Speakers

Kashif Abbasi
Senior Director
Partner Sales Acceleration, Global Partner Organization

Cisco Systems, Inc.

A leader in driving transformation, Kash Abbasi has over 15 years in the IT industry and has held several leadership roles in his career at Cisco. His focus on constant innovation and on achieving exceptional results in highly complex environments is driven through continuous improvement and collaboration.

Kash leads Partner Go-to-Market responsible for partner sales acceleration across Cisco's portfolio including technology architectures, services, software and solutions. The focus is to engage and collaborate with all Partner Types, across all technology architectures, software, services and IoT solutions to drive amplification, acceleration and monetization. This includes developing sales execution plans that outline the best path to revenue and leveraging the sales best practices to drive growth through our scaling engines.

Prior to joining the Global Partner Organization, Kash led Partner Go-to-Market Services at Cisco. During his career, he has held leadership roles across Sales, Services, Software, Operations, Strategy and Planning.

Kash received his BA in Finance at Kingston University, London, United Kingdom. He lives in the Orange County, California area with his wife and three children.

Mayank Bawa, PhD
CEO and Co-Founder
WorkSpan

Mayank has always believed in the importance of data, analytics, and applications in helping people make better decisions. Prior to founding WorkSpan, he founded big data pioneer Aster Data Systems, acquired by Teradata in 2011 where he served as co-president of Teradata Aster division. He has a PhD in computer science from Stanford University and B.Tech from IIT Bombay.

Neil Blecherman
IoT and Digital Transformation Consultant

Neil Blecherman is an IoT and digital transformation consultant with a focus on partnerships and product marketing. His has helped clients in areas including IoT platforms, power generation and industrial systems.

Prior to consulting, Neil was a Director in Intel’s Internet of Things Group managing key partnerships and products. Prior to this IoT assignment, Neil was Global Director of Platform Partnerships for Intel, developing new technology and business models with some of the company’s largest global software partners in the areas of cloud, security, media, data center and client. Neil has also managed business development with Intel’s North American software partners, directed the mobile microprocessor product line and owned Intel’s corporate branding and naming strategy.

Neil holds a degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from the Wharton School of Business. He lives in Menlo Park, CA with his wife, a technology serial entrepreneur, and his three, technically-obsessed sons. He can be contacted at neilblecherman@gmail.com, as well as followed on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Flipboard.

Keith Chambers
Director, Operations Management Software
AVEVA

Keith Chambers, director, operations management software, is responsible for strategic direction, commercialization and development for AVEVA's operations management portfolio globally. Keith has over 20 years' experience in the automation, software and MES business with a focus on manufacturing operations software in the food and beverage, CPG, and life sciences industries.

Lorin Coles
CEO, Managing Director and Founder | Alliancesphere
Principal | SMART Partnering

Lorin Coles brings over twenty years of thought leadership and operational expertise in the areas of sales, alliance, channels, business development and ecosystem value creation.

Lorin founded Alliancesphere, a collaborative execution consultancy in 2002. He and his team work directly with Global 2000 clients and emerging start-ups to craft leading practices to help clients create, deliver and capture value through evolving/new business models, next-gen GTM/RTM, and end-to-end integrated last-mile execution programs that deliver measurable outcomes.

Previously, Lorin served as senior vice president of alliances for Scient/iXL where his team created an industry-leading program recognized as "Best-in-Class" by Gartner. He previously served as chairman for the American Israel Chamber of Commerce (AICC) in Atlanta. Lorin was a founding member and past president of the Southeast Chapter of ASAP. Currently, he serves as a mentor and advisor to Engage Ventures and DRIVE.

In 2014 Alliancesphere joined forces with The Rhythm of Business to form SMART Partnering, a venture delivering executive suite-sponsored, enterprise-wide solutions to build next generation partnering everywhere capability to realize the value of digital business transformation.

Janine Grasso
Vice President Strategy and Ecosystem Development for Blockchain
IBM Industry Platform

Janine has held many leadership positions across IBM. Most recently, she led the global ISV business where she drove embed revenue and the creation of "with IBM" which is the new digital engagement model for ISVs. Prior to that, Janine was vice president of business development supporting IBM Analytics, Social and Smarter Talent. Janine's responsibilities included identifying and closing several key strategic and IP partnerships, acquisitions, and ecosystem programs across the Analytics Unit.

Janine's current strategic role is to develop, identify and scale the blockchain ecosystem for IBM. In this role, Janine is responsible for building out an ecosystem of partners, ISVs, and developers across the blockchain platform and industry solutions.

Janine has been with IBM for 20 years and graduated from Pace University in New York.

Nina Harding
Channel Chief
Google Cloud

Nina is the channel chief for Google Cloud, managing a team that leads partner strategy and programs across all partners that sell, service and build with Google Cloud technology.

Since joining Google Cloud in September of 2017, Nina has already made significant changes to improve the current program. From getting 100% partner attach commitments across all teams, creating dynamic incentives, to launching a deal registration and referral programs, all her efforts are directed toward enabling partners and strengthening their Google Cloud business for their future.

A 25+ year veteran in the IT sector, prior to joining Google Cloud she spent 13 years at SAP as vice president of global business development and sales program building SAP PartnerEdge for their expanding partner ecosystem. Previously she held various partner impacting roles at Microsoft, Cacheon, and Oracle.

When she is not engaged in building partner success, she is busy exploring new restaurants in Los Altos since recently relocating there. In her free time, she also volunteers with Wounded Warriors. And on Sundays, you can find her on the golf course or at a farmer's market collecting ingredients for her Danish recipes.

Ray Homan
Vice President of Business Development
SAP

Ray Homan is Vice President of Business Development at SAP. He is responsible for driving SAP Leonardo ecosystem for SAP and driving digital transformation with Global Software Services Partners. His role builds upon his senior executive experience with software and hardware companies in Silicon Valley, including previous positions as President and CEO of BDNA Corporation and Vice President of the SAP High Technology Industry Business Unit.

Michael Marchuk
Chief Technology Evangelist
Blue Prism

Author, speaker, and business leader Michael Marchuk has been working with organizations for over 35 years to provide a positive impact using technology to advance business objectives. Using innovation to transform the way business works, he has lead projects for IBM, AT&T, Accenture, and Avanade in financial services, manufacturing, health care, and telecommunications. As Blue Prism’s Chief Technology Evangelist for North America, Michael is responsible for educating the market on the value of leveraging and integrating Robotic Process Automation to drive digital transformation. Michael has a degree in finance from the University of Illinois.

Mitch Mayne
Public Information Officer
IBM X-Force Threat Intelligence

Mitch is the Public Information Officer (PIO) for IBM Security X-Force Threat Intelligence, and is responsible for how IBM X-Force communicates both internally and externally during global or widespread cyber incidents. Mitch is also the lead branding officer for IBM X-Force, and a regular contributing author and podcast host on SecurityIntelligence.com. Mitch specializes in translating deep technical content into usable, consumable information for the everyday business user. Mitch's expertise includes software, services, and business partner communication; content marketing; and brand design and implementation. He holds a Masters Degree in Communication and Media from Stanford University.

Todd Miller
Vice President, US Business Development
ChromaWay

Todd is the vice president, US business development for ChromaWay, an innovative blockchain software company with offices in Stockholm, Tel Aviv, and Washington, DC. At ChromaWay, Todd is responsible for managing all aspects of the US operation including marketing, business development, and thought leadership. His team is responsible for creating strategic partnerships with channel partners and facilitating the establishment of data sharing consortiums among financial institutions, supply chain partners, and public-sector agencies.

Prior to ChromaWay, Todd was a senior leader at Fannie Mae where he led product development and technology partnerships teams across the single-family business. Part of this work included leading successful efforts to incorporate mortgage service partners into the electronic mortgage. Before joining Fannie Mae, Todd was a management consultant at HP/EDS and Price Waterhouse focusing on process reengineering and digital business.

Todd has been a member of ASAP since 2016, represents ChromaWay at the Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization (MISMO) and the American Council for Technology/Industry Advisory Council. He earned a BA from the University of Wisconsin and an MPA from New York University.

Scott Smith
Founder
Fathym

Scott Smith is a serial entrepreneur with a background in Wall Street finance. He started his career as one of the first growers of Sunburst tangerines. He helped create a market for the fruit that led to its decades-long popularity.

Soon after, Scott became an early pioneer in structured finance, launching the first mixed-property commercial mortgage conduit and securing a billion-dollar line of credit from DLJ. His model for securitizing loans was rapidly adopted by Wall Street and remains the cornerstone for mortgage-backed securities today. Later, Scott helped structure the financing for President Nelson Mandela’s Redevelopment Program, which provided affordable housing for some 11,000 families near Soweto.

