Morning Keynote
Robert Stephens
Founder and Chief Inspector at The Geek Squad, VP Best Buy
A native of Chicago, Robert left a scholarship at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1990 to pursue a degree in computer science at the University of Minnesota. While attending the University, he landed a job fixing computers for the Human Factors Research Laboratory. Over a three year period, he rose to become head engineer of the lab while earning scholarships from the U.S. Navy and the FAA building flight and driving simulators. It was also during this time he started a computer consulting business. In April 1994, after three years at the University, he formed The Geek Squad with $200. In 2002, The Geek Squad acquired Best Buy and opened Geek Squad precincts in all Best Buy US and Canadian stores. With over 17,000 Agents , The Geek Squad is now North America's largest technology support company offering phone, in-store, and in-home support. It also has operations in Shanghai and the UK.
Afternoon CIO Panel
Tood Anderson
Director of Technoloy and IT, MinuteClinic
Todd Anderson is the Director of Technology and Development at MinuteClinic, the nation's largest retail clinic with over 500 clinics in 25 states. He led MinuteClinic’s implementation of several innovations related to electronic exchange of medical
information. MinuteClinic's leadership and early adoption of the ASTM Continuity of Care Record (CCR) standard led to participation in the initial public launch of Google Health and enabled the automatic upload of patient data via CCR to the Google Health and Microsoft HealthVault platforms. MinuteClinic continues to push the envelope for electronically sending prescriptions to pharmacies and medical records to primary care providers on a national scale. Prior to MinuteClinic, Mr. Anderson held several architecture, consulting and software development related positions at United HealthGroup and IBM.
Tom Kelly
Chief Information Officer, 2nd Wind Exercise Equipment
Tom is the CFO/CIO for 2nd Wind Exercise Equipment, Inc. He has more than 20 years of strategic and tactical business experience holding senior management positions with large publicly held companies like PepsiCo and Deluxe Corporation, as well as small cap and privately held entities such as eBenX and PeopleNet Communications. He has created several On-Demand operating environments for companies that include integrated infrastructures that are aligned to business goals and processes and have allowed companies to optimize their operations in a resilient and secure manner in order to meet the needs of the business at any moment in time. Tom considers himself to be SaaS application agnostic, but he certainly gets the On-Demand religion! He is a CPA and holds a BA in Accounting and Finance from the North Carolina State University and an MBA from Fordham University.
Paul Veeneman
Chief Technology Engineer, Hawkins, Inc.
Since entering the technology arena in 1995, Paul has consistently looked to push technology through creative and innovative solutions in order to strengthen business operations, productivity and success. Paul has been able to take experience from previous positions in the healthcare and finance sectors and apply methods typically associated with fast-moving markets to help build agility into the business operations at many different levels. Driven by the concept that technology should adapt to the needs of business, he has developed a thought and design process that focuses on blurring the line between business operations and the systems that support them. Currently as the CTE at Hawkins, Paul has taken responsibilities managing security, storage, virtualization, and business continunity; leveraged his expertise in design and architecture; and positioned the technology applications, services and systems as a business advantage in the manufacturing industry while maintaining a watchful eye on capital, expense and the bottom line.
Jason Baker
Chief Technology Officer, VISI
Jason has over 14 years of experience working with Internet and telecommunications organizations in Minnesota. Prior to VISI, he co-founded Digital North and was the technology leader within the organization. In his capacity as Director of Operations, Jason helped Digital North expand into multiple datacenters serving thousands of customers. Prior to Digital North, Jason was a key technology driver at iPares, a multinational dot-com consultancy. Jason managed the profitable Application Hosting division within the organization. Early in his career he joined incNET, a startup Internet Service Provider located in Eden Prairie. As Chief Engineer he guided the organization during a time when the Internet was first becoming a useful business tool. incNET was eventually acquired by MEANS Telcom (now Onvoy). Jason joined MEANS as a Senior Engineer within their newly formed Professional Services.
Session Speakers
Jamie Anderson
President, Emergent Networks
Session 1A
Disaster Recovery Replication Technologies Demystified
Jamie Anderson is President of Emergent Networks, a consulting firm that provides technology direction, solutions and services to corporations and non‐profit organizations, both domestically and internationally. Since assuming the role of president, Jamie has led Emergent Networks to an annual growth rate of over 200 percent for each of the past three years. He graduated from Iowa State in 2001 with an electrical engineering major and Spanish minor and worked at ADC as a software engineer. In 2003, Jamie founded Emergent Networks and one year later acquired Anderson Data Management, a local computer consulting firm. While starting Emergent Networks, Jamie also attended the graduate school of Carlson School of Business and holds an MBA degree with a focus in entrepreneurship. Jamie consults regularly with executives from a variety of fields to help create synergistic solutions for a variety of technology and business problems.
