Chris serves Sourcing & Vendor Management professionals, with research focused on how organizations can identify, integrate, and manage innovation and emerging technologies. He works with clients to set sourcing strategies, create and execute RFPs, review contracts, and develop vendor management approaches. He has written research about how the leading IT and business service providers facilitate innovation and new technology introductions for their clients. He has also created frameworks to help sourcing professionals evaluate the risks, costs, and business value of emerging technologies. Chris also has a history of advising clients on innovation trends and best practices, and his research includes coverage of the emerging marketplace for innovation management tools. Prior to working on the sourcing and vendor management team, Chris served on Forrester's technology industry vendor strategy team. In this role, Chris wrote about topics relevant to technology strategists — such as long-term market trends, the importance of business customers in technology purchasing decisions, innovation, and emerging technology trends and disruptions. His focus was on trends facing IT and business
services providers. Prior to his work as an analyst, Chris was in Forrester's consulting group, where he led strategy consulting engagements for leading technology vendors. He has helped technology clients with market sizing, competitive assessments, customer segmentation, product marketing, and M&A strategy. Prior to joining Forrester, Chris had several years of experience in strategy consulting, including advisory and market research work for Fortune 500 technology companies and private equity investors. Chris received his M.B.A. from Georgetown University and his B.A., with honors, from Middlebury College.
Sandy is Executive Director of Intelligent Transportation Society of Florida, serves on the faculties of Florida Institute of Technology and Eckerd College and has over 20 years experience in the transportation and transit industries. Prior to her joining ITS of Florida, she was CIO for the City of Sarasota, FL, Director of Information Systems and Technology for Hillsborough Area Regional Transit, and Manager of Information Systems for Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority. She is a popular public speaker and a previous presenter at the IT Procurement Summit. Sandy received her MS in Information Technology from the Florida Institute of Technology and her BA from Eckerd College.
Director, Information Technology and Communications Services and Chief Information Officer NASA John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC)
Michael J. Bolger is the director of the Information Technology and Communication Services Directorate and the chief information officer (CIO) at NASA's John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. His organization of 140 civil servants and 500 contractors is responsible for development, integration and operations of the information technology and communications systems and services at the center. Additionally, he is responsible for ensuring that KSC's information systems are acquired and managed in accordance with federal requirements and agency policy.Bolger began his career at KSC as a co-op student in 1984 and transitioned to a permanent position in 1987. He spent close to nine years in Shuttle Processing as a software engineer working on teams that developed and maintained software in support of space shuttle launch processing. In 1995, he performed a 7-month detail in the Office of the Chief Financial Officer. In 1996, he assumed a key leadership position as a member of the checkout and launch control system (CLCS) project management team, originating business approaches and processes for the large-scale, real-time development project. Beginning in December 2002, as an office chief and contracting officer's technical representative (COTR), he managed a team of NASA and Air Force personnel responsible for technical contract management of the $2.8B Joint Base Operations Support Contract.Bolger has received numerous honors including an Exceptional Achievement Medal, Certificate of Appreciation, Certificate of Commendation, Outstanding Star Award, Superior Achievement Award and Space Flight Awareness Honoree (40th Anniversary). He has participated in several leadership development programs including the Senior Executive Service Career Development Program (SES CDP), the Federal Executive Institute's Leadership for a Democratic Society, and the agency's Management Education Program.Bolger was born in Bellefonte, Pa., and grew up in Oxford, Ohio, where he graduated from Talawanda High School in 1982. He graduated from Indiana University in 1987 with a bachelor's in computer science and a minor in mathematics. He earned a master's in business administration (M.B.A) from the University of Central Florida in 1999. He lives in Merritt Island with his wife, Samantha, and three children.
Chief Information Officer Seminole Electric Cooperative, Inc
Dr. Bill Cross is CIO for one of the largest electric generation and transmission cooperatives in the United States. He has enjoyed a career in Information Technology spanning more than forty-five years including positions as CIO, Regional Systems Engineering Director, engineering manager and senior systems designer. A passionate and accomplished speaker, Dr. Bill serves on the faculties of University of South Florida, Eckerd College, Florida Institute of Technology and St. Petersburg College. Dr. Bill holds a Ph.D. in information systems from Nova Southeastern University, an MBA from Florida Institute of Technology, and a B.A. in Economics from Kenyon College. He and his family live on the beach with their miniature schnauzer, Beatrix.