While still involved in securitization, Scott founded Kidz Magazine, an early example of user-generated content. The publication grew to 30 nations, with a readership in the millions. Later, his work in education led him to co-found two charter schools, Summit Middle School and Peak-to-Peak Charter School, the latter of which is ranked among the top 30 schools in the nation by Time Magazine and U.S. News & World Report.

Scott’s interest in finance led him to help launch a number of technology firms. He’s a managing member of C Squared, a venture fund in Boulder, Colorado, where he invented two patent-pending financial technologies for bringing structured finance into the world of private equity. He’s also a co-founder of Massively Parallel Technologies, a platform for automating the management and modernization of legacy code, and Fathym, a platform for automating the development of solutions for the Internet of Things.

Scott is the author of The New Operating System For the American Economy, which sets forth a plan to revamp the nation’s tax and banking system. The plan reduces taxes for individuals and corporations, while raising sufficient revenue to balance the budget and provide universal basic income, free healthcare, and free college. Scott recently founded the Foundation For a Better Economy to promote the plan.

Scott lives in Boulder, Colorado with his wife, Sheri, the founder of Indigo Education Company. He has six children and enjoys painting galaxies in his spare time.

Leslie Tom
Senior Vice President of AppExchange Marketing & Programs
Salesforce

Leslie Tom is senior vice president of AppExchange marketing & programs at Salesforce. She leads customer, partner and community marketing for AppExchange – the #1 enterprise cloud marketplace – and owns the AppExchange partner program and partner enablement. Leslie also leads Salesforce Accelerate – a virtual fast track on boarding program for AppExchange apps.

Leslie's focus is to recruit ISV partners to build, connect or integrate their solution on the Salesforce Platform and list on the AppExchange, enable all partners for joint success, market AppExchange apps and solutions to Salesforce customers and engage the partner and customer community.

Prior to joining Salesforce in 2005, Leslie worked in marketing leadership roles for 10+ years at Siebel Systems and Oracle. Leslie holds a double major in business and psychology from San Jose State University.

Ann E Trampas, CSAP
Professional Development Practice Lead
Phoenix Consulting and Lecturer at the University of Illinois – Chicago (UIC)

As Practice Lead Ann works with clients developing and delivering skills mastery classes in collaborative relationship management and consulting in optimizing their strategic alliances. At UIC she teaches channels of distribution and ecommerce, marketing, sales management, and business strategy and advises the American Marketing Association Chapter. She is also a faculty member of the American Management Association, where she facilitates a variety of courses.

Ann is currently a board member and former president of the Midwest Chapter of the Association of Strategic Alliance Professionals (ASAP) and a member of the Technical Advisory Group for the ISO standard for Collaborative Business. She is a member of the Executives Club of Chicago and the American Marketing Association. Previously Ann has held positions including ASAP Certification Program Director and vice president of global alliances for IBM-SPSS.

Scott Van Valkenburgh, CSAP
Vice President, Global Alliances Leader
Genpact

Scott is responsible for the company's overall alliance strategy, execution and joint offering development. Previously, Scott was senior director of alliances at SAS, and led the company's global partner relationships. Prior to SAS, Scott was the founder and managing partner of The Sequoia Architecture Group. He also served as a principal for PricewaterhouseCoopers within their management consulting services practice's information and technology practice. While at PwC, Scott helped FORTUNE 500 corporations create, develop, evaluate and implement ERP, CRM and client/server strategies and solutions.

Wendi Whitmore
Global Lead for X-Force IRIS
IBM

Wendi Whitmore is a technical leader with 15 years of diverse experience in incident response, proactive and strategic information security services, and intelligence and data breach investigations. At IBM, Wendi was instrumental in creating IBM X-Force IRIS which includes the global X-Force Incident Response, Proactive Services and Threat Intelligence practices. In her role, Wendi leverages people, infrastructure, data and technology to drive the capabilities of detection and defense against targeted threats for client organizations throughout the world. Before joining IBM, Wendi served as the vice president of CrowdStrike Services. While at CrowdStrike, she was responsible for all professional service offerings and engagements delivered by the company. Wendi and her team responded to critical security breaches within Fortune 500 companies from verticals in technology, defense industrial base, energy, critical infrastructure, and the U.S. federal government. In this role, Wendi was also responsible for managing P&L, sales and business development, and recruiting efforts.