Jerry Alderman is the founder and CEO of Valkre. Through Valkre, he has helped companies including GE, Owens Corning, Philips, Amgen, Varian, Sabre and others leverage technology to improve Customer Value Creation and Co-Creation. He started his business career at Boise Corporation where he spent 12 years learning and experiencing the unique challenges of B2B companies. Before starting his business career, Jerry served six years on nuclear submarines as a Naval Officer through the Admiral Rickover program. These experiences, combined with a Bachelor Degree in Civil Engineering, a Master’s Degree in Nuclear Engineering, and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business provide the basis for his work.

Jean-François Battoue started his career in the nuclear French sector. He was then appointed as developer from suppliers sector of gas and electricity. He is now working as Commercial Coordination Director for the ENGIE Group. He specializes in the development of energy efficiency solutions across the ENGIE Group subsidiaries and development of partnerships. He is also managing a global relationship program with the Engie key accounts to aim objectives of low carbon emissions and energy saving solutions.

Abby Beckley is the Operations Director for WorldWork, coming from an HR and Marketing background. An affiliate member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, Abby deals predominately with all of WorldWork's client-facing communications. She also covers the day-to-day operations of the business including marketing and technical support for clients. Abby holds a degree in Classical Studies from Royal Holloway, University of London and has contributed short stories to an online Afro-centric publication.

As an Account Executive for LinkedIn Sales Solution, Mr. Blaauboer works with his clients to boost sales results and expand his clients' businesses through social selling. Recognizing that a company’s most valuable marketing tools are its and their professional networks, Mr. Blaauboer uses LinkedIn to enable his clients to benefit from these great assets.

Reinhard is a seasoned executive whose career includes serving in senior positions at major blue chips such as Dun & Bradstreet, Hilti and Royal Nedlloyd. In his 30+ years as CEO, President, GM and EVP, he successfully merged companies and re-engineered business operations on a global scale in a variety of industries and markets worldwide. All of these roles entailed major buying and capital investment decisions.

In addition to serving on Boards as an Independent Director, Reinhard has also conducted numerous workshops and given keynote speeches around the world, all focused on delivering value to customers.

Pierre Bonel is a Swedish national, currently living in Barcelona. He has a background in shipping and transportation and has held multiple different positions in JF Hillebrand since 1994.

JF Hillebrand is a specialist (world leading) global logistics provider for the beer, wine and spirits industries.

Bonel is currently Group Chief Commercial Officer and Executive board member.

Hugues currently serves as Strategic Account Program Coordinator within Air Liquide’s Customer Development Group. He is based at the headquarters in Paris and provides guidance and support to SAMs across the company. Hugues has an extensive experience in customer satisfaction, customer surveys and employee workshops at Air Liquide – prior to his current position, he strongly contributed to the deployment the Customer Mindset Program in more than 60 countries. Before joining Air Liquide, Hugues co-founded a social business company in Indonesia aiming at fighting drinkable water stress. He also worked at EDF on the life extension program of the French nuclear park. Hugues is French, holds an engineering degree from ENSMA and a masters degree in business from ESSEC.

Volkhard Bregulla leads HP’s Global Account in the Manufacturing Industry as well as the German and European Internet of Things (IOT) Program. Mr. Bregulla and his organisation are responsible for addressing and solving business and technology issues and as a result delivering significant business outcome for HP’s largest clients. The responsibility includes the entire HP Enterprise portfolio of technology products and services as well as business solutions.

Previously Mr. Bregulla managed the Global Accounts Organisation in Germany, Central Eastern Europe, Israel and Russia, and Communica-tions Media and Entertainment Industry Vertical, which represent key customer segments for HP’s Enterprise Group business.

In his role, he leads global, regional, and local account organizations who develop, sell and deliver solutions together with a select set of stra-tegic partners and channel organizations for the New Style of IT; with a focus on 4 Transformation areas to Transform, Protect, Power and Ena-ble a New Style of Business.

Since joining HP in 1985 from Siemens AG, Volkhard Bregulla has held a series of executive management positions in regional and global busi-ness units, working for more than a decade out of the US West and East Coast as well as the Networking Division in France and has served on the Board of several of HP’s equity investments and as Chairman of the Board of a HP subsidiary.

LinkedIn's mission is "Connecting buyers and sellers to build relationships" and our vision is to "Elevate the sales profession". Having initiated and led over 100 sales people in his previous role with LinkedIn Sales Navigator, he is no head of the EMEA Enterprise sales team, and Mr. Bubb is perfectly positioned to support LinkedIn's mission and vision.

Dennis J. Chapman Sr. is the Founder and President / CEO of The Chapman Group. The Chapman Group is a sales consulting firm that specializes in creating world class Strategic Account Management organizations through the implementation of innovative engagement processes, methodologies, best practices, and metric-based software tools, including unique and proprietary approaches to capturing and utilizing Voice of Customer feedback. Dennis brings over 25+ years of executive level experience in sales, marketing, and business management to his clients in helping them achieve their goals. He is a dynamic, enthusiastic speaker whose ideas and vision consistently inspire and motivate his audiences. Dennis is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts School of Business and is a past member of the SAMA Board of Directors.

Dominique Coté joined Zoetis in 2013, just as it was separating from Pfizer to become a standalone company. She was part of the EuAfME leadership team and responsible for setting up commercial operations strategies, implementation and organization for the principle company based in Brussels and for the EuAfMe region. From 2010-2013, she was with Pfizer Pharmaceutical Emerging Markets Europe (human pharma),where she was part of the European Regional Leadership team based in Belgium as the business effectiveness lead in Europe, Africa, Russia, India and Turkey. In 36 European emerging markets she was leading activities to optimize profitability and effectiveness of field force. She had key roles in enabling new business models like the retail business, implementing SFA/CRM strategies, looking at resource allocation and deployment capabilities in these roles .She was also the lead for the Global EMBU regarding commercial training/L&D and KAM capabilities and spearheading these strategies for the 70 emerging markets. She comes from Canada where she worked for the first 20 years of her career in the human pharmaceutical industry and joined Pfizer through the Pharmacia acquisition. She has a scientific and research background in genetic and molecular biology.

Dominique has held positions of increasing responsibilities in Canada in the area of specialty markets & oncology, sales, marketing, learning & development, KAM and line management; including P&L management within countries and regionally. She has acquired solid management background in leading the Canadian oncology business as well as EMEA operations and competencies in Key Account Management by being part of spearheading the KAM strategies and implementation while at Pfizer. Her career has also provided her global/varied markets experience and diversified culture knowledge. Dominique sat on the Canadian Board for Pharmaceutical Education before leaving Canada and has been on many global council for learning and development and KAM, and still is very active on Women & Diversity councils.

Since 1993, Patrick Dancourt has held various leadership positions in Europe for Steelcase Inc. (world leader of the office furniture industry) including, Logistic Director France, IT Director for Europe and Managing Director of Steelcase UK from 2000 to 2003. Since 2003, he is the European Procurement Director of Steelcase and leads purchasing teams based in France, Germany and Spain.

Prior to his engagement with Steelcase in 1993, he started his career in 1984 as a consultant in industrial organization and business strategy. In 1989, he joined Salomon as sub-Director Europe Logistics and for five years led various projects to improve the downstream supply chain.

Mr. Dancourt has an engineering degree in Civil Engineering from INSA Lyon, a Master of Sciences in Transportation Engineering from Cornell University and a Licence es Sciences Economiques from Université Lyon II.

In 2015, he was elected to the Board of Directors of AmCham France, representing Steelcase.

Marie Dancourt-Cavanagh is a co-founder at EX3 Excellent International Experience and is an owner of Openingways. She has a background in EU Affairs at the strategic and operational level. She is a tri-lingual coach, cross-cultural facilitator & trainer with a specific focus on expatriation, cross-cultural communication, individual and team leadership, change management as well as organisational development.

For over 20 years, Adrian has been devoted to understanding and applying the principles of successful selling in business. In 2002, Adrian founded Whetstone Inc, to assist Chief Executives and Chief Revenue Officers of mid-sized, B2B corporations create profitable growth by helping them win, keep and grow key accounts. His highly talented team has developed a reputation for leading organizations to innovative and practical solutions that enhance customer value and dramatically increase revenue. Adrian is frequently called upon to advise senior management teams and sales groups on the subjects of sales and corporate strategy, competitive advantage, relationship management and sales excellence.

Graduated from HEC Paris (a prestigious business school) and former student from IHEE (a prestigious European University), Paul de Rosen has development his career as a leader in business transformation of transport and tourism: Line Director for the privatization of British Rail Lines and Director of Marketing for Connex Rail, Line and Commercial Director for the privatization of SNCM; restructuring tourist transportation activities and launching a franchise business, VTC (voiture de tourisme avec chauffeur), a private passenger vehicle service, at Transdev. As the Chief of Commercial and Business Development of Transdev, De Rosen supports the renewal and development of contacts with the French local authorities and the development of new transportation activities and parking lots, offering a full range of shared mobility. In addition, De Rosen invests in digital start-ups.

Herve J. Debaecker, co-­‐Founder and Chief Methodologist Officer of Perfluence, is considered one of the most knowledgeable authorities about strategic sales, sales performance, and transforming companies into world class sales organizations.

A graduate from Ecole Centrale de Paris plus additional degrees in numerical analysis, Mr. Debaecker has occupied international management positions; including CEO or Senior VP positions of companies involved in IT services and consulting (major customers: energy, industry, aerospace, automotive).

With more than 35 years of experience, an in­‐depth knowledge of all the major sales methodologies in use today, and 20 years of research and consulting on the subject that led to some significant in-­‐roads like the RiiM methodology (Relationship Intelligence and Influence Management), Mr. Debaecker has been a frequent speaker at industry and customer events including the SAMA Pan European and US conferences, and the RIM conferences in Europe.

Mr. Debaecker is also a teacher and a trainer, and as such has given hundreds of seminars in management and sales. Mr. Debaecker is American and French.

Martin is Senior Business Leader with extensive expertise in risk management for the entire course of risk; from analysis, assessment and mitigation to optimized risk financing solutions. Being dedicated to risk management as a holistic discipline, Martin has worked very successfully with project consultants, risk managers, intermediates and insurers on challenging and complex risk situations across a wide range of industries and geographies.

Martin has over 25 years of insurance industry expertise as Underwriter, Risk Consultant, In-house Broker, Global Practice Leader and Business Development Manager. Prior to joining AXA MATRIX in 2014, he worked for 16 years as an Underwriter and Key Account Manager for Allianz Global Corporate & Specialties dealing with all lines of business and changed to Siemens Financial Services in 2004 as an In-house Consultant and Global Practice Lead for the global project portfolio. As a Business Development Manager and Global Business Development Practice Leader, Martin has strong focus on marketing, content-leverage and permanent evolution of AXