IBM Pulse 2008 Speakers

General Manager, Tivoli Software
IBM Software Group

General Manager, Tivoli software, in July 2004. Responsible for the strategic direction and ongoing operations for the Tivoli software brand, which enables on demand computing environments by providing customers the ability to manage resources and risks, optimize human capital and manage service levels and business processes. Tivoli offers solutions in six key service areas: Availability, Security, Storage and Optimization, Orchestration, Business Service Management and Provisioning. Previously, Al was general manager, eServer iSeries, where he was responsible for the executive leadership of the iSeries server product line and for leading the strategy and plans for IBM servers and storage in the Global Small and Medium Business marketplace.

Senior Vice President & Group Executive
IBM Software Group

In this capacity, he is responsible for shaping IBM's overall software strategy and directing IBM's software business. IBM's software business contributes about $18 billion to IBM's revenue, including one-third of its profits. IBM's industry-leading middleware products power the on-demand infrastructures of virtually every mid- to large-size company in the world and IBM holds the number one or two position in all major software markets in which it competes, according to industry analysts. Mr. Mills is leading the next phase of IBM's software strategy including the development and marketing of new industry-specific offerings and the alignment of IBM's 13,000-person software sales force along technical and industry lines.

Vice President of Development, Tivoli Software
IBM Software Group

Laura Sanders, vice president of development for Tivoli, leads the worldwide team that is responsible for defining, developing and delivering all of the Tivoli products. The Tivoli portfolio provides service management; integrated visibility, control and automation which enable customers to better manage their infrastructure, operations and processes, to more effectively deliver services aligned to business goals.

General Manager, Infrastructure Services
Global Technology Services

Elizabeth J. Smith is general manager, Infrastructure Services, in Global Technology Services and has responsibility for leading the development, management and integration of services-based products. Ms. Smith was instrumental in developing the initial strategy for the service product portfolio: creating high-value, standardized, asset-based service products, working in close collaboration with IBM's software and hardware organizations as well as IBM research.

Chairman and Founder of the Lance Armstrong Foundation

Lance Armstrong is the chairman and founder of the Lance Armstrong Foundation, which provides practical information and tools people need to battle cancer and live strong through education, advocacy, public health programs, and research grants. While seemingly at the top of his professional athletic career, Lance was diagnosed with cancer. The experience provided a new perspective that inspired Lance to think beyond cycling and form the Lance Armstrong Foundation to help others living with cancer. After surviving cancer, he went on the win the seven Tour de France titles, becoming a symbol of hope and inspiration. He continues to be a leader and activist on behalf of cancer survivors around the world.

General Manager, Global Consulting Services and SOA
IBM Global Business Services

Robert LeBlanc is general manager, Global Consulting Services and SOA, IBM Global Business Services. In this capacity, he has global responsibility for IBM's core consulting practice, including developing and maintaining alliances with ISVs and the performance of the six global service lines. In addition, Robert is the leader of the company's SOA efforts, directing the strategy around industry IP, skills and enablement.

Founder and CEO of Room to Read

John Wood is Founder and CEO of Room to Read, an international nonprofit that partners with local communities in the developing world to build educational infrastructure. John left a distinguished career at Microsoft to lead the Room to Read team in constructing over 5,600 schools and libraries with more than 4 million books and sponsoring over 4,000 scholarships for girls. Author of Leaving Microsoft to Change the World, John marries the "scalability of Starbucks with the compassion of Mother Theresa" to create one of the fastest growing, most effective, and award-winning non-profits of the last decade.

CTO, Tivoli Software and Vice President, Autonomic Computing
IBM Software Group

As CTO of Tivoli, Alan is responsible for the technology, architecture, and strategy of IBM's Tivoli software brand, which enables on demand computing environments by delivering products and services that help customers manage their information technology resources. Alan also leads the IBM's company wide initiative for Autonomic Computing which strives to make computing systems more self-managing in response to the enormous complexity in today's information systems.

Vice President of Strategy & Market Management, Tivoli Software
IBM Software Group

Chris O'Connor is the Vice President of Strategy and Market Management for the Tivoli Brand within IBM Software Group. He has been active in the IT Industry for the past 20 years both with-in IBM and at other industry software providers. His team's mission is to direct the end-to-end Tivoli Product portfolio strategy and investment composition. This responsibility includes directly measuring world-wide market capabilities and also directly supporting customer adoption with an advanced technology team. His team is composed of expertise from around the world of key leaders from IBM, its recent acquisitions and the industry.

Vice President Enterprise Management Associates, Inc.

Dennis joined EMA in 1998 and currently manages the New Hampshire office. He has been a driving force in establishing EMA's New England presence. Dennis brings 24 years of experience in various aspects of marketing and business planning for systems and network solutions. He directs a team of analysts that focus on the development of the Networked Services Management practice areas that span performance availability and service management across enterprise and telecommunication markets. Accounting, billing, QoS, outsourcing and other disciplines related to these markets are also addressed by his team.

Research Director
Enterprise Management Associates

Scott has more than 15 years of experience in information technologies and Industrywide insight on multiple fronts. An (ISC)2 Certified Information Systems Security (CISSP), Security Architecture (ISSAP) and Security Management (ISSMP) Professional, Scott's expertise covers a diverse range of interests. He has pioneered implementation and research in multiple fields, from assistive technologies to sophisticated distributed-trust data security architectures to IT service management.

Research Vice President
Gartner

David Williams is a research vice president in Gartner Research's IT Operations and Enterprise Management team. Mr. Williams focuses on IT operations management, fault management, event correlation and analysis (ECA), and run book automation (IT operations process automation). Before joining Gartner, Mr. Williams held executive level and research related roles at various corporations including IBM Tivoli, AlterPoint , and BMC Software.

Research Director, AMR Research, Inc.
Alison Smith brings more than 25 years of manufacturing software development, support, marketing, and sales experience to her role as a research director in AMR Research's Market Services group. Alison is dedicated to the detailed study of the productive application of information technology to the challenges faced by global producers as they seek to implement and evolve demand-driven manufacturing strategies. Currently, Alison's research focus is manufacturing operations. She is investigating global specification management for process industry manufacturers. Prior to joining AMR Research, Alison was a founding officer and marketing vice president of Framework Technologies Corporation.

Research Manager, IDC
Noemi Greyzdorf is a Research Manager with IDC's Storage Software. Ms. Greyzdorf's primary focus is to analyze and track Storage Management, File Systems, and Storage Device Management Software markets. The key objective of her research is to provide insights to clients in the areas of market direction, end user demands, positioning, messaging, and go-to-market strategies. Prior to joining IDC, Ms. Greyzdorf was a storage-focused senior solutions consultant and account executive at Cambridge Computer Services in Waltham, Mass.

Research Vice President
Gartner Communications Research

Jean-Claude Delcroix is a research vice president within Gartner communications research and leads the research agenda on carrier information systems and operations. His research covers telecommunications strategy and the convergence of IT and telecommunications, with a special focus on information management and spending within telecommunications operators. Prior to joining Gartner, Mr. Delcroix developed a successful consulting business in Belgium that focused on telecommunications and Internet content projects. His past client assignments include strategic and market research for IT service providers and telecommunications operators, IT research for the European Space Agency and the European Commission, and restructuring of financial and government institutions.