Speakers
Microsoft
Rachel Bondi, General Manager,
Office Product Marketing Group, Microsoft
Rachel Bondi is a General Manager in the Office and Office 365 Product
Marketing Group and leads the team responsible for managing our Office
consumer and small business product portfolio. She manages the
end-user advertising strategy, go-to-market field guidance for over 30
worldwide subsidiaries and is responsible for Office channel strategy
with OEM, retail, distribution and online sales. This included
defining pricing, packaging, go-to-markets, brand and naming, as well
as partner integration and activation around the world. Prior to that,
Rachel led SMB product marketing strategy business in the US
subsidiary.
Rachel has spent 15 years at Microsoft in a variety of marketing and
field positions. Since joining Microsoft in 1997 she started in our
Australia subsidiary, as a partner account manager, and moved in 1999
to join the US field marketing organisation to launch the company’s
first midmarket customer marketing engine. It was this work that
earned her the Bill Gates Chairman’s Award in 2001. Rachel then went
onto spearheading Microsoft’s early customer and partner experience
(CPE) initiatives as part of the chief of staff team for Kevin Johnson
in the US sales, marketing and services organisation. These early
initiatives, like Quick Assistance and response management system,
became company-wide investments that drove expedient improvements to
customer satisfaction results. Rachel holds her degree in education
from University of Queensland in Australia. Outside work, she enjoys
spending time with her husband and two daughters.
CONTEXT
Howard Davies, Co-Founder & CEO, CONTEXT
Howard Davies is Co-Founder and CEO of CONTEXT, the London-based European Market Research firm. Context is the largest independent specialist business and consumer technology research company in EMEA, providing facts-based data and competitive analysis on technology markets and channels for the vendor, user and analyst communities. Prior to CONTEXT, Howard received his MBA at the London Business School in 1991, having worked with the Economist Intelligence Unit in London. Howard’s first degree was in Hispanic Languages and Literature at St. Andrews University, Scotland.
CONTEXT
Adam Simon, Global Managing Director, Retail Business Development, CONTEXT
Adam’s role at CONTEXT is to develop the company’s retail offerings to give our customers unrivalled research coverage of the IT channel landscape in Europe. Prior to joining CONTEXT, Adam spent his career in professional services, and has built up a client portfolio across Europe and Asia Pacific in large retailers operating in all different market sectors. Working with retailers in the last 14 years, Adam is experienced in the analysis of large retail datasets to bring insight to clients. Previous roles have included senior positions, most recently at PRGX where he was Global Managing Director for Business Development and prior to that in Pitney Bowes as French Finance Director and in KPMG where he worked as a management consultant, having first qualified as a Chartered Accountant.
CONTEXT
Robert Norum, Head of Marketing, CONTEXT
Robert is responsible for CONTEXT's brand positioning and marketing communications to ensure that the market has a complete understanding of CONTEXT’s technology research services. Robert has spent over 25 years working in media, marketing and technology. During this time, he has worked on full-scale rebranding projects for NextiraOne, Touch Local and CONTEXT, as well as working on company positioning and outsourced marketing projects for Cisco, Intel and a wide cross section of technology related start-ups. Robert was sales at marketing director at integrated tech agency, Banner Corporation, for over 10 years where he worked on major IT brands such Adobe, Cisco, Lexmark and Novell. Previously he was marketing manager at Apple Distributor, Computer Unlimited, and held a number of advertising and publishing roles at IDG Communications.
Energy Sistem
David Tierraseca Alfaro, Marketing Director, Energy Sistem
David holds a Marketing Degree and a Master of Business Administration
(MBA). He has worked in different marketing and sales projects in
international companies including UPS, Mercadona, covering a range of
roles logistics to retail distribution. David joined Energy Sistem two
years ago looking for a company where he could enjoy two of his
passions: marketing and technology.
Fresh
Fred Brown, Partner, The Sightline Group
Fred Brown possesses over 25 years of executive leadership in the personal computer industry. His expertise in developing channels for technology companies has helped many successfully bring their products to market. With a track record of achievements and a network of relationships with key industry decision-makers, Fred has served as a retained consultant for more than a decade.
GfK
Dr. Rudi Aunkofer, Global Research Director IT, GfK Retail and Technology
Rudolf Aunkofer is Global Director IT at GfK Retail and Technology, the global leader in market tracking services for all kind of HighTech Markets. He is responsible for GfK's global Tracking Activities for Information Technology across the different geographies GfK is covering (WEU, CEE/CIS, APAC, MEA, Americas). Prior to joining GfK, Rudolf Aunkofer worked in sales management for Siemens Nixdorf Information Technology and in product management for AEG Household Appliances. He has about 20 years of experience within the HighTech industry. Rudolf Aunkofer is the author of many articles related to Information Technology and also lectures on this subject. He is author of the book entitled "Future Concept Multimedia". Rudolf Aunkofer received his Ph.D. in Management Science and teaches Management & Corporate Planning.
GfK
David Tordinava, Senior Consultant IT EMEA, GfK Retail and Technology
David Tordinava is Senior Consultant IT EMEA at GfK Retail and Technology, the global leader in market tracking services for all kinds of high technology markets. He has more than 12 years of experience within the high technology industry. David is in charge of GfK Distribution Panel across the EMEA region and focuses on the topic of supply chain management. He is also responsible for GfK B2B tracking activities in EMEA with an emphasis on IT infrastructure and communication.
GfK
Carolin Weinmann, Senior Consultant IT EMEA, GfK Retail and Technology
Carolin Weinmann is Senior Consultant IT EMEA at GfK Retail and Technology, the global leader in market tracking services for all kind of high technology markets. She is in charge of GfK's tracking activities for IT across the EMEA region with emphasis on computing and storage markets. Prior to GfK, Carolin was working in different sales and marketing positions across Europe. Following her MSc in International Business (Maastricht, Barcelona) she's been focusing on strategic marketing and management. In addition she has several years' experience in the high technology industry.
Globo
Trevor Goldberg, Director of Strategic Alliances, Globo
Trevor's career spans over 20 years in the business-to-business high
technology sector. After studying Mechanical Engineering, he joined
Cambridge Instruments in 1985 to develop applications for
semiconductor processing equipment. During his eight year tenure, he
spent three years in the USA establishing their North American base
and returned to the UK in 1993 to join Smallworld Systems, where he
was responsible for business development activities in Southern
Europe, the Middle East and Africa. After rapid growth, Smallworld
listed on NASDAQ in 1996 and was acquired by General Electric in 2000.
Trevor then co-founded Reciva, a wireless internet radio company,
which led to a role at a Cambridge Venture Capital and technology
incubator, called Ten Sails. In 2005, Trevor joined Bango plc as VP
Strategic Alliances to develop and deploy their go-to-market strategy
in Asia and the USA. In 2008 he joined Miyowa to perform a similar
role in the emerging mobile messaging market. Trevor joined Globo in
2012 as a Director of Strategic Alliances.
HGST
Nicolas Frapard, Director of Sales EMEA Region, HGST
Nicolas Frapard is the Director of Sales for EMEA at HGST. Most
recently, Nicolas has been applying his expertise to the hardware
requirements of mobile computing and addressing the challenge within
IT storage to deliver high performance in lightweight drives with low
power consumption. HGST works closely with the channel to deliver
innovative enterprise, mobile computing, consumer electronics and
personal storage products that deliver superior value.
HGST
Greg Kwolek, Director Client Management Russia, CIS & Eastern Europe, HGST
Greg Kwolek is the Director of Client Management in Russia, CIS and
Eastern Europe at HGST. He has extensive expertise in the market, with
a particular focus on enterprise hardware and cloud technologies, and
addressing the issue of total cost of ownership (TCO). HGST works
closely with the channel to deliver innovative enterprise, mobile
computing, consumer electronics and personal storage products that
deliver superior value.
IC Intracom
Michael Thiel, CEO, IC Intracom
In October of 1987, at the age of 26, Michael Thiel co-founded IC
Intracom with his father, Ulrich, in Halver, Germany. Michael had
begun his career as an apprentice with Commerzbank, one of the largest
banks in Germany. There, he acquired in-depth knowledge of accounting
principles and banking practices, which was instrumental in his
ability to found his own business and steer it through continual
phases of growth. He subsequently accepted a position within the
export sales department of an electric component manufacturer and was
promoted to export sales manager after only one year. The position
required extensive global travel, including numerous trips to Asia,
which provided the inspiration for starting an international trade,
consulting and manufacturing business.
Kiki Lab - Ebeltoft Group
Fabrizio Valente, Founder, Kiki Lab - Ebeltoft Group
Fabrizio Valente is a ‘Neapolitan around the World’ and has worked for more than 25 years in the field of retail and consumption. In 2001 he founded Kiki Lab, a firm that specialises in consultancy, research and training. Kiki Lab helps retailers and manufacturers understand customer behaviour, needs and desires in order to build successful strategies and to implement them in a better way.
Kiki Lab’s main areas of expertise include new retail formats; retail branding; repositioning; store check and retail mix tuning; cross-channel strategies, culture change and improving management skills. Clients in consumer electronics and IT include Mediamarkt, Euronics, Dixe, Electrolux and Loewe. In 1990 Fabrizio Valente co-founded the Ebeltoft Group, which now comprises 20 consultancy companies and operates worldwide. Members of the Ebeltoft Group work for 38 of the top 100 world’s biggest retailers and 15 of the world’s top 20 manufacturers.
During the last 20 years Fabrizio has delivered speeches to international audiences in multiple locations including Singapore, London, Paris, Chicago, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Copenhagen, San Paolo, Dubai, Moscow and Tokyo. Fabrizio will present at the inaugural Retailer / E-tailer Summit at DISTREE EMEA 2013 and will also lead one of the event's '2013 Directions' sessions.
Lenovo
Neil Berville, Executive Director, EMEA Channels & Alliances, Lenovo
Neil heads the Lenovo channels for the EMEA region across commercial and consumer sectors including relationships with strategic international distributors, telecoms companies, retailers and alliance partners. In the last 12 months, he headed consumer sales for Western Europe and was instrumental in driving Lenovo’s expansion in the consumer market and also the integration with Medion. Neil joined Lenovo UK in May 2008 as Executive Director of UK & Ireland Transactional Business. Within a year of joining his scope was broadened to a region-wide basis which ultimately encompassed UK & Ireland, Benelux, Italy & Israel. He was responsible for the channel partner organisation and driving the go-to-market for SMB and consumer.
Neil has more than 20 years sales, marketing and general management experience in UK and across EMEA in both business and consumer markets, across the consumer electronics (CE) and IT sectors. Starting his career at ICL (now Fujitsu Computers), he spent 14 years at Sony where he launched Vaio in the UK and Bravia TV across Europe, and 4 years at Samsung Electronics where he was responsible for the IT product business. Neil holds an Honours degree in Business Studies and Marketing.
Modecom
Magdalena Szwedkowicz, International Area Manager, Modecom
Magda is responsible for Modecom’s business development in Russia &
CIS, Baltic, Nordics and Middle East regions. She has worked in
international trade for nine years, including five years in IT
software. Holding a Master's degree in economics from the University
of Warsaw, she is a specialist in banking, insurance and public
finance. Magda also finished postgraduate studies in the field of
international trade with Russia & CIS at Warsaw School of Economics.
Magda is interested in photography and dancing. She lives with her
husband and twin daughters near Warsaw.
Moor Insights & Strategy
Patrick Moorhead, President, Moor Insights & Strategy
Patrick Moorhead is one of the most cited technology industry analysts in the world. He is President and Principal Analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, an analyst firm focused on disruption in the smartphone, tablet, PC, datacentre infrastructure and cloud ecosystem, including hardware, software, and applications. Moorhead spent over 20-years at Fortune 100 technology companies and held senior executive positions leading strategy, marketing, and product groups.
Moorhead departed AMD where he served as Corporate VP and Corporate Fellow in the strategy group. He developed long-term strategies for cloud-connected mobile computing devices and personal computers.
Moorhead also served in his 11 years at AMD leading product management, product strategy, business planning, product marketing, regional marketing, channel marketing, and corporate marketing.
Moorhead also worked at Compaq Computer during their run to the number one consumer market share leader position in PCs. Patrick also served as an executive at AltaVista E-commerce, pioneering cost per click e-commerce and infomediary models.
Moorhead also has significant board experience. He served as an executive board member of the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) and the American Electronics Association (AEA) and chaired AMD's Global Consumer Advisory Board. He chaired the board of the St.
David’s Medical Centre, designated by Thomson Reuters as the 100 Top Hospitals in America.
Ocean Solutions
Igor Snytko, Executive Director, Ocean Solutions
Igor Snytko is Executive Director and Co-founder of LLC Ocean
Solutions, a Moscow-based company, focused on channel strategy
consulting in the ICT industry. Ocean Solutions offer its customers
full service in the area of defining channel strategy and supporting
entry into the Russia & CIS market, or optimisation of existing
businesses in the region. Igor has 14 years of experience in top
technology companies in the Russia &CIS region, which included senior
roles in sales, marketing and general management of regional business
operations. His last position before founding Ocean Solutions in early
2012 was General Manager for the Russia & CIS region at Toshiba’s PC
business division. Igor also served as a member of Toshiba’s executive
team of the European emerging markets region. Igor has strong record
of achievements in strategic planning, building teams, launching new
products, processes optimisation and channel building. Igor studied at
Lomonosov Moscow State University and at INSEAD (EMBA programme).
Regent Partners
Pradip Somaia, Director, Regent Partners
Pradip is an experienced investment banker within the technology
sector. Since joining Regent in 2000 he has completed numerous
assignments including the recent sale of Altimate to Arrow Electronics
Inc, the sale of PSCAL (financial management software) to Civica, the
sale of Codework (Security distribution) to Altimate Group, the
divestment of IQ-Sys (a virtualisation and network management
provider) from QA. the sale of Talisman Software S.A (IT resourcing)
to Vedior, the acquisition of Logan Orviss International (Telecoms
Consulting) on behalf of Patni Computer Systems Ltd, sale of Centia
and AKS, (both pan European distributors of Network infrastructure
products), to DNSint.com AG, and the sale of Data Technology Group Plc
(IT Services), to Innovise Plc. Prior to joining Regent, Pradip served
as chief financial officer within a number of large European and US
multinational IT corporations, generally with financial responsibility
for operations throughout Europe. He has worked for EDS, International
Data Corporation, Science Applications International Corporation and
Equant Integration Services. Pradip is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management
Accountants and a Chartered Global Management Accountant.
VIA International
Michael White, Director, VIA International
Michael White is a Director of VIA International, a specialist routes to market consultancy, where he heads the consumer business practice. Michael has 20 years consulting experience in distribution channels for both commercial and consumer markets, working with clients at worldwide and regional level on marketing and channel strategy, key account management, channel management and return on marketing investment. Michael's prime focus over the last 10 years has been on the retail and consumer marketplaces, with projects in all major world markets, working with vendors, distributors and retailers on optimising routes to the consumer and small business marketplace. Michael’s clients have included Apple, Fujitsu-Siemens Computers, HP, Logitech, Microsoft, Nokia and Sandisk. Michael is a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing.
Wexler
Leo Prozument, Managing Director, Wexler
Leo Prozument was born in Moscow, and currently resides in Chicago and
Moscow. He has significant experience in the development of large
projects in the IT and consumer electronics sectors. Over 20 years, he
has occupied key positions in large US companies and consulting firms,
with responsibility for product creation, production and sales channel
development. Today, Leo Prozument is Managing Director for WEXLER.
With his experience and creativity, WEXLER has become one of the top
manufacturers of portable electronics, including, PCs, tablets, and
e-readers.
Frederic Lestringant, Consultant
Frederic Lestringant was formerly HP General Manager for Personal Systems Group (PSG) Africa region from 2003 until 2012. His mission was to maximise HP profit and revenue growth in the Africa region while expanding HP’s presence cross the continent. Frederic held
various positions including marketing and category management roles at EMEA level and sales management positions for the East and Central Europe region. He started his career with HP in 1989 as accounting manager, before moving to finance management roles supporting manufacturing activities in EMEA. Frederic has always believed that success comes with teamwork, commitment and enthusiasm as key ingredients to achieve objectives. Before joining HP, he was the founder of a rental car company in the South of France. Frederic completed his studies at the INSEEC Business School, in Bordeaux, France, where he obtained an MBA. Frederic is married and a father of three children. Beyond his day-to-day responsibilities at work, his interests also include reading, tennis and horse riding. Today, Frederic is a consultant in international business development. He assists companies aiming to create or develop businesses in fast-growing markets.
Ryan Mackey, Consultant
Ryan Mackey is a regular speaker and facilitator at DISTREE events. He serves again this year in Monte Carlo as the conference's moderator and he also leads a workshop on retail trends ("Changes Rocking the Retail Landscape" scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, 19 February at 16:00). His involvement with DISTREE stems from over 10 years working with leading vendors, distributors and retailers across EMEA's technology channels. Ryan has studied at universities in both the US and Europe, and he holds an MBA in business strategy.
DISTREE Events
Ashish Kapahi, Regional Director for APAC, DISTREE Events
Ashish is a seasoned international business leader with more than 17
years of experience in starting and leading greenfield IT and CE
consumer channel and distribution operations and turning them into
profit centres. He has been based in, and led several cross-functional
teams in Asia, Australia, and Western Europe. Prior to joining
DISTREE as Regional Director for APAC, Ashish spent the last 10 years
working for eSys Group, a US$2 billion technology business where he
had multiple roles, including starting various operations in
distribution, storage and online businesses across the globe. Ashish
has a Masters in Public Administration (MPA) from Lee Kuan Yew School
of Public Policy, National University of Singapore, and a Masters in
Business Administration (MBA) in International Business and Marketing
from Maastricht School of Management in the Netherlands. He is
currently based in Singapore, the heart of Asia, and leads the DISTREE
APAC operations for the region.
DISTREE Events
Tawfik Djafari, Regional Director for Latin America, DISTREE Events
Tawfik is a world IT evangelist traveler. An architect from the School of Fine Arts in Paris, he holds a Master of Architecture from the University of Berkeley, California. He has more than 26 years of international sales and marketing experience spanning Southern Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia and Latin America. Specialised in multimedia and digital video contents, he launched the first video editing PC product in the early 1990s with MIRO then managed the launch of Pinnacle Systems consumer video products in Asia and Latin America and pursued the creation and management of teams to launch new multimedia concepts in Europe. Tawfik is Event Director for DISTREE Latin America, which launched in the region in 2011, and will take place for the third year in a row later this year. DISTREE Latin America 2013 takes place from September 11-13th 2013 in Salvador, Brazil, offering vendors a powerful opportunity to meet the region’s leading retailers and distributors.
