Speakers

Yonni Hoffman is Head of the Lodging Service Business for KONE Americas. In this role, she leads the service and maintenance business for hospitality and lodging customers throughout the United States.  She also works closely with new construction and modernization teams within KONE to best align solutions for an enhanced customer experience across the lodging marketplace.

Since Yonni joined KONE in 2001, she has held a variety of sales and operations roles, most recently in the strategic accounts group overseeing a variety of customer relationships and ensuring delivery of services.

Yonni holds a bachelor’s degree from Southwest Baptist University and a master’s degree from Missouri State University. She also holds a certificate in Hotel Real Estate Investments & Asset Management from the Cornell School of Hospitality Management.

Jeremy Rainwater is the senior vice president of existing installation and modernization at Schindler Elevator Corporation. He is currently responsible for Schindler Elevator's $1.2B+ Service, Repair, and Modernization Business in the U.S. and Canada and manages over 100+ direct and indirect business line and field operations employees.

Jeremy is a member of the Schindler Global Service and Modernization Management Team, Zone Americas (North and South America) Leadership Team and North American Management Committee. He also serves on Schindler's National Safety Committee, Product Review Council, Continuous Cost Leadership Steering Committee, and chairs the Service and Modernization Safety Committee for the US.

As Vice President Customer Support for Husky, Srdjan is responsible for leading customer support organization globally, including field service, spare parts and product quality.

Nikki Bishop is the Head of Global Field Service and Digital Operations for Siemens PS CD. She joined Siemens from Emerson in 2017 and is responsible for global delivery of the Siemens digital portfolio and for global field service execution.  With over 15 years of experience in the process control industry, her experience includes oil and gas, refining, industrial energy, pharmaceuticals, power generation, pulp and paper and refining. She holds a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, an Executive MBA from the University of Texas at Austin’s McCombs School of Business and is a licensed professional engineer.

She is an active member of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) and serves as a director for the Fuels and Petrochemicals Division of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE). In her tenure with Emerson, she co-founded and led the Women in STEM organization focused on networking, development and community outreach. She is a passionate diversity and inclusion advocate and is a frequent speaker at diversity and inclusion events. She lives in Orlando with her husband, Ben (also a Siemens employee) and their 2 young sons, Christian and Collin. In her free time, you can find her on the baseball or football field with her kids, attending Camp Gladiator outdoor bootcamp, or spending time outside with nature. 

Edward Morris is the director of Field Service Digitalization for Siemens Power Generation Services (Power and Gas business unit for large-scale fossil and nuclear power applications). He joined Siemens in 2000 and has spent his entire professional career with the company. He spent five years as a field service engineer and project manager, performing service/maintenance jobs but also serving as Lead Electrical Engineer on two new plant construction projects. After leaving the field, Edward served in numerous program management roles, including heading development of digital field service tools for the North America region. He now is the division business owner for a strategic project to deliver a mobile platform for field service execution.

Edward holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering and an MBA, both from the University of Florida. He is an active member of the Project Management Institute and is PMP certified. He lives in Orlando, Florida with his wife Jenny and daughters Charlotte and Emily. His hobbies include diaper transition, snack distribution, fall prevention and Fix My iPad Daddy.

Laura leads a large, technical services delivery organization focused on Solutions and Incubation technologies. Her teams drive customer intimacy in key areas of Cisco’s business. They are responsible for support of premium solutions support offers in the areas of Data Center/Cloud, Security, IoE, Software and others. Her team is also responsible for the technical support of Cisco’s new acquisitions.

In her 20 years at Cisco, Laura has held key roles in strategy and operations, Data Center and Partner Support of Cloud Infrastructure, training and leadership development, and program management. Throughout her career she has enjoyed innovating, building new teams and capabilities, and then moving to the next new technology or challenge.

Laura has her Bachelor of Arts degree from University of California, San Diego. She enjoys spending time with her two teenage boys, playing tennis, participating in Zumba, and reading.

Bob Horton is Director of Field Service Operations for ABB’s Process Automation Division. He has over 20 years of experience in Field Service and Engineering Consulting in such areas as industrial automation, environmental science, energy conservation, and chemical engineering. He is currently responsible for customer satisfaction and profitable delivery of over $50 million annually in field service business. His customers include many household names of chemical, petrochemical and consumer products companies that require 24/7 responses to production emergencies. He is tasked with meeting the demands of an ever-changing marketplace with new processes, technologies, and competitive challenges.

Bob attended undergraduate school at North Carolina State University and received a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.

Allen Filson started his Career in the United States Marine Corps where he became a Sergeant leading men in combat during Desert Storm. He has traveled to over 30 countries, and became part of the Marines Corps Special Forces command when he went on to become a Marine Combat Instructor of Water Survival. 

His business career started out in Electronics but quickly transitioned to the Printing industry. Working at commercial printers and large book/journal printers throughout his over 25 year career, afforded him the opportunity to expand on his leadership training, initially developed in the Marines. Over the last 25 years, Allen has been the President of Kanson Electronics, Director of Technology at the YGS Group, Global Technology manager for The Sheridan Group, and is currently the Director of Professional Services for Canon Solutions America, with his office in Boca Raton, Florida. On the social side, Allen is very active at Life Church in Wellington, Florida, and is also an author, releasing his first book in November of 2017, “Belief in Self” available at Barnes and Nobel, and Amazon.

Tony was appointed VP, Central Operations – JCI Building Solutions N.A. supporting the Security, Fire Protection and HVAC business units in July 2012. Central Operations leverages economies of scale to provide back-office support consistently and with superior customer experience.  In this role he is responsible for Customer Monitoring Centers, Centralized Service Dispatch & Support, National Accounts Installation Coordination & Support, Order Entry, Technical Support Operations, Six Sigma Process Excellence, Customer Experience, Productivity Programs, Data Governance, Training and Quality Assurance.

