Session Speakers
IAITAM is proud to support these industry professionals and leaders as they push ITAM forward! Each speaker will lead a 60 minute presentation, sharing their expertise through real world experience, case studies, and other means to provide you with the best techniques in the IT Asset Management industry.
Scroll to see a list of confirmed speakers for ACE. Click on a speaker to see their session information! We’re still accepting submissions, so this page will continue to be updated. Use the button below if you’re interested in speaking at our conference!
Session Speakers
IAITAM is proud to support these industry professionals and leaders as they push ITAM forward! Each speaker will lead a 60 minute presentation, sharing their expertise through real world experience, case studies, and other means to provide you with the best techniques in the IT Asset Management industry.
Scroll to see a list of confirmed speakers for ACE. Click on a speaker to see their session information! We’re still accepting submissions, so this page will continue to be updated. Use the button below if you’re interested in speaking at our conference!
Aaron Zeper : DMD Systems Recovery, Inc.
Biography:
Aaron Zeper is CEO of DMD Systems Recovery, a Tempe, Arizona-based ITAD company focused on the Fortune 5000 across Data Center, End User Compute, and Mobility asset classes. We are NAID AAA Certified, R2, and also a B Corp committed to balance profit and purpose.
Aaron has led Services, Sales, Marketing, and Operations organizations at numerous technology companies including MDSL, Tech Data, STG (a Data Center services company), and Insight.
Session Title:
•End of Life (EOL) = End or Responsibility (EOR)? Not Quite.
Session Description:
Most organizations assume a retired IT Asset means the end of organizational responsibility. Not so fast, liability often persists for data and environmental aspects. A few financial implications are often ignored. Learn how most companies approach, but more importantly, we explore how the great companies mitigate risk and improve results. This includes specifics when employees and assets may not be in the same building or state. You walk away with an easy checklist you can use at your organization to increase security and reduce worry.
Learning Objectives:
Audiences will learn, in the context of End of Life for an IT Asset: The definition of responsibility for three separate categories: the environment, company data, and corporate governance. The difference between legal and social responsibility. The levels of responsibility a company MUST take and how to determine the level of responsibility the company SHOULD take. A maturity model / checklist to assess their current approach with desired responsibility align Culminating in ensuring the audience is aware of the legal responsibilities when determining their “end of life” process and considering what social responsibility aligns to their corporate values, AND thinking about this in three dimensions.
Additional Information:
The presentation will go between the general and the specific. We will use specific laws and examples to illustrate the principles. What should be different or insightful for the audience is separating the dimensions of end of life. Our experience shows that most organizations have a process, but their process does not separately account for each dimension. The topic is best suited for individuals that have overall responsibility for asset management and want to ensure risk mitigation or want to align corporate values and principles to their business practices. Many companies and individuals are aware of the broad legal aspect, but often overlook or underestimate that the law applies to them. The maturity model is designed for instigating conversation and thought when the individual returns to the office and needs to investigate the individual dimensions and across the various asset classes.


Aaron Zeper
Alan Bain : ISAM
Biography:
Mr. Bain is presently the Vice President of Delivery for Information Systems Asset Management (ISAM). He provides asset management, software portfolio management, and vendor negotiation services to a wide variety of clients ranging from Federal Agencies to State Governments to Fortune 500 companies. He is directly responsible for managing service delivery and product development for ISAM. Mr. Bain has been in the Information Technology sector for more than 35 years and actively involved with Software Asset Management for more than 25 years. He is a Certified Software Asset Manager (CSAM) as well as ITIL Foundation certified.
Session Title:
The 5 Stages of (Audit) Grief
Session Description:
Grief takes many forms for people and the emotion is experienced for many reasons. Most of these reasons are rather personal in nature and include the loss of a loved one, the end of a relationship, the onset of disease or even something so inane as the loss of insurance coverage. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross documented the emotions of grief in what has become commonly referred to as the Five Stages of Grief . This article seeks to extend and document the Kübler-Ross model to an organization’s approach to a software audit. or Your ELP is Balanced, Great! As a Software Asset Manager, you have worked hard to document your license ownership, software usage and have reported on your compliance position. Now what? Are you done? What was the benefit? This presentation will seek to answer those questions as well as present a systematic approach to use the work that you have done to bring even more benefit to your company. From identifying opportunities, documenting events, and measuring risk, Software Asset Management is more than just a balance of licenses and deployment. Through descriptions and examples, a process for lowering software costs will be presented.
Learning Objectives:
Audience will be able to relate a known emotion (grief) and the stages of that emotion to a software vendor audit to draw parallels and similar responses. Responses will be highlighted during presentation.
Additional Information:
Grief takes many forms for people and the emotion is experienced for many reasons. Most of these reasons are rather personal in nature and include the loss of a loved one, the end of a relationship, the onset of disease or even something so inane as the loss of insurance coverage. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross documented the emotions of grief in what has become commonly referred to as the Five Stages of Grief . This article seeks to extend and document the Kübler-Ross model to an organization’s approach to a software audit.


Alan Bain
Alex Geuken : Xensam
Biography:
Alex has been working in software and licensing for almost 15 years, from licensing advisory and SAM at Insight, SoftwareONE, and Atea.
The last 5 years with Xensam, helped companies all over the world with compliance, vendor management, SaaS, optimization, and cost savings.
Seeing how the SaaS licensing changes the company’s strategies from centralized to centralized/decentralized and bringing in security and finance closer to Software Asset Management is really exciting.
Session Title:
Optimization of SaaS applications, based on real usage and pushing responsibilities from Central to a decentral organization.
Session Description:
In this session, I’m going to cover how you can manage your Shadow-IT, optimize and reduce the spend on SaaS.
How you can move the responsibility from central to decentral organizations or departments but still contain the insights and control.


Alex Geuken
Ann Hughes : MRK Group Ltd
Biography:
Ann Hughes, Director of Sales and Marketing with MRK Group Ltd., has over 20 years of experience in electronics recycling and IT Asset Disposition. She works with clients of all sizes across various industries and government agencies, developing and implementing end of life IT asset management programs with a focus on data security and maximizing returns on resalable IT hardware. She served on the Technical Advisory Committee for the R2 Standard from June 2015-June 2021. Ann has a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Missouri and a Master of International Management from Thunderbird, School of Global Management. She has experience speaking before large audiences in English and Japanese. She became interested in recycling while living and working in Tokyo.
Session Title:
IT Asset Disposition in a Pre and Post-Covid World
Session Description:
Disposal issues have been around for decades. We’ll talk about how the issues and dynamics have changed over the years and how that effects your organization. What impact has Covid-19 made on it? We’ll delve into best practices, regulations and pitfalls to avoid. This session will arm you with the knowledge to protect and guide your organization throughout the IT Asset Disposition process. It’s a must see!


Ann Hughes
Balram Pandey : Ernst & Young
Biography:
I am a Technology Consultant at Ernst & Young. My previous roles include Director at RBC, Managing Consultant at IBM and Global Process Owner at Siemens. I am a pragmatic thought leader with over 25 years of experience in diverse IT fields. In recent years, I am specializing in Software Asset Management, IT Asset Management, and Service Configuration Management helping large and complex organizations achieve their goals. I have pragmatic approaches to transform these practices and deliver measurable value to the organization. I have successfully delivered domestic (Canada) and global assignments in Germany, Ireland, Turkey, Finland, Philippines, Brazil, and USA.
Session Title:
Is it hard to maintain reliable and trustworthy asset data?
Session Description:
Maintaining reliable and trustworthy asset data is one of the most important values provided by ITAM practice. However, it is not every organization’s cup of tea! Why is it so hard to implement capabilities that provide this undeniable value to the organization? ITAM alone cannot achieve that goal, it requires integration of multiple practices and effective governance to address data gaps at the right level. This session summarizes common pitfalls of ITAM, it’s governance and interfacing practices and provides pragmatic steps to resolve them and ensure high asset data quality.


Balram Pandey
Becky Trevino : Snow
Biography:
Becky Trevino serves as Executive Vice President of Product at Snow Software where she is responsible for the commercial success of Snow’s product portfolio. One of the highlights of Becky’s role is working closely with innovative customers who are leveraging the power of the Snow platform to bring their asset data – software, hardware, SaaS, cloud – together to provide their organizations with technology intelligence. Becky joined Snow after 6 years at Rackspace, where she was most recently Senior Director, Product Marketing for the Hybrid Cloud business unit. During this period, Rackspace grew from $800 million to more than $2 billion in revenue. Prior to Rackspace, Becky held marketing and engineering roles at startup AgentZoom and Dell EMC. Becky holds a B.S. and an M.S. in Engineering from The University of Michigan and an MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management. You can follow Becky on LinkedIn and Twitter @rebecca_trevino.
Session Title:
What is Your 12-Month ITAM Roadmap? Building Your Program Around SaaS and Cloud
Session Description:
The shift to SaaS and cloud technologies has been a top discussion in ITAM circles for years. In 2022, ITAM teams without a plan to manage SaaS or cloud within their program will get left behind and miss delivering significant value to their organization. A new approach is needed in ITAM to get more teams to manage SaaS and cloud technologies. So, what’s the next step to preparing your organization? Join Snow Software for a discussion on building a 12-month roadmap to:
- Expand your ITAM team to prepare for a more complex tech landscape
- Assess where to start in managing SaaS and cloud technologies based on where you are today
- Learn how to develop key strategic alliances — such as FinOps — to meet the right business outcomes


Becky Trevino
Beth Kaminski : Dart Container Corporation
Biography:
Beth Kaminski is currently the IT Asset Program Manager at Dart Container in Mason, MI. She has 25+ years of IT Asset Management experience. The skill sets she brings to ITAM are varied with career experience including merchandising and procurement, marketing and financial management. She started her first SAM practice team when the discipline was in its infancy and continues to redefine best practices for teams today. Beth regularly provides insight on her experience to the ITAM community and is passionate about SAM’s future. Under Beth’s direction Dart received a 2021 Snow Technology Intelligence Award for Transformation of the Year.
Session Title:
Black, White, and Redlines
Session Description:
“Hey, what is this!” The day seems to be progressing without incident until you get notice of a new application circling in your organization. Maybe the next question is who did this? Or maybe how much does it cost for how long? In the digital transformation that has been progressing at warp speed in the pandemic years how do you get back insight into the software contract process?
This session will focus on the key elements to address in implementing or optimizing the software contract review process in your organization. The how, who and what between black, white and redlines.


Beth Kaminski
Bo Guilbeaut : Starbucks
Biography:
Bo’s career spans over three decades in the Technology space. He has a unique perspective to the IT Asset Management practice, due to working both as a vendor providing technologies and services to now enhancing and expanding the ITAM Program in a Fortune 500 company. Whether it’s creating the policies and procedures for evaluating hardware, negotiating terms and conditions on software contracts or auditing downstream disposal vendors, Bo understands the “lifecycle” challenges we face as IT Asset Managers. Bo has worked for Microsoft, Arrow Electronics, HPE Financial Services and now Starbucks.
Session Title:
ITAM – Impacting People, Planet and Profit initiatives at a Fortune 500 company
Session Description:
Sharing my experiences as an ITAM Program Manager. Creating the ITAM objectives and mission statements. Choosing a discovery tool and asset repository. Defining and mapping a hardware device lifecycle. Suggestions of what data attributes to capture during the three stages of technology lifecycle (Pre-production, In-Production, Post-production). Engaging and measuring the program via the 12 Key Process Areas. Developing the materials and cadence of communicating to your ITAM customers (Internal and External).
Session Title:
Pictures are worth a 1000 words: Mapping your ITAM Program via the 12 Key Process Areas
Session Description:
You are armed with your IAITAM certifications and now have been asked to become the HAM, SAM and/or ITAM manager in your organization. What do you do? Where do you start? Whether using current technology or old school whiteboard and sticky notes, this session will show you how to get started assessing your current situation. Mapping your ITAM program will help you identify potential gaps in services, policies or procedures. The visualization is also very helpful in engaging other members of your organization to better understand their role when it comes to the technology assets. Regardless if your company is moving to the cloud, going to a hybrid working environment or moving to a BYOD model, knowing where you are and where you are going is very important. Let’s map out your path to success!!


Bo Guilbeaut
Bransilav Potoček : OpenLM
Biography:
I have been working within IT for the last 15 years. Started as a leader of a Network Monitoring Center for one of Slovakia’s major ISPs. Moved on to a System Admin role at the beginning of the New 10s. In 2016 I joined Johnson Controls as a License Monitoring Specialist. With the split of Johnson Controls’ Automotive business, a new company was created called Adient. Inside Adient I moved with the position to become a Software Asset Manager responsible for managing all of the company’s software contracts, be it major IT players such as Microsoft or IBM or engineering contracts such as Siemens or Dassault. This year I joined OpenLM’s team in a management role as their VP of Support, Services & IT.
Session Title:
Introduction to Software Asset Management – Building a Working SAM Platform
Session Description:
My session introduces the listener to the topic of Software Asset Management. Then it goes on to detail why SAM is actually important and then goes on the outline the major differences between managing IT contracts (Microsoft, IBM, etc.) and Engineering contracts (Siemens, Dassault, Autodesk, etc.). It also does a comparison of the industry-standard tools and the differences in requirements when trying to manage/monitor engineering license models and standard license models.
Learning Objectives:
How to create a working SAM platform within an organization, specifically aimed at presenting the easily overlooked Engineering applications. What are the key similarities and differences between managing standard IT Contracts such as Microsoft, IBM, or Oracle vs the Engineering Contracts coming from Siemens, Dassault, or Autodesk? What are the key licensing models for Engineering applications? How to optimize? How to measure compliance? Where are the licensing models moving? Is the concurrent network licensing model becoming obsolete?
Additional Information:
The primary goal of the presentation will be to show how the engineering licensing world differs from the licensing works of the key IT application spenders in companies. The secondary goal will be to focus a bit on the future, talk about how the licensing models are changing over time and what are the important topics to consider when doing long-term planning.


Bransilav Potoček
Brendan O'Byrne : Guardian Data Destruction
Biography:
Brendan O’Byrne has over thirty years’ experience in sales management and operations in the electronics/ITAD industry. Working hand-in-glove with our sales team, Brendan concentrates on Guardian’s most complex and enterprise projects that wrap together multiple services including data destruction, packing, logistics, data decommissioning, lift & shift, lease return, software development and high-value assets. His drive, enthusiasm and experience in IT, operations and management provide the unusual combination of customer-centric strategic and tactical thinking. By necessity and nature, Brendan is detail-oriented and always thinks through projects to ensure that every possible question or problem has a ready answer or backup option that results in the desired outcome. Outside of work, Brendan is an avid amateur photographer. He likes wide-open spaces where he can fly his drone and focus on a whole new dimension in photography.
Session Title:
Uncommon places your company data may be stored (and waiting for a breach)
Session Description:
Knowing where your data is stored (or hiding) is essential to preventing a data breach. With IT equipment increasing in complexity and decreasing in size, it’s more difficult than ever to understand where data is flowing and resting. Even ordinary items like lightbulbs and cars are getting smarter and storing data. We’ll walk through examples of often-missed office and IT devices that hold sensitive, regulated or proprietary data. Each one could be an unchecked gap in your data security process. If the singular goal of data destruction is to ensure that no data remains on IT lease returns, recycling, resales or redeployments, these real-life “uh oh” examples will help you securely button up your comprehensive IT disposition planning.


Brendan O’Byrne
Chris Re : Apto Solutions
Biography:
Chris is the SVP of Business Development of Apto Solutions, an empathetic client partner who pairs the ITAD leader’s sustainable practices with companies that share similar business ethics and environmental goals. At Apto, he has helped some of the biggest companies in entertainment, banking, tech and social media navigate the complex world of ITAD – maximizing the values of their enterprise portfolios, mitigating risk and meeting or exceeding compliance standards.
Session Title:
What’s your plan to get caught up to (or improve) your pre-pandemic cycle?
Session Description:
This talk will provide a refresher course on the top ESG, supply chain and purchasing concerns from an asset manager’s standpoint. Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) are the three pillars of performance by which an organization’s impact on society, and environmental sustainability, can be evaluated. What type of meaningful ITAD reporting can help you meet ESG goals? As companies evaluate work-from-home plans or move to a permanent remote workforce, new solutions should support hardware refreshes and employee terminations. What are best practices to mitigate risk factors and improve service? For many, hardware refreshes have been put on hold due to supply chain issues. When hardware does become available, how can you design ways to manage the surge?


Chris Re
Corey Dehmey : SERI
Biography:
Serving as the Executive Director of SERI, a global non-profit organization based in the United States, Corey Dehmey is a champion of building practical solutions toward electronics sustainability, with the goals of protecting the planet and enriching lives around the world. Spanning over 20 years in the electronics industry, Corey’s diverse background touches nearly the entire electronics lifecycle, including having worked in IT support, ITAD, data destruction, reverse logistics, reuse, and recycling. It’s this wide range of experience that gives Corey a broad view of the electronics sustainability challenge, simultaneously considering the varied perspectives of many stakeholders including the electronics industry, businesses, government, manufacturers, and individual consumers.
Session Title:
Establishing the IT Asset Manager as a Key Corporate Asset
Session Description:
IT Asset Managers are often overlooked as a core part of the larger business strategy. But as more corporations are faced with renewed demands for a triple bottom line through ESG and sustainability goals, IT asset management presents an important opportunity to create positive outcomes and add value to the organization beyond the balance sheet. In this session, SERI’s Executive Director, Corey Dehmey will demonstrate how IT Asset Disposition fits into a greater circular economy, and discuss the corporate ESG and sustainability impacts of the decisions made by IT Asset Managers. Look for opportunities to improve your own strategies and ways to elevate the value of IT Asset Management within your corporation.


Corey Dehmey
Craig Guarente : Palisade Compliance
Biography:
Craig is the CEO and founder of Palisade Compliance. Founded in 2011, Palisade Compliance is the leading independent provider of Oracle contract advisory services. Before Palisade Compliance, Craig worked at Oracle for 16 years where he was the Global Vice President of Contracts, Business Practices, and Migrations. He was also the Global Process Owner for Oracle’s audit teams (LMS), a member of Oracle’s CIO advisory board, and on the Oracle User Group’s contract and licensing advisory board. Craig is now the premier expert on Oracle licensing, is quoted in dozens of publications, and assists with many high-profile Oracle disputes (e.g. Mars, Oregon).
Session Title:
Don’t Gamble With Your Oracle Assets
Session Description:
When you do business with Oracle, you’re basically doing business with the “house.” The house always sets the rules and has odds in their favor. Most Oracle customers sit down to play at the contract and compliance tables not realizing they’ve already lost the game.
Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be this way. With the right information, tools, and experience, any Oracle customer can reverse those odds and take control of Oracle. This is true whether you are buying more Oracle, or spending less on Oracle.
Palisade CEO, and former Oracle Global VP of Contracts and LMS, Craig Guarente, will illustrate how to win big at the Oracle game using information, technology, and experience.


Craig Guarente
Dag Adamson : Destroy Drive LLC
Biography:
Dag Adamson has 20 years’ experience in building national and global companies servicing the circular economy.
As a pioneer in the ITAD and data destruction industry, he founded one of the first national ITAD companies with facilities across the U.S. and has founded one of the first data destruction companies servicing clients across the globe.
Dag is President of Destroy Drive, a global data destruction services company.
He holds an MBA from Boston College and a BS in Electrical Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
Session Title:
Solving Onsite Data Destruction Needs Around a Pandemic Stricken World
Session Description:
IT assets distributed around the pandemic world are as vulnerable, if not more vulnerable than the ones in North America. Session will review new data center access requirements around the globe, global security threats, international regulations, considerations for data destruction practices abroad, and new technology threat vectors. Customer case study of a global social media company and a consumer products company will be reviewed.
Learning Objectives:
Obtain proven operational approaches for performing data destruction globally. Learn the common data destruction requirements found in global privacy regulations. Learn how to address new technology threat vectors in a globally distributed environment.


Dag Adamson
Dan Anderson : Flexera
Biography:
Dan Anderson is a Business Value Advisor at Flexera, where he works with customers with a focus on identifying the specific levers that organizations can use to deliver meaningful savings, reduce IT risks, and use IT capabilities as a competitive advantage. Dan has more than 25 years’ experience in enterprise IT, including 10 years leading ITAM teams in enterprise and SMB organizations. Prior to Flexera, Dan previously worked as a consulting Senior Manager at Accenture, where he led ITAM or ITSM engagements for 10 of the Fortune Global 50 companies and numerous public sector organizations.
Session Title:
The Value of ITAM Isn’t What You Think it is
Session Description:
Over the years, ITAM practitioners have focused on the traditional benefits of ITAM like ensuring compliance, reducing risk and improving efficiency. While those areas will always be important, in today’s cloud-centric, SaaS-centric, post-pandemic world those traditional benefits are not the only ways that ITAM delivers value.
We’ll discuss the critical role that asset data plays throughout IT organizations today and key areas of focus for CIOs and CTOs that require accurate asset data to maximize value of those investments. We’ll also highlight key use cases that drive home the business value that ITAM can deliver.


