Global Account and Key Account Managers, and segmentation strategy.


 
Joseph Pinzon
Vice President of Enterprise Accounts
Konica Minolta Business Solutions

Joseph has demonstrated over 20 years of strategic account management principles; developing and maintaining a significant amount of Fortune 500 relationships. Additionally, Joseph was a program designer/ charter member of Konica Minolta’s Key Account/Corporate Account group which was established in 1998. His passion to design, prepare, and evangelize strategic account management principles to both his internal and external customers is unparalleled.In his current role, Joseph is responsible for a team of National Enterprise Account Manager’s representing both Konica Minolta’s indirect and direct channel partners.


 
Laura Putnam
Consultant
Blue Canyon Partners, Inc.

Laura J. Putnam is a consultant at Blue Canyon Partners where she works with numerous business-to-business companies from industries such as healthcare technology, food and beverage, and agricultural equipment. She has worked on a number projects, helping clients to develop strategic pricing models, segmentation tools, major account plans, relationship frameworks and channel management strategies. Laura has written and contributed to several articles during her time at Blue Canyon. Her most recent article on how to assess strategic account portfolios was published in Velocity magazine.


 
Bernard Quancard
President and CEO
SAMA

Bernard started his career in 1969 with The Boston Consulting Group in the Boston and Paris offices. He joined Telemecanique (Schneider Electric Group) in 1975 as Vice President, Corporate Strategy and became VP/General Manager of the Switch Gear division in 1978 and of the Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) division in 1988. In 1994, he joined the management board of AEG Schneider Automation (Schneider Electric Group) as Executive VP, Worldwide Sales and Marketing.

Bernard moved to Chicago in 1997 for Square D/Schneider Electric as Senior VP/General Manager of Schneider Global Business Development (SGBD), the entity managing global strategic accounts (GSAs) for Schneider Electric worldwide. That year, SGBD was managing 24 GSAs, driving $180 million of consolidated sales. By 2001, the entity was managing 74 GSAs with over a billion dollars of consolidated sales. The compounded growth of Schneider Electric sales at GSAs was twice the average growth rate of the total company. Strategic Account Management at Schneider Electric was recognized by the organization and its competitors as a major competitive advantage.

Bernard retired from Schneider Electric in March 2005, and was recruited in 2006 by the Strategic Account Management Association Board of Directors to lead the organization in a new, more practitioner-focused direction. Under Bernard’s leadership, SAMA has experienced significant growth in its corporate membership, and expanded SAMA’s global footprint with a greater presence in Europe and Asia Pacific. He is a frequent keynote speaker and regarded as a leading expert in the principles and practices of strategic customer management.


 
Hajo Rapp
Head of Strategic Accounts
Siemens AG

Dr. Hajo Rapp started his career as a Management Consultant for Management Partner in Stuttgart. From there he moved to Siemens Nixdorf as a sales representative for IT Services, and joined Account Management in 1997. In 1999 he took over his first leading role on an account team responsible for Europe. From 2002 to 2007 he was responsible worldwide for one of the largest customers of Siemens covering the total Siemens portfolio.

In June 2007 he moved to Siemens Headquarters as Head of Account Management and Market Development within the Corporate Development Department in Munich.He leads a team of specialists which harmonizes the global approaches in account management - like structures and processes - within Siemens.


 
Kenneth Reindl
Area Vice President, Corporate Accounts
Nalco an Ecolab Company

Kenneth is a proven leader and growth coach with expertise in managing corporate account sales teams, marketing, services, and acquisitions. He is currently focused on expanding his relationships and experiences within power generation and energy.His worked has spanned upstream and downstream in both renewable energy and nuclear and fossil generation. He has more than 25 years of direct selling, sales management, marketing management, and strategic account management.

Positions held during Nalco career include sales, district manager, regional manager, business unit manager and Corporate Account Manager and AVP of Corporate Accounts and group leader.

Specialties: Corporate Account Management, Sales Management, Marketing Management, Direct Selling, Six Sigma, Environmental compliance, VOC reductions, and energy management.


 
Tim Riesterer
Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer
Corporate Visions, Inc.

Tim Riesterer has dedicated his career to improving the conversations salespeople have with prospects and customers. He is the co-author of three books on the subject and has consulted and trained the top companies in the world. As chief strategy and marketing officer for Corporate Visions, he sets the direction and develops products for this leading marketing and sales messaging, tools and training company.


 
James Robertson
President
The Summit Group

James brings over 20 years of international and cross-industry experience in consumer products, advertising, manufacturing, and packaging industries.

He leads The Summit Group’s business relationship with covenant clients including 3M, Cisco Systems, Cooper Industries, General Mills, Hilton Hotels, Medtronic, Novozymes, Procter & Gamble, Textron, and U.S. Postal Service.

James joined The Summit Group as Vice President Business Development from Tetra Pak, where he held general management as well as senior sales and marketing roles in Southern Africa, India, Europe and the USA. James championed the company's approach towards the customer by leading the implementation of Tetra Pak’s enterprise-wide strategic customer management and customer loyalty programs. He also led global customer teams, re-designed customer-facing business processes, and implemented enterprise and CRM technology solutions.

James’ strengths lie in customer-focused business performance improvement, strategic business development, and sales, marketing, and strategic leadership talent development. He has taught at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland, Global Account Management Executive Program and speaks at the Strategic Account Management Association.


 
Michael A. Romano
Vice President, Global Corporate Accounts
NALCO An Ecolab Company

Mike Romano currently serves as the Vice President of Strategic Accounts at Nalco Company, with 21 years of service to the company and the industry. Nalco is the water treatment industry leader in Air, Water and Energy. He serves the steel industry as Chairman of the American Steel Coalition, the American Iron & Steel Institute as Vice Chairman Associates, and Steel Manufacturers Association as Chairman.


 
Krista Roseberry
Vice President Consulting Services
Walker

Krista, with 16 years experiences in account management, collaborates with key customers on their strategic information needs. She synthesizes key customer insights or relevant data, and drives action to improve the customer/partner experience and ultimately the growth and profitability potential of client companies. Krista also has management responsibilities for Walker’s Senior Project Managers.


 
Sanvita Sample
Strategy Consultant
Slalom Consulting

As a strategy consultant with over 8 years of experience, Sanvita helps clients transform their businesses, achieve operational excellence, and reduce time to value. She has worked on a range of projects from business advisory, IT governance, change & communications to operational process improvement. She excels at establishing trusted relationships and working together with clients to create lasting value. Sanvita currently works for Slalom Consulting in Houston, where she leads their community giveback program. She is passionate about growing not only her clients but her local community.


 
Ron Schnur
VP - Procurement & Contract Manufacturing
WhiteWave Foods

Ronald Schnur is Vice President, Procurement & Contract Manufacturing for WhiteWave Foods. In this position he is responsible for providing strategic, financial and operational leadership for all company purchased spend and partnerships with 3rd Party Contract Manufacturers. In his previous role with Whitewave Foods, Ron was responsible for Dairy Supply Chain and Operations.

Prior to joining Whitewave, Ron was the Vice President, Procurement and Supplier Management for Sears Holdings Management Corporation. In this position, he was responsible for procurement and supplier management activities for $8.0 billion of non-merchandise goods and services spending. He was also responsible for corporate aviation, e-sourcing and supplier diversity.

Prior to joining Sears Holdings, Ron was Vice President, Strategic Sourcing for Coors Brewing Company in Golden, Colorado. In this position, he held responsibility for all procurement and supplier management activities encompassing raw materials, packaging, corporate services and supplier diversity. Ron has also held procurement and supply leadership positions at Eaton Corporation and Chrysler Corporation.


 
Mike Schultz
President
Rain Group

Mike and the team at RAIN Group have worked with organizations such as Hitachi, BNY Mellon, HP, SAP, Boeringer Ingelheim, Deloitte, Harvard Business School, and dozens of others to unleash their sales potential.