Tony joined Tyco ADT (prior to Tyco’s merger with JCI) in July 2008 as VP, West Region responsible for Sales, Installation and Service.  He was previously with GE Homeland Protection where he served as GM, Global Manufacturing and Services Operations.  Prior to joining GE Homeland Protection, he held roles in Service Operations, Service Sales and Service Marketing with GE Healthcare. Tony also held positions with GE Aerospace, Corporate Engineering & Manufacturing and Industrial Systems.

Tony earned a BSME from Syracuse University and an MBA from Columbia Business School.  He currently serves on the Dean’s Leadership Council of the College of Engineering and Computer Science at Syracuse University.

Christina Gray is the Director of Service Readiness and SMA Operations for Philips Healthcare in North American for the Monitoring Analytics and Therapeutic Care Business.  Christina started with Philips in 2007 and has had a number of positions in Project Management, R&D and Operations.  Christina has over 20 years of experience in Project Management, Network Security, and Systems methodology.  

Christina’s primary focus is to improve New Product Introduction Service Readiness and Customer Experience through data analytics, automation, process improvement and tooling. Christina is leading various initiatives that is building cohesive data sets for driving strategic business decisions around the shift in business focus to the double-digit growing business of services and software maintenance.  In addition, the data tooling is providing valuable insights to the R&D team for product development improvements. 

Christina holds a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Florida Atlantic University. She is also certified in SAFe Agile, Lean and as a Project Management Professional (PMP).

With over 35 years of experience, Tom Voirin knows how to create a successful Services business. Tom has mastered the art of leveraging customer feedback and engaging employees to create an effective change management system through extensive experience in the service sector. Tom’s mantra is Unlocking Exceptional Performance through a Universal Services Framework.

Tom is a corporate business unit leader and operations executive with extensive experience in leading large Service and Operations Teams that exceed revenue and margin objectives using Six Sigma in the High Tech, IT and Customer Service Sectors. He has a proven track record in leading complex and challenging projects, developing high performing teams and managing change to exceed organizational goals. As a customer focused professional, Tom consistently meets service delivery goals that exceeds customer expectations.

In his career he has held the positions of  Sr. Director of Deployment Services at Tellabs, Vice President & General Manager of Professional Services at ADC Communications, the Director of Quality & Customer Satisfaction at Motorola and the Assistant General Manager at Mobile Data International, a subsidiary of Motorola and currently is the Director of Software Service & Support at Philips Healthcare.

Heather is the head of product design and experience with ServiceLive, a division of Sears Home Services.   In her role she builds a platform that connects consumers and buyers to service providers, creating value to homeowners and business owners alike.   The ecosystem is leveraged by large multinational organizations to deliver value to their customers; service provider professionals to build their businesses and to consumers of services to solutions for their homes.

She has led teams accountable for recruiting; scheduling and dispatching unionized and non-unionized technicians and sub-contractor teams.   Her career has also included large contact center leadership: first party ownership; providing support as a BPO leader and leveraging the outsource model to deliver service to stakeholders.    A Certified Six Sigma Blackbelt and a Certified Manager of Quality/Organizational Excellence from ASQ, she leverages process and collaboration to support teams in creating optimized solutions, while ensuring that customer experience resulting in retention, is the outcome.

Heather has worked with international organizations, leveraging best practice and intentional disruption to create success.   She has lead field support teams that have created best in class solutions, with Same Day Service guarantees (call before 5pm and we will be in your home same day) as well as establishing an environment that has the ability to respond to extreme forecast variations - +400%.

Bob Sucaet, VP Global Service for Flow Lifecycle Services, Emerson. Bob Sucaet has 30 years of total Emerson service.  He joined Liebert Corporation in 1981 as a Customer Engineer in their Field Service team, and held roles of increasing responsibility with Liebert, including: District Manager, Regional Manager-Liebert Global Service, National Field Operations Manager, and Director, Field Operations.  Bob joined Emerson, Daniel Measurement & Controls in 2008 as Director/GM, Service. Prior to joining Daniel, Bob also held Service Director-level positions with Invensys, Eaton and Bloom Energy.  Bob holds an Electrical Engineering Technology and Business Administration degree from Lawrence Technical University, as well as an MBA from Bowling Green University.

Ron Pellegrini’s career with Siemens Healthcare spans over 20 years. It began as a licensed Medical Technologist specializing in Chemistry with the U.S. Air Force and at hospitals in Dallas / Fort Worth area.

His experience led him to an engineering position with Ciba-Corning Diagnostics. He has held the position of Regional Service Manager and Technical Sales Manager for Chiron & Bayer Healthcare. He held the role of National Technical Sales Director at Siemens and was a Zone Vice President in the Midwest & Western Zones for both the In Vivo and In Vitro businesses prior to taking on his recent role as Vice President, Head of Field Service for LD/POC.

Ron was awarded Rookie of the Year, Regional Manager & Director of the year, a three time President’s Club award winner and VP of the Year and a four time APEX winner while in his Service and Technical Sales Leadership positions. He is member of the American Medical Technologists (AMT), a mentor with the American Corporate Partners (ACP) for US Military Members, and is very active as a volunteer within his church community.

Ron has been married for the past 29 years with four beautiful children. He enjoys traveling, golf and the watching the Dallas Cowboys. He holds Bachelors degree in Medical Technology from Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, TX and has a Masters degree in Business.

Nick Rossetti serves as DISH’s Senior Vice President of In-Home Services, which conducts residential and commercial installations. He is responsible for overseeing the department’s operations and third-party service providers.