Raised in Minnesota, Jamie now lives with his wife Suzanne of 4 years and his 5 month old son Evan in South Minneapolis. Jamie enjoys participating in triathlons, broomball, boating, and enjoys reading current business trends in the technology world. He continues to be involved in Carlson focus groups and has been asked to return as a guest speaker.
Paul Jacobsen
Partner Business Manager, VMware
Session 1B
Making the Case: Selling Virtualization When ROI isn't Enough
Paul Jacobsen is the VMware Partner Business Manager for the Plains region with over twelve years of experience in IT security, network optimization, and virtualization. He supports the top value added resellers in Minnesota along with strategic partnerships.
Matt Meents
Co-founder and CEO, Reside, LLC
Session 1C
Closed Loop CRM
Matthew Meents is the co-founder and CEO of Reside, LLC – a Minneapolis-based interactive firm, focused on helping businesses grow, using the Web. In his dual-role as Reside visionary and client advocate, Matt consistently pushes the boundaries of innovation and entrepreneurship to drive results, with a passion for business strategy matched to Web capabilities.
A graduate of the University of St. Thomas, Matt holds a B.S. in Entrepreneurship with a minor in Computer Science. Matt is actively involved with several local associations, charities, and non-profit organizations, including: Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO), KS95 For Kids, HockeyDocs Charities, and BizLounge Network. Matt was nominated by the TwinWest Chamber of Commerce as one of three finalists for “Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year” in 2005, and again for “Entrepreneur of the Year” in 2007. In that same year, Matt was named as one of Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal's "40 Under Forty”.
When Matt’s not fostering the Rockin’ culture of Reside, or fine-tuning business plans with clients, you’ll find him spending rainy days attempting to master “One” by Metallica on Guitar Hero® III, and sunny days teaching his nearly two-year-old son how to polish a Harley.
Jim Akers
District Sales Manager, NetApp
Session 2A
Data Management Innovations That Enable Competitive Advantage
Jim began his career in 1980 as an engineer for AT&T designing wide area data networks for corporate clients. This was the pre-divesture era of AT&T when companies made significant investments in training programs. During a two year period, Jim attended over 30 weeks of formal training including specific programs on operating systems and data networking at MIT in Boston, Massachusetts. The evolution of networking rapidly took off in 1983 when AT&T was split apart and the regulatory handcuffs were removed. In 1984, Jim became part of what was known as American Bell or ATT Information Systems working specifically on designing communication systems for the healthcare industry.
During this period, Jim secured his MBA and began looking towards a change in his career. Jim and two former AT&T peers started a company called Network Concepts that helped entrepreneurial; interconnect phone companies take full advantage of deregulation for voice networks. However, it was clear that the digital data world was where Jim wanted to be so he joined Paradyne in 1986 managing a territory out of New Orleans, LA. This was Jim’s first experience in sales and sales leadership. After three years of success in the Bayou, Jim accepted an opportunity in Minneapolis to lead Paradyne’s sales effort in the north central US. Ironically, AT&T acquired Paradyne during his transition to Minnesota. Jim led the data communications arm of AT&T in the upper Midwest for five years. Then, in 1994, Jim recognized the direction data networks were taking around packet technologies and joined Cisco Systems.
From 1994 to 2000, Jim managed the public sector business for Cisco in Minnesota and the surrounding states. In 1996, Jim helped launch the Cisco Network Academy program which today provides networking fundamentals training via high schools and community colleges to thousands of students worldwide. Jim left Cisco in 2000 to pursue a vision around the evolving broadband market joining Redback Networks. With the subsequent demise of the Telco markets in 2000-2001, Jim recognized the imminent explosion in data storage and joined Network Appliance. Now, after almost seven years, Jim leads the enterprise sales organization for NetApp in Minnesota and Iowa, still focused on data and data management. NetApp has grown from $1B to $3.3B during this time period.
Mark Kurtz
Vice President of New Media, Gage
Session 2B
Innovative and Proven Online Tools to Drive New Business
Mark is Vice President of New Media for Gage (www.gage.com) and is responsible for implementing unique and measurable interactive experiences for Gage's Fortune 500 client base. Gage clients include Microsoft, Coke, Sony, Thomson Reuters, Nestle, Best Buy, 3M, NWA, Unilever, and Time Warner Cable Business Class. Mark's experience combines a deep background in technology coupled with marketing best practices. Mark's 15 year interactive marketing experience includes global campaigns for clients and ad agencies in Australia, Asia, and the US. Mark holds degrees in Marketing and Information Science from Pacific Lutheran University and graduate work in MIS at Seattle Pacific University and is a regular industry speaker on Emerging Media and the business benefits of Rich Internet Applications.
Theresa Putzier,
IT Services Practice Manager, Olsen Thielen Technologies
Session 2C
Improving Team Collaboration and Productivity with Sharepoint
Theresa Putzier started with the internal support group of Olsen Thielen & Co.; she has been with Olsen Thielen Technologies for thirteen years-joining the IT Services team eight years ago. Putzier is a Microsoft Certified Administrator (MCSE) on Windows 2003, a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) and also Citrix Certified Administrator (CCA) with eight plus years of hands-on experience with installing and implementing Citrix. She specializes in Windows server administration and support, disaster planning, and network troubleshooting.
Misha Govshteyn
Chief Technology Officer, Alert Logic
Session 3A
Beyond the Firewall: Secrets of Securing Your Network
Misha Govshteyn is responsible for technology strategy, product development, security research and operations at Alert Logic, a provider of on-demand intrusion protection, vulnerability management, and IT compliance automation solutions. As Alert Logic's founder and former CEO, Govshteyn also leads the company's board of directors as Chairman. Prior to founding Alert Logic, Govshteyn served as a Director of Managed Services for Reliant Energy Communications. In this role, he developed and successfully launched five major product lines including a Managed Intrusion Detection service and managed enterprise firewall/VPN products. Under Govshteyn's direction, Managed Services was the fastest growing group at Reliant Energy Communications, increasing revenue by 300% and reaching profitability in less than a year. Prior to Reliant Energy Communications, he held the position of Director of Advanced Technical Services at Insync Internet Services.
Steve Helland
Partner, Fredrikson & Byron
Session 3B
Innovation in Communications: Putting Web Content and 2.0 Tools to Work While Managing Legal Risks
Steve is Chair of Fredrikson & Byron’s Internet, Technology & E-Commerce Group and Co-Chair of the firm’s Media & Entertainment Group. His clients are concentrated in the Internet, software, consulting services, medical device, new media, and entertainment industries. Steve advises clients on a variety of intellectual property and technology matters including: software licensing, technology development and licensing, website development, application service provider (ASP) and hosting arrangements, on-line advertising and spam, copyright, trademark and domain name issues, blogs, telemarketing, email and fax advertising, website terms and conditions, and website audits.
Kristina Halvorson
President, Brain Traffic
Session 3B
Innovation in Communications: Putting Web Content and 2.0 Tools to Work While Managing Legal Risks
Kristina Halvorson is the founder and president of Brain Traffic, a Twin Cities-based interactive content development agency. She has been writing for the web since 1997. Kristina is widely regarded as one of the country's leading content strategists. In this role, she creates actionable strategies that assist clients with writing and publishing effective web content. In 2006, Kristina was elected to serve as President of the Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association (MIMA). She was a member of the steering committee for the first annual AIGA Interactive Design Show (Exhibit A) and has lectured on the topic of writing for the web at colleges and conferences. Kristina has been featured in several publications, including Twin Cities Business, The Business Journal, Big Idea, Pioneer Press and others. She lives in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Bob Christian
Service Provider Account Manager, Juniper Networks
Session 3C
IT Compliance Requirements: Keeping Pace
Bob Christian handles Service Provider Sales at Juniper Networks. He started at Juniper over a year ago with over 15 years of leadership and sales managment in the high technology industry. Bob has significant experiences in developing and delivering solutions as the founder of a high tech security start up with emphasis on managed services, security professional services and market delivery methodologies.
Tim Cerling
Windows Server TSP, Microsoft
Session 4A
Windows Server 2008: More Secure, Flexible and Innovative
Tim Cerling has more than 25 years of experience working with infrastructure technologies at DEC, Compaq and Microsoft. His career has spanned the introduction of the first virtualization solutions for the mainframe to the new Windows Server solutions available today. Tim has worked with hundreds of customers to maximize performance and efficiency in the data center environment.
Sarah Wieskus
Sales Executive, Intel
Session 4B
Technologies for Today: Green IT, Virtualization and Client Management
Sarah Wieskus is a local Intel sales executive. Sarah started at Intel in 1998 with an Electrical Engineering background. She has held numerous sales and technical marketing roles at Intel which include chipset marketing, motherboard marketing, and various sales roles. For the last 3 years she has been focused on educating end user IT customers on Intel technologies and strategies.
Bill Oyler
Senior Systems Engineer, St. Croix Solutions
Session 4C
Centralizing Desktop Management
Bill Oyler is a seasoned Senior Systems Engineer with over 10 years experience with designing and implementing custom infrastructure solutions for countless local and regional businesses. Bill’s extensive knowledge and hands-on experience in the areas of servers, network, security, backups, storage systems, data de-duplication, and especially virtualization have made him a well sought after consultant for businesses of all sizes seeking assistance in these ubiquitous but often troublesome areas of technology. Bill’s technical leadership is well matched with his excellent communication skills which he effectively leverages to share his vast knowledge with customers in professional engagements as well as guest speaking opportunities at several globally known IT vendors such as Microsoft, EMC and others. Bill’s experience and commitment to excellence continues to provide many of St. Croix’s customers with broad and deep technical expertise that is fundamental to designing, implementing and maintaining their infrastructure environment.