Speakers

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  AMD

  Hasmukh Ranjan

  Senior Vice President and CIO

  Hasmukh Ranjan is Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer at AMD, leading the IT and Indirect Procurement teams. AMD IT’s primary goals include process simplification to achieve operational excellence for IT operations, providing elastic computing to our engineers through grid efficiency and cloud expansion, and assessing the impact of innovative AI investments and adoption. He has extensive experience managing global IT operations and previously has worked at Xilinx and Synopsys. Ranjan has over 20+ years of experience as an IT leader and holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree, a Master of Computer Science, and a Master of Business Administration.
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  Dallas Cowboys

  Matt Messick

  Chief Information Officer

  Matt Messick is the Chief Information Officer for the Dallas Cowboys. In his role, Matt leads the team responsible for the technical operations of AT&T Stadium, Dallas Cowboys Headquarters at The Star and all Jones Family related entities. Matt oversees a team of IT professionals dedicated to maintaining the Cowboys reputation as the leading franchise in professional sports.

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  Akamai Technologies

  Nikki Parsons

  VP IT Engineering

  Nikki Parsons boasts a remarkable career spanning over 20 years in the information technology sector, with a specialized focus on infrastructure. Currently holding the position of Vice President of IT Engineering at Akamai Technologies, Nikki oversees the Network, Unified Communications, Messaging, and Service Delivery teams. Having joined Akamai in 2014, Nikki embarked on a mission to redesign and modernize the enterprise's unified communications and collaboration platforms. Her strategic efforts laid a robust pre-pandemic foundation, facilitating a seamless transition to a fully remote and highly productive workforce within a matter of days. Over the ensuing years, Nikki has spearheaded the reimagination of IT's service delivery, fostering a frictionless hybrid experience that concurrently propels employee productivity. In recognition of her outstanding contributions, Nikki was honored as the inaugural IT Winner of Akamai's most prestigious award, the Danny Lewin Award, in 2021. Beyond her professional endeavors, Nikki is deeply committed to cultivating a workplace culture characterized by trust, transparency, and professional independence. Her dedication to fostering inclusivity is evident in her recent appointment as the Chair of Akamai’s Enterprise Women’s Network. During her leisure time, Nikki indulges in outdoor activities, such as hiking and running, and maintains a commitment to physical fitness through strength training and participation in Orangetheory Fitness. Notably, throughout her tenure in the Bay Area, she has accomplished the impressive feat of completing seven marathons.
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  Cigna

  Eric Reed

  Senior Vice President and CTO

  Eric Reed is the Senior Vice President and CTO of EverNorth Health Services, a division of The Cigna Group.  In this position Eric is responsible for all infrastructure services, including private and public cloud, for The Cigna Group.  Eric also has responsibility for Global Procurement and Third Party Management (GPTPM) and Contact Center Technology for The Cigna Group.
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  AIDS Healthcare Foundation

  Doss Tychicus

  CIO

  Doss Tychicus is an experienced IT leader with over 30 years in the field, overseeing impactful projects such as the consolidation of multiple EMR systems. Passionate about innovation, he has implemented various technologies like cloud solutions and virtual chat to support his organization’s mission. He enjoys exploring new technologies and global cuisine.
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  Mass General Brigham

  Rajesh Patel

  VP of Digital Patient Experience

  Rajesh Patel, MD, MPH, MA is Vice President of Digital Patient Experience at Mass General Brigham. Dr. Patel began his career as a software developer, focusing on filesystems for enterprise storage systems and networking protocols for web caching products. Over a decade ago he transitioned into medicine, completing his Internal Medicine Residency and serving as Chief Medical Resident at the University of Michigan. Following his residencies, Dr. Patel relocated to Boston to practice Addiction Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Hospital Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (now Beth Israel Lahey Health). He went on to hold leadership roles, including Chief Medical Information Officer at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Deputy Chief Health Information Officer / Assistant Vice President at Beth Israel Lahey Health. In addition to his current position in Digital at Mass General Brigham, Dr. Patel also practices Hospital Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and is an Instructor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.
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  Overhead Door Corporation

  Larry Freed

  Vice President & CIO

  Larry Freed is Vice President and Chief Information Officer (CIO) for Overhead Door Corporation, a leading manufacturer of doors and openers for residential, commercial, industrial and transportation applications. The company, headquartered in Lewisville, Texas, has three operational divisions – Access Systems Division (Overhead Door, Wayne Dalton, and TODCO plus our services arm, Creative Door and Wayne Dalton Sales & Service), The Genie® Company, and Horton Pedestrian Systems (Horton Automatics, Flex by Horton, Won-Door plus our services arm of Door Services) – all heralded as industry leaders. Mr. Freed began his career with U.S. Can Corporation, an international general line, plastics and specialty packaging manufacturer, where he held various positions in Engineering, Manufacturing Operations, and then Information Technology. Mr. Freed became Director of Business Solutions with Pulte Homes, one of America’s largest home building companies with operations across the United States. Larry then went onto serve as Vice President and CIO for Atrium Companies, Inc., one of the largest manufacturers of residential vinyl and aluminum windows in North America. Larry truly found his niche as a specialist in Information Technologies for US Manufacturing Corporations where his Engineering roots serve him well in understanding business needs. Larry’s significant background in building products is now being used in his latest role with Overhead Door Corporation where he is responsible for all aspects of Information Technology, including strategy, enterprise applications, infrastructure, information security and service delivery. Mr. Freed holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Master of Science Degree in Manufacturing Engineering from Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York.
• 

  BlackRock

  Harsh Mehta

  Vice President

  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.
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  TD Bank

  Rebecca Rinaldi

  Vice President of Technology

  Rebecca Rinaldi is currently Vice President of Technology at Toronto Dominion (TD) Bank serving as the primary technology partner for TD's North America Customer Operations where she leads the development and execution of technology and platform strategies for the Contact Center, ATM and Collections functions across the bank. Additionally, she is member of Women at TD and serves as a career mentor on the Black Experiences Network (BEN) diversity pillar. Becky joined TD after 21 years at Cigna Health Care where over the years she was the primary technical leader for the Human Resources, Compliance, Pharmacy, Intelligent Automation, Global Production Support and Contact Center functions which included execution of several enterprise scale programs and M&A initiatives. She was an active mentor and alumni leader for Cigna's early career programs and was the IT executive sponsor the company's recognition program. Becky is also active in her community and industry currently serving on the Board of Trustees for the New Jersey State Museum Foundation and having held previous board and advisory roles with Girls on the Run and UCX USA. She earned her Bachelor's degree in Commerce and Engineering from Drexel University and her MBA in International Business from University of Hartford. Becky lives in New Jersey with her husband Mike and two teenage daughters. In her spare time she enjoys traveling, doing anything athletic, especially outside, and attending her daughters' sporting and school events.
• 

  adidas

  Milos Hadzi-Stevic

  Director, Product Ownership Hybrid Workspace

  Miloš Hadži-Stević is the Director of Product Ownership for Hybrid Workspace at adidas, where he spearheads global initiatives focused on enhancing meeting room videoconferencing and room booking systems. With a strong foundation in strategic planning and cross-functional collaboration, Miloš and his team are dedicated to delivering best-in-class collaboration tools and seamless workplace experiences for adidas employees around the world.
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  AXIS Capital

  Mike Grimaldi

  Head of End User Services

  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.
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  Umpqua Bank

  Cameron Mitchell

  AVP, Telephony Services Manager

  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.
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  Mercalis

  Tommy Walker

  Vice President, IT Operations

  Tommy Walker is a contact Contact center Center and customer Customer experience Experience strategist Strategist at Mercalis. He helps design and deliver innovative customer experience solutions to help life sciences companies deliver comprehensive solutions that enhance patient lives. Tommy attended Miami University and began his career as a Marine Officer, where he achieved the rank of Captain. After leaving the Marine Corps, he obtained an MBA from NC State University and joined Mercalis (formerly TrialCard) in 2010. Tommy brings more than a decade of experience with Cisco’s Collaboration product portfolio. In 2011, he was a part of the core project team responsible for the selection, implementation, and launch of Unified CCE as the company's first contact center platform. He presented leadership with the business justification to migrate from Unified CCE to Webex CCE, which his team delivered in 2023. In the short time since, the growing complexity of the life sciences market, aggressive delivery timelines, and an increasing appetite for innovation led his team to shift focus towards Cisco's Webex CCaaS and CPaaS platforms as ways to leverage technology through AI. Tommy is the father of Jack (17), Grady (15), and Ella (10) and celebrated his 20th wedding anniversary with his wife Leigh earlier this year. When he is not at a ballfield or in a gym watching one of his children compete, he enjoys Cleveland Guardians baseball, Carolina Hurricanes hockey, North Carolina barbecue, bourbon, and relaxing at the beach.
• 

  pidas

  Pascal Wolf

  CEO

  I have been part of the pidas crew since 2016. Over the years, I have held various roles at pidas, always working in sales and at the same time significantly developing pidas services and initiating new products. Since 2017, I have served on the Executive Board as Sales Manager, and in April 2023, I became the CEO of the pidas group. As CEO, I am responsible for strategic development and innovation across all areas. Engaging directly with our customers and partners inspires me and continuously provides new insights. Before joining pidas, I spent over 15 years at IBM Switzerland, with more than a decade in various management positions. I consider myself customer-centric, visionary, and innovative, with a passion for excellent customer service. I see challenges as opportunities for growth and place great importance on a modern and appreciative corporate culture. My focus is on driving continuous development and change, always striving to improve existing processes and integrate state-of-the-art technology into our services. Our mission, «making people wow!», is something I hold especially close to my heart, and I am dedicated to bringing this mission to life in my daily interactions and work. On a personal note, I have been married for over 20 years and have two wonderful daughters, aged 21 and 17. In my free time, I enjoy spending time with my family and our horses, as well as traveling to new countries and exploring new places.
• 

  BNP Paribas Personal Finance

  Elin Simmenes Knudsen

  Nordic Head Of Customer Care and Production Support

  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.
• 

  Amazon Web Services (AWS)

  Matt Yanchyshyn

  VP, Marketplace + Partner Services | AWS

  Matt Yanchyshyn is the VP for AWS Marketplace & Partner Services. He has worked in the digital media and technology industry for over 25 years, and joined Amazon Web Services (AWS) in 2012 when cloud computing was just a glimmer in most CIOs' eyes. Matt has led multiple AWS service teams and technical sales organizations, including AWS Control Tower, AWS Service Catalog, AWS Well-Architected, and now all engineering for AWS' partner organization. Before joining AWS, Matt spent a decade at the Associated Press, where he built field offices all over the world and led modernization efforts for the AP's digital media distribution systems. Matt holds multiple AWS patents, is an Amazon Bar Raiser with >650 interviews, and has had the privilege of leading great teams who have launched dozens of new AWS programs, features, and products.
• 

  Banco BPM

  Pier Paolo Mansueto

  IT Project Manager

  A technology enthusiast from a young age, I bring over 20 years of experience managing complex IT projects in the financial industry. I've had the opportunity to work on many challenging and rewarding projects. Outside of work, I cherish my time with my loving wife and our two amazing daughters, who inspire me every day.
• 

  Burrell Behavioral Health

  Jarrett Newberry

  Senior System Director, Information Technology

  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.
• 

  Cigna

  Jan Agay

  Infrastructure Engineering Senior Manager

  Jan Agay: IT Leader with a Passion for Collaboration and Efficiency Jan Agay is a dedicated Infrastructure Engineering Senior Manager focused on real-time collaboration with over 24 years of experience driving IT innovation and streamlining operations. A happily married father of four, he resides in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, where he balances his professional life with the joys of family. Throughout his career, Jan has consistently delivered strategic solutions that enhance security, user experience, and cost-effectiveness. Here are some of Jan's key strengths: Collaboration Expertise: Adept at managing and deploying next-generation collaboration tools like Webex, Mattermost, and Microsoft Teams, fostering seamless communication and teamwork within organizations. Cloud Adoption Champion: Successfully migrated subsidiary companies to cloud-based infrastructure using Microsoft Azure and Office 365, leveraging technologies like AutoPilot and Windows Hello. Technical Breadth: Possesses a comprehensive skillset encompassing Webex, Office 365 Administration, Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, and various programming languages. Jan-Ronald's passion for technology extends beyond his professional endeavors. He actively seeks opportunities to share his knowledge, having served as a CrossFit coach and provided IT training.
• 

  University of Wollongong

  David Arnold

  Solution Architect

  David is a results-driven Solution Architect and certified Webex Expert with demonstrated success in leading the design and deployment of large-scale cloud, network, collaboration, security, building management, process control, and audio visual projects. With a strong background in network engineering and software development, David's career expands over several industries including high-end security for hospitals, casinos, correctional facilities, and power plants; industrial wireless for underground heavy fleet mining operations; and the development of an automated continuous real-time monitoring platform to collect the data required to research, help map, and manage landslide susceptibility, as well as hazards and risks to urban or major transport infrastructure such as roads or railways. David is the recipient of the 2024 Vice-Chancellor Outstanding Service Award and 2022 WebexOne Collaboration Chief: recognizing a company using the integrated capabilities of Meetings, Calling, Messaging, and Events in exceptional ways.
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  BlackRock

  Melanie Sastre

  Unified Communications Engineer

  Member of the Unified Collaboration Communication Team and joined the Telecommunications team. Responsible for the Design, Engineering Implementation and Support of Carrier Infrastructure, Desktop Phones, Trader Deal Boards, Voice Recording, Contact Centers, Desktop and Mobile Voice/ Video solutions including all of the Data Center servers and routers supporting each technology.
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  Dallas Cowboys

  Kristen Boydston

  IT Director, Service Management & Strategy

  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.
• 

  Yum Brands

  Mike Huber

  Voice Architect

  With an impressive 24-year tenure at YUM! Brands, Mike Huber has dedicated 22 of those years to mastering voice and video technologies. Currently serving as a Voice Architect on the strategy team, he brings a wealth of experience and a unique perspective to the role. Starting his journey at YUM on the KFC Restaurant helpdesk, Mike gained invaluable insights into both the client and administrative sides of the contact center. This dual understanding allows him to effectively bridge the gap between these two critical areas, ensuring seamless communication and operations. A seasoned professional in Cisco voice technologies, Mike has been working with Cisco voice since the early days of Call Manager and UCCX 3.0. His extensive experience and deep knowledge make him a pivotal asset to the team, driving innovation and strategic initiatives in voice architecture.
• 

