Speaker Bios
Bashyam Anant
Director of Product Management,
Flexera Software
Bashyam Anant is a seasoned product leader and general manager. He leads product management for Acresso’s backoffice solutions for software producers and high tech device manufacturers. Previously, Bashyam was Director of Product Management for Yahoo!'s Audience Products Platform. Over the past nine years, he has managed and grown five "mini businesses" based on a dozen award winning infrastructure and application software products to over $100M in combined annual revenues. In his prior career in management consulting, he advised leadership teams at companies such as Hewlett-Packard, Boeing, Motorola, 3Com, Qwest and Hughes. He has been published in Pragmatic Marketing, eBizQ.net, Operations Research, European Journal of Operational Research, Annual Review of Communications, Managing Business Interfaces and Managing the Global Corporation.
Anupam Agarwal
Associate Principal,
McKinsey & Company
Anupam Agarwal is an Associate Principal in McKinsey & Company’s Silicon Valley Office. He co-leads the Firm’s Marketing & Sales Practice and has a particular focus on Pricing, Go-To-market Strategy, Sales Force Productivity, and Capturing Value from CRM Technology Investments. Anupam primarily serves High-Tech clients but has also served clients in Healthcare, Services and Telecom. Prior to joining McKinsey, Anupam was a Manager in Deloitte Consulting's CRM practice. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree from Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani, India, and has attended McKinsey’s Executive-MBA program.
Walter Baker
Principal,
McKinsey & Company
Walter Baker is a Principal in the Atlanta Office of McKinsey & Company. He is a leader in McKinsey's Marketing & Sales Practice and co-leads the Pricing Center . Walter has worked with numerous clients across a broad range of industries in the areas of pricing, sales, marketing, and strategy. He regularly supports clients and teams worldwide as an expert on pricing strategy and tactics in the technology and industrial sectors. Walter has published articles on pricing in CMO Magazine, McKinsey Quarterly, and Harvard Business Review. He holds a Ph.D. in Engineering Sciences and an S.M. in Applied Mathematics from Harvard University, as well as an S.M. and S.B. in Mechanical Engineering from M.I.T.
Jake Covert
Senior License Administrator,
Ford Motor Company
Jake Covert is a system administrator working at Ford Motor Company. As a key member of the Ford's Central License System (CLS), Jake is responsible for architecture, operations, and maintenance of more than 25 servers and more than 250 vendor daemons. Jake worked in satellite and microwave communications support while serving in the US Army. Throughout his IT career, he has worked as a network administrator, webmaster, UNIX admin and global license support.
Carla Enfield
Systems Engineer,
Lockheed Martin
Carla Enfield learns how your team works and then selects and configures the best software application available for your business needs. She has improved business processes for DOD development programs, corporate finance, configuration/data management and engineering organizations. She is certified in lean process skills and has extensive project management experience.
John Frame
Senior Director of Product Management,
Flexera Software
John Frame’s 20 years in the computing industry has included many roles in the development of software. Currently Sr. Director of Product Management with Flexera Software, John’s previous companies include iPass, Calico Commerce, Lotus Development, cc:Mail and IBM.
Jim Geisman
Founder and Principal,
Software Pricing Partners
Jim Geisman is Founder and Principal of MarketShare Inc. The firm was started in 1982 and, since 1987, has focused solely on software pricing. (More information can be found at the firm’s website, www.SoftwarePricing.com.) Since then, Jim has worked with many emerging and established software companies by helping them solve some of their thorniest pricing problems. His company is helping a number of established and emerging software companies make the transition to the on-demand (SaaS) pricing model. He has also helped a number of companies price, structure and negotiate the “big deal”. Jim has been a co-founder, director, advisor or mentor to several early stage companies. He sits on the Board of the Professional Pricing Society and is an advisor to the Entrepreneurial Leadership Program at Tufts University. He holds degrees in electrical engineering and business from Tufts and Harvard, respectively.
Dave Graubart
Director of Product Engineering,
Synopsys
Dave Graubart is the Director of Product Engineering at the Synplicity Business Group of Synopsys where he manages software build, test, and release, along with licensing and security of both code and IP. He was responsible for all aspects of licensing and security at Synplicity, prior to the acquisition by Synopsys. Dave has also held various management and engineering positions at Actel, Mentor Graphics, and Hewlett-Packard, with over 20 years of experience in EDA all together. Dave is active in industry groups, including being a charter member the EDA Consortium Anti-Piracy Committee, which he now chairs.
Judy Kidawolski
Sr. Project Manager,
RSA
Judy Kidawolski has been with RSA, The Security Division of EMC for 12 years. Judy works within the Manufacturing/Operations Organization of RSA and is responsible for managing the implementation and business processes for Software and License Download Distribution. She has held previous positions within the company as Sr. Business Analyst supporting the Customer Support Organization.
Vikram Koka
Vice President of R&D,
Flexera Software
Vikram Koka is the Vice President, R&D at Flexera Software. He is responsible for engineering for the FlexNet Producer Suite for High-Tech Manufacturers. Prior to Flexera Software, Vikram was the Chief Architect for Macrovision across all its product lines, including the DRM, video and game distribution offerings, in addition to software licensing. Vikram has held senior engineering or technical management positions at large companies such as Silicon Graphics (SGI), and LSI Logic as well as startups such as CellMania and SmartDB. Prior to Flexera Software, Vikram’s background includes mobile, ecommerce, enterprise applications (both hosted and on-premise), databases and distributed applications. Vikram has an MS in electrical and computer engineering from the University of California at Santa Barbara, and a BS in electronics & communications engineering from Osmania University, Hyderabad. Vikram currently has 4 patents pending and was one of the early contributors to the GNU Debugger (GDB), a popular open source debugger.
Lee Levenson
CELUG Chairman,
Centralized Enterprise Licensing Users Group
Lee Levenson works for Micron Technologies in Pasadena, CA. He is focused on engineering support for Micron’s CMOS design computing infrastructure. He has over 20 years experience within the computer industry with an emphasis on supporting engineering resources. Lee’s prior employment was with Qualcomm, Adaptec, Sun Microsystems, Texas Instruments, Electronic Data Systems and Computervision.
Patrick McDonough
Flexera Software
Patrick McDonough has been with Flexera Software for 10 years via the Intraware acquisition in January. Patrick has been involved with the daily operation of On-Demand (formerly known a SubscribeNet) Reporter tool from its inception 9 years ago and is focused on delivering consistent, reliable reporting access to our customers. Prior to Flexera Software, Patrick held technical positions with Land O’Lakes and Tower Records.
Jeanne Morain
Chief Marketing Officer,
InstallFree
Jeanne brings over a decade plus of experience as an innovator in Systems Management, Cloud, Virtualization and Compliance. Currently Ms. Morain is the Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer for Installfree where she oversees InstallFree’s overall go to market, business development and new product introduction for their Application Virtualization Solution – InstallFree Bridge. During her tenure , Jeanne has driven the creation of solutions around Universal Client and Cloud computing initiatives with Amazon, Dell, BMC, Redhat, Intel and show case partners such as Global Data Systems. Prior to joining InstallFree, she was the VP of Marketing & Business Development for Thinstall (acquired by VMware) and led the go to market, launch and integration of the VMware branded version, ThinApp. Jeanne held prior contributing senior roles at BMC (Marimba) with responsibility for product integration, focused on Configuration Automation, Business Service Management and compliance with broad industry regulatory standards. Ms. Morain has spent quite a bit of time creating value solutions to solve the distributed software as a service for ISVs having led the Embedded product line for Marimba (BMC). She is the recipient of numerous awards for her work, including Cambridge Who's Who Honor edition (2007/2008), Lifetime Member (2008/2009), and the BMC Innovation! Award in 2007, and Employee of the Year Award in 2003 as one of the pioneers of Business Service Management. Jeanne is a contributing author of "Step by Step Guide to Building a CMDB" with Malcolm Fry and holds a Masters in from Southern Illinois University and Certification in ITIL. Follow Jeanne's Blog on Universal Clients & Cloud Computing.
Bob Mullen
Director of Operations for Electronic Software Distribution,
Sybase
Bob Mullen is Director of Operations for Electronic Software Distribution at Sybase. Bob originally joined Sybase in 1989 and is a PMI certified Project Management Professional. He is responsible for the implementation of the Sybase Product Download Center as well as SySAM 2.0 license management; both hosted by the FlexNet On-Demand Suite.
