If you watch Chad Adams during a morning huddle at the Intrust office, you won’t be surprised to learn that he officiates college football games in his off time. Adams is the man on the field who brings structure and sanity. Adams knows how to bring everyone together as a team, and he takes that role seriously. Having worked his way up through multiple positions at Intrust, Adams has legitimate empathy for his coworkers and the challenges they face. When Adams sees someone from the Intrust team successfully do their job, he makes the sign for the crowd to go wild. Maybe it’s not a whole stadium of fans, but Adams makes sure his team gets love and appreciation now and then to keep the team spirit alive. No rookie to the IT field himself, Adams came to Intrust with 10 years of experience as an IT manager, some of that time spent calling the plays for a multi-million dollar construction company.

As a business consultant specializing in the technology industry, Michelle Bournstein  focuses on providing expert advice to clients on systems processes, configurations, efficiencies and best practices. Bournstein believes it is critical to add value to the investment in any system by delivering in-depth support, training, documentation and tangible deliverables that ensure success. She  joined CFS in 2002 as a client support specialist to meet the business needs of the company’s SouthWare client base. As a consultant, she now specializes in supporting clients in QuickBooks, ConnectWise, Autotask, Quosal, QuoteWerks and SouthWare. With her experience as a systems specialist, programmer and project manager for a New Orleans-based solution provider as well as 15 years of consulting with CFS, she provides a thorough understanding of the technology industry and a strong commitment to the success of customers.

Bobby Cameron is a leading expert on best practices for IT, including business technology; transformation from IT to business technology; driving business innovation; the business value of IT; technology strategy; application development; and IT operations. His specialty is transformative technology use that drives business success in the emerging world of business technology (BT), like IT value creation, technology-based business innovation, and digital business networks.

While Cameron focuses his research on delivering IT excellence on the road to BT, he continues his close work with members of The CIO Group in the Forrester Leadership Boards, which he conceived and piloted in 2002. In this role, he writes CIO-targeted research, answers individual members' business and technology inquiries, and facilitates CIO Group member exchange meetings where CIOs discuss member-selected topics.

Prior to taking on this role, Cameron's research focused on technology leadership — the impact of technology and services on organizations, budgets, and roles. Before joining Forrester, Cameron spent five years as director of product management at Dun and Bradstreet Software (DBS), with responsibility for that company's client/server directions, decision support products, and tools and technologies. Prior to that Cameron was with Dataquest, the San Jose, Calif., market research firm. He also spent  he spent nine years at Chase Manhattan's electronic banking business in Lexington, Mass., connecting 8,000 treasurers with 100 bank back offices worldwide. While at Chase, Bobby was MIS director and director of product management.

David Carter has been working in the IT Industry for more than 20 years holding positions from designing software, to constructing data centers, building teams and managing digital transformations. He’s worked within Fortune 500 companies, start-ups, R&D, manufacturing and in the government and education sectors. In his current role, Carter is responsible for the success of Encore’s Enboard security and identity platform.

Greg Comtois serves as Category Manager for Data Center and Hybrid Cloud Solutions of the Americas Storage Division at HPE, a multimillion dollar business delivering the New Style of IT through Converged Storage. In this role, Greg is responsible for field execution of the technical and business aspects of HPE’s Storage Sales strategies.

Greg has over 20 years of industry experience.  He originally joined HPE in 2014 as a Channel Partner Business Manager and has held numerous Sales and Technical positions across the Storage and Networking industry at HP, Dell, Enterasys and Blue Note Networks.

Before co-founding Talari as the company’s original CTO, John Dickey was senior director of software engineering at Applied Microcircuits where he led the architecture, design and development of a broad array of switching and routing protocol software implementations for embedded systems. Dickey joined AMCC upon its acquisition of MMC Networks, the pioneering maker of network-optimized processors. Prior to MMC, Dickey held a variety of engineering and management positions at IBM and was distinguished as an advisory engineer.  

 

Robert Faletra is one of the top authorities in the IT channel and technology marketplace and often referred to as The Voice of (and for) the Channel. Bob brings a unique understanding of the technology marketplace, informed by 30 years of experience in all aspects of the channel. A dedicated advisor to technology suppliers (from start-ups to enterprises), Bob helps them conceptualize and build strategic channel initiatives and often meets with CEOs to discuss channel strategy. Bob has deep relationships in the solution provider community and also sits on the advisory board of several high tech start-ups, helping them formulate their go-to-market strategy.

Laz Gonzalez, chief strategy officer at Zift Solutions, has served as strategic adviser to leading B2B channel programs worldwide. Before joining Zift as chief strategy officer, Gonzalez was group director of channel sales and marketing strategies at Sirius Decisions. He has extensive experience implementing solution-driven sales programs with OEMs, strategic alliances, distributors and resellers during two decades as a channel practitioner.

John D. Head, chief evangelist at PSC Group, is a 20-year veteran of collaboration-application development. Head is a frequent speaker at technology events and works with companies to apply application modernization and mobilization to their business processes and applications. PSC Group, a professional services and information technology consulting firm, created the Application Modernization Center to apply a methodology to invested platforms and applications and bring mobile, cloud, social and analytics to business processes. He is a six time IBM Collaboration Solutions & Social Business Champion and an IBM Cloud Champion. Head is also active in the community outside of his work. He was on the executive board and the community outreach director for Chicago’s non-profit Lumity organization which helps the city and local businesses come together to provide STEM education. Head was also a member of the advisory board of the Leadership Circle of the Executives Club of Chicago. Currently he is a board member and secretary of the executive committee of the YWCA of Metropolitan Chicago, embracing the mission to empower women and eliminating racism by providing support to all women along various stages of their journeys.

As the Vice President of Sales, Nick Heddy oversees the Pax8 sales team, as well as the company's sales processes.

He is an experienced IT and telecommunications sales executive who combines expert strategic planning, business planning, technology, and leadership skills with a track record of delivering strong financial results and profitable growth within highly-competitive markets.

Previously, Nick served as director of sales for Cbeyond, a national Cloud and Communications provider, where he played an integral role in the implementation of Cbeyond's highly successful sales model.

Nick holds a BA in Entrepreneuring from Central Michigan University and an MBA from the University of Colorado Business School.

James takes overall responsibility for the strategic direction and performance of Webinfinity. Since founding the business in 1998 James has led Webinfinity in its passion to use the power of the Internet to change the way businesses engage with their employees, partners and customers. After years of working with Fortune 100 companies around the world James led the vision to build an online platform that would 'Consumerize' the enterprise content experience. And so the Webinfinity platform was born - going live in the summer of 2014.

John Holman, is the CEO of Pax Advisory, an IT solutions company focusing on government data center, infrastructure, analytics, assessing criminalized power structures, and compliance. Pax Advisory is a service-disabled-veteran-owned small business with a proven track record with DOD, NATO and civilian agency customers. Prior to founding Pax Advisory, Holman worked for Lockheed Martin, JP Morgan, and Deutsche Bank. Holman served in the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division and 2nd Infantry Division. Holman has earned several degrees including a JD from Golden Gate University. He is an attorney and PMP certified.

Thomas Humphrey has been with APC by Schneider Electric for 17 years working in a variety of influential roles across the business. His APC career began in Atlanta, Ga., as a pre-sales systems engineer, working closely with the enterprise sales teams and channel partners. Over the years, has worked in various technical and sales capacities with both end-user and channel focused teams.  Currently, Humphrey is the national segment director for Edge IT, with commercial responsibility for APC’s strategy in distributed IT and edge computing. Humphrey is a graduate of University of Rhode Island in civil/environmental engineering, a board member of a 501c-3 non-profit animal sanctuary and has served as a member of the Tiverton Economic Development Council.

Doug Hyde, champions HPE Aruba networking for small and medium-sized businesses in the U.S. In his role as segment manager, he works with customers, partners, and distributors to understand their needs and facilitate their business growth. He previously led the small business networking product team of HP Networking and joined HP/HPE from 3Com where enjoyed roles in product management and marketing. Doug is based in Boston

Kyle Jackson is a major account sales manager for ConnectWise, a community-driven software company dedicated to the success of technology solution providers.  Since joining ConnectWise in 2011, Kyle has held several roles in the company and is now responsible for identifying and communicating deep knowledge of the technology industry and services, market dynamics, and partner needs.

Bill Jones continually drives bottom-line performance for our events business. He leads a team of operations, customer service, venue planning and event systems that support The Channel Company’s renowned brands. Drawing from his extensive knowledge of the event and conference industry, Bill is responsible for new business development tools, profitable execution and custom engagements for the group. His event expertise spans launching and managing programs, including on-demand conferences, virtual events, live events, conferences, road shows and partner events.

Michael Knight is the CTO at Encore Technology Group and responsible for company go-to-market strategies, technology and sales strategies, vendor relationships, technology partnerships, research and development, cloud building, enterprise architecture and consulting. Knight has been previously employed as the CTO and senior vice president at Computer Software Innovations, Inc. He has worked as the CTO of SDI Networks and as the CIO of American Control Systems, Inc., with over two decades of IT experience.

Denise Lee Yohn is the go-to expert on brand-building for national media outlets, an in-demand speaker and consultant, and an influential writer. Yohn is the author of the bestselling book “What Great Brands Do: The Seven Brand-Building Principles that Separate the Best from the Rest” (Jossey-Bass), the e-book “Extraordinary Experiences: What Great Retail and Restaurant Brands Do,” and the highly anticipated new book “Fusion: How Integrating Brand and Culture Powers the World's Greatest Companies” (Nicholas Brealey/Hachette Books).

News media including Fox Business TV, CNBC, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times call on Yohn when they want an expert point-of-view on hot business issues. The Marketing Executives Networking Group (MENG) named her blog as one of the top 20 in the industry.

Yohn  enjoys challenging readers to think differently about brand-building in her regular contributions to Harvard Business Review and Forbes, and has been a sought-after writer for publications including Fast Company, Entrepreneur, Knowledge@Wharton, ChangeThis, Seeking Alpha, QSR Magazine, among others.

With her expertise and personal approach, Yohn has become an in-demand keynote speaker. She has addressed business leaders around the world, including The Art of Marketing in Toronto, EXPO Marketing in Bogota, Colombia, and Sustainable Brands in San Diego.

Yohn initially cultivated her brand-building approaches through several high-level positions in advertising and client-side marketing. She served as lead strategist at advertising agencies for Burger King and Land Rover and as the marketing leader and analyst for Jack in the Box restaurants and Spiegel catalogs. She went on to head Sony Electronic Inc.’s first-ever brand office, where she was the vice president, general manager of brand and strategy and garnered major corporate awards. Consulting clients have included Target, Oakley, Dunkin' Donuts, and other leading companies.

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.

Keith Lubner acts as an advisor and mentor to several of today’s leading channel organizations on strategies, tactics, and programs to accelerate growth. Keith has founded three companies and is considered a world-renown expert on enablement, channel sales, channel marketing issues, and channel leadership.  His training programs and workshops have been delivered across the globe to several start-up and multi-national organizations. He is currently Managing Partner of Channel Consulting Corp and Co-founder with Jeb Blount (author of Fanatical Prospecting) of the recently launched Channel EQ, an organization focused on providing transformational training and enablement tools, workshops, and programs.

A lifelong technology evangelist with 21 years in IT channels.  A fierce customer advocate with a lifetime of stories from the road to educate and entertain.  A self-professed poet of all things wireless with a deep appreciation of good bourbon.

Gordon Mackintosh, senior director, worldwide partner programs and sales business development joined Extreme Networks in January 2016.  Mackintosh assumes responsibility for the ongoing development of Extreme Networks’ partner program and supports Extreme’s leadership team in developing sales and partner initiatives in line with strategic objectives. Mackintosh joined Extreme from Cisco, where he held a variety of sales and channel leadership roles. He completed a post-graduate diploma in information technology and an honors degree in international marketing. In his early days at Cisco,  Mackintosh was responsible for managing the Catalyst switching product line across Europe, Middle East and Africa. This led to a successful two-year assignment in the U.S., which saw  Mackintosh work at Cisco’s global headquarters focused on the go-to-market for Catalyst switching line across Cisco’s worldwide channels division. On his return to the U.K.,  Mackintosh was appointed head of SMB marketing, with a focus on developing a new innovative SMB go-to-market strategy before taking on the challenging role of head of sales for SMB and distribution.   Mackintosh then returned to San Jose with his family 5 years ago to lead the partner-led Velocity sales team and played a lead role in developing Cisco’s new partner-led strategy. Recently, as part of the Cloud and Managed Services Organization,  he developed an innovative low-cost virtual sales and marketing engine driving sales in software and hybrid cloud solutions.

Martorano is responsible for Intermedia's global sales and strategic partnerships.

With over 20 years of experience in the industry, Martorano has deep expertise in working closely and strategically with a range of customers and partners, and a passion for customer and partner success.

Prior to Intermedia, Martorano spent over eight years at Microsoft, most recently as General Manager of U.S. Channel Sales where he had over $17 billion of revenue responsibility. Before Microsoft, Martorano led a number of key initiatives and strategies at other notable companies such as Sage Software and Ingram Micro. He started his career working for a Value Added Reseller (VAR) located in Southern California.

Martorano has been recognized as a top industry performer, including being named to CRN’s "50 Most Influential Channel Chiefs", "Top 100 Executives" and "Channel Maverick" lists, among others. Martorano holds an MBA from Pepperdine University and a bachelor's degree from California State University, Northridge.

As a senior sales, partner and business executive, Vince Menzione brings an extensive and consistent history of success and expertise driving revenue growth, building high performance organizations, and exceeding organizational objectives to Cloud Wave Partners. 

Vince is an award winning leader who has delivered and advanced three successful transformations. The first was with a 20 year old start up, where he developed the value proposition and grew the organization exponentially. Next was a business turnaround where he successfully launched a new segment, developed a new channel and procurement vehicles and forged a key partnership that resulted in a successful divestiture. Vince most recently spent nine years leading a $4.6B channel business as Microsoft's General Manager for US Public Sector sales where he led many initiatives, including the successful launch of Microsoft's cloud offering, resulting in its successful transformation to a cloud services company.

Vince has a passion for disruptive technology and the greater good and has positioned Cloud Wave Partners to enable organizations to realize the art of the possible through proven sales, innovation and partner connection strategies. He is also hosts a podcast, "Ultimate Guide to Partnering".

David Miketinac is responsible for leading the sales organization servicing Dell EMC’s high-growth distribution market in the U.S. and Canada. An industry veteran with 23 years tenure at Dell EMC, Miketinac most recently led the regional U.S.-Canada channel and has held senior management positions in the company’s consumer, preferred commercial accounts, distribution and state/local government divisions. He has also held positions in operations, global strategy and led Canada’s commercial segment. Miketinac graduated from Texas State University and served four years as a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division of the U.S. Army.

Stephen Miller is a PC and phone geek that spends his time speaking with Lenovo business partners and customers across all markets and of all sizes. His goal is to help bring Lenovo products to market. Miller believes his job is to not only tell the world about Lenovo but to listen to customers and business partners about what they need from their devices now and in the future.

