Eddie Amos is General Manager within the Developer and Platform Strategy group at Microsoft Corporation, focusing on the technical enablement of the Global Independent Software Vendor (ISV) Community. His team also develops strategy and manages technical relationships with key partners supporting Microsoft's Midrange and Competitive Recruit Programs.

Amos joined Microsoft in June 2002 as a Sr. Director in the Platform Strategy and Partner Group, where he was responsible for strategy, technical oversight, evangelism and market development for Microsoft's most strategic customers. He provided architectural guidance and insight to many Global 100 organizations on how to solve difficult integration issues using EAI and Web Services technology.

Prior to joining Microsoft, Amos was Vice President of Business Technology and Industry Solutions at webMethods. His team focused on complex enterprise integration problems and supported the efforts of the Independent Software Vendor Community who embedded this technology in their product offerings. Prior to webMethods, Eddie worked in the product management group at Lotus Development.

Amos received a Master of Science Degree from American University in Washington, DC and lives in the Seattle area with his wife and two children.

Michael Freidman is a Program Manager for Architecture & Innovation at T-Home Information Technology Center (Deutsche Telekom Group). In his role, he is responsible for the IT-Architecture of Desktop Services and corresponding Backend Services (Mail, Collaboration, Unified Communication and Content Management). Mr. Friedmann also helps to strategically define and maintain the Roadmap for Desktop Services by participating in the innovation process for identifying new solutions for the organization.

Prior to joining T-Home Information Technology Center in 2008, Mr. Friedmann worked as a Product and Portfolio Manager at T-Systems Enterprise Service GmbH, Bonn, where he acted as lead architect in a project to help standardize the Desktop infrastructure within the Deutsche Telekom Group. He has also held a position as a Consultant at Detecon International GmbH, Bonn.

Mr. Friedmann holds a Masters in Business Administration (Kellogg-WHU Executive MBA) from Otto Beisheim School of Management in co-operation with Northwestern University, as well as a Diploma in Computer Science from the University of Karlsruhe (TH).

Jens Rabe came to Open Text through the acquisition of IXOS Software AG. He is currently the VP & General Manager for the Microsoft Line of Business at Open Text Corporation.

Jens started his career at Robert Bosch, a German automotive supplier and has subsequently held positions in Corporate Finance and Marketing at Hewlett Packard. Jens was Chief Marketing Officer at Obtree Technologies Inc. before joining IXOS Software AG.

Jens earned his BA in Business Administration at the VWA Stuttgart and completed his MBA at Edinburgh University Management School. He brings 16 years experience from various industries and functions to Open Text and has spent the last 8 years of his career in the enterprise software area.

Eddie Amos is General Manager within the Developer and Platform Strategy group at Microsoft Corporation, focusing on the technical enablement of the Global Independent Software Vendor (ISV) Community. His team also develops strategy and manages technical relationships with key partners supporting Microsoft's Midrange and Competitive Recruit Programs.

Amos received a Master of Science Degree from American University in Washington, DC and lives in the Seattle area with his wife and two children.

 Randy S. Lea is Vice President of Product and Services Marketing for Teradata Corporation.  He is responsible for marketing Teradata products (database, utilities, and platform), Teradata services (professional and customer services), as well as the technical field sales support teams. 

Teradata marketing is focused on articulating and promoting the business value of Active Enterprise Intelligence, delivering ‘strategic intelligence’ to traditional corporate knowledge workers as well as ‘operational intelligence’ to the front line operational users, as well as customers and partners for better, faster decisions.  The foundation is Teradata’s Active Data Warehouse (ADW), a centralized, integrated data warehouse approach driven by the Teradata database engine, supporting both deep analytics as well as quick operational queries along with both batch and continuous data feeds.  To augment and grow the value and ROI from customer investments in the ADW, Teradata produces applications and solutions across the complete value chain, as well as solutions with or from 3rd party ISV’s, and implemented by Teradata’s Professional Services and System Integrator partners.