A DISH veteran, Nick has held numerous leadership roles within In-Home Services since 2001. He joined DISH as its Vice President of Central Operations and transitioned into oversight of Western Area Operations in 2006. His responsibilities later expanded to include third-party management and resource planning in 2009.

Nick has been instrumental in building DISH’s In-Home Services department, establishing nationwide third-party provider relationships and greatly expanding the division’s capacity.

Notably, Nick led crisis management during Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma for DISH’s In-Home Services teams, restoring satellite TV service for nearly 21,000 impacted customers along the East and Southeast Coasts. DISH deployed more than 500 technicians from locations nationwide and connected 88 American Red Cross shelters with satellite TV.

Prior to joining DISH, Nick served in leadership roles at Ryder System, Inc. and as Chief Operations Officer for Budget Truck Rental. A true Bostonian, he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Tufts University, and is an avid fan of the New England Patriots and the Boston Red Sox.

Nick enjoys spending time with his wife and two boys, as well as playing golf and cooking traditional Italian cuisine sourced from his home garden.

Daryn Henry oversees all Agent Service Operations for Farmers Insurance. In this role, he leads all contact center operations supporting Farmers exclusive agents across all zones and territories.

Daryn joined Farmers in 1993 and has held various leadership positions within Claims and Service Operations. Over his career, Daryn has played a critical role in the modernization of contact centers within the organization.

Daryn holds a bachelor’s degree from California State University, Fullerton.

Jon Kent is an Enterprise Mobility enthusiast who has passion for improving the professional lives of those he works with, through improved technology and process. Jon has twenty years’ experience leading field service organizations and has found his home with Cox Communications as manager of Field Service Mobility. Jon has both organized and chaired enterprise mobility events, and enjoys building new relationships with end-users and vendor partners in an effort to pair best technologies with operational improvement efforts. Jon is also a certified project manager and volunteers his time with his local church and Habitat for Humanity.

For the past 20 years, Fred has focused on delivering sustainable bottom line results in his senior level operations roles in the telecommunications, solar, and consumer electronics industries.

As VP of Operations for Altice Technical Services, Fred is responsible for the service, installation, plant maintenance, and support operations of multichannel broadband service in the West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky and North Carolina markets.

Before joining Suddenlink, Fred oversaw all post sale operations as the VP of Operations at Sungevity Solar, the #3 residential solar provider in the nation.  While driving continuous improvement and cost efficiencies in field operations, project management, design, customer service and supply chain, Fred successfully doubled the installation throughput of the organization in 9 months.  His depth is delivering broadband services is anchored in his experience with Comcast as the Area VP of Operations in California, and as the Director of Technical operations at Charter Communications in Texas.

Fred began his career at RadioShack with a deep dive into retail store management that launched into service and installation leadership roles that included Director of Technical Operations for Incredible Universe and then for the 100 Computer City retail stores, both focused on delivering depot and onsite repair services to consumer and business customers.  His career with RadioShack culminated with his role as Vice President/General Manager for RadioShack Installation Services supporting residential and business customers for over 7000 retail stores nationwide with in home installation and service.

Fred received his MBA from Drexel University and his Bachelor degree in management from the University of Florida.

Marlene Kolodziej is a recognized leader in the development and implementation of customer-focused transformative technology and support solutions, with over three decades of experience in end-user, infrastructure, network, data center, programming/development, and applications experience. Currently, she is the Assistant Vice President of Service Delivery for Northwell Health in Long Island, New York, providing leadership in the areas of Field Support, Help Desk, Video and Web Conferencing, Mobility, Telehealth, and Innovation.

Ms. Kolodziej has broad industry experience, including chemical, publishing, finance, data retention and storage, and healthcare, with a focus on leading and directing global technology and business teams to implement innovative client support solutions that increase standardization, strengthen the organization, and decrease maintenance costs. She has provided strategic worldwide client support services, call center, operations, disaster recovery, and infrastructure management, with a focus on driving operational excellence to ensure that service levels and performance are met or exceeded.

Ms. Kolodziej holds a Bachelor’s degree in Information Sciences, a Master’s degree in Business Administration, and is currently finishing her Doctorate in Business Administration.

Melissa Girt is a Controller and Director Global Technical Service Operations at AGCO Corporation. Melissa’s career spans 14 years in finance and 10 years in technical service.

As Controller, Global Technical Services & Support she serves as a business partner to the service leaders of the organization assisting with financial planning and analysis and strategic project decision making. In Technical Service she’s led a complex global warranty system implementation, reducing warranty costs and providing global vehicle behavior metrics to improve product reliability.

Melissa is a certified Project Management Professional and holds a B.S. in Business Administration majoring in Accounting from Robert Morris University.

Josh has 18 years of application development experience. 10 years of software development management and leadership experience including traditional and agile management practices in the agricultural market.

Tom is the Vice President of Fleet Operations for CRH Americas Materials and is responsible for the performance management and maintenance of more than 25K pieces of mobile equipment worth over $3.5B and a yearly spend of $750M.

Prior to working in construction materials, Tom was a Carrier Naval Aviator with over 2,300 flight hours, 350 carrier landings and 100 hours of combat time.  After the Navy, Tom worked his way up in the concrete and delivery business at Florida Rock Industries, eventually becoming a Division Vice President.  In 2008 Tom joined the Oldcastle Materials (now CRH Americas Materials) team and worked as a Performance Manager facilitating improved performance within 150 aggregate locations.  Three years later he was selected to take his current role.

Tom holds a Civil Engineering degree from Vanderbilt University, and an MBA from the University of La Verne in La Verne California.

