Johanna Ambrosio, Senior Editor, Channels & Data Center Editor, Computerworld
Johanna Ambrosio is a senior editor at Computerworld who manages the Servers and Data Center channel on Computerworld.com. Johanna's an award-winning journalist who has been covering the technology industry for over 20 years. Mainframes and system software were also the core of Johanna's beat as a reporter in the early 1990s, when she experienced one of the highlights of her career: interviewing the legendary Thomas J. Watson, Jr., the former IBM chairman.
Dan Blanchard, VP of Enterprise Operations, Marriott International
Dan Blanchard, Vice President, Enterprise Operations, for Marriott International, Inc. manages Marriott's computing and network resources worldwide, supporting 151,000 employees. Blanchard has also served as Marriott's vice president, enterprise telecommunications and vice president, enterprise data networks. He first joined Marriott in 1994 and holds a masters degree in information systems from George Washington University.
Jay Corn, Senior Manager, Accenture
Jay is the North American lead for Accenture's Infrastructure Automation initiatives as well as the global co-lead for Accenture's Utility Computing and Virtualization practices. Jay's background includes both infrastructure consulting as well as application development/deployment. Jay has extensive experience with program delivery for Fortune 100 clients across data center provisioning and rationalization, server/storage consolidation, system integration, and custom application development.
Scot Finnie, Editor in Chief, Computerworld
Scot Finnie is Computerworld's Editor in Chief. He has been a technology journalist, reviewer, and editor for more than 20 years. He's also the author of Scot's Newsletter Blog. Finnie specializes in enterprise IT, operating systems, client software, mobile hardware, personal tech, and the Internet.
Bob Gill, Managing Director of Server Research, The InfoPro
As Managing Director for TheInfoPro's Server Sector, Bob leverages his over 25 years of experience in Information Technology as the industry source on server virtualization, blade servers, and operating systems - including Windows and Linux. Bob joined TheInfoPro in 2004 the Chief Research Officer, where he assisted in defining and formalizing TIP's research process in addition to establishing the position and role of Managing Director. Prior to joining TheInfoPro, Bob spent 15 years in senior management and analyst positions with Gartner Group. As an analyst, his areas of expertise involved networking, operating systems, media management and rights technology, and security. His major accomplishments included the launch of a business unit that synthesized findings from statistically-driven quantitative market research, as well as technology and vertical market expertise. Bob's previous experience includes technical, development, sales, and management positions at AT&T, Western Electric, and Bell Labs. He also ran his own IT implementation consultancy, and was VP of Business Development for an IT VAR. Bob has a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration from Notre Dame, and a Masters of Science in MIS from Stevens Institute of Technology.
Edward L. Haletky, AstroArch Consulting, Inc
Virtualization expert Edward L. Haletky is the author of "VMWare ESX Server in the Enterprise: Planning and Securing Virtualization Servers." He recently left Hewlett-Packard where he worked in the Virtualization, Linux, and High-Performance Technical Computing teams. Haletky owns AstroArch Consulting, providing virtualization, security, and network consulting and development. Haletky is also a champion and moderator for the VMware discussion forums.
Gene Kim, CTO and Founder, Tripwire
Gene Kim is the CTO and founder of Tripwire, Inc. In 1992, he co-authored Tripwire while at Purdue University with Dr. Gene Spafford. In 2004, he wrote the Visible Ops Handbook and co-founded the IT Process Institute, dedicated to research, benchmarking and developing prescriptive guidance for IT operations and security management and auditors. In 2003, was named by InfoWorld as one of the ?Four Up and Coming CTOs to Watch" and in 2007, ComputerWorld added Gene to their "40 Innovative IT People Under The Age Of 40" list.
Robert L. Mitchell, National Correspondent, Computerworld
Robert L. Mitchell, is National Correspondent at Computerworld, where he writes a monthly column and in-depth features. He has more than 20 years of industry experience. Prior to joining Computerworld, he held editorial positions at BYTE Magazine, Network World and spent five years working as the business development manager for an IT services company.
Mike Poor, Founder and Senior Security Analyst, Intelguardians
Mike Poor is a founder and Senior Security Analyst with Intelguardians. Mike conducts forensic analysis, penetration tests, vulnerability assessments, security audits and architecture reviews. His primary job focus however is in intrusion detection, response, and mitigation. Mike is an author and editor of the international best seller ?Snort 2.1? book from Syngress, and is a Handler for the Internet Storm Center. Mike teaches Intrusion Detection for the SANS Institute and has supported Intrusion Detection and Incident Response teams for the military, and has worked for Sourcefire as a research engineer, and for the SANS Institute leading their Intrusion Analysis Team.
Paul Poppleton, Senior Staff Engineer with Qualcomm
Paul has working with virtual infrastructure since Qualcomm began adopting the technology six years ago. He has in-depth experience with the deployment, operation and management of some 4,000 virtual servers and related systems, storage and I/O hardware.
Christopher M. Steffen, Principal Technical Architect, Kroll Factual Data
Christopher M. Steffen came to Kroll Factual Data in 1997 as the corporate system administrator, and currently serves as the Principal Technical Architect. He is responsible for overseeing the company?s technical infrastructure and vision, while evaluating and implementing new technologies. Chris also holds several technical certifications, including CISSP and CISA.
Patrick Thibodeau, Senior Editor, Computerworld
Patrick Thibodeau has been a reporter at Computerworld for 12 years, covering an eclectic range of subjects, including the Microsoft antitrust trial; Y2K, or the greatest disaster that never occurred. Thibodeau has traveled to Guam to report on how deep you have to dig through coral to ground electrical systems, and was on the scene when ICANN expanded the domain name system. Today, Thibodeau's reporting focuses on enterprise IT, including data centers, server hardware, IT outsourcing and its public policy implications related to globalization and the H-1B visa. Previously, Thibodeau reported on mayors' who wrote city checks to themselves and covering fires at 3 a.m., as well as editorial writer, and author of a book about a city that was an industrial age technology hub, New Britain, Conn. I now live in Washington DC.
Jack Wilson, Enterprise Architect — Assistant Vice President, Amerisure Mutual Insurance Company
Mr. Wilson has been in the IT industry for 30 years and has owned his own consulting firm as well as a being a principal at Ernest & Young. His experience has included a number of companies and has spanned the insurance, finance, transportation, software and health industries in the United States and Europe. The depth of his experience includes system development, database administration and for the last decade architectural strategy, design and implementation.
Mr. Wilson started with Amerisure Insurance in 2004 as their first Enterprise Architect and has acted as a change agent in that organization to bring about a significant transformation, moving the company forward with a comprehensive virtualization strategy. The early and tangible success of these efforts have created a momentum for driving this strategy broader and deeper across the organization.
Keynote Speaker
Jack Wilson
Enterprise Architect — Assistant Vice President, Amerisure Mutual Insurance Company
Moderators/Speakers
Johanna Ambrosio
Senior Editor, Channels & Data Center Editor, Computerworld
Dan Blanchard
VP of Enterprise Operations, Marriott International
Jay Corn
Senior Manager, Accenture
Scot Finnie
Editor in Chief, Computerworld
Bob Gill
Managing Director of Server Research, The InfoPro
Edward L. Haletky
AstroArch Consulting, Inc
Gene Kim
CTO and Founder, Tripwire
Robert Mitchell
National Correspondent, Computerworld
Mike Poor
Founder and Senior Security Analyst, Intelguardians
Paul Poppleton
Senior Staff Engineer, Qualcomm
Christopher M. Steffen
Principal Technical Architect, Kroll Factual Data
Patrick Thibodeau
Senior Editor, Computerworld
Jack Wilson
Enterprise Architect — Assistant Vice President, Amerisure Mutual Insurance Company