Speakers

Keynote Presenters

Lula Kosanic
Senior Director - Expense, Vendor, Asset Management
CIBC World Markets
Lula Kosanic, Senior Director Expense, Vendor, Asset Management at CIBC, is responsible for managing IT supplier relationships and associated expenses across outsourcing and managed service arrangements, as well as technology assets. 

With over 15 years of corporate experience in contract negotiations, supplier governance and relationship management, Lula began her career at Bell Canada, and then joined CIBC in 2007.  She has spent the past three years at CIBC managing a transformation in supplier governance and cost management. 

Lula holds an MBA from Queen’s University, and is also a CMA.  She is a member of Women in Capital Markets, and the Canadian International Council.
Bill Mangen
Vice President of Procurement, Vendor Management and Strategic Sourcing
Cox Communications
Terry Mattison
Associate Director IT Global Procurement
Kimberly-Clark
Robert Young
Principal Cyber Security Engineer
MITRE

Speaker

Melanie Alexander
Strategic Sourcing Manager of Information Technology
MGM Mirage
Melanie is the Director of IT Strategic Sourcing at MGM Resorts International and has worked in the IT and sourcing arena for over twenty years, performing in a variety of roles from Strategic Sourcing  to IT financial management and IT asset management. She is a Certified Technology Procurement Executive  (CTPE) with Caucus and is the Vice President of the Board for the International CTPE Society.  Living in Las Vegas for the past sixteen years, she has worked in the tradeshow and hospitality industries.  As a member of the MGM Resorts International team she has broadened her skillset to include a deeper understanding of privacy and data security issues and has further utilized her past experience in process improvement initiatives and project management.   

Fraz Baig
Manager of Indirect Procurement
Ace Hardware
Jeff Ball
Vice President of Procurement
Digital First Media
Proven record delivering more than $500 Million of economic value through procurement, supply chain, vendor management, cost reduction and business development initiatives. Optimized multi-billion direct/indirect expense/revenue portfolios across key partners, distributors and supplier ecosystems. 25 years of expertise in sourcing, partner/business development, strategy, IT, general management and operations, global procurement, logistics, and international business process optimization, all acquired through experience at A&P, News Corporation, KPMG Consulting, Mitchell Madison Group, and Sears Roebuck. Serving as a Corporate Vice-President at The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, managing a multi-billion dollar vendor portfolio, spanning more than 200 direct merchandise and purchased expense categories. Focus is exclusively on cost reduction and cash flow as well as revenue generation. Previously served as a Naval Officer during the Persian Gulf conflict. Graduate of Yale University, earned an M.B.A with Distinction, concentrating in Finance and Strategy. Awarded dual B.S in Applied Mathematics and Physics, Magna Cum Laude.
Frans Barends
Chief Procurement Officer
Georgia Institute of Technology
Andrew Cieslak
Global Chief Procurement Officer
Cushman & Wakefield
Matthew Corsi
Director, It Vendor Management Office
MetLife Inc
Matthew Corsi has over 11 years of experience in Procurement and Vendor Management at Fortune 50 companies such as Bank of America, Lowe's and MetLife and is viewed as a specialist in the field of IT Sourcing. Throughout his career, he has established several new Supply Chain Organizations focused on Supplier Risk Management, Category Management and Strategic Sourcing. 

At Bank of America, he created and implemented a Supplier Risk Management program inclusive of a risk framework and governance to a portfolio of 40+ vendors; implemented scorecards, contingency plans and quarterly business reviews. 

At Lowe’s Home Improvement, he built a 12 person Category Management and Strategic Sourcing department managing $1 billion in IT spend for Hardware, Software, Telecom and Professional Services. In the first 12 months, his team identified over $70 MM in savings and had over 90% of all IT spend managed by his department.

Now, at MetLife, he is focused on building a new Vendor Management Office (VMO) for the Global Technology Organization to meet SIFI requirements. The organization is inclusive of both Category Planning and Supplier Risk Management to a portfolio of 80+ vendors totaling $1B+ in spend. 