• BS in Electronics Technology/ minor Business Management from Kean University
• Services General Manager-South Central District,  NCR Corporation (2013 – Present)
• Branch Service Manager- Manhattan, NY- Canon Solutions America- (1998-2013)
• Graphics Technician/ Field Service Manager- Manhattan, NY- Canon Solutions America- (1993-1998)

Govind has 25+ years of experience in industrial manufacturing arena. Govind has held leadership positions in business management, strategy and execution. In his current role, he is accountable for growth and profitability of global field services and training business. ROCKWELL continues to provide leading edge solutions to manufacturing customers, leverages IoT to deliver value for industrial customers and significant improvement in profitability.

Currently the Vice President of Customer Support with 25+ years in the Materials Handling Industry, Craig is charge of leading the activities of Crown’s global customer support strategies, Insite telematics support, connected services, e-commerce and parts distribution, service & parts experience, and thought leadership associated with delivering a world-class customer experience around the globe.

Craig created Crown’s IoT Service Strategy, currently in the middle of implementation, successful in taking connected data and making it useful, and leveraged IoT data and created a successful advanced connected LifeCycle services division.

Randy Rothrock has been in the high-tech service business for the last 36 years spending most of his time in Services Management responsibilities.  He started in the business as a Field Engineer with a small company that produced a Optical Character Recognition subsystem and then worked for a brief while with Storage Technology.  He has been with Hitachi Data Systems for the past 32 years starting out as a Customer Engineer and quickly grew in increasing responsibility with management roles as a National Account Manager, District and Region Manager and moved into responsibilities for Services and Support Operations on a Global basis.

Randy resides in Dallas, TX with his wife, Becky. They have 4 children, all now out of the house as young adults.

In his current role, Greg Ratcliff leads the Vertiv global Internet of Things (IoT) big data group and product lifecycle management with the primary mission of increasing efficiency, bringing high value predictive maintenance and product health indices to our customers.

Prior to joining Vertiv Services, Greg led the monitoring product management and marketing efforts at Liebert North America.  He has several patents in remote control and power management, has published many articles and white papers, and conducts in-person presentations worldwide.

Greg has undergraduate degrees in applied mathematics and information systems, and has a master’s degree in business administration.

Tom is responsible for global product support and training for airport screening and security equipment (large, complex, customer-owned capital equipment) installed and serviced in airports throughout the world.

He oversees NPI, design for service/design for support, technical support and product support, field escalations, and CORAL, an innovative services approach designed to improve machine availability, reduce customer down-time, and reduce service costs. His team is currently working on developing and deploying secure remote connection to installed machines to provide predictive failure capability to improve machine availability.

Ken has worked in the Service industry for over 34 years with vast experience in both the Field and the Corporate Service environment. His experiences include New Product Service Development, Technical Knowledge Management, Customer Satisfaction Measurement, Business Process Re-engineering, Workflow Analysis, Field Service Support and Service Systems. He is currently the Director of Sorter Support Operations for Pitney Bowes with responsibility for Global Sorter Service Product Management and Support functions including Helpdesk Operations.

Prior to joining BlueCrest and Pitney Bowes, Ken worked for Southwest Airlines as an aircraft mechanic. Among numerous accolades and awards, Ken recently was recognized for receiving his first US Patent for inventing a process which prevents excessive downtime due to computer hard drive failures.

A native of Austin Texas, Ken received his MBA in Business Management from the University of Phoenix.

David Douglas possesses over 25 years of global technology leadership experience. His focus has been in the Lottery and Gaming sectors and broad experience includes executive leadership of North American organizations responsible for Service Management, customer deployments of large scale systems and infrastructure, professional services, technical service, field service, operational support and call centers. His current scope at Scientific Games includes the oversight of Scientific Games' Service Management functions as well as the deployment of all of Scientific Games' Lottery systems, land based casino and VLT products.

Regional Director of Service for the Southeast United States and Northern Latin America (to include the Caribbean).  I currently lead a team of 8 District Managers who lead a combined team of 112 Field Service Engineers. During the last 4 years, my organization has led North America in numerous Operational Metrics.  I assisted in developing a strong program for leadership development within my organization.  Of the 8 Managers, 4 of the managers were trained from our ranks of field engineers within the last 6 years. My region receives an average NPS score of 62%.  I am currently leading a team to define and develop new roles that have a greater impact on our customers and provide an opportunity for advancement for our field engineers. 

6 years in Service with Mettler Toledo as Head of Service Product Inspection Americas

Responsible for Field Service, Dispatch and Scheduling, Tech Support, and Service Sales / Business Development

Full Profit Center responsibility

Prior to that over 20 years in Finance, most recently 5 years as CFO Product Inspection Mettler Toledo prior to transitioning to Service

Brian Dowler is the Vice President of Aftermarket Services for Conair Group, the leading supplier of auxiliary processing equipment for the plastics industry.  In this role, Brian is responsible for the Service, Parts, and Project Management teams at Conair.  Brian has 30 years of experience in the plastics industry, working for both material suppliers and equipment companies, in a variety of roles including R&D, Product Management, International Sales, and Engineering and Technical Service management.

Brian has B.S. and Master’s Degrees in Mechanical Engineering from West Virginia University.

Randal Hill has 42 years experience in manufacturing and supply chain experience. He started out in manufacturing were he became a APICs certified planner at Eastman Kodak.  During his time with Kodak, he joined the Service Parts Division where he managed their 3PL network of over 90 FSLs in the US.  

For the past 11 years, Randal has been the WW Service Parts Operations Manager for Carestream Health located in Rochester NY.  Here he led multiple improvement projects including:

• Implemented installed base planning for Field Engineer trunk inventory in the US
• Implemented Installed Base Planning in India for 19 FSL sites
• Implemented Demand Source Locater with the US call center to simplify and improve part ordering for field techs
• Implemented WW DC planning and forecasting at 4 warehouses
• Mentored 15 DC planners and 2 field planners on using best practice
• Developed a process for supplier forecasting resulting in reduce material lead time and inventory
• Implemented global DC planning (one planner managing multiple warehouses inventory in different countries)

Randy is a Six Sigma Certified Black Belt, Six Sigma lean mentor and SAP subject matter expert in purchasing.  In 2014 Randal was selected by Supply & Demand Chain Executive magazine as a 2014 Practitioner Pros to Know.