As a sales leader himself, Mike oversaw a sales force at a leading business-to-business company, engineering growth in his division by 800% in a four year period while increasing margins significantly. Mike has also personally sold tens of millions of dollars in products and services to companies across industries and of various sizes.

News outlets such as Bloomberg Businessweek, The Globe and Mail, Inc. Magazine, and MSNBC, and hundreds of others have featured Mike's original articles and white papers, and frequently quote him as an expert. Mike’s most recent research includes The Top-Performing Sales Organization, Rainmaking Conversations, What Sales Winners Do Differently, and Benchmark Report on High Performance in Strategic Account Management.

Along with his books, Mike has written hundreds of articles, case studies, research reports, and other publications in the areas of selling and marketing.

Mike is a graduate of Brandeis University in Waltham, MA with a B.A. in American Studies, and holds an MBA from the F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College. Mike also enjoys fly fishing and golf, and actively studies and teaches the traditional martial arts of Seirenkai Karate and Jujitsu, holding the ranks of third degree black belt and Sensei. He lives on a lake west of Boston.


 
Dave Shaby
SVP of Corporate Marketing
Bright Horizons Family Solutions

For over 20 years, Dave Shaby has held key management and marketing positions in leading educational organizations, and since 2000, he has been in senior management at Bright Horizons Family Solutions, a leading provider of early education and preschools, employer-sponsored child care, back-up care, educational advisory services and other work/life solutions.

Dave's last ten years have been spent as the head of Consumer Marketing, and he is currently the SVP of Corporate Marketing, leading the Bright Horizons marketing team and global marketing strategy. In this role, Dave has been instrumental in building the Bright Horizons brand, which has been named one of Fortune Magazine’s best places to work for 15 consecutive years, serving thousands of clients and over 100,000 families each day, all while driving unprecedented revenue growth and customer satisfaction.

Dave's specialty in Digital Marketing has led him to adjunct faculty roles at Babson College, and to the delivery of marketing seminars to thousands of trainees. In addition, Dave serves as a board member for the Bright Horizons Foundation for Children, with former board appointments at The Boston Children’s Museum.


 
Mark Shonka
Co-President
IMPAX Corporation

As Co-President of IMPAX Corporation, Mark Shonka unites powerful thought leadership and decades of high-level selling experience to launch the world’s leading sales organizations to the next level of selling success. Intensely results- and action-oriented, Mark does far more than merely spout ideas about how to improve sales; he details precisely what sales teams need to do to within their unique corporate structures and business cultures to achieve stellar sales success. His expertise is valued by organizations such as Microsoft, IBM, DHL, US Bank, DuPont and GE Healthcare. Mark is a highly sought-after speaker globally, has authored numerous articles by top selling publications and co-authored with Dan Kosch, Beyond Selling Value, a business bestseller that was named one of the top 40 books of the year by Business Book Review.

Mark’s sales acumen stays razor sharp because he practices what he preaches every day – expertly selling to the complete business-to-business spectrum and leading a team of top sales professionals who do the same. Mark’s knowledge is founded in more than 25 years of experience in direct sales, sales management, and sales consulting and training. He is an authority on a range of sales topics, including selling value, strategic account selling, strategic account management, account planning and sales leadership.

Mark has been associated with IMPAX Corporation since 1988 and has been a Co-President since 1991. Prior to joining IMPAX, he had a successful sales career in the information systems industry working for IBM and Memorex-Telex. He has a bachelor’s degree in Marketing/Management from the College of St. Thomas and a Master’s of Business Administration from the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management. Mark is actively involved in the community, providing leadership in academic foundations, sports associations and his faith community.


 
Todd Snelgrove
Global Manager Value
SKF

Todd Snelgrove is the Global Manager of Value at SKF, a leading Global Industrial Engineering Company. He has developed and led SKF’s initiatives to quantify customer value for over 16 years. His main interests lie in value-based pricing, value-based selling, value communication and value quantification. He has published articles on value-based selling and value quantification in the Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management and other journals. He regularly speaks at international conferences and is a guest speaker at the MBA programs of Northwestern University, London Business School, and IMD.