Lea has twenty-five years of experience with NCR.  He started his career with NCR in retail Point of Sale (POS) solutions, with fourteen years in sales and sales management positions. His role expanded to include PC’s, Servers, and Teradata data warehouse solutions. Since moving into the Teradata organization in 1995 he has held positions as Director of Product Management for Retail data warehouse applications, Director of Scalable Data Warehouse Marketing, Assistant Vice President of Teradata Marketing, Vice President of Teradata Channel Partner Sales, and Retail West Regional Sales Director. 

Prior to his current position, Lea was Vice President of Global Sales Support in conjunction with the Teradata Engineering organization.  He also served one year with BeXcom, as President of the North America region.  BeXcom delivered a B2B eCommerce solution that delivered business documents, primarily procurement related documents such as RFQ’s, PO’s and invoices, between business partners via the Internet.

Lea holds a Bachelor of Science degree from California State University at Fullerton in Fullerton California with an emphasis in Marketing and Accounting.  Also he is a graduate of the Executive Professional Development Program from the California State University at San Diego. He resides in San Diego with his wife Mitzi, and three kids Olivia, Brianna, and Sam.

Matt Sherriff is the Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence Manager for the customer analytics centre of excellence at Lloyds TSB Bank. He is responsible for the design and development of data warehousing and business intelligence capabilities to support analysts and business managers. Matt recently led a highly successful BI project that was the first in the UK to link a Teradata data warehouse with Microsoft's SQL Server 2005 BI tools and presented at Microsoft's 2008 BI conference in Seattle.

Matt has worked for a number of major Financial Services companies in the UK. He has 7 years client-facing experience and 13 years experience of Business Intelligence, both as a hands on developer and more recently as a team leader and project manager.During this time he has developed a passion for BI and the role it can play in helping people across the enterprise to release the untapped knowledge in their data.

Francois Ajenstat is the Director of Environmental Sustainability at Microsoft Corp. He is responsible for Microsoft's communication and outreach for key sustainability initiatives across Technology and Innovation; Global Partnerships and Corporate Environmental Practices. Ajenstat has been at Microsoft for the past eight years in various groups, including the Server and Tools and Information Worker divisions and the Enterprise and Partner group. Before joining Microsoft, he worked at Cognos Inc. as a strategic alliance manager responsible for key technology partners.

Ajenstat received a computer science degree from the University of Ottawa in Canada. In his free time, he is an avid fan of architecture and interior design, as well as cycling and sailing.

Rod Ellsworth is Infor's Vice President of Enterprise Asset Management Business Solutions. He brings over 30 years of related energy and enterprise asset management experience and holds an undergraduate degree in Mathematics and a post graduate Fellowship in Applied Statistics from Miami of Ohio. Prior to joining Infor, he was one of the lead architects of a technology solution that has been adopted by a majority of nuclear energy organizations in the United States. Rod has over 25 years of experience in the Energy Industry specifically focused in information technology and asset management areas. Combining his knowledge of Enterprise Asset Management systems, his depth of experience in the energy industry and his keen interest in understanding how managing assets can affect corporate sustainability and profitability, Rod has spearheaded the development and application of Infor's global asset sustainability solution, Infor EAM Asset Sustainability Edition.

Paul Stamas is currently Vice President of Information Technology at Mohawk Fine Papers, the largest premium paper manufacturer in North America.  Previously he was Director of IT at Sprint PCS; Director of IT at Intermagnetics General Corporation; Global IT Manager at Albany International Corporation; and Chief of Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) for the Department of Defense, Watervliet Arsenal; among other positions.

Paul received a BA in Applied Statistics from the State University of New York; A BS in Industrial and Systems Engineering from State University of New York; an Executive MBA from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI); and is currently pursuing a Doctorate in Information Management from Syracuse University School of Information Studies (iSchool).

