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 Khan, Sharif
Vice President, Human Resources, Microsoft Canada
Luncheon Keynote - Talent Management and Career Day
Sharif Khan joined Microsoft Corp. in 1998 as Regional Human Resources Manager for the Middle East. Since then, Sharif has lived and worked on three continents. Sharif brings in-depth knowledge of international HR practices to his current role where he is responsible for developing and implementing a business-aligned people strategy across Microsoft Canada. In partnership with his colleagues on the executive team, he ensures Microsoft Canada continues to be an employer of choice by creating the right environment to attract, develop and retain the best talent in the industry. Prior to joining Microsoft Canada, Sharif worked as an HR professional with the HSBC as well as other financial services and retail organizations.
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 Lepofsky, Alan
Director of Marketing, SocialText
Wiki For the Enterprise
Alan Lepofsky is Director of Marketing at Socialtext. Prior to that, he spent 14 years at IBM/Lotus helping customers learn about and implement collaboration solutions. When not meeting with customers, speaking at a conference, or writing on his blog, Alan can most likely be found playing Ultimate Frisbee or working on his golf game. Alan grew up in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where he earned a bachelor degree in Engineering from the University of Toronto. He currently lives in Cambridge, MA.
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 Libert, Barry
Chairman, Mzinga
We are Smarter Than Me: Unleashing the Power of Crowds in Your Business
Barry Libert is the Chairman of Mzinga (Swahili for “beehive”), a leading provider of business social media solutions to drive growth, innovation and learning. As the founder and CEO of one of Mzinga’s predecessor companies, Shared Insights, Libert was one of the first in the industry to recognize and promote the value of communities and Web 2.0 technologies in enabling enterprises to communicate and collaborate to make better decisions based on the experience of peers, experts and leading industry vendors. Libert’s previous experience includes positions with Arthur Andersen, John Hancock and McKinsey & Company. The co-author of “We Are Smarter Than Me,” he has written extensively on the value of information and relationships. His articles have appeared in Newsweek, Smart Money, Barron’s, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. He has also appeared on CNN, CNBC and NPR. He received a bachelor’s degree from Tufts University and an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School.
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 Mayfield, Ross
Chairman, President & Co-founder, SocialText
Wiki For the Enterprise
Ross Mayfield is Chairman, President & Co-founder of Socialtext, the first wiki company and leading provider of Enterprise 2.0 solutions. A noted blogger and industry expert, he is a serial and social entrepreneur. Mayfield has grown Socialtext to over 4,000 customers with Software-as-a-Service, Appliance and Open Source solutions. Mayfield partnered with Dan Bricklin, the creator of the first spreadsheet visiCalc, to co-develop and distribute SocialCalc. Socialtext is backed by Draper Fisher Jurvetson, SAP Ventures and Omidyar Network.
Previously, Mayfield served as VP of Marketing for a Fujitsu spinout and CEO of an enterprise risk management software company. Mayfield co-founded and served as president of RateXchange (AMEX:RTX), the leading B2B commodity exchange for telecom. Mayfield served as the marketing director of the largest privately held telecommunications group in Eastern Europe and was the internal lead manager of their Initial Public Offering. He also founded an ISP, a web-design company, and has served on a number of Advisory Boards of high tech startups.
He holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of California at Los Angeles and completed the Management Development for Entrepreneurs (MDE) program of the Anderson School of Business.
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 McDonald, Richard
Technical Executive and Distinguished IT Architect, IBM
Luncheon Keynote, Monday September 22, 2008 - Web 2.0 in the Enterprise
Richard McDonald a Technical Executive and Distinguished IT Architect with twenty-five years experience within IBM product development and technical support. He spent fourteen years in the IBM Canada software development laboratory leading the successful development of IBM software products. He holds two patents in distributed object technology. For the past few years, he has been an IT Architect defining complex solutions for customers ranging from banks, government and airlines to dot com companies. He has skills in designing large-scale infrastructures with a specific focus on scalability and high availability. He has experience developing and teaching architecture methodologies and tools. Most recently he has been developing assets and techniques to enable IBM technical architects and specialists help our customers transform their IT environment to be more flexible and effective.
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 Nair, Vinay
Research Manager, Canadian Enterprise Applications Research, IDC
Breakfast Keynote (Tuesday, September 23, 2008) - The Canadian Opportunity for Social Networking and Web 2.0
Vinay Nair is Research Manager for IDC Canada's Enterprise Applications practice, covering all aspects of the enterprise applications market in Canada.
Mr. Nair has managed IDC's software research program for the Middle East and Africa region. He led a team of analysts charged with assessing opportunities for software vendors and advising them on coherent go-to-market strategies across the region. He traveled extensively in MEA to gauge market developments and lead consulting teams advising on market entry and competitive positioning. Mr. Nair was also responsible for assessing the economic impact of the IT industry in country markets across MEA and tracking the development and growth of IT skills within the region.
Before joining IDC, Mr. Nair worked in channel development for Corel Corporation, where he identified partnership and distribution opportunities for Corel’s suite of software products. He has also conducted market research, provided strategic consulting, and devised international expansion strategies for many early-stage technology firms in the United States.
Mr. Nair holds a Bachelor's degree from the University of Ottawa and a Master's in public and international affairs from the University of Pittsburgh.
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 Wittes Schlack, Julie
SVP, Innovation & Design,
Communispace
Breakfast Keynote - Engage: The Role of Community in the Social Media Landscape
One of the founding members of Communispace Corporation, Julie has been instrumental in designing and continually evolving the online community offering. Over the past 18 months, she has built an Innovation and Research Group comprised of ethnographers, data mining experts, and social scientists whose mission it is to uncover new patterns and trends in online community behavior and test new techniques and technologies for engaging people in online communities and social networks. Her group's work has been widely published and it has transformed Communispace's ability to help companies hardwire the voice of the customer into their businesses. Recently published research includes “The Fifth ‘P' of Marketing: Participation,” “From Research to Relationship: Using Communities to Gain Entrée into Customer Conversations,” and “What Companies Gain from Listening: The Effect of Community on Members' Attitudes and Behaviors to the Sponsoring Company.”
Julie is also a member of the board of directors of WOMMA, the Word-of-Mouth Marketing Association.
In her life before Communispace, Julie served as manager of learning design for Omega Performance and for Micromentor. She has received many awards in her 15 years in multimedia, including four New Media InVision awards, an Online Learning award, and three CINDY awards.
Julie is simply not your average marketing industry executive. She has an Ed. M. in interactive technology from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and a B.A. in creative writing and psychology from the University of Michigan. She is a recipient of the Hopwood Award for creative writing, and writes book reviews monthly for The Boston Globe.
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 Smith, Mark
Partner, KPMG, Advisory Services
Breakfast Keynote - Is There Hope Beyond Dilbert?
Mark Smith is a Partner in KPMG’s Advisory Services practice. Previously, he was Chairman of a private equity firm, Kensington Capital. Before that, he was Vice Chair of Mercer Delta Canada and head of its Strategy and Corporate Governance practices. Before that, he was a founder and CEO of Johnston Smith International (JSI), Canada’s largest independent consulting firm specializing in strategic change management. JSI was bought by Mercer Delta in 2002. Prior to JSI, Mark was CEO of Hay Management Consultants, Canada’s largest human resources and compensation consulting firm. He holds an MBA in Finance and Ph.D. in Psychology from York University.
Mark specializes in strategic planning, strategy implementation, and organization-wide change. Broadly trained, he integrates the areas of strategy, organization design, human resources and financial management. His work with senior leadership teams and Boards ensures that organizations produce strategic decisions that are not only well conceived, but accepted and implemented as well. He is equally at ease as a consultant, trainer, facilitator and speaker.
Mark has been very active in the community. Over the years, he has served on the Boards of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (where he also chaired the $12 billion insurance fund), the Schulich School of Business, the Invest in Kids Foundation (where he was chair of planning), the Children’s Aid Society Foundation, the YMCA, the Prermier’s Council on Health Strategy, and the Rosedale United Church. He served as program advisor to Outward Bound and helped them develop their corporate leadership development programs.
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 Ticoll, David
Chair, Expert Panel, Information & Communications Technology Council and
Research Fellow, Knowledge Media Design Institute, University of Toronto
Breakfast Keynote - State of the Nation/Jobs 2.0: Action Agenda for Canada's Talent Crisis
David Ticoll has co-authored several bestselling books on business strategy, notably Digital Capital and The Naked Corporation. He now plays a central role in identifying and describing Canada's generational talent crisis - and what to do about it. He began writing about this issue in his Globe & Mail column several years ago. David chairs the Expert Panel of the Information & Communications Technology Council, which has invested several million dollars in researching this challenge. He has written several papers and studies on the topic and advises a national coalition, initiated by Bell Canada, that is tackling this situation.
From 1994 to 2001 David was CEO of the international thought leadership think tank and consulting firm, Digital 4Sight, which he founded in 1994. The firm’s clients included leading firms in information technology, financial services, telecommunications, automotive, consumer packaged goods, resources, government, and other industries. He and his partners sold the firm in 2001.
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