 
Bernard Souche
Director of Health Systems
Medtronic of Canada

Bernard Souche, HBSc, MBA - joined Medtronic in June 2009. In his role, Bernard leads and aligns strategic efforts across all Medtronic businesses, collaborating with healthcare partners across the province of Ontario to enhance mutually beneficial partnerships. Prior to joining Medtronic, Bernard held several leadership positions in sales and marketing as well as Operations with both Baxter Corporation and Johnson & Johnson. Most recently, Bernard led Baxter's account management efforts in Ontario to be recognized as the number one ranked healthcare company by healthcare institutions in the Advantage Survey. His extensive account management experience is complemented with an MBA from University of Toronto and an HBSc from York University.


 
Jennifer Stanley
Expert Partner
McKinsey & Company

Jennifer is an Expert Partner based in McKinsey & Company's Boston office. Jennifer specializes in go-to-market (GTM) transformations for B2B companies in a wide range of highly competitive industries, with particular emphasis on basic materials and OEMs. From the design of channel architecture to the reorganization of the sales force, including strategic key-account planning and the development of capability-building programs, she brings to her projects a rich foundation of practical experience and insights from years of McKinsey research.

In her recent work, Jennifer assisted a multibillion global device manufacturer with the redesign of its GTM architecture and sales resource-deployment model; supported an industrial packaging firm in improving its global/key account strategy and corresponding management processes; helped an electronics firm launch a new direct-sales channel alongside its existing wholesale and retail distribution networks; and facilitated the implementation of a sales capability-improvement program for a multinational B2B services company while simultaneously guiding transformation of their GTM strategy. Jennifer is a frequent author who regularly speaks at industry forums. Prior to McKinsey, Jennifer held various sales and marketing positions, among them with a subsidiary of Trans World Airlines. She also taught sales management at the university level.


 
Dan Stanton Jr.
Regional Sales Manager, Sales Solutions
LinkedIn

Dan Stanton, Jr. is a performance driven sales leader that is focused on developing high-performing Account Executives focused on identifying business goals and objectives to deliver solutions that add value to the business and to productivity. He has a strong background in developing sales methodology to improve quality and execution of sales campaigns and provide data driven results.


 
Dave Stein
President
Dave Stein, Inc.

Dave Stein's decades of experience—especially in the areas of hiring top performers and the devising and deployment of winning competitive strategies—is the basis of his recognition as an international expert in the area of B2B sales effectiveness. Over the years, first as a sales executive, then as a sales consultant, coach, and trainer, he gained a unique view of sales methodologies, sales training approaches, and the cultural, behavioral, and business changes required for corporations to excel at the sales and account management functions. Through his blogging, writing, and speaking, it’s easy to see that Dave understands what works and what doesn’t when it comes to the dynamic challenges of gaining and maintaining competitive advantage through sales effectiveness. Dave is very active in social media and has been identified as one of the world’s leading “social sellers” by Forbes. Dave’s newest book, Beyond the Sales Process, was co-authored by Steve Andersen.


 
Bo-Inge Stensson
President & Managing Partner (formerly Global Chief Purchasing Officer, SKF)
Stensson & Associates AB

Bo-Inge Stensson served SKF Group 2006 – 2016 in different positions, the latest as Global Chief Purchasing Officer, part of the SKF Group Management.

Bo-Inge´s experience spans from different roles in industrial/automotive, consumer goods and consumer packaging industries. Prior to working at SKF, Bo-Inge has held leading positions in purchasing, logistics, IT and operations in ITT Flygt/Xylem, Arla Foods, Electrolux and Rexam. Bo-Inge has been a member of the London Metal Exchange Plastic Committee, and is now also an Advisory Board member to the China State Council - Federation for Logistics & Purchasing. Bo-Inge is engaged as a speaker to the Business Executive/MBA programs e.g. Stockholm Royal Institute of Technology and London Business School.

At present Bo-Inge is running his own Advisory and Consultancy Business – Stensson & Associates AB.


 
Michael Stevens
CEO
The Simplexity Group

Michael Stevens has more than three decades of Fortune 100 high-technology sales, marketing, senior business management, international and P&L experience, having spent a total of 35 years with 3M, 27 of which were in the globally competitive data storage industry with management positions in the US and Japan.

From 1996-1999 he was with a 3M spin-off company, Imation Corp., where he was General Manager for Optical Storage, and then for Enterprise Storage. He rejoined 3M in 1999, where he spent eight years in the electronics industry. In this capacity, he held executive management, business development and global strategic account management positions, dealing primarily with strategy development and sales execution of leading technologies in the electronic components area.

Michael also developed a new go-to-market (customer-focused) strategy for the company, which was acknowledged within 3M and outside the company as a “best practice” for launching a Global Strategic Account Management (SAM) program.

In early 2007, Michael joined Performance Methods, Inc. (PMI) as a Senior Partner, focused primarily on companies needing assistance with designing, developing and deploying a Strategic Account Management program.

Michael is the CEO of a new best-practice consultancy, The Simplexity Group (TSG), based in Leesburg, VA. TSG is focused on Strategic Customer Engagement business initiatives through four foundational elements: Transformation, Enablement, Globalization, and Sustainability. The TSG business model is built on simple and practical client-customized methodologies, concepts, applications and field-ready tools.


 
Daniel Stredler
Director, Global Strategic Accounts
Abbott Diagnostics

Daniel is a successful sales and marketing Director/Manager with over 22 years experience at Abbott in the in vitro diagnostics market place. Job responsibilities have included global sales and marketing efforts of all product offerings within the diagnostics division with sales in excess of $3.5 Billion USD. He led a team of over 40 employees (directors, managers, and product managers) in order to profitably grow diagnostics revenues globally.

Daniel as had more than 10 years of successful experiences in launching numerous new products into the global in vitros diagnostics market place with an additional 8 years of diagnostics sales experience at Abbott as a key account representative and product specialist in the mid west United States.

He is currently responsible for sales of one of the largest global strategic accounts in the division. Previous duties have included the training and support of marketing organizations in over 130 countries worldwide. He has also worked with and led new product development teams in R & D and technical product development to successfully develop and launch new in vitro diagnostics products.

Specialties: New product development and launch. Strategic marketing and sales tactics.


 
Phil Styrlund
CEO
The Summit Group

As CEO of The Summit Group, Phil is a recognized thought leader on business value transformation as part of the go-to-market strategies of some of the world's premier organizations, both in the public and private sectors. In addition to his keynote presentations and engaging programs, Phil serves as a coach, mentor, consultant, and advisor to top leaders across a range of industries and has delivered sessions in over 40 countries, and has served on the Board of Directors for SAMA (Strategic Account Management Association). He leads the CEO Forum as part of the annual National Prayer Breakfast in Washington D.C.

Phil has written for, or been cited in, articles in leading publications that include: The Wall Street Journal, The National Account Management Journal, The Los Angeles Times, Inc., Fast Company, as well as in several best-selling books including Adversity Quotient and The Power of Purpose. In 2014, the book Relevance: Matter More was released; co-written by Phil.

His career includes key leadership positions with US West and ADC Telecommunications. Phil also teaches in various University and Executive Education programs, and has Masters Degrees in Business Administration and Telecommunications Science. He currently is engaged in a Doctorate Program at Middlesex University in London.


 
Andrea Sugden
Executive Vice President
Adecco Staffing U.S.

Andrea oversees national account sales, account management, implementation and supplier management for the U.S. Her expertise in the implementation of large, complex account management solutions has led to her success in managing the $1.3 billion portfolio of national and international accounts for Adecco. Her 19 years in the staffing industry include experience as a recruiter, branch manager, account manager and roles in business development, regional management and divisional management. She has consistently run one of the most successful divisions at Adecco by growing her business each year and retaining existing clients. Andrea holds a bachelor’s degree in finance and business administration from the University of Tampa.


 
Narciso Tan
Senior Director, Strategy, Alliance & Business Development
Philips Healthcare

Narciso has 20+ years of broad experience in healthcare, consumer electronics and wireless industries. He has held numerous leadership and management positions throughout his career. In Philips Healthcare, he leads a Collaborative Partnership Initiative with selected IDN customers in North America. He has been responsible for driving, structuring and negotiating numerous alliances in Medical devices, Clinical Informatics and Mobility. He has also been responsible for leading strategic planning and strategic deep dive initiatives across different Philips businesses, in areas such as Clinical Transformation & Consulting, Software Customer Services, System Solution Integration, Hospital to Home, Clinical Informatics, ARRA (HIT Stage 1 Certification, Meaningful Use), Connectivity, Mobility, Sensor/measurements.

Previously, Narciso managed an R&D portfolio with 20+ research scientists and directed collaborative efforts with key industry partners in creating wireless connectivity, networking and video standards (e.g. in IEEE 802, Wi-Fi, MPEG/Video).

Narciso received a Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from University of Southern California (USC) and completed Executive Education Courses at MIT Sloan and Kellogg School of Management. He worked 2+ years in the Netherlands. Prior to joining Philips in 1996, Narciso worked for Intel and the David Sarnoff Research Center.


 
Brian Thornley
Associate Vice President, Global Supply Chain Operations
MSD

Brian M. Thornley currently acts as AVP Supply Chain Operations EMEA & AP, including Planning and Strategy for Merck MSD, developing the strategic approach to deliver internal efficiencies and external transformation of the supply chain from factories to end customer.

Before joining MSD, he was the COO of Aegate Ltd., implementing integrated data and information networks directly with pharmacies across Europe and the first commercial pharmaceutical authentication system across the European pharmacy network, building extensive relationships with pharmacy associations and government bodies to deliver robust reliable systems for information capture and analysis. Brian provided consultancy support to the PGEU, the representative body of pharmacies in Europe.

Brian was educated at Bishop Vesey Grammar School, Sutton Coldfield UK and furthered his studies at East London University majoring in manufacturing and business. His postgraduate study was completed at Birmingham University UK.


 
Dr. Zakary Tormala
Professor of Marketing
Stanford University

Professor Tormala received a B.A. in psychology from Arizona State University in the fall of 1996 and went on to earn his Ph.D. in social psychology from Ohio State University in 2003. From 2003-2007, Professor Tormala served as an assistant professor of social psychology at Indiana University. In 2007 he joined the marketing faculty at Stanford, where he teaches courses on attitudes, persuasion, and consumer behavior.

Professor Tormala has published numerous articles in leading psychology and marketing journals, including Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, and Journal of Consumer Psychology, among others. For his contribution to scholarly research in consumer behavior, he received the Society for Consumer Psychology’s Early Career Award for Distinguished Scientific Contribution in 2008 and was named to the Marketing Science Institute’s list of Young Scholars in 2009.


 
Jennifer Vessels
CEO
NextStep

Jennifer Vessels, CEO of Next Step and a Certified Management Consultant (CMC)*, brings over 25 years successful experience in global sales, marketing and management experience to her organization, clients and workshop attendees. After building and managing sales, marketing and channel operations teams for numerous entrepreneurial software companies, Jennifer spent 8 years in the late 80’s to mid 90’s with Tandem subsidiary, Ungermann-Bass, leading Product Marketing, Corporate Education and Sales Operations.

From 1992 to 1997, Jennifer lived and worked in Europe, initially as European Markets Director for Ungermann-Bass then European General Manager for Promptus Communications and International Sales Director for Tandberg Telecom, in Oslo Norway. In 1997, Jennifer and her team were instrumental in the establishment of Tandberg USA. At that time she returned to the US and founded Next Step.

As Next Step’s CEO, Jennifer ensures her organization provides the resources and skills to be the go-to consulting partner for high and low tech companies in all stages of growth. Working closely with the company’s clients, she assigns the right ‘Engagement Team’ for each project and ensures the team is accountable for real bottom line results.

Having attained her MBA from San Jose State University in 1988, Jennifer completed her Masters in Occupational Psychology at the University of London in 1996.


 
Steffen Wehlte
Sales Director Global Accounts
Fette Compacting GmbH

Steffen has collected almost 20 years of sales experience in various positions and technology sectors. Starting his career as Key Account Manager UPM Kymmene one of the leading paper companies serving the biggest German publisher he developed a clear focus for customer value co-creation which lead him to a number of roles as Sales Director such as search engines and machine building.

Today he leads the EMEA sales organization and has set up the Global Account Management Team at Fette Compacting together with Martin Davies. Fette Compacting is a medium-sized, family owned German specialist and market leader in tablet presses for the Pharmaceutical Industry.

Key elements of his work are the creation of the GAM methodology, developing the necessary tools and tailoring new products and concepts aiming to start a new paradigm in customer partnership for Fette Compacting. Today, the GAM team takes responsibility for cooperative growth of the business and takes the lead in defining new ways of working, standardization initiatives and launches fleet management programs.


 
Carrie Welles
Partner
5600blue

Carrie has been a Partner at Think! Inc. & 5600blue since 2001. Her role includes consulting clients on implementing value creation and value capture ecosystems, business development, developing sales strategy, and on-boarding new consultants.

Previously, Carrie held a 16-year career at Marriott focused on sales & strategic account management. She contributed to the creation and implementation of Marriott’s first Strategic Account Management model and strategy.

Carrie has been a member of Strategic Account Management Association (SAMA) and held a 10 year position on SAMA’s Board of Directors. Think! Inc is one of 7 partners that contribute content to SAMA’s certification program; they are the only negotiation content provider.


 
Shad Williams
Director and Area Vice President
Allscripts

Shad Williams is the Director and Associate Vice President of Allscripts. His healthcare IT career began in 1998 with Cerner Corporation. After eleven years and multiple roles, including consulting leadership, sales and client management, he became CEO of SergeMD, an early stage healthcare IT company focused on the physician practice. In 2011, he co-founded and served as a Board Member for Centennial Solutions, a boutique consultancy that focused on temporary staffing in the healthcare IT sector.


 
Jordan Wolf
Global Client Executive
LinkedIn

Jordan Wolf has the privilege of working at one of the most innovative and fastest growing companies in the world as a Global Client Executive. In his third chapter at LinkedIn, he helps organizations to better understand the world of social and how to use LinkedIn solutions to achieve hiring, marketing, sales, and learning objectives.

Previously, he co-founded a business that developed a white-label SaaS marketing platform. While in college, he helped a friend launch Add The Flavor, where he later temporarily back-filled as the VP of Operations. Prior to Jordan's operations experience at ATF, he worked in analytical consulting within a division of The Nielsen Company, where he developed a strong affinity for using data insights to drive sales, marketing and product development strategy.


 
Jessica Worny Janicki
Professional Certified Coach
JWJ Consulting, LLC

Jessica Worny Janicki, MBA, Professional Certified Coach (PCC) founded JWJ Consulting LLC, in 2008 to help people and organizations develop talent. More simply, she helps make your professional goals a reality.

Jessica has coached 1,500 high-performance professionals from 20 nations on intentional change, leadership development, emotional intelligence, career visions, utilizing assessments for development and decision making, career change, and job search strategies. Her professional background in Fortune 500 and private companies, along with major research universities, provides insight into navigating organizational dynamics.

Jessica is schooled in Organizational Behavior, Appreciative Inquiry, and the Intentional Change Model. She is a credentialed coach with 4 different organizations, and certified to administer 5 different assessments. Her training programs have been rated a 4.9/5.0 by senior leaders.

She has been a featured speaker for several organizations, and a presenter at the National Career Development Association (NCDA) conference. She also donates her time as a coach and facilitator at the nonprofit Career Transitions Center of Chicago. She earned her B.S. from Miami University and her M.B.A. in Organizational Behavior from Case Western Reserve University.