Francine Coutu
Consultant
Strategic Sourcing & Procurement
Christine Eaton
Director of Strategic Sourcing
Ameriprise Financial
Mary Evans
Director, Global IT Procurement
CH2M Hill
Mary Evans is the Director of Global IT Procurement at CH2M Hill and has over 18 years of experience in IT procurement, strategic sourcing, contract negotiation,  category management, and mergers/acquisitions transitions for global companies.    The team she manages supports the hardware, software, telecommunications and networking requirements for the Firm and its clients. CH2M is a global engineering and project delivery company partnering with public and private clients to tackle the world's most complex infrastructure and natural resource challenges in the water, transportation, energy, environment and industrial markets.   Mary has a varied background having previously worked for financial transaction processing, telecommunications and legal corporations , and also worked for Federal, State and Tribal governments.    On a personal level, she has four children, enjoys travel, and has been a parent supporter of almost every sport available to students.   
Nagy Gad
Sr. Manager, Strategic Procurement
Yahoo
Cynthia Garcia
Senior Director of Strategic Sourcing
Stewart Title Guaranty Company
Cynthia is a strategic sourcing executive experienced in high risk, complex negotiations with suppliers for the telecommunications, financial services and insurance industries. She has sourced billion and multimillion dollar agreements across the spectrum of IT platforms and supported all lines of business for their technology needs. She is experienced in negotiating agency contracts and managing agency relationships to evolve her clients' communications platform for media and creative duties for television, print, online, and direct marketing efforts.
Natalie Gavrilovic
Senior Manager of Strategic Sourcing
Charter Communications
Natalie Gavrilovic is a Senior Manager at Charter Communications responsible for over $250M of annual IT spend as part of the Strategic Sourcing and Procurement organization.  In her role, Natalie supports the enterprise in the major categories associated with Software, Hardware, and Professional Services for both the internal and external networks. She leads strategic negotiations resulting in opportunities to reduce costs, minimize risk, and improve business conditions across various business units within the enterprise. 

Prior to Charter Communications, Natalie held various sourcing roles at other global Fortune 500 companies including The Walt Disney Company and AECOM, where she was part of the M&A team responsible for identifying and implementing integration projects to meet synergy savings targets. 

Natalie holds a BA in Chemistry from Bellarmine University in Louisville, Kentucky.

Marc Gerdy
Assistant Manager, Corporate Procurement
Discount Tire
Brian Heldt
Commodity Manager of Third Party Services
Holcim (US) Inc.
Yanni Karalis
Head of Global IT Vendor Management & Sourcing
Delhaize America
Yanni Karalis is an IT Procurement Professional with experience in different industries & countries. He completed a BA in Political Science & International Relations at the University of New Hampshire and an MSc in International Management at King's College London. After spending few years in the UK & Turkey, he joined Delhaize Group  and he is now the Head of Global IT Vendor Management & Sourcing for Delhaize Group. He resides in North Carolina with his wife Laila & 22 month old daughter named Sophia



Sanyam Khurana
Manager
J. Crew
Sara Martinez
Sr. IT Purchasing Manager
Brinker International
Daniel McClintock
Head of Software Sourcing Strategy
BD
Larry Mohammed
Director Indirect Sourcing and Procurement
Teradyne Inc
Chris Murphey
Director
Express Scripts
Suzette Neyra-Jones
Director, IT Strategic Sourcing
Intel
Ed Petrush
Director of Global Sourcing
Iron Mountain Information Management, LLC
Anthony Porter
Head of Global Corporate Procurement, IT Strategic Vendor Services & Asset
Acxiom
David Quillin
Manager, Procurement
Alliant Credit Union
John Ragland
Director Global Procurement IT, Energy and Facility Management
Johnson Controls Inc.
Frank Raimondo
Global Sourcing Office
Equifax Information Services, LLC
Andrew Russell
Senior IT Vendor Management Office Manager
Bridgestone Americas
Rosemarie Sharpe
Associate Consultant
Eli Lilly and Company
James Smith
Strategic Sourcing Manager
VMWare
Reagan Smith
Director, Global Procurement
HP Enterprise Services
Reagan Smith has been the Sr Director of IT Sourcing & Supplier Management at Visa Inc. since joining the company in 2013.  His role covers all Strategic Sourcing, Category Management, Supplier Management and all related commercial/contract engagements covering Visa’s global IT spend.  Prior to joining Visa, Reagan was the SVP of the Global Banking & Wealth Management Sourcing function, supporting the CIO’s office at Bank of America.  He also held a role as the SVP of Enterprise Software Sourcing at Bank of America, supporting the CTO’s office.  Prior to that, Reagan was an individual contributor supporting numerous Enterprise accounts at BoA, like Microsoft, IBM, HP, and others.  Reagan began his career practicing law in Louisiana, as an appellate clerk under the Hon. Charles B. Peatross and later as a defense attorney with Mayer, Smith & Roberts, LLP. 

Reagan earned a Bachelor’s degree in Business from Louisiana State University and an MBA and Law Degree (J.D.) from Texas Tech University. 

Adam Stanley
Global Chief Information Officer
Cushman & Wakefield
Adam Stanley is an award winning technology executive with extensive achievement in driving value for businesses through technology and operational excellence. He is a strong inspirational leader and change agent with proven success driving growth, performance, talent retention, and innovation. A fixer and builder that can define problems, Adam can analyze large quantities of data, strategize, and execute on needed transformation. He has led global organizations and programs and is constantly looking for ways in which he can help drive positive change.
Adam is an avid traveler and has visited or worked in over 40 countries including South Africa, India, Netherlands, Thailand, Australia, the United Kingdom, and Egypt. He is an avid reader, a devoted dog owner, and a passionate fine wine and food lover. Having received his MBA in Strategic Management from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in May 2000, Adam also holds a BSBA in Finance from Washington University in St. Louis. He is a proud son of Chicago and got his start at Whitney Young Magnet High School and Academic Center.