Michael O'Brien serves as vice president of global channels at Aerohive. Previously, he served as Dell's executive director global channels and alliances. O'Brien joined Dell in 2011 through its acquisition of Force 10, where he served as vice president of channels and alliances. A longtime industry executive, O'Brien gained notoriety for his work at  AMD and Sun Microsystems.

Rauline is responsible for IPED channel and alliances industry research, client consulting and training curricula across IT, carrier service provider and operational technology vendors doing cloud and IoT business in the indirect channel. A software industry veteran, Rauline was Oracle's senior vice president, North American alliances and channels where she led the transition from primarily direct sales to a segmented indirect sales model. Prior to Oracle, Rauline served as senior VP of worldwide alliances for BEA Systems. She began her career with fifteen years at the IBM Corporation, selling hardware, software and services ultimately rising to vice president, channel sales & marketing for the Americas Software Group. A native Californian, Rauline holds a B.A. in economics from the University of California, Irvine and an MBA from the University of Southern California.

Mr. Has Patel is President and Principal Consultant of Infologic, Inc. Before founding Infologic, he also worked for AT&T Bell Laboratories, Glaxo Smith-Kline Pharmaceuticals, Philips Electronics and BP Chemicals. Industry expertise include Aerospace & Defense, Pharmaceuticals, Energy and Software.

Patel holds BS in Mechanical Engineering, and MS in Production Engineering. His research interests include Research & Innovation Management and Manufacturing & Innovation. He has published papers on Research & Innovation Management at Aerospace & Defense and Corporate R&D Management conferences. He also regularly publishes a blog on the Art & Science of Innovation Management.

He is also an industry adviser and Expert-in-Residence (EiR) at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) Applied Innovation center, and a member of the University of Southern California (USC)-led Advanced Manufacturing Partnership, Southern California (AMP SoCal) which supports the Aerospace & Defense industry.

Gary Pica is a pioneer in the managed services field. His company, Dynamic Digital Services, was “early to market” in the MSP arena. It quickly became one of the fastest growing MSPs in the country, with over 7,000 endpoints under management, generating over $500,000 of monthly reoccurring revenue. Gary’s company was acquired by mindSHIFT Technologies in 2005 and he has since launched TruMethods, a coaching and mentoring firm aimed at helping IT solution providers reach their full potential as MSP’s. TruMethods provides a proven, repeatable process to transform your business by demonstrating the right approach to leadership, solution packaging, sales process and results tracking via online tool and webinars. Today over 500 IT providers around the world utilize the TruMethods business transformation process.

Christopher Pyle, President & CEO for Champion Solutions Group, began his career with Champion as a sales representative in 1986. Over the years, Chris has become the driving force behind the organization’s development of key strategic alliances and solution portfolio. It’s his vision and innovativeness that catapulted Champion up the ranks to become a $100+ million organization and one of the most respected solution providers in the industry.

Chris Pyle leads the company’s go-to market and execution strategies for its integrated offerings in the cloud, security, and digital infrastructure—with a focus on improving the customer experience and driving transformative business outcomes.  Mr. Pyle also aligns key partner initiatives with company strategy, and oversees corporate marketing and messaging to gain mindshare with customers and partners.

Frank Rauch is Vice President of VMware’s Americas Partner Organization. In this role, he is responsible for indirect routes to market for the Americas which include, Solution Providers, Corporate Resellers, Public Sector Partners, OEMs (Cisco, Dell, EMC, HP, IBM, Lenovo, Net App, VCE), System Integrators / System Outsourcers, and Distributors.

Prior to VMware Frank was HP’s Americas Vice President and General Manager of Enterprise Channels. He also held VP roles in strategy and direct sales with HP. Frank started his career with IBM in sales and executive staff roles.

He and his teams have been recognized with over 40 channel awards. Frank has been personally recognized with 5 Channel Chief awards and has been ranked in the top 25 Channel Executives.