A longtime IT journalist and editorial executive, Maryfran Johnson has an extensive network of Chief Information Officer (CIO) contacts and IT sources built during her leadership roles as Computerworld's Editor in Chief, Founding Editor of CIO Decisionsmagazine, and Chief Content Officer for the CIO Leadership Network. In March 2008, she rejoined IDG as Editorial Director of Executive Programs for CXO Media, publisher of CIO and CSO magazines. She is responsible for agenda development, speaker recruitment and all related editorial functions for CXO's extensive conference offerings, including three national events (the CIO 100 Symposium, the CIO Leadership Event and the CIO Year Ahead) as well as the new CIO Perspectives Forums, a series of one-day regional events held all over the country. Since the mid-1990s, Maryfran has been a frequest keynote speaker and panel moderator at CIO conferences, where she is known for her engaging stage presence and deep knowledge of IT executive issues. She has also been widely featured in the business media as an expert commentator on IT leadership, technology and business alignment trends.  

 Jeffrey E. Keisling, Vice President, Corporate Information Services and Chief Information Officer, is responsible for providing the Company's strategic direction on information technology, as well as managing the technology organization and business application solution units. Mr. Keisling joined the Company in 2000 and previously held the position of Vice President - Information Services for Wyeth Pharmaceuticals.

Prior to joining Wyeth, Mr. Keisling was Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer of Advanta Financial Services. In addition, he spent 12 years at Rhone-Poulenc Rorer Pharmaceuticals holding a range of leadership positions domestically and internationally within both the ethical and consumer pharmaceutical businesses; Mr. Keisling was the CIO for Rhone-Poulenc Rorer Pharmaceuticals from 1995 to 1998. From 1982 to 1987, Mr. Keisling worked at Knoll International where he directed the company's software development efforts.

Mr. Keisling received a B.S. degree in Finance and Accounting from Indiana University of PA. He is a board member of Pharmaceutical Information Services Association (PISA) and active member of the CIO Strategy Exchange.

Mr. Keisling, his wife and three children live near Philadelphia, PA.

Prabal Acharyya is OSIsoft's Director of the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Alliance. Prabal is responsible for all aspects of OSIsoft's relationship with Microsoft including joint strategy development, customer engagement, product roadmap alignment, sales, marketing, and business development initiatives. Prabal has been instrumental in developing OSIsoft's strategic alliance vision and joint engagement strategy with Microsoft. A former OSIsoft PI customer himself, Prabal's passion for addressing the challenges of enterprise customers and helping them achieve greater business agility has been key in bringing OSIsoft and Microsoft close together to establish the PI Infrastructure on the Microsoft platform as the platform of choice for extending operational insights into all levels of the organization.

Prabal joined OSIsoft in 1999 as a senior member of the product development team. Prior to joining OSIsoft, Prabal spent 10 years working for BP in variety of roles in Europe and the US in which he led a team of architects to define the company's IT strategy for applications and a common operating IT platform on Microsoft technologies.

Prabal earned his MS in Computer Science with Artificial Intelligence specialization and a MS in Nuclear Engineering from The Ohio State University, in Columbus, Ohio. He also has a Bachelor of Technology in Electrical Engineering from The Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur.

Enrique Herrera brings over 16 years of Automotive experience from the OEM perspective (Ford Motor Company, Jaguar Cars Limited) and as a Tier 1 supplier (Visteon Corporation). He brings cross-functional experiences from Powertrain Design, Product Development, Manufacturing and Information Technology. As a Director for strategic architecture and solutions at Visteon he managed the global plant floor solutions groups with 100+ analysts and consultants supporting 123 manufacturing facilities in over 23 countries. Enrique led corporate initiatives in Operational Visibility and managed IT projects (ERP, Shop Floor and IT Infrastructure) to support new manufacturing launches globally. In this position he became recognized as a corporate leader for in-line vehicle sequencing and error-proofing systems. As part of a strategic global SAP blueprint initiative, he led the Demand to Supply and MES portions of the design phase. Enrique holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a Master of Science degree in Advanced Automotive Engineering from Loughborough University in the UK and is a certified SAP Supply Chain Consultant.

As a Microsoft Industry Solutions Specialist Professional (ISSP), Enrique plays a crucial role in connecting the value and content of the Manufacturing Industry Team to both the internal Microsoft U.S. sales force as well as to Microsoft's significant manufacturing customer base. The core focus of Enrique's team is to drive the sales and adoption of Microsoft's products and technologies across Microsoft's manufacturing customer base. This is accomplished through direct interaction with the responsible line of business manufacturing executives.

Mr. John Schlitt serves at the Automation Marketing Manager for the Energy Services Division of the Nalco company. Prior to joining Nalco, Mr. Schlitt served as a business unit Vice President for Oracle Corporation (a $17 Billion enterprise software company). He also served as President & CEO of Air-Transport IT Services, Inc. (Schlitt founded AirIT as a Chicago based company and quickly became the premier system integrator serving the Air-Transport market). He also served as Vice President - Transportation Industry for TAVA Technologies. He also served as Director of Environmental Business Operations at Elsag Bailey (now part of ABB International) and as Sales Manager for Fischer & Porter Company (a $250 Million Process Measurement Company also acquired by ABB International.

Sam Youness, WW Industry Technology Strategist, Manufacturing Operations, Microsoft, is the worldwide industry technology strategist for manufacturing operations at Microsoft. Sam has been working at Microsoft for five years. During his work, he built strategies around manufacturing visibility, security, and systems management in manufacturing. He managed several independent software vendors (ISVs) from the technical side and was involved in many customer sales engagements. Sam also participated in some standards bodies work to promote Web services and convey the result of standards work to Microsoft product teams. He is currently on the board of MESSA International and works closely with OPC Foundation, ISA, and Mimosa. Sam also had several speaking engagements in many partner and customer conferences and user summits about Microsoft technologies and strategies in the manufacturing area.

Sam joined Microsoft from Commerce One (C1) where he was the chief architect in the Global Services department. He is a certified professional engineer (PE) in the state of Michigan, and a former MCSD (1998). He has more than 20 years of experience in IT and Engineering firms.

Mr. Youness is a published author where he authored or contributed to more than 10 books in the areas of SQL Server, SQL, VB, Oracle, and Java. An example of his publications is “Professional Data Warehousing with SQL Server 7.0 and OLAP Services” published by Wrox, Ltd. in January, 2000. He has also conducted many seminars and presentations around North America and Europe.

When not working, Mr. Youness enjoys his time with his family and several hobbies, including swimming, running, reading, and playing basketball.

Thomas Hooker, Vice President of Marketing, Tidal Software, leads the management of all product and field marketing efforts, as well as demand generation. Thomas brings over 20 years of technology marketing and sales experience to this role. Over the course of seven years at Tidal, Thomas has held several important roles in product management, development and marketing, and has played a vital role in the successful release of many of Tidal’s solutions. Prior to his current role he served as director of product marketing, and as director of marketing and development. Prior to Tidal, Thomas held a marketing and development positions at both BMC and Boole and Babbage. Thomas holds a BS degree in both Computer Science and Business Administration from California State University, Chico.

Vipul Shah, Sr. Product Manager Products/ Solutions Marketing, works in the virtualization marketing team responsible for defining and marketing the portfolio of the offerings built on Microsoft's virtualization platform. Vipul’s focus areas include product marketing of System Center Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) and engagement with ISV solution partners to develop/market solutions built on Microsoft virtualization products and technologies. Prior to his current role, Vipul was on the SQL Server Marketing, Partners Team where he was responsible for strategic initiatives with Microsoft’s Global ISV portfolio. Prior to Microsoft, Vipul was Sr. Software Development Manager at Oracle where he was responsible for leading a team of software developers to develop systems management and diagnostic tools for Oracle database. Prior to Oracle, Vipul was a Sr. Software Engineer at Sybase. Inc. Vipul has an MBA from the University of California at Berkeley, and BS in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, India.

Karl Dittman is the Business Development Director responsible for Microsoft’s worldwide relationship with Teradata and other larger BI ISV partners.  Karl’s charter is to help joint customers to maximize the value they receive from combined solutions, while guiding Microsoft and partner success in the BI ecosystem.  Karl has worked with software technology for the past 20+ years across a diverse spectrum of platforms and applications, from industrial process control to computer visualization and business intelligence. Over the past 8 years, Karl has been focused on Business Intelligence, Data Warehousing and Data Mining technologies. Karl has a BS in Electrical Engineering and is also an alumnus of the Indiana-Purdue University Graduate Finance Program.