Dan Anderson
Dhia Haddej : Blancco
Biography:
Dhia Haddej serves as Product Manager for Blancco’s Enterprise Solutions.
Session Title:
Process Automation: The ‘Can’t Miss’ Ingredient for Efficient End-of-Life Data Protection
Session Description:
Responsible data protection demands meticulous end-of-life data erasure within live environments and from decommissioned assets. Business demands efficiency. Get best practices for automating erasure within your existing IT management processes.
Physical asset destruction and manual sanitization processes are no longer needed to protect data at the end of its lifecycle. Blancco Product Manager for Enterprise Erasure Solutions Dhia Haddej explains how to harness automated data erasure at asset and data end-of-life.
Takeaways:
- Best practice for ensuring data security for IT assets at end of life
- How to automate data erasure, including for a remote workforce
- Building data sanitization into existing processes, including ServiceNow workflows
- Global and local regulatory requirements that IT Asset Managers need to consider – and how to prove compliance
- The environmental impact of IT Asset destruction and how to support ESG and CSR initiatives for your organization


Dhia Haddej
Ed Pletner : Avritek
Biography:
As Founder and CEO of Avritek for over 15 years, Ed Pletner has helped organizations of all sizes establish effective asset disposition programs with an emphasis on data security, environmental compliance, and asset recovery services. With a client base ranging from SMBs to Fortune 500 companies across a broad range of industries, Ed and his team continue to work with their clients in delivering solutions that address the ever-changing landscape in IT Hardware along with current day data security compliance issues. Ed has guided Avritek in achieving and maintaining R2v3, ISO:14001, ISO:45001, ISO 9001, and NAID AAA certifications. Ed resides in San Diego, CA with his wife Jenny, son Eli, dog Milo, and cat Otis.
Session Title:
ITAM in the Work from Home (Hybrid) Environment
Session Description:
The Covid-19 Pandemic created a dramatic shift in the way business will be conducted now and in the future. In this session we will review the challenges created from increased remote workforces including: device management, vendor management, communication, maintaining security compliance, and much more. We will also discuss the unique challenges posed to IT Asset Managers in the new Hybrid Work Environment and some solutions to help with our “new normal”. Lastly, we will share experiences learned from current ITAM practitioners and consultants in their organizations and key takeaways to help you succeed in your role now and in the future. This will be a collaborative and interactive session that you will not want to miss!


Ed Pletner
Elsa Zarate : Orion Registrar, Inc.
Biography:
Elsa Zarate has been with Orion Registrar, Inc. for more than 8 years as Technical Review Manager, Certifier and Customer Care Specialist. She works extensively with auditor training and certification for multiple standards including R2, RIOS, e-Stewards, ISO 14001, ISO 45001, ISO 9001, ISO 13485, and many more.
Elsa was an integral part of the Orion Mexico team in Metepec Mexico for many years before coming to the USA. She now resides in Arvada, Colorado with her husband and 2 teen sons. She enjoys a wide variety of hobbies including travel with her family and teaching English.
Session Title:
Why and Which Standard(s) to be Certified?
Session Description:
The session will discuss the logic and reason to be certified to a Standard. Also the session will specifically discuss the ISO 27001, ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 45001, R2, e-Stewards, DOD CMMC the pro and cons of the application and certification of the standards to an ITAM type company.


Elsa Zarate
Eric Gohdes : Certero
Biography:
Eric Gohdes is responsible for Certero North America he has over 12 years of experience in helping organizations control their software spend and realizing the value out of their SAM program. He holds an MBA from Minnesota State University and has a passion for building long lasting partnerships and solving real world SAM challenges.
Session Title:
Post-Covid: New Tools for New-World Challenges
Session Description:
The post-pandemic landscape requires new approaches to managing IT assets if businesses are to become agile. Visibility, clarity, communication and BI will set leaders apart from the rest as business transformation accelerates. Certero’s Eric Gohdes discusses the forefront of innovation from ITAM solution vendors, how to take control and what opportunities lie ahead, including:
- Empowering new working practices
- Regaining Visibility of everything, everywhere
- Assessing SaaS & Cloud – where are we now? What’s next?
- What does ‘new world’ management look like?
- Optimization – where’s your next quick-win?
- Skills shortages vs. the advent of services on-demand
- New world, new opportunity – what’s next?


Eric Gohdes
Eric Ferrington : ServiceNow
Biography:
Eric Ferrington is the Director of Product Management for Asset Management at ServiceNow.
He has over 20 years of experience creating strategic asset management process based solutions for global enterprises.
Session Title:
Lifecycle Management for Technology Assets & Beyond
Session Description:
Lifecycle management of asset is critical for driving value back to the business in order to optimize operations, reduce risk and maximize the value from asset investments.
An end to end solution is critical to proactively deliver this value across the enterprise for technology assets local to business centers as well with our remote workforce.
This session will address key processes and technology enhancements needed to lift the maturity of a global asset program for delivering value for technology assets and a pathway to extend that value to enterprise assets.


Eric Ferrington
Frank Venezia : EY
Biography:
Frank Venezia is a Managing Director in the Americas Software Asset Management Services practice of EY. He leads the SAM/ITAM practice with a focus across the IT asset life cycle. He is based in New York City, and has over 25 years of experience advising businesses and clients on IT infrastructure and SAM/ITAM governance process and procedures, IT vendor management and contract optimization, SW compliance and verification, SW license optimization and SAM/ITAM managed services. His experience spans multiple industries, including Banking, Insurance, Manufacturing and Telecommunications. He is a member of IAITAM, and holds the CAMSE, CHAMP, CMAM and CSAM certifications.
Session Title:
Post Pandemic ITAM is All About the Asset
Session Description:
Building and running a successful ITAM program is not only based on the skills of your team, the established operating model, and intelligent tooling, but also reliable data on entitlements and deployments for insight-bearing analytics and reporting. In a post-pandemic working world with its remote/hybrid work arrangements, the demand for consistent and repeatable data is crucial. New working arrangements call on ITAM Teams to focus on the most fundamental part of the ITAM lifecycle – the ASSET! ITAM functions must steer the business to prioritize consistent, repeatable, and automated asset discovery to generate foundational data to a federated single source for all IT analytics and reporting. Understanding the asset seems obvious but adapting that to today’s reality requires a fresh and increasingly nimble mindset!


Frank Venezia
Gary Paquette : Nlyte Software
Biography:
With 30 years of designing, creating and implementing Enterprise IT Asset Management system around the world, Gary has been a leader and visionary in the ITAM industry. Gary has chaired various working committees and assisted in standardizing the how and why of Asset Management.
Enjoys helping customers attain tier goals of lower their cost of operations, lowering risk and increasing security using ITAM as the foundation of the trusted data source.
Session Title:
Why ITAM and DCIM (Data Center Infrastructure Management) need to work together
Session Description:
In the new world of working from “wherever”, the data center holds the key to the success of most organizations. Knowing the what and where, to the power, connectivity and services being delivered is fundamentally the only way to succeed in todays fast paced world of technology.


Gary Paquette
Geoffrey Cottrell : Sims Lifecycle Services
Biography:
Geoff Cottrell developed and managed large-scale programs and supplier relationships at Microsoft for over 18 years. He developed Microsoft’s Corporate ITAD program in 2006, and later spun-off part of that program to manage Asset Disposition and Supply Chain Sustainability for Microsoft’s Global Data Centers. Focus areas included; Data Security, Program Optimization, Supplier Relationship Management, and ITAD Operations & Governance. Presently, Geoff has taken on a role at Sims Lifecycle Services, working internally and externally on innovation initiatives around; Process Optimization, Circular Economy, Recyclability of Materials, and Value Recovery.
Session Title:
Circular Supply Chain, Moving Toward Net-Zero
Session Description:
In a world of dwindling resources and ever expanding electronics, it’s no longer acceptable to just discard unused equipment. We need to reuse equipment and parts wherever possible, and recover valuable resources to go back into product supply chains. It’s important to understand how to do this responsibly, and who to work with to accomplish your goals. In this session I will provide some best practices and ideas to get you started down the right path.


Geoffrey Cottrell
Harsha Vijayakumar : ServiceNow
Biography:
Harsha Vijayakumar is Sr Principal Product Manager at ServiceNow where he is leading aspects of ITOM Visibility’s MID Server and Agent Client Collector products. Harsha has years of 10+ years experience building products across Core Platform and Framework, RPA, and HRMS/HCM. Harsh holds a Management degree from Carnegie Mellon. Harsha has come a long way since his first job as a Software Engineer.
Session Title:
Automate Everything and Save Hours
Session Description:
When I think about the value you can achieve with Agent Client Collector (ACC), I can’t help but smile from ear to ear. Gone are the days when ACC was just for ServiceNow IT Operations Management (ITOM). ACC is an extension of the ServiceNow platform that automates workflows across multiple technology functions directly on your endpoints – end-user computing devices and servers. In today’s work from anywhere world automating everything is the key to moving at the speed of digital and keeping your employees and customers satisfied.


Harsha Vijayakumar
James Layfield : Clearfind.com
Biography:
James co-founded Clearfind, an easy-to-use, unbiased artificial intelligence platform that is changing the way companies manage and optimize software with data. He has founded and led multiple successful companies including Rise, the world’s largest fintech innovation platform, with Barclays; Never Ever Limited, an innovation catalyst and consulting agency
James is currently an ambassador for CognitionX the AI event, and the ScaleUp Institute. He also serves as the New York Tech Ambassador for the Mayor of London.
Session Title:
How to rationalize your software ecosystem, with cybersecurity cheat sheets
Session Description:
Rationalizing software is an increasingly difficult task. Software is seemingly getting more complex, becoming more specialized and more bundled. ITAM leaders are expected to be experts on every software, weighing in on everything from cybersecurity to project management software. In this session, Software Rationalization experts James and Jocelyn will provide an overview of current rationalization methodologies and pitfalls, new best practices, and a deep dive into cybersecurity rationalization. You will walk away with practical steps to rationalize your ecosystem and an understanding of how cybersecurity products and services in the market today are positioned to help you get started.


James Layfield
James Patrignelli : Liquid Technology
Biography:
James Patrignelli is the Director of Sales, Northeast at Liquid Technology. James works with executives to develop and implement end-of-life IT asset management programs for Fortune 500 companies with a focus on data security and maximizing the return of IT hardware. He has worked in the IT Asset Disposition (ITAD) field since 2005 and has advised IT professionals across the globe. James received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Management Information Systems from the University of Connecticut and studied overseas in Italy for his second degree in International Economics.
Session Title:
Covid’s Impact on Infrastructure and how your ITAD Partner can Help
Session Description:
In the last year, Covid has presented several new challenges for IT departments, from how to secure IT hardware for a remote workforce to adjusting logistics for strict regulations. These issues have driven organizations to create new processes and discover alternative solutions. During the session, Liquid Technology’s Director of Northeast Sales, James Patrignelli, will provide key insights from Liquid Technology’s annual client survey, which showcases the measurable impact of Covid on infrastructure. He will also provide proven solutions ITADs can utilize to solve these challenges.


James Patrignelli
Jan-Christian Björkly-Nordström : Crayon AB
Biography:
Christian is currently managing a talented team of SAM consultants that cover traditional software assets, cloud, embedded software, engineering applications and many more. With a past gaining insights from large organizations as a project manager, license and software strategist, the leadership take on the asset industry has always been a key component and interest of his.
Session Title:
Why Leadership in asset management needs to be put back at the top of the agenda!
Session Description:
The asset world is more complex than ever before, with assets needing management like on premises hardware (outsourced?), bring your own devices, mobile & cloud assets, engineering applications, embedded software (IoT), subscription software, web applications and widgets etc. Not only are the life-cycles faster & less predictable, but where and by whom they are initiated by, is hard to determine and it changes. How then to try to hold the oncoming horde of risk, costs & tasks? I aim to make the case for modern leadership, communication and building relationships as most important with some industry examples to demonstrate (and of course we DO need some tools and processes to make it systematic, but without solid leadership it will fail).


Jan-Christian Björkly-Nordström
Jeramy Tarwater : Anglepoint
Biography:
Jeramy leads Anglepoint’s SAP delivery team, supporting a global range of dedicated SAP projects. He also supports the company’s business development team as they engage with prospective clients.
Session Title:
Lessons learned from an SAP Enhanced Audit
Session Description:
Over the course of the last several years Anglepoint has helped customers through difficult and lengthy SAP license audits. These audits have been eye-opening for both Anglepoint and our clients. Join us for this session where we will discuss what we learned and we will share what SAP’s approach was throughout the SAP enhanced audit. Learn what the triggers for an enhanced audit might be, and how to successfully mitigate the potential risks.
SAP Enhanced Audits were introduced with the adjustment to the Indirect Access licensing policies in 2018/2019. Many customers are unaware of the difference between an enhanced and basic audit. This session will help attendees understand what they are and how to identify one.


Jeramy Tarwater
Jeremy Boerger : Boerger Consulting, LLC.
Biography:
Jeremy L. Boerger started his career in Information Technology Asset Management (ITAM) fighting the Y2K Bug at the turn of the 21st Century. Since then, he has helped companies in manufacturing, healthcare, banking, and service industries build and rehabilitate successful hardware and software asset management (SAM) practices. These experiences prompted him to create the Pragmatic ITAM method, which directly addresses and permanently resolves the fundamental flaws in current ITAM and SAM implementations. In 2016 he founded Boerger Consulting, LLC, to better help business leaders and decision-makers fully realize the promises a properly-functioning ITAM and SAM programs can deliver. In 2021, he published “Rethinking Information Technology Asset Management,” which can be found at Amazon, Barnes & Nobel, or wherever you prefer to get your ebooks and trade paperbacks. In his off hours, you will find him at home in Cincinnati, Ohio, with his wife and family.
Session Title:
Trustworthy Data – How to meet and exceed the ISO/IEC 19770-1 requirements
Session Description:
In 2017, the International Organization for Standardization and the International Electrotechnical Commission (ISO/IEC) revamped the 19770-1 best business practices requirements for IT asset management. But they offered no guidance on how to meet the new standards. Jeremy Boerger will walk attendees through Chapter 3 of his book, Rethinking Information Technology Asset Management, which is specifically designed to achieve “Trustworthy Data.”
Learning Objectives:
1. Instruction on the ISO/IEC 19770-1:2017 ITAM best business practices 2. Introduction to the concept of “epistemology” and how it supports the emerging field of data science 3. Strategies on how to leverage #2 to meet the base requirements in #1
Additional Information:
In 2017, the International Organization for Standardization and the International Electrotechnical Commission (ISO/IEC) revamped the 19770-1 best business practices requirements for IT asset management. But they offered no guidance on how to meet the new standards. This presentation will focus solely on how to find, integrate, and measure the trustworthiness of the data discovery coming into a CMDB or Asset MDR in such a way as to meet or exceed the 19770-1 expectations.


Jeremy Boerger
Jim Hart : Huntington Ingalls
Biography:
Jim Hart is the Software Asset Management Team Lead for Huntington Ingalls Industries, a Fortune 400 company. Before entering the SAM world in 2013, Jim held various IT management roles for over 25 years, including LAN Administrator, Desktop Support / Help Desk Team Manager, ITSM ITIL Process expert, and Technology Business Finance Management. Jim has become a leader among SAM Managers, maturing HII’s SAM program from infancy to full optimization mode for On-Prem server licensing environment which includes Oracle, Siemens, Microsoft, IBM, and SAP.
Session Title:
Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner: 8 Irresistible SAM Savings Strategies
Session Description:
Huntington Ingalls saved over $13M in licensing costs in three short years. How does that happen – and how can you make a similar impact at your organization?
The secret is using real cost savings data to build your ROI business case. By establishing strong relationships with IT, Procurement and Management, you’ll fuel stakeholder buy-in and supercharge results. This session gives you a real-life playbook to:
• Gamify your SAM program goals and plan a long-term optimization roadmap
• Reduce licensing costs across software, servers, and data centers
• Solve technical challenges for Microsoft, Oracle, SAP, Windows, IBM, Linux, FlexLM, and Adobe


Jim Hart
Johan West
Biography:
Veteran IT asset manager Johan West never let school stand in the way of his education as he dropped out at 19 and started a career in IT. In 2005, he accidently fell into the world of software licenses and SAM – famously crying “how complicated can it be!?” as he tumbled down the rabbit hole. Today, over 200 Software Asset Managers around the world have so far survived his IAITAM CSAM class and in 2019 he co-founded the Dutch Association of IT Asset Managers. During the day, he fights audits and negotiates software contracts with vendors on his clients’ behalf. At night, he usually does the same. In addition to ITAM, Johan has immersed himself in the related worlds of IT security, Identity Governance and IT service automation.
Session Title:
Audit Prevention – the enchanted way to optimized partnerships
Session Description:
Modern society can’t possibly function without software, and for that we are more than grateful for all software developing companies out there putting a effort in helping the humankind progress. So it would be fair to say that these software companies are more than entitled to their fair share of monetary compensation. And there we have this word: fair. Fair value should result in fair compensation. Fair treatment alike of clients and suppliers – nay, dare I say business partners – results in a win-win situation where everybody gets what they want. And need. Frustrated business relations and back-and-forth hostilities is NOT want we want. Nor need.
The instrument of software license audits (or whatever creative euphemism is used) in the world of ITAM, software vendors and license management has never brought anything good, especially in the long run. It has never sustainably strengthened business relations, it has never sparked new and improved ways of working together and it has never stimulated technological advancement. Basically, all accumulated blood, sweat and tears invested in audits have been an utter waste. For everyone. Except perhaps for the third party auditors at $275 an hour (no offense). My suggestion: let’s free the world of this phenomenon and focus on what truly matters: developing great software and even better business partnerships.
Step one: eliminate all audits (which by the way requires world class ITAM best practices to be adopted). Step two: start talking business rather than wasting 18 months on debating vague license terms that are widely open for interpretation (again, no offense). Let’s start today!


Johan West
John Shegerian : ERI
Biography:
As co-founder and Chairman/CEO of ERI, John Shegerian has played a significant role in paving the way for the electronic recycling, data protection and ITAD industries as a whole.
Session Title:
The New Better: Protecting Data in a Post-Pandemic Age
Session Description:
Today, as we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic and game-changing scenarios of people working from home and using technology in whole new ways, the recycling of end-of-life, data-storing electronics faces a huge obstacle in the form of balancing environmental responsibility with digital privacy. Many people – huge multinational corporations included – are reluctant to recycle their electronics for fear that their private or personal data will be compromised. And the fears are not without merit. The recycling of e-waste has indeed become an issue that transcends environmental responsibility – still the principle motivation – and has moved into the realm of privacy protection and security.
In this inspiring and door-opening presentation, John Shegerian will discuss how the electronic recycling industry is at a crossroads of dual responsibility – keep toxins out of landfills WHILE responsibly and efficiently achieve data destruction at a time when privacy risks are at an all-time high. It can be done and he’ll explain best practices and what top be aware of in what he likes to refer to as not a “new normal,” but a “new better.” .


John Shegerian
Jon Davis : Oomnitza
Biography:
Jon brings more than 15 years of experience in technology leadership, with a focus on Security, Information Technology, and DevOps. Prior to joining Oomnitza, Jon brought his unique style of technology and security evangelism to companies such as Okta, Smule, and the Wikimedia Foundation.
Session Title:
Totally righteous enterprise security starts with knowledge
Session Description:
Gone are the days of walking through the office sticking bar codes on every asset. Physical assets are no longer within the four walls of your office, or even the same state. Layer in the radical growth of digital assets, and you have thousands of dispersed endpoints to track. If you don’t know about it, how can you secure it? Make way for Enterprise Technology Management – an approach that will help you improve your ITAM security based on three key pillars – knowing what you have, a unified data view to improve your compliance and how automation saves time and increases security posture.


Jon Davis
Jose Carrillo : JAC Blue Cybersecurity
Biography:
Jose is a certified IT Asset Manager and ITIL expert with deep knowledge of Asset Management, CMDB, Cybersecurity, and ITSM practices. His Infinite passion for enhancing status quo with innovative vision and strategic mindset have been driving his success on implementing new asset management programs working together with cybersecurity organizations. IT Asset Management with well implemented tools is a key contributor to achieve a robust cybersecurity posture in any organization. It is important that both organizations work together.
Session Title:
ITAM and Cybersecurity Hand to Hand in a ITIL framework
Session Description:
IT Asset and Configuration Management is a key practice in the ITIL framework. Similarly Cybersecurity plays an important role in the ITIL processes to control confidentiality, integrity, and availability. To reach this goal Cybersecurity must synchronize with ITAM to share not only information and data collected from devices; but also coordinate standards, policies, and procedures. This session will bring a new view into how break the silos between cybersecurity and ITAM to build a robust relationship that will benefit your organization.


Jose Carrillo
Joseph Kaufman : SoftwareONE
Biography:
Software Licensing Consultant with SoftwareONE with over ten years of IT Asset Management experience in both client and server license governance from both the customer and the consulting point of view. Focused on controlling licensing costs and risks while meeting contractual obligations. Founding council member of the FlexNet Asset Manager User Group.
Session Title:
KPI’s for licensing risk, waste and optimization progress
Session Description:
Key Performance Indicators allow us to track licensing, financial and security risks and optimization progress. Where we are making an impact and what areas still need work. KPI’s keep the focus where it needs to be and to keep the team engaged to meet their goals.
In this session we’ll look into how Key performance indicators can be used to show progress towards operational and strategic goals around IT Asset Management. What indicators can we monitor that most impact software spend and risk?


Joseph Kaufman
Kendall Ficklin : GRINDNATION, LLC
Biography:
Kendall Ficklin launched his entrepreneurial journey after leaving a 10-year career AT&T in the late 90s to open a barbershop in Atlanta, GA. It was during these years that his gift for coaching became abundantly clear. Clients would enter for a haircut and leave with vigor and newfound energy to take massive action in their lives. Kendall’s advice ran the gamut—from business to personal, analytical to emotional. When he’d left corporate, Kendall already knew he had the knowledge and endurance to run a service-oriented company, but he discovered his ability to transform and draw out the best in people.
Kendall is now the founder of a personal and business development community GRINDATION. Kendall is also the creator and facilitator of B.O.S.C. (The Business of Speaking and Coaching Training Program) where he serves as a sales coach, leadership instructor and motivational speaker.
His work has touched the lives of thousands of people, from professional athletes to hedge fund managers to students all over the country. Kendall is a self-taught, self-made businessman whose knack for sales and leadership has earned him the honor of serving major clients such as the NFL, Chicago Bears, Buffalo Bills, Delta, Home Depot, WNBA, Arby’s, Honey Baked Ham, Carrabba’s Italian Grill, and PepsiCo.
From the barbershop to the boardroom, there one thing remains consistent about Kendall: he excels at coaching. He is committed to motivating others to reach peak performance. His businesses: GRINDATION and B.O.S.C. are the perfect solution for companies and individuals looking for leadership development, corporate training and ways to boost sales beyond belief.
Session Title:
Welcome to the Jungle
Session Description:
From a young age we understand the importance of how smart a person is. We are all familiar with the term IQ, even if we didn’t always know exactly what it meant. IQ, or Intelligence Quotient measures how quickly a person can learn, but it does not tell how much a person can learn. Intelligence is important, but it does not guarantee success in life or relationships.
Emotional Quotient (EQ) has garnered significant attention in recent years. It is your ability to recognize how you and those around you are feeling, as well as the ability to generate, understand and regulate emotions. EQ can be related to your personality style because it shows your sensitivity to your own feelings as well as other people’s emotions. Research shows that EQ is also important in a person’s success.
Equally as important, and more so for professionals, is your Adversity Quotient (AQ). AQ is the ability to respond effectively to adversity and is directly related to an individual’s personality type. Depending on personality type, not all individuals are equally prepared to overcome adversity. Factors influencing a person’s AQ are: What natural talents do you have? Why are you motivated to use them? How do you prefer to use them? Who are you?
Kendall offers teams and organizations the Welcome to the Jungle Training program and Individualized leadership and intensive team building. There are 4 animals that run any organization: a lion, a flamingo, a chameleon, and a turtle, and each of them does things differently. What if you knew that your overbearing personality can be used as a strength? Or the face that your indecisiveness means you are adaptable?
A high performing team employs each person’s strengths for the greater good of the team and the best teams are empathetic towards one another, accountable and open. It is important to first identify and understand each individual’s personality type. The 4 Animal Assessment is used by organizations, business leaders, and teams to build stronger teams and communicate more effectively.


Kendall Ficklin
Kyle Marks : Retire-IT
Biography:
Kyle is an ITAD enthusiast and CEO of Retire-IT, an independent consulting firm specializing in Zero-Trust, vendor-neutral ITAD management. Over the past 17 years, Kyle has managed more than 10,000 disposal projects. Kyle served Arrow Electronics as President of US Micro. Ages ago, Kyle was an executive with WEGO Systems, a consultant with Bain & Company, and a marketing manager with Maybelline L’Oréal. Kyle has a degree in Economics from Rhodes College and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Kyle is also an IAITAM CHAMP and proud father of two wonderfully inexhaustible kids.
Session Title:
How ITAM Benefits from the Zero-Trust Movement
Session Description:
Trust is a luxury today’s organizations can’t afford. That’s exactly why the Zero-Trust security model has gained acceptance as the go-to framework for enterprise security. But Zero-Trust isn’t just effective in combating cyber threats — it should also be the cornerstone of an effective IT asset disposition strategy. Learn how IT asset management can benefit by taking a page from security’s playbook.


Kyle Marks
Leslie June : V-Soft Consulting
Biography:
Leslie has been delivering strategic business process consulting services for over 25 years, the past 15 years in the ITAM/SAM/CMDB space. Leslie works with companies from all sectors, those just getting their feet wet with ITAM as well as mature ITAM organizations facing change. Leslie applies her unique blend of analytical talent and business acumen to define creative solutions that work in her clients’ real-world environment to maximize business value, minimize cost, and ensure policy compliance.
Leslie is CSAM, CHAMP, and ITIL v3 Foundations certified, with MS in Computer Science and BA in Mathematics Education from Michigan State University.
Session Title:
Make your MVP HAM Program Your Organization’s MVP!
Session Description:
A solid foundation for HAM is critical to successful Configuration Management, SAM, ITSM, Finance, Security, GRC, and Business Units. Just getting started with HAM? New tool? Short budget? Low executive sponsorship? We will dive into the core tenets of a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) for HAM, its core components – Tools, Data population plan, HAM lifecycle process touchpoints, HAM team roles & responsibilities, and how to ensure you deliver and advertise Stakeholder benefits of your program that will keep your company wanting more for HAM and from HAM making it the organization’s Most Valuable Program (MVP) worthy of budgetary investment!


Leslie June
Linda Cole : Open iT, Inc.
Biography:
Linda M. Cole is Business Solutions Consultant for Open iT, Inc. She has been in the IT industry for over 30 years in many capacities including Key Accounts Director, General Manager, Branch Manager, and others giving her P&L responsibility and experience with challenges across many departments that her clients may face. Her industry experience also includes virtualization, cloud adoption, and IT infrastructure management.
Linda has been consulting clients for the past 7 years at Open iT on the benefits of software usage metering and how to utilize the various data points to optimize licensing. This strategy not only saves her clients millions of dollars on software licensing, but she also employs her business management experience from various organizations to advise clients on how to utilize process, workflow, and technology to solve business problems in a cost-effective way.
Linda is a high-energy seasoned speaker and keeps her talks interactive with the audience.
Session Title:
Navigating the SAM Landscape in a Post-Pandemic Work Environment
Session Description:
The global pandemic has permanently altered the work environment of many companies worldwide. Although restrictions have been lifted in many places, most employees are choosing to still work from home at least some of the time. This new workforce dynamics is bringing new challenges in software license management and usage optimization for many companies. And vendors are also continuously introducing new licensing methods, which add even more complexities.
In this session, we will discuss strategies in effectively tracking your assets — wherever they are — and staying on top of your SAM initiatives in this “new normal”.


Linda Cole
Lindy Earl : Reliant Technology
Biography:
Lindy Earl is a Content Strategist for Reliant Technology, a Third Party Maintenance Provider. With a business background, her focus in Marketing is on learning what the client needs, and finding a way to provide it at a profit to the company and a great price for the client. Lindy spends her time writing for her job as well as business blogs and resides in Atlanta, GA.
Session Title:
How to Get the Best Deals When Purchasing IT Equipment
Session Description:
Review the Decision Making Process and Negotiation tactics so that you can always get the best price when purchasing IT equipment. Consider who, where, when, and why you are buying, and if you do need to upgrade, then know that you will make your best deals after this session.


Lindy Earl
Mandi Sue Bleau : Anglepoint
Biography:
With over 17 years experience in software purchasing, compliance and Software Asset Management (SAM), I lead teams to provide proven results for SAM. Teams focus on reconciliations, purchasing improvements, license & contract compliance & optimization, renewal & True Up’s, audits, along with various other software cost avoidance. My goal to my clients is to achieve overall customer success with their licensing situation, between contracts, purchasing, compliance & optimization, processes and people.
Session Title:
Driving ROI of your SAM Tool Investment
Session Description:
For clients over 2000 endpoints, gone are the days of managing your license entitlements and installations via an excel spreadsheet or access database. Using a SAM tool, like Flexera, ServiceNow SAMP, Aspera, SNOW and many others out there, will effectively help you manage your software environment. However, you will need to know the key pieces to make your SAM tool successful and not just shelf ware. Take a further look into outcomes, budgets, spend and licensing knowledge will help you decide which SAM tool is the best fit for you. Let’s look into those key pieces to help decipher the SAM tools and compliance positions.


Mandi Sue Bleau
Marc Farmen : ServiceNow
Biography:
Senior Director level professional, focused on IT Asset management. I have worked in ITAM for 15+ years. Current and relevant subject matter expert in software asset management, hardware asset management, infrastructure management, virtualization, and cloud computing. Currently responsible for West Coast Enterprise Accounts – ServiceNow ITAM Consulting.
Session Title:
Apples (Licenses Entitlements) & Oranges (Inventory Data) of Software Asset Management. Normalization and compliance positions.
Session Description:
This session covers three key sources of software entitlement sources. What you think you own, what your reseller thinks you own, what the publishers knows you own. We will review the sources, data gathered, and entitlement and contract best practices. We will also discuss common inventory sources and the normalization that binds the two together.
Learning Objectives:
This session will focus on post pandemic software asset management basics.
The topics will include: • IT Asset Management overview • Why should you care about SAM? • Proper licenses entitlement sources • Options for software inventory and discovery techniques. • SAM Complete Lifecycle • Cloud SaaS Subscriptions and Optimization From this presentation you should have a good grasp on software asset management basics and techniques for success.
Additional Information:
The topics covered in this session are meant to review best practice around an overall well-rounded software asset management practice. Cloud inventory and optimization will also be a focus.


Marc Farmen
Mari Peterson : Anglepoint Group
Biography:
Mari joined the Anglepoint team in 2018 as a Vice President of Business Development, bringing with her over 30 years of selling and delivering technology solutions to a wide array of clients. An experienced industry veteran, Mari specializes in understanding customer needs in order to deliver the most complete solutions at the highest value.
Mari is passionate about finding the right balance of people, processes, and technologies to help clients ensure they will be successful with their ITAM programs. She often thinks of each client and their current environment as a puzzle that she passionately wants to help them solve.
Session Title:
Software Asset Management – Where (and Why) is Your SAM Program Struggling?
Session Description:
Software Asset Management – Where (and Why) is Your SAM Program Struggling?
Building and maintaining an efficient and effective SAM program is challenging – and it doesn’t matter if you’re just starting your program or if it’s been around for years. Common struggles include:
– How do I right-size my software contracts and optimize spend?
– How can I normalize my software data to make sense of what’s actually installed and licensed?
– How do I minimize risk and prepare for audits with confidence?
– How do I prioritize my publishers? Which ones should I focus on first?
– How can I be more proactive?
Register today and join us as we share our recommendations and expertise to turn these common SAM struggles into strengths.


Mari Peterson
Mark Delisi : Flexera
Biography:
Mark Delisi is a Business Value Advisor at Flexera where he works with customers to develop their value stories for investment in Flexera technologies. Prior to Flexera, he was Director of IT Operations at CNA Insurance and has over thirty years of experience across Application Development, Infrastructure Operations, Vendor Management, and IT Strategy. He has implemented major operational frameworks including IT Service Management/ITIL; IT Financial Management and ITAM and has worked extensively with major managed services providers to implement and govern IT operational processes.
He is a certified AWS Cloud Practitioner and FinOps Certified Practitioner
Session Title:
Lessons from 500 Business Cases…
Session Description:
IT has fundamentally changed over the past two years. Not only are environments more complex due to things like SaaS and work-from-home, but more people than ever are engaged in evaluating and reviewing technology investments. A strong, realistic, and compelling business case is critical to building your ITAM program. Flexera’s Business Value Advisors have built over 500 business cases with customers. In this session we’ll discuss what we’ve learned about how to create a compelling value story and best practices for navigating your organization’s project funding process.


Mark Delisi
Martin Latz : Deloitte
Biography:
Martin is a Managing Director in Deloitte & Touche’s Risk and Financial Advisory practice specializing in the area of Cyber & Strategic Risk. He’s a Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) and brings 18 years of experience managing global and domestic client engagements efforts across several industries with a focus on IT modernization, IT Asset Management (ITAM), and Extended Enterprise Risk Management. Martin has spoken at numerous professional and industry conferences on the topic of ITAM and software license optimization.
Session Title:
The IBM Authorized SAM Provider (IASP) Program – Positioning for Efficiency with IBM Software
Session Description:
Looking for ways to proactively manage your IBM software licensing? Want the opportunity to bypass software audits, avoid unbudgeted costs, and save some money while you’re at it? The IBM Authorized SAM Provider (IASP) program can provide an alternative and collaborative approach to traditional software asset management. This session will describe the lessons learned and insights to help you succeed in managing your IBM software footprint, and provide practical next steps for starting your IASP journey.


Martin Latz
Matt Harris : US Cloud
Biography:
US Cloud President Matt Harris joined the company in 2018 to help US Cloud provide “fanatical Microsoft Support” for less. Since then, US Cloud has grown exponentially, made the Inc 5000 list each year, and has added over 300 new Microsoft Support clients globally including numerous Fortune 500’s. In addition to Matt’s work at US Cloud, he brings two decades of leadership within tech services, SaaS, and fintech with senior executive roles at American Express, Ungerboeck Software International, and BuildPay. Matt earned his MBA from Washington University’s Olin School of Business.
Session Title:
Microsoft Support Contracts – New Cost Reduction and Avoidance Opportunity
Session Description:
Drastic price hikes for Microsoft Support have crushed IT budgets over the last two years. But now viable third-party options do exist, with typical savings of 30%-50% or more. This session will lay out how to take advantage of this new secondary market to drastically lower IT support costs.
Topics include:
Overview of the current landscape for Microsoft Premier & Unified Support
Explaining the primary options in the market today
Pro’s and con’s of provider types
In-depth question sets to help validate potential partners or for MSFT negotiations
Case studies of companies that have made the switch to third-party support


Matt Harris
Michael Corey : LicenseFortress
Biography:
Dr. Michael Corey (Co-Founder of LICENSEFORTRESS®) – Michael is a frequent speaker at technology and business conferences throughout the world from Australia to Brazil. In 2015 and 2017, was recognized as #42 of the top 100 most influential people in the cloud industry. Michael is a recognized Oracle ACE, a recognized VMware vExpert, a former Microsoft Data Platform MVP. Michael is the original Oracle press author and his newest book is Virtualizing SQL Server with VMware: Doing IT Right from VMware Press. Michael is a regular columnist Big Data Quarterly magazine.
Session Title:
Database Licensing, Pitfalls, and the new Oracle Audit Playbook
Session Description:
As software infrastructure is stretched between on-premise, public clouds, and hybrid clouds, keeping software in compliance is a significant challenge. Sorting through all the FUD and getting straight answers from vendors on the proper way to license software in this complicated world is not easy. This presentation will discuss current Software License trends, the difference between Oracle policy and your contractual obligations, Licensing Oracle on a virtualized environment, and licensing best practices. We will discuss current trends in how Oracle License Management Services conducts audits. Lesson learned will apply to all major software vendors from Microsoft to SAP
Learning Objectives:
Current Software Licensing Trends Common Database Licensing Pitfalls Common Reasons People Overpay for their Database Licensing Recent Trends in the Oracle License Management Services (LMS) audit Playbook


Michael Corey
Michael Swanson : ISAM
Biography:
Mr. Swanson founded ISAM in 1996 and led it to become an industry leader in Software Asset Management having managed over USD $15 billion dollars in software costs across 1000 companies worldwide. Michael’s team at ISAM has played an integral role in the SAM industry for 25 years by: negotiated many of the first software ELAs in the industry and ELAs for the largest customers of the largest software vendors; and the first outside consulting company brought in by a major software vendor to assist companies on audits. Clients globally have utilized ISAM’s GreenBook® and expertise to reduce their software expenses by over one billion dollars.
Session Title:
How to Sell to Executives
Session Description:
Many SAM programs fail for the same reason as many great ideas by employees. People are unable to effectively sell their idea to their executive. Communicating to an executive is very different than communicating to a peer or a manager. This presentation will draw on over 30 years of successfully selling ideas to hundreds of executives. At least one case study will be from an idea that was once perceived as wild and crazy but has impacted everyone in the asset management industry.


Michael Swanson
Mike Andrea : Oper8 Global
Biography:
Mike Andrea leads the Oper8 Global team across the EMEA, Latin America and APAC markets in delivering customer aligned, right-sized data centre, data protection and security, Edge and IoT solutions. Connect with him on LinkedIn.
Session Title:
ITAM From the Edge In Today’s Distributed Workforce
Session Description:
With the world’s companies more dispersed than ever before, edge-based solutions provide real-time insight and control to solve environmental and operational challenges and can be managed across multiple time zones from one central location – even if your assets are as far away as Papa New Guinea. IT issues and outages cost banks billions of dollars in lost revenue and fines. To avoid this, Bank of South Pacific needed a monitoring solution for their distributed network of banks covering 7 countries. Learn about the edge-based wireless monitoring solution they chose that required very little configuration and was set up in five minutes by even the least technical onsite employee.


Mike Andrea
Mike Taylor : Deloitte
Biography:
Mike is a Deloitte Advisory Senior Manager in Cyber Risk Services focusing on IT asset management and IT asset management risks. He has over 25 years of diverse experience in IT and consulting, with an emphasis on IT asset management and configuration management. He has certifications from multiple vendors in the IT configuration management tool space, and has architected solutions for customers in a variety of industries. Recent projects included the integration of asset management, configuration management, and risk disciplines at multiple clients to respond to a variety of business objectives.
Chad McClure: (2nd Speaker) Chad is an IT Asset Management subject matter expert who specializes in software asset monitoring, compliance, and lifecycle management. Chad has extensive experience in the FSI, TMT, and US-Federal industries. Specific to FSI, Chad is responsible for the market development and coordination of Software Asset Management (SAM) for the US Member Firm. Chad holds certifications from ISACA (CSISA), Microsoft (MCP-SAM), and COMPTIA (A+, Network+).
Session Title:
Importance and Role of ITAM in the Enterprise.
Session Description:
This session will discuss why it is important to have integrated asset management capabilities throughout the enterprise to enable strategic outcomes across IT, cyber security, and risk.


Mike Taylor
Mike Temple : ServiceNow
Biography:
Mike has been in the Configuration Management and IT Asset Management space for over 20 years, helping customers solve the ever-evolving challenges.
Session Title:
How is a solid ITAM program strategic to the business?
Session Description:
As a solution provider in the ITAM space, we talk to a lot of customers. This session is intended to inform on how we are seeing our customers using ITAM as a strategic resource for helping other areas of an organization outside of the IT organization. Our hopes are that, after the session, the attendee will be armed with ideas on how to further business objectives by becoming more strategic to the overall organization.


Mike Temple
Nathanie Rivera : Independent Consultant
Biography:
I have been in the IT Asset Management space for 3 years as an Independent Consultant helping Fortune 500 companies implement solutions using best practices to help manage their IT assets. I have also collaborated and wrote White Papers, Blogs, and Newsletter articles on a variety of subjects regarding ITAM Processes.
Session Title:
How to save your company 40 million dollars
Session Description:
Earlier this year, an FBI investigation uncovered wire fraud transactions at an Ivy League institution, spanning eight years. A former administrator was making fraudulent asset purchases and reselling the devices for personal profit. The fraud cost the university over forty million dollars. Due to a lack of governance over ITAM processes, the fraud was able to go unnoticed. The investigation was only launched after an anonymous tip was placed. Had the university followed ITAM processes, the fraudulent purchases would have been discovered immediately. This session will discuss the specifics and importance of proper ITAM processes, and the logistics of implementation.


Nathaniel Rivera
Patrick Graff : Microsoft
Biography:
Patrick Graff is a Senior Service Engineer and leads the internal Software Asset Management and Governance program at Microsoft. He has worked at Microsoft for over 26 years, driving many successful programs. He plays a key role in the end-to-end management of onboarding and management both repository for first-Party and more importantly non-Microsoft solutions that help drive the Microsoft digital business. For the past 16 years, he has been building and managing the Software Asset Management program and service called Software Licensing Service. A core component of this program has been the creation of procurement processes, policies, and technology requirements to successfully manage the optimization and risk mitigation of both on-premises and cloud-based using both Microsoft and partner technology.
Session Title:
Don’t be Dazed and Confused on SAM, learn Microsoft’s best practices and cloud based solution
Session Description:
Through the years, our journey keeps changing with new challenges and ways we’ve looked at the right balance of processes, technology and resources to manage our internal program. We manage over 2000 supplier’s solutions internally at Microsoft. How do we do it? How do you even think about mitigating risk? Simply put, We’ve Powered-Up our program! What do we mean by that? Microsoft takes a strong approach in mitigating risk in their own Software licensing needs, consumption, accessibility, and most important security. Our 0 Trust initiative is key to keeping our license use, network, and our data secured. Hackers are getting smarter and targeting supply chain to find vulnerabilities in getting access to you and your customers data. I can show you how to make your SAM program a very important part in mitigating risk and keeping track of your software assets. This session will provide you best practices on management of the end to end lifecycle of your software assets. I will talk about how to use internal tools that you may already have, leveraging the cloud, and building a 0 Trust governance process. We will talk about how to drive policies. All these combined has a ROI and a huge impact on the Software Lifecycle Management of both on-premises solutions and Cloud base SaaS solutions. IT organizations has transformed to a digital organization, driving the employee experience and digital business needs. How can you turn the key and Power-Up your program?


Patrick (Goose) Graff
Patty McKenzie : SERI - R2
Biography:
Patty educates businesses and policy makers about secure remarketing and disposition of retired IT assets and electronic equipment, and the important role R2 Certification can play in establishing best practices and accountability throughout the chain of custody for decommissioned electronics. SERI is the non-profit developer and oversight body for the R2 Certification Program and champions other global programs and initiatives that work to achieve secure and sustainable management of electronics throughout the reuse and recycling lifecycle of electronic equipment.
Session Title:
Smart ITAD & Remarketing…do your protocols need an update?
Session Description:
New data risks, changing regulations, and heightened expectations for corporate responsibility, make it important for companies to periodically reevaluate their protocols for ITAD and remarketing of retired IT assets. Learn practical strategies for evaluating and updating your ITAD and remarketing procedures; best practices for reducing risk in commonly overlooked areas; and how smart ITAD/remarketing choices can help your company meet its social and environmental responsibility goals.


Patty McKenzie
Paul Baum : PlanITROI
Biography:
Since 2001, PlanITROI has been providing global IT Asset Disposition (ITAD) services to Enterprises, K12, Organizations, committed to preserving the highest levels of environmental responsibility and data security while changing lives with their retired computing devices. PlanITROI’s mission is to Close the Digital Divide with Affordable Technology from our clients retired computing devices. PlanITROI leverages the circular economy to do social good, by turning clients returned, retired, or idle IT devices (PC’s, laptops, Chromebooks, smartphones, tablets, etc.) into recertified, affordable technology solutions sold or donated direct and through the largest retailers in the world.
Session Title:
IT Hardware Manager Survival Kit…
Session Description:
Learn from your peers the Top 5 tips they are using to survive and thrive in a Work from Home environment with massive Turnover & Supply Chain Delays.