Frank is a graduate of Drexel University with degrees in Marketing and Computer Systems Management. He lives in the Philadelphia area and is active with youth ice hockey and on several non-profit boards.

Terry Richardson is vice president of NA Channels and Alliances for Hewlett Packard Enterprise. He is a 31-year industry veteran and has been with HPE since January 2010. In this role, he is responsible for accelerating indirect contribution and driving the overall channel strategy to improve partner performance, satisfaction, and engagement across all business units. Prior to his current assignment, he was the vice president of US Channel sales where he was also responsible for distributors. Richardson has served previously in other leadership positions at HPE in channel sales and within the storage and server business units in general management roles. Prior to joining HPE, he held executive management positions at EMC Corp., Data General and Sepaton Inc. He began his career in sales at Burroughs (now Unisys). His experience is broad, and he has consistently delivered results in a variety of direct, channel and OEM sales leadership roles. Richardson graduated from Boston College’s Carroll School of Management with a BS in computer science and marketing.

David Russell is CEO and senior consultant of MANAGEtoWIN and author of “Dave’s Charm School” of soft skills training.  He’s been called the “Leadership Guy” for IT entrepreneurs and has spent the better part of his career working with entrepreneurs to help them hire, manage, develop, and retain superstar employees.  Russell’s mission is no bad bosses.  His Leadership Essentials and Certified Leader services are unique, one-on-one transformational learning experiences.  His fifth book, The Company Culture Challenge,” is a step-by-step leadership guide.  You can read Russell’s latest thoughts on the MANAGEtoWIN blog, LinkedIn and Twitter.

With over 20 years experience in the IT market, Russell  Senesac has held several positions within APC by Schneider Electric.  His current role is focused on North American market, helping APC by Schneider Electric solve business challenges for customers and solution providers.  He is actively involved with market research, emerging trends and technology advancements.  Senesac works closely with his company’s R&D teams to ensure new offers are aligned with solving customer challenges seen in the marketplace today.  Prior to his current role, he has held positions in sales, marketing, product management, and business development.

John Shaw is the CEO of ELE.ai, combining his enterprise cloud experience with the power of artificial intelligence. Shaw has founded several companies during his career mostly recently Nimbo, a cloud computing professional services company acquired by Equinix in 2016.

Shaw has worked closely with cloud providers and possess a practical understanding of cloud computing and the cost benefits to enterprises. He has worked with some of the largest global companies on application migration to the cloud using Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services. Along with his business acumen, he is an experienced coder and a published author, so he can always roll up his sleeves when needed. Shaw served as a member of the Azure Business Technology Advisory Team for Microsoft which provides deep insight in the direction of the company’s cloud offerings. Shaw serves as mentor for Techstars, sits on the boar of Cycle Computing and on the advisory board for chowbotics. He graduated from Liverpool John Moores University with a bachelor’s degree in computer studies.

In his spare time, he enjoys travelling and collecting visas. He is a U.S. and EU citizen, permanent resident of Australia, New Zealand and a India business visa holder.

Mark Sher, Intermedia’s Vice President of Product and Marketing for Cloud Voice, is a 23-year telecom veteran. Mark leads Intermedia’s product marketing and product management for all cloud voice services for both indirect and direct channels. Prior to Intermedia, Mark held the position of vice president of marketing and product management for AccessLine Communications, a leader and innovator in the Hosted PBX and SIP Trunking space and an early telecom SaaS pioneer. With AccessLine, Mark directed the initiatives to develop and bring to market both Hosted PBX and SIP Trunking. Mark’s entire career has focused on delivering telecom services to businesses of all size with a focus on creating easy to purchase, easy use and easy support services. Mark has a bachelor’s degree in Communications from Washington State University.

Amy has 25+ years of leadership and global sales experience, with a focus on customer value and expertise in business. Her mission is to improve corporate culture with a passion for empowering people toward extraordinary results. In addition to sales strategy and operations, Amy provides transformational, executive coaching services to create an integrated life fueled by positivity and authenticity.

