Agenda

Prof. Erik Brynjolfsson is a Professor at Stanford and the Director of the Stanford Digital Economy Lab at the Institute for Human-Centered AI (HAI). He is also a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and holds appointments at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR), the Stanford Graduate School of Business and the Stanford Department of Economics. Prof. Brynjolfsson is one of the most widely-cited researchers studying the digital economy and co-author of five books including The Second Machine Age.

Chris Rowen is a Silicon Valley entrepreneur and technologist known for his groundbreaking work developing RISC microprocessors, domain-specific architectures, and deep learning-based software.

As VP of Engineering, Collaboration AI, Chris leads an engineering and product team focused on building smarter, clearer, and more seamless speech, audio, visual, and relationship intelligence experiences.

Before joining Cisco, Chris was the cofounder and CEO of speech science technology company BabbleLabs, which was acquired by Cisco in 2020. Prior to that, he founded the processor licensing company Tensilica, and led it as CEO before it was sold to Cadence in 2013.

Chris holds more than 40 U.S. and international patents, an MSEE and PhD in electrical engineering from Stanford, and a BA in physics from Harvard. He was recognized in 2015 as an IEEE Fellow for his work in microprocessor architecture.

Keith Griffin joined Cisco’s Collaboration Technology Group in 2007 and is a Distinguished Engineer at Cisco focused on AI and Machine Learning in the office of CTO. He works on features that include Webex Assistant, Noise Removal, Relationship Intelligence, Facial recognition, Meeting Transcription and more. Keith works with customers, partners and analysts to ensure that technology direction is aligned with market needs. He leads Cisco’s Collaboration IP, Patent and Research strategy and has been Cisco’s top inventor for collaboration technology for over ten years. Keith holds a PhD from the University of Limerick in Ireland related to the use of Representational State Transfer (REST) programmable interface design for real time communication in web browsers. His major in computer engineering at university was virtual reality in manufacturing environments.

Savita Kini is a global product and business executive with a passion for driving new innovation, new business initiatives and operational excellence in global product teams. She currently leads new technology initiatives at the intersection of artificial intelligence, speech science, computer vision and embedded systems in Cisco Webex. Prior to this role, she led Product for BabbleLabs, a speech AI startup, acquired by Cisco in 2020. She also led engineering, product management, marketing and sales operations at Cisco, Brocade and at startups in India and US. Savita holds an MBA from Cornell University, an MS in Computer Engineering from Texas A&M University and a BS in Electrical Engineering from University of Mumbai.

Damien McCoy is Senior Director of Growth & Adoption at Webex, leading the teams that focus on ensuring our customers' realize the full value of Cisco Collaboration products & services. He previously led Product Management for our Collaboration Apps and prior to joining Cisco in 2011 he held Product leadership roles with IBM, O2 Telefonica and Tecnotree.
 

While he's not focused on Collaboration, Damien spends as much time as possible sailing with his local Sea Scout Group in Galway, Ireland

Aruna Ravichandran is the Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing & Customer Officer at Webex by Cisco, with 20+ years of experience leading global teams through workforce and technology transformations. With a passion for innovation, Aruna thrives in an ever-changing technology landscape. Her expertise in SaaS marketing, a visionary perspective of branding, and exceptional skill in data storytelling set her apart as a change agent in the industry, driving brand awareness and revenue growth. She also fiercely advocates for empowering women to embrace and pursue STEM careers.

Through her work at Webex and on various boards and committees, she actively seeks to make the field more accessible and enticing to women everywhere. Aruna holds an MBA and an MS in Computer Engineering from Santa Clara University, a BS in Computer Science from Bangalore Institute of Technology (BIT), and graduated from the esteemed CMO Leadership program at Kellogg Business School in 2019. Aruna also serves on the board at Cal Polytechnic San Luis Obispo, Fast Company, Forbes Technology Council, and Vox Media.

Roopam Jain is a senior analyst and VP of research at Frost & Sullivan's Connected Work practice. She has more than 20 years of market analysis and strategic consulting expertise on next-generation collaboration technologies with particular expertise in video and team collaboration tools. She has closely followed market trends and customer adoption of collaboration technologies and has a deep understanding of user behaviors and challenges surrounding hybrid work. Roopam holds an MBA in Marketing Management from Baruch College, City University of New York.

Snorre Kjesbu is Senior Vice President & General Manager of Collaboration Devices at Cisco. He is a global citizen leading a worldwide organization responsible for the collaboration devices business ranging from IP phones to immersive video systems. Snorre’s passion for design with over 20 years of engineering experience are at the core of his belief in always providing authentic user experiences.

Prior to his return to Cisco, Snorre was Executive VP of Design, Creation and Fulfillment at BANG & OLUFSEN in Copenhagen. His résumé also includes SVP at Tandberg and being responsible for R&D on wireless communication at ABB. He and his team at ABB were awarded the Wall Street Journal Innovation award for their work on wireless sensors in 2002. 

Snorre holds a Master of Science from the University of Bristol and has been a guest lecturer at the Stanford Network Research Center in Stanford University. He has obtained more than 20 patents in the areas of communications and video conferencing and is on the board of directors for several IT companies. When not working, Snorre can likely be seen on a pair of skis – whether on snow or water.

Amit Barave is the VP Product, Webex Suite and Webex AI, supporting the Collaboration organization. In this role, Amit leads a talented team of Product Managers who help to release all the features and improvements that make Webex great. Amit has been with Cisco for over 20 years and is a Communications and Collaboration industry veteran. Prior to Webex, Amit was instrumental in launching industry-first products in Telepresence and IP-Radio communications space and scaling them to market leadership. He holds an MBA from Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley. A prolific innovator, Amit also holds 13 US patents in the field of radio and video communications.

Gautam Gupta is a seasoned Product Management leader with over 15 years of experience in the tech industry. He's passionate about delivering outstanding user experiences and has a track record of driving product success. Gautam currently leads the product management for Webex Meetings and Webinars, where he's dedicated to enhancing virtual collaboration in the era of hybrid work. Beyond the office, Gautam enjoys grilling, hiking, and golfing, bringing the same dedication and enthusiasm to his personal interests as he does to his professional endeavors. As a leader, innovator, and outdoor enthusiast, Gautam Gupta is committed to shaping the future of technology while ensuring exceptional user interactions as the business world embraces the challenges and opportunities of hybrid work environments.

Harsh is currently employed at BlackRock as a Vice President and Senior Unified Communications Engineer. In this capacity, Harsh holds a pivotal role in overseeing the comprehensive design, engineering, implementation, and support of advanced voice and video collaborative technologies. These responsibilities encompass a wide array of sophisticated systems and platforms, including but not limited to Webex, RoomOS Devices, Cisco Meeting Server, Expressways, Trader Dealer Boards, Voice Recording, and Contact Centers.

Harsh's expertise in these technologies ensures seamless communication and collaboration across the organization, facilitating efficient and effective interactions among team members and clients. By leveraging these cutting-edge tools, Harsh contributes to the enhancement of operational workflows, the optimization of communication strategies, and the overall improvement of the user experience within BlackRock.

In addition to technical proficiency, Harsh's role demands a strategic approach to problem-solving and innovation, ensuring that the implemented solutions align with the company's goals and objectives. This involves continuous evaluation and upgrading of the existing systems to keep pace with the evolving technological landscape and the dynamic needs of the organization.

Ashish Chotai is a Director of Product Management for Webex. Ashish leads the Webex media platform portfolio. He is responsible for the audio and video capabilities in Webex that power rich experiences to our users.

Kristen Boydston is a technology director with over 15 years of experience in project management and enterprise applications. She graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a degree in Management Information Systems and currently serves as the IT Director of Service Management & Strategy for the Dallas Cowboys. Kristen is a certified PMP, actively building the enterprise PMO. She is also a steering committee member of the Dallas Cowboys women’s resource group, Women’s Impact Now. In 2019, Kristen and fellow colleague, Ben Barnes III, co-chaired the inaugural TechCon event for the Dallas Cowboys organization. This was a day dedicated to professional development and technology empowerment for hundreds of employees. Due to the remote work years following, they were forced to take a brief hiatus. However, they enjoyed hosting their second TechCon event in 2023 and look forward to organizing annual events from this point forward. Kristen is passionate about business relationship management and collaboration. She loves that her position enables her to dive headfirst into both of these areas. When she is not busy at work, she enjoys spending time at home with her husband and three children, cheering them on at sporting events, playing mahjong with friends, and sitting by the fire on a nice patio evening.