Paul Baum
Rebecca Horton : Spark IT Asset Management
Biography:
Rebecca Horton is a Red Hat and Microsoft expert has more than 15 years of experience supporting customers in audit defence, designing and implementing strong SAM and ITAM practices built on functional capabilities: Policies, Processes, People, Data and Technology. A frequent speaker, blogger, and personality on the events calendar, Rebeca is very passionate about saving customers money and achieving improved operations. A self proclaimed ITAM geek, Rebecca has saved organizations millions of dollars over the years through audit defence, and generating cost savings and cost avoidance from SAM best practices.
Session Title:
IT Visibility – Converging Practices to Improve Insight – ITAM, ITSM and ITOM Working Together
Session Description:
In a recent Forrester study, 99% of all respondents stated that gaining better visibility into their estate is top of mind for objectives in 2022 and 2023. Whether the data is requested by security, risk, service management, asset management, or any other operational team, having quality, complete, timely, reliable and trustworthy data is the goal.


Rebecca Horton
Renee Lottes : Accenture
Biography:
Renee Cordova Lottes, Senior Manager in CIO at Accenture, is in the Digital Worker technology tower within Global IT which provides tools, solutions and capabilities that ultimately serves the employee as the end customer. Currently, her focus is on programs using the ServiceNow platform.
For the past 15 years, Renee has been part of Accenture’s internal IT department where she has managed major projects and support organizations for a +$43B, +500k person company. She worked with executives to analyze, plan and solve business problems. She has extensive experience setting-up, managing and operating diverse technical projects in a global environment.
Renee holds a B.B.A. from the University of Iowa and an M.S. from Northern Illinois University majoring in Operational Management Information Systems (OMIS). She lives with her husband and five sons in the Chicago area. In addition, she has a passion for developing women in technology.
Session Title:
Our Journey from Unmanaged to Operational Integration
Session Description:
See our journey through the SAM maturity model from unmanaged to Operational Integration. We will share best practices, pitfalls to avoid and answer all questions about our journey.


Renee Lottes
Rike Sandlin : Rivervista Partners
Biography:
Rike advises organizations across the IT and Recycling industries on Operational Excellence – the business strategies, go-to-market plans, processing best practices, sustainability initiatives, ESG, and continuous improvement.
Before starting consulting, Rike was COO of HiTech Assets, a leading ITAD. As an advocate for best practices and high standards, Rike has served as Co-Chair R2 TAC, Chairman RIOS Board of Directors, and Chairman ISRI’s Certification & Standards Committee.
He also served as Environmental Affairs and Marketing Director for Arrow Electronics and managed product development for Verizon.
Rike earned his engineering degree from Georgia Tech and MBA from Millsaps College.
Session Title:
The Top Five “New” Requirements for Enterprise-class ITAD
Session Description:
For many years, the fundamental ITAD services for enterprises have remained pretty much the same. But new shifts in society, in industry, and in federal & state laws will force enterprises to require more. In this session, you’ll learn the top five things you may not have added to your program – and how to close those gaps.


Rike Sandlin
Ryan Laber : Cascade Asset Management
Biography:
Involved in leadership roles in IT Asset Disposition since 2000, Ryan came to Cascade in 2019. He previously served as Director of Business Development and Planning at Arrow Electronics where he created their Center of Excellence for mobile device processing. He served as Vice President at Asset Recovery Corporation, a Minnesota-based ITAD company that sold to Arrow in 2012. Ryan has an MBA from the University of Minnesota.
Session Title:
Lessons from Auditing IT Assets Across 20,000+ At-Home Users and 500+ Locations After a Merger
Session Description:
In August of 2021, a Fortune 500 company from a highly regulated industry approached Cascade Asset Management to assist with the physical inventory & reconciliation of assets from a new acquisition. Every data-bearing asset, whether sitting at an office or someone’s makeshift desk at the dinner table, had to be captured. Within 3 months, and in partnership with AMI AssetTrack, the team had to develop and deploy a solution to cover over 20,000 at-home users and 500 sites throughout North America. Come listen how the project was launched, managed, and completed. Learn about the use of ServiceNow, Field Service partners, at-home user adoption, Corporate Communication, and the resources deployed. In addition, we will share the many pitfalls and course corrections throughout the project. How were databases reconciled with differing taxonomies? Did at-home users respond to the self-certification survey? Were locations open to on-site audits during COVID? How was alignment maintained between two merging companies, two contractors, alternating sub-contractors, and dozens of field service staff?
Related IAITAM Key Process Areas (KPAs) include Asset Identification Management, Compliance Management, Communication and Education Management, Financial Management, Policy Management, Program Management, Project Management, and Vendor Management.


Ryan Laber
Scott Bickley : Info Tech Research Group
Biography:
Scott Bickley is a Practice Lead & Principal Research Director at Info-Tech Research Group focused on Vendor Management and Contract Review. He also has experience in the areas of IT Asset Management (ITAM), Software Asset Management (SAM), and technology procurement along with a deep background in operations, engineering, and quality systems management.
At Info-Tech, Scott provides IT leaders with the guidance, analysis, and tools they need to ensure their technology contracts are thoroughly vetted, benchmarked, and optimized. He has worked with clients to effectively drive down purchase costs and negotiate mutually agreeable terms and conditions resulting in win-win vendor-customer relationships. Prior to joining Info-Tech, Scott was responsible for the global software licensing and procurement at International Game Technology (IGT) and indirect procurement at Amazon.com.
Session Title:
Explore the Secrets of Workday Licensing
Session Description:
Organizations examining a move to Workday or renewing a contract struggle to gain information and leverage in the negotiation process on commercial components such as pricing transparency, contractual flexibility, terms, and license use rights.
Implementations and customization can become difficult if adequate planning steps and communication are not taken beforehand.
The FSE Worker Calculation formula is used in the pricing process and can be negotiable.
Critical Insight
Know which defined areas of the agreement can be negotiated and which can’t.
Workday closely manages the Partner ecosystem and requests feedback on how to better support and implement its technologies. However, resource availability and talent management can be difficult as not many have the necessary skills.
Recognize and accept that you’ve chosen the premium priced product in the market, so be prepared to pay up for best-in-class capabilities on a cloud-native ERP platform.


Scott Bickley
Scott Jensen : Anglepoint
Biography:
Scott Jensen is a Senior Manager at Anglepoint and leads the Oracle Practice. Prior to joining Anglepoint, Scott was a graduate research assistant whose focus was neurosecurity – the intersection of neuroscience and cybersecurity. He co-authored 3 published journal articles, including an article published in the Journal of Cybersecurity. Even though his background was in Security, Scott witnessed the industry need for more Oracle expertise, and he quickly became well-versed in all things Oracle licensing. He has since pioneered and streamlined processes for analyzing Oracle data and has saved his clients countless dollars in Oracle spend through his observations and insight.
Session Title:
Oracle Java Licensing Highlights Why Security is Integral to ITAM
Session Description:
Almost everyone is aware by now that Oracle changed its licensing rules for Java. What used to be free in most cases is now subject to license costs. Unfortunately, in an effort to save money on licensing fees, many organizations are keeping their systems on older versions of Java that are still free to use. While this strategy may work to save on license costs, these organizations are exploiting themselves to a new form of risk: cyber vulnerabilities. Oracle Java highlights why Security teams deserve a seat at the ITAM table – and visa versa.


Scott Jensen
Shawn Stockman : OnePak/ReturnCenter
Biography:
Shawn Stockman oversees development of sustainable client solutions and strategy for OnePak. He is responsible for implementing tools and processes that serve the company’s clients and partners through the lens of Environmental, Social impact, and Governance (ESG). Shawn is a board member of the Reusable Packaging Association, and has more than 25 years experience in communications, client solutioning, marketing and business development. He has extensive experience in and has spoken nationally on environmental compliance reporting, asset recovery, and return logistics.
Session Title:
Incorporating ESG into ITAM and Why You Should Care
Session Description:
ESG refers to Environment, Social and Governance, and is now a watchword in most industries. Incorporating an ESG mission into IT asset management can help your organization appeal to its board, investors, vendors and customers. Learn what ESG considerations may shape an ITAM’s choice of equipment manufacturers, field service companies, logistics or ITAD providers. Learn to look beyond sustainability at the companies you choose to work with—do they value diversity? Do they treat their workers fairly? How “circular” are they? Have they actually taken steps to protect the environment? We’ll review what ESG industry standards mean for your organization.


Shawn Stockman
Shelli Li : Sprout
Biography:
Shelly is the co-founder and CEO of Sprout, a technology-enabled provider of IT hardware lifecycle solutions for large & complex enterprises. Prior to co-founding Sprout, she was a management consultant at McKinsey (specializing in supply chain transformation) and an investment banker at Morgan Stanley (focused on logistics and supply chain). Shelly studied Philosophy and Economics at Duke University and Oxford University as a University Scholar. Before her studies, she wrote science fiction short stories for science magazines such as Nature and Cosmos, primarily focused on shaping a sustainable future. In Shelly’s spare time, she can be found exploring different countries & cultures, exercising outdoors, and spending time with family & friends.
Session Title:
Mastering Hardware Asset Lifecycle Optimization in Ever-Changing Circumstances
Session Description:
There are countless factors that lead to waste or worry for the IT hardware asset manager. For those managing client IT hardware, a material percent of your users remaining 100% remote coupled with a shrinking average tenure means that you are dealing with a much larger workload and not enough support headcount. In the data center, persistent component shortages have most certainly delayed refreshes and may even impact your ability to stock maintenance spares. Together, we’ll walk through Sprout’s framework for designing a successful lifecycle optimization program with the objectives to increase user NPS, decrease operating expense, and enable rapid response to changing dynamics. This is a framework that Sprout applies when working with IT managers serving 10K – 100K end users as well as data center asset managers overseeing global cloud environments of 10K- 500K servers. In this session, I will share: 1) key framework considerations, 2) technology infrastructure requirements, 3) operational insights & learnings we developed along the way.


Shelly Li
Stephanie Baerenwald: SKYGEN USA
Biography:
Stephanie Baerenwald is currently the IT Asset Manager for SKYGEN USA, a software development company in the healthcare space, located in Mequon, WI. She has spent the last 14 years focused on asset management disciplines, from small businesses to global businesses, with more than 20 years in various technology support roles. In 2019, she launched her own consulting company, The ITAM Guru. The ITAM Guru’s mission is to help others create successful ITAM programs where asset management has not been a traditional team.
She has a Bachelor’s of Business Administration degree with an emphasis in Management Information Systems from UW Milwaukee, as well as several certifications from the International Association of IT Asset Managers (IAITAM): Certified Asset Management Professional (CAMP), Certified IT Asset Manager (CITAM), and Certified Asset Management Security Expert (CAMSE).
Session Title:
ITAM’ing in a Small/Medium Business
Session Description:
Do you ITAM in a small to medium sized business? This is the session for you to come air your struggles, your worries, and to talk with someone else who started with no budget, no SAM records, and no resources. This session is for an ITAM’er in a small to medium sized business who wants to chat with others that have to wear multiple hats. In a small business, the ITAM “team” may only be one person left to fight for ITAM rights alone…this session will include advice on leadership buy in, aligning with cybersecurity, marketing ITAM’s purpose, and building the best damn ITAM program possible! Stop by and let’s have an open chat!