Most recently, Amy served as SVP of Sales Operations for TiVo after being a sales leader across the enterprise technology sector. Prior to TiVo, Amy held Leadership positions at AT&T, Cisco, and Salesforce.com.  

Amy spoke at the 2014 Forrester Research conference, the 2016 and 2017 Apttus Conference, and LinkedIn’s 2016 Sales Connect Conference. In October 2016, Amy was awarded a spot on Hot Topics list of the Top 100 Sales Operations and Enablement leaders.

Joe Sykora is the Vice President of Americas Channels and Enhanced Technologies for Fortinet, Inc. (FTNT), and is responsible for overseeing a channel organization of over 7,400 Americas partners as well as Fortinet's channel sales strategy. Joe and his team work closely with Fortinet’s partners and their mid-enterprise customers to protect themselves from the ever-evolving threat landscape. Joe has over 30 years in IT security, in both the manufacturing sector and as a solution provider, helping customers focus on business priorities while keeping their networks secure.

Stelios Valavanis is the founder and president of onShore Security. He currently serves on the boards of the ACLU of Illinois and We the People Media, and advisory committees for several other organizations. He has appeared as a guest lecturer and panelist for local colleges, non-profits, and various industry events. Stel graduated from the University of Chicago in 1988 with a Bachelor’s degree in Physics. Prior to founding onShore, Stel held a number of technical positions at the University of Chicago.

Stel’s love for things technical has spanned most of his life. By age 15, he was writing dBase code for a market research company, producing an analysis tool for sale to other marketing firms. He formed his first business in 1981, producing and distributing Apple II software packages. Stel also has been involved and remains active in many artistic projects, including audio CD recordings, video compilations, and interactive installations.

Ryan Walsh oversees the build-out of the Pax8 product portfolio and drives the market requirements and development of the Pax8 Command Console.  Walsh served as vice president of product management for MX Logic, a cloud-based email and web security company that was acquired by McAfee in 2009. Following the acquisition, Ryan directed the product teams responsible for McAfee's portfolio of cloud-based email and web solutions for the Content and Cloud Security division, and later led the product unification and hybrid cloud development effort for the company's web security product lines.<br /><br />Walsh has dedicated his career to enabling business improvements with Internet or IT-based solutions and startups. He started his career building a re-engineering practice at Deloitte & Touche in the Consulting division.  He holds a BA in Business Economics from Colorado College and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.

David Walter is the Marketing Director at MSP SEO Factory, a company providing IT marketing to businesses in the United States. Their expertise is creating managed services marketing ideas and turning them into original, optimized blog posts. Their process involves in-depth brainstorming, thorough editing, and effective promotion of fresh and unique articles for their MSP Business clients.

He has 16 years experience in marketing for the IT industry, as well as experience in direct MSP marketing, internet marketing, article writing. David speaks at trade shows, webinars and is a sales trainer for major IT companies. He is also a published author; his latest book is 'Stratospheric Marketing Secrets'.

Don Yaeger is a nationally acclaimed inspirational speaker, longtime Associate Editor of Sports Illustrated and author of 24 books, eight of which have become New York Times Best-sellers. As an author, Yaeger has written books with, among others, Hall of Fame running back Walter Payton, UCLA basketball Coach John Wooden, baseball legends John Smoltz and Tug McGraw and football stars Warrick Dunn and Michael Oher. He teamed with Fox News anchor Brian Kilmeade to pen the 2013 best-seller “George Washington’s Secret Six,” a look at the citizen spy ring that helped win the Revolutionary War.

Tom Zimnoski has more than 20 years of sales and account management experience in the IT channel.  Zimnoski serves as CompTIA's vice president of membership where he oversees membership programs for vendors, distributors, solution providers and channel associates on an international level.