Amey Parandekar leads Product Management for Webex Calling, an enterprise grade, globally available, and innovative calling and phone system. He is passionate about innovation and evolving the calling experience from hearing, to seeing, to doing—empowering people to have a richer calling experience with Webex and leveraging cloud capabilities for the new era of hybrid work. Amey brings more than 20 years of experience in areas such as product management, design, and cloud engineering in productivity software at Cisco, Microsoft Teams, Azure, and Skype. He has developed 20 patents over his career.

Amey has a B.Tech from Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay and a master's degree from North Carolina State University.

He lives in Seattle with his family and enjoys outdoor activities such as hiking and kayaking in his free time.

Arvi is the the Director, Product Management for Cisco’s Contact Center & Customer Experience product portfolio. We are transforming how frontline employees intelligently offer a personalized experience for consumers who connect with their business. Arvi is a seasoned innovator, tech executive, author and patent holder. Prior to this role, he was Vice President of Products at CloudCherry, until the acquisition by Cisco in October 2019. Previously, he ran the innovation team at Intuit, the maker of Turbotax & Mint. He also played various roles with SupportSoft leading to global expansion, NASDAQ IPO and acquisition. Outside of work, Arvi enjoys playing tennis, spending time with family and pets, and travel.

Chang is a Senior Director of Product Management at Webex, responsible for managing the Webex App, Messaging, and self-serve eCommerce. With over 12 years of experience in product leadership, he has held roles at Intuit, an early-stage startup (Mighty), and in management consulting. Chang holds an MBA from UCLA Anderson.

Justin Jordan is a Senior Product Manager for Webex Calling with 25 years of experience in calling and collaboration technologies. Working for 12 years at Cisco in both technical sales and product roles, Justin loves bringing our customers simple solutions to complex problems. Justin attended the University of Hawaii and lives in the Hill Country of Texas with his wife, daughter, and two pugs.

Kristyn leads Cisco’s Global Collaboration Partner Sales. Kristyn and her team are responsible for leading the strategy and execution across each of Cisco’s unique routes to market.

Kristyn works closely with Cisco's regional partner organizations, Global Partner Sales (GPS), business entities, and sales teams to accelerate partner adoption of Cisco Collaboration solutions, with a focus on delivering creative enablement, enticing demand generation offers, and rich partner profitability to drive growth across the $4B+ Collaboration business.

Prior to this role, Kristyn led the Meraki Americas partner organization. Before her time at Meraki, she led collaboration partner sales within Cisco’s Americas Partner Sales (APS).

Kristyn has a passion for developing Cisco’s future leaders, personally mentoring many individuals. Kristyn is a member of Cisco Connected Women’s Network, Women of Meraki, and The Children’s Fund.

Alex Pop brings a wealth of expertise in collaboration technologies to his role as Senior Vice President at M&T Bank, where he has been at the helm of an expansive international portfolio of collaboration offerings for the past 4 years. His robust background in Voice and Video Engineering, Voice Operations, Video Operations, Video on Demand, and Digital Signage showcases his versatile leadership in the tech space. One of Alex's most significant recent accomplishments is his instrumental role in enabling hybrid work at M&T Bank. Capitalizing on the power of video technology, he facilitated a seamless transition for the workforce, further cementing his reputation as a forward-thinking leader. His strategic initiatives include upscaling Webex Events for up to 25,000 participants, modernizing the conference room space with Cisco hardware, Webex Calling, digital signage growth with AppSpace and Cisco Spaces have driven the bank's digital transformation. Alex's leadership empowers M&T Bank to stay at the forefront of emerging trends in collaboration technology, identify and implement innovative tools, platforms, and practices to optimize teamwork and productivity throughout the enterprise. These innovations will generate a lasting impact in the bank’s global footprint and operational resilience.

My name is Elin Simmenes Knudsen, and I am the Nordic Head of Customer Care and Production Support at Express Bank. I am originally from Norway, but has lived in Denmark for the past 16 years. My passion is high quality leadership that motivates everyone to reach their full potential. While working at Express Bank I have contributed to implement several systems and tools to make the customer experience/journey better, and the daily work more inspiring and efficient.

Travis Pouliot has greater than 21 years of experience with Cisco Collaboration and Contact Center solutions. Most of his career has been spent working with customers across segments such as financial services, media, and entertainment, as well as supporting service providers. In his current role as a Business Development Leader focusing on integrations and interoperability for Webex, he works closely with customers, sales representatives, and business units. His goal is to ensure organizations can extend the power of the Webex platform and its ability to integrate with enterprise applications such as Microsoft’s to benefit diverse users.

Travis has a passion for cross architecture solutions that enable today’s hybrid work needs and hosts many customers in Cisco’s new PENN1 office in New York City.

Manu serves as Director of Product Marketing, Suite & CX, an AI-powered customer experience platform, AI-powered Webex Suite, an award winning all-in-one collaboration solution and Webex Calling, a modern enterprise-grade cloud business phone system. Manu has responsibility to bring new features, solutions, and partnerships to market across on-premises, cloud, and mobile-first areas. Manu is passionate about marketing world-class innovations to users, customers, partners, and organizations around the globe. Manu has over 20 years of progressive industry experience in launching iconic hardware/software products, devices, and services in the dynamic tech and wireless industries. Prior to joining Webex, he held various roles in product management and product marketing at Microsoft, T-Mobile USA, and AT&T Wireless. He holds a B.S. in Electronics and Telecommunications and an Executive master's degree from the University of Washington.

Alex Pop brings a wealth of expertise in collaboration technologies to his role as Senior Vice President at M&T Bank, where he has been at the helm of an expansive international portfolio of collaboration offerings for the past 4 years. His robust background in Voice and Video Engineering, Voice Operations, Video Operations, Video on Demand, and Digital Signage showcases his versatile leadership in the tech space. One of Alex's most significant recent accomplishments is his instrumental role in enabling hybrid work at M&T Bank. Capitalizing on the power of video technology, he facilitated a seamless transition for the workforce, further cementing his reputation as a forward-thinking leader. His strategic initiatives include upscaling Webex Events for up to 25,000 participants, modernizing the conference room space with Cisco hardware, Webex Calling, digital signage growth with AppSpace and Cisco Spaces have driven the bank's digital transformation. Alex's leadership empowers M&T Bank to stay at the forefront of emerging trends in collaboration technology, identify and implement innovative tools, platforms, and practices to optimize teamwork and productivity throughout the enterprise. These innovations will generate a lasting impact in the bank’s global footprint and operational resilience.

Kristen Boydston is a technology director with over 15 years of experience in project management and enterprise applications. She graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a degree in Management Information Systems and currently serves as the IT Director of Service Management & Strategy for the Dallas Cowboys. Kristen is a certified PMP, actively building the enterprise PMO. She is also a steering committee member of the Dallas Cowboys women’s resource group, Women’s Impact Now. In 2019, Kristen and fellow colleague, Ben Barnes III, co-chaired the inaugural TechCon event for the Dallas Cowboys organization. This was a day dedicated to professional development and technology empowerment for hundreds of employees. Due to the remote work years following, they were forced to take a brief hiatus. However, they enjoyed hosting their second TechCon event in 2023 and look forward to organizing annual events from this point forward. Kristen is passionate about business relationship management and collaboration. She loves that her position enables her to dive headfirst into both of these areas. When she is not busy at work, she enjoys spending time at home with her husband and three children, cheering them on at sporting events, playing mahjong with friends, and sitting by the fire on a nice patio evening.

Craig Durr is the Chief Analyst and Founder of The Collab Collective, an industry analyst firm focused on workplace collaboration and communication. Craig has developed deep insight into the services, technologies, and devices that empower seamless connections between businesses, employees, and customers through his work as an analyst, researcher, and keynote speaker.

His expertise encompasses comprehensive market analysis, sizing projections, product evaluations, emerging trends, and end-user and buyer expectations. He has been a featured speaker in the US, India, South America, and Europe and is recognized by ARInsights as an ARchitect Power 100 analyst.

Beyond technology, Craig also researches the intricate human dimensions of work, categorizing his findings into the workforce, the workplace, and the workflows of the modern work experience. By unraveling these components, he helps to unveil the intricate interplay between technology, productivity, and business strategies essential to the future of work.

Jeremy Laurenson is a Distinguished Architect in Cisco Global Collaboration Sales organization. He works with both customers and the development organization to ensure Cisco’s UC portfolio is both Customer Relevant and forward looking. Jeremy has been directly involved in the incubation of several of Cisco’s Collaboration technologies such as Telepresence and Hologram, as well as key integrations such as that of Meraki and Thousandeyes into Control Hub. In addition, he has been lead DSE on technology partnerships with companies such as Google, Apple, Microsoft and IBM. Jeremy was directly involved in Cisco leading the industry disruption when Business Communications moved to IP, the move to Cloud and now is again involved with strategy and direction as Cisco embraces Artificial Intelligence technologies in disrupting the industry once again. As a pioneer in mobile software, Jeremy developed of one of the very first applications to run on the PalmPilot in 1996 which became commercially available as Pocket Quicken and still maintains several app store presences.

Kieran Higgins manages Digital Workplace Collaboration for Cisco. This includes Voice, Video, Meetings & Messaging, and Contact Center services globally. This also covers in-office technology and the platforms and services that deliver hybrid work for more than 140,000 employees and partners. Kieran is a 20-year Cisco veteran, delivering and managing IT client, network, and infrastructure services in APAC, Europe, and globally. Prior to this role, he held a variety of management, engineering and design roles in a variety of Fortune 500 companies in different geographies. Kieran holds a BSc and a research MSc in Applied Physics and has always been driven by the data and insights in working towards delivering business outcomes.

Justin Priebe is one of the visionary forces behind M&T's collaboration ecosystem. There, he meticulously crafts product strategy and sets architectural standards. He is an engineer and a hands-on innovator, deeply immersed in the intricate process of solution design, implementation, and operation. Justin is also the troubleshooter-in-chief, tackling complex issues with finesse and ensuring that the global collaboration environment thrives on innovation and efficiency under his strategic guidance. With over 20 years in the financial industry, he navigated the technological evolution in collaboration. He has been at the forefront, supporting M&T's growth from its humble beginnings to a global enterprise, ushering in an era of transformative connectivity worldwide. This expansion has posed monumental challenges while demanding the seamless integration of leading-edge technologies from industry giants like Microsoft, Cisco, and others. He has earned multiple Cisco certifications, culminating in the CCIE Collaboration Certification in 2019, which shows his dedication to staying at the forefront of the rapidly evolving world of collab.

Ramy Riad leads the global future digital messaging strategy for the Webex cloud communications platform (CPaaS) solution. Ramy is passionate about creating multi-channel customer experiences and ensuring richer, smarter customer interactions.

With more than a decade's experience in telecommunications, Ramy works with global operator groups and governing bodies as well as messaging providers to truly shape the future of business messaging.

Keith Griffin joined Cisco’s Collaboration Technology Group in 2007 and is a Distinguished Engineer at Cisco focused on AI and Machine Learning in the office of CTO. He works on features that include Webex Assistant, Noise Removal, Relationship Intelligence, Facial recognition, Meeting Transcription and more. Keith works with customers, partners and analysts to ensure that technology direction is aligned with market needs. He leads Cisco’s Collaboration IP, Patent and Research strategy and has been Cisco’s top inventor for collaboration technology for over ten years. Keith holds a PhD from the University of Limerick in Ireland related to the use of Representational State Transfer (REST) programmable interface design for real time communication in web browsers. His major in computer engineering at university was virtual reality in manufacturing environments.

Jeremy Laurenson is a Distinguished Architect in Cisco Global Collaboration Sales organization. He works with both customers and the development organization to ensure Cisco’s UC portfolio is both Customer Relevant and forward looking. Jeremy has been directly involved in the incubation of several of Cisco’s Collaboration technologies such as Telepresence and Hologram, as well as key integrations such as that of Meraki and Thousandeyes into Control Hub. In addition, he has been lead DSE on technology partnerships with companies such as Google, Apple, Microsoft and IBM. Jeremy was directly involved in Cisco leading the industry disruption when Business Communications moved to IP, the move to Cloud and now is again involved with strategy and direction as Cisco embraces Artificial Intelligence technologies in disrupting the industry once again. As a pioneer in mobile software, Jeremy developed of one of the very first applications to run on the PalmPilot in 1996 which became commercially available as Pocket Quicken and still maintains several app store presences.

As a seasoned Director of Product Management at leading tech companies like Apple, Amazon, and Google, I thrive in translating complex technological challenges into user-centric solutions. A passion for understanding and addressing customer pain points and a commitment to driving innovation in every product I touch fuels my AI and Product Management journey.

I am deeply invested in mentoring the next generation of product leaders, sharing my experiences and insights to pave the way for their success. My technical acumen, coupled with a strategic mindset, positions me to continue shaping the future of product management in the tech industry.

Savita Kini is a global product and business executive with a passion for driving new innovation, new business initiatives and operational excellence in global product teams. She currently leads new technology initiatives at the intersection of artificial intelligence, speech science, computer vision and embedded systems in Cisco Webex. Prior to this role, she led Product for BabbleLabs, a speech AI startup, acquired by Cisco in 2020. She also led engineering, product management, marketing and sales operations at Cisco, Brocade and at startups in India and US. Savita holds an MBA from Cornell University, an MS in Computer Engineering from Texas A&M University and a BS in Electrical Engineering from University of Mumbai.

Keith Griffin joined Cisco’s Collaboration Technology Group in 2007 and is a Distinguished Engineer at Cisco focused on AI and Machine Learning in the office of CTO. He works on features that include Webex Assistant, Noise Removal, Relationship Intelligence, Facial recognition, Meeting Transcription and more. Keith works with customers, partners and analysts to ensure that technology direction is aligned with market needs. He leads Cisco’s Collaboration IP, Patent and Research strategy and has been Cisco’s top inventor for collaboration technology for over ten years. Keith holds a PhD from the University of Limerick in Ireland related to the use of Representational State Transfer (REST) programmable interface design for real time communication in web browsers. His major in computer engineering at university was virtual reality in manufacturing environments.

Christina Torok has been helping customers successfully adopt technology within their businesses for more than 15 years. In her current role at Webex, she leads the Webex Webinars and Events product marketing teams.

Iwan Spekenbrink (born 15 February 1976, The Netherlands) is founder, owner and CEO of professional cycling team ‘Team dsm-firmenich PostNL’, which operates at the highest level of professional cycling with a Men’s program a Women’s program as well as a Development program.

He stood at the base of the high performance, elite sports Keep Challenging philosophy: the approach to redefine cycling through cooperation and innovation. This vision entails a unique, scientific, and innovative focus, which is ideally implemented through a culture of true cooperation, within a framework of clear ethical principles. Through this philosophy the team celebrated many great successes including multiple stage victories in the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and Vuelta d’España, the biggest one day races ‘Milan-San Remo’ and ‘Paris-Roubaix’, the overall victory in the Giro d'Italia as well as the World Championships Team Time Trial with both their Men’s and Women’s program.

In addition to being a CEO, Iwan holds and has held various board positions at organisations that are committed to creating a fairer and more sustainable sport of cycling, such as the vice presidency of the MPCC (Movement for Credible Cycling), co-Founder and board member of Velon and the presidency of the AIGCP (the association for professional cycling teams).

Outside of work Iwan is a family man and enjoys taking a step back from his busy lifestyle to spend time with his friends and family. He also enjoys riding his bike and doing sports, enjoying nature and indulging in nice dinners with good friends.

Mithun Baphana is the lead product manager for Webex Mobile, Cars & Mobile Integrations. He is focused on the mobile-first meetings experiences on Apple iOS and Android mobile devices. Mithun is also responsible for strategy and product experiences for Webex for Cars.

Mithun brings 12+ years of industry experience in building mobile product experiences and strategies. Before joining Cisco in 2021, Mithun led his startup from the idea stage to launch and beyond.

Mithun holds a Master of Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California (USC) and a Bachelor of Engineering – Electronics & Telecommunications from the University of Pune, India. Outside of work, Mithun is passionate about historical memorabilia and macroeconomics. He lives in San Jose with his wife and two daughters.

Savita Kini is a global product and business executive with a passion for driving new innovation, new business initiatives and operational excellence in global product teams. She currently leads new technology initiatives at the intersection of artificial intelligence, speech science, computer vision and embedded systems in Cisco Webex. Prior to this role, she led Product for BabbleLabs, a speech AI startup, acquired by Cisco in 2020. She also led engineering, product management, marketing and sales operations at Cisco, Brocade and at startups in India and US. Savita holds an MBA from Cornell University, an MS in Computer Engineering from Texas A&M University and a BS in Electrical Engineering from University of Mumbai.

Amey Parandekar leads Product Management for Webex Calling, an enterprise grade, globally available, and innovative calling and phone system. He is passionate about innovation and evolving the calling experience from hearing, to seeing, to doing—empowering people to have a richer calling experience with Webex and leveraging cloud capabilities for the new era of hybrid work. Amey brings more than 20 years of experience in areas such as product management, design, and cloud engineering in productivity software at Cisco, Microsoft Teams, Azure, and Skype. He has developed 20 patents over his career.

Amey has a B.Tech from Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay and a master's degree from North Carolina State University.

He lives in Seattle with his family and enjoys outdoor activities such as hiking and kayaking in his free time.

With over a decade of experience in the technology sector, I have cultivated a diverse skill set and a robust career, progressing through roles such as Help Desk Support, Help Desk Manager, Network and Systems Administrator, and IT Director. I am deeply passionate about leveraging technology to bridge the gap between communities and workplaces, always striving to serve and lead people effectively.

Throughout my career, I have demonstrated expertise in various areas, including leadership, asset refreshes, network refreshes, migrations, and numerous projects focused on enhancing IT operations' efficiency. I am dedicated to continuous improvement and innovation in technology, ensuring that IT solutions not only meet but exceed organizational needs.

Being in healthcare, accessibility is a core value we have to not only have, but that we believe in passionately. I have helped our organization to introduce Webex Calling and Contact Center for our call center, along with our Crisis services, relying on the 99.99% uptime to allow our Crisis team to stay online, and save lives.

Amit Barave is the VP Product, Webex Suite and Webex AI, supporting the Collaboration organization. In this role, Amit leads a talented team of Product Managers who help to release all the features and improvements that make Webex great. Amit has been with Cisco for over 20 years and is a Communications and Collaboration industry veteran. Prior to Webex, Amit was instrumental in launching industry-first products in Telepresence and IP-Radio communications space and scaling them to market leadership. He holds an MBA from Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley. A prolific innovator, Amit also holds 13 US patents in the field of radio and video communications.

Travis Pouliot has greater than 21 years of experience with Cisco Collaboration and Contact Center solutions. Most of his career has been spent working with customers across segments such as financial services, media, and entertainment, as well as supporting service providers. In his current role as a Business Development Leader focusing on integrations and interoperability for Webex, he works closely with customers, sales representatives, and business units. His goal is to ensure organizations can extend the power of the Webex platform and its ability to integrate with enterprise applications such as Microsoft’s to benefit diverse users.

Travis has a passion for cross architecture solutions that enable today’s hybrid work needs and hosts many customers in Cisco’s new PENN1 office in New York City.

Kevin Ian is a Cisco and Microsoft Certified Technical Marketing Engineer focusing on Integrations. Kevin’s Ian’s career has allowed him to become proficient in Cisco’s Datacenter and Mobility Technologies, and ultimately Cisco’s Collaboration portfolio. Kevin’s current focus is on maximizing and integrating Ciscos latest acquisition of Splunk, along with further development of Cisco’s video technologies including Cisco video devices.

Bal Kambo is a Global Product Marketing Manager at Cisco. She joined Cisco in 2021, initially managing Cisco Desk Series devices, and now the PMM for Webex Suite, an award-winning all-in-one collaboration solution designed for hybrid work. Additionally, she spearheads key Webex Integration partnerships with industry giants such as Apple, Google, Samsung, and Webex for Auto partners.

Before joining Cisco, Bal accrued extensive experience in the IT computer industry in both hardware and software across Europe, Middle East, and Africa. Her leadership in developing product and marketing strategies, programs, product marketing, product management, product life-cycle, and business planning has been a driving force behind her career achievements.

Graduated with a Master's Degree in Marketing and living in the UK. Away from her professional pursuits, she has a keen eye for interior decorating and cherishes moments spent with family and friends. Her passion for travel is evident, having explored over 30+ destinations, where she enjoys immersing herself in different cultures and culinary arts.

Mike Grimaldi is Head of End-User Services at AXIS Capital, a specialist insurer and reinsurer. He currently leads the onsite end-user support team, the remote IT service desk and is responsible for the Webex experience at AXIS. Mike and his team are responsible for ensuring that AXIS has a first-class collaboration experience across all Webex products including messaging, meetings and webinars.

Espen Løberg leads Product Management for Webex video devices. Espen joined Cisco with the acquisition of Tandberg in 2010, and since then he's managed Cisco's Video Conferencing and Telepresence business through several market transitions. When Espen isn’t passionately discussing the future of work, he enjoys spending time in the outdoors with family and friends. He holds a Master of Science from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology and lives and works in Oslo.

Roopam Jain is a senior analyst and VP of research at Frost & Sullivan's Connected Work practice. She has more than 20 years of market analysis and strategic consulting expertise on next-generation collaboration technologies with particular expertise in video and team collaboration tools. She has closely followed market trends and customer adoption of collaboration technologies and has a deep understanding of user behaviors and challenges surrounding hybrid work. Roopam holds an MBA in Marketing Management from Baruch College, City University of New York.

As Vice President for Cisco Collaboration Strategy and GTM, Chris leads a team responsible for Cisco9’s Collaboration Go-To-Market strategy and Cisco Devices Acceleration. Previously, Chris was responsible for the sales execution of Cisco’s Cloud and Premise Collaboration business in the US, Canada, and Latin America. This role also included identifying key market transitions, solution incubation and GTM strategies, while managing future growth, expansion, and continuous innovation to ensure customer success. The Collaboration solution for Cisco powers team collaboration, unified communications, next generation meeting solutions, collaboration devices and customer care / Collaboration Platform as-a-Service solutions. Since joining Cisco in 2000, Chris has been focused on customer business outcomes with numerous roles including: Product Sales Specialist, Account Manager, Regional Sales Manager for Commercial and Public Sector, Global Video Sales leader, Americas Collaboration Sales Director, and VP Collaboration strategy. He has always achieved consistent year-over-year sales growth including 17 out of 20 years exceeding stretch sales objectives at Cisco. Prior to joining Cisco, Chris was a rising sales leader at Anixter, Ameritech, and ArrowPoint Communications. He has extensive experience in Enterprise Networking, Data Center, Collaboration and Video solutions including SaaS, Cloud, and GTM strategies. Chris holds a bachelor’s degree in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering from the University of Washington and has attended Stanford Graduate School of Business with an emphasis on leadership development / innovation.

Anna is a Product Manager in the Camera and Audio Intelligence Devices Team. Coming from an international background, she is passionate about working on products that connect people across the world.

Marisa Rutti is a Product Marketing Manager at Cisco. With a passion for new technology, she enjoys discussing the value of collaboration devices and how they can create a better experience within the workplace. Over the last 7 years at Cisco, Marisa has also worked on global strategic partnerships, industry and IoT solutions. Prior to Cisco, she has held roles within the high-tech partner community and start-ups where she has built a background in storytelling, product, and digital marketing.

Ashley Prettyman is a Product Manager Lead in the Collaboration Technology Group working on devices and wearables.  She is passionate about the end-to-end lifecycle of taking innovative products from ideation to prototype to market launch.  Over the last 5 years, she has held various roles within the collaboration team focusing on new product development, product launch, product marketing and customer engagements.

Prior to Cisco, Ashley worked in portfolio management, new product introduction, and supply chain operations at a multinational oil and gas company. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Distribution from Texas A&M University.  In her free time, she enjoys exploring new places, cultures, and cuisines along with playing America’s fastest growing sport, pickleball.

As the NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex IT Director, Pedro oversees the strategic technology of all the systems and network architecture. With a background in both networking and systems engineering, he ensures a seamless operation of the IT infrastructure.

His extensive experience in graphic design, app, and web development empowers him to develop innovative tools tailored to streamline the business operation and deliver cutting-edge solutions. Through the creation of immersive interactive experiences, setting new standards for innovation in the hospitality industry.

Pedro is passionate about bringing innovative and exciting technologies to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex and enhance the guest experience.

I am a Technical Marketing Engineer(TME) for Cisco Collaboration. My focus is on device customization using the xApi, Macros and UI Extensions; creating new experiences and tools for the community to use in their spaces. I have been working with collaboration technology for 6+ years, primarily around conference devices in both administration and education environments.

Alex Pop brings a wealth of expertise in collaboration technologies to his role as Senior Vice President at M&T Bank, where he has been at the helm of an expansive international portfolio of collaboration offerings for the past 4 years. His robust background in Voice and Video Engineering, Voice Operations, Video Operations, Video on Demand, and Digital Signage showcases his versatile leadership in the tech space. One of Alex's most significant recent accomplishments is his instrumental role in enabling hybrid work at M&T Bank. Capitalizing on the power of video technology, he facilitated a seamless transition for the workforce, further cementing his reputation as a forward-thinking leader. His strategic initiatives include upscaling Webex Events for up to 25,000 participants, modernizing the conference room space with Cisco hardware, Webex Calling, digital signage growth with AppSpace and Cisco Spaces have driven the bank's digital transformation. Alex's leadership empowers M&T Bank to stay at the forefront of emerging trends in collaboration technology, identify and implement innovative tools, platforms, and practices to optimize teamwork and productivity throughout the enterprise. These innovations will generate a lasting impact in the bank’s global footprint and operational resilience.

