SPEAKERS
JEFFREY HAYZLETT BESTSELLING AUTHOR & BUSINESS EXPERT
Jeffrey Hayzlett is a global business celebrity and former Fortune 100 c-suite executive. From small business to international corporations, he has put his creativity and extraordinary entrepreneurial skills into play, launching ventures blending his leadership perspectives, insights into professional development, mass marketing prowess and affinity for social media. He is a well-traveled public speaker, the author of the bestselling books, The Mirror Test and Running the Gauntlet, celebrity editor to one of the largest-circulation business publications and one of the most compelling figures in global business.
Jeffrey is an esteemed business and marketing expert, appearing frequently on programs like Fox Business News, MSNBC’s Your Business and NBC’s Celebrity Apprentice with Donald Trump. Drawing upon an eclectic background in business, buoyed by a stellar track record of keynote speaking, and deeply rooted in cowboy lore, Jeffrey energizes his role driving and delivering change. He is a turnaround architect of the highest order, a maverick marketer who delivers scalable campaigns, embraces traditional modes of customer engagement, and possesses a remarkable cachet of mentorship, corporate governance and brand building.
TERRY CONNELL SVP, SALES & SALES OPERATIONS, COMCAST
Terry Connell is Senior Vice President, Sales & Sales Operations, Comcast Business Services, Comcast Cable Communications, LLC. Terry leads sales and sales operations for Business Services, supporting the divisions in their development of a high-performing field sales organization. He is directly responsible for sales efforts to national accounts, leading the national sales force dedicated to niche enterprise opportunities.
Terry previously worked at Level 3 Communications, where he was Vice President of Sales, responsible for leading sales growth and retention activities for the Mid-Atlantic Division. As Vice President of Enterprise Markets for WilTel Communications (now Level 3 Communications), he built and led a nationwide enterprise sales organization focused on selling a portfolio of data and IP services to the enterprise market. He was instrumental in developing sales compensation models, as well as contributing to process improvements across the company.
Terry holds a BA in Economics and English from Rutgers University.
ERIC DIRST SVP & CIO, DEVRY
Eric Dirst is Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer for DeVry Inc.
Dirst, who joined DeVry in 2008 as Vice President and CIO, brings 23 years of experience within the information technology field. Dirst joined DeVry from SIRVA Inc., a global provider of relocation and moving services for consumers, corporations and governments. SIRVA's brands include Allied International, Allied Van Lines, North American Van Lines, and SIRVA Relocation. While at SIRVA, Dirst served most recently as Vice President and Chief Information Officer where he was responsible for streamlining business processes, consolidating operations and maximizing ROI. Under Dirst's leadership, SIRVA was named to CIO Magazine's Top 100 Innovative Organizations in 2006 for its effective use of IT to create business value.
Dirst holds a Bachelor of Science double major in Applied Computer Science and Business Operations from Northern Illinois University. He is also a governing body member of the CIO Executive Summit, and a member of the CIO Leadership Network and the Midwest Technology Executives Club.
JIM DICKIE MANAGING PARTNER, CSO INSIGHTS
Jim Dickie is the Managing Partner of CSO Insights; a research firm that specializes in benchmarking how companies are leveraging people, process, and technology to optimize the way they market to, sell to, and service customers.
He has over 29 years of sales and marketing management experience. Jim began his career with IBM and Sterling Software and then went on to launch two successful software companies.
Jim is also a contributing editor for CRM Magazine, CustomerThink, SoftwareMag.com, a contributing author for the Harvard Business Review; and the author of The Chief Sales Officers Guide to CRM, Insights into High Tech Sales and Marketing, and the co-author of The Sales & Marketing Excellence Challenge and The Information Technology Challenge. He is an advisor to Baylor University’s Center for Professional Selling, William Patterson University’s Russ Berry Institute for Professional Selling, and a lecturer at the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business.
MEREDITH SCHMIDT VICE PRESIDENT OF SALES OPERATIONS, SALESFORCE.COM
Meredith Schmidt is the Vice President of Sales Operations for salesforce.com. Meredith has been with Salesforce for over 7 years and has been instrumental in building the teams to support direct and partner business operations. Meredith has created a very streamlined and highly efficient business through the implementation of key technology solutions.
KEITH KRACH CEO, DOCUSIGN
Keith has a long history of technology leadership, starting with being GM’s youngest-ever vice president at the age of 26 after earning his B.S. degree in industrial engineering from Purdue University and MBA from Harvard University. After 10 years with GM, Keith joined the founding team of Rasna Corporation. Keith helped lead Rasna to be recognized as #3 on the Inc. 100 list of Fastest-Growing Companies. The company was sold in 1995 to Parametric Technologies for $500 million.
Keith co-founded Ariba in 1996, serving as CEO and chairman of the board for seven years. Keith took Ariba public, achieving a market capitalization of $34 billion. Ernst & Young named Keith the 2000 National Entrepreneur of the Year, the same year in which he was honored at the World Economic Forum with the Technology Pioneer Award. Following Ariba, Keith founded 3Points, an investment holdings firm, where he was CEO. He has served as an executive and a member of the board of directors for numerous companies. Keith is currently the chairman of the board of Angie's List and chairman of the board of trustees at Purdue University.
TOM GONSER FOUNDER, DOCUSIGN
Tom Gonser is the founder of DocuSign and leads the company’s overall strategy. A well-regarded thought leader, Tom is considered by many to be the father of electronic signatures. Prior to starting DocuSign, Tom was founder and CEO of NetUPDATE, a leading online transaction management system that handled millions of mortgage transactions yearly. NetUPDATE was recognized as one of the Pacific Northwest's 'Hot Companies' in 2001.
Prior to NetUPDATE, Tom served as senior vice president of business development at Point.com, where he led large-scale portal relationships and developed strategic partnerships, growing web traffic from a few thousand unique visits per month to more than 700,000.
Prior to working with startup companies, Tom held senior management positions at AT&T Wireless Services and McCaw Cellular Wireless Data Division. He also spent six years with Apple Computer in business development. Tom earned a BA in Economics with an emphasis in Business Systems Analysis and Design from the University of Washington.
GRANT PETERSON CTO, DOCUSIGN
Grant Peterson came to DocuSign as chief technology officer and vice president of engineering in November 2007. Prior to joining DocuSign, he was vice president of product development for LexisNexis where he grew sales for a number of products from $6 million in 2000 to $145 million in 2007.
Prior to LexisNexis, Grant was the director of product development for Primus Knowledge Solutions. As a member of the management team, Grant positioned Primus as the leader in the support resolution space and the preferred vendor by the world's leading technology companies. Primus experienced a successful IPO in 1999 achieving a total market cap of $1.2B.
Earlier in his career, Grant was a software architect and development manager at Halliburton Geophysical Services, where he designed and implemented the Halliburton Interactive Seismic Processing system, and served as a senior software engineer for Sierra Geophysics, Inc., which was acquired by Halliburton in 1989. Grant holds an eMBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
