Evolve 2011 - Sigma Systems

Speakers

Alan Breznick, Senior Analyst, Heavy Reading
Alan Breznick has tracked the media, telecommunications, consumer electronics, and broadband industries for more than 20 years. At Heavy Reading, his primary field of focus is on cable/MSO services and networks, as well as IPTV infrastructure.

André Foster, Chief Information Officer, Columbus Communications
André Foster has over 20 years of experience in the Information Technology field and joined Columbus Communications management team in 2005 through it’s acquisition of Cable Bahamas. He currently holds the position of Chief Information Officer with Columbus and has responsibility and oversight for Corporate IT and the IP based Service Provider Networks. Prior to Columbus André held senior management position with Cable Bahamas, joining their management team in mid-1998. In his capacity with Cable Bahamas, Mr. Foster was the chief architect of The Bahamas' first IP Broadband and Metro Ethernet networks and was responsible for developing the CoralWave business unit to become the leading Internet Service Provider in The Bahamas. He holds a Bachelors degree in Information Studies and both Juniper and Cisco certifications in addition to his Bachelors degree in Information Studies.

Ari Banjeree, Senior Analyst, Heavy Reading
Ari Banjeree focuses on service provider IT, including all aspects of telecom software research. He examines the breadth of software used by communications service providers in customer, business, service, and infrastructure management. His area of focus includes all aspects of BSS, OSS, SDP, digital commerce, revenue assurance, service assurance, and elements that span both the infrastructure and network software markets, such as data warehousing, analytics, and business intelligence.

Carl Davies, Head of Global Marketing for Cable Brand Oversight and Creative, Convergys Corporation
Carl Davies is an industry SME and has global marketing responsibility for the Cable, Broadband and Satellite vertical at Convergys and for Brand Oversight and Creative for Convergys Smart Revenue Solutions. He has held a number of client and market-facing positions within the Convergys Product & Solutions team, focused on the Cable, Broadband and Satellite vertical and worked across the organization ensuring the right strategic alignment and solutions to support Tier 1 operators. Prior to joining Convergys, Carl held a number of Communications and Technology management roles and started his career in the early days of the UK Cable Industry, in 1990 with United Artists Cable International. Since then he has held a number of roles in a variety of UK Cable operators, as the industry consolidated.

Cristiano Calamari, IT Manager, NET
Cristiano Calamari is the IT Manager for NET, the largest cable operator in Latin America, overseeing FTTH and other next-generation services projects. Cristiano leads an IT team in charge of business change and technology direction. He brings strong background in IT and Cable market segments and holds a degree in Computer Engineering from the PUC CAMPINAS University.

David Walden, VP of Internet Technology/Data Engineering, WOW
David Walden is currently the Vice President of Internet Technology/Data Engineering at WOW, one of the top MSOs in the US. David has been at all levels within the IT industry for over 20 years with his primary involvement being infrastructure design and development. He currently oversees all aspects of the IT and Network infrastructure at WOW, including the Windows environment, UNIX monitoring, management and provisioning systems, as well as the entire network and transport infrastructure. These systems provide HSD, Voice and video services to over 400,000 customers.

Eric Kisiel, Senior Director Engineering, Charter Communications
Eric Kisiel is responsible for helping to shape and implement Charter strategic technical roadmap as a member of the Advanced Engineering & Design organization. He has over a decade of experience within the telecom industry, including contributions as a solution architect, software developer and system administrator, across all facets of the business. Prior to joining Charter Communications, Kisiel worked for Adelphia Communications and Winstar Communications in similar capacities. His passion and focus is enabling intuitive, consistent and holistic experiences for internal and external consumers, as well as to reduce the cost, complexity and duration of changes to the enterprise.

Glen Hicks, Director of IT Strategy, Architecture and Planning, Bell Aliant
Glen Hicks is Bell Aliant’s Director of IT Strategy, Architecture and Planning. He leads a team of business and IT professionals responsible for enterprise IT Architecture and Strategy and long range IT planning, development, evolution and governance. Glen is a graduate of UNB Computer Science with over 23 years of IT experience and a whole system thinker able to translate into actionable strategies, business change and technology direction.

Gytis Barzdukas, Director of Product Management, Mozy
Gytis and his team are responsible for Mozy’s product strategy and roadmap. They work with Mozy’s engineering organization to bring products to market that address customer needs for cloud backup and information access. Prior to joining Mozy, Gytis served as the Vice President of Product Management at Vertafore, a provider of software to independent insurance agents and brokers and at Artilium, a European-based provider of unified communications solutions. Gytis also spent 12-plus years in product management at Microsoft where his career highlights include establishing the SharePoint Server business, leading Microsoft’s Office product management team during the release of Office 2003, and heading up planning for Microsoft’s Windows Live Platform. Gytis holds Masters Degrees in Business Administration and Public Policy.

Henrique Zacarias, IT Director, ZON Multimedia
Henrique Zacarias is currently the IT Director for ZON Multimedia, Portugal’s largest fibre-based service provider, overseeing FTTH and other next-generation services projects. He brings experience in all quadrants of telco functions and systems architecture, gained from roles at Alcatel, Telecel (now Vodafone Portugal) and TELE2. Henrique’s interest in the world of electronics and communications started early as a child and lead him to obtain a degree in Electronics and Systems Engineering from the Instituto Superior Técnico University.

Jeff Kaplan, Managing Director, THINKstrategies
Jeff Kaplan is the Managing Director of THINKstrategies, the only consulting firm that focuses entirely on the business implications of the technology industry shift from a product-centric to a services-driven operating model. Kaplan is also the founder of the Cloud Computing Showplace, the largest, vendor-independent, online directory and best practice resource center in the industry. Jeff is a frequent speaker at various industry conferences, and a contributing columnist for BusinessWeek, E-Commerce Times, Financial Times of London, NetworkWorld, Datamation and InformationWeek.

