Gartner Master Data Management Summit

Rex Ahlstrom is Chief Strategy Officer of BackOffice Associates, LLC. Mr. Ahlstrom, a technology-centric serial entrepreneur, formerly served as Vice President of Operations at SAP following SAP’s purchase of his company SOALogix. Mr. Ahlstrom led SOALogix as its CEO over a 7-year span and established the firm’s business vision, raised private capital for its growth and achieved market recognition as a “visionary” in enterprise software integration middleware. Mr. Ahlstrom has over 22 years of experience across a broad range of technology-focused industries including enterprise software, healthcare, telecommunications and aerospace & defense.

Gene Alvarez leads Gartner's research on e-commerce, including topics such as vision, strategy, business models, e-commerce platforms, Cloud, SaaS, and open source e-commerce technologies, social commerce, mobile commerce and context-aware computing, product reviews, recommendations and CRM organizational vision and strategy. He is the chairperson for Gartner's premier Customer 360 Summit and has spoken at many international events. Mr. Alvarez has 29 years of business and IT experience in business impact assessment, vendor management, project management, software development and delivery of complex business applications. He was named in 2011 & 2010 "HITEC" Award - Top 100 most influential IT leaders from The Hispanic IT Executive Council and in 2011 "HE&IT TOP 200" Award - Hispanic Engineer & Information Technology Magazine Top 200 Influential Hispanics in Technology.

Meredith is an industry veteran with experience as a Scheduling and Planning Professional and is a specialist in manufacturing and Heavy Industrial. Meredith has a background in Scheduling, planning, SRM, CRM, purchasing, inventory, logistics, warehouse, packaging, global coordination, project management, metrics, KQI, KPI, lean, process improvement, forecasting, capacity analysis, cost reduction, BOM, SKU, documentation and training, expert software application user.

As a Research Vice President, Mark A. Beyer is the co-lead for Big Data research where he researches practical use cases in this area. He also covers traditional data warehousing, data integration and information management practices. Mr. Beyer's work in information management, big data and data warehouse/analytics allows him to complete cooperative research in the business process management, SOA and application integration fields. With all of this cross-over, he also covers metadata management to a depth well beyond design time documentation and research the use of "active" metadata.

Tony Bingham has been with Essilor of America for 6 years and is currently the Director of Business Intelligence. Tony graduated from University of Texas at Dallas in 1989 and began his career in Finance before moving to IT in 2006. He is currently managing Essilor’s EIM (Enterprise Information Management) Program which began in 2011.

Mark Blanchette is a Group Architect at Citrix Systems Inc. Mr. Blanchette founded the Data Management Office (DMO) that is focused on helping business units with in Citrix through Data Quality, Master Data Management Solutions and Data Governance. Prior to Citrix, Mr. Blanchette provided consulting to a large number of Fortune 500 companies for Data Management Initiatives. Mr. Blanchette has a BA in Economics from University of Washington and a MBA from Seattle University. He lives in Florida near West Palm Beach with his wife and daughter where he enjoys collecting and growing Palms and cycads.

Terry Bouziotis is the Director of Enterprise Master Data Management, within the Johnson & Johnson IT organization. He is responsible for building out the Enterprise Master Data Management IT strategies for Johnson & Johnson Supply Chain. Terry is also responsible for the systems strategy, roadmap, design and build of Enterprise Master Data Management capabilities. Previously, Terry led a global team in the formation of a Global BI & Data Center of Excellence. He also developed and championed a Data and Analytics strategy for Consumer and owned the development and support of all global Consumer Data and BI platforms. Terry has over 14 years of experience as an IT professional and joined Johnson & Johnson in 2008 as an IT Manager in Consumer’s Global Data Management organization. Terry holds a Master of Science from Columbia University, and a Master of Science and Bachelor of Arts from Rutgers University.

Betsy Burton is a Vice President and Distinguished Analyst in Gartner Research, where she is a member of the Enterprise Architecture team and leads research on business architecture and business capability modeling. In addition, Ms. Burton is actively involved in research on "The Future of EA 2020," bridging the gap between strategy and execution and integrating business and IT. Previously, Ms. Burton was the Role Service Director for the Gartner Business Intelligence and Information Management product.

Tom Carlock leads the data-as-a-service strategy for Dun & Bradstreet. He has more than 16 years hands-on experience leading data management, application development and data integration programs. Prior to joining D&B, Tom held leadership positions at CIT and AIG, where he developed corporate data management programs focused on delivering a single view of global data, data governance and master data management.

Conrad Chuang is Senior Product Marketing Manager for Orchestra Networks, a leading and independent software vendor supplying the first truly multidomain master data management software solution. Responsible for positioning Orchestra Networks’ products in the market, Mr. Chuang is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and webinars and brings significant insight from his working relationships with enterprise customers related to master and reference data management initiatives.

Scott Cohanpour is currently the Group Head of Information Management at one of the largest reinsurance companies in the world. Scott has extensive background in leading large enterprise IT solutions within the financial and insurance industries. He has put in place a number of strategic Data Warehouses, ODS' and Enterprise Applications with high emphasis on information management and process integration. Scott is a strong advocate of an Enterprise Architecture practice that partners with business and IT alike. He is an expert in the field of Master Data Management, complemented by his long tail experience in implementing sound information architecture solutions.

David Corrigan is currently the Director of Product Marketing for IBM's InfoSphere portfolio, which is focused on managing Trusted Information. His primary focus is driving the messaging and strategy for the InfoSphere portfolio of information integration, data quality, master data management, data lifecycle management, and data privacy and security capabilities. Prior to his current role, David has led the product management and product marketing teams for Master Data Management (MDM), and has worked in the Information Management space for over 12 years. David holds an MBA from York University's Schulich School of Business, and an undergraduate degree from the University of Toronto.

Jill Dyché is a noted speaker and author, and Vice President of Best Practices at SAS. Her first book, e-Data, has been published in eight languages, and she is the author of The CRM Handbook, a best-seller. Her work has been featured in major publications such as Computerworld, The Wall Street Journal and Newsweek.com, and she writes a blog on technology trends for Harvard Business Review. Her latest book, Customer Data Integration: Reaching a Single Version of the Truth, was the first book on the topic of master data management. Jill was the co-founder of Baseline Consulting, which was acquired by SAS subsidiary DataFlux in 2011.

Irma Fabular is a senior managing partner with Gartner Consulting. She leads the North America Consulting industry practices for education, academic medical centers and healthcare providers. Ms. Fabular has more than 25 years of experience in various aspects of information technology strategic planning, acquisition, implementation and project management. She has led many consulting engagements focused on optimizing the contributions of information technology solutions and resources to organizational performance and transformation. Her areas of expertise include strategic planning, governance, IT services management, application software and integration service procurement, portfolio management, project and program office development, and independent verification and validation. Ms. Fabular has worked with several large organizations in education, healthcare, government and other nonprofit industries.

As a member of the Information Management team, Ted Friedman conducts research focused on data integration, data quality, information governance and information management strategy. He works with Gartner clients on building the business case for investing in and furthering their maturity in these areas. In addition, he closely follows the related technology markets, advising clients on vendor and tool selection, price negotiation, and emerging deployment approaches for optimal impact and value. Through his work on concepts such as Gartner's Information Capabilities Framework, he assists clients with modernization strategies for their information management programs and technology infrastructure.

Dimitris Geragas joined Gartner Consulting's federal practice in November 2006 in Arlington, Virginia. He brings extensive and demonstrated experience in business alignment, IT strategy and governance, enterprise architecture, information and data strategy and management, and knowledge management. He is an expert in business intelligence, analytics, informatics and knowledge encapsulation and has broad experience in a wide range of business functions, including strategy, marketing, differentiation, finance and business development.

Rob Harris is the Customer Data Management Strategist for Dell, joining the company in 2010. He has spent the last 15 years building development teams and designing architectures for Business Intelligence, Data Warehousing, and Master Data Management solutions, working in the Finance, Health Care, High Tech, and Retail verticals. He has recently transplanted his family from Chicago to Austin, and is enjoying the shovel free winters.

Doug Laney is a research vice president for Gartner Research, where he covers business analytics solutions and projects, performance management, and data-governance-related issues.

Anne Lapkin is a Research VP in Gartner Research, where she provides clients with advice on how to realize value from enterprise information. She has experience in a variety of industries, including financial services and banking, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, distribution, and telecommunications. Ms. Lapkin manages the research agenda for Information Management, which includes MDM, information governance, DBMS and data warehousing, metadata management, and data quality and integration. Ms. Lapkin joined Gartner in 2003.

Debra Logan is a vice president and distinguished analyst in Gartner Research. She covers information governance, e-discovery, legacy information management and strategic information management, along with new and emerging roles in the digital economy. She is currently working on topics including information archiving, information retention management, strategic information management and e-discovery market trends.

Bill O'Kane is a research director in the area of master data management (MDM) on the Information Management team within Gartner Research. He provides expertise and advice to Gartner's clients and staff in regard to MDM program management, MDM vendors and technologies, MDM implementation styles, and MDM's role within an overall enterprise information management (EIM) strategy, including data governance implementations.

