Robert Wright, CTPE
ICN – Principal

Robert Wright is a Principal at ICN with nearly twenty years’ experience managing real risk and maximizing financial savings opportunities for his clients.  Well-versed in drafting and negotiating a wide-variety of technology-related agreements, Robert particularly enjoys negotiating deals for the purchase of emerging technologies with starts-ups and young companies.  Robert began his career negotiating sponsored research agreements for the University of Louisville.  Prior to joining ICN as a Principal, Robert was a senior-level technology contracts manager for Humana, a Fortune 50 company and one of the country’s largest health insurers.

Robert is a regular instructor for ICN and played a significant role in developing one of the company’s most popular workshops, the IT Contracting Boot Camp.  When he’s not teaching for ICN, you’re likely to find Robert at a local college or university teaching business law, intellectual property, or American government.  Robert also regularly develops curriculum for academic institutions and has published in numerous law journals including the Howard Law Journal, the Duke Journal of Gender Law and Policy, and the Pittsburgh Journal of Law and Technology.

Robert is a licensed attorney having received his JD from the University of Louisville and LL.M. (Master of Laws) in Intellectual Property, Commerce, and Technology from the Franklin Pierce Law Center.

Joani Scott
First Advantage - Director of Procurement

As Procurement Director, Operations at First Advantage, Joani Scott is responsible for partnering with the Operations teams in all Strategic Global Procurement activities reporting to the VP of Global Procurement.   Joani brings 25 years of Global Strategic Sourcing, Vendor Management and Procurement Transformation experience in technology, manufacturing, and mining industries.   She has successfully led teams who have implemented category-specific best practices and tips for cost reduction, spend management, and budget optimization.   She enjoys sharing her experiences and valuable know-how that she’s gained through leading collaborative spend management initiatives for technical projects, corporate strategy, procurement transformation initiatives and organizational development.   Joani serves as Co-Chair on this Year’s CEAC Advisory Board as well as having held a recent board leadership role in her local Women in Business chapter. 

Greg Nogle
Sourcing Trans Union - Sr Director Strategic

Mr. Greg Nogle has over 40 years of experience in IT, with 20+ years dedicated to strategic sourcing and vendor management. Greg has extensive experience in IT Negotiations.

In his 17 years at Comdisco Disaster Recovery Services and managing over 300 actual company recoveries, Greg learned the art of overcoming “Unwarranted Assumptions”. This is also where he started to build his skill set in negotiating Win/Win agreements.

Greg was approached by venture capital investors in the UK to start a company in London, G C Marshall, using his IT Value Engineering (IVE) model to reduce IT spend for large companies (2007 to 2010). Greg leverages revenue programs, leasing, ROI evaluations and reverse engineering of vendor pricing programs to achieve these goals. He also developed a bidding process called Predictive Benchmarking (PB) that can be used in place of the Request for Proposal (RFP) that most procurement professionals have used for years. This model has delivered as much as a 20% to 30% cost of ownership benefit over the RFP process and often in a third of the time. Most importantly, the process drives to identify the best possible solution for the requirements.

Greg built and managed the IT Strategic Sourcing teams for HSBC (2001 to 2007), Kohl’s Department Stores (2010 to 2014) and Trans Union (2014 – 2018). He is currently the principal negotiator for large deals and mentors the procurement staff at Trans Union, in Chicago.

In addition to creating and providing multimillion dollar cost reduction programs for businesses of all sizes, Greg leverages his negotiations skills and experience to help design and instruct negotiations courses.

Scott Thomas
Humana - Strategic Contracts Attorney

Scott Thomas is a seasoned procurement executive with 20+ years of experience in managing complex sourcing and supply chain operations. He’s a proven expert in cost savings, risk mitigation, and supplier optimization, and has a passion for driving value in procurement. As the Contract Management Lead at Humana, Scott leads the charge in developing and executing procurement strategies across a variety of categories, including logistics, IT, and raw materials. Scott is a down-to-earth and collaborative leader who loves to drive continuous improvement and empower his team to achieve success. With multiple degrees to his name, Scott has the knowledge and expertise to take on any procurement challenge.

Skip Carlson
RSM US LLP - Blockchain and Digital Assets

Skip Carlson is Head of Growth for RSM’s Blockchain and Digital Asset practice. Driving growth across Audit, Tax, and Consulting, Skip ensures value and efficiency in connecting the firm’s capabilities in blockchain and digital assets with client needs. Skip helps bring client’s blockchain and digital asset products and services to market in an efficient, profitable, and regulatory compliant manner.

Michele Thompson, CPSM, CPSD

Michele Thompson is an accomplished procurement leader with more than 15 years of experience in managing complex procurement operations and driving value for organizations. Michele is a strategic leader with a common sense approach to tackling any procurement challenge. With a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Western Michigan University, Michele has the expertise and knowledge to manage procurement challenges and deliver results. She is a strategic thinker, an effective communicator, and a skilled negotiator, who has a talent for building strong relationships with suppliers and stakeholders. Whether she’s in the office or out on the hiking trail, Michele brings her A-game and is always committed to achieving success.

Frank Bruno 
Ostendio – Partner

Frank Bruno is an experienced procurement professional with over 15 years of experience in managing strategic sourcing and supplier management initiatives. He has a proven track record of delivering cost savings, improving supplier performance, and mitigating risk in complex procurement environments. In his current role as Partner Enablement Manager at Ostendio, Frank is responsible for developing and executing procurement strategies across multiple categories, including IT, facilities, and professional services. He is a results-driven leader with a focus on process improvement, operational efficiency, and continuous learning. Frank holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and is certified as a CPSM and CSCP.

David Hatch
Freelance – IT Contracts Attorney

David Hatch is an experienced IT procurement professional and attorney. Over the last year as an IT procurement consultant & coach he has provided IT procurement coaching & training at a Fortune 500 company, spoken at ITPS 2022, is developing an online IT procurement course, and has provided professional insights to peers in IT procurement. Previously in his procurement career, he has been an Executive Director at a procurement tech startup, a Global IT Software & Services Category Leader, and an Enterprise IT Category Manager. His time as an attorney and software sales rep in his earlier careers provide him with insights that inform and enhance his procurement outcomes. He practices what he calls “positive procurement” – which is building strong long-term IT procurement partnerships internally with business unit executives and externally with technology vendors while bringing the two together to generate substantial business outcomes.

Scott Bickley
Info-Tech Research Group

Scott Bickley is a Practice Lead & Principal Research Director at Info-Tech Research Group focused on Vendor Management and Contract Review. He also has experience in the areas of IT Asset Management (ITAM), Software Asset Management (SAM), and technology procurement along with a deep background in operations, engineering, and quality systems management. 

At Info-Tech, Scott provides IT leaders with the guidance, analysis, and tools they need to ensure their technology contracts are thoroughly vetted, benchmarked, and optimized. He has worked with clients to effectively drive down purchase costs and negotiate mutually agreeable terms and conditions resulting in win-win vendor-customer relationships. He also assists clients in developing their approach to vendor management relations and software compliance defense actions, resulting in accountable partner relationships coupled with a defensible IT deployment environment. Prior to joining Info-Tech, Scott was responsible for the global software licensing and procurement at International Game Technology (IGT) and indirect procurement at Amazon.com.

Scott holds a B.S. in Justice Studies from Frostburg State University. He also holds active IAITAM certification designations of CSAM and CMAM and is a Certified Scrum Master (SCM).

.

Stephanie Akerley
M -National Capital Park & Planning Commission - Corporate Procurement Program Manager

Stephanie Akerley is a Corporate Procurement Program Manager for The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (Commission) with over 27 years of service in public procurement.  For the past 14 years, she has handled all aspects of IT procurement for the entity.  Stephanie loves procuring IT due to the ever-changing nature of the commodity.  No two transactions are ever the same.  The best IT procurement she has ever worked on is the last one – because she learns something new with each one!

ICN was instrumental in Stephanie’s early success with IT procurements.  With the solid foundation that the classes and seminars provided, Stephanie was able to navigate through the rough waters of her first IT procurements, and has gone on to hone her skills.  In fact, she has helped develop content and teach others some basic skills of IT procurement – from acquisition planning to contract close-out.

Stephanie is honored to be a presenter and hopes to widen her network of peers and increase her knowledge base.