Stephanie Baerenwald
Steve Andon : OnePak/ReturnCenter
Biography:
Steve Andon is the CEO of Onepak, and creator of ReturnCenter.com. With more than 25 years of entrepreneurial experience in information technology, finance, and operations, Steve has founded, developed, and sold two other companies prior to founding OnePak. Steve is a featured speaker and subject matter expert in reverse logistics, sustainability, and the circular economy, and has received numerous industry awards for entrepreneurship, company growth, and creativity.
Session Title:
Why Take Control of Your Logistics?
Session Description:
Whether you’re managing lease returns, disposition, office to office transfers, or recovering assets from remote employees, taking control of your hardware logistics lets you manage accountability and risk. Today’s logistics technology can integrate with your asset management software to provide chain of custody visibility for parcels or freight in the dashboards you use every day. By unbundling logistics from other disposition services, you gain consistency, security and visibility for every kind of asset shipment. Join us to learn about new reverse logistics technology and service options for IT asset movement that can increase your control, manage your accountability and reduce your risk.


Steve Andon
Sumin Tchen : Belarc, Inc.
Biography:
Sumin has over 30 years of experience in helping to build successful technology firms, such as Belarc (ITAM, SAM, Cybersecurity), Computer Controls (building control systems), Eliza (telephony-based voice recognition), ProcessTech (dynamic modeling software), and Adaptive Networks (networking over AC power lines). Sumin has a B.S. Electrical Engineering from Cornell University and an M.S. Management from M.I.T.
Session Title:
Optimize your SaaS spend based on accurate usage data.
Session Description:
Software vendors are moving to user based subscription licenses. How can you control your spending on these licenses if you do not have accurate usage data? This presentation will use some case studies to show how to optimize your SaaS software spend for vendors such as Microsoft and Adobe.


Sumin Tchen
Sunil Chandna : Stellar Data Recovery, Inc.
Biography:
Sunil Chandna, Founder and CEO, Stellar Data Recovery is a corporate professional with a career spanning over 25 years in diverse roles. Sunil has been steering the company up the growth ladder since 1993. He is responsible for defining and delivering the business strategy and providing overall leadership for Stellar’s operations in India and abroad. Starting from a small 4 member team in India, he has scaled Stellar to 400+ strong team that serves more than 3 Million customers globally. Sunil is a seasoned business leader who is passionate about innovation, entrepreneurship, and business transformation to drive competitiveness and customer value.
In his current role, Sunil is responsible for defining and delivering the business strategy and extending Stellar’s global leadership in ‘data care’ solutions, as the company focuses on its mission to provide the world’s simplest DIY data recovery and erasure solutions. A Computer Science Engineering graduate, Sunil drives the company’s strategy to provide best-in-class data care solutions, with a continued commitment to innovating the best data care services and solutions for businesses and consumers. He has driven the transformation and revitalization of Stellar’s portfolio to become a focused data care leader globally through targeted associations, expansions & organic business development.
Sunil has been a part of several influential forums and events that aim at driving cybersecurity awareness and safeguarding data privacy. He has been featured by top global media organizations during critical cyber-attacks and for changing landscape in the IT sector. Sunil leverages his global perspective to regularly share industry insights related to data privacy and data protection.
Sunil’s interests include new-age technology, reading, and traveling. A philanthropist at heart, he supports NGO ‘Age Care Foundation’ that cares for disadvantaged elderly senior citizens in India and also NGO ‘Family Vision’ for looking after especially disabled citizens.
Session Title:
Data Destruction Best Practices to Mitigate Data Breach Risks
Session Description:
Rising data protection & privacy concerns have put organizations under tremendous pressure to safeguard and protect consumer data. Emerging regulations & laws like GDPR and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) have pushed businesses to traverse new frontiers of data compliance and privacy. Businesses need to rethink their data security procedures. According to IBM, the average cost for data breaches amounts to $4.24 million in 2021. A secure and robust data destruction practice prevents any subsequent financial or reputational damages owing to the data breach.
The session covers the best practices for IT Asset managers to carefully augment best data destruction practices in terms of the functional efficacy, costs, Environment, Health, and Safety (EHS) impact, and compliance aspects of a given approach. The session would further cite data destruction methods for all types of storage devices, including hard drives (HDD, SSD, & hybrid), mobile devices (iOS & Android), memory cards, embedded flash memory, point-of-sale devices, IoT devices, network devices like routers & switches, etc.


Sunil Chandna
Tim Kubiak : ZPI
Biography:
Tim is a Business Geek, Nomad, Aging Metal Head, Nerd, & Coffee Addict. He has spent over 25 years working across a variety of technology segments with and for global companies. He has helped companies that are household names solve some of their most complex global deployment challenges. Currently he is the CEO of the Minority and Veteran owned Zepol Productions Inc. based in Austin, TX. Additionally, he serves as a board member for selected early stage AI/ML and App based companies.
Session Title:
Maximizing Your Budget, Meet Green Objectives, and Reduce Support Costs Using TPM
Session Description:
Learn to get more from your existing budget by incorporation Third Party Maintenance (TPM) into your strategy. This session will show you how to reduce your support costs from OEM Maintenance by up to 80%, extend the useable life of your valuable IT assets beyond the Manufacturer’s stated refresh cycles. Additionally we will cover how lengthening your assets useful life cycle can help meet corporate environmental and green initiatives. One lucky attendee will win a $150 dollar Amazon git certificate. All attendees will receive a copy of ”The Ultimate Guide to AOM” by Scott A. Lopez (a $19.96 value) plus receive complimentary access to the AOM management portal to for immediate use.


Tim Kubiak
Tom Watson : AMI
Biography:
Tom Watson is the founder and CEO of AMI. Having worked as a software developer for Micropath, the Seattle-based asset inventory company, Tom saw how hard it was for companies to create HAM solutions that work in the real world. Tom created AMI in 2003 to help large companies solve the sticky problem of managing hardware assets. Today, AMI’s AssetTrack® is the trusted source for global enterprises, federal agencies, and state/local governments.
Tom graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in Fine Arts. Outside of work, when not playing Legos with his son, he’s on the soccer field or writing songs, playing guitar, and singing lead vocals for a Seattle band Crown Hill.
Session Title:
Measuring the value of Hardware Asset Management
Session Description:
Many asset managers struggle to prove their value to the business. They lack the tools to define and capture metrics that show how hardware asset management is performing. Tom Watson with AMI (Asset Management International) will share common KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) used by advanced hardware asset management organizations that truly measure the health of asset management. He will discuss techniques for capturing and reporting important historical data that uncover insights into processes. With these techniques, asset managers can show the impact of changes to people, process, and technology over time, enabling continuous improvement and creating asset management heroes.


Tom Watson
Vito Arminio : LifeSpan International
Biography:
Vito Arminio, Vito has been involved in all aspects of IT Asset Disposition and electronics recycling since 2002 and has been with LifeSpan since the inception of the company. Vito is a frequent speaker at industry conferences on topics such as Data Privacy and Environmental Liability. These include NAID (National Association for Information Destruction), Data Center World, IAITAM (International Association of IT Asset Managers) and NPMA (National Property Managers Association). He brings a wealth of insight into the complexities facing IT executives today with over 30 years of IT and Data Networking professional services experience. Vito has received a BS from Babson College in Marketing and Communications.
Session Title:
Planning office closures and downsizing – Deinstalling, redeploying and disposing of IT equipment
Session Description:
Office closures, downsizing, and hybrid office-home work models have added many– and often short notice – IT asset management projects. In this talk we will discuss some of the challenges that a lot of IT organizations are now facing and ways to ensure good asset life cycle management and timely, cost-effective de-installation/removal so that assets can be redeployed or disposed properly. Asset managers still need to manage Data Security risks, ensure environmental compliance, and try to maximize value for disposed assets through these processes, and we’ll discuss best practices for doing that.


Vito Arminio
Walter Darrough : Flexera
Biography:
Walter Darrough currently serves as a Sr. Customer Success Manager for Flexera Software. During the past several years, Walter served as the Global Asset Manager for Dell. Before Dell, he held the position of Corporate Strategist for a large technology organization.
As a noted ITAM author and teacher, Walter Darrough holds CSAM, CHAMP and CITAM certifications from IAITAM, as well as an ITIL Foundation certificate. In 2011, Walter was inducted as an ITAM Fellow by the International Association of IT Asset Managers. Walter holds a Computer Science degree and Administrative Leadership degree from the University of Oklahoma.
Session Title:
Drive Toward Program Adoption, Maturity, Relevance
Session Description:
Today, some organizations are struggling to realize the full potential of their ITAM program. Some programs are not delivering the expected business outcomes. While many point fingers, it is time to look at our programs to evaluate where we are and where we need to be.


Walter Darrough
Will Cohen : Circle IT
Biography:
Will leads the teams at HiTECH and CircleIT. A technology and environment enthusiast, Will leads the company with a vision and commitment to a Circular Economy. Will handles oversight of all Business Operations, Strategic Operations such as acquisitions, domestic and international partnerships, and lastly process improvement across all lines of business. Will has a background in operational efficiency and strategic growth for purpose driven and mission driven companies.
Session Title:
Circularity and ESG Reporting: Creating Opportunity Out of e-Waste
Session Description:
Concerns about climate change, social challenges and other environmental and social issues have led to companies facing increased pressure from governments, investors and other stakeholders to disclose more about their environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategy. At the same time, e-Waste continues to increase accounting for 70% of the hazardous waste found in U.S. landfills and society continues to deal with the growing divide between those who do and don’t have access to technology. Please join us as we discuss how ITAD providers can partner with companies to create opportunity out of e-Waste, support their ESG goals and drive positive customer, environmental and social outcomes.


Will Cohen
William Choppa : Eracent
Biography:
William Choppa is the CEO of Eracent. He leads the organization and communicates Eracent’s vision to team members, customers and the larger ITAM community. Since joining the company in 2004, he has been passionate about the evolution and refinement of Eracent’s solutions, based on lessons learned from working with customers and partners.
William has held positions with IBM and a number of technology companies as well as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. He holds a BS in Aerospace Engineering from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University.
Session Title:
Enhance Your ITAM and SAM Program Results with Product Enrichment Data
Session Description:
Incomplete or inaccurate product data can drag down your ITAM and SAM program and limit the value it can provide. Without a reliable standard for hardware and software product attributes, your ability to make informed decisions around contract negotiations, procurement, license harvesting and more is impacted. Matching purchased products to those in use in your environment is essential, and manually chasing product details from random sources just isn’t practical for enterprises. This session will show how a comprehensive, single-source IT Product Data Library can provide normalized data that can have your systems speaking the same language in perfect harmony.


William Choppa