Gene Rados is a seasoned Information Management professional focused in the areas of MDM and Product Information Management. In his career at W.W.Grainger, Inc., Gene has served in a variety of leadership capacities. Most notably he has been a principle directly involved in leading Grainger’s adoption of MDM and Data Governance programs. His current role is as the Senior Director, Content Management and Projects, where he manages the strategy and operations within the enterprise that enables product content to support Grainger’s multi-channel approach. Previously, Gene held responsibility for the IS team that managed the systems delivering product data to all enterprise-wide applications including Grainger’s SAP system. In 2010, Gene co-lead Grainger’s successful Stibo implementation. He is a graduate of Southern Illinois University and has earned an MBA from Keller Graduate School for Management.

Barry Runyon focuses on healthcare provider research, including underlying and emerging technologies such as mobility, clinical and patient portals, vendor neutral archives, legacy decommissioning, remote hosting and cloud service delivery models, and enterprise awareness. Mr. Runyon also covers organization, governance and compliance issues associated with these research areas and to a lesser extent, topics surrounding the patient experience and telemedicine. Mr. Runyon has over 30 years of IT experience both inside and outside of the healthcare. Prior to joining Gartner he served as the Chief Technology Officer at the University Medical Center in Tucson, Arizona.

Ravi Shankar is vice president of MDM Product Marketing at Informatica. Ravi is responsible for product and technical marketing activities for master data management (MDM) at Informatica. Ravi joined Informatica following the Siperian acquisition, where he ran product marketing. He helped position the company as a proven leader in multidomain MDM. With over 20 years of leadership experience, Ravi has directed product marketing, product management, and business development efforts at enterprise software leaders such as Oracle. Ravi holds a BS (Honors) and an MS in Computer Science, and an MBA from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. Ravi is a published author and a frequent speaker on MDM and data governance.

Michael W. Smith is a VP Distinguished Analyst in Gartner Research, focusing on the value of IT. Mr. Smith's principal responsibilities include the development of business performance frameworks and methodologies to help organizations evaluate IT-enabled business initiatives. Mr. Smith's published research covers topics involving how to use business methodologies such as Kaplan and Norton's Balanced Scorecard and Six Sigma to demonstrate the business value of IT. Mr. Smith conducts workshops and assessments for Gartner clients and prospects.

Rob has been with the company since 2001 and specializes in data governance and MDM for product.

Bill Swanton comes to Gartner through the AMR Research acquisition and brings more than 34 years of enterprise manufacturing expertise to his role as VP and Distinguished Analyst. Mr. Swanton covers application strategy and the business value of IT, including IT benefit realization techniques used by Fortune 1000 companies to expand the value they receive from their ERP and other application investments. Recent areas of focus have been Pace Layered Application Strategy, application organization maturity (ITScore), BPM for ERP, and MDM for ERP. Mr. Swanton has also analyzed the high-tech and discrete industries, with a specific focus on how brand owners, contract manufacturers and other suppliers manage global demand-driven supply networks (DDSNs). His tenure at AMR Research enabled him to work in a variety of roles at the company. He built the manufacturing strategies service from a single analyst to a team of vertical-industry specialists covering aerospace and defense, automotive, chemical, CPG, high tech, and life sciences. In this role, he led the development of the firm's REPAC model of manufacturing processes. Mr. Swanton also launched AMR Research's product life cycle management (PLM) coverage in 1997 and continues to follow its role in the larger enterprise architecture.

Andrew White is a Research VP, and his primary research focus is information governance and master data management (MDM). He specializes in the drill-down topic of creating the "single version of the product" using MDM of product data. Mr. White has a strong background in supply chain management (SCM), enterprise resource planning (ERP) and multienterprise collaboration. His roles include key initiative lead for information governance and MDM programs, as well as backup agenda manager for information management, and he also chairs the U.S. MDM summits. Mr. White received the Gartner Thought Leadership Award in 2006 for his effort in pioneering Gartner's research in enterprise information management that led to MDM.

Luke Williams is an internationally recognized authority on innovation leadership. He works with organizations all over the world on challenges ranging from creating new products and services, to transforming organizational processes and behaviors. He is Professor of Marketing and Executive Director of the Berkley Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship at New York University's Stern School of Business, and a Fellow at frog, one of the world's most influential innovation companies. Williams is a sought-after commentator on disruptive innovation, entrepreneurship, and cultural change. He is invited to speak worldwide, and his views are regularly featured in BusinessWeek, Fast Company, The Atlantic, and NPR (National Public Radio). He is the author of Disrupt: Think the Unthinkable to Spark Transformation in Your Business (FT Press, 2011).