Bruce Starr
Managing Director of Information Technology Sourcing
BNY Mellon
Bruce has lead technology sourcing teams for Citigroup, Credit Suisse, J.P.Morgan Chase and currently BNY Mellon. He has both an MBA in finance and a BS in Accounting and Economics. 
Erik Sternisha
Vice President Of IT Spend Management
Cushman & Wakefield
Drawing on his more than 12 years of consulting, outsourcing and industry experience, Erik Sternisha, VP Global Procurement COE Lead for Cushman & Wakefield, provides leadership and strategic direction for the Procurement COE organization. Partnering with his peers across all functions & lines of business, Erik leads and facilitates the organizations Procurement technology and operations initiatives. Since joining Cushman & Wakefield in 2014, Erik has been integral in developing two start up functions to aide in company financial and governance goals. In addition to these activities, Erik also delivers strategic organizational support to the Global CPO & CIO and has been a trusted advisor relating to multiple M&A activities that have taken place.

Christopher Talbot
Director Of IT Procurement
T-Mobile
Nancy Tiran
IT Procurement Senior Director
Best Buy Inc
Michelle Trout
Indirect Procurement Director
Brinker International, Inc.
John Villani
Director, Global IT & Analytics Sourcing
Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc.
Vikki Vlastnik
IT Sourcing Manager
DuPont
Jason Wegmet
Director of IT Sourcing, Corporate Supply Chain Management
Cox Communications, Inc.
Charles White

Charles Schwab
Scott Yates
Senior Director of IT Sourcing & Enterprise Maintenance
Cox Communications, Inc.
Mark Zafra
Head of Technology Sourcing
Twitter
Alan Perloff
IT Vendor Management Specialist
AGCO
Ken Salapatek
Business Development Director
PRO Unlimited, Inc.

Industry Thought-Leader Perspectives

Jimit Arora
Partner, IT Services
Everest Group
Mike Austin
Vice President
Method 180
Mike Austin leads the service delivery team at Method 180. Mike brings more than 20 years of Microsoft licensing experience to his clients’ projects. He assists companies, from Fortune 500 to organizations with as few as 500 employees, with negotiations of Microsoft Enterprise Agreements (EA), Premier Support Contracts and Select Agreements. He has a vast amount of experience across multiple industries including: financial services, high tech, manufacturing, media, health care, government and retail. In addition to helping negotiate contracts he assists clients with creating and implementing software asset management processes to prevent over-purchasing of licenses and ensures terms and conditions reflect actual usage. Previously Mike was employed by Microsoft for more than 8 years, where he successfully negotiated 300+ new and renewal EAs with a total contract value of over $1B and negotiated legal terms and conditions for all software agreements. He also was a member of the global sales execution team responsible for the development of Software Assurance (SA) benefits; helped create the Disaster Recovery SA benefit for sales within the Microsoft Server Product Group as well as the Microsoft Home Use Program SA benefit.
Michael Baron
Vice President Sales
Rimini Street
Dean Bedwell
President
Software Asset Advisors
Chris Koeneman
Senior Vice President of Sales
MOBI
Chris Koeneman is the Senior Vice President of Sales at MOBI, where he is responsible for go-to-market success and all sales efforts.  Chris has an extensive background in technology sales, which includes leadership positions with leading technology companies such as AT&T, Intel, and Cisco as well as innovative start-ups. He has led global teams focused on networking infrastructure, cloud services, and virtualization solutions sold through OEMs, channel partners, and direct. He has been a part of two successful wireless acquisitions; one by HP and the other by Adtran.

Chris is a popular public speaker on technology and has presented at a number of international venues on the application of a wide range of technologies. He graduated with a BA from Indiana University and an MBA from Georgia State University. He lives with his wife and two children in Boston, and enjoys traveling in his spare time.

