Speakers

Akiba Stern: Partner, Morgan Lewis

Akiba Stern has more than 25 years of experience in advising clients in all aspects of business law, both as an in-house counsel and at law firms. Mr. Stern's outsourcing experience is across all business processes (including ITO, AD&M, F&A, HRO, KPO, Logistics, and Facilities Management) and many business verticals (including large pharma, entertainment, manufacturing, and packaged goods). He has done most of his work for financial services companies, including investment banks, hedge funds, commercial banks, insurance companies, and specialty financiers.

When working on complex long-term sourcing and services arrangements, including outsourcing transactions and strategic alliances, Mr. Stern helps his clients structure, negotiate, and implement commercial strategies, alliance structures, pricing models, governance arrangements, change management protocols, contract administration, and supplier compliance strategies.

Mr. Stern is consistently recognized as an industry leader by various industry publications including HRO Today, FAO Today, Chambers USA, Chambers Global, and Legal 500.

Anantha Radhakrishnan: VP and Head, Strategic Platforms, Key Solutions and Alliances, IS,

Anantha Radhakrishnan is a member of Infosys BPO’s management council that sets the business strategy and direction.

The Strategic Platform and BPO technology unit delivers transformational value to clients through innovative service models. He has 20 years of global industry experience and has worked at local, regional and corporate levels.

Anantha is Infosys’ representative and associate member of the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA). He also represents Infosys at U.S. industry bodies in Consumer Packaged Goods and Retail.

Anantha has spoken at various international forums such as National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM), India sourcing summit and FAO Today conferences. His topics of interest include value of technology, lead differentiation in BPO and next-generation BPO. He holds an MBA from a premier business school in India and is an Engineering graduate.

Andrew Winston: Winston Eco-Strategies LLC

Andrew Winston is a globally recognized expert on how business can profit from thinking green. He is the co-author of the best-seller Green to Gold and author of Green Recovery, a guide to surviving – and thriving – in an economic downturn. Andrew is dedicated to helping companies use environmental strategy to grow and create enduring value for their customers, employees, communities, and shareholders. He bases his work on significant in-company experience; his earlier career included advising companies on corporate strategy while at Boston Consulting Group and management positions in strategy and marketing at Time Warner and MTV. Today he advises some of the world’s biggest companies – including Bank of America, Pepsi, HP, and Boeing – and speaks to audiences around the world, combining passion and practicality into an entertaining and strategic review of the greening of business and society. Andrew received his BA in Economics from Princeton, an MBA from Columbia, and a Masters of Environmental Management from Yale.

Andy Efstathiou: Director, NelsonHall's Banking Sourcing program

Andy Efstathiou has extensive experience as a banking and financial services practitioner. He is responsible for the development and delivery of NelsonHall's research and advisory services in banking processes and the application of business process outsourcing.

Andy has 25 years of experience in financial services. He has worked for money center banks including Citibank and managed customer and counter-party operations at other financial institutions. He has advised regulatory agencies and investment banks on operational issues and business performance.

Andy is a frequent guest speaker and has appeared on many television and radio news programs globally. He has written several articles and has been interviewed by leading publications including the Forbes Magazine. Andy has an MBA from Stanford University.

Arjun Avtar Sethi: Partner and Vice President, A.T. Kearney Inc.

Arjun Avtar Sethi‘s work experience spans management consulting, and the IT services industry. At A.T. Kearney, he provides business and strategic IT consulting support to financial institutions and high-technology companies. Currently, Arjun leads A.T. Kearney’s optimization and offshoring practice.

Bill Huber: Director, CPO Services, TPI

Bill Huber leads TPI’s procurement advisory services. He assists procurement organizations in internal optimization and establishing outsourcing competency centers. He joined TPI in 2006 and led strategy and implementation initiatives in the automotive, heavy equipment, building products, financial services, printing, consumer goods manufacturing and life sciences industries.

Earlier, Bill held senior management positions in the financial services industry. He was the SVP of Outsourcing Strategy and Governance, SVP/CPO and Head of Strategic Sourcing and VP/Head of IT Sourcing at Wachovia Corporation. He was the Senior Manager – Outsourcing and IT Procurement at American Express. He also held various procurement, sourcing and program management roles at United Technologies Corporation and GEC/Marconi Aerospace.

Bill holds an MBA in International Business from the University of Bridgeport. He completed additional post-graduate work in Accounting at Western Connecticut State University. He is also a graduate of the Wachovia Executive Leadership Development program at UNC Chapel Hill.

Bill was the Chairman of the Board of the International Association for Contract and Commercial Management (IACCM). Currently, he serves on the Advisory Board for the Sourcing Interest Group (SIG).

Charlotte Herndon: President, The New York Times Company Shared Services Center in Norfolk, Virginia

Charlotte Herndon has been in this position since April 2005. She is responsible for the strategic direction and daily operations of the New York Times Company Shared Services Center. It provides financial, purchasing, human resources and information technology support for The New York Times Company’s business units.

Charlotte joined the company in 1996. As the Finance Director in 1999, she was responsible for accounting, financial reporting and daily financial operations.

Earlier, Charlotte served as a public accountant with Pricewaterhouse Coopers where she supervised client audits in several industries, including media and publishing.

Charlotte is a CPA and received a BBA degree in Accounting from James Madison University in 1991.

Dan Smoot: Vice President of Finance, Cisco Capital - International Sales

Dan Smoot oversees international sales for Cisco Capital, a part of Cisco’s worldwide finance operations. He leads Cisco Capital’s non-U.S. sales, operations and remarketing organizations. He is responsible for building, leading and managing a global financing sales force and setting the company’s strategic direction and future growth strategies.

Most recently, Dan led Cisco’s worldwide Customer Service and Support Operations (CSSO) where he transformed the organization into a customer service center of excellence. He is an active member of several internal business councils such as the Connected Business Operations Council (CBOC), the Inclusion and Diversity Council, the Services Operations Council and the Service Provider Business Council. In addition, he is the Executive Sponsor of the New Hire Network, an organization dedicated to facilitating leadership, professional relationships and sharing experiences for new hires.

Dan joined Cisco in 1999 and has held various leadership positions. He served as Global Director for the U.S. enterprise sales organization and was responsible for managing the sales and engineering teams that supported global and multinational enterprise customers. He focused on the public sector which included the state of California. The partnership generated revenues of more than US$ 600 million.

Dan’s key accomplishments include managing one of the largest processes designed to improve productivity for operational support and leading efforts in framing Cisco’s sales process methodology. As a founder member of the Global Accounts Program, he helped shape the global account strategy to where it stands today.

Prior to Cisco, Dan was the General Manager at Siemens ICN where he managed the sales and field operations for the Northwest U.S. and Western Canada regions.

Dan has an Environmental Science degree from the University of California at Irvine.

Holly Benson: Partner and Global Head, Learning & Complex Change practice, Infosys Consulting

Holly Benson helps clients design and deliver large-scale organizational change programs for outsourcing, ERP, system integration, mergers and acquisitions, process re-engineering, restructuring, and shared services initiatives.

She focuses on delivering bottom-line business results. She brings a tactical and pragmatic approach to change management from her experience of 10 years in consulting and 15 years in operations at an oil major.

Holly graduated from Dartmouth College. She has degrees in Earth Sciences and Geographical Studies from the University of Texas at Austin. She began her career as a petroleum geologist for an oil major. She joined Infosys in 2005 to develop a world-class change management capability.

John Fafian: VP, IT Strategic Sourcing, Arrow Electronics, Inc.

John Fafian leads the IT Strategic Sourcing unit at Arrow Electronics, Inc., a US$ 16 billion dollar distributor of electronic components and computer products. He has extensive technology and non-technology sourcing experience including infrastructure, application development and business process outsourcing on an onshore, near shore and offshore basis. He is a frequent speaker on a broad range of areas related to outsourcing.

Prior to Arrow, he was a sourcing executive at Credit Suisse First Boston and the Head of Software Sourcing globally at the Deutsche Bank. John holds a Bachelor degree of Science in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

John Willmott: CEO, NelsonHall

John Willmott is the founder and CEO of NelsonHall, a leading global BPO analyst firm. He focuses on helping buy-side clients understand how and where Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) can be applied to their businesses and select shortlists to meet their unique business requirements.

NelsonHall partners with enterprises that seek rapid and cost-effective sourcing mechanisms through up-to-date and detailed understanding of vendor capability.

John presents BPO Index, a quarterly webcast that monitors developments in the industry. He is a frequent speaker on BPO.

John holds an MA from Cambridge University and an MBA from Manchester Business School.

Joseph Crocker: Category Manager, Caterpillar, Global Purchasing

Joseph Crocker leads Caterpillar’s direct procurement outsourcing initiatives and manages a global sourcing team responsible for US$ 400 million in service parts spend. He has held a variety of positions with Caterpillar in quality, planning, engineering and environmental health and safety.

In 2002, Joseph became Caterpillar’s first Indirect Purchasing Category Manager and managed over US$ 1billion in global sourcing. Key spending categories included fuel, paints, petrochemicals, welding, industrial gases, and various maintenance, inspection and quality services. Since 2007, he has been instrumental in conceptualizing direct procurement optimization and outsourcing initiatives for Caterpillar.

Joseph holds an engineering degree from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA from Bradley University. He is the past president of the Peoria, IL Chapter of STLE, past secretary and treasurer of the Illinois Cast Metals Association.

Julio Ramirez: Senior Business Advisor, The Hackett Group

Julio Ramirez is a leader of The Hackett Group’s business process sourcing research and advisory activities. He was one of the original founding partners of Answerthink Inc.. Earlier, he was the senior vice president of Acclaris, a global business process outsourcing firm with offices in the U.S. and India. He was responsible for its Global 2000 HR and finance and accounting process outsourcing business.

Julio has more than 24 years of experience working with senior executives at Fortune 500 companies, transforming their finance, HR and procurement functions to achieve world-class performance. He has significant experience in all aspects of designing and implementing shared services. He has worked with multinational organizations in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America. Julio has also served as an audit and consulting partner with KPMG Peat Marwick.

Ming Tsai: Chief Client Officer and Managing Director, Infosys Consulting

Ming Tsai is a recognized leader in the consulting industry, having served in senior executive leadership positions with IBM Global Services, Ernst & Young and The Boston Consulting Group. Ming is a frequent speaker at global industry events and is a board-level advisor to several global companies.

Ming was named one of the Top 25 Consultants in the World in 2009 by Consulting Magazine. Prior to Infosys, Ming was with IBM where he was the Global Leader of the Retail practice. He joined IBM when it acquired Mainspring, an e-business strategy consulting firm. Earlier, he was a partner at Ernst & Young where he was a leader of the eCommerce practice in North America. He was also a senior manager with The Boston Consulting Group.

Ming received an MBA from Columbia Business School where he was elected to the Beta Gamma Sigma National Honor Society and awarded the Benjamin E. Hermann prize for Marketing Excellence. He also received a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Yale University.

Ritesh Idnani: Head, Worldwide Sales and Marketing and Business Head, Banking, Capital Markets, Insurance, Healthcare and Emerging Markets and Americas Operations, Infosys BPO

Ritesh Idnani joined Infosys BPO in November 2005. He drives go-to-market strategies. He also oversees strategic business including identifying new opportunities, development and monetization of market-led solutions, sales strategy and customer relationship management.

He has more than 10 years of experience in assisting global corporations choose processes to outsource, implement governance models and enhance performance of outsourcing relationships.

Ritesh has been instrumental in scaling the BPO business from US$ 43 million in 2005 to US$ 250 million in 2008. He also drives strategy, direction, solution design and operations for the Banking Capital Markets business.

Prior to Infosys, Ritesh was with PricewaterhouseCoopers where he set up the financial services risk management practice for India. Earlier, he was with the corporate and investment banking division of Citigroup.

Ritesh has spoken at various international forums. He has been named in FAO Today’s Superstars list in 2008.

Ritesh is an Economics and Accounting graduate and holds an MBA from the Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi (FMS).

Peter Bendor-Samuel: CEO, Everest Group

Peter Bendor-Samuel is widely recognized as a global thought leader in the outsourcing industry. He advises Fortune 500 companies, speaks to the investor community on Wall Street, is published and quoted in hundreds of magazines annually, and is a sought-after speaker at corporate and industry events. He is the author of 'Turning Lead Into Gold: The Demystification of Outsourcing.'

Peter was named by Ernst & Young as “Entrepreneur of the Year” in 2007. The award recognizes visionaries who build and lead dynamic and growing businesses. He was the recipient of the 2001 Outsourcing World Achievement Award. The award recognizes his impact on the outsourcing industry through innovation, breaking new ground and establishing standards.

Peter founded the Everest Group in 1991. A pioneer in sourcing/outsourcing advisory services, the Everest Group has emerged as one of the world’s leading global sourcing authorities. He is the principal developer of the firm's unique, collaborative value-capture methodology that helps clients and providers orchestrate a deeper partnering environment and find mutually beneficial ways to add value in the solution they design. He also serves as Honorable Advisor to the Strategic Outsourcing Council of Japan.

In 1997, he founded the Outsourcing Center (www.outsourcing-center.com ), an Everest Group company and online community specializing in thought leadership, best practices and innovation in outsourcing.

Peter founded the Everest Research Institute in 2005, an independent research group that serves as a central source of independent, objective strategic intelligence, analysis and actionable insight for leading corporations, service providers and investors in the global outsourcing and offshoring marketplace.

Phil Fersht: Research Director, AMR Research

Phil Fersht is focused on advising AMR Research’s buy-side clients on the best practices while determining outsourcing strategy, vendor selection, post-transaction governance, and the intersection between IT and business process strategy within an outsourced business model. He focuses on business process outsourcing, remote infrastructure management and application outsourcing areas. Phil has a bachelor’s degree in Science with honors in European Business and Technology and a diploma in Business and Technology.

Philip A. Panaro: Managing Director and President, IM2 Consulting

Philip A. Panaro has more than 20 years of experience in facilitating large-scale business transformations and global transactions in the financial services industry. He has successfully orchestrated global mergers, consolidations, outsourcing, restructuring, and strategic initiatives. Prior to IM2 Consulting, he was a senior advisor to Booz Allen Hamilton and the Boston Consulting Group.

Philip has been recognized by publications such as Institutional Investor, Daily Deal and InfoWorld. He is the recipient of the Smithsonian Award for providing innovative client solutions.

Philip graduated from New York University with a dual BS in Finance and Economics. He received an EMBA from USF.

Scott Gildner: Partner and President, North America, TPI

Scott Gildner has rich practical experience assisting global organizations in the selection and implementation of HR sourcing solutions. He has assisted large and multi-national organizations in implementing business process service offerings. Prior to TPI, he established Gildner & Associates where he used his extensive outsourcing and consulting experience to grow the organization into the largest sourcing advisory firm, specializing in HR.

Scott has helped more than 50 Fortune 200 clients in developing their HR outsourcing strategy. He was involved in many client engagements related to assessing, implementing or managing outsourcing relationships and has negotiated outsourcing agreements valued in excess of US$ 3 billion of contracted services. His advice is actively sought by Global 1000 companies, the HR service provider community and investment analysts.

Scott is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries and a charter member of the Human Resources Outsourcing Forum. He is the author of ‘Outsourcing Human Resources’ published in 2006 by the Society for Human Resource Management. In 2008, he was named “Thought Leader of the Year” by the Human Resources Outsourcing Association for defining industry standards, establishing benchmarks and realigning relationships between clients and providers. Scott holds a Bachelor of Arts in Risk and Insurance from the Honors College at Michigan State University.