John Frame, Director, Product Management, Sigma Systems
John Frame is Director of Product Management, Cloud for Sigma Systems and is responsible for providing service providers with the capability to deliver today’s broad array of SaaS applications to their customers. John's rich background and perspective in delivering remarkable solutions such as the SaaS distribution platform used by several of the top software manufacturers and key ecommerce technology used in the late 90s by companies such as Dell, Staples, Gateway and more. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Information Systems from the University of Texas at Arlington..

Marcelo Silva, Account Manager/Inside Sales - Americas, Sigma Systems
Marcelo Silva has been with Sigma Systems for four years. A newcomer to the OSS space, he has focused his attention in working with our existing DPM customers and helping to build new business avenues for the company, most notably with hosted and cloud solutions. Prior to Sigma Systems, Marcelo worked with international business development in B2B segments within the private and public sector, based in Brazil, Canada, Italy and the United Kingdom. He has held senior roles with companies dealing with fast moving consumer goods and luxury products, as well as a consulting role with international retail expansion.

Matt Zemon, President & CEO, American Support
Matt Zemon brings more than 20 years of operations, billing and customer service experience to American Support. Prior to American Support, Mr. Zemon was President of Bulk TV & Internet, a private cable operator recently recognized with inclusion in the Inc. 500.
He holds a B.A. from The Jepson School of Leadership Studies at the University of Richmond, serves on the Board of the Raleigh Durham chapter of Entrepreneurs' Organization (EO) and has been named one of the Triangle Business Journal's 40 Under 40 winners and one of Business Leader magazine's Top 50 Catalyst Entrepreneurs.

Mike Lee, Vice President, Venture Investments (Rogers Communications Inc.)
Michael Lee is responsible for venture capital investment for Rogers Communications. In this capacity, Mr. Lee is responsible for investments in technology based startups across M2M, financial services technology, Internet and mobile markets. Prior to this, he served as Chief Strategy Officer for Rogers Communications where he was responsible for strategy development, business development, and strategic partner management for the Rogers Communications group of companies, which include Rogers Cable, Rogers Wireless and Rogers Media. Mr. Lee also held the roles of VP, Strategy and Development; and VP Product Management at Rogers Cable. Prior to joining Rogers, Michael was a founder - entrepeneur in two technology companies.

Paulo Santana, IT Director, Cabovisão
Paulo Santana is the IT Director in Cabovisão (Portuguese Telecom Operator owned by COGECO in Canada). He brings more than 20 years experience in the IT and Telecom markets. Currently, Paulo leads Cabovisão's Core Application Department with responsibility for the major BSS & OSS solutions within the Company, and brings strong experience on services implementation/activation and billing fields. He also holds a degree in Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering from the Instituto Superior Técnico Lisbon University.

Preston Gilmer, Vice President, Marketing, Sigma Systems
Preston Gilmer is a 23-year veteran of the telecommunications industry and has extensive experience at AT&T Bell Labs, Tellabs, CommTech Corporation and ADC. He has held director and senior executive level positions in product management, strategic planning, partner and corporate business development, and corporate marketing. Mr. Gilmer's background includes 15 years in software management system products including EMS, NMS and OSS systems. He holds a Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering technologies from DeVry Institute of Technology, a Masters in telecommunications from DePaul University, and an MBA in marketing from North Central College.

Ryan Chan, Senior System Analyst, Telus Communications
Ryan Chan is a passionate “techie” and emerging leader from TELUS, a leading wireless telecommunications company in Canada, where he revolutionized the delivery approach of a complex upgrade and seamless migration of more than 7 million subscribers on a mission-critical system. His well-rounded approach to complex solutions stems from 15 years of IT experience in infrastructure, release management and application development.

Salvatore Pulvirenti, Chief Technology Officer, Tiscali
Salvatore Pulvirenti holds a degree in Electronic Engineering from Pisa University and brings more than 15 years of experience to the telecommunications industry. He has been the Chief Information Officer (CIO) for Tiscali, one of the leading independent telecommunications companies in Italy, since 2003. Salvatore has held this role at an international level since 2003, where he is in charge of technology guidelines for the IT group and technical infrastructure integration and operations. Prior to his role as CIO, Salvatore was Tiscali’s CTO for foreign markets in 2000 and VP Service Development and Architecture in from 2001 to 2001, where he managed the restructuring of the IT infrastructure for all Tiscali Subsidiaries in Europe.

Todd Narwid, Vice President, New Media, NDS Americas
Todd Narwid is Vice President of New Media for NDS in America. In his role he holds responsibility for various next generation pay-TV projects that leverage NDS’ established position and expertise in the pay-TV industry. Prior to joining NDS in 2008, Todd led worldwide sales, market strategies and capitalization activities for Narrowstep, a publicly traded Internet TV SaaS provider. Before joining Narrowstep, he was President of the Business Services Unit of RCN Cable where he led the division to expand and grow the Business Services offering in addition to leading the division’s M&A activities culminating in the acquisition of Con Edison’s Metro Fiber Network business in 2006. Todd holds a bachelor’s of science in education from George Mason University.

Tom Vari, President, Vari & Associates Ltd.
Tom is a veteran of the Information Technology field of more than 40 years. He was a professor of Computer Science and Mathematics at York University in Toronto for 25 years and has consulted to major corporations in Canada, the US and the Carribean (finance, telecommunications, manufacturing, distribution, retail, government). He joined Rogers Cable in 1997 as CIO and was recently responsible for all applications delivery and architecture and innovation for Rogers Communications. Tom has served on a number of advisory boards of technology companies, as well as a number of boards of directors of non-profit organizations. Tom did his graduate studies at Cornell University.