  Kennedy Space Center

  Pedro Antonio Oñoro

  IT DIRECTOR

  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.
• 

  RBC

  Hiren Sindhvad

  Sr. Manager, Digital Marketing Technology

  Result-oriented communications technology strategist with a passion for empowering teams. Proven track record in leveraging WebEx Connect to Drive business growth and enhance customer experiences. Join me at WebEx One to explore innovative solutions for the future of work.
• 

  Sutherland

  Christopher Koelling

  Principal - Unified Communications Architect

  I have served as a technologist and customer/employee advocate on both the value-added-reseller and private sector sides of the fence. My experience spans verticals ranging from municipalities, education, small/medium business, and large (private and public) corporate entities. Being a solution-oriented architect with 25+ years of experience designing and implementing complex Unified Communications and networking systems for valued clients and high-profile companies, I have been able to amass experience across a large breadth of situations. I always strive to be an intuitive team leader with expertise in directing cross-functional teams in resolving issues to minimize downtime and enhance overall performance. I have enjoyed repeated success in analyzing business requirements and developing robust architectures and integrations. In an ever-changing environment I continue to be well-versed in delivering reliable and secure collaboration solutions that align with business objectives. When introduced to a new environment I tend to have a knack for cultivating enduring relationships with executive leadership, team members, clients, and stakeholders. I currently reside in coastal North Carolina with my wife and daughter.
• 

  Accenture

  Dave Petricca

  Collaboration Strategy/Architecture Sr. Manager

  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.
• 

  M&T Bank

  Alex Pop

  SVP, M&T Bank

  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.
• 

  Saudi Electric Company

  Ahmed AlRahiani

  Collaboration & Interactive Services Division Manager

  Ahmad AlRahiani I am Collaboration and Interactive service division manager at Saudi Electricity Company. I have spent almost 10 years working in deploying Collaboration Solutions at SEC serving almost 30K+ employee mostly with cisco product I managed a team to deploy, operate and maintain CUCM, Jabber and WebEx along with designing and deploying Interactive Multi-Purpose Meeting Rooms integrated with facility management
• 

  St Anne Institute

  Tim Roberts

  Solution Architect

  I am originally from N.Ireland over in the UK and had traveled around Europe and other surrounding countries before visiting the US. I love to travel and see sites from the coasts to the mountains, as well as natural and historic. I started my professional career studying originally for Aeronautical Engineering, then took a side-step early on into IT through some other classes. Realized I loved the constant flux of IT, the constant changes and learning in network and server infrastructure alone. I took classes in the UK, but then moved to the US to continue my education, working in the same college as a student aide in IT. I added professional certifications along the way. I have worked my way up through from helpdesk, to deskside, as well as server, network and telecom systems administration. Along the way, I moved up the professional ladder as supervisor, manager to director level. I have also worked in a variety of industries like financial, pharmaceutical, medical and more at both the local, regional, national and international. Cisco has been the backbone of a lot of those companies, from both networking and telephony and have embraced the move from on premise big firewall and communications servers, to dynamic and flexible cloud based networking like Meraki and telephony like Spark Calling, which has since migrated to Webex. Where I work now is a hybrid mix of education, healthcare, as well as also being a non-profit. Due to the evolving nature of the business, I also helped transition them over to Webex, which has added enhanced security and collaboration between teams, as well as unifying communication between all sites and staff.
• 

  RBC

  Jaime Gillespie

  Senior Director, Digital Marketing Technology

  I am dedicated to offering guidance and direction that empowers my teams to devise creative solutions autonomously. My leadership philosophy revolves around authenticity, transparency, and inclusivity, fostering an environment where team members feel valued and motivated, ultimately contributing to collective success. The diverse talent within our organization serves as a constant inspiration, providing me with numerous opportunities to collaborate with individuals from different backgrounds and learn from each other. My daily enthusiasm stems from the opportunity to tackle a variety of enterprise-level challenges and reshape our work environment. I've been privileged to collaborate across various talented technical and non-technical teams throughout my career contributing to innovative applications of data, technology, and content in informing and executing new strategies for enhanced client relevance. Outside of the professional sphere, my interests extend to quality time with my family, engaging in outdoor activities such as hiking, and discovering new wineries in the surrounding area. Beyond the workplace and personal pursuits, I am an active volunteer in hospice and palliative care within my community, where I provide crucial client care and family support services. This volunteer work holds special meaning for me, as it allows me to contribute positively to the well-being of others in their time of need.
• 

  BNY

  Cody Haiden

  SVP, Principal Engineer

  Cody Haiden is a seasoned infrastructure technologist with over a decade of expertise in collaboration tools and enhancing user experiences in voice, video, and conferencing technologies. Currently serving as Senior Vice President for Workplace Technology at BNY, Cody leads technology strategies for modern workplace solutions. Focusing on colleague experiences, Cody drives new technology advancements ensuring they meet the needs of today’s evolving workplace. With a deep understanding of core infrastructure technologies such as LAN/WAN design, data center, virtualization, and Microsoft 365/Azure/Entra ID, Cody brings a holistic approach to modernizing collaboration and workplace technologies. He has also held key roles in global technology transformations, such as deploying enterprise-wide collaboration platforms, and leading IT initiatives during mergers, acquisitions and divestures. These experiences have made Cody well-versed in both technical and strategic elements of enterprise IT. Cody's extensive expertise and commitment to advancing innovation in infrastructure technology, systems architecture, and business processes have established him as a trusted leader in modern collaboration technologies.
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  Jefferson City Medical Group

  Aaron Hendrickson

  CIO

  Aaron Hendrickson serves as the Chief Information Officer for Jefferson City Medical Group, in Jefferson City, Missouri. With 16 years of experience in IT, 14 of which were spent specializing in healthcare, Aaron is committed to leveraging technology to enhance patient care and streamline clinical operations. He is passionate about driving continuous innovation and digital transformation within the healthcare industry.
• 

  Lee Health

  Amy Triana

  Division Director Patient Access

  With over a decade and a half of dedication to healthcare management, my journey at Lee Health has evolved from managing Patient Access to leading Professional Services in Outpatient care. The recent certification in Systems Thinking for Healthcare Leaders solidifies my commitment to innovative leadership in patient-centered care. Our team's focus on interpersonal skills ensures that patient advocacy and safety remain at the forefront of our service delivery. Currently, as Division Director of Patient Access, my role encapsulates the essence of systems leadership, allowing for the seamless integration of patient needs with healthcare services. It's a position where daily challenges are met with a steadfast resolve to improve and streamline access for our patients. My leadership philosophy is built on continuous learning and empowering our team to excel in delivering exceptional healthcare experiences.
• 

  Lee Health

  Vanessa Pruneda

  LPG Contact Center Director

  Vanessa Pruneda has been a pivotal part of Lee Health for over 3.5 years, where she currently serves as the Director of the LPG Contact Center. With a decade of experience as a contact center consultant, Vanessa has spearheaded initiatives including telephony implementations, operational restructuring, and process improvements. Her expertise extends to centralizing decentralized ambulatory departments, managing both inbound/outbound calls and referrals, and overseeing department KPIs to drive success.
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  M&T Bank

  Katie Gilliland

  VP, Engineering Team Lead, M&T Bank

  Katie is the Engineering Team Lead for myTech events which provides audio video event services and media services at M&T Bank. Katie has been with the bank for three years. Prior to the bank, Katie was in the theater/live event industry having worked at many venues in different technology roles but had longer tenures as the production manager of the Nazareth College Performing Arts Center and assistant manager at the University at Buffalo Performing Arts Center. Katie’s career has been about aligning technology to communicate. At M&T she has worked extensively on creating a seamless hybrid experience for Tech Hub at Seneca One. Post pandemic we are on a journey to understand our new ways of working and how to align technology that fosters collaboration within this new space. Katie and her team have worked to understand the use cases as well as solution, innovate, push the technology to meet these objectives. Over the last few months her and her team has been focused on creating an equitable experience between the remote experience and the in-person experience with the use of camera angles and multiple cameras in space to create inclusive conversations. Katie has spent time studying architecture, engineering, and other related topics but holds a degree in Theater Technology & Design. Katie is currently pursuing her MBA at the University at Buffalo (UB).
• 

  BankVic

  Jodie Knott

  Service Excellence and Customer Success Manager (Contact Centre)

  Jodie is an experienced leader in Australia’s Customer Owned Banking Industry, with over 20 years of experience driving Customer Experience (CX) excellence. She has a proven track record of achieving high service scores by building and leading high-performing teams across various areas of retail banking including Contact Centres, Branch Network and Sales & Marketing. Jodie’s passion lies in leveraging data analytics to uncover insights that empower and engage retail banking teams to enhance the quality of the service they provide and elevate customer experience. At BankVic, she has been instrumental in implementing strategic transformations using Cisco Webex products to improve service metrics, compliance and data-driven customer experience.
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  Veridian Credit Union

  Alan Stalnaker

  Manager of Member Contact Center

  Alan Stalnaker has been a dedicated member of Veridian Credit Union since 2006, bringing a wealth of experience and leadership to various roles within the organization. Since 2017, Alan has been at the helm of the contact center, where he has been instrumental in integrating high-level, dynamic technologies to enhance operations. As Manager of Member Contact Center, Alan’s leadership philosophy centers on valuing his team and ensuring they provide superior service. He believes that the best customer experience is achieved by allowing customers to choose how they want to be served. This belief drives his commitment to continually evolving and improving Veridian’s digital offerings, alongside honing the “on the phone” skills of the contact center agents. Alan is particularly excited about technologies that enable agents to focus more on the caller and their experience, rather than spending excessive time on research and troubleshooting. His forward-thinking approach ensures that both the technology and the people at Veridian are aligned to deliver exceptional customer service.
• 

  National Trust

  Clare Quick

  IT Operations Director

  Clare Quick is a seasoned IT professional with three decades of expertise in managing complex operations; predominantly in the Finance sector and more recently with the National Trust. As the IT Operations Director for NT, Clare leads teams responsible for keeping the show on the road. Her passion lies in optimizing technology solutions and service to enhance efficiency and empower colleagues. As the biggest conservation charity in Europe with 5+ Million members, over 12 thousand employees, 50 thousand volunteers across 800 locations, the opportunities for technical advancement are endless and when implemented right hugely rewarding.
• 

  LPL Financial

  Aubrey Jones

  AVP Technologist UC Engineering

  Aubrey Jones is a Collaboration Engineer, and part of the Webex Experts program within the Webex Insiders User Group. He has over 20 years of experience within the collaboration space, spanning a career with Contact Centers, Manufacturing, and Financial Services. He is currently serving in an architecture engineering role for LPL Financial, and leads many of the Unified Communications projects, from design and implementation. He also spends a lot of time developing standards and plans protecting LPL from outages within their telecom environments. In 2019, Aubrey was part of an initiative to bring LPL Financial onto a Cisco platform for collaboration, and achieved a migration of over 9,000 employees from Avaya and Zoom to Cisco and Webex. The migration was 100% successful, with zero outages or user issues. Even with the migration occurring over the remote work initiatives, with remote training, the organizational change was successful for all users, and all Avaya was eventually retired. He also spent considerable time on integrations and automations enabling the expansion of use for Webex products into the environment, beyond just turning on basic functionality. Aubrey has since become devoted to being on the front edge of all things Webex. He participates in Beta initiatives, and being an early adopter or new technology. He participated in the Beta testing for Cinematic Meetings Cross View, and deployed a site to that technology in production as a flagship conference room the same time it went to General Availability. He is considered an innovator and collaborator among his peers, and truly enjoys the work he performs.
• 

  Cintas

  Jeanette Lyons

  Network Engineer III (Telecom)

  Telecommunication Management with more than 30 years working in cross-functional environments. Bringing exceptional written and oral communication skills paired with expertise in financial analysis and project installations and team management of Engineers and System Designer. Dedicated to offering locally relevant oversight and management techniques.
• 

  State of TN

  Bobby Lindsey

  Senior IT Manager - UCC

  Bobby joined the State of Tennessee in 2013 to support the delivery of Unified Communications and Collaboration solutions serving in the roles of UC Architect, Supervisor and currently Senior IT Manager. Prior to joining the state, Bobby worked for Presidio Network Solutions as a Collaboration Architect from 2011 to 2013. From 1997 to 2011, he was in various roles with an international printing and publishing company serving in various roles culminating in the Manager of Network Services. Bobby holds a MA from Liberty University, a BS in Business Management from Mid-Continent University, and AS in Industrial Automation from Western Kentucky University.
• 

  City of El Paso

  Nicole Ferrini

  Climate and Resilience Officer

  Holding degrees in both interior design and architecture from Texas Tech University, Nicole has leveraged her background in design and systems thinking to launch a career building better, stronger, more prosperous communities. In 2014, Nicole became the first Latina in the world to serve as Chief Resilience Officer (CRO) for municipal government. Most recently, following 6 years at the helm of the Department of Community and Human Development, Nicole is now additionally serving as the Climate & Sustainability Officer for the City of El Paso. In these multiple leadership roles, Ms. Alderete Ferrini continues to raise the bar for city leadership by provoking innovation among civic leaders, industry professionals and the community at large. Despite the scale of the challenge, she remains focused on building grass roots resilience across the Paso Del Norte region, emphasizing dynamic solutions to the challenges of climate instability, urban development, housing homelessness, economic prosperity and social justice.
• 

  City of Phoenix

  Ian Trollope

  Deputy CIO Enterprise Telecommunications Services

  Ian Trollope, Deputy CIO Enterprise Telecommunications Services for the City of Phoenix oversees the City's unified communications and contact center systems, the enterprise network, and layer-1 inside and outside plant infrastructure. He has provided innovative communications solutions to customers and residents for over 20 years. During the pandemic he led an effort to deploy over 300 video systems in a six week period to enable hybrid work for City of Phoenix employees.
• 

  American Eagle Outfitters

  Joseph McQueen

  Sr. Manager Collaboration

  With over three decades of experience in the Information Technology sector, I have honed a deep expertise in networking, voice systems, and collaboration technologies. My career spans an impressive 33 years, with 18 of those years dedicated to American Eagle, where I've played a pivotal role in advancing the company's technological infrastructure. Initially starting in networking, my journey evolved through the realms of voice communication, leading me to my current focus on collaboration tools. I am passionate about leveraging technology to streamline workflows and enhance team interactions. My responsibilities now encompass a broad spectrum of technologies, including mobile solutions, audio-visual systems, voice communications, and Apple ecosystem management. Throughout my tenure, I have been committed to innovation, particularly in automating processes to improve efficiency and effectiveness in collaboration. My work not only supports but also drives the strategic direction of technology adoption, ensuring that our tools are at the forefront of industry standards, enhancing productivity and user experience across the organization. My approach combines technical proficiency with a strategic vision, aiming to create seamless, integrated technology environments that empower teams to collaborate effortlessly, regardless of location or device. This blend of extensive experience, technical skill, and forward-thinking has established me as a leader in the field of IT, dedicated to transforming how businesses connect and operate.
• 

  Consultant for Dutch Government

  Sijbren Beukenkamp

  UC Solution Architect

  Sijbren Beukenkamp, a CCIE-certified cloud UC architect and solution consultant at 3Corners, is recognized as a Cisco Insider Champion and Cisco Insider Webex Expert. Specializing in the top of stack applications Cisco Collaboration and Webex. Recently, Sijbren, part of a larger team, has led several large-scale Webex and Cisco HCS deployments for governments, enterprise clients and service providers, helping them transform their communication infrastructures to meet the demands of a secure, functional, scalable and agile based collaboration services architecture. Sijbren’s technical knowledge, paired with his practical experience, ensures clients achieve optimal results in their cloud strategy, making him a trusted authority in the Cisco ecosystem.
• 

  pidas

  Manuel Fruehstueck

  Head of Service Excellence

  As Head of Service Excellence and member of the pidas Leadership Team, I lead the entire service management team, managing the strategic development and continuous improvement of the customer experience and service quality.

  With over a decade of experience in the IT sector and a team of approximately 350 highly qualified IT professionals from Vienna, Graz, Zurich, and Budapest, we deliver tailor-made premium IT support solutions that enable companies worldwide to efficiently achieve their business objectives.

  My primary focus is on the development and implementation of innovative strategies to perpetually improve service quality. By deeply understanding our customers' needs and leveraging advanced solution approaches, I strive to not only meet but exceed their expectations, providing an exceptional service experience — aligned with our motto: #MakingPeopleWow
• 

  PEDERNALES ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE, INC

  David Whitney

  Telephony and Unified Communications Architect

  David Whitney is a Unified Communications focused professional with a background in various support roles. Progressing from desktop and server administration roles to voice and networking over the course of the last 35 years, his focus is now collaborative communications and DevOps. David spent time as an implementation engineer, with several VAR’s (Value Added Resellers), migrating or installing Cisco voice solutions and now works for the largest distribution electric cooperative in the nation, Pedernales Electric Coop. His accumulated skillset is now geared toward facilitating the best possible experience for the Coop’s Employees and Membership.

• 

  Seminole Hard Rock Support Services

  Wai Lee

  VP IT Global Infrastructure

  Global IT leader with Telecom and Financial Service experience with a proven track record for success in Security, Infrastructure and Operations. Drive partnerships and programs to achieve top results. Lead cross functional teams through disruptive transformations, and modernization programs. Reorganize IT with accountability, speed, scale, and agility leveraging OKR, KPI and metrics.
• 

  Samsung

  Michael Smith

  Head of Global Strategic Alliances

  Michael Smith is the Head of Global Strategic Alliances for Samsung Electronics America (SEA) Display Division. In this role he is the crucial link for Samsung’s business interests in Enterprise Display driving Global large-scale partnerships with major content, hardware, and software companies. Michael background spans more than 20+ years in Consumer Electronics spanning a broad base of disciplines including Product Marketing, Marketing, Business Development, Multi-Channel Sales (for Alliance, Enterprise, Retail, Consumer, Online and OEM business). In his last roll Michael had served as the General Manager for Samsung’s Set Top Box and Network Business in the US accounting for more than 43% of Samsung’s Global revenue for that business sector. Michael’s current role is driving large scale Global Alliance partnerships from Product Development to Go-To-Market.
• 

  NMDP

  Jim Graham

  Chief Information Officer

  Jim joined NMDP in 2024. As an accomplished, mission-driven leader, he brings more than 25 years of experience aligning business and technology to create value and accelerate growth. Jim leads all aspects of NMDP's information technology, including modernizing and scaling platforms and maintaining system security, automation and operational efficiencies.

  With a proven track record of leading and delivering complex business and IT transformations, Jim plays a pivotal role in leveraging technology to drive the organization's mission-critical operational strategy. He’s passionate about fostering a collaborative work environment and building high-performing IT teams focused on continuous learning and improvement.

  Most recently, Jim spent 11 years at Prime Therapeutics, a Twin Cities-based pharmacy benefit management company. As CIO, he led a multiyear initiative to modernize and scale technology platforms during a new operating model implementation, which helped improve speed-to-market, state-of-the-art automation and access to information. Before Prime, he spent more than a decade in executive IT roles at Voya Financial (formerly ING), developing business and technology strategies and leading transformation initiatives.

  Jim earned a Bachelor of Science degree in business computer information systems from St. Cloud State University in St. Cloud, Minn. He enjoys spending time with his family, traveling, and playing golf and racquetball.

• 

  Frost & Sullivan

  Elka Popova

  Vice President and Senior Fellow

  Elka Popova is a Vice President and Senior Fellow in Frost & Sullivan’s Connected Work practice. She has more than 20 years of market analysis and strategic consulting expertise on enterprise communications and next-generation technologies. Areas of focus include UCaaS and cloud collaboration, unified communications systems and endpoints, CPaaS, and SIP trunking and cloud connected calling. Elka holds an MBA in International Management from Thunderbird/ASU.
• 

  The Collab Collective

  Craig Durr

  Chief Analyst and Founder

  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.
• 

  Frost & Sullivan

  Roopam Jain

  Senior Analyst and VP of Research

  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.
• 

  ZK Research

  Zeus Kerravala

  Founder and Principal Analyst

  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.

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

• 

  Cisco

  Jeetu Patel

  EVP and Chief Product Officer

  Jeetu Patel is Cisco’s Executive Vice President and Chief Product Officer. He is focused on bringing the power of the Cisco portfolio together to connect and protect every aspect of customers’ businesses in the AI era. 

  Jeetu joined Cisco in 2020 as the Executive Vice President and General Manager of Security and Collaboration where he reinvigorated organic innovation, championed key inorganic investments, and drove simplification across these multibillion-dollar portfolios with a fanatical focus on design and user experience positioning them for success and growth. 

  He has 20+ years of senior leadership experience driving product design, development, innovation, and business growth.
• 

  Cisco

  Anurag Dhingra

  SVP & GM, Cisco Collaboration

  Anurag Dhingra is the Senior Vice President and General Manager of Cisco Collaboration. This multi-billion-dollar business boasts the award-winning Webex product portfolio, including Cisco Collaboration Devices, the Webex Suite, and the Webex Contact Center. Anurag leads one of the largest teams working on AI at Cisco and has played a pivotal role in shaping the AI strategy.

  Anurag is dedicated to delivering exceptional collaboration experiences for employees and customers in our increasingly digital and AI-driven world. His team has delivered thousands of innovations across the Webex portfolio and is helping to future-proof the work experience and how people connect.

  In his tenure with Cisco, Anurag has held several leadership roles in Collaboration, including Chief Technology and Product Officer where he led the entire software business for Cisco Collaboration. He was also Vice President and Head of Engineering for Webex Meetings where he was responsible for delivering applications and services to power online meetings for millions of users worldwide.

  With over 20 years of experience in Communications, Collaboration, and SaaS industry, Anurag is accomplished at building high performance global teams and creating innovative, market leading products. Anurag takes pride in being a customer-focused leader, with a proven track record of strategic thinking and executing with a strong culture of innovation.

  Passionate about applying Technology for Good, Anurag serves on Cisco's Human Rights Advisory Council and started Cisco's Responsible AI initiative as founding executive sponsor. 

  He holds a bachelor’s degree in Electronics & Communications Engineering from National Institute of Technology, Kurukshetra, India.
• 

  Cisco

  Aruna Ravichandran

  SVP and Chief Marketing & Customer Officer, Webex by Cisco

  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.
• 

  Cisco

  Snorre Kjesbu

  SVP & GM, Cisco Collaboration Devices

  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.
• 

  Cisco

  Jay Patel

  SVP & GM, Webex Customer Experience Solutions

  Jay is the SVP & GM of Cisco's Webex Customer Experience Solutions business and joined Cisco when IMImobile PLC was acquired in 2021. He helped start IMImobile and as CEO led it to a successful IPO on the London Stock Exchange in 2014 and then to its acquisition by Cisco. Today he is working on creating technologies that help clients deliver the world's best customer experiences.

  Jay enjoys working with entrepreneurs and fast growth technology businesses and has served as both an executive and non-executive director on the Boards of private and public companies and has led several investments and exits.

  Prior to IMImobile Jay co-founded Spark Ventures plc, an early-stage venture capital firm, and held corporate finance roles at UBS Warburg and BSkyB. He qualified as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG and has an MBA from INSEAD and an Economics degree from LSE. Jay is passionate about technology, economics and social justice.
• 

  Cisco

  Vinod Muthukrishnan

  VP & Chief Operating Officer, Webex Customer Experience Solutions

  Vinod is the VP & COO for the Webex Customer Experience Business Unit overseeing all Go-To-Market, Customer and Business Operations. In this role, Vinod works with the Cisco field, partners and customers to bring world class innovation from the Business Unit to the world. Vinod’s true passion lies in the joy of creation. Building beautiful products that solve real customer pain and are delivered with a frictionless and delightful customer experience are top of that list.

  Vinod spent the last 3 years in Enterprise AI at Uniphore, a Cisco Investments Portfolio Company, where he built a stealth product that allows Citizen Developers to build AI and automation products from scratch. This gave Vinod a practitioner’s view of how Gen AI has radically shifted AI adoption at enterprises globally. Vinod was also the co-founder and CEO of CloudCherry, a world-class customer experience platform which helped business across the globe track, measure, analyze and improve their customer journeys with predictive analytics. CloudCherry was acquired by Cisco in 2019.

  Vinod lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his family and a very vocal Husky. When not dreaming of customer experience, he is often consumed by thoughts of how to score more runs in his local amateur cricket league.
• 

  Cisco

  Ted Kezios

  SVP, People & Communities, Cisco

  Ted Kezios is the Senior Vice President of People Care, part of Cisco's People & Communications organization. Leading across global Compensation, Benefits, Employee Relations, and People Experience, Ted steers the development and delivery of world-class solutions that support the essential life needs of Cisco's 84,000 employees in almost 100 countries.

  As the senior executive of People Care, Ted cultivates Cisco's inclusive culture and works to better the lives of its people. He and his team help each person thrive and enable teams to excel by ensuring fair pay, fostering their well-being, and providing a holistic employee experience.

  In addition to leading global people functions, Ted is the executive sponsor of several major healthcare customers-UnitedHealthcare, Stanford, and Humana. He also harnesses the power of Cisco's people for good as a major sponsor of the Covenant House youth homelessness movement in Atlanta.

  Before joining Cisco in 2000, Ted held sales, service, and financial management roles within large healthcare and financial service companies.

  He earned his Master of Business Administration in Finance from Santa Clara University and his Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Indiana University.  Ted, his wife, and their two children live in Atlanta, Georgia, where he enjoys cooking and a variety of fitness activities.

BREAKOUT SESSION SPEAKERS

• 

  Cisco

  Aanya Sanghavi

  Product Manager

  I’m Aanya Sanghavi, a Product Manager at Webex, where I am the product owner of Webex Webinars. I graduated from Duke University with a degree in Computer Science and Psychology, which laid the foundation for my career in technology and product management. When I first joined Cisco over two years ago, I worked on the development of the Webex Webinars we have today. In the past six months, my focus has shifted to migrating Webex Webinars to the new Webex Suite Meetings Platform. This transition aims to leverage AI and provide a seamless, integrated experience across the Webex Suite. In addition to my work with Webex Webinars, I’m also a part of the Suite AI team. Here, we are dedicated to harnessing AI to boost productivity across meetings, messaging, and calling, continually striving to enhance user experiences and streamline workflows.
• 

  Cisco

  Alan McCann

  Director of Software Engineering with Cisco Rooms

  Alan McCann is a Director of Software Engineering in RoomOS based out of Galway, Ireland with over 15 years experience working in Collaboration across Cisco's portfolio, including Jabber and the Webex App. Alan specializes in fostering collaboration and timely delivery of innovative software solutions. With a strong background in both technical and managerial roles, Alan focuses on bridging the gap between customer requirements and engineering execution.
• 

  Cisco

  Alec Walker

  Director of Product Management

  Alec Walker is a senior Product Leader at Cisco, where he oversees the development and execution of the product roadmap for Webex Control Hub, Cisco’s premier single-pane-of-glass portal for managing its suite of collaboration products. Alec’s leadership is focused on refining the administrative experience and ensuring seamless and simplified user interfaces across Cisco’s collaboration ecosystem. With over two decades of experience, Alec has driven innovation within market-leading communication companies. His deep expertise in cloud technologies and dedication to enhancing user experiences have positioned him as a key influencer in the evolution of collaboration solutions. Before Cisco, Alec was a product leader at BroadSoft, with a particular focus on administrative experiences for the micro business segment.
• 

  Cisco

  Amey Parandekar

  VP, Webex Calling Product Management

  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.

• 

  Cisco

  Amit Barave

  VP Product, Webex Suite and Webex AI

  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.
• 

  Cisco

  Amy Ryan

  Principal Solutions Engineer

  Amy Ryan is a Principal Solutions Engineer with over 24 years of experience in collaboration technologies. Amy worked for Cisco partners for 10 years and the last 14 years at Cisco designing and deploying complex calling solutions. Over the past few years it has been her passion to help customers move from premise based calling to cloud calling solutions.
• 

  Cisco

  Andy Johnston

  Leader, Product Marketing

  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.
• 

  Cisco

  Anna Bieber

  Product Manager

  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.
• 

  Cisco

  Annemarie Hauge

  Engineering Product Manager

  Annemarie Hauge is the Site & Team Lead at the Oslo Experience Center, part of Cisco's Norway Devices Product Management team. With over a decade of experience at Cisco Norway, Annemarie brings deep expertise in collaboration and a strong commitment to advancing Cisco's mission of powering an inclusive future for all
• 

  Cisco

  Arvi Krishnaswamy

  Director, Product Management

  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.
• 

  Cisco

  Ashish Chotai

  Director of Product, Webex

  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.

• 

  Cisco

  Ashley Prettyman

  Product Manager Lead, Cisco

  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.
• 

  Cisco

  Bal Kambo

  Global Product Marketing Manager

  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.
• 

  Cisco

  Brad Bonin

  Vice President, Solutions Engineering

  Brad Bonin, Global Vice President of Solutions Engineering, leads Cisco’s Collaboration pre-sales solutions engineering organization. In his role, Brad serves an organization focused on bringing Cisco’s collaboration technology to life for our customers. Brad specializes in cloud SaaS services for Cisco including hybrid work, AI driven Customer Experience, sustainable real estate technology design, unified communications, enterprise CPaaS and AI. Brad has spent the past 23 years at Cisco in various engineering roles. He has led engineering teams across Cloud/Web, Gaming, Enterprise/IT, Mobility carriers and Telco service providers. He has also led global teams across Enterprise, Commercial, Public Sector and the SMB space. His technical expertise covers Cisco’s portfolio including collaboration, security, networking, data center and SaaS applications.
• 

  Cisco

  Brian Heikes

  Director, CPaaS Product Management

  As head of the Webex Connect CPaaS product management team, Brian is responsible for the Webex Connect product and focuses on enabling enterprises to build smarter experiences to interact with their customers and employees. Brian has 20+ years of product experience centered on delivering communications products to address the requirements of enterprise IT and developers. His work allows companies to create innovative CX that take advantage of the unique nature of mobile communications.
• 

  Cisco

  Caitlin Lacey

  Director, Product Marketing, Collaboration Devices

  Caitlin Lacey is a seasoned product marketing leader with over 15 years of experience driving business growth through innovative technology at companies like Meta, Twitter and Niantic. She excels at crafting strategies that boost user adoption and revenue, leading global teams to success in the B2B and tech sectors. Caitlin is dedicated to creating strategies that not only drive business growth but also make work more meaningful and collaborative. Known for her strategic problem-solving, market insights, and ability to deliver results, Caitlin has a strong passion for emerging technologies. She has played a pivotal role in launching AR platforms and now spearheads the marketing efforts for Cisco Collaboration Devices, where she is committed to enhancing the way people connect and collaborate at work. Her work, which blends technology with human connection, has been featured in leading industry publications such as AdWeek, The Drum, and AdAge, showcasing her expertise in storytelling and tech leadership.
• 

  Cisco

  Chang Chang

  Senior Director, Product Management

  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.

• 

  Cisco

  Charles Garcia

  Sr Sales Director - US Public Sector Collaboration Sales

  Charles is responsible for leading the sales team focused on the Cisco Systems Collaboration offerings. This sales team is responsible for selling into the US Federal Government, State and Local Government and Education across the US. He leads over 100 Product Sales Specialists and Technology Engineers. Charles sets vision, strategy and execution for the organization to drive sales of the appropriate product portfolios for our USPS customers With over 30 years of leadership experience in the high tech industry, Charles has brought dedication to Sales development and growth, with continued focus on strong work ethic, and passion to the teams he leads. Prior to Cisco, Charles worked for Sun Microsystems as a Director of Advanced Services and Technology, Solutions Sales
• 

  Cisco

  Chris Barwick

  VP, Collaboration GTM & Devices Acceleration

  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.
• 

  Cisco

  Chris Bottger

  Leader, Hybrid Workplace Experience GTM

  Chris leads the Hybrid Workplace Experience Strategy for Cisco Devices. His 25+ years of experience in video collaboration was preceded with a career in Building Energy Management Systems. Combining those with AI that can motivate users in real time to improve collaboration, engagement and well being in a sustainable way. With an outcome for customers to accelerate the rise of the agile team; improve talent retention and execute at the speed of a start-up but at scale. All while optimizing the workplace, improving real-estate efficiencies, increasing wellness in a secure, safe and scalable environment.
• 

  Cisco

  Chris Rowen

  VP, Engineering

  Chris is a Silicon Valley entrepreneur and technologist, now VP of AI in Csco's Collaboration business. Most recently he was co-founder and CEO of BabbleLabs, a speech ML company, acquired by Cisco in 2020. Prior to BabbleLabs, Chris served as CTO for Cadence's IP Group, which he joined after Cadence's acquisition of Tensilica, the company he founded in 1997 to develop extensible processors. He led Tensilica as CEO and later, CTO, to develop one of the most prolific embedded processor architectures, especially for compute-intensive embedded processing. Chris was a pioneer in developing RISC architecture and helped found MIPS Computer Systems in 1984. He has an MS and PhD in EE from Stanford and a BA in physics from Harvard. He was named an IEEE Fellow in 2015 for his work in development of microprocessor technology.
• 

  Cisco

  Christina Torok

  Leader, Product Marketing

  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.

• 

  Cisco

  Dan Mathews

  Senior Architect & Strategist, Cisco Collaboration

  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.
• 

  Cisco

  Espen Løberg

  VP, Product Management

  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.
• 

  Cisco

  Faniel Altmark

  Director of Product Management

  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.
• 

  Cisco

  Gautam Gupta

  Sr. Director, Product Management

  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.
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  Cisco

  Gavin Ivester

  Director, Industrial & UX Design, Webex Devices

  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.

• 

  Cisco

  György Gyarmati

  Product Marketing Manager

  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.
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  Cisco

  Hannah Berke

  Customer Success Leader

  As the dedicated Customer Success Leader for Vidcast, I am deeply committed to guiding organizations through the transformative adoption of asynchronous video communications. My journey with Vidcast began during its beta phase in September 2021, and it has been a remarkable experience to witness and contribute to its growth and evolution. I am most passionate about empowering customers through education, coupled with fostering dynamic and enduring relationships.
• 

  Cisco

  Jeremy Laurenson

  Distinguished Systems Engineer

  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.
• 

  Cisco

  Jessica Smith

  Director, Product Marketing

  Since starting in the CCaaS space back in 2012, Jess has found a passion for CX through navigating the complexity of the market, while also recognizing (and relating to) the need for continuous innovation in the contact center. Throughout her time in this space, Jessica has held various roles in Product Marketing, Competitive Intelligence, and Sales and Channel Enablement giving a well-rounded depth of knowledge applied to her communication practices and endless curiosity in a rapidly changing environment.
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  Cisco

  John Labus

  Workplace Design Manager

  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.

• 

  Cisco

  John Reeder

  Senior Director Product

  John Reeder, Senior Director Product Manager at Cisco Systems, Unified Communications Technology Group, is responsible for headsets, Enterprise phones and driving cloud-based endpoints into the product life cycle. With nearly 20 years’ experience in data networking, Cyber security and unified communications, his knowledge extends across devices, mobility solutions, AI, Cloud Platforms and strategy. Prior to his current position John has been involved in driving soft clients and mobility solutions in both the Enterprise and Service Provider markets. John's extensive global experience in designing, implementing and optimizing unified communications has helped him better understand the challenges businesses face today.
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  Cisco

  Justin Jordan

  Senior Product Manager Collaboration Business Unit

  Justin Jordan is a Senior Product Manager in the collaboration business unit. Focusing on calling from the premise to the cloud, Justin enjoys helping customers and partners see their vision in executing their next generation collaboration platform and solution for their users. He resides in the Texas Hill Country with his Wife, two crazy Pugs, and his one daughter. Justin enjoys legacy arcade games, golf, and flying. He also loves to present at our Cisco and Industry events, and you may have seen him on a Webinar, at Cisco Live talking about all things Cisco collaboration.
• 

  Cisco

  Keith Griffin

  Cisco Fellow VP

  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.
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  Cisco

  Kenny Bloxham

  Global Webex CX Healthcare Director

  Kenny Bloxham has been instrumental in advancing patient engagement initiatives for the past 10 years, demonstrating expertise in developing and deploying innovative digital-first communication solutions that enhance patient engagement and the overall experience, leading to improved health outcomes.
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  Cisco

  Kieran Higgins

  Director, Digital Workplace Collaboration Experience

  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.

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  Cisco

  Lisa Peppin

  Webex CPaaS SE

  Lisa currently serves as a Cisco Webex CPaaS Solutions Engineer (SE). With a robust career spanning over 20 years in the financial services sector, she has held a variety of pivotal roles, including Vice President of Solutions Engineering, Senior Technical Solutions Consultant, Implementation Project Manager, Relationship Manager, and Client Services Manager. In her current role at Cisco, Lisa leverages extensive technical expertise and strategic insight to deliver innovative solutions, enhancing client engagement and operational efficiency. Lisa's comprehensive background in financial services has equipped her with a unique skill set, enabling a seamlessly bridge between deep domain expertise, technology and business needs. Throughout their career, Lisa has been recognized for their exceptional problem-solving abilities and remains committed to providing customer-centric solutions, fostering strong client relationships and delivering high-impact results.
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  Cisco

  Manali Dongre

  Director, Product Management

  Manali Dongre is a product leader at Cisco, where she leads a team of product managers responsible for the Agent and Supervisor Experiences for the Webex Contact Center product within Cisco's Collaboration Group. She also spearheads initiatives in Accessibility and Inclusivity across Cisco Collaboration, ensuring that the products are usable by everyone, regardless of ability. Since joining Cisco in 2020, Manali has been instrumental in driving the delivery of innovative and inclusive end-user experiences, with a focus on improving collaboration and productivity for the Webex App. Before her tenure at Cisco, Manali spent 12 years at Microsoft as a Product Manager, where she focused on developing admin experiences for Dynamics 365, Microsoft's ERP solution. Her extensive experience in the tech industry is complemented by her passion for creating products that foster better communication and collaboration. Outside of work, Manali resides in Seattle with her husband, Sagar, and their cat Izzy.
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  Cisco

  Manu Parhar

  Director of Product Marketing, Suite & CX

  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.
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  Cisco

  Marisa Rutti

  Product Marketing Manager

  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.
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  Cisco

  Mark Miller

  Director, Business Development

  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.
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  Cisco

  Marte Sannesmoen

  Product Marketing Manager

  Marte is a certified Product Marketing Manager at Cisco, covering Cisco collaboration devices. She holds a MSc in Corporate Communications from The University of Amsterdam, and a BSc (Hons) from The University of Manchester. She is passionate about sustainability and helping customers get closer to their net zero goals through technology, all whilst improving the employee experience.
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  Cisco

  Michael McGary

  Director, Product Management

  Michael is the Director of Product Management, overseeing Webex Suite Security, Scheduling & Calendar System Integrations, Zero Trust Security for Webex, and various Webex back-end services. With over a decade of experience in cloud solutions, Michael has been pivotal in leading key projects such as the OBTP “Green Join button” and Video Integration for Microsoft Teams. Michael's career began at General Electric, where he led the Video Communications team, managing video conferencing, satellite, and internal cable television systems for GE Power Systems. He was also the first to implement an internal webcasting network at GE. Prior to his role at Cisco, Michael worked at TANDBERG for over 8 years, where he played a significant role in designing solutions and architectures for many key customers.
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  Cisco

  Mithun Baphana

  Sr. Manager, Product

  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.

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  Cisco

  Molita Sorisho

  Product Marketing Manager

  Molita is a Product Marketing Manager at Cisco focusing on the all-in-one Webex Collaboration Suite that is built for today’s hybrid work. She works closely across functional teams to ensure Webex Suite is highlighted and positioned effectively in the market and that customers understand its value and how it meets their needs. Molita holds a B.S. in Electronics Engineering from San Jose State University and currently lives in San Jose, California. When she isn’t working, she listens to podcasts and audiobooks, enjoys a long pilates flow to unwind, and loves exploring the beautiful grounds in the Bay Area.
• 

  Cisco

  Morten Gunnerad

  Lead Product Manager

  Morten Gunnerud is a Lead Product Manager at Cisco where he leads the Join Any Meeting product group, focusing on delivering seamless cross-platform meeting experiences. In this role, he collaborates with a talented team to enhance the usability, scalability, and security of Cisco's meeting solutions.

  One of Morten’s key contributions has been leading the development of Cisco’s Microsoft Teams Rooms on RoomOS, which brought Cisco's industry-leading quality and manageability to Microsoft Teams customers. This effort has strengthened Cisco’s partnership with Microsoft and provided users with a more unified and integrated meeting experience.

  Morten is driven by a commitment to understanding customer needs and building innovative, practical solutions. He values collaboration and strives to contribute meaningfully to the evolving world of technology and communication.
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  Cisco

  Nirav Chanchani

  Director, Product Management

  Nirav is a Director of Product Management at Cisco, responsible for the management and administration experience for the Webex Collaboration suite of products. This encompasses the areas of partner and customer onboarding, administration, licensing, analytics, reporting, and service provisioning across all the GTM channels. Nirav joined Cisco as a product manager helping build and then successfully launch Cisco’s cloud-based instant messaging product, Webex Messenger/Jabber. He led the initial onboarding of several marquee early adopter customers onto the new product and grew it to 4.5 million users. Subsequently, Nirav led the building of a cloud-based service for automating the provisioning of Cisco’s entire collaboration portfolio of products. This resulted in reducing operational costs through the elimination of manual processes, while significantly improving customer satisfaction by cutting down of provisioning times by over 90% and a significant reduction in support cases. Nirav has over 20 years of experience in building enterprise software and has previously held product management positions at Oracle, and BEA Systems. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in computer engineering from the University of Pune, and a MBA for San Jose State University.
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  Cisco

  Padmini Krishnan

  Product Manager, Webex Contact Center

  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.

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  Slido

  Pali Dudrik

  General Manager

  Pali Dudrik is the General Manager of Slido, the industry-leading audience interaction platform that has engaged over 160 million participants worldwide. In his role, Pali is responsible for setting the strategic direction of Slido, ensuring seamless execution across teams, and fostering a workplace culture that aligns with the company's values. Following Slido's acquisition in 2021, Pali played a pivotal role in integrating the platform into Cisco. His leadership is grounded in his extensive experience as a COO, VP of Sales, and IT consultant, as well as his long-standing involvement in NGOs.
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  Cisco

  Paula Goldrich

  Product Marketing Leader, Webex CPaaS Solutions

  Paula is a seasoned product marketing leader with over 10 years of experience in the technology sector. Known for having a passion for storytelling and an exceptional ability to capture the customer perspective, Paula excels as an inquisitive, creative, and strategic thinker. She began her professional journey in retail operations and out-of-home media, which provided a broad and diverse foundation before making the transition into the tech industry and most recently, into the world of Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS). This unique background enables Paula to bring a fresh, multifaceted approach to product marketing, driving innovative strategies and delivering impactful results.
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  Cisco

  Rahul Dubey

  Director, Product Management, Global Market Access

  Rahul Dubey is responsible for the Webex market access portfolio that includes Meetings, Messaging, Calling, and Devices used in a growing global data center footprint. He heads leading initiatives like Webex for Government (FedRAMP), Webex for Defense (IL5), privacy, data residency, and sovereign cloud.

  Rahul has been in the product management and security and compliance field for over a decade, working at Fortune 500 companies such as VMware and midsize companies like Splunk. His experience includes building cloud products for regulated markets and expanding them to suit enterprises and global public sectors worldwide.

  He also has expertise in guiding cloud products to achieve and maintain various certifications and authorizations like FedRAMP, DOD IL5, IRAP, ISO, SOC, HIPAA, and GDPR.

  Rahul holds an MBA (MIS, Management & Risk Management) from Concordia University, WI. His passion is in spreading the word of diversity and inclusion. Rahul loves watching American football (Go Packers!), traveling, and getting acquainted with various international cultures and traditions.

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  Cisco

  Raj Kumar

  Director, Product Management

  Raj is responsible for the strategy, product management, and go to market for Webex platform for US and Global Public Sector that includes Federal Civilian, SLED, Defense Industrial Base, and National Security and Defense. In addition, Raj is also accountable for the strategy and product management of Global expansion into new country/region through data residency, data sovereignty and sovereign clouds solutions. Raj, previously, also led the strategy and product management of Security, Privacy & Compliance, Partner ecosystem and established Webex as best-in-breed secure Collaboration platform. Raj has 15+ years of enterprise product management experience at top-tier technology companies, including Cisco, Microsoft, and Amazon. Raj holds a Master of Science in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of Florida and a Bachelor of Technology in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur.
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  Cisco

  Ramy Riad

  Head of Innovation & Messaging Strategy

  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.

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  Cisco

  Savita Kini

  Director Product Management, Collab AI

  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.
• 

  Webex Events (formerly Socio)

  Shane Guinn

  Customer Success Manager

  With over 20 years experience serving customers, Shane Guinn is a dynamic Senior Customer Success Manager at Webex Events (formerly Socio) who excels in customer success with a positive attitude, innovative thinking, and strong organizational skills. When he's not working with enterprise customers to put on unforgettable events, you'll likely find him watching his sons play collegiate soccer and supporting them with his experience as a former head varsity coach.
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  Cisco

  Sonu Arora

  Director, Product Management, Calling

  Sonu Arora is currently a Director of Product Management for Webex Calling with over 15 years of progressive experience in executing key technology strategies. She is passionate about delivering world-class collaboration solutions to organizations around the world. She is a proven leader in technology, with engineering experience in unified communication. Prior to Cisco, Sonu led product and program management at Microsoft delivering solutions in Skype, Microsoft Teams, and Azure Infrastructure. Sonu graduated from York University and resides in the Seattle area with her family.

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  Cisco

  Sudarshan Dharmapuri

  VP, Product Management, Webex Customer Experience Solutions

  Sudarshan Dharmapuri is VP, Product Management for the Webex Customer Experience Solutions business and joined Cisco when IMImobile PLC was acquired in 2021.

  Sudarshan has a proven track record of conceptualizing, defining, building and launching successful new enterprise software products in both emerging and established market categories. Prior to Cisco and IMImobile, Sudarshan worked in engineering and product management roles at Oracle and Siebel Systems in Silicon Valley. Sudarshan holds an MBA from the Haas School of Business, U.C. Berkeley as well as master’s and bachelor’s degrees in computer science.
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  Cisco

  Teney Takahashi

  Product Marketing Manager

  Teney is a Product Marketing Manager in the Webex Calling team. He has spent much of his career in the unified communications industry during the transition from on-premises to the cloud. Teney received undergraduate and MBA degrees in Marketing from Santa Clara University. He lives in Honolulu, Hawaii.
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  Cisco

  Travis Isaacs

  Vice President & Chief Design Officer, Cisco Collaboration

  Travis leads an extraordinary team of designers, writers, and researchers for Webex—a leading collaboration and customer experience platform. As a VP and Chief Design Officer for Collaboration, Travis is passionate about creating innovative, inclusive, lovable, and intuitive experiences while fostering a design culture that values empathy, curiosity, craft, and business outcomes. Since taking on his role as VP and Chief Design Officer for Collaboration, Travis led an award-winning comprehensive evolution of Cisco’s collaboration products including rebranding, redesigns, and new product launches. Under his leadership and design strategy, the collaboration platform has led to double-digit growth and improvement of key customer metrics. He unified this multibillion-dollar product portfolio across a single design ethos, encouraging innovation, inclusivity, and simplicity. Travis has been designing for over 20 years and was promoted to Chief Design Officer after just 5 years with Cisco. He held various leadership roles including Design Manager, Director, and Head of Design. He joined Cisco from Microsoft as a Senior Product Manager where he managed talent acquisition products within Dynamics 365. Travis was also a co-founder, principal designer, and principal consultant prior to this roles. Outside of work, Travis mentors young design professionals. He lives the Pacific Northwest Dream in Seattle with his wife Kristi, two teens Audrey and Camille and two dogs Trudy and Penny. He loves to travel, the great outdoors, camping, hiking and spending time with his family.
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  Cisco

  Travis Pouliot

  Leader, Business Development

  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.

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  Cisco

  Vanessa Sulikowski

  Distinguished Solutions Engineer

  Vanessa Sulikowski is a Distinguished Solutions Engineer and has been working in the ICT industry for over 30 years. Vanessa joined Cisco in 2000 and pursued a specialisation in Collaboration Technology and is considered a Trusted Advisor for many organisations across the Asia Pacific region. Vanessa has presented at Cisco Live internationally since 2001, she is recognised as a Distinguished Speaker and she was inducted into the Distinguished Speaker Hall of Fame. She has also presented at many other industry technology events such as InfoComm Asia, Microsoft TechEd, JuiceIT, IBM Think, Wainhouse Summit, QuestNet, and Imagine. Vanessa is an evangelist for workforce experience and hybrid workplace transformation working with customers on their transformation projects as well as presenting at Workplace and Technology focused events WorkTech, ReWork, Flexible Working Summit, Digital Workplace Summit, Future WorkTech, CoreNet and Real Property Vanessa holds a Bachelor of Computer Science (Hons) degree from the University of Newcastle and has achieved Cisco Certified Internetworking Expert (CCIE) Voice.

TRAINING SESSION SPEAKERS

• 

  Cisco

  Adam North

  Leader, Learning and Development

  Having been part of the Broadsoft Team prior to its acquisition by Cisco, Adam has been intimately involved with the Webex Calling Product from its initial development through to its present-day form. With a tenure spanning several years as a front-line trainer, Adam has been instrumental in the delivery, creation, and revision of training materials for Cisco Partners, enabling them to effectively resell the product. Adam now leverages his comprehensive knowledge of Webex Calling to design new training courses, develop educational content for the latest features for partners and Customers.
• 

  Cisco

  Adam Weeks

  Manager Developer Evangelism, Webex

  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.
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  Cisco

  Aishwarya Rao

  Sr Product Manager, Collab AI

  Aishwarya is a Sr Product Manager at Webex, Collaboration AI. She's spent the last year leading product for summarization services for Webex Suite and Contact Center, and currently leads various AI foundation services that power Webex Suite. Aishwarya came in to Cisco with a range of unique experience, from having built enterprise blockchain technology at IBM, to leading healthcare research technology for homelessness at a YC startup. Aishwarya holds a Masters degree in Computer Science from University of Southern California, and is currently based in NYC.
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  Cisco

  Amy Ryan

  Principal Solutions Engineer

  Amy Ryan is a Principal Solutions Engineer with over 24 years of experience in collaboration technologies. Amy worked for Cisco partners for 10 years and the last 14 years at Cisco designing and deploying complex calling solutions. Over the past few years it has been her passion to help customers move from premise based calling to cloud calling solutions.
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  Cisco

  Aviva Chen

  Engineering Product Manager

  Aviva joined Cisco in 2015 and now she's a Product Manager of Collaboration Device Technology Group.
• 

  Cisco

  Barry McLellan

  Solutions Engineer

  Barry is an accomplished technology professional with a wealth of experience in contact center technologies. Back in the day, working as a computer programmer, Barry was approached with the opportunity to join the Contact Center team. As spoken by a wise person decades ago, “Barry, this contact center thing is really going to take off, you don’t want to miss this opportunity!”, and he did not. He began his journey as contact center developer in 1998 and had the opportunity to work on Cisco’s first contact center solution in Canada in 2000 (ICM 4.0 with its own HAL!). Over the past 20+ years, Barry has progressed from customer, to partner, to Cisco CX delivery and now currently works on the Cisco Contact Center Engineering Specialists Team as a Solutions Engineer focused on automation and leveraging cutting-edge technology. Barry is a lifelong learner, constantly striving to stay up to date with the latest advancements, and he actively shares his knowledge and mentors’ others. He is passionate about the transformative power of technology and its ability to drive business success and improve customer experiences.
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  Cisco

  Bhushan Suresh

  TAC Engineer

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

  Cisco

  Bobby McGonigle Jr.

  Technical Marketing Engineer

  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.

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  Cisco

  ChandraMouli Vaithiyanathan

  Technical Leader

  I have been working on the Contact Center product since 2006. My journey began in engineering, transitioned into Product Escalation Support, and now I'm dedicated to Partner Success. My current role involves engaging with strategic partners across the USA, providing technical enablement, resolving technical issues, and addressing demo-related challenges and be conduit between product management and Engineering,I also serve as a conduit between product management and engineering. Additionally, I lead the A2Q initiative for WxCC products.
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  Cisco

  Charlie Thorpe

  Technical Marketing Engineer

  Charlie Thorpe is a Technical Marketing Engineer within the Cisco Collaboration Technology Group business unit and is part of the Webex Technical Marketing Engineering (TME) team focusing on Microsoft Teams Rooms, RoomOS, Desk Series, Sharing, and Webex Edge for Devices. Prior to this role, Charlie was a Technical Solutions Architect within the EMEA Webex SE team focusing on Webex SaaS solutions including Webex Messaging, Webex Meetings, Webex Calling, and Webex Hybrid Services. Charlie has been with Cisco since 2010. Prior to this, he spent four years with Nortel as a Systems Engineer within the Enterprise Sales organization, working within IP telephony, contact center, and data networking. Before his time at Nortel, he worked with BT for 15 years.
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  Cisco

  Chase Voisin

  Solutions Engineer

  Chase is a seasoned professional in the video, conferencing, and telephony industry, with over 20 years of experience, including 11 years at Cisco. He is part of the global video center of excellence at Cisco, where he collaborates with a small, dedicated team to develop advanced video room designs and implementations. The team tailors room designs to meet customer needs, addresses complex challenges from boardrooms to quiet rooms, and offers training to the broader AV industry on implementing Cisco and third-party solutions. Their expertise also includes AI video-enabled conferencing and innovative camera layouts.
• 

  Cisco

  Chris Norman

  Collaboration Systems Engineer

  Chris is a Collaboration Systems Engineer in the Global Enterprise group at Cisco. With over 25 years of experience working in telecommunications industry Chris has worked across nearly every industry vertical from SMB to some of the largest enterprise companies in the world. Chris is also a self taught programmer that currently is the lead developer for CE-Deploy with an expertise in deploying Cisco's collaboration endpoints en-mass.
• 

  Cisco

  Chris Rowen

  VP, Engineering

  Chris is a Silicon Valley entrepreneur and technologist, now VP of AI in Csco's Collaboration business. Most recently he was co-founder and CEO of BabbleLabs, a speech ML company, acquired by Cisco in 2020. Prior to BabbleLabs, Chris served as CTO for Cadence's IP Group, which he joined after Cadence's acquisition of Tensilica, the company he founded in 1997 to develop extensible processors. He led Tensilica as CEO and later, CTO, to develop one of the most prolific embedded processor architectures, especially for compute-intensive embedded processing. Chris was a pioneer in developing RISC architecture and helped found MIPS Computer Systems in 1984. He has an MS and PhD in EE from Stanford and a BA in physics from Harvard. He was named an IEEE Fellow in 2015 for his work in development of microprocessor technology.
• 

  Cisco

  Charles Donato

  Solution Manager

  Involved in the telecom industry with system implementation for 30 years with the last 15 associated with Contact Center design and support.
• 

  Cisco

  Clare Davis

  Enablement Specialist

  Clare is an Enablement Specialist at Cisco Systems, where she passionately delivers live training designed to ignite users' enthusiasm for the Webex Suite of services. With a remarkable 23 years of experience under her belt, Clare specializes in live virtual training, e-learning content development, and webinar production. Her expertise is backed by industry-recognized certifications in virtual training and content creation. When Clare is not fulfilling her duties as an educator and technology advocate, she enjoys spending time with family, her posse of cats, and the never-ending task of home projects!
• 

  Cisco

  Damien McCoy

  Senior Director of Growth & Adoption at Webex

  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
• 

  Cisco

  David Jennings

  Global Head, Solutions Engineering CPaaS

  David Jennings thrives on helping large enterprises understand how our products and solutions can fit into their existing technology ecosystem and digital strategy to solve their specific business problems, with customer experience at the heart. A passionate technologist, David develops solutions that take friction out of the customer journey to create the most seamless experience possible using the latest in digital technology around automation, low-code, orchestration, and Conversational AI. He understands the challenges businesses face in the new digital revolution where it is becoming increasingly difficult to match consumer expectations, emulate digital-disruptors, and meet the need for technology to be agile and scalable in order to adapt and innovate quickly.
• 

  Cisco

  Davide Preti

  TME Technical Leader

  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.
• 

  Cisco

  Devon Meerholz

  Solutions Engineer

  Results-driven CPaaS Technical Solutions Specialist with over 16 years of experience in the mobile marketing and advertising industry, currently specializing in Cisco Webex Connect, a leading Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS) offering. I excel in presales, technical solutions, and client collaboration, with a strong passion for driving customer success and delivering innovative communication solutions.
• 

  Cisco

  Ed Schermerhorn

  Cloud Calling Product Manager

  Ed has been involved with integrating legacy Broadsoft technology since the acquisition, first as Technical Marketing Engineer, and the last two years as part of the Product Management team. Recently Ed has been heavily focused on the Webex for Government Calling solution. Ed lives in Delaware and is self-professed history nerd, and is a passionate advocate for adoption of children waiting in foster care for a forever family.
• 

  Cisco

  Esteban Valverde

  CX TAC Technical Leader, Webex Calling

  Esteban Valverde, CCIE No. 34305, stands at the forefront of technological innovation as a Cisco Senior Technical Leader in TAC, boasting an impressive 18-year tenure in the realms of Collaboration, Networking and software development. Currently a pivotal member of the Global Cisco Webex Calling Technical Leadership team. He is currently based in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, Esteban excels in orchestrating customer-centric solutions that seamlessly integrate on-premises Collaboration products with Webex Calling Cloud Services. His commitment to excellence is evident through his dedication to enhancing the support journey for customers and fostering a symbiotic relationship with the Cisco Engineering team to drive product serviceability to new heights. Over the years, Esteban has been the technical maestro behind numerous critical global collaboration deployments, sharing his extensive knowledge and expertise through comprehensive training and meticulous documentation for both Cisco's internal teams and its customers. Esteban is not only recognized for his technical acumen but also for his academic credentials, holding a bachelor's degree in Computer Science. His ability to translate complex technical concepts into tangible, user-friendly solutions makes him an invaluable asset to the industry and an esteemed leader in the field of Collaboration.
• 

  Cisco

  Ferdinando Olivieri

  Product Manager Lead, Collab AI

  Ferdinando is a Product Manager for Webex AI Audio Innovations, with the objective of advancing audio AI technologies to significantly enhance the Webex audio experience for customers. He is currently focusing on using generative AI for speech coding and for improving the quality of narrowband audio. Before stepping into product management, he dedicated over a decade to audio research in both academia and the industry. A published author of scientific papers and patents, Ferdinando has also contributed to various standardization activities within the telecommunications (3GPP) and broadcasting (MPEG, DVB) audio sectors. He holds a Ph.D. in Audio Signal Processing from the Institute of Sound and Vibration Research at Southampton, UK, and an MBA from the University of California, San Diego.
• 

  Cisco

  Gagarin Sathiya

  Cloud Engineering Technical Leader

  With over 15 years of experience in the design, deployment, and support of Cisco Collaboration solutions, I am currently part of the Solution Assurance team within Cisco’s Contact Center business unit. My focus is on driving customer success through seamless onboarding, sustained performance, and strategic consulting for the new Webex Cloud Contact Center platform. Leveraging my deep technical expertise, I provide leadership and guidance, ensuring our customers achieve their desired outcomes with Cisco’s cutting-edge contact center solutions.
• 

  Cisco

  Gaurav Khanna

  Solutions Engineer Manager, Commercial West

  Dr. Gaurav Khanna is a SE Manager in Commercial West, where he leads a group of Solutions Engineers in the Gold Rush Select Region, covering companies the Silicon Valley. He has been one of the pioneers of designing and implementing predictive and generative AI systems in Sales at Cisco. He has led teams that have designed skills-based routing, optimized resource scheduling, and chatbot platforms deployed globally. More recently, he has led the development of Large Language Models to automate knowledge capture, Q&A, and training. He is active in teaching AI, fostering strategic partnerships within Cisco and in the industry, and articulating Cisco’s AI strategy to customers and partners. Dr. Khanna is a sought-after speaker for customer and industry forums and is skilled at “bridging the gap” between business strategy and goals and technical requirements around AI. Most recently he has been teaching Machine Learning and AI courses at the Stanford Continuing Studies program. Gaurav been at Cisco 24 years and is a long-time resident of San Jose, CA with his wife and two teenage kids. He received his B.S. in Physics at Yale and his Ph.D. at Stanford University.
• 

  Cisco

  Harish Chawla

  Leader, Systems Engineering

  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.
• 

  Cisco

  Hussain Ali

  Technical Marketing Engineer

  Hussain Ali (CCIE# 38068 - VOICE, COLLAB) is a Technical Marketing Engineer/Technical Leader in the Collaboration Technology Group at Cisco Systems. He is responsible for all Unified Communications services and applications on the ISR, Catalyst 8300 & virtual routing platforms like Cisco Unified Border Element (CUBE), Cloud Calling solutions such as Webex Calling, call recording, Direct Routing with Microsoft Phone System, and Webex Contact Center. He provides architectural design guidance for unified communication services and solutions to enterprise customers, service providers, Cisco sales force, and Cisco partners. He works directly with the product management and engineering teams in strategizing future product development to meet customer needs. Prior to joining this group, he led the Multiservices Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC) team in Richardson, TX, troubleshooting and diagnosing some of the largest Cisco Collaboration deployments.
• 

  Cisco

  Iain Buck

  Technical Marketing Manager

  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.
• 

  Cisco

  Irwin Overton

  Technical Marketing Engineering Technical Leader

  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.
• 

  Cisco

  Ishan Sambhi

  Solutions Engineer

  Ishan Sambhi is a Technical Solutions Architect in Collaboration at Cisco Systems and holds CCIE Collaboration, RHCE and VCP certifications. He has over 14 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. Ishan was previously a part of Cisco's Services team and worked as an End to End collaboration lead supporting Collaboration teams on escalations and support issues,
• 

  Cisco

  Janani Ramakrishnan

  Lead Product Manager

  Janani is a Product Lead in the Webex Contact Center team where she creates stellar experiences for the Supervisor and Agent personas. She was also the Product Lead for Control Hub where she reimagined Control Hub as a single pane of glass administration portal with efficient UI, coaching and insights. Prior to Cisco, Janani has held worked in product positions at ThousandEyes (now Cisco) and Oracle. Janani holds a Bachelors and Masters degree in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology and has an MBA from University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business. In her free time Janani likes to read, try out new restaurants, and go wine tasting in California's wine country.
• 

  Cisco

  Jeff Hubbard

  Leader, Enablement Specialist

  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.
• 

  Cisco

  Joe Martini

  Customer Delivery Engineering Technical Leader

  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.

• 

  Cisco

  Jon Miranda

  Collaboration Solutions Engineer

  Jon Miranda is a Collaboration Solutions Engineer in Cisco's Global Enterprise Solutions group. With over 23 years of experience, he has provided guidance on collaboration designs and solutions to ensure successful business outcomes for Cisco partners and customers. Jon holds a CCIE in Collaboration and focuses on supporting the Global Enterprise team with all areas of the Collaboration Portfolio.
• 

  Cisco

  Joe Wong

  Solutions Engineer

  Joe Wong is a Solutions Engineer that focuses on the whole customer experience and engagement, including those who manage and use the technology. He has 20 years of contact center experience with 15 years focused on Cisco solutions. He was a Solutions Architect with Cisco's Contact Center Delivery Team for 8 years handling critical enterprise accounts and strategic engagements specializing in complex environments before joining Cisco Sales Engineering in 2022. Prior to Cisco, he has been a customer twice and part of our partner ecosystem. Joe's expertise encompasses the entire Contact Center portfolio, large and small, with more recent blending of modern and exciting opportunities using AI services and digital channels. With an extensive background in design, delivery, and support in both customer experience architecture and applications, he is constantly looking for optimizations and improvements around the customer, agent, and administrator experiences.
• 

  Cisco

  Johannes Krohn

  Principal Technical Marketing Engineer

  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 multiprotocol 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.
• 

  Cisco

  Justin Jordan

  Senior Product Manager Collaboration Business Unit

  Justin Jordan is a Senior Product Manager in the collaboration business unit. Focusing on calling from the premise to the cloud, Justin enjoys helping customers and partners see their vision in executing their next generation collaboration platform and solution for their users. He resides in the Texas Hill Country with his Wife, two crazy Pugs, and his one daughter. Justin enjoys legacy arcade games, golf, and flying. He also loves to present at our Cisco and Industry events, and you may have seen him on a Webinar, at Cisco Live talking about all things Cisco collaboration.
• 

  Cisco

  Karthik Sundaram

  Director, Webex Contact Center

  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.
• 

  Cisco

  Keith Griffin

  Cisco Fellow VP

  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.
• 

  Cisco

  Kevin Ian Barrow

  Technical Marketing Engineer Leader

  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.
• 

  Cisco

  Kevin Simpson

  Technical Leader, Solutions

  Kevin is a Technical Leader in Webex Contact Center Solutions Assurance, where he channels his passions for innovation, education, and enablement. He is renowned for his ability to demystify complex concepts, making advanced topics accessible and engaging for those eager to learn.
• 

  Cisco

  Krishna Koilada

  Product Management Leader

  Krishna Koilada is a product management leader at Webex Connect, where he oversees CPaaS messaging platforms. With over 14 years of experience, his domain expertise spans CPaaS, Data platforms, CCaaS, UCaaS, and Voice. He holds an MBA from Haas School of Business and a Masters in Telecommunications and Innovation Management. Outside of work, he enjoys camping, cooking, and reading, with a particular admiration for Andy Grove's book "Only the Paranoid Survive."
• 

  Cisco

  Krishna Tyagi

  Technical Leader

  Krishna Tyagi is Customer Success and Technical Leader for Webex Contact Center in Cisco's Contact Center Business Unit (CCBU) with 19 years of experience in Contact Center space across various Technical and Customer Success roles. A Trusted Advisor for Cisco Partners and Customer and a Contact Center subject matter expert with long experience on Webex Contact Center, On-Prem CC solutions. In his current role he provides Product and solution leadership to Cisco’s customer success team, our partners and customers, he is also involved in influences Product development, Incident Management, supporting Pre-sales engagements and other key customer success and performance improvement initiatives. He holds a Bachelor's Degree in Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering along with various certifications including Executive leadership from Cornell University and Cisco Customer Success Certified, PMP, ITIL, WebEx Contact Center professional and more.
• 

  Cisco

  Laura Hamill

  Leader, Learning & Development

  Laura is celebrating 5 incredible years with Cisco, where she leads an innovative collaboration enablement team at Webex Academy. With a Master's in Educational Technology from Boise State University, she is passionate about pioneering industry-disrupting training methodologies that empower customers, partners, and end users alike. Beyond her professional endeavors, Laura is a vibrant social influencer for her local Ford dealership, showcasing cutting-edge Webex vehicle integrations and branding. At home, she is a dedicated mother raising three wonderful daughters and cherishes her time spent near the scenic Great Lakes of Michigan. Before joining Cisco, Laura enriched young minds as a general education teacher for a decade, laying the foundation for her commitment to learning and growth. Her journey reflects a blend of professional excellence and personal fulfillment, making her a dynamic force both in and out of the workplace.
• 

  Cisco

  Lisa Peppin

  Webex CPaaS SE

  Lisa currently serves as a Cisco Webex CPaaS Solutions Engineer (SE). With a robust career spanning over 20 years in the financial services sector, she has held a variety of pivotal roles, including Vice President of Solutions Engineering, Senior Technical Solutions Consultant, Implementation Project Manager, Relationship Manager, and Client Services Manager. In her current role at Cisco, Lisa leverages extensive technical expertise and strategic insight to deliver innovative solutions, enhancing client engagement and operational efficiency. Lisa's comprehensive background in financial services has equipped her with a unique skill set, enabling a seamlessly bridge between deep domain expertise, technology and business needs. Throughout their career, Lisa has been recognized for their exceptional problem-solving abilities and remains committed to providing customer-centric solutions, fostering strong client relationships and delivering high-impact results.
• 

  Cisco

  Luca Pellegrini

  Technical Marketing Engineer

  Luca Pellegrini is a Technical Marketing Engineer in Collaboration technologies. Luca joined Cisco 23 years ago as a System Engineer helping customers and partners with the design and implementation of routing, switching and security architectures. Later he entered the Collaboration Technology Group, where over the years he has been focused on different collaboration solutions. He has started working with APIs to help customers automate their deployments, as well as customise and integrate their solutions, and later has started building AI/ML models for collaboration.
• 

  Cisco

  Luis Garcia

  Technical Marketing Engineer

  Luis Garcia is a Technical Marketing Engineer Technical Leader focusing on Webex Contact Center. With a decade-long tenure working on Collaboration solutions, he started as a Technical Consulting Engineer, gaining expertise in Contact Center and Telepresence technologies within TAC. Later, he assumed the role of Technical Team Lead, focusing on Expressways and conference devices (RoomOS). Luis holds numerous Cisco and industry certifications, including CCNA Voice, CCNA R&S, CCNP Collaboration, CCIE Collaboration, CCNA DevNet, AWS Solutions Architect Associate, and ITIL v4.
• 

  Cisco

  Luis Ramirez

  Customer Delivery Engineering Technical Leader

  Luis Ramirez: Cisco TAC Technical Leader & Advocate for Excellence in Webex Calling As the current Technical Leader for Cisco's TAC in Webex Calling Technology, Luis has been at the vanguard of enhancing global support capabilities and refining the Webex Calling experience for customers and engineers alike. With a career spanning over 16 years within Cisco TAC, Luis brings a wealth of experience and a deep understanding of Cisco Collaboration products to the forefront of technological innovation. At the heart of Luis's work is a passion for mentorship. By dedicating a significant portion of time to guide and nurture the skills of TAC engineers, Luis ensures that the next generation of technical support is prepared to meet the complex demands of modern collaboration solutions. This commitment to excellence extends beyond team development, as Luis actively contributes to the improvement of product serviceability. Renowned for expertise in complex hybrid Collaboration implementations, Luis plays a pivotal role in assisting customers as they transition to cloud-based solutions. This expertise is underpinned by a ten-year mastery of the CCIE Collaboration Certification #40952, a testament to Luis's dedication and skill in the field. Driven by an unwavering commitment to instigate positive change, Luis is instrumental in elevating the Webex Calling Offer. Through a focus on customer support and service enhancement, Luis not only addresses current needs but also paves the way for a more innovative and reliable future in cloud collaboration. #Teacher #Pioneer
• 