John Cullen analyzes and writes on Microsoft's sales, licensing and support strategies, including its relationships with partners. Before joining Directions on Microsoft, John spent a decade at Microsoft resolving the most complex licensing issues faced by Microsoft's largest enterprise customers and partners. While at Microsoft, he held a variety of marketing and licensing jobs, including senior product manager in the Windows division where he was responsible for the pricing, licensing and product strategy for the Windows Server family of products, as well as negotiating and resolving large deal escalations for key customers and partners. John is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley, and received an MA in foreign policy from Claremont, a JD from the University of Oregon and a LL.M. in Taxation from the University of Washington.
Donna Daigle is recognized as a leading IT authority with over 30 years experience in Information Technology and more than 15 years in IT Procurement. She has served as manager of the Output Management Services Group and manager of the telecommunications commodity for one of the nation's largest diversified health care benefit companies. Donna also managed M&A and divestiture activities for the company as they relate to software licensing on various platforms. She is a founding member of Caucus and has been an active member of CEAC since 1996. An experienced presenter at numerous industry conferences, Donna received her Certified Technology Procurement Executive (CTPE) accreditation in 2002. She holds a BS and BA from Central Connecticut State University. She received her Coaching certification from the Coach Training Alliance in 2009. Through coaching she inspires professionals to discover a more positive work experience. In her spare time, she enjoys living an active life style, home improvement projects as well as organic gardening.
Dennis is a Senior Consultant with Northern Trust in Chicago. As a member of Global Procurement, he is responsible for the procurement governance of all hardware products within the desktop, distributed and mainframe environments including both processors and storage for North America. He also coordinates and supports procurement groups in EMEA and APAC with their hardware needs. Dennis has worked for several other firms in both IT procurement and IT project management. He is a charter member of Caucus and a long-term member of the Caucus Executive Advisory Committee.
IT Procurement Manager YRC Enterprise Services, Inc.
Alvin Dunn is a 30+ year procurement professional with experience in industries including insurance, direct mail, software, non-profit, and transportation. In his current position, he is responsible for the negotiation of IT equipment, services and consulting agreements for YRC Worldwide and affiliates. He holds his Certified Technology Procurement Executive (CTPE) certification as well as Certified Purchasing Manager (CPM) and Certified Administrative Manager (CAM) designations. He is a member of the Caucus Executive Advisory Committee and has spoken at previous Caucus conferences. Alvin is also an adjunct professor at several local universities and teaches graduate and undergraduate classes in Information Systems, Negotiations, Operations/Project Management, Management Skills and Contracts. Alvin received his BSBA from Rockhurst University, Masters of Management Information Systems from Friends University and is currently working on his Doctorate in Business Administration at Northcentral University.
Chair, Caucus Executive Advisory Committee Global Procurement and Contracts Manager Eastman Chemical Company
In his current position, Mike Gonce directs Eastman Chemical's Corporate Contracts Center of Excellence. He has successfully led initiatives to: implement a formal supplier relationship management program; develop standard contract templates; standardize technology platforms; reduce IT's third-party expenditures; and enhance collaboration across the enterprise. Mike has negotiated all types of IT contracts over the past 15 years. He currently manages all onsite contract labor/services agreements, telecom agreements, and leads strategic sourcing teams. Mike received his BS in Finance and Business Management from the University of Tennessee. He has his CPM and CTPS certifications, serves as Chair of the Caucus Executive Advisory Committee, and was the 2007 Caucus Member of the Year. An avid sports fan, in his spare time Mike is a football referee, and he has officiated the State playoffs for the past 20+ years.
Counsel & Manager, Procurement Contract Team Aetna Life Insurance Company
Carolyn has worked as a Procurement attorney at Aetna Life Insurance Company since 1998. She manages a six-person Procurement Contract Team that negotiations contract terms and conditions, ensures contract compliance with regulatory requirements and corporate policy, administers Aetna's procurement agreements, and collaborates with the Aetna Procurement Supply Management Team. Carolyn is both responsible for and experienced in all phases of procurement contract negotiations and drafting, IT license agreements, services agreements, consulting agreements and other documents, training on legal and contractual issues, contract best practices, negotiation strategy, dispute resolution and providing general legal counsel on contract and procurement and contract related issues. Prior to joining Aetna, she was corporate counsel for a Connecticut natural gas utility handling customer service and collections issues, regulatory compliance and representation, drafting and negotiating contracts, and other corporate matters. Carolyn received her JD and BA from the University of Illinois.
Senior Director - IT Compliance and Acquisitions University of Washington
Kerry Kahl is well versed in higher education administration, having served at the University of Washington in Seattle over thirty years. He was Director of Purchasing for twelve years, and is now Senior Director for Enterprise Risk Management and for UW-Information Technology Compliance and Acquisitions. He has been an active member of the National Association of Educational Procurement (NAEP), serving as Regional President and leading several workshops and panel presentations. Kerry served on the Board of Directors for the Educational and Institutional Cooperative Services, Inc, a group purchasing organization for higher education; he was Treasurer of the Co-op for five years. In his current assignments, Kerry splits his time between Enterprise Risk Management, helping assess and prioritize a wide range of risks at the University, and in UW Information Technology, planning and oversight of major IT projects and acquisitions. He has a Bachelors degree in Economics, and a Masters of Business Administration, both from UW.
Procurement Manager - IT JM Family Enterprises, Inc.
Jane Kaufman has been the IT Procurement Manager at JM Family Enterprises, Inc. in Deerfield Beach, Florida for the past 3 years. JM Family Enterprises is the world largest independent distributor of Toyotas and Scions, the world’s largest volume Lexus dealership, and one of the largest providers of finance and insurance products in the industry. Prior to this, Jane was Director of Contracts with Hyperion Solutions Corporation in Stamford, Connecticut and VP and Senior Technology Counsel at Citibank. Jane graduated Magna Cum Laude with a B.S. in Political Science from SUNY at Albany and has J.D. from the National Law Center, George Washington University. Jane lives in Coral Springs, Florida with her husband, Erwin and two boys, Bryan and Jason.
ICN Senior Consultant Bill Kern has more than 20 years of experience spent on the inside of the computer industry. The majority of Bill’s experience is in management positions with technology vendors specializing in computer hardware, systems development, outsourcing and third party leasing. This background gives Bill a keen understanding of the vendor approach in the acquisition process, and most importantly how to negotiate with those vendors. Bill has vast knowledge in negotiating support contracts, including outsourcing, software, software modifications, system migration schedules, service level agreements, and maintenance agreements. Since joining ICN, Bill has advised global clients in all phases of the acquisition process including data center facility management; outsourcing of data centers and data communications; outsourcing of application software support; storage area network facility management; RFP development for off-shore software services; outsourcing of Internet banking; enterprise-wide software license negotiations and re-negotiations, including smart grid technology, data quality and field maintenance/inventory software; software development and hosting of a workmen’s compensation system; renegotiation of HP hardware maintenance support; personnel management applications on a software-as-a-service basis. Bill’s extensive experience gives him a comprehensive understanding of the financial impact of outsourcing, development of statements of work, transition plans, service level agreements, as well as, general contractual terms and conditions. Bill earned his business degree from the University of Maryland.
Senior Category Manager, IT Kinetic Concepts, Inc.
Doug Kreiger is a Senior Category manager - IT at Kinetic Concepts, a global medical technology company based in San Antonio. He has primary responsibility for all Voice and Data Services, IT Professional Services, and IT Maintenance. He has a proven track record of successful telecom negotiations, recently achieving over 20% in cost reductions from a major supplier. Prior to KCI, Doug was Strategic Support Manager for 24 Hour Fitness USA, establishing contract management and internal telecom audit functions, and drafting/negotiating all technology contracts. Doug has been extremely successful in reducing contract turnaround times, and reducing risks and costs in telecom related transactions. He is a member of the State Bar of Arizona and the Caucus Executive Advisory Board, and he has is Certified Technology Procurement Executive (CTPE) designation. He is a member of ITECHLAW and has participated in the University of Southern California Computer & Internet Law Institute. Doug has a J.D. from California Western School of Law and a B.S. from the University of Missouri - Columbia.