Andy leads the product marketing team for Cisco Collaboration Devices. He has worked in Cisco Collaboration Technology Group for over 10 years, providing product marketing support for a range of collaboration devices, enterprise calling solutions, and video conferencing infrastructure. Prior to joining Cisco, Andy held positions in product marketing, field marketing, product management, and engineering in the IT industry. He hold a 1st Class (Hons) Masters Degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from Newcastle University, and a CIM Diploma in Marketing.

Dave Petricca is Sr. Manager within the Accenture CIO organization and leads the product strategy and architecture standards for Accenture's global Video & Collaboration environment. He has over 25 years in the industry across IP networks, cloud computing and video & collaboration products and architectures. Dave has enjoyed the rapid technology advancements in the video and collaboration space across a complex landscape. During his tenure, Accenture has grown over 30x to over 730,000 people adding massive scale to this landscape and the challenges of bringing the best of Cisco, Microsoft and other technologies together.

Mark Miller is a member of Cisco’s Global Collaboration Center of Excellence, leading hybrid work strategy. In his current role he is responsible for engaging with Cisco most strategic clients, assisting them in the creation of their next-generation work environments. Mark also works closely with Cisco’s Workplace Resources and IT teams on the transformation of our real estate portfolio, and has played a key role in the design, development and launch of Cisco latest offices in Chicago, New York and Atlanta. Mark has over 30 years of experience in business and technology consulting, solutions development, marketing, and sales. Throughout his career, Mark has been recognized for his skills in leading large and complex business and technology transformation projects.

Kieran Higgins manages Digital Workplace Collaboration for Cisco. This includes Voice, Video, Meetings & Messaging, and Contact Center services globally. This also covers in-office technology and the platforms and services that deliver hybrid work for more than 140,000 employees and partners. Kieran is a 20-year Cisco veteran, delivering and managing IT client, network, and infrastructure services in APAC, Europe, and globally. Prior to this role, he held a variety of management, engineering and design roles in a variety of Fortune 500 companies in different geographies. Kieran holds a BSc and a research MSc in Applied Physics and has always been driven by the data and insights in working towards delivering business outcomes.

John Labus is a member of Cisco’s Real Estate Design and Construction Team, focusing on the creation of Cisco’s next-generation work environments. In his role he works closely with stakeholders across Cisco, including executive leadership, IT, People and Communities, Sales, Marketing and our Collaboration Business Group, to design and build some of the most collaborative, intelligent and sustainable workplaces in the world. With a degree in Architecture from North Carolina State University, John has over 30 years or experience in architectural design, space planning and change management, delivering millions of square feet of innovative office space across the globe. Most recently, he led the design efforts for Cisco’s newest flagship offices in New York, Atlanta, Chicago and Washington DC, as well as consulting with Cisco Design and Construction teams globally to assure consistency across our real estate portfolio. John’s projects have hosted numerous CoreNet events, been featured in Forbes, Wall Street Journal, CNBC, and have been recognized for excellence by the Leesman Index.

Padmini Krishnan is a Product Manager for Webex Contact Center. She was previously a Product Manager in the Webex devices group, building next generation collaboration devices and creating deeper integrations with the Webex platform. Prior to that, she spent seven years in software engineering. She holds a Master's degree in Computer Networks from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and an MBA from the University of Texas McCombs School of Business.

I'm Cameron Mitchell, and I'm the Telephony Services Manager at Umpqua Bank. I've been in my role for a few years ago after spending most of my career as an engineer. Insightful, results-driven IT professional with notable success directing a broad range of initiatives while participating in planning, analyzing and implementing solutions in support of business objectives. Leader who can build, lead, and motivate high-performing, cross-functional teams.

Gavin Ivester is the Director of Industrial and UX Design for Webex devices. Gavin's background includes design and product leadership roles at Bang & Olufsen, Apple (designing the first-ever PowerBook), Nike, PUMA, and as Gibson Guitar’s Chief Creative Officer. Gavin has been a guest lecturer at Stanford and Vanderbilt, and is currently based in Denmark.

I am the Americas team lead for the Webex Contact Center.

Dan Mathews is a Senior Architect and Strategist for Cisco’s Global Collaboration Systems Engineering organization, with 26 years of experience working with emerging technologies relating to Customer Engagement. Since joining Cisco in 2009, he has been responsible for aligning Cisco’s Collaboration portfolio with disruptive industry trends and customer-specific business drivers. In addition, Dan is frequently sought out by Cisco clients to provide guidance around the development of their collaboration strategies and roadmaps. Dan holds significant expertise in the design and deployment of Collaboration-focused data solutions, Artificial Intelligence, and Predictive Analytics. Prior accountabilities include 10 years with Avaya’s Global Strategic Solutions group, where he was a domain expert in the design and deployment of IP contact centers and the suite of software solutions that supported the adoption of the Flatten, Consolidate, and Extend (FCE) contact center model. Dan also was a principal at Denver-based Centerpoint Solutions, which delivered visualization and analytics solutions for managing customer journeys in the contact center. He holds a B.S. in Computer Science from Loyola University and advanced Microsoft, Java, Cisco, and Avaya certifications. Beyond collaboration technologies, Dan’s other interests include the preservation and restoration of coral reef environments throughout the world. As a member of the John G. Shedd Aquarium Council, SECORE, and Coral Restoration Foundation, Dan specializes in aquaculture techniques for captive breeding of Acropora coral. Through his work, Dan has shown how connected devices and the cloud can help to track and protect the spawning events of endangered coral colonies. Dan is also an avid beekeeper and maintains an apiary to provide his local community with honey.

A rare, born and raised Miamian, Tatiana Perez has been involved in the contact center arena for 25+ years. Prior to joining Carnival Cruise Lines, she took a hiatus from the travel industry and worked in FinnTech with ADP, Inc. Here she achieved significant operational success and accolades, where she took a singular, 20 agent call center and built a global, 1300+ multi-channel, award-winning brand. Throughout her journey, regardless of sector, she’s had one north star – empowering the frontline to build a product that meets the customer where they are.

Working with Senior Management to oversee new and existing software for the contact center. This includes proof of concept, review of business requirements, testing, and deploying software to production. Skilled in Requirement Analysis, testing, working with Technical teams, Sales, and Customer Service. Managing applications to include Siebel, Webex Connect, Oracle Service Cloud, Eloqua, Medallia and CTI integration. My goals are to ensure the business is meeting KPI's for Sales and Service with the applications that further our progress.

Steven Fly is a Technical Marketing Engineer (TME) within Cisco’s Collaboration Technology Group focusing on Webex migrations and Webex Calling. This includes working with the Webex product and engineering teams on the migration process and tools along with educating and assisting partners and customers on the migration journey. Steven has 20+ years of experience with Cisco’s on-prem and cloud collaboration solutions. Prior to his TME role Steven was a Cisco CX Sr. Solution Architect and worked with global enterprises and large Service Providers as a trusted advisor for variety of technologies including networking and collaboration.

Stefan Zeidenberg is a seasoned professional in the CPaaS industry. For over 10 years, he has been at the forefront of revolutionizing how brands efficiently and intelligently connect and communicate with their customers via digital channels, such as SMS, MMS, RCS, WhatsApp, Apple Messages for Business, and more. As the business world contended with evolving end-user demands due to the ubiquitous nature of smartphones and a 'digital-first' mindset, Stefan's expertise has expanded into empowering enterprises with low-code CPaaS platforms like Webex Connect. Today, Stefan leads the Americas CPaaS Presales team at Cisco, where he continues to drive digital engagement solutions, ensuring that businesses not only meet current complex communication demands but also stay ahead of the curve in the ever-changing landscape that is customer communication.

Arvi is the the Director, Product Management for Cisco’s Contact Center & Customer Experience product portfolio. We are transforming how frontline employees intelligently offer a personalized experience for consumers who connect with their business. Arvi is a seasoned innovator, tech executive, author and patent holder. Prior to this role, he was Vice President of Products at CloudCherry, until the acquisition by Cisco in October 2019. Previously, he ran the innovation team at Intuit, the maker of Turbotax & Mint. He also played various roles with SupportSoft leading to global expansion, NASDAQ IPO and acquisition. Outside of work, Arvi enjoys playing tennis, spending time with family and pets, and travel.

