2008 Speaker Faculty

Andy Frawley Chief Executive Officer Click²

A recognized thought leader in analytic CRM, data integration, data warehousing and database marketing, Andrew Frawley brings ClickSquared more than 19 years of operational experience. Prior to joining ClickSquared, Andrew founded and served as president, chairman and CEO of Xchange Applications Inc., a pioneer in the analytic CRM market. He previously was a founding partner of Grant & Partners, a consulting firm focused on implementing customer-focused business strategies, as well as a founder of MarketPulse, a division of Computer Corporation of America, which created one of the first analytic CRM offerings. Andrew earned an MBA with a concentration in computer science from Babson College and received a B.S. in finance, with honors, from the University of Maine. He currently serves on the board of WhyData and is an advisory board member for Centrport and Redbird Systems.

Asheesh Advani President and CEO Virgin Money USA

The president and chief executive officer of Virgin Money USA, Asheesh Advani is considered to be an innovator in the financial services industry. He helped pioneer the business of managing person-to-person loans between relatives and friends, a simple but powerful concept that permits the development of unique financial products that are more flexible and affordable than banks can typically offer to consumers.

Avi Pollock Head of Applied Innovation Global Technology & Operations Royal Bank of Canada

The president and chief executive officer of Virgin Money USA, Asheesh Advani is considered to be an innovator in the financial services industry. He helped pioneer the business of managing person-to-person loans between relatives and friends, a simple but powerful concept that permits the development of unique financial products that are more flexible and affordable than banks can typically offer to consumers.

Asheesh began his career as a management consultant at the Monitor Group, a strategy-consulting firm based in Cambridge, Mass. Asheesh subsequently worked with the World Bank in Washington, D.C., where he first discovered the enormous demand for financial products that serve the needs of the informal credit marketplace.

Asheesh founded CircleLending as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the Monitor Group in 2001, originally headquartered in a converted closet in Cambridge, Mass. Under his leadership, the company grew by over 25 percent each quarter since its launch, originated over $200 million in loans among relatives and friends, and established the new product category in financial services. In May of 2007, Richard Branson’s Virgin Group acquired a majority interest in CircleLending, as the platform for a new financial services company in the U.S.

As a frequent speaker at industry conferences and commentator on financial innovation in the media, Asheesh has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Time Magazine, and highlighted in broadcast segments on PBS and NPR. He was named one of the Boston’s Top 40 Entrepreneurs Under 40 and authored Investors in Your Backyard (Nolo Press), the first book on the topic of raising money from relatives and friends, which Business Week called “as indispensable as a calculator” for small business owners seeking financing.

Asheesh is a graduate of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and Oxford University, where he received a Commonwealth Scholarship. He lives in a suburb of Boston, Mass. with his wife and twin sons.

Barry Salmons VP, Interactive and Channel Marketing Manager Huntington Bank

Barry Salmons is the Vice President, Interactive and Channel Marketing Manager for Huntington Bank.  In this role, Salmons draws upon more than 18 years banking experience to manage a variety of marketing programs.  He is responsible for all marketing initiatives for the Internet, ATM, Call Center, Debit Card and Credit Card channels.  During his tenure Huntington Online Banking has been consistently recognized as one of the top 10 financial sites in the nation.  In addition, his teams have led nationally-recognized affinity-based marketing programs for some of the most sought-after sports properties. Salmons, his wife and 2 boys live in Columbus, Ohio.  He spends most of his spare time coaching youth soccer, baseball and basketball.

Bill Pollock Director, Products and Marketing Leadfusion

Bill brings over twenty-five years of product management, product marketing and related business development expertise to his Marketing role at Leadfusion where he is responsible for marketing strategy, marketing communications, and product marketing initiatives, as well as identifying product and market opportunities to drive company revenue. Prior to joining Leadfusion, Bill held marketing, product management and business development positions in the Internet marketing industry at e-Marketing software companies such as Engage and Email Service Provider, Yesmail.

Billy Martin Retail Internet Lead Wachovia Mortgage

Billy Martin, Retail Internet Leader for the Wachovia Mortgage Business Technology group, is responsible for partnering with Wachovia's Internal Technical Resources, Wachovia eCommerce partners, and various third-party vendors in order to provide web analysis, consulting, business requirements, testing, and ongoing support for all operational groups within the Mortgage and Retail Credit Division. Billy has more than 17 years of experience in financial services including Origination, Servicing, and Business Technology. Billy has spent 15 of those years with Wachovia.

Bob Homer Vice President of Product Management Electronic Banking Services Division CheckFree

Bob Homer is Vice President of Product Management for the Electronic Banking Services Division at CheckFree - now part of Fiserv. He joined the company in December of 2002.

Homer is responsible for the strategic product direction for the business to consumer (B2C) and business to business (B2B) product lines, as well as product marketing. He manages product research, market requirements, release priorities, and the cross-functional delivery activities for the product release cycle.

Prior to joining CheckFree, Homer held positions as Director of Product Management, Business Development Manager, and Alliance Manager, and has also held consultative positions with several companies, including Dun & Bradstreet, Clarus Corporation, Geac Software, and the Atlantic Mutual Companies. During his career he has also managed solutions such as EIPP, reconciliation, expense management, strategic sourcing, project accounting and human capital applications.

Homer earned a bachelor’s degree in Business Management and a master’s degree in Business Administration from Fairleigh Dickinson University, where he studied in Wroxton, England and the New York metropolitan area.

Brandon McGee VP, Mobile Banking Huntington Bank

Brandon McGee is Vice President and Senior Product Manager at Huntington Bank. Brandon is responsible for the growth and development of Huntington’s mobile banking initiative and developing new online sales and service enhancements. Brandon’s career in the banking and finance industry spans 15 years, of which, nearly a decade has been within the marketing and product management disciplines. He began working as a teller for a credit union while attending Purdue University, and after graduation moved to Indianapolis to complete his MBA from Butler University. Brandon is also the founder of the blog Mobile Banking located at www.brandonmcgee.blogspot.com.

Brent Heiggelke VP Strategic Marketing Omniture

Brent is an award-winning marketer, and frequent speaker, with 20 years experience across media, financial services, high tech, with 13 years experience in digital marketing. Brent came to Omniture as part of the Touch Clarity acquisition where he was CMO. Brent is now VP of Strategic Marketing for Omniture. Before Touch Clarity, Brent spent over 6 years as VP Marketing for WebTrends, where Brent was instrumental in growing and evangelizing the web analytics category. Prior to WebTrends, Brent was VP Marketing at ABC Technologies, which was acquired by SAS Institute.. In 2003, Brent was chosen by B2B Magazine as one of the Top 100 B2B Marketers in North America.

Charlie Lougheed Senior VP, Retail Direct Online National City Corporate

Having joined National City in mid 2007, Charlie Lougheed leads National City’s online and mobile retail banking business unit. During the nineties, Charlie also led the technology development initiatives at Key Bank including online banking and Key.com. In between Key and National City, Charlie co-founded and served as CTO and President of Everstream, an on-demand media measurement company spanning over 20 million cable television subscribers.

Chris Larsen Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder Prosper

For over a decade Chris Larsen has leveraged the Internet to make consumer lending more efficient, fair, honest, open, and trustworthy. Prior to Prosper, Mr. Larsen co-founded and served as Chairman and CEO of E-LOAN. Under Mr. Larsen's leadership, E-LOAN closed over $27 billion in consumer loans, and was consistently ranked as one of the nation's most trusted consumer brands. E-LOAN earned consumers' trust by taking radically pro-consumer actions such as being the first company to provide consumers with access to their credit scores, and playing a critical role in the passage of the strongest consumer financial privacy protection law in the nation. Mr. Larsen led E-LOAN through a successful IPO in 1999, and oversaw the company's acquisition by Popular, Inc. in 2005.

Christopher Cox Senior Vice President Wholesale Internet Director, eCommerce Division Wachovia Corporation

Christopher Cox acts as Wachovia's Wholesale Internet Director and is responsible for eCommerce product and service offerings for Small Business, Commercial Banking, Specialty Finance, International Banking, Treasury Services, Corporate and Investment Banking and Capital Management functions of the bank. Chris' team acts as the enterprise architect and champion of the enterprise wholesale internet strategy. Chris has more than 20 years of experience financial services including commercial lending, strategic consulting and channel management.

Chuck Hall Chief Technology Officer, eCommerce Capital One Financial

Chuck Hall is Capital One’s eCommerce Chief Technology Officer responsible for the technology strategy and architecture of an integrated set of channels including internet, mobile banking, e-mail, and online chat, used in acquiring and servicing customers across lines of business. He’s currently tasked with the execution of Capital One’s mobile banking strategy.

Chuck joined Capital One in August of 1994 initially responsible for implementing Capital One’s imaging and workflow systems. He went on to lead the creation of their first internet presence, responsible for the strategy and build out of their online acquisition and servicing systems. He has served as the lead IT advisor within Capital One in establishing several Internet-based business ventures. Chuck served as chief architect for the overhaul of their US card call center platforms used by contact center agents at more than 30 sites world-wide. Additionally he’s architected and built systems within Capital One serving needs within their Customer Relations, Fraud, Financial Solutions, and Account Acquisition Groups. Chuck has over 20 years experience in engineering and deploying complex systems.

Outside of work Chuck enjoys tennis and water sports. He can often be found on weekends working with his younger son on miscellaneous construction projects around the house.

Daan Josephus Jitta Senior Vice President Direct Channels & Innovation ABN AMRO Bank N.V.

Since 2006, Daan Josephus Jitta has been responsible for Direct Channels and Innovation for commercial clients at ABN AMRO Netherlands. He was responsible for ABN AMRO's launch of a virtual branch in Second Life. ABN AMRO was the first bank in Europe to open such a branch in Second Life. Daan Josephus Jitta (1964) studied Physics at the University of Amsterdam and has had various business assignments for ABN AMRO in the last 8 years. Before this, he worked for 14 years for Pink Elephant in the Netherlands, a Dutch ICT services company.

Elizabeth Birenbaum Business Leader and Vice President, Global Interactive Marketing Mastercard International

Liz Birenbaum joined MasterCard six months ago and is currently responsible for Global Interactive Marketing within the Americas Marketing group.

Liz manages the development of MasterCard’s digital presence, managing mastercard.com, an informational resource for consumer and B2B audiences. In addition to managing mastercard.com, Liz manages priceless.com. This site leverages MasterCard’s brand positioning and award winning advertising campaign to deliver exclusive content and access to priceless experiences.

Eskander Matta Senior Vice President Internet Service Group Wells Fargo & Company

Eskander Matta is Senior Vice President in the Internet Services Group (ISG).  His group has primary responsibility for managing the customer experience across wellsfargo.com, as well as evolving and maintaining the functionality on our public website.  Eskander’s team also has the primary responsibility for product selection tools, online consumer and small business product applications, and reengineering/automating backend fulfillment processes. Eskander previously led the deployment of a content management system and site redesign across wellsfargo.com and related sites.

Eric Cantini Partner Brulant

Eric is a Partner in the Interactive Marketing practice. Eric has a strong understanding of the online channel and interactive marketing, including paid search advertising, email strategies and organic search optimization. He has delivered positive business results across a wide breadth of consumer-facing technology solutions, leading integrated teams of experts in user experience, creative design, information architecture, and application design and development. Eric works closely with large online retailers, financial institutions and insurance companies to develop enterprise-wide interactive marketing strategies, and to accelerate the realization of results.

Gary Rose Vice President Emerging Trends & Analysis, Wachovia

Gary Rose provides strategic leadership for Wachovia's Mobile Banking initiates, Web 2.0 projects and other emerging trends in the ecommerce space. Gary has also lead the business strategy for several large initiates for Wachovia in the past including the introduction of Wachovia's Online Statements, Alert Services, and Secure messaging platforms. Gary has been with Wachovia for over 10 years

Gabriel Dalporto Chief Marketing Officer Zecco

Gabriel Dalporto is the Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer at Zecco.com, an online financial community where investors trade stocks for free. In addition to marketing and strategy at Zecco, Gabriel also oversees product management. Prior to joining Zecco, Gabriel was VP of Marketing at E*TRADE where he managed online advertising, website marketing (including website redesign), decision science, consumer research, retention strategy, and call center marketing. Before E*TRADE, Gabriel worked at JP Morgan Chase, The NewPower Company, Mars & Co Consulting and Entergy Operations. Gabriel received an MS in Nuclear Engineering from MIT.

Geoff Galat Vice President, Marketing and Product Strategy Tealeaf

Geoff is responsible for overseeing marketing and product strategy at Tealeaf. Geoff has more than eighteen years of experience in technology marketing, most recently as Vice President of Marketing & Product Management at Tumbleweed Communications, evangelizing the use of the Internet as a channel for secure messaging & communications. Prior to Tumbleweed, Geoff was Vice President of Marketing at Luminate Corporation. Geoff also served six years at Mercury Interactive in a variety of marketing management roles, culminating as Vice President of Corporate Marketing, and was instrumental in Mercury Interactive developing brand awareness and establishing the markets for application testing and application performance management.

Helen Loh Vice President, eMarketing Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.

As Vice President of eMarketing at Charles Schwab, Helen Loh is responsible for prospect acquisition and client development on Schwab.com, the firm’s “flagship store” and its most active client touch point.  Under Ms. Loh’s leadership, Schwab has introduced new content and services on the site to personalize the web experience, deepen client relationships and bring to life Schwab’s brand value of investor advocacy. Prior to Schwab, Ms. Loh built a track record of successful marketing leadership at several technology startups – two of which became publicly traded companies.  Ms. Loh began her marketing career in consumer brand management at Proctor & Gamble and Clorox.  Ms. Loh earned a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering and a Master of Business Administration degree from Stanford University

James Anderson Vice President Electronic Services Michigan First Credit Union

James Anderson is Vice President of Electronic Services for Michigan First Credit Union. James has over 18 years experience in marketing and over 13 years experience relating to Web development, project management and e-commerce development working in the manufacturing, retail and financial service industries. Prior to his current position at Michigan First, James managed the IT Banking Analysis group and Retail Lending IT Program at Flagstar Bank.

Jason Knight Co-founder and CEO Wesabe

With more than 10 years of experience marketing and selling products, Jason Knight saw first-hand the vast amounts of data that businesses compile on their target audiences. As a consumer, he felt a real inequity – he didn't know nearly as much about the places he was shopping as they knew about him. Recognizing how powerful it would be if consumers could aggregate and share their insights on businesses, he joined forces with Marc Hedlund to create Wesabe.

Jennifer Sussman Online Experience Strategist American Century Investment

Jennifer Sussman is Online Experience Strategist for American Century Investments, a premier investment manager headquartered in Kansas City, Mo. Ms. Sussman, who joined the company in 2000, is responsible for online experience development for individual investors and investment professional clients of American Century Investments. Focused on designing, executing and championing consistent, benefit-driven experiences, she leads the team charged with content development, information design, graphic design and web analytics.

JB Brokaw Vice President and General Manager RANGE

JB Brokaw joined Range Online Media in 2005 to oversee the growth of the company’s East Coast division. Since then, he has had the responsibility of managing and cultivating a number of Range’s marquee client relationships, including Accor Hotels North America, Estee Lauder, and Sharper Image.

JB brought to Range Online Media more than six years of interactive and online marketing and leadership experience. He had a successful career with CNET Networks, where he served in the position of National Sales Manager working with some of CNET’s highest growth marketers. JB later went on to serve as the Director of Business Development for Quigo Technologies where he focused on both the DataFeed based and Contextual advertising markets.

JB holds a bachelors degree from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. He resides in Westchester, NY and oversees Range’s New York City office and East Coast presence.

Jeremy Sokolic Vice President of Marketing CashEdge

Jeremy Sokolic is the Vice President for Marketing at CashEdge. He is responsible for product marketing, adoption analysis, new service/product definition, marketing communication, and corporate marketing. During his first seven years at CashEdge, he held the position of Vice President of Product Management. In this role he built the company’s product management group from its inception. Mr. Sokolic has more than 15 years of experience in the financial services industry. Prior to joining CashEdge, Mr. Sokolic was an associate and business analyst at McKinsey & Company, where he served a range of clients in the areas of healthcare and financial services. Previously he was an associate with Atlantic Medical Partners, a private equity investor. Mr. Sokolic received an MBA from Columbia Business School and a BS in Economics from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

Jim Dicso Senior Vice President LivePerson, Inc

As SVP of Enterprise Sales and Professional Services, Jim Dicso is responsible for LivePerson’s global enterprise organization, which includes sales, services and strategic alliances. A key member of LivePerson’s executive management team since 2004, Dicso has been instrumental in the growth and expansion of the company’s enterprise organization. His leadership and drive have contributed to the company’s annual revenue growth of 50% since 2005, and he has helped LivePerson become the standard for businesses to communicate and build relationships with consumers online.

