Debbie Landers - Vice President, Worldwide Client Support
IBM Information Management Software

In her current position as Vice President of IBM Information Management Worldwide Client Support, Debbie leads over one thousand employees around the world responsible for the resolution of clients’ questions and problems with IBM software. Focused on client satisfaction and providing optimal value for investment, Debbie’s team deals with a broad set of global clients with diverse issues, 7 X 24. Debbie’s team also focuses on identifying opportunities to improve the client experience with IBM software via investments in offerings, process improvement, tooling, and product usability and serviceability. Debbie also participates in teams defining the future of Client Support in IBM, and guiding the investments to get there. She has been in this position since September of 2004.

Debbie joined IBM in 1985 and has held technical and management positions at IBM’s Toronto Lab before moving into the Data Management Marketing and Channels organization. From 1999 through early 2001, Debbie was responsible for the technical team in the DB2 IM Channels and Services Development organization. In 2001, she was asked to participate in the integration of the Informix family into IBM - with the leadership role for integrating the customer support, services and education functions into IBM. From 2001 to 2004, Debbie led a variety of strategic initiatives around Information Management and IBM Software Services and Support.

Paul Esch - Director, Advanced Technical Support
Nokia Enterprise Solutions

Paul Esch leads the advanced support group within Nokia's CARE organization. Paul and his team are responsible for supporting Enterprise customers, as well as Carriers and OEMs deploying Nokia mobility solutions. Over the past 15 years Paul has managed support organizations and has experience developing and implementing support strategies in both small and large organizations. With the responsibility of supporting B2B customers for Nokia Paul understands the importance of Knowledge Management and the challenges of implementing it both within the organization and extending this functionality to customers through eServices. Paul holds a MBA in technology management and lives with his wife and daughter in Atlanta GA.

Ken Skinner - Vice President of Worldwide Customer Care
Vignette

Ken Skinner joined Vignette in March 2007 as vice president of Worldwide Customer Care.

Prior to joining Vignette Corporation, Skinner was at BMC Software where he held several positions in customer support, professional services, and software consulting. Skinner was at Sun Microsystems prior to BMC in the systems engineering group. He began his career at Digital Equipment Corporation in professional services in the artificial intelligence group.

Dr. Skinner earned his Bachelor’s, Master’s and Ph.D. degrees in Cognitive Systems and Artificial Intelligence from the University of Houston.

Kenny Bunnell - Director of Services Operations
Novell

Kenny Bunnell is the Director of Novell Services Operations. His team oversees the investigation, selection and deployment of new technologies for enhanced technical support for Novell Services worldwide. He has 10+ years in high technology with BS and MA degrees in communications and administration. Mr. Bunnell has held various positions in technical support management, outsourcing, system administration and electronic support delivery. He is currently planning the worldwide deployment of a new Web Support delivery model, incorporating the best of breed knowledge base, forums, chat, and remote support technologies.

Greg Oxton - Executive Director
Consortium for Service Innovation

Greg Oxton is the Executive Director of the Consortium for Service Innovation. Greg has extensive experience in the support business and has held numerous management positions in his 16 years at IBM and 6 years at Tandem Computers in operations, planning and global support strategy development. Greg’s specialty is customer service strategy and organizational development.

Through his work with the Consortium members in facilitating the process of collective thinking and collective experience Greg has developed rich insights about the KCSsm (Knowledge-Centered Support) principles. From his experience with the Consortium members in adopting KCS he is also facilitating a vision and a leadership model for the future of customer service and support.

Bill McGovern - Director of North America Customer Service Center & Common Service Applications
ABB

Bill McGovern is the Director of North America Customer Service Center & Common Service Applications, responsible for the continued integration of front-end processes between business units and the five divisions to facilitate the "One Face of ABB" for end-customers. In this role Bill manages projects that support the build-up of service capabilities and manages common service applications. Previously, McGovern was Operations Manager of the ABB North America Customer Service Center located in Wickliffe, OH, USA; responsible for the 24x7x365 operation of the 1-800-HELP-365 customer service line as well as the Level-1 Customer Service Administrators for all ABB Services and Customer Helpdesk both locally (North America) as well as Globally for Process Automation 800 extended Automation related support cases. Bill has spent the most recent eight years in the ABB Service Center developing customer and CSR relations to the ever-increasing volume of [multi-media] contacts and continual improvement. He focuses on customer contact integrity for Field Services, Logistics, Technical (phone) Services, Training Registrations and Sales/Marketing. As Department Quality Coordinator, Bill manages these Services by the Automation Technologies Service Quality Management System for ABB which is ISO9001-2000 Registered.

Bill has 13 years experience in ABB's organizations; beginning as Project Engineer / Manager of Control Systems in the Process & Utility Automation groups with emphasis on Water related projects. He spent 20+ years in the Process Control Industry with hands on experience of ABB, Allen-Bradley, Bailey, Bristol Babcock, Fischer&Porter, Foxboro, Honeywell, and Totalflow controllers as well as Instrumentation and Drives systems. He is a graduate of University of Rhode Island with BS-ME-OE and is a certified scuba diver. He holds certificates in Project Management, Basic and Visual Basic Programming, Developing Leadership through Emotional Intelligence, and ABB’s Corporate Leadership Program. He has performed such functions as programmer, field startup engineer, trainer, manager, project team leader, contract administrator, and sales support. He has served as ABB Process Automation Service Quality Council Chairman and Department Quality Coordinator, CSR Training Facilitator, as well as other community elected positions and non-profit Board member.

David Licosati - Vice President of Sales
Service Strategies

David has more than fifteen years professional experience, including more than ten years in the high-technology industry. David comes to Service Strategies from InoStor/Tandberg Data Corp., where he was co-founder and vice president of business development. During his tenure he created an international technology licensing business and successfully launched several new products through OEMs and channel partners. Prior to that he was co-founder and executive vice president of Land 5 Corporation, a storage area network and network attached storage solutions developer, where he helped transition the company from a niche startup to a multinational organization. David earned his BA in Business Administration from the University of San Diego.

Jerry Concannon
Service Strategies

After thirty-five years at Xerox Corporation, Jerry joined Service Strategies Corporation in January 2000 as a Senior Consultant and Auditor for Service Capability & Performance certification. Jerry joined Xerox Corporation in Boston where he held various management positions before transferring to Chicago as the Midwest Region Service Operations Manager for digital products. In 1980 he relocated to Xerox headquarters in Rochester, NY as the Technical Business Manager for Document Productions Systems. His recent responsibilities included worldwide implementation of the Service Capability & Performance (SCP) Certification program and development of worldwide service strategies for digital products. Jerry has an MBA from the University of Rochester, William E. Simon Graduate School of Business.

Kristin Robertson
Service Strategies

Kristin E. Robertson, President of KR Consulting, helps support centers increase their customer satisfaction and improve their efficiency. As a consultant, trainer and speaker, she has assisted companies such as 7-Eleven, Inc., Hewlett Packard, Southwest Airlines, Prodigy Communications (now SBC), Medtronic, Blockbuster, St. John's Regional Medical Center, and Jenkens & Gilchrist, PLC with their technical support and customer service needs. Kristin provides certification training for support center managers, analysts and senior analysts. Before starting her consulting service, Kristin served as an executive at software and financial services firms, managing technical support centers of up to 120 representatives. Employers included Fidelity Investments, Advent Software, Ross Systems, and Fleet Bank. Kristin is a frequent speaker at support industry conferences and events