A Caucus member since 2004, Peter Mayo has over seventeen years of IT Procurement experience, mainly in the financial services market. Pete has spent the past eleven years at Ceridian Corporation where he currently serves as the Vice President of Procurement. Prior to Ceridian, Pete was the Purchasing Manager for a nationwide travel chain and a $1.5B financial institution. Pete specializes in technology procurement by creating opportunities to drive current costs down and negotiating run rate savings reductions. His certifications include Institute of Supply Management’s Certified Purchasing Manager, and Accredited Purchasing Practitioner, August 2001 – August 2006. Since February 2006, he has held his Certified Technology Procurement Executive designation through Caucus.
Cynthia Meyer is an IT Category Manager at Monsanto Company and handles "soup to nuts" in the IT and Telecom sourcing arena, including training others in both the art of negotiations and working with contract documents. Her world-class experience includes ten years at FedEx in Memphis, Tennessee where she worked directly with Rob Carter who is now FedEx's CIO. From there, Cynthia joined Alliant Energy in Madison, Wisconsin in 2006 as the sole IT sourcing resource. While at Alliant, she negotiated over $250 million in contracts for a multi-vendor project for Automated Metering Infrastructure. Cynthia has 30+ years of sourcing, purchasing and inventory management experience in a broad range of commodities, including forms, facilities services, fleet vehicles, furniture and furnishings, print production, electrical and electronics, and industrial fittings. In her spare time, Cynthia enjoys traveling and recently completed a trip that included circumnavigating the globe, "driving" an elephant, and hugging tigers.
Tom is a dedicated Boston sports fan who enjoys competition and high energy situations. Tom has worked in a technology capacity for 20+ years, and he has been involved with major system rollouts of hardware and rollouts of enterprise software in three Fortune 100 companies. With an earlier IT focus on customer deployments, non-disruptive implementations and easy customer support options, Tom took his IT skills to a retail systems environment. Working for the world's #1 home improvement retailer, he focused on the deployment of technology in retail environments across North America. Tom then transitioned into a newly formed procurement role for the #2 home improvement retailer, where his team concentrated on the purchase of all technology products and services. With his solid IT background, strong business acumen and negotiating skills, Tom's team has achieved over $350 million in cost savings and a policy compliance rate of 82% in the past four years. Tom has degrees in Business, Accounting and a Certification in Project Management.
Glenn is a partner in the Global Sourcing practice, where he specializes in the negotiation of global telecommunications service contracts for a variety of large corporations and non-profit associations. His work includes evaluation of the existing telecommunications environment and marketplace, drafting of RFPs, evaluation of supplier responses and negotiation of final contracts ranging in value from $1 million to $1 billion. Glenn is also a partner in the Communications practice, where he represents a wide range of clients including VoIP providers, long distance carriers, competitive local exchange carriers, equipment manufacturers, wireless carriers and service providers in transactional and litigation matters, and before the FCC, state public utility commissions and the International Telecommunication Union. Glenn is a frequent speaker on telecommunications issues and the author of numerous articles on telecommunications. He has been ranked as a leading lawyer in the 2010 Legal 500 USA in the category of Telecoms and Broadcast: Regulatory. Glenn holds a journalism degree from West Virginia University and a law degree from New York Law School and is admitted to practice in New York and Washington, DC.
