In less than a decade, Luis Alvarez has grown the Alvarez Technology Group from a small two-person consultancy to the premier IT solution provider on the California Central Coast, delivering IT services to more than 200 companies throughout the state. A visionary who never shies away from exploring exciting new technologies that might give his clients a competitive advantage, Alvarez specializes in working with executives and managers of small and mid-sized businesses, sharing his expertise by advising them on trends, analyzing their systems for improved performance and planning how IT can help achieve their business goals.

Michael Lomonaco is the director of marketing and communications for OST. He joined the $160 million leading solution provider in 2011.  Michael honed his marketing and communications skills while attending Michigan State University. His career has included positions in local, state and federal political and policy work, corporate and nonprofit consulting, and customer relations, public relations, and marketing in the manufacturing sector.  These days, Michael leads the Marketing and Communications team at OST. In this role he is responsible for leading OST’s brand strategy, marketing programs, market insights, and public relations. He has a passion for creating wild outcomes and experiences through his abilities to connect and strategize across the organization, and with customers, partners, and colleagues.

Michael also has a deep connection to service and can be found working with any number of the boards of directors he serves In 2013, 2015, and 2016  Michael was selected as one of Grand Rapids’ “Top 40 Under Forty” business and community leaders.

Chad Paalman is the co-founder and CEO of NuWave Technology Partners. In 2005, NuWave was started with a focus on being a trusted partner for organizations looking to find an IT company that could take care of all their technology needs.  This includes internet and voice services, cabling, network electronics, computers, servers, phone systems, physical and video security, wireless networks, mobile devices, and more. NuWave now has offices and staff throughout Michigan in Kalamazoo, Lansing, Grand Rapids and Southfield.  NuWave Technology Partners was recognized as one of Michigan’s 50 Companies to Watch.  NuWave is endorsed by the Small Business Association of Michigan as a preferred partner to their more than 23,000 business members. Paalman serves on The Channel Company's NexGen Cloud Advisory Board, CompTIA Partner Advisory Council, Cisco System’s SMB Advisory Board, Lansing Community College & Career Quest Learning Centers IT Curriculum Advisory Boards, the Michigan FFA Foundation Board and on both the Leadership Council & Executive Boards of the Small Business Association of Michigan. Paalman holds a Bachelor’s degree from Michigan State University.

Luis Morinigo leads the IoT and Advanced Analytics group at New Signature, a two-time Microsoft partner of the year with headquarters in Washington, DC. Luis is responsible for building and delivering IoT and Advanced Analytics offerings, driving the go-to-market strategy, and leading a team of data scientists and analytics architects. His team is focused on delivering end-to-end initiatives that span strategic envisioning down to implementation.

Luis and his team delivered the predictive analytics solution for Hershey that enabled the optimization of the Twizzlers production process. The predictive capabilities were based on machine learning algorithms, which resulted in significant cost savings. By focusing on an approach that encourages a Start Small, Think Big strategy, his team helps organizations reduce complexity by driving quick time-to-value solutions.

Previously, Morinigo worked at Synteractive Corp. as a business productivity consultant and JP Morgan in London as an equity capital markets analyst.

He received a dual degree in Applied Math and Economics at the University of Maryland, College Park. He also received a Master’s of Science in Operations Research from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Tolga Tarhan serves as  Sturdy Networks lead solutions architect and business development manager. He has 18 years of experience leading software development and DevOps teams (way before DevOps became the buzzword du jour). His cross-functional expertise across different technology areas gives him unique insight into the best approaches for building complex systems and applications. He has successfully led numerous deployments involving web-based, mobile, Internet of Things, and real-time telecommunications applications. Tarhan also holds an MBA from Pepperdine University and helps customers strategize beyond technology solutions to improve their business and grow their bottom line. Tarhan also serves as the chief technologist for NetBrains and Usability.Pro. He served as the director of operational readiness and director of homeland security for the Civil Air Patrol.

Brian Blanchard serves as the VP, Cloud Solutions for 10th Magnitude. In the last decade, he has led the growth of three consultants through YoY revenue and headcount growth. This growth has been focused building consultative and solution based approaches to tackling strategic IT challenges, much of the time this has focused on Cloud and IoT transformations. The focus on Azure transformation began over seven years ago, during that time his teams have helped customers with more than 3000 migrations into the cloud, which includes a large percentage of the Fortune 500. Further, Mr. Blanchard has been working in the IoT space for almost 15 years, with a long history of connected devices in a variety of verticals.