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'.

A training and development veteran for 30 years, Jim Knight facilitates on a variety of interactive topics, including sessions around organizational culture, world-class service, building rock star teams, hiring and retaining rock stars, employee branding, performance management, philanthropy and facilitation training. Knight cut his teeth in the training field through the hospitality industry, starting out in the snack bar at Gatorland Zoo and as a restaurant staff-level employee for Olive Garden and then Hard Rock Cafe. He eventually became the head of the School of Hard Rocks, running point on all learning and development functions for Hard Rock International. Knight has put his experience and creativity to work, which has consistently developed cutting-edge training concepts. During his time with the Hard Rock brand, his team won accolades for their guest service and menu rollout videos along with their work reengineering training and e-learning course. Knight was also recognized by Training Magazine as representing one of the Top 125 training companies in the world. He has since been featured in Forbes, Inc., Entrepreneur, Nation’s Restaurant News, Business News Daily and Fox Business News.

He is the founder and owner of Knight Speaker and author of the best-selling book, "Culture that Rocks: How to Revolutionize Your Company’s Culture." A portion of his book, monthly report and speaking proceeds goes to No Kid Hungry to eliminate childhood hunger in the U.S. and the LEAP Foundation, which supports severe trauma victims through wilderness therapy.

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.

Ken Patterson has more than 20 years of IT and telecom experience that ranges from installation and troubleshooting, to managing an IT team to building an operations center. Patterson can accurately determine what solutions will work for each unique situation. He has a "fix the customer then fix the problem" mentality that allows him to see beyond all the confusion and get to the root of the problem. The end result is a solution that not only solves the issue at hand but allows for scalability into the future. Patterson has served in leadership positions with Corporate Telephone Services, Casserly Consulting and TeamLogicIT. For more than 12 years he served as the managing partner of Asys Technology Group.

Dr. Bernard (Bernie) Banks’ expertise lies in the areas of leader development and organization change.  He possesses global leadership and management experience in small through large size organizations.  Currently, Bernie is the Associate Dean for Leadership Development and a Clinical Professor of Management at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.  Previously, Dr. Banks was the Department Head (Chief Executive Officer) of West Point’s Department of Behavioral Sciences & Leadership and he retired from the Army as a Brigadier General in August 2016.  A dynamic speaker, Bernie has presented on a variety of topics related to leadership at notable institutions like the U.S. Army War College, the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business, Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, Yale University’s School of Management, and General Electric’s John F. Welch Leadership Center.  He has also consulted to, and conducted training on behalf of, numerous corporate and government clients (e.g., U.S. Forest Service, Jones Lang LaSalle, Honeywell, P&G, Mercedes Benz, Wellpoint, Reckitt Benckiser, 7-Eleven, and IBM).

Ben Johnson is a serial entrepreneur in his early 40’s from Griffin, GA. He has notably bootstrapped three startups in times of economic uncertainty and created a lucrative, thriving enterprise. Ben currently serves as CEO of Liberty Technology and Kitchen Sink Marketing. In his role as CEO, Ben’s primary responsibilities include, overall strategy, solution portfolio design, strategic partnerships and innovative projects.

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Todd brings over twenty years of dedicated service in the field of technology consulting and service to Apollo Staffing. He has over ten years experience in the VAR / MSP channel having worked for both large and small VARs. With a wide ranging network of VAR’s, Distributors, Manufactures, and Industry related groups. Todd brings many best practices to his clients and develops long lasting relationships built on integrity and trust.  Todd also proudly served his country in the US Navy.

Sean founded Managed Solution in 2002 after receiving his degree from the University of San Diego. Sean recognized the need for consultative IT services for small-to-medium and enterprise clients. With little capital, Sean and his dedicated team grew the company organically to success. Within 3 years, the company was recognized as one of San Diego’s 40 fastest growing companies, awarded one of the 40 companies with owners under 40 years old and recognized as the 27th fastest growing IT company in Southern California.

Jeff Lutes is the VP of Technology for the Orlando Magic. He oversees the IT and broadcast technologies and services department. In addition to having responsibility for the IT infrastructure at the Magic facilities and the Amway Center, his teams are responsible for all technologies at the Amway Center including interior and exterior LED, IPTV streaming, digital displays, high density Wi-Fi, retail systems, all video room equipment, and strategic vendor and partner relationships. Prior to joining the Magic, Lutes worked as the VP of technology for an international manufacturing company in Central Florida. He is the former CIO of CNL Financial Group.

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.

Lesley Meunier is a social media expert, with 10 years of professional experience in social media marketing, and a Masters of Mass Communication in Social Media from the University of Florida. As ConnectWise’s Senior Manager of Social Media, she leads the social media and video production teams and their strategies. When she is not on Twitter, Meuiner is passionate about travel, boating, and Netflix.

Ginger Clay is the spunk and drive behind IgniteRM’s data-driven marketing strategy designed to help technology professionals, with little-to-no marketing achieve greater visibility, generate qualified leads and turn their marketing investment into measurable results. Clay is the co-founder behind IgniteRM (results marketing) and Winc Analytics which focus on combining prospective and current client data, digital marketing best practices and nurture campaign strategies. Her goal is to help MSPs transition from organic, unpredictable growth to a planned growth path. Clay’s role as the Marketing Architect is to create relevant, compelling and effective marketing strategy that drives desired results. Before founding IgniteRM, Clay played key marketing and consulting roles with 4 Profit, ShoreTel, Netelligent and Xtelesis Corp. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in marketing and Asian studies from the University of Maryland

Mike Schmidtmann has been involved with I.T. sales and management for over 20 years. Mike works with Solution Providers all over the country on management practices to improve sales, margins and profitability.
Mike spent ten years at as National Director of Sales for Inacom Communications. From 1998-2008, Mike founded and led the Mid Atlantic Sales Region for Strategic Products and Services, a highly successful Avaya solution provider.
Mike is a member of 4-Profit, an organization dedicated to the education, growth, and profitability of Solution Providers in the I.T. sales business. 4-Profit facilitates Peer Groups and provides coaching on leadership, sales, operations, and finance.

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.

Mary Catherine Wilson is the Senior Director of Global Channel Marketing for Dell EMC. In this capacity, she is responsible for investing and educating partners and distributors through marketing enablement to grow profitably. She served as Director of Channel Marketing & Programs for North America at Dell where she was responsible for leading the strategy and delivery of Dell’s PartnerDirect programs and marketing in US & Canada. Her focus was on Partner Enablement, Partner Growth, and the evolution of Dell’s channel program. She has served in a variety of management roles at Dell including Online, Self Service, including Dell’s Community and online knowledge bases, and Contact Center. She has a passion for listening to Partners and has been able to translate Partner feedback and insights into solutions and programs that help enable the growth of their business. CRN has named her in the Power 100 Women of the Channel for the past seven years and Top 30 in their 30’s Channel Executives.

She is an experienced business leader with over 22 years’ experience in management consulting, software development, contact center strategy and operations, and channel marketing. Prior to Dell she was with Accenture and holds a B.A. in Business Administration from Trinity University.

David DeCamillis serves as vice president of sales and marketing for Platte River Networks. He focuses on keeping his company’s brand fresh and vibrant but also staying in front of prospects so Platte River can continue to grow. For two decades, DeCamillis worked in financial consulting and production in a wide range of industries. Starting in the late 1980s, he worked as a syndicate manager and consultant in private equity funding.  After 12 years, DeCamillis transitioned into event production, working as an overseas concert promoter and producer in partnership with MTV Asia.  In 2008, DeCamillis started his tenure as head of business development with Platte River before assuming his current role. Platte River has grown to become a leading national provider of IT managed services and has received numerous technology, service and growth awards.  Outside of work, DeCamillis is an avid runner, biker, hiker, skier, reader and traveler. He enjoys public speaking and spending time at the beach and the mountains with his family.

Bob Skelley serves as The Channel Company’s Chief Executive Officer. Prior to his role as CEO, Bob led the company’s PartnerDemand Services group, providing demand generation and marketing services that drive revenue for both IT solution providers and vendors. Bob has over 20 years of experience in channel development, business development, sales and marketing. Prior to The Channel Company, Skelley held numerous channel executive positions including Vice President of Global Channels and Alliances for Infinio, Executive Director of North American Channel Sales for Dell, Global Vice President, Channel Strategy and Operations for EqualLogic and Director of U.S. Distribution and VAR Channel for Microsoft.

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.

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.

As CEO and Managing Partner of Diverse Technology Solutions, Clayton Hart keeps his clients at the very pinnacle of the Information Technology age. Founded in 1998, Diverse Technology Solutions Inc. is one of North America’s fastest growing Private Cloud Hosting providers.  Clay has been instrumental in accurately forecasting emerging trends in IT and implementing services to provide dramatic return on investment for his clients.  Clay and DTS bring a strategic partnership to their client relationships by aligning Information Technology as the epicenter of business profitability.

Clay’s career in IT and expertise in fiscal management spans more than 20 years and has afforded him in-depth knowledge of the highest-level IT decision-making processes in 1,000+ businesses. Clay spent the genesis of his career in network engineering, implementing complex IT projects for prestigious organizations including St John’s University, Sotheby’s, and IBM. His subsequent success in financial management and business workflow expertise has given Clay a unique perspective on how to leverage technology to position a company for financial growth.

A national speaker, Clay has shared the stage with some of the world’s top business leaders, delivering keynote presentations and CPE accredited continuing educational seminars to Fortune 1000 C-level executives.  His speaking engagements include topics covering aligning Information Technology with business financial goals, using IT as profit generator, business workflow, IT security and Cloud Computing.

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.