Manager, IT Procurement and Strategic Sourcing CenterPoint Energy
Sarepta is Manager of IT Procurement and Strategic Sourcing for this multi-state energy distribution enterprise. She has more than 25 years experience in purchasing and contract management. Her recent contributions include writing a purchasing policy and its associated procedures, which include "what, when, where, how and why." In addition, she directs the purchase of corporate procurement needs, including IT products and services. In the past five years, Sarepta has contributed in excess of $100 million in cost avoidance related to computer hardware, software, and telecommunications purchases. She was instrumental in developing and writing an international contract tariff that became an industry standard in the U.S. and Canada. She renegotiated over 900 software license agreements, successfully incorporating provisions to allow for a business divestiture at little or no cost to the company. Her current role has allowed her to influence and successfully implement best practices at CenterPoint Energy. She serves on various industry panels, works as an adjunct college professor and conducts in-house training programs related to software compliance. She is a member of the Caucus Executive Advisory Committee which she chaired from 2009 to 2010. Sarepta has an MBA and two undergraduate degrees and has been named Employee of the Year, Minority Sponsor of the Year and Minority Buyer of the Year.
Senior Purchasing Specialist State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co.
As a Senior Procurement Specialist, Phil has nearly 25 years of IT experience, which includes 10 years in data processing and 15 years in procurement. His areas of responsibility have included support for midrange and mainframe hardware, software and network/dial-up. More recently, he has been involved in negotiating contracts for hardware, software, maintenance, services and staff augmentation. His responsibilities include those of contracts specialist and senior negotiator. His experience in negotiating with Fortune 500 companies as well as newer, start-up companies gives him a unique perspective. Phil has been a Caucus member for over ten years and serves on the Caucus Executive Advisory Committee.
Purchasing Division Department of Administrative Services – State of Georgia
Jeff Rolsten is a charter member of Caucus and serves on the Caucus Executive Advisory Committee. Prior to joining the Department of Administrative Services in 2010, Jeff was Senior Vice President for Strategic Sourcing at SunTrust Bank in Atlanta. Prior to that, he retired as Assistant Vice President of Procurement Services at AT&T (formerly BellSouth) after a 29 year career, the majority spent in Supply Chain Management where he took over $1 billion out of corporate spend. In 1995 and 1996, he was a loaned executive to the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games. Jeff holds his Certified Technology Procurement Executive (CTPE) and Certified Purchasing Manager (CPM) designations, the Georgia Certified Purchasing Associate (GCPA) designation and is a sought-after speaker on procurement topics.
ICN Senior Consultant Michael Ruffin has substantial worldwide experience with enterprise business solutions, business development, software solution sales, account management, product marketing, technical support and channel partner sales enablement. He has worked for a variety of companies and specialized in project management, database management, application development and technical support. Michael also worked for the IBM software organization with a focus on business development, software solution sales, channel partner development and consulting. He was one of the principal developers of the IBM Software Migration Project Office (SMPO) and the ALIGN IBM Server Consolidation (SC) business, technical and consulting methodologies. Michael was awarded eight United State Patents for his IBM SC efforts. As a member of the IBM Software Solution Channels organization, he assisted IBM software business partners with incorporating IBM products, such as DB2, Websphere, Tivoli, Lotus and Rational, into their business solutions. Michael also worked with business partners to enable Service Oriented
Architecture within their software solutions and was also the Subject Matter Expert to various IBM consulting, sales and marketing teams. Cross industry business partners that he worked with included Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC), Information Builders, Webify, Siebel, Micromuse, SPL, Oracle, Openwave, AMDOC, Innovation Group, Fineos and others. Michael has a Computer Science degree from the Roosevelt University in Chicago.
ICN Senior Consultant Lisa Schick is a results oriented technology professional with proven record in negotiating software contracts. For a number of years, Lisa worked at IBM where she skillfully negotiated large enterprise agreements with several Fortune 500 companies. Her years in the technology industry include a broad range of experience working for software manufacturers and resellers. Before working with IBM, Lisa held successful direct and channels sales and management positions with Corporate Software, Highground Systems, FTP Software, Results Marketing Group and PRC Realty Systems. Immediately prior to joining ICN, she worked with one of the world’s largest retailers on its IBM enterprise agreement negotiations, saving over $20 million. Lisa received her BS in business from San Francisco State University.