  Cisco

  Manoj Muthavarapu

  Product Leader

  Manoj leads product and engineering teams focussed on conversational AI in our CPaaS unit. A fullstack developer turned product manager, Manoj has joined Cisco via the IMI acquisition and works out of Hyderabad, India where he stays with his wife and son. Outside work, cricket, travel and conversations over coffee are some of the things that get him excited.
• 

  Cisco

  Mark Lula

  Video Device Solution Architect

  Mark is a 14-year Cisco veteran with experience across multiple verticals, segments, regions and technologies. As a member of the Global Collaboration Center of Excellence team, Mark is responsible to deliver complex customer room designs, engage with engineering teams to develop innovative device use cases and deliver training to field sales and partner engineering resources. Outside of work, Mark is an avid outdoorsman with a love for all power sports, hiking in the woods, snowboarding and is a father of two daughters who are just as full of energy.
• 

  Cisco

  Matt Jordy

  Technical Marketing Engineer

  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.
• 

  Cisco

  Mayada Abdelrahman

  Director of Product Management

  Mayada is the Director of Product Management leading the Speech AI portfolio for Webex focusing on empowering the Collaboration portfolio with the latest trends in AI and ML. Mayada joined Cisco in 2019 after the acquisition of Voicea, an AI startup where she led Product Management and Technical Program Management. She has more than 15 years of experience in the tech industry launching products both in software and hardware. Mayada has an MBA from Duke University and a Computer Science Degree from the American University in Cairo.
• 

  Cisco

  Mike Nelson

  Solutions Engineer - Collaboration

  Before Cisco, I was a global engineer for audio/video integration leveraging Cisco video systems and Cisco call control designing for public sector and education use cases. I reside in Maple Grove, Minnesota with my wife Christine and our dog Bailey. When not working I am a video game and technology addict, and also love touring the country on vacation in our RV!
• 

  Cisco

  Niket Shah

  Solutions Engineer

  Niket has 14 years of experience in Cisco Unified Communications, UCaaS, and Data Center. Prior to his current role , he was a techical architect for designing and implementing white glove cloud uc offerings for global 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 and Bachelors in Telecommunications engineering . He is currently a Solutions Engineer focused on collaboration for global enterprise with focus on cloud calling and contact center architectures and hybrid work.
• 

  Cisco

  Omer Ilyas

  Technical Marketing Engineering Technical Leader

  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.
• 

  Cisco

  Paul Giralt

  Distinguished Engineer

  Paul Giralt, CCIE R&S, CCIE Voice, CCIE Collaboration #4793, is a Distinguished Engineer in the Cisco Acceleration Center where he focuses on Hybrid Work and Cisco collaboration technologies. He spends much of his time helping customers accelerate the adoption of Cisco technologies and solutions, working with Cisco's largest collaboration deployments and working closely with engineering on improving product serviceability and cross-architecture product integrations. Paul has spent his career at Cisco in the TAC, the Collaboration Technology Group, Solution Validation Services, Cisco Advanced Services, Customer Experience, and most recently as part of the Acceleration Center. Paul has spent years designing, troubleshooting and diagnosing issues on some of the largest and most complex Cisco Collaboration deployments. He is passionate about the intersection of programmability and Cisco Collaboration products as well as making it easier for customers to use APIs to automate their deployments. He is also the author multiple Cisco Press collaboration titles, an IETF contributor, hold numerous collaboration-related patents, and is a member of the Cisco Live Distinguished Speaker Hall of Fame Elite.
• 

  Cisco

  Paul Stojanovski

  Sr. Technical Leader

  Paul is a senior Technical Leader at Cisco, working within the Customer Experience (CX) organization supporting Webex solutions. He focuses his time on multiple areas, such as driving Webex product serviceability for customers, building innovation for TAC case opening tools, and helping drive global TAC support strategy. He has spent his entire professional career working with Collaboration and Webex. In Collaboration, he worked as a TAC engineer supporting the on-premise Collaboration portfolio primarily focused on Immersive and Mobile and Remote Access. He has been involved in Webex support for nine years and was responsible for bringing Webex support in alignment with the global CX support teams. Currently, he focuses most of his effort on the Webex administration experience working with the Webex Control Hub and Webex Identity. He is passionate about driving change within Webex products to help bring customers, partners, or anyone using the products better serviceability and self-service capabilities. He is also a 7-time Cisco Live Distinguished Speaker.
• 

  Cisco

  Peter Welburn

  Principal Technical Marketing Engineer

  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.
• 

  Cisco

  Phil Bellanti

  Senior Developer Evangelist

  Phil Bellanti is a Senior Developer Evangelist on the Cisco 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 webinars, tech talks, workshops, hackathons, and other live events. Additionally, Phil enjoys writing how-to blogs, creating newsletters, and networking with the dev community.
• 

  Cisco

  Prakash Kini

  Director, Solutions

  Prakash Kini a Customer and Partner Success Leader for Webex Contact Center Enterprise and Webex Contact Center. He is part of the Solution Assurance Leadership Team within the Contact Center Business Unit. He has had the experience of working with all of Cisco's contact center products over the course of 15 years. He is super passionate about enabling partners to deliver the best experience on the Webex Contact Center Platforms and helping customers achieve their business outcomes with Webex Contact Center Platforms.
• 

  Cisco

  Rafat Kuraishi

  Systems Architect

  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.
• 

  Cisco

  Rajamani Nallakaruppan

  Solutions Engineer

  Rajamani Nallakaruppan is a Solutions Engineer with the Cisco Collaboration Experience Program (CCEP) Team. He works with the Collaboration Pre-Sales team and his area of expertise includes Webex Calling, Webex Dedicated Instance(DI), Webex Contact Center and Webex Devices. Prior to joining the Cisco Sales team, Rajamani was an End to End Collaboration Lead for the Technical Services (CX) Organization. Rajamani has worked across Cisco Unified Communications Manager, UC Applications TAC team(s) and has presented multiple times in previous Cisco Live events.
• 

  Cisco

  Richard Murphy

  Technical Leader - Technical Marketing Engineer

  Richard Murphy is a Technical Marketing Engineer, Technical Leader within the Cisco Collaboration Technology Group business unit and is part of the Webex Technical Marketing Engineering (TME) team focusing on the Webex Edge and Meetings services. This includes Video Mesh, Edge Connect, Edge Audio, and Webex Meetings. Richard is a multiple time Distinguished Speaker at Cisco Live. Prior to this role, he specialized on the Cisco TelePresence Conductor, Cisco TelePresence Server, MCU, and Recording and Streaming products. Richard brings over 20 years of experience to all aspects of complex network designs and projects with audio, video, network routing, and switching. One of the recent unique projects was for NASA's Artemis I mission involving Callisto. Prior to Cisco's acquisition of TANDBERG, he spent 5 years at TANDBERG as a Systems Engineer and Theater Product Manager.
• 

  Cisco

  Robert Rogier

  Escalation Engineer

  Robert W. Rogier serves as an Escalation Engineer within the Technical Services (CX) Organization, operating out of Research Triangle Park (RTP), North Carolina. His journey with Cisco commenced in 2011, marking his entry into the TAC as part of the Unified Contact Center team. Over the years at Cisco, Robert has distinguished himself as the global go-to expert, a leading technical authority, a dedicated mentor, and an educator in the realms of Webex Connect, Enterprise Chat and Email (ECE), as well as the Contact Center Management Portal/Contact Center Domain Manager (CCMP/CCDM). In his capacity as an Escalation Engineer, he is the primary point of contact for complex ECE-related issues and plays a pivotal role in addressing a broad spectrum of UCCE challenges that span various components. Robert anchors the Contact Center Enterprise team at RTP, providing expert escalation support. Before his tenure at Cisco, Robert's career was marked by diverse roles, including leading software architect and developer at a healthcare firm, an infrastructure and database architect at a dot-com startup, and as the senior IP Telephony engineer for an educational institution. Outside the professional sphere, Robert enjoys spending time with his spouse, is an avid fan of Formula 1 and hockey, and enjoys honing his skills on the golf course.
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  Cisco

  Rohit Harsh

  Technical Leader, Customer Success

  Rohit Harsh is a seasoned technical leader in customer success org within Cisco with over a decade of experience in deploying, configuring, and supporting contact centers. Starting with on UCCE/UCCX, he now specializes in managing Webex Contact Center. As a trusted advisor, he guides customers and partners through their cloud migration journeys and plays a key role in influencing product decisions to align with market needs.
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  Cisco

  Rue Green

  Senior Solutions Engineer

  Mr. Green has spent several years working within different roles covering software development to network architecture, design and implementation for large Voice and Data Networks. Mr. Green is an Active dual CCIE in Enterprise Infrastructure and Collaboration with several years of experience with complex data, voice and contact center solutions. In addition, Mr Green has spent several years within the advisory consulting and partner community, creating a strong consulting and methodology background, allowing his approach to management to be a blend of technical and advisory. Mr. Green currently works as a Senior Customer Care Architect and Developer focusing on customer care collaboration solutions addressing customer experience and journey. Mr. Green architects complex contact center solutions from infrastructure through customer experience, journey and backend API integration / development.
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  Cisco

  Sara Macías Salete

  Collaboration Technical Solutions Architect

  Sara Macías Salete is a Collaboration Solutions Engineer in Cisco. She is part of the Global Collaboration Sales Engineering team, focused on Interoperability and Competition between Cisco Collaboration solutions and Microsoft, Google and Zoom. She has been working in Cisco for more than 10 years, always dedicated to the Collaboration technologies.

  Sara holds an MSc and BSc in Telecommunications Engineering by the Technical University of Madrid. She's passionate about technology, jazz music, dance and wine tasting, being a DipWSET candidate.

  The key topics Sara can cover are Cisco Devices interoperability with Microsoft Teams, Google Meet and Zoom; Cisco Devices for Microsoft Teams (MTRs) and Webex Calling for Microsoft Teams (client-side integration for Calling).
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  Cisco

  Sara Santos

  Product Manager

  Sara is a Senior Product Manager leading agent and supervisor experiences in the Webex App. She is dedicated to empowering users to deliver exceptional customer experiences. With over 10 years in the industry and a background in marketing, digital adoption, and customer journey management, Sara brings extensive expertise and a unique perspective to product management, rooted in a passion for solving customer problems. Committed to innovation, value creation, and user-centric design, Sara aims to set new standards for excellence in Customer Experience applications. She lives in Mystic, Connecticut with her family and rescue dog.
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  Cisco

  Savita Kini

  Director Product Management, Collab AI

  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.
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  Cisco

  Scott Kiewert

  Technical Marketing Engineer

  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.

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  Cisco

  Shane Long

  Technical Marketing Engineer

  Shane is a Technical Marketing Engineer based in Galway, Ireland. Shane's main focus is on the Webex App and its various workloads. Shane has a specific focus on deployment practices including VDI. Other focus items include migrations, MS Teams interoperability and custom integrations. Shane has also supported Cisco Jabber for a number of years.
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  Cisco

  Sheshadri Mookherjee

  Product Manager - Webex Developer Platform

  Sheshadri is a seasoned product manager with over 13 years of experience in the technology industry. Currently, he is working with the Webex Developer Platform team at Cisco, where he has been spearheading strategic integrations for the past four years. His recent focus has been on leading AI initiatives in Webex Developer Platform aimed at significantly enhancing the customization and personalization of the Webex Suite and Webex Contact Center. In addition to his AI work, Sheshadri has been instrumental in integrating Webex with key enterprise applications such as OneDrive, SharePoint, Box, Google Drive, Salesforce, Jira and Slack. He has also contributed to the development of the Webex embedded apps framework. Before his current role, Sheshadri played a leadership role at 42hertz, a technology consulting company that was acquired by Cisco, and PwC, where he led enterprise application products, features, and engagements.
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  Cisco

  Soundarya Muthuvel

  Engineering Product Manager

  Soundarya Muthuvel has been a product manager in the contact center space for 2 years, focusing on developer solutions for Webex Contact Center. She owns the Webex Contact Center Developer Portal, API/Webhook framework, and AI-based integrations.
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  Cisco

  Stefan Zeidenberg

  Americas Presales Leader, CPaaS Solutions

  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.
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  Cisco

  Stephanie Ross

  Customer Experience Solutions Engineer

  Stephanie Ross is currently a Customer Experience Solutions Engineer supporting partners at Cisco. She has 20 years of experience in Contact Center and Collaboration technologies and her career has seen her excel in diverse roles spanning Managed Services, Professional Services, Design/Architecture, Sales and GTM, predominantly working for Cisco Partners. Stephanie lives in Northern California with her treasured dog, Titan, who occasionally steals the spotlight on Webex Meetings, and has a son studying to be an aerospace engineer.
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  Cisco

  Steven Fly

  Technical Marketing Engineering, Technical Leader

  Steven Fly is a Technical Marketing Engineer (TME) within Cisco’s Collaboration Technology Group focusing on Webex migrations, Webex Calling and Customer Experience. He works closely with the Webex product and engineering teams on the migration process and tools, Webex Calling features and the Customer Experience Essentials solution. Steven works with partners and customers to educate and assist them with their migration and Webex Calling needs. 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 over 50 global enterprises and large Service Providers as a trusted advisor for variety of technologies including networking and collaboration. He helped his customers develop and deploy a technology strategy, solution architectures and solution designs for a variety of technologies including complex networking, Unified Communications, TelePresence and Webex.
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  Cisco

  Susan Parrish

  Webex Technical Enablement Specialist

  Susan Parrish is a seasoned training professional with a strong background in customer-facing roles and adult education. She is a Cisco Webex Technical Enablement Specialist who designs and delivers courses for Webex solutions.  She merges her 20+ years of experience in software and technology customer-facing roles with her knowledge of adult education to bring a relevant perspective to adult learning in the tech industry.  Susan holds a Master’s in Adult Education, a Community College Instruction Certificate from East Carolina University, and a BS in Management of Information Systems from Mount Olive University.  In her free time, Susan enjoys spending time at the beach, tailgating at ECU football games, and performing in local community theater. Her commitment to the community is further demonstrated by her role as a board member of the Benson Foundation for the Arts. 
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  Cisco

  Tanuj Goyal

  Leader Product Management

  Tanuj Goyal leads product management for Webex Connect Enterprise CPaaS platform. In this role, he is responsible for driving the roadmap and development of Webex Connect cloud communications platform that enables businesses to deliver seamless customer experiences leveraging digital communication channels, integrations, automation, NLP/NLU and AI. Tanuj has 14+ years of experience in product management, product marketing, and software development roles.
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  Cisco