Jon Kaplan Industry Director, Financial Services Google

Jon Kaplan directs Google's North American financial services advertising sales and operations team. Kaplan’s group is located in cities across the U.S. and Canada, providing customers with local partnerships as well as centralized sales and services. His team works with some of the world's most widely recognized brands and advertising agencies, as well as some of the fastest growing medium-sized companies.

Kaplan joined Google from The Economist Group, where he served as Director of Sales and Operations in North America for Economist.com. Before that, he served as Manager of Corporate Partnerships for SFX Sports, working on athlete endorsement contracts and corporate sponsorships of sports properties. He started his career working in event and sports marketing at the PGA of America and the University of Louisville. He sits on the board of the Direct Marketing Association’s Financial Services Council and is a member of Google Grants, a program that supports non-profit organizations with in-kind advertising. Kaplan earned his bachelor's degree in marketing from Ohio Wesleyan and his master’s degree in sports administration from Ohio University.

Julian Chu Director, Internet Acquisition Discover Financial Services LLC

Julian Chu is Director of Internet Acquisition at Discover Financial Services. He is responsible for driving new customer account acquisitions via the internet channel, across the Discover product lines. Before his current role, Julian was responsible for developing new businesses in the area of stored value instruments including prepaid cards and gift cards.

Julian holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation. He holds an M.B.A. and a master’s degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Michigan. Julian earned his bachelor’s degree in physics from the Hong Kong University.

Karla Kahmeyer Advice and Guidance Consultant American Century Investments Electronic Commerce

Karla Kahmeyer is the Advice and Guidance Consultant focusing on vendor relationships and tool development for the Direct distribution channel of American Century Investments, a premier investment manager headquartered in Kansas City, Mo. Ms. Kahmeyer, who joined the company in 1995, is responsible for the advice and guidance strategy for American Century’s retail business. Engineering and executing the advice and guidance strategy uses a combination of key vendor partnerships and in-house development. Ms. Kahmeyer leads a cross-functional team to execute the strategy which includes renovation of existing tools as well as innovation for new solutions. Previously, Ms. Kahmeyer has managed Investor Relations and Web Support teams for American Century.

Kate Clark Director eCommerce Product Development USi, An AT&T Company

Kate Clark is responsible for defining USi's eCommerce product strategy and vision. Kate joined USi in 2006, helping to create a next-generation eCommerce ecosystem to further establish USi as a full service provider that helps organizations deliver more innovation, greater value, increased growth, and compelling customer experiences to their customers and business partners. She has 10 years of eCommerce experience working with B2B and B2C companies to establish and enhance their online strategy.

Kelly Harper Director, Private Client Group Marketing and Client Strategy BMO Financial Group

Kelly Harper is Director, Head of Marketing for Retail Investment Products, BMO Bank of Montreal. Kelly has over 15 years marketing experience, the past 10 years marketing Financial Services. Focusing primarily on developing fully integrated programs that leverage the measurability of the online channel to demonstrate offline success, Kelly is often seen as a pioneer. Her ability to create and develop unique operating models that maximize resources and deliver measurable results has been instrumental in developing award winning campaigns

Ken Murray Chief Marketing Officer J.G. Wentworth

Ken Murray joined J.G. Wentworth, the world leader in creating a free flow of capital for consumers with future payments, in 2006. He is responsible for all aspects of marketing, including advertising, research, lead generation, strategic partnerships, product development, PR and strategy.

Kevin Kohn EVP of Marketing LivePerson Inc.

As EVP of Marketing, Kevin Kohn is a key member of the LivePerson’s executive management team since 2004. He is responsible for LivePerson’s corporate marketing strategies and initiatives, which encompass branding, messaging, product marketing, go-to market execution, industry programs, public relations, and analyst relations. Under Kohn’s leadership, LivePerson has reinforced its position as an industry leader and has become the standard for businesses to communicate and build relationships with consumers online.

Larry Freed President and CEO ForeSee Results

Larry Freed is President and CEO of ForeSee Results, a leading customer satisfaction management company with solutions based on the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). With nearly 20 years senior management experience, his background includes 15 years of experience in the banking sector, holding senior level positions with First Chicago NBD and Bank One. An expert on online customer satisfaction, he is a frequent speaker and commentator on the topic.