In his spare time, Randal is an amateur photographer and videographer and enjoys traveling with his wife Diane and their two dogs in their Airstream travel trailer.

Mary Proud supports the technical and management teams for Worldwide Sorter Support, Presort Services and Intellijet Printing at BlueCrest. In this role, she is responsible for analytical reporting, procurement, and site support. Mary also supports these teams in consistently achieving high levels of client satisfaction, inventory controls, and specialized projects.

Mary is a champion for both internal and external client satisfaction. She joined Pitney Bowes in 1985 and has held various customer service positions; Installation and Customer Training Representative, Production Mail Coordinator and Customer Service Manager.

Mary hold her BA in Business Administration from Holy Family University in Philadelphia.

As the Vice President of Customer Service, Ira is responsible for strategy and execution across Okuma America Corporation's vast Distribution network serving North, South and Central America. Ira began his tenure with Okuma in 1986, starting an Electronic/Engineering Technician. Ira worked through various positions within Customer Service at Okuma and recently held the position of Vice President of Operations, responsible for Engineering and Manufacturing.

Greg is currently the Head of Service Effectiveness for MilliporeSIgma, the Life Science business of Merck KGaA in Darmstadt Germany. In this role, he is responsible for Business Reporting, statistics and data analysis, IT tools and training for the Service Organization.

Greg began professional experience in the US Navy in the Nuclear Power field. He was then a Field Service Engineer for Steris Corporation, and then a Service Manager with MilliporeSigma from 2000-2016, and in current role 2016 to present.

Greg holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Studies of Computer Science, as well as a Certification in Field Service Management from Service Strategies.

Chris Varley is the Director of Product Quality and Field Service for Catalina, the world’s largest personalized digital and in-store network for grocery, mass and drug retailers.  Chris is responsible for advanced product development, equipment quality, repair depot service and Field Service.  Chris has 25 years of global experience in the automotive/aftermarket/CPG industry working in roles that include Global Product Management, Purchasing, Quality, Sales and lean deployment. 

Chris has a BA,  Master’s degree from Central Michigan University and six sigma certified.

Ray Battani is Regional Vice President of Service for ColonialWebb. He has over 30 years of experience in HVAC Field Service and Construction as a trusted advisor for the company’s clients. He is currently responsible for over 100 field technicians and mechanics that provide unmatched expertise in central Virginia. He is tasked with driving a profitable business, while balancing the safety of this team, the demands of an ever-changing marketplace and using technology to help deal with competitive challenges.

Ray attended undergraduate school at Florida State University, is a LEED Accredited Professional, and is a Certified Energy Manager (CEM) from the Association of Energy Engineers.

Charles Hughes, Vice President of Field Services for Acuative, leads a team that delivers world class technology solutions including field service support, project implementation and IT solutions designed to enable success across the customer base.  He is responsible for driving continuous improvement in service delivery and creating value for customers in retail, banking and enterprise markets.  He has a long record of success leading transformational initiatives at Fortune 50 companies and small business alike.  He is a strong advocate for using financials, metrics and leveraging technology to help manage the business.  He sees these as critical tools in creating a culture where field service professionals can thrive and enjoy sustainable success.  He has developed a strong reputation for driving down costs and improving service levels.  

Charles has also served in the positions of Director IT Field Services, Director Retail Services, Network Operations Center Director, Field Services Manager, Service Delivery Manager and Field Services Supervisor.  His previous employers include IBM, Walgreens, Intrado, Telsource, Level 3 and WilTel.  Prior to entering the civilian world, Charles served 12 years in the US Army in the Field Artillery and Signal Corp. where he earned the rank of First Sergeant.  He holds a Bachelors and an MBA with a focus on transformational leadership. 

When not engaged in work or family obligations, Charles works to improve his culinary skills and developing the perfect outdoor cooking experience and menu.

20 + years in Customer Support and Field Service Management

17 years with Fluid Management, a business of IDEX Corporation, and based out of Wheeling, IL.  We are leading manufacturer of Automatic Dispensers, Paint Shakers and Paint Mixers.  Our variable service model of In House Technical Support, Factory Direct Field Technicians & Regional Managers, and a Certified Partner Network support over 25,000 pieces of equipment in Big Box Retailers, Mass Merchants, Hardware Co-Ops and Paint Manufacturers.

Held various management positions of increasing responsibility within Fluid Management, focusing on continuous improvement, technical automation, and best in class customer support.  Fluid Management’s Customer Support Operations is continuously developing and automating standardized processes and workflows and refining their omni-channel support capabilities.

As VP Global Services for North and South America, Kevin Young has responsibility for growing the service business profitability for Munters Corporation. He has over 33 years of experience in design engineering, product development, operations and sales management. He currently manages 120 persons for the company and through his leadership; he has reduced warranty costs, increased annual service net sales and improved gross margins. Also during his 27 year career at Munters, he was responsible for the development and patents of two of the company’s most successful dehumidification systems well exceeding $1B in global sales and further contributing to the growth of U.S sales. His past professional experiences including the design and direct construction of environmentally controlled facilities including clean rooms and dry rooms. He holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Technical University of Nova Scotia, Canada.

Munters is a global leader in energy efficient air treatment and climate solutions. Using innovative technologies, Munters creates the perfect climate for customers in a wide range of industries, the largest being the food, pharmaceutical and data center sectors. Munters has been defining the future of air treatment since 1955. Today, around 3,500 employees carry out manufacturing, sales and service in more than 30 countries. Munters reports annual net sales in the region of SEK 6 billion and is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm.

Syd Briggs has been the General Manager of Steele-Waseca Cooperative Electric since January 6, 2009. He previously served seven years with Southwest Arkansas Electric Cooperative in Texarkana, Arkansas and 11 years with Rio Grande Electric Cooperative in Brackettville, Texas in Accounting, Finance, and Member Services. Since becoming a General Manager, Syd has been active with presentations at Cooperative functions, National and State conferences, local clubs, and other organizations.

Syd has an MBA from Texas A&M Texarkana and a BBA in accounting from Sul Ross University in Texas.

Sarah Wright, Director, Support Services, SaaS at ResMed, is a dynamic people leader who is passionate about engaging, challenging and retaining talent.

Sarah is focused on the end user resupply journey, optimizing our support metrics operation to share feedback with our product teams on support drivers and end user pain points. Sarah is most at home digging into opportunities to improve the customer experience and is extremely engaged with her teams in striving to deliver the highest level of patient care.

Sarah has over 15 years in operations management across global companies (BlackBerry, NTT Data- HI offerings and ResMed) delivering Premier Enterprise Technical Support, IT Consulting, and Heathcare Informatics software support.

Breeden has a broad array of field service engineering experience including field service management, business development, service marketing, organization development, industrial safety, fleet management, training, CRM, and call center operations.

Breeden is the author of The Intentional Field Service Engineer and creator of the Field Service7℠ development program. His service industry experience includes clinical diagnostics and scientific instrumentation, irrigation system controls, banking equipment, homeland security optical readers, and industrial weighing systems.Breeden has held positions from field service engineer to vice president of global operations with P&L responsibility of $115MM.

Breeden holds a Master’s degree in Business Management from Pepperdine University and is currently Vice President of Service Operations for Fairbanks Scales. Breeden resides in Asheville, North Carolina.

Scott earned his BSEE at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and then went on to earn his MBA at the same university. During this time, he developed a love not only for technology but for the entire business of technology manufacturing, sales, and service.

Scott entered manufacturing with the implementation of ISO 9000 in the electronics industry. He then entered Engineering, moving to Sales Management, Manufacturing Management, and then Business Unit management in the electronics industry. During this period, Scott developed a love and appreciation for the importance of completely addressing business from the initial stages of development to the continued support necessary for assuring the complete customer satisfaction and delight required to excel in business.

Scott currently leads Field Service for an industry-leading manufacturer of specialized capital equipment in which customer focus in machine installation, professional service, and technical education enables continued leadership within the industry.

Ralph Rio, Vice President, Enterprise Software, ARC Advisory Group is an industry analyst known worldwide for his thought leadership in Asset Performance Management (APM) including Field Service Management (FSM) and the impact of Industrial IoT.  Ralph has presented on Field Service Management at many leading events, and written well over a hundred reports during his 18 years at ARC.  Previously, Ralph was with General Electric, Intellution/Emerson, Digital Equipment Corp., Motorola, and Texas Instruments.  He holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and an M.S. in Mgt. Science from RPI in Troy, NY.

Dan Jourdan was born and raised in Suburbia New Jersey to immigrant parents who taught him the values of hard work and never giving up. Dan lives now in Marietta Georgia with his wife Sharon and two kids Matthew and Sophie.

Dan’s sales methodology comes from his experience of being a former financial consultant with Smith Barney, successfully building-up and selling four small businesses, and his work as a college instructor teaching business management. Dan’s sales methodology often bridges the gap between “what people think they should do” and “what really works.”

Dan Jourdan is a salesman, plain and simple. Dan learned everything he knows about sales and building instant rapport from an eight-month hitchhiking trip he took when he was 21. He went across country with no money and ventured into getting small jobs and asking people to help him get across using his skills of sales. He now writes and speaks about ‘how to succeed in sales and life with confidence’.

Stacey Epstein is CEO of Zinc, an enterprise communication platform for field service teams. Prior to Zinc, Stacey was Chief Marketing Officer at ServiceMax, which was acquired by GE for $1b in 2017. Prior to that, Stacey was head of global marketing at SuccessFactors, which was acquired by SAP for $3.4b in 2012.

Stacey holds a B.A. from Emory University where she was a four year all conference soccer player. She is mother to two young daughters and is a prolific writer about her perspective concerning leadership, technology, and innovation.

Alvaro Pombo brings 28 years of leadership and telecommunications experience to ProntoForms. As CEO and Founder, he plays a fundamental role in financing, driving strategy and is active in research and development, product strategy, and business development.

Prior to founding ProntoForms, Pombo was CIO and Vice President of Global Information Technology for the Carrier Internetworking Division of Alcatel Lucent. He joined the company via its acquisition of Newbridge Networks (Feb 2000; $7.1B). Pombo had been CIO, Vice President of eCommerce, Director of Electronic Marketing, and Latin American Sales with Newbridge. Under his leadership, the company's e-business organization gained recognition as one of the highlights of the acquisition and helped establish a service-oriented IT model for the company.

Pombo has served as consultant to Palm and other technology leaders, and continues to help nurture entrepreneurs and innovation. Pombo holds several Patents and was a winner of the Ottawa Business Journal's 40 Under 40 in 2000. He holds a BS in Computer Engineering from Universidad de los Andes in Bogota, Colombia. Additionally, he holds an MBA from the University of Ottawa and an executive degree from Georgetown University.

Rama is a daredevil, a people person and a scientist (UMD, MIT, Applied Materials) all rolled into one. He loves getting technical, but also tremendously enjoys empathizing with the customer through simple, clear communication, and driving efficiency, something he considers his forte. Nothing brings him more joy than getting his hands dirty to solve anyone’s pain point.