Steven Fly is a Technical Marketing Engineer (TME) within Cisco’s Collaboration Technology Group focusing on Webex migrations and Webex Calling. This includes working with the Webex product and engineering teams on the migration process and tools along with educating and assisting partners and customers on the migration journey. Steven has 20+ years of experience with Cisco’s on-prem and cloud collaboration solutions. Prior to his TME role Steven was a Cisco CX Sr. Solution Architect and worked with global enterprises and large Service Providers as a trusted advisor for variety of technologies including networking and collaboration.

Zeus Kerravala is the founder and Principal Analyst with ZK Research. Zeus provides a mix of tactical advice to help his clients in the current business climate and long-term strategic advice. He provides research and advice to end user IT and network managers, vendors of IT hardware, software and services and the financial community looking to invest in the companies that he covers.

Zeus does research through a mix of end user and channel interviews, surveys of IT buyers, investor interviews as well as briefings from the IT vendor community. This gives him a 360 degree view of the technologies he covers from buyers of technology, investors, resellers and manufacturers.

Prior to ZK Research, Zeus spent 10 years as an analyst at Yankee Group. Before Yankee Group, he had a number of technical roles including a senior technical position at Greenwich Technology Partners (GTP). Prior to GTP, he had numerous internal IT positions including VP of IT and Deputy CIO of Ferris, Baker Watts and Senior Project Manager at Alex. Brown and Sons, Incorporated.

Zeus holds a Bachelor of Science in Physics and Mathematics from the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada.

Johannes Krohn joined Cisco System in Germany in 2000. In his over 30 years of experience in the networking and telecommunication industry he worked in several IT companies gaining knowledge in engineering, system design and technologies from ATM to multi-protocol networking. In the last 20+ years he mainly focussed on IP telephony, Unified Collaboration and on-premise and cloud based collaboration solutions. As Technical Marketing Engineer working on Collaboration System Architectures he provides design guidance in key projects and is responsible to transferring new product information of Cisco Collaboration Solutions to audiences internally and externally. Technology focus areas include call routing architectures, collaboration architecture simplification and cloud collaboration. As part of the continuous development cycle he is providing input to the system level planing of future solutions. He holds a CCIE Voice.

Joe Martini is a Technical Leader in the Unified Collaboration group within the Customer Experience (CX) TAC at Cisco Systems. Joe holds a Bachelor of Science in Applied Networking and System Administration from the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) and CCIE Collaboration (#35601) certification. Since joining Cisco in 2007, Joe has become a global point of contact for Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM), IP phones (enterprise/multiplatform), and Webex Calling (WxC). He is also recognized as an innovator with the creation and development of many internal and external tools that solve problems, reduce effort, and save time.

Matt Jordy is a Technical Marketing Engineer in the Collaboration Technology Group at Cisco. He focuses on on-premises and cloud architectures, design, and security for collaboration. He provides technical guidance on Cisco collaboration solutions and products to the Cisco sales force as well as Cisco customers and partners around the world.

As Vice President for Cisco Collaboration Strategy and GTM, Chris leads a team responsible for Cisco9’s Collaboration Go-To-Market strategy and Cisco Devices Acceleration. Previously, Chris was responsible for the sales execution of Cisco’s Cloud and Premise Collaboration business in the US, Canada, and Latin America. This role also included identifying key market transitions, solution incubation and GTM strategies, while managing future growth, expansion, and continuous innovation to ensure customer success. The Collaboration solution for Cisco powers team collaboration, unified communications, next generation meeting solutions, collaboration devices and customer care / Collaboration Platform as-a-Service solutions. Since joining Cisco in 2000, Chris has been focused on customer business outcomes with numerous roles including: Product Sales Specialist, Account Manager, Regional Sales Manager for Commercial and Public Sector, Global Video Sales leader, Americas Collaboration Sales Director, and VP Collaboration strategy. He has always achieved consistent year-over-year sales growth including 17 out of 20 years exceeding stretch sales objectives at Cisco. Prior to joining Cisco, Chris was a rising sales leader at Anixter, Ameritech, and ArrowPoint Communications. He has extensive experience in Enterprise Networking, Data Center, Collaboration and Video solutions including SaaS, Cloud, and GTM strategies. Chris holds a bachelor’s degree in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering from the University of Washington and has attended Stanford Graduate School of Business with an emphasis on leadership development / innovation.

Scott Kiewert is a Technical Marketing Engineer in the Collaboration Technology Group at Cisco. He currently focuses on Webex security, identity, compliance, privacy, and data sovereignty.

Sara Macías Salete is a Technical Solutions Architect in Cisco, part of the Global Collaboration Compete and Interoperability team. She is focused on Webex interoperability with Microsoft, Google and Zoom, supporting customers and partners mainly at an EMEA level. She has participated in several events as a speaker or lab instructor, including Cisco Live or the Cisco Collaboration Partner Virtual Team. Sara joined Cisco in 2014 through the CSAP graduate program. She holds an MSc and BSc in Telecommunications Engineering by the Technical University of Madrid. She's passionate about technology, wine tasting, jazz music and dance. Key topics Sara can cover: - Cisco Devices interoperability with Microsoft Teams, Google Meet and Zoom - Cisco Devices for Microsoft Teams (MTRs) - Webex Calling for Microsoft Teams

Omer is a CCIE-certified Technical Marketing Engineer. Boasting a professional journey spanning more than a decade, he has excelled in conceptualising, creating, and executing intricate, expansive, and worldwide initiatives within the realm of Collaboration Solutions. This encompasses Cloud, On-Premises, and Hybrid undertakings. Omer's current endeavours are centered around the dynamic Webex platform, encompassing aspects such as APIs, Integrations, Webex Teams, Meetings, and Calling. He has achieved academic excellence with both a Bachelor's and a Master's degree in Software Engineering.

Justin Jordan is a Senior Product Manager for Webex Calling with 25 years of experience in calling and collaboration technologies. Working for 12 years at Cisco in both technical sales and product roles, Justin loves bringing our customers simple solutions to complex problems. Justin attended the University of Hawaii and lives in the Hill Country of Texas with his wife, daughter, and two pugs.

Carlos Guadamuz is a Business Development Manager at Cisco for Webex customer experience solutions, with a particular focus on Webex Contact Center. In this role, he is instrumental in providing hands-on experiential demonstration of both the business and technical value of the solutions in the portfolio for executive audiences.

Carlos brings over 20 years of contact center experience to Cisco, joining from a previous role at Genesys where he was a Senior Solutions Consultant supporting both commercial and enterprise accounts. Previous roles as an analyst in the financial and professional services industries honed his abilities to guide customers through industry best practices and common use cases in evaluating technology solutions.

Johannes Krohn joined Cisco System in Germany in 2000. In his over 30 years of experience in the networking and telecommunication industry he worked in several IT companies gaining knowledge in engineering, system design and technologies from ATM to multi-protocol networking. In the last 20+ years he mainly focussed on IP telephony, Unified Collaboration and on-premise and cloud based collaboration solutions. As Technical Marketing Engineer working on Collaboration System Architectures he provides design guidance in key projects and is responsible to transferring new product information of Cisco Collaboration Solutions to audiences internally and externally. Technology focus areas include call routing architectures, collaboration architecture simplification and cloud collaboration. As part of the continuous development cycle he is providing input to the system level planing of future solutions. He holds a CCIE Voice.

Tony Jones is the Director of Collaboration Renewals at Cisco and has been with the company for 16 years. As the leader of America's Collaboration Renewals, Tony's primary focus is on customer retention and driving revenue growth. Before taking on his current role, Tony was a part of the America's Sales Acceleration team, where he handled escalations for large and complex deals for the USPS Team.

Lorena Smith is a Partner Renewals Manager (PRM) of the Americas team in the Customer Experience (CX) organization at Cisco Systems. In this role, Lorena is responsible for leading 4 strategic Partners in North America, 2 whom are at a national level. Lorena applies her extensive 8+ year sales career at Cisco to achieving performance goals year after year, while striving to continually improve the partner and customer experience. Lorena has received multiple awards, serves as a key escalation point that can be leveraged with partners, providing value to them and bringing the gaps between Cisco renewals and partners. She’s passionate about relationships, the growth and success of her partners, enablement and alignment, all while driving on time renewal rates with Services and Software offers and decreasing attrition. Lorena’s prior experience was also in CX Renewals driving the same level of excellence with top 3 Distributors across Latin America, and 13 Partner in Mexico. Prior to joining Cisco, Lorena spent 3 years at a certified Cisco Partner in the Account Management role, where she not only hit the highest customer retention rates, but also broke record increasing double digit revenue within her first year, sold Enterprise Agreements, Software and Hardware solutions to Fortune 500 Companies in the US, Latin America, and the Caribbean Netherlands. Before switching careers to the tech industry, Lorena was a High School Teacher. She holds a bachelor’s degree in education, with K-12 certifications: Florida and Puerto Rico - where she was born and raised. She has been married to Ralph for 8 years and have a beautiful fur baby: Lola 18 (not so baby anymore). She is currently based in Tampa, Florida and her passions are scuba diving and her family.