Director, Enterprise Strategic Sourcing H&R Block, Inc. and RSM McGladrey
Roy Schleiden has been a Caucus member since 2000, serves on the Caucus Executive Advisory Committee and was the 2008 Caucus Member of the Year. With over twenty-five years of IT Procurement experience in the public and private sectors, Roy has negotiated significant high dollar value contracts in numerous countries including the Middle East, Europe, China and the Pacific Rim. Roy led IT Acquisition teams in a number of Fortune 500 M&A transactions, including the consolidation and relocation of over a dozen major data centers. While with the Defense Information Systems Agency during the 90's, he led the acquisition efforts around the consolidation of Marine Corps/Navy data centers worldwide. For over fifteen years, Roy has taught at several colleges and universities in the Kansas City metropolitan area, and he is a frequent speaker on a wide variety of procurement and business topics. He is a graduate of the US Naval Academy, holds Masters degrees from the Naval Post Graduate School Monterey and Golden Gate University, is a CTPE, CPCM and a DOD DAWIA Level III. In his spare time for the past twenty-five years, he has coached
youth soccer and baseball for traveling competitive teams.
Senior Manager, IT Strategic Sourcing Intel Corporation
Ravi Singh has been a supply chain professional at Intel Corporation for nearly fifteen years. He has extensive experience in all facets of global sourcing, contracting, and vendor management, including developing sourcing strategies, leading RFPs, qualifying suppliers, and closing complex agreements. During the course of his career he has held a variety of procurement roles involving sourcing of direct and indirect materials, including factory materials, hardware and software. A Caucus member and speaker at previous IT Procurement Summits, Ravi has an engineering background and his MBA.
An attorney and Senior Consultant with ICN, Bruce Van Valkenburgh is a skilled negotiator and experienced technology acquisition professional. In 1983 Bruce began his career as an attorney counseling clients in software license negotiation and leasing. He then joined Eaton Corporation, a diversified global power management company, as an IT Acquisition Analyst, successfully negotiating hardware, software, services and master lease agreements. While at Eaton, Bruce was Manager of Supply Chain Management Contracts, reviewing and negotiating contracts for technology transactions, direct and indirect materials and services acquired by the corporation throughout its four business units. Bruce received his JD from Cleveland-Marshall College of Law and his BA from Cleveland State University. He is a frequent speaker at industry events and most recently participated as a panelist on Software Licensing in the New Century at the Association of Corporate Counsel Annual Meeting in October 2010.
Elgin is an attorney and ICN senior consultant and instructor, with more than 25 years of experience in high tech deals. Elgin began his legal career as Corporate Counsel for Deseret Generation & Transmission Co-operative, where he negotiated and drafted contracts to purchase software, maintenance, support, and other IT services, IT hardware and related systems and engineering services. In addition, he supervised the establishment and maintenance of purchasing contracting systems. During his tenure at Countrywide Home Loans, Elgin served as Contract Manager, where he negotiated and drafted enterprise-wide, multi-divisional contracts for the purchase of products and services, software and other intellectual property licenses, software development, IT consulting and other professional services agreements, support and maintenance agreements for software and for hardware and telecommunication services agreements. At ICN, Elgin has provided a variety of consulting and training services to numerous clients, and he is well versed in all phases of the IT procurement process. He holds his J.D. from Brigham Young University’s J. Reuben Clark
Law School and a B.A. from University of Maryland.
Director - Technology Purchasing CSX Transportation, Inc.
Charles Wijayawardhana has over 18 years of experience in strategic sourcing with Fortune 100, 250, and 500 level companies that spans across Europe, Middle East, South Asia, the Far East and the United States. Starting with sourcing in the oil and gas industry, he later moved to the transportation sector where he has focused on Technology sourcing during the past 13 years. At FedEx Charles established its first Strategic Sourcing practice in the Middle East and the Indian sub-continent, and later moved to FedEx HQ in Memphis, where he worked to set up large outsourcing agreements with tier 1 providers from India. He now leads technology sourcing at CSX Transportation. Charles holds an MBA from the Olin School of Business at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri and a BS degree in Engineering from University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. He speaks several languages including German and French.
Annual Conference 