Mark Wachen Managing Director Interwoven

Mark Wachen is the Managing Director of Interwoven Optimost. Wachen co-founded Optimost, the company that pioneered multivariable testing and optimization on the internet, in 2001 and served as its CEO up until its acquisition by Interwoven in November 2007. Through his experience at Optimost, Wachen has seen more website optimization experiments than anyone on the planet. Prior to Optimost, Wachen worked for seven years at Sony, overseeing a wide variety of Internet initiatives. Wachen was CEO of Indimi (Internet Direct Marketing Intelligence, Inc.), a company majority-owned by Sony. In this role, he spearheaded the acquisitions of InfoBeat, AdTools, and DailyRating. Under his management, InfoBeat grew from 2 million to 8 million subscribers, and was later sold to Euniverse. Prior to Indimi, Wachen was Vice President of Online Ventures for Sony Music, where he spearheaded many online initiatives, including Sony Music's investments in Spinner (acquired by AOL for $300 million), and the launch of the Sony Music Online Website in 1994. Wachen graduated summa cum laude from Dartmouth College and has an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Matthew Wilcox Vice President, Corporate Marketing and Communications Zions Bank

Matthew Wilcox is Vice President of the Corporate Marketing and Communications department for Zions Bank. He started with Zions Bank in 1999 and his responsibilities include: interactive marketing and product innovation, e-mail marketing, event marketing, and retail and corporate marketing support.

Wilcox is a member of the Utah Advertising Federation, Internet Banking Community Advisory Board, and the E-mail Exchange council.

Wilcox is also active in community affairs. He is a founding member of the United Way of Salt Lake Young Leader’s Board, Junior Achievement of Utah Bowl-A-Thon chair, National Arthritis Walk committee member, and marketing chair for the Salt Lake City Greek Festival.

Wilcox graduated from Westminster College with a BS in Business Marketing and is currently attending the Executive MBA program at the University of Utah. He resides in Salt Lake City with his wife.

Michael Neil Vice President Online Channel Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management

Michael Neil and his team are responsible for strategy, usability, design and maintenance of the internal and external online channels for Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management, Americas Bank Group. His team supports the product areas of home mortgage and equity, securities-based lending, business and retail cards, commercial and retail cash management, commercial lending and finance.

Mickey Mencin Director of Advertising KeyBank

Mickey Mencin, Vice President, Manager of Interactive Marketing & Merchandising at KeyCorp, has 20 years experience in marketing and advertising with an emphasis in online marketing, electronic commerce, merchandising and emerging media strategies.  At KeyCorp, she helps enhance the customer experience of Key’s clients and prospects in both the physical and virtual environments. In her ten years at Key, Mickey launched Key’s first web site, and has directed KeyCorp’s Business-to-Consumer Electronic Commerce Strategy Team.  She also worked in advertising and creative management positions for other major financial institutions including Bank One, Cleveland and National City Bank, Cleveland. In addition, Mickey owned and managed The SPI Group, Cleveland, Inc. an integrated marketing solutions firm with offices in Ohio and New Jersey.

Nathan Carmon Partner Brulant

Nathan focuses on the Financial Services industry with an emphasis on online marketing and sales, secure site design and multi-channel application integration. The majority of his client base consists of large retail and commercial banks where we are their partner for online strategy and branding work, experience-based design and usability, SEO/SEM, and analytics. Nathan’s approach is focused on 5 critical client issues: organic growth, products per household, online adoption, customer retention and cost reduction.

Pablo Azar AVP Marketing Strategy, Measurement and Insights Allstate Insurance

Pablo Azar is responsible for overseeing marketing strategy, consumer insight generation, market research, marketing science, program measurement and measurement reporting at Allstate. Prior to joining Allstate, Pablo was a Marketing Strategy Consultant for several years at Prophet Brand Strategy, the Cambridge Group and Gemini Consulting. In addition to his consulting experience, he worked at Cyrus Intersoft, a software company as President and at Ford New Holland as a Financial Analyst.

Patrick Reetz has more than 12 years of experience in building the online channel at Financial Institutions. He is currently the Vice President and Director of Online Banking for Marshall & Ilsley Corporation (M&I) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. This includes Online Product & Channel Management responsibilities and overseeing business development of the online banking, bill payment, account creation, and public web presence.

Prior to joining M&I, he had been Director and Head of the eBusiness Group for Merrill Lynch Investment Managers in Princeton, New Jersey.

Paul Elliott Partner, Search Marketing Brulant

Paul is the Partner in charge of Brulant's Acquisition Marketing Practice. Paul has nine years of experience in Internet marketing, with a focus on organic search engine optimization and paid search engine marketing. His work has helped countless companies achieve significant results and return on investment from their online marketing investment. He has extensive experience in designing and executing integrated online marketing programs for mid to large sized companies. Paul is a nationally recognized speaker on the topics of online marketing, including recent engagements at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Search Engine Strategies, and Net.Finance.

Having received a personal computer at the age of nine, Rick Starbuck began his professional involvement with computers at fourteen, getting paid by Activision for some optimized graphics code he had written. In the intervening years he has taken a keen interest in computer visualization and user interface and experience, working with dozens of worldclass companies and brands along the way. Starbuck’s early work in 3D animation for television and video reinforced the balance between function and aesthetics in computer graphics and produced an award-winning television spot recognized by Dr. Ruth Westheimer for its role in educating the public on safe sex and AIDS. When the Web began to take shape in 1996, Starbuck joined a startup in Sausalito, California and successfully beat out older, well-established ad agencies for accounts with Disney, Sheraton Hotels & Resorts, Virgin Atlantic Airlines and many others. The startup became an international Web agency with its acquisition by internet behemoth iXL, inc. in 1998 and Starbuck went on to work with Schwab, the Mayo Clinic, Wells Fargo, Travelocity, BV Wines and many more over the next three and a half years.

With the experience gained across multiple projects blending transaction and brand experience, Starbuck began to carefully examine the roles of “technology” and “creative” and how the standard process could be improved through the application of user-centered design techniques. When he finally left the agency world and moved over to Washington Mutual in 2002, he put together a multi-disciplinary front-end team with skills in Information Architecture and Interaction Design, Usability Engineering and Front-End Coding. He has participated on both the Technology and Business sides of the fence for WaMu, and has been instrumental in breaking down the barriers between the two in order to deliver a more effective customer experience and drive profits.

Now the First Vice President of Customer Experience for WaMu’s online team, Starbuck leads the design and forward development of wamu.com and other consumer-facing web properties. His work in redesigning WaMu’s online checking application resulted in an industry-first: an account opening process requiring no paperwork that could be completed, on average, in just under seven minutes. Customers responded to the innovation, and WaMu became a leader in online-originated accounts (both Checking and Savings) as a result. More recently, his teams have been engaged in completely redesigning wamu.com itself – a mammoth project that launched in October of 2007 and sets the stage for another round of growth.

Risa Dimacali Director, Online Marketing Charles Schwab

Risa Dimacali, Director of Online Marketing at Charles Schwab, leads the prospect marketing program for Schwab.com where she is responsible for generating qualified traffic and leads and for acquiring new customers online. Her management areas include search engine optimization, user experience development based on web analytics, online sales chat, website merchandising, interactive tools and community, and online personalization. Ms. Dimacali has over ten years' experience in Internet marketing with leading financial services marketers, focusing on account acquisition programs and online banking marketing. She is a graduate of Florida State University and holds an MBA from the Darden School at the University of Virginia.

Ron has more than 18 years of experience across financial services, e-commerce, and consulting. As the leader of Compete’s Financial Services practice, Ron is responsible for driving marketing efficiency and online channel effectiveness for clients in banking, insurance, and investing. Prior to joining Compete, Mr. Sheklin was co-founder and COO of Partnerwise Communications, a specialty affinity and co-brand partnership marketing firm. Previously, he directed initiatives in lending, e-commerce, and retail deposits at Capital One Financial. Prior to that, Ron was a consultant with Corporate Decisions, Inc. and Mercer Management Consulting delivering customer-driven growth strategies to Fortune 500 and private equity clients.

A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s Management & Technology Program, Mr. Sheklin holds a BS from The Wharton School of Business and a BAS from the School of Engineering and Applied Science.

Sabina Yoon Vice President Online Savings Sales General Banking Group Wachovia Corporation

Sabina manages the online sales team for Wachovia's retail savings products which includes money market accounts, certificates of deposit, savings accounts and the Way2Save program. She is responsible for increasing sales of these products in the online channel through creating a product site that appeals to consumer needs and behaviors and improving the end to end customer experience in completing the sale. Sabina has more than 10 years of experience in internet product management and strategic consulting across several industries, including major financial services companies. Sabina holds an economics degree and an MBA from University of California at Berkeley.

Shari Storm Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer Verity Credit Union

Shari Storm has been with the credit union industry since 1998. Before joining the Verity Credit Union team, she was a director at the non-profit organization, Consumer Credit Counseling Service (CCCS). At CCCS, she spent six years giving money and credit management seminars. Shari’s staff has been using a corporate blog since early 2004. They have found it to be an excellent way to communicate with members on a level never before possible. Shari has an undergraduate degree in speech communications from the University of Washington and earned her MBA from Seattle University.  Her accomplishments include participating in over 60 media interviews on consumer issues, teaching free enterprise in the communist country of Belarus and raising two daughters.

Susan McManus Associate VP, Internet Corporate Marketing Nationwide

Susan McManus, associate vice president for www.nationwide.com, has 10 years of Internet marketing experience in insurance, banking and financial services and currently runs the Interactive Marketing organization at Nationwide. She has responsibility for Internet strategy, user experience (usability and design), social networking, search marketing, e-mail campaigns, web metrics and analytics, and content for consumer facing sites.

Tim Callan Vice President of SSL Product Marketing VeriSign

Tim Callan is Vice President of SSL Product Marketing in VeriSign’s Security Services group. As such, Mr. Callan ensures the effectiveness of customer outreach for all aspects of VeriSign's SSL business. His frequent engagement with customers, technologists, and industry insiders alike leaves him uniquely positioned to view and comment on the cutting edge of industry and technology trends with an eye to the customer's perspective.

Tom Pitkin is the Vice President of Web Marketing & eCommunications at Sovereign Bank. Tom joined Sovereign in April of 2001, and is responsible for setting the strategic direction and execution of all forms of Web marketing at the Bank, including sovereignbank.com; all elements external online marketing, pay-per-click and search engine optimization, and eCommunications; online branding, design, and usability; site reporting and analysis; and competitor, prospect, and customer research and analysis. Included also is the branding and usability of the Bank’s online products, user reference materials, and internal product communications.

He holds a Master’s degree in English from Boston College, and a Bachelor’s in English from Northeastern University in Boston.

Tom Desmond Chief Growth Officer TradeKing

Tom is the Chief Growth Officer for TradeKing, a top-ranked nationally licensed online broker deal. Prior to joining TradeKing, Tom was a co-founder, Partner and Managing Director of Baird Venture Partners, LLC, a venture capital firm based in Chicago, IL. Prior to Baird Venture Partners, Tom served as a Vice President in Robert W. Baird & Co.’s Investment Banking Group. Tom was also a Senior Product Manager and Senior Analyst at Morningstar, Inc. and an Associate in Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s Investment Banking Division. Tom earned an MBA with distinction from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, and MA with high honors from Michigan State University and a BA, cum laude, from the University of Notre Dame.

William Azaroff Interactive Marketing & Channel Manager Vancity

William Azaroff develops interactive marketing initiatives at Vancity, Canada's largest credit union, and pioneered Change.Everything.ca, the groundbreaking change-themed online community targeted to the Vancouver and Victoria areas. William also plans strategy for the online channel, with a view to its potential to help Vancity, its members and the community. William brings nine years of experience in Vancouver, Seattle and Los Angeles producing web projects for such clients as Honda, Disney, Intuit Canada and Nike Jordan.

Jason Shulman Chief Revenue Officer [x+1]

As chief revenue officer, Jason leads [x+1]’s sales, marketing and business development operations. He has more than 15 years experience in facilitating the growth of both advertising agencies and high- technology companies. Regarded as an industry turn-around artist, Jason has increased revenue three fold in two years, while adding new clients, such as Echostar, Monster, Verizon, ESPN and Delta.

Prior to [x+1], Jason was an executive vice president at Carat, the world’s largest independent media services company, where he was responsible for leading all new business efforts in North America. During his tenure, the company experienced double-digit growth year over year and his client roster included: Wachovia, Motorola, AOL, Kodak, Electronic Arts and Western Union.