Sara Macías Salete is a Technical Solutions Architect in Cisco, part of the Global Collaboration Compete and Interoperability team. She is focused on Webex interoperability with Microsoft, Google and Zoom, supporting customers and partners mainly at an EMEA level. She has participated in several events as a speaker or lab instructor, including Cisco Live or the Cisco Collaboration Partner Virtual Team. Sara joined Cisco in 2014 through the CSAP graduate program. She holds an MSc and BSc in Telecommunications Engineering by the Technical University of Madrid. She's passionate about technology, wine tasting, jazz music and dance. Key topics Sara can cover: - Cisco Devices interoperability with Microsoft Teams, Google Meet and Zoom - Cisco Devices for Microsoft Teams (MTRs) - Webex Calling for Microsoft Teams

With 15 years of sales and marketing experience, I am a results-oriented, data-driven professional specializing in Go-to-Market (GTM) planning and execution. My expertise lies in crafting comprehensive, vertical-driven engagement strategies and use cases within the cloud technology sector. I prioritize innovation and forward-thinking approaches to effectively address and resolve my clients’ long-term business challenges. My focus is on developing actionable strategic initiatives that not only achieve immediate objectives but also promote sustainable growth and success for my clients.

Scott Kiewert is a Technical Marketing Engineer in the Collaboration Technology Group at Cisco. He currently focuses on Webex security, identity, compliance, privacy, and data sovereignty.

Matt Jordy is a Technical Marketing Engineer in the Collaboration Technology Group at Cisco. He focuses on on-premises and cloud architectures, design, and security for collaboration. He provides technical guidance on Cisco collaboration solutions and products to the Cisco sales force as well as Cisco customers and partners around the world.

Niket has 14 years of experience in Cisco Unified Communications, UCaaS, and Data Center. Prior to his current role , he worked with Cisco cloud managed services as a technical architect for white glove cloud uc offerings for banks & service providers , as a technical lead for TAC for the UC team. Niket holds a CCIE in Collaboration, Master in Microlectronics , Bachelors in Electronics, Bachelors in Telecommunications engineering . He is currently a Technical Solutions Architect focused on collaboration for global enterprise with focus on cloud calling and contact center architectures and hybrid work.

Omer is a CCIE-certified Technical Marketing Engineer. Boasting a professional journey spanning more than a decade, he has excelled in conceptualising, creating, and executing intricate, expansive, and worldwide initiatives within the realm of Collaboration Solutions. This encompasses Cloud, On-Premises, and Hybrid undertakings. Omer's current endeavours are centered around the dynamic Webex platform, encompassing aspects such as APIs, Integrations, Webex Teams, Meetings, and Calling. He has achieved academic excellence with both a Bachelor's and a Master's degree in Software Engineering.

Johannes Krohn joined Cisco System in Germany in 2000. In his over 30 years of experience in the networking and telecommunication industry he worked in several IT companies gaining knowledge in engineering, system design and technologies from ATM to multi-protocol networking. In the last 20+ years he mainly focussed on IP telephony, Unified Collaboration and on-premise and cloud based collaboration solutions. As Technical Marketing Engineer working on Collaboration System Architectures he provides design guidance in key projects and is responsible to transferring new product information of Cisco Collaboration Solutions to audiences internally and externally. Technology focus areas include call routing architectures, collaboration architecture simplification and cloud collaboration. As part of the continuous development cycle he is providing input to the system level planing of future solutions. He holds a CCIE Voice.

Harish is a Sales Engineering Manger with Cisco. With over twenty years of UC & Collaboration Technology experience, he has held multiple leadership positions across Cisco IT, Engineering and Sales. He currently leads the first-of-its-kind software development team within the Global Collaboration Sales Engineering organization. His innate ability to connect-the-dots has served several of our largest customers in solving complex business problems and transforming user experiences utilizing the Webex portfolio. With the purpose of advancing our customer’s business outcomes, Harish and his team can help you explore the art-of-the-possible through Webex programmability.

Gyorgy Gyarmati is an experienced product marketer at Cisco based in Oslo, Norway where his main remit consists of room video conferencing systems, board devices, and room peripherals. Previously, he worked at major brands like IBM and Verint Systems as well as fast-growing startups like Verba Technologies as a B2B marketer and content strategist. At Cisco, he has been behind the launch of flagship collaboration device solutions, like the Cisco Board Pro, Room Bar, Room Bar Pro, Table Microphone Pro, and the Room Kit EQ. As a product and content marketing professional, Gyorgy is most passionate about communicating and showcasing how technology innovations can solve real-world problems to drive awareness, engagement, and adoption.

Mary is a Product Manager for Cisco working with the devices team. With a focus on in-meeting, content and layouts, her goal is to deliver a seamless & high quality experience when collaborating using Cisco devices. With a background in Webex, she has key insight into the roadmap of features coming to devices.

Harish is a Sales Engineering Manger with Cisco. With over twenty years of UC & Collaboration Technology experience, he has held multiple leadership positions across Cisco IT, Engineering and Sales. He currently leads the first-of-its-kind software development team within the Global Collaboration Sales Engineering organization. His innate ability to connect-the-dots has served several of our largest customers in solving complex business problems and transforming user experiences utilizing the Webex portfolio. With the purpose of advancing our customer’s business outcomes, Harish and his team can help you explore the art-of-the-possible through Webex programmability.

Rafat is a Systems Architect at Cisco Systems and holds dual CCIE in Voice and Collaboration technologies. He has over 13 years of experience supporting different verticals such as large financials, healthcare and Web scale accounts with expertise in Cisco collaboration On-prem and cloud products. Rafat has presented at several Cisco Live sessions and is an expert on Webex and ThousandEyes integrations. Rafat was previously a part of Cisco’s Advanced Services team as a Collaboration Architect and has also worked as a TAC engineer supporting Cisco’s collaboration portfolio.

Omer is a CCIE-certified Technical Marketing Engineer. Boasting a professional journey spanning more than a decade, he has excelled in conceptualising, creating, and executing intricate, expansive, and worldwide initiatives within the realm of Collaboration Solutions. This encompasses Cloud, On-Premises, and Hybrid undertakings. Omer's current endeavours are centered around the dynamic Webex platform, encompassing aspects such as APIs, Integrations, Webex Teams, Meetings, and Calling. He has achieved academic excellence with both a Bachelor's and a Master's degree in Software Engineering.

Kevin Ian is a Cisco and Microsoft Certified Technical Marketing Engineer focusing on Integrations. Kevin’s Ian’s career has allowed him to become proficient in Cisco’s Datacenter and Mobility Technologies, and ultimately Cisco’s Collaboration portfolio. Kevin’s current focus is on maximizing and integrating Ciscos latest acquisition of Splunk, along with further development of Cisco’s video technologies including Cisco video devices.

I am a Technical Marketing Engineer(TME) for Cisco Collaboration. My focus is on device customization using the xApi, Macros and UI Extensions; creating new experiences and tools for the community to use in their spaces. I have been working with collaboration technology for 6+ years, primarily around conference devices in both administration and education environments.

Davide Preti is a Technical Marketing Engineering Technical Leader in the Collaboration Technology Group Solutions team focusing on Cisco Unified Communications. Davide is based in Italy and joined Cisco in 2010 through the TANDBERG acquisition. His main area of expertise is around Microsoft, Google, and Zoom interoperability, with a special focus on video and IM&P.

Susan Parrish resides in North Carolina where she enjoys spending time at the beach in her newfound free time as a recent empty nester. She has an extensive background in supporting software-as-a-service products through previous customer-facing roles. Susan has a BA in Management of Information Systems and a Master of Education in Adult Education. She combines her knowledge of the IT industry and customer-facing experience with her passion for education to bring a fresh perspective to technical training at Cisco.

Clare Davis is a Webex evangelist and proponent of hybrid work. For over 20 years, Clare has delivered Webex product training to thousands of customers, partners, and internal employees. Clare continually strives to create meaningful content to inspire others with her excitement for how easy it is to work wherever and whenever with Webex!

Clare lives in Redding, California, where she enjoys overwhelming herself with home improvement ideas she’ll never get around to, cooking, spending time with her family, and sharing her house with five adorable cats.

