World Tour Keynote Speakers

Prior to his position at Essent, Mr. Berns worked for Wageningen University and Researchcentre for 12 years in various advisory, performance management and information system functions in the Finance and Control area. (Collapse)

National media such as Oprah Winfrey and The New York Times have profiled DonorsChoose as “the future of philanthropy.”

Mr. Best founded DonorsChoose in the spring of 2000 at Wings Academy, an alternative public high school in the Bronx where he taught social studies for five years. (Collapse)

He speaks with candor and passion about his experiences at the forefront of American foreign policy, what works and what doesn’t in America’s foreign relations, and what the future holds for America’s position on the world stage. Named as one of GQ magazine’s most powerful people in DC in 2007, Ambassador Burns shares a big-picture perspective of America’s place in the world culminating in his appointment as undersecretary of state where he managed America’s day-to-day diplomacy, including world crises. Among his many accomplishments are shepherding negotiations of the first civil nuclear energy agreement with India, leading U.S. negotiations with China, Russia, and Europe on the Iran nuclear crisis, and helping to forge an agreement with Brazil on the development of biofuels. He also negotiated a long-term military assistance agreement with Israel.

During the end of the Cold War, Ambassador Burns served for five years in the White House advising President George H.W. Bush and then President Bill Clinton. He then served Clinton as senior director for Russian affairs. He organized 23 summit meetings with Gorbachev and Yeltsin. As State Department spokesman, he became a household name during the Bosnia war. President Clinton named him U.S. Ambassador to Greece in 1997 and he played a key role in the Kosovo war. In 2001 he was appointed the United States Ambassador to NATO, where he led U.S. efforts to secure support for efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq at a turbulent and dangerous time. In 2005 President George W. Bush named Ambassador Burns undersecretary of state for political affairs. He is currently Professor of Diplomacy and International Politics at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, and in the summer of 2008 he was a Visiting Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center. (Collapse)

Prior to Ariba, Mr. Calderoni served as senior vice president of Finance and chief financial officer for Avery Dennison. Before joining Avery Dennison, Mr. Calderoni served as senior vice president of Finance and corporate controller for Apple Computer, Inc., and as chief financial officer and vice president of Finance for IBM's $8 billion Storage Systems Division. Before IBM, he was with Arthur Andersen & Company. (Collapse)

Mr. Cellier has 10 years of Consulting experience specialised in International Coordination, Change Management when deploying new business processes, Project Management and Programme Management; including 7 years on specific Purchasing, e-Sourcing and Strategic Sourcing topics. Prior to joining Alstom, he worked as Principal Manager, Strategic Sourcing at Ariba, where he managed a team of consultants and had the leading responsibility of major Strategic Sourcing Programmes for multinational companies (Valeo, Nestlé, Renault). Previously, he worked for Covisint Europe as an Auction Project Manager, and for Cap Gemini Ernst & Young as a Project Manager and Global Knowledge Manager for an International Business Line. (Collapse)

Prior to Ariba, Mr. Costello held a number of senior management positions with Andersen Business Consulting. Most recently, he was the global managing partner of Andersen's Market Solutions Team, where he was responsible for the supply chain, customer and channel, and technology integration services practice areas. He was also the global managing partner of Andersen Business Consulting's Strategic Business Relationships. (Collapse)

His earlier career involved the banking, automotive and aerospace industries, initially in Corporate Finance and later in commercial and business development. He led negotiations up to $1.5bn in value and his work has taken him to over 40 countries. Tim's work has been extensively published and he has acted in an advisory capacity to government bodies in countries that include the US, UK, Australia, Canada and Japan. (Collapse)

Mr. Idesoh joined Aviva in September 2005 as Information Systems Director for the UK general insurance business. Prior to Aviva, Johnson was with AstraZeneca where he held a variety of roles in the Global Drug Development Information Technology Organisation. He started his career with Andersen Consulting (now Accenture).(Collapse)

With over twenty years of experience in Procurement & Supply Chain, Jon has worked within varied industries and geographies including Europe, US, South America and Asia Pacific. Prior to joining AstraZeneca, Jon held senior Procurement roles at Ford, QP Consulting Group, Compass Group and most recently held the position of Chief Procurement Officer at Barclays Bank PLC.(Collapse)

Prior to joining the government, Mr. McCormick was a successful entrepreneur. As CEO of FreeMarkets (NASDAQ: FMKT), he helped build a profitable publicly traded procurement software and services company with 1,000 employees and 19 offices around the world. Following the sale of FreeMarkets to Ariba (NASDAQ: ARBA), Mr. McCormick was President of the combined company where he oversaw operations across 25 offices and over 2,000 employees worldwide. Earlier in his career, he worked as a consultant for McKinsey & Company.. (Collapse)

Prior to Ariba, Melchiorre joined SAP as employee 200 in the USA, where as an individual sales rep, he sold $65 million of license fees in 1994 and helped establish the first global deployments of R3 in America. In 1995, Melchiorre was promoted to Vice President, East Region and was responsible for over 10 percent of SAP Group worldwide revenue. In 1996, he was promoted to EVP, Global Accounts, a role in which he was responsible for over 85 percent of revenue in America and oversaw a field organization of more than 1,000 people. During this period, SAP transitioned globally from a regional to vertical field organization. Melchiorre represented the Americas during this board-level transition.

Prior to SAP, Melchiorre held management positions at MAI Basic Four and ADP. Melchiorre has an MBA from Drexel University and completed undergraduate work at Villanova University. Melchiorre also serves on a number of advisory boards of non-profits and emerging technology firms. (Collapse)

Mr. Minahan is a widely recognized expert on supply chain management and technology issues. Prior to joining Procuri, Mr. Minahan served as chief services officer at AberdeenGroup, where he advised the world's largest supply chain and technology companies. During his tenure, he helped build Aberdeen's Supply Chain Research practice into one of the most influential of the top industry analyst firms. As Aberdeen's chief services officer, he defined the firm's research focus and methodologies, drove corporate branding initiatives, and reengineered the company's business model. Mr. Minahan began his career researching and writing on purchasing and technology issues, serving as senior editor of supply chain management for Purchasing magazine, and an editor for Electronics Purchasing, and a technology reporter for Government Computer News. (Collapse)

Alex holds four degrees from MIT, including a Masters in Electrical Engineering & Computer Science and a Masters in Management from the MIT Sloan School. He has contributed to several books and publications, including e-Business Intelligence by B. Liautaud, The Strategy Machine by L. Downes, and The Data Warehouse Method by T. Debevoise. (Collapse)

In 2006, Mr. Proudfoot moved to lead Aviva's global Procurement technology programme. In 2008, he transferred to his current role in Aviva Group Procurement responsible for Procurement Operations Systems and Process. Mr. Proudfoot has worked with most aspects of Ariba Technology— upstream and downstream—and is a regular speaker at Ariba LIVE. (Collapse)

Prior to joining AMR Research, Mickey worked at Moduslink Corporation, where she held the positions of vice president of global supply base management and director of procurement and sourcing. Mickey also worked as a materials manager at M/A-Com, Inc., a division of Tyco International. During her career, Mickey has worked as a purchasing manager at Advanced Techcom, Inc., Innova Corporation, and Motorola. Mickey is a member of the Institute for Supply Management. Mickey earned a BA in material logistic management from Michigan State University. (Collapse)

Mr. Royon joined Ariba from EMC Corp., where he served as area sales manager initially for France and then Spain. Prior to EMC Corp, Mr. Royon worked as a sales manager for BANQUE INDOSUEZ, Promodata division, and as an account manager for IBM. (Collapse)

Mr. Thaler brings 15 years experience in procurement and business development of innovative solutions for procurement organizations. He was previously CEO and co-founder of B2Build SA, the first electronic procurement solution for the European construction industry. Prior to joining EcoVadis, he was a director of Ariba Procurement Outsourcing business. Mr. Thaler is also the co-author of the « Baromètre Achat Responsables » published in association with HEC, where he helps steer the « Développement Durable et Supply Chain » education stream. He is the author of numerous articles on « Achat Responsables » and regularly presents on the topic.(Collapse)

From 2001 to 2002, Dr. Schaeffer was General Manager of autinform ebc GmbH at Wiesbaden. He started his career at Alcatel, Stuttgart in 1987, where he held various positions, f. e. Head of Marketing Communication and Head of IS department. Dr. Schaeffer was educated at University of Stuttgart where he studied Computer Science and Business Administration. He was awarded a PhD in Business Economics at the University of Hohenheim. (Collapse)

Prior to his position at Heinz North America, Mr. Stockwell worked for General Electric for 15 years in various engineering, managerial, and leadership positions in the product supply function. (Collapse)