When not alleviating a problem, Rama centers himself through his family, cooking, tennis, yoga, and climbing mountains with his wife.

Fun fact: Rama backpacked through almost 60 countries over 32 months and thrived.

Shahar Chen, CEO & Co-Founder of Aquant, is an entrepreneur and expert in the field service world. Shahar brings more than 15 years of both business and technical expertise in leading sales, innovations, design and implementations of enterprise mobile workforce management applications, cloud implementations and workforce planning and scheduling solutions. Shahar started Aquant with the mission of bringing a unique AI solution to the field service world, enabling companies to maximize their products’ uptime by making smarter, data-driven, optimized decisions throughout the customer service process. Prior to starting Aquant, Shahar spend 14 years at ClickSoftware, where he served in various positions for sales, consulting, and innovation, with his most recent positions serving as an Enterprise Sales Executive and Director of Solution Center.

Assaf Melochna, COO & Co-Founder of Aquant is an expert in Field Service. He has years of business and technical expertise in enterprise software as well as consulting experience for Fortune 500 companies on field service management. Assaf started Aquant with the vision of helping service companies to maximize their products’ uptime. Assaf brought a unique approach from his experience as a Major in the intelligence forces (IDF) where he specialized in turning massive data to knowledge, and knowledge to actions. Applying AI, on top of this proven methodology, enables service companies to leverage their data throughout the service lifecycle to make smarter, faster, data-driven decisions throughout the customer service process. Prior to starting Aquant, Assaf spent 10 years at ClickSoftware, where he served in various positions in consulting and innovation.

David is the Chief Operating Officer of Astea International, a leading global provider of end-to-end field service management solutions that offer all the cornerstones of service lifecycle management. David is a respected thought-leader on how complex emerging technology and information-based initiatives can be leveraged by organizations to improve operational efficiency, financial results and strategic differentiation. David is the author of three books and a frequent speaker and columnist. He has been named a business thought-leader by the American Management Association, Business Finance Magazine and Consumer Goods Technology Magazine.

David started his career 15 years ago developing software to help field service organisations optimise their workforce operations. During that time he has witnessed the emergence and adoption of cloud computing, and became a leading expert in the field of cloud native technologies and devops methodology. In his current role as CTO for Cognito iQ David is focussed on bringing the power of cloud to bear, by unlocking the operational business value that’s hidden in the big data sets collected by field service organisations.

Blaine Mathieu is a multi-time CMO, CPO, and CEO, with 25+ years of experience in prominent private and public technology companies including Gartner, Adobe, Corel, GoodData, and now with application platform company VANTIQ. He holds undergraduate Business and MBA degrees from the University of Alberta and Athabasca University in Canada.

David Nedohin, co-founder and president of Scope AR, brings more than 20 years of experience in business development to drive the company’s vision to revolutionize the world of industrial training, maintenance and field support with AR technology.

In this role, David manages key relationships with industry partners and works with some of the world’s leading global companies including, Toyota, Lockheed Martin, Honeywell, Assa Abloy and GE, among others. He also regularly presents about some of the most cutting-edge applications of AR across industries and discusses where the industry is heading at leading industry events which include EWTS (Enterprise Wearable Technology Summit), EquipmentSHIFT, Purdue University Future of Innovation and AWE.

After receiving a Civil Engineering degree from University of Manitoba, David moved into entrepreneurship by starting a number of successful companies ranging from engineering consulting to construction and technology. Additionally, he serves as the Vice-Chair at Inner City Agency Foundation (ICAF), a joint initiative that combines the efforts of seven inner city agencies to fundraise for and provide a network of services to alleviate poverty-related problems such as housing, addiction, healthcare, nutrition and education in Edmonton.

David is a 3-time world curling champion and national team member for 10 years in waterskiing. He resides in Edmonton, Canada.

Always up for a good challenge and open to innovative solutions, Scott’s career has led him to work with a variety of companies in sales leadership roles, including Accelarad (now Nuance Communications), Optimal Readings (now Aris Radiology), Awarix (now McKesson), ComFrame (now NWN), The Trizetto Group, Nichols TXEN (now CSC Healthcare Solutions Group), and others. Scott has a nuanced ability to understand, communicate and deliver software technology solutions to individuals and business that can benefit from them the most.

His impressive resume of 20+ years of value-creating relationships has led him to Help Lightning, a Birmingham-based technology company where he currently serves as a Senior VP of Sales. Help Lightning is a virtual presence technology company that leverages a mobile merged reality video app for the service industry.

Scott holds a bachelor's degree from Auburn University.

Joe Hart is the Senior Vice President of Corporate Improvement, responsible for Business Intelligence, Process Improvement, and Customer Onboarding.  Joe has 15 years of telecommunications experience in leadership positions in Operations, Supply Chain and Finance.

Joe is currently responsible for delivering the performance metrics and field service automation which drive a 2200+ technician based company spanning 28 states.  Goodman Networks is a nationwide installation and maintenance provider in residential and commercial channels for network operators, OEMs, and e-retailers.

Joe resides in Frisco TX with his wife Kristin and twin boys John & Cooper.  He received his bachelor’s degree from Texas A&M University, his Executive MBA from the University of Texas at Dallas and is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP).

Karen Mehal is vice president of field service ecosystem at Salesforce. With 2 decades of services and leadership experience, Karen supports companies and partners of all sizes and industries, including large, complex and strategic implementations. Her success includes helping companies navigate field service, and quickly define success.

Joe Kenny is Vice President of Global Customer Transformation at ServiceMax from GE Digital, where he brings his experience working with companies to fully leverage the value of Predix ServiceMax to their field service organizations. Joe brings over 30 years of leadership in operations, sales, product development, marketing, and field service.

Focused on delivering high impact and long-term customer success, Joe has managed and delivered onsite, offsite, and near site business support services to many Fortune 100 clients. Prior to ServiceMax, Joe was most recently with Canon-Enterprise serving as Operations Director. Prior to Canon-Enterprise, he held leadership positions at Loomis Armored, Pitney Bowes and Eastman Kodak.

Jeff Bonnell, Coresystems VP Industry Solutions, has extensive experience in the field of asset management and maintenance; from operational experience at Michelin, to running marketing, product strategy and professional services across multiple asset management and maintenance software firms. In addition to his professional career, Jeff has also developed and teaches a university class in collaboration with PEMAC (Plant Engineering & Maintenance Association of Canada).

Charlie brings more than 20 years experience in technical business development, sales, and product management to Librestream, where he is responsible for sales expansion via strategic partners and channels. His diverse industry experience includes digital , optical communications, aerospace, and industrial process measurement.

Prior to Librestream, Charlie was VP of Partner Sales at Inlet Technologies, a leader in live, over-the-top video streaming. In this role, he established relationships with systems integrators, content owners, and broadcasters to deliver live and on-demand video to any device, anywhere. His customers included ESPN, Major League Baseball, Apple, Microsoft, NBCU, and others. Inlet was acquired by Cisco Systems in 2011.

Previously, Charlie held increasingly senior roles at JDS Uniphase, ultimately as Director of JDSU’s Integrated Optics Business Unit, where he led the growth of its high speed optical components business to over $100M annually. He began his career with AT&T, where he held various roles in sales, product management, and finance.

Martin Boggess is Industry Vice President, Manufacturing and Supply Chain, at Hitachi Solutions. For over 17 years, Martin has provided guidance to Fortune 1000 manufacturers at each stage of their IT strategy development and deployment, from initial planning through project execution. Martin ensures that scalable and innovative business technology aligns with organization goals and directives, delivers measurable results, and seamlessly evolves with changing industry trends while driving business growth.

William Patton leads organizations to their growth potential. As Executive Director of Business Development for Starr and Associates, William leverages his 20 years’ senior-level experience in international markets developing global brands and leading high-performance development teams. His background spans diverse industries including Consumer Products, Automotive, Energy, Telecommunications and IT.

William has as B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech, a B.S. in General Science from Morehouse College, and an MBA in International Business from the University of South Carolina.

David Lopes is a Senior Director of Design and Customer Innovation at ServiceSource, providing strategy and skills around customer and design experience for our clients.

He is, by his own admission, passionate about great experience and customer journey design, is an occasional blogger and a dad. Prior to joining Service Source, David spent time at Oracle and Convergys.

John is a versatile product manager, product evangelist and SaaS marketing enthusiast. John's experience spans the complete sales and customer lifecycle, including requirements gathering, roadmap definition, product marketing, solution consulting, customer release readiness and post implementation support.

At Oracle, John is responsible for global go-to-market product positioning, sales enablement and customer marketing for Oracle Field Service Cloud (OFSC), an enterprise-class field service solution that does over $100 million of business worldwide. Previously, as a Solutions Consultant at Oracle, I worked closely with our sales leaders and customers to build solutions to fit their unique business.

John has led product development and customer success initiatives at organizations of all sizes, coming to Oracle through the acquisition of TOA Technologies where he was a product manager. During a period of accelerated growth, John helped establish the product management function. John completely overhauled the company’s demo platform to deliver a more efficient and streamlined process and worked with the engineering team, prospects and customers to advance our roadmap. Prior to joining TOA, John led a number of initiatives at Great Lakes Computer Corporation; John built the company’s first Managed Print Program from the ground up, led marketing and purchasing, managed field technicians, inventory and support.

John is most inspired when solving complex technology challenges for enterprise technology vendors and customers. John enjoys the ambiguity and opportunity that comes along with exploring new market segments and solution scoping. John is an expert in the highly complex and nuanced field service management industry. His colleagues will tell you they can always count on him to get things done, and John always strive to produce results quickly while adding my unique perspective to every initiative he undertakes.

Andrew Thomas is FSM Product Manager and UX/UI Design Manager for Mize. He has over 15 years of experience in Product Design and User Experience in such areas as enterprise mobility and product branding/positioning. Andrew is currently responsible for meeting the demands of a growing user base and enabling new technologies in the Mize FSM solution. He brings a unique perspective to Field Service productivity by helping organizations orchestrate Field Service solutions that meet the needs of all stakeholders. Prior to joining Mize, Andrew served as Lead Designer for a number of consumer and enterprise level product solutions for; 3M, Bosch, Caterpillar, One World Trade Center, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Lazy Days RV, USAA and US Airways. 

One of Sara’s passions is bringing people together. She achieves this as the program director of the Field Service event portfolio where service executives come together to identify best practices, inspire innovation, and build career-long relationships.

With a deep curiosity towards industry evolution and fulfillment in helping executives solve their most pressing challenges, Sara conducts market research that leads to the development of the esteemed Field Service USA, Europe, and Fall conferences.

Sara has been researching, recruiting speakers for, and managing market-leading events for over 10 years in the service, supply chain, finance, pharma, and wellness industries. Prior to conference producing Sara held various roles in technology career counseling, publishing, advertising/PR, and human resources.

Aaron Salow, Founder and CEO of XOi Technologies, launched his Nashville-based business to help field service companies overcome a formidable challenge facing their industry–a glaring shortage of skilled workers. Growing up with a father and grandfather who worked in skilled trades, Aaron is no stranger to the hard work required in blue collar industries. That, combined with his own background in manufacturing, led him to build a modern, cloud-based technology solution that solves problems for the unique needs of the field service technicians.