Hannah Berke is currently the Customer Success Lead for Vidcast, Cisco Collaboration’s new asynchronous video messaging application. Prior to joining the Vidcast team, Hannah was a Customer Success Manager at Hyland Software, an enterprise content management software company. She is motivated about helping organizations reach their desired outcomes with the use of asynchronous video. Hannah is most passionate about educating and teaching customers while maintaining energetic and strong relationships.

Have been with Cisco for 16 years and worked in Meetings and Conferencing for 30 Years. Technical marketing Manager for Conferencing, Webex Meetings and Webinar. Have worked with various organisations to help them get the best out of Meetings and webinars. I have a lot of experience in the conferencing space and have a lot of experience with this and the adjacent technologies.

Clare Davis is a Webex evangelist and proponent of hybrid work. For over 20 years, Clare has delivered Webex product training to thousands of customers, partners, and internal employees. Clare continually strives to create meaningful content to inspire others with her excitement for how easy it is to work wherever and whenever with Webex!

Clare lives in Redding, California, where she enjoys overwhelming herself with home improvement ideas she’ll never get around to, cooking, spending time with her family, and sharing her house with five adorable cats.

Susan Parrish resides in North Carolina where she enjoys spending time at the beach in her newfound free time as a recent empty nester. She has an extensive background in supporting software-as-a-service products through previous customer-facing roles. Susan has a BA in Management of Information Systems and a Master of Education in Adult Education. She combines her knowledge of the IT industry and customer-facing experience with her passion for education to bring a fresh perspective to technical training at Cisco.

Susan Parrish resides in North Carolina where she enjoys spending time at the beach in her newfound free time as a recent empty nester. She has an extensive background in supporting software-as-a-service products through previous customer-facing roles. Susan has a BA in Management of Information Systems and a Master of Education in Adult Education. She combines her knowledge of the IT industry and customer-facing experience with her passion for education to bring a fresh perspective to technical training at Cisco.

Peter is a Principal Technical Marketing Engineer in the Collaboration Technology Group at Cisco with over 16 years’ experience, specializing in Webex administration, analytics, and troubleshooting. He writes documentation, presents, and demonstrates solutions to customers, partners and Cisco teams.

Krishna Tyagi is an accomplished Customer Success Technical Leader for Webex Contact Center at Cisco's Contact Center Business Unit (CCBU), with over 17 years of experience in the Contact Center industry, spanning a wide range of Technical and Customer Success leadership roles. A three time Cisco Live presenter and Distinguish speaker, he is a trusted advisor for Cisco Customers and Partners, he has extensive knowledge and experience with Webex Contact Center, UCCE, UCCX and before Cisco on Avaya CC. In his current role, Krishna provides exemplary product and solution leadership to Cisco's customer success team, partners, and customers. He plays a crucial role in influencing product evolution, managing incidents, providing support, and promoting the value proposition during pre-sales engagements. His expertise and guidance have helped customers to achieve improved performance and customer satisfaction. Krishna is highly qualified, with a Bachelor's Degree in Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering and Executive and Performance Leadership certification from Cornell University. He also holds many other IT, and Professions certificates.

Adam Weeks is a lifelong developer with a passion for learning, teaching, and building applications with over 20 years of industry experience. As manager of the Webex Developer Evangelism program, Adam & his team empower developers to build on the Webex ecosystem. He has spoken worldwide to audiences of all sizes, from small intimate workshops to the main stage of a global conference. Adam is a native Floridian and any time not spent on the computer is spent on the water with his wife and two children.

Adam North has worked with the Webex Calling product from inception to its current state. He joined Cisco with the Broadsoft acquisition and spent several years as a frontline trainer, empowering Cisco Partners with the latest information on Webex Calling.

Now in a leadership role, Adam uses his extensive Webex Calling knowledge to develop new course offerings for Webex Calling and develop training on the latest feature set, while managing the current frontline trainers and occasionally assisting in course delivery.

Susan Parrish resides in North Carolina where she enjoys spending time at the beach in her newfound free time as a recent empty nester. She has an extensive background in supporting software-as-a-service products through previous customer-facing roles. Susan has a BA in Management of Information Systems and a Master of Education in Adult Education. She combines her knowledge of the IT industry and customer-facing experience with her passion for education to bring a fresh perspective to technical training at Cisco.

Susan Parrish resides in North Carolina where she enjoys spending time at the beach in her newfound free time as a recent empty nester. She has an extensive background in supporting software-as-a-service products through previous customer-facing roles. Susan has a BA in Management of Information Systems and a Master of Education in Adult Education. She combines her knowledge of the IT industry and customer-facing experience with her passion for education to bring a fresh perspective to technical training at Cisco.

Susan Parrish resides in North Carolina where she enjoys spending time at the beach in her newfound free time as a recent empty nester. She has an extensive background in supporting software-as-a-service products through previous customer-facing roles. Susan has a BA in Management of Information Systems and a Master of Education in Adult Education. She combines her knowledge of the IT industry and customer-facing experience with her passion for education to bring a fresh perspective to technical training at Cisco.

Susan Parrish resides in North Carolina where she enjoys spending time at the beach in her newfound free time as a recent empty nester. She has an extensive background in supporting software-as-a-service products through previous customer-facing roles. Susan has a BA in Management of Information Systems and a Master of Education in Adult Education. She combines her knowledge of the IT industry and customer-facing experience with her passion for education to bring a fresh perspective to technical training at Cisco.

Karthik is a Director of Customer Success and Solution Assurance for the Webex Contact Center platform in the Americas region. He has been with the Webex CC team for over 3 years and has over 25 years of experience in the contact center industry in the areas of customer experience and satisfaction, product development and engineering and critical escalations support.

Pete is a Principal Technical Marketing Engineer in the Collaboration Technology Group at Cisco with over 16 years’ experience, specializing in Webex administration, analytics, and troubleshooting. He writes documentation, presents, and demonstrates solutions to customers, partners and Cisco teams.

Jeff is a Learning Management System Administrator for the Webex Learning and Enablement team and has spent the last 15 years as a trainer in the Cisco Collaboration arena with the last 4 years specializing in the Webex product suite. After spending much of his career in the design, implementation and project management side of the teleconferencing field, he discovered his passion for training engineers and spent over a decade with a Cisco training partner traveling all over the world delivering classes to Cisco customers, partners, and employees. Jeff is an experienced people leader with a drive for building his teams to deliver top-notch customer service. Outside of his role at Cisco, Jeff enjoys riding his motorcycle to remote back-country campsites in the Colorado Rockies, collecting vinyl records, and entertaining guests with barbecued ribs and craft cocktails.

Irwin Overton is a 23 year veteran of Cisco Systems and has worked as an instructional designer creating e-learing courses for Webex Control Hub and Webex Calling since 2021. Before, coming to the Webex team, he spent 10 years with Cisco sales as a systems engineer and 10 years as a Cisco public sector support engineer.

Prior to Cisco, Irwin worked as a Certified Cisco Systems Instructor (CCSI) teaching Cisco certification classes all over the United States and occasionally in other countries.

Irwin earned his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering degree at Howard University and his Juris Doctor (J.D.) law degree from the University of Baltimore School of Law. Irwin spent nine years in the US Army Reserve and ended his military career as a Company Commander with the rank of Captain. He holds a number of Cisco Certifications as well as the Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) certification.

At home, he lives the almost “empty nest” life with his wife of 35 years after raising one son and one daughter who work in the security and medical fields respectively.

When not working, Irwin will be found, coaching married couples through his church, or building and racing all manner of remotely controlled (RC) cars, airplanes, helicopters, and drones.

Phil Bellanti is a Senior Developer Evangelist and Customer Experience Product Manager on the Webex team. Based in Orlando, Florida, Phil has been involved in the cloud-API space since 2007 and joined Cisco in 2015 through their acquisition of real-time communications API provider Tropo. In his current role, Phil is involved with creating and presenting content for Webex developer enablement, including tech talks, workshops, hackathons, and other live events. Additionally, Phil enjoys writing how-to blogs, creating newsletters, and networking with the dev community.

Mithun Baphana is the lead product manager for Webex Mobile, Cars & Mobile Integrations. He is focused on the mobile-first meetings experiences on Apple iOS and Android mobile devices. Mithun is also responsible for strategy and product experiences for Webex for Cars.

Mithun brings 12+ years of industry experience in building mobile product experiences and strategies. Before joining Cisco in 2021, Mithun led his startup from the idea stage to launch and beyond.

Mithun holds a Master of Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California (USC) and a Bachelor of Engineering – Electronics & Telecommunications from the University of Pune, India. Outside of work, Mithun is passionate about historical memorabilia and macroeconomics. He lives in San Jose with his wife and two daughters.