Sarthak Brahma
Vice President, Pricing Assurance
Everest Group
John Emmitt
Senior Marketing Manager
Flexera Software
John Emmitt is a Senior Marketing Manager at Flexera Software, responsible for the Software License Optimization area of our business. John has more than 15 years of technology marketing experience, including 6 years in the enterprise IT software industry. At Flexera Software, John markets our FlexNet Manager Suite for Enterprises products to Global 2000 enterprises and government organizations.
Joe Freda
CFO
Flexera Software
Harold (Hal) Good
President & CEO
Procurement Pros Group, LLC
Monty Hamilton
CEO
Rural Sourcing
Monty Hamilton is Chief Executive Office of Rural Sourcing Inc. (RSI) and is responsible for the company’s strategic direction and growth, including the launch of 10 new development centers with 2,000 colleagues across low cost of living, high quality of life locations in the United States. This is his second entrepreneurial startup venture after leaving Accenture in 1995. Monty joined together with four other colleagues to build Clarkston Consulting where he was instrumental in growing Clarkston into a global strategic and systems integration firm with offices across the US and Europe.

He is a sought after speaker on outsourcing, domestic sourcing and workforce development topics and has recently been featured on CNBC, BBC, NPR radio and at various industry events. His achievements were recognized recently by being named as a regional finalist for the 2015 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

Monty holds an M.B.A. from the Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University and a B.B.A. in business from Millsaps College.

Jim Holbel
Procurement Solutions Practice Leader - North America
IBM
Jim Holbel is a senior-level procurement expert who has spent 15 years focused on procurement transformation, strategy, technology and analytics. With extensive experience as a global procurement leader, technology strategist, and transformation program manager, he possesses a unique 360-degree perspective on the procurement, supplier, and technology success factors for driving change in the supply chain.
Lee Mashburn
Vice President
Spinnaker Support
Lee Mashburn has focused his 20+ year marketing career on delivering value to business through high-tech software and service solutions. Lee has held executive marketing and product management positions with some of the world’s most recognized technology leaders, including Honeywell, SAP, and SSA Global. Lee also led worldwide marketing efforts for SaaS startup Cogniti, an award-winning supply chain performance management solution provider.
 
Lee joined Spinnaker Support to drive worldwide marketing activities, including brand management, marketing communications, and demand creation.
 
Mr. Mashburn earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Pulp & Paper Science and Technology from North Carolina State University. He resides in Denver, Colorado.

Sean McLaughlin
Senior Software Asset Management Consultant
Snow Software
Sean McLaughlin is a Senior Software Asset Management Consultant at Snow Software, the world’s leading provider of SAM solutions and 2015 winner of The ITAM Review “ITAM Tool of the Year” Award.  Prior to joining Snow, Mr. McLaughlin worked at Oracle advising Fortune 500 companies on software licensing for the Oracle Database, Middleware, and Applications portfolios.

Jeff Muscarella
Partner, IT and Telecom Division
NPI
Joseph Richardson
President & CEO
Professional Purchasing Partners
Randy Roth
Chairman, IT Procurement Working Group, Society for Information Management
and Managing Partner, Corporate Contracts
Hank Satterthwaite
Senior Vice President
Everest Group
Michael Shaw
Advisory Board Member
American Council of Sourcing and Procurement Executives
Brian Skiba
General Manager, SAP Products
Snow Software
Jeff Yingling
Senior Negotiator
Corporate Contracts
Jeff Yingling is a Senior Negotiator with Corporate Contracts.  He has more than 35 years’ experience in the supply chain management and procurement functions of services, manufacturing and not-for-profit organizations.  These organizations ranged from Fortune 500 to mid-size companies.   Types of businesses included aircraft, bio-pharmaceutical and automotive parts manufacturers, health insurance providers (including two health insurers with annual revenues in excess of $10B each), and a large humanitarian non-governmental organization.

Areas of Jeff’s supply management and leadership expertise include supplier selection & analysis, contract negotiation & administration, price negotiations, services sourcing (including consulting, accounting/auditing, marketing/advertising, human resources and staff augmentation), information technology sourcing, capital equipment & MRO sourcing, construction & architectural sourcing, outsourcing agreements, supplier relationship management, spend analysis & category planning, inventory planning & control, enterprise resource planning systems implementation & use, continuous process improvement, strategic & organizational planning, staff development & training, and project management.

Jeff earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Bucknell University with a concentration in Management and Operations.  He holds the Certified Professional in Supply Management (CPSM), Certified Purchasing Manager (C.P.M.), and Accredited Purchasing Practitioner (A.P.P.) designations.  He has also served on the Board of the Institute of Supply Management (ISM), its Certification Committee, and as the President of 2 of its affiliates (Central Pennsylvania and National Capital Area.)

He and his wife reside in Albuquerque, NM.
Alex Zhong
Senior Portfolio Marketing Manager, Procurement Solutions
IBM
Alex Zhong is Senior Market Segment Manager of Supplier Management Risk & Innovation for IBM Procurement Solutions. With over a decade of experience in supply chain and procurement, he has served as a global leader for IBM supply chain enablement for growth markets. He held multiple key global leadership roles across IBM’s supply chain functions, from procurement to business transformation. He also served on an IBM corporate service team in Kenya to help the country to establish programs to prevent cervical cancer.