  Tobias Brodtkorb

  Leader, Technical Marketing

  Tobias Brodtkorb is a Technical Marketing Leader in Cisco’s Collaboration Technology Group, specializing in devices ranging from IP phones to immersive video systems. Based in Norway, Tobias joined Cisco in 2010 through the TANDBERG acquisition and has been in the video collaboration industry since 2001. Starting his career as a software developer, Tobias has held numerous roles in product development and sales support. He is recognized as a subject matter expert and team leader, with a deep expertise in video devices.
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  Cisco

  Tim Kratzke

  Technical Leader

  Tim Kratzke has been working on Cisco Telepresence products for over 12 years, ranging from Immersive video systems, video infrastructure such as Cisco Meeting Server (CMS) and Expressway, and for the past 6 years specializing in video endpoints. After working as a Telepresence TAC engineer, Tim now works with global CX teams training new engineers, building tools to aid in the troubleshooting process, and working with engineering to improve the serviceability of collaboration video endpoints. In his spare time Tim is an avid hockey fan and enjoys traveling and exploring new destinations.
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  Cisco

  Trey Hilyard

  Solutions Engineer

  Trey has been in the telecommunications industry since 1996. He has been at the forefront of the VoIP revolution and has helped some of the largest service providers across the globe transition from circuit-centric networks. He has authored 14 patents and prides himself on being able to understand and explain complex technology to everyone. Trey's role with the Webex Center of Excellence gives him a chance to work with customers of all sizes and it all phases of their cloud and AI transformation.
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  Cisco

  Vajrender (Sunny) Akkera

  Sr. Product Manager

  Sunny Akkera is a Product Manager in the Webex Business Unit, where he leads offer strategy and drives success. Throughout his career at Cisco, he has held various roles, from working in Technical Assistance (TAC) and Services to spearheading an offer within the company. He is passionate about technology and customer success. Outside of work, Sunny enjoys traveling and spending quality time with his two wonderful daughters.
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  Cisco

  Venky Yechuri

  Technical Projects Systems Engineer

  A Systems Engineer in Global Demo Engineering at Cisco, specializing in Collaboration Architecture!
• 

  Cisco

  Victor Vazquez

  Solutions Engineer

  Victor is a Collaboration Solutions Engineer within the global Webex Solutions Developer Group, Global Central of Excellence, where he supports customers worldwide. He specializes in building cross-architecture solutions that enable businesses to achieve their objectives. His journey at Cisco started as as a System Engineer, and evolved as he transitioned into a Collaboration specialist. Over the years, Victor has honed his expertise, particularly focusing on Contact Center and CPaaS (Communication Platform as a Service)
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  Cisco

  Will Mills

  Solutions Engineer

  William is a Solutions Engineer within the global Webex Solutions Developer Group, Global Central of Excellence, where he supports customers worldwide. Based in Galway, Ireland, William's journey at Cisco began as a Collaboration Trials Engineer and evolved into a cross-architecture solutions developer. Over the past three years, William has developed numerous innovative solutions leveraging Webex APIs, SDKs, CPaaS, and Collaboration Devices, significantly enhancing customer engagement and driving substantial revenue growth.
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  Cisco

  Wade Hamblin

  Director

  25 years of experience in Cisco Calling working to ensure customer success.

PARTNER SESSION SPEAKERS

• 

  Cisco

  Alexa Trifilo

  Director, Global Collaboration Partner Sales Engineering

  Alexa Trifilo is an accomplished professional with nearly 20 years of experience at Cisco. Currently serving as the Director of Global Collaboration Partner Sales, Alexa drives the strategy and Go-To-Market evolution of Cisco's collaboration channel, focusing on cloud transformation and recurring revenue. She has a strong background in systems engineering, channel sales, and optimization. Alexa is also pursuing a Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) at Temple University.
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  Cisco

  Amy Smith

  Dir., Americas Collaboration Partner Sales

  Amy spent a short time at Avaya running their Alliances organization. Before Avaya, Amy ran the Alliances organization for NTT Americas (formerly Dimension Data). Amy has spent most of her career in the Unified Communications, Collaboration and Customer experience space. Since joining Dimension Data in 2014 through acquisition Amy led the Digital Workplace and Customer experience business units driving go to market strategy for sales execution, product development, and operations for the US, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, and Chile. Prior to Dimension Data Amy helped create and lead the Nexus Collaboration and Video business which saw successes of 5 straight years of massive year over year growth. She attributes that growth to focus, executing sales excellence and understanding the value of the channel. Amy is born and raised in southern California and currently resides in the southern California wine country area with her husband of 23 years and two sons. When she is not passionately cheering and managing their football, rugby, and wrestling teams she enjoys cooking, hiking, gardening, and boating. Amy has a Bachelor of Business Administration in MIS with a focus in Entrepreneurship from Baylor University.
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  Cisco

  Anthony Valladares

  Product Manager - Wholesale Webex

  Anthony Valladares is a Senior Product Manager at Cisco, responsible for the Wholesale Webex Partner Success Program. Anthony drives desired business outcomes for Cisco's Managed Service Partners onboarding to Webex. He engages with Partners to boost marketing activities and sales as products are developed, adopted, and ready for upsell.

  He holds a BA in Economics from Duke University and an MBA focused on Customer Insight and Innovation from The University of Texas at Austin. At WebexOne, he will describe the value of the Wholesale Webex offer highlighting its industry leading On-boarding and Go to Market Success Program.
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  Cisco

  Arvi Krishnaswamy

  Director, Product Management

  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.
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  Cisco

  Brett Harrison

  Director, Global Collaboration Partner Sales

  Brett Harrison leads Go To Market strategy for Cisco’s Global Collaboration Partner Sales organization. Brett and his team are responsible for leading the strategy across each of Cisco’s unique routes to market and solution areas. Brett works closely with Cisco's Global Partner Team, 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. Brett is a 16-year Cisco veteran with leadership roles in the Cisco Meraki channels organization and as a specialist in the Americas Distribution team. Brett has a Masters degree in Information and Communication Sciences and a Bachelors degree in Multimedia Production both from Ball State University. He currently lives in Indianapolis with his wife (Shara) and 4 children (Barker, Beckett, Beau, and Macy). Brett enjoys spending time with her family, flying around the country as a private pilot, traveling, cooking, and playing softball and ice hockey.
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  Cisco

  Brian Peterson

  SE

  Brian Peterson is a seasoned professional with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He has earned his CCIE Voice certification, demonstrating his deep expertise in voice networking and communications. With a passion for simplifying complex solutions, he excels at making intricate technologies more accessible and understandable for clients and colleagues alike. Known for his positive attitude, Brian brings enthusiasm and a can-do spirit to every project, making him a valued and trusted member of any team.
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  Cisco

  Chris Barwick

  VP, Collaboration GTM & Devices Acceleration

  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.
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  Cisco

  Craig Tait

  Collaboration Systems Engineer

  Craig is in his 24th year at Cisco, having held a variety of sales and partner-facing roles. Today, he helps Cisco's largest partners upscale their Collaboration practices while he evangelizes the power of Cisco's programmability story. Craig has been recognized for his innovative and educational demos and recently helped develop, coordinate, and host the Americas Partners Modern Workspaces Bootcamps. Born, raised, and remaining in Michigan, Craig enjoys spending time outdoors, playing in a working cover band, building pointless projects on RaspberryPi platforms, and of course, his wonderful family.
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  Cisco

  David Beisly

  Solutions Engineer

  My name is David Beisly, from Reading UK. I am an experienced Solutions Engineer working for Cisco for 14 years, having held a variety of roles, from Global Virtual Engineering, Demo Engineer, Channel Generalist Solutions Engineer to where I am today as the EMEA Channel Collaboraiton Solution Engineer. I love working with & engaging with our partners on all things collaboration & helping them reach their potential by guiding them on new technologies & how they can make the most of it. I also love spending time with my family & watchign them develop aswell as coaching an U12 basketball team in the UK.
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  Cisco

  Dolan Spitler

  Solutions Engineer

  Dolan Spitler is a Solutions Engineer focusing on Collaboration Partners in the Federal space. He is a CMMC Registered Practitioner with over 20 years helping Federal partners and customers with their Unified Communications needs.
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  Cisco

  Harold Pulhug

  Director of Engineering and Product Management

  I've been with Cisco for 25 years and currently lead the Webex Cloud Architecture team for the Webex Cloud Infrastructure and Platform group. My Architecture group provides design guidance for Infrastructure and Platform teams as we deploy Webex services in Public and Private Clouds. I also have responsibility for New Market Access Product Management, focused on US Public Sector and global sovereign opportunities. My team of Product Managers work with sales and partners in these focus areas to support our customers.
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  Cisco

  Jason McLemore

  Solutions Engineer

  Jason McLemore serves as a Solution Engineer at Cisco and brings more than two decades of experience in the Telecommunications and Information Technology sectors. His expertise has been instrumental in the service development and introduction of BroadWorks, Webex for BroadWorks, and Webex Calling, for the top tier Service Providers across North America.
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  Cisco

  Jeremy Laurenson

  Distinguished Systems Engineer

  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.
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  Cisco

  Juan Corral

  Global Collaboration Partner Sales - Solutions Engineer

  Juan is a seasoned telecommunications engineer with over 30 years of experience in the industry. Throughout his distinguished career, he has held various roles in development, sales, and management. With a robust 20-year background as a Solutions Engineer, he has worked extensively with channel partner organizations of several vendors, and a variety of technologies. For the past 6 years at Cisco, Juan has focused primarily on Go to Market and channel enablement responsibilities for the Cisco Cloud Contact Center portfolio, driving innovation and success in this critical area with initiatives like the Webex Contact Center Bootcamps.
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  Cisco

  Julie Berg

  Director, Marketing

  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.
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  Cisco

  Keith Hughes

  Federal Collaboration Partner Business Development Specialist

  Keith has a decade of experience working in the US Public Sector at Cisco. Currently working as the Federal collaboration partner business development specialist. He works with the DVAR and VAR community on their GTM efforts, sales strategies and general enablement. Keith has a background in education and obtained his master’s in education and curriculum design at George Mason University. He entered the technical space as a technical instructor delivering Tandberg and Cisco CCNA and CCNP level courses, along with writing and developing the Cisco based courses. He began his journey at Cisco as a UC engineer, focusing on the lifecycle application for video and Webex meetings. He’s been at the forefront of the SaaS transition within Cisco’s public sector and is motivated to build successful full lifecycle collaboration practices within our partner community.
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  Cisco

  Keith Griffin

  Cisco Fellow VP

  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.
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  Cisco

  Kristyn Hogan

  Vice President, Global Collaboration Partner Sales

  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.

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  Cisco

  Lorena Smith

  Partner Renewals Manager

  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.
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  Cisco

  Mark Giang

  Solutions Engineer

  Mark Giang is a Solutions Engineer in Cisco's Global Collaboration Partner Sales organization. With a focus on partner global Go-to-Market strategies, Mark Giang leverages extensive expertise to drive collaboration and innovation. Over the past 12 years at Cisco, Mark Giang has built a robust career, initially starting as a Systems Engineer covering Service Provider routing and optical technologies, and for the last 6 years, specializing in Collaborations. Mark Giang's deep technical knowledge and strategic insight is an asset to the team and a key contributor to Cisco's success in the global market.
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  Cisco

  Michelle Williams

  Collaboration Solutions Engineer

  Michelle is proud to be a CSAP alumni who joined Cisco through the early in career program 9 years ago. She has been working in Collaboration and Channels ever since. Michelle has held various roles, including Virtual Systems Engineer, Technical Solutions Specialist, and Technical Solution Architect, both with the Canadian Partner Organization and American Partner Organization. Currently, Michelle is a Collaboration Solutions Engineer for Global Collaboration Partner Sales Americas. She is truly passionate about working with partners and helping them grow their Collaboration practices. Michelle resides in Toronto, Canada, and enjoys activities such as Snowboarding and Paddleboarding, Reading, and spending time with her family. She is excited to connect with you at Webex One and the Art of the Possible Sandbox Edition Demo and Trial Best Practices Technical Enablement Session.
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  Cisco

  Sarah Meegan

  Global Lead for Collaboration Partner Programs

  Sarah Meegan is currently the Global Lead for Collaboration Partner Programs, bringing over 15 years of experience in creating campaigns, programs, and impactful strategies that drive growth and profitability. With a passion for innovation, creativity, and transformation, Sarah thrives in the ever-evolving technology industry. Throughout her career, she has leveraged her ability to build strong partnerships to drive results across multiple industries undergoing transformation. Drawing from her experience in the entertainment industry, Sarah continually revolutionizes go-to-market and program strategies. Sarah's intimate knowledge of the channel, gained from her time in distribution and partner roles, supports her development of impactful, outcome-based strategies. A fierce advocate for empowering women and promoting diversity, she currently serves on the Americas board for Women of Cisco. Sarah resides on the East Coast with her family, including two boys who keep her very busy. When she isn’t driving to a practice, she enjoys traveling, yoga, and reading a good book.
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  Cisco

  Sara Velasco-Spindler

  Sales Business Development Manager

  Sara is a Sales Business Development Manager with the Global Collaboration SE Team. She specializes in analyzing the key differentiators that sets Cisco Collaboration portfolio above the competition. Sara has been with Cisco for almost 4 years and previously has worked as a Collaboration SME with the partner community for 14 years. Sara has a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering and before she started her journey with Cisco’s Collaboration portfolio, she worked for IBM for 7 years.
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  Cisco

  Steven Fly

  Technical Marketing Engineering, Technical Leader

  Steven Fly is a Technical Marketing Engineer (TME) within Cisco’s Collaboration Technology Group focusing on Webex migrations, Webex Calling and Customer Experience. He works closely with the Webex product and engineering teams on the migration process and tools, Webex Calling features and the Customer Experience Essentials solution. Steven works with partners and customers to educate and assist them with their migration and Webex Calling needs. 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 over 50 global enterprises and large Service Providers as a trusted advisor for variety of technologies including networking and collaboration. He helped his customers develop and deploy a technology strategy, solution architectures and solution designs for a variety of technologies including complex networking, Unified Communications, TelePresence and Webex.
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  Cisco

  Tony Jones

  Director, America's Collaboration Renewals

  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.