Toby Pieper
Vice President of Engineering,
Flexera Software
Toby Pieper is Vice President of Engineering for Flexera Software with responsibility for the FLEXnet Suite – On Demand product (formerly known a SubscribeNet). Mr. Pieper has played a lead role in the development of this product since its inception in 1996. Prior to this, he held technical positions at SBE Inc. and NCR. Mr. Pieper holds a degree in Computer Science from the University of California, San Diego - Revelle College.
Brent Pietrzak
Vice President Client Services,
Flexera Software
Mr. Pietrzak has 12 years of experience in the technology industry, with a focus on the delivery of software and services to Fortune 1000 companies. As Vice President of Client Services for Acresso, Mr. Pietrzak has responsibility for all pre-sales consulting, license optimization services and technical account management in North America and Asia Pacific.
Mr. Pietrzak has held similar roles with Aravo Solutions and Intraware where he established world class SaaS delivery and customer care models. Prior to fulfilling these service focused roles, Brent held various engineering and pre-sales management roles at these companies and Visa International.
Priya Rajagopalan
Director of Product Management
Flexera Software
Priya Rajagopalan is the Director of Product Management at Flexera Software with responsibility for the FLEXnet Operations and FLEXnet Embedded product lines. FLEXnet Operations is Acresso’s back-office solution for managing entitlements and licenses, and FLEXnet Embedded is a new licensing initiative targeting the needs of hardware vendors.
Prior to Flexera Software, Priya worked with the Richmark Group, a boutique marketing strategy consulting firm in Chicago where she consulted for several technology firms including Hewlett Packard, Emerson, 3M and ADP. Prior to this, Priya worked at Microsoft in product planning and in advertising with the Lowe subsidiary of the Interpublic Group. Priya has an MBA with a specialization in finance, marketing, and strategy from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and an undergraduate degree in Mathematics from the University of Madras in India.
Sridevi Ravuri
Sr. Director of Operations
Flexera Software
Sridevi Ravuri has been with Flexera Software/Macrovision for the last 4.5 years. Sridevi joined initially as the team lead for the FLEXnet Operations team and has been managing the team for more than 3 years now. Prior to Macrovision, she worked at i2 technologies for over 6 years. Sridevi has a bachelor degree in engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Madras and a Masters in engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Bill Romanello
IT Procurement Infrastructure Lead
Accenture
Dan Romanello joined Accenture in March of 2006 and is currently engaged as IT Procurement Service Delivery Lead at NewPage Corporation and Washington Gas and Light Company. He has overall responsibility for Client Retained Contract Management, Supplier Relationship Management, Asset Acquisition and IT Software Asset Management. Prior to joining Accenture. Dan was Director of Strategic Sourcing for American Financial Group, Inc where he successfully established a strategic sourcing organization supporting all organizations under the holding company. While at American Financial, Dan was responsible for consolidation of IT contracts through an acquisition as well as contract management in a divesture of a portion of the company. Dan also spent time in IT Strategic Sourcing at Fifth Third Bank saving more than $4 million through re-negotiating maintenance contracts. He worked at GE Aircraft Engines in Facilities Procurement buying software then capital equipment.
Jason Ruppert
Harmonic
Jason Ruppert is the Sr. Director of Operations/Engineering and Quality at Harmonic. In this role, Jason is responsible for manufacturing engineering, test engineering, supplier/product quality, product life cycle management, and NPI processes for Harmonic digital video, on demand, and optical products. Jason is also accountable for maintaining key executive relationships with out sourced contract manufactures and OEM suppliers. Jason is a graduate of Southeastern Louisiana University, with a masters in Integrated Manufacturing Systems Engineering from North Carolina State University.
Steve Schmidt
Vice President of Product Management
Flexera Software
Steve Schmidt is the Vice President of Product Management at Flexera Software, responsible for product planning, positioning and market delivery of Flexera Software’s industry-leading licensing and installation solutions, including the FlexNet, InstallShield and AdminStudio product lines. Prior to Flexera Software, Steve held VP of Product Management positions at Macrovision, in both the Software Business Unit as well as the Distribution and Commerce Business Unit. Before Macrovision, Steve was the Director of Product Management at InstallShield Software Corporation. Steve began his 20 year technology management career running global IT projects for Procter & Gamble's Advanced Technology Group. Steve received a Bachelor of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
Dan Seta
Head of Enterprise Support and Software Delivery,
iRise
Dan Seta runs Enterprise Support and Electronic Software Delivery for iRise.
Tom Shaffer
President and Founder,
Nexstra
Tom Shaffer is a founder and president of Nexstra. Mr. Shaffer started Nexstra to assist companies with making the transition from a 100% physical delivery model to a hybrid fulfillment model where the primary delivery method is via electronic software delivery (ESD). Prior to starting Nexstra, Mr. Shaffer was VP of Engineering a TechPoint Solutions. Prior to TechPoint Solution he was Sr. Director of Engineering at Intraware (now Acresso) where he managed several engineering teams including the SubscribeNet (now FLEXnet Suite) engineering team. Mr. Shaffer holds an MBA from St. Mary’s College and a degree in Computer Science from the University of California at Berkeley.
Manish Sharma
End to End Leader, Supply Chain
Alcatel-Lucent
Manish Sharma currently serves as the End to End Leader for Supply Chain at Alcatel-Lucent where he leads a worldwide software value chain transformation program that has already delivered tens of millions of dollars in revenue & margin improvements, cost savings, and dramatic increases in customer satisfaction. Recognized as a high-energy change leader who gets things done, he has demonstrated expertise in driving disparate stakeholders with varying needs to a common goal. Manish holds a B.E. in Computer Engineering from the University of Rajasthan in India. He also serves on steering committee of Pratham’s Tristate Chapter and contributes to Seton Hall University’s Stillman School of Corporate Mentorship Program.
John Smith
Principal Consultant,
Flexera Software
John Smith is the Principal Consultant for Acresso’s Enterprise Licensing Practice. He was an IT project manager in high-tech for 17 years prior to joining Acresso. Between 1999 and 2006 he initiated electronic licensing projects for semiconductor companies, managing their inventories of EDA tools and implementing license management technologies. He lives in the South Bay area of San Francisco.
Don Turtle
Engineering Manager,
Flexera Software
Donald Turtle joined the Flexera Software Engineering team with the Intraware acquisition in January of this year. Throughout his 10 year tenure as a member of the Engineering team, Don's contributions have included the design, development and implementation of a wide variety of custom software delivery and license generation and delivery solutions.
Sai Vedantam
Flexera Software
As the Director of Software Development at Flexera Software, Inc., Sai Vedantam leads the R&D team for the FlexNet Publisher product. Prior to joining this team 2 years ago, he spent more than 18 years in the EDA industry as a software developer and Engineering manager. He holds a Masters degree in Electrical Engineering.
Cris Wendt
Principal Consultant,
Flexera Software
Cris Wendt is a Principal Consultant with focus on strategic business model issues relating to implementing electronic licensing, as well as the internal change management aspects of undertaking this business transformation. Cris brings extensive enterprise software licensing, compliance, pricing and entitlement management experience to Flexera Software and focuses on defining and deploying software licensing and pricing models for domestic and international enterprise software vendors. Cris has worked with a broad range of technology vendors, enterprise software users and software publishers, and has deep operational experience. Cris is also a noted industry speaker for Acresso. Cris has developed deep experience in software pricing, licensing models and enforcement working as a strategy consultant working for Macrovision, BearingPoint (formerly KPMG Consulting), and as an independent consultant. Cris received his degree from the University of California, Berkeley with a Bachelor of Science, in Electrical Engineering & Computer Sciences.
Donna Yobs
Product Manager,
Flexera Software
Donna Yobs has more than 15 years experience in defining and creating software products and solutions. Prior to joining Acresso, Donna was responsible for managing an array of software products and solutions including Storage, Security and Operating Systems.
David Znidarsic
Vice President of Technology,
Flexera Software
David Znidarsic is Vice President of Technology and a member of the executive staff at Flexera Software. He has been in the technology industry for 24 years, the last 8 at Flexera Software. Most recently David has been a spokesman for the transformation of software licensing in the age of virtualization as well as a key contributor to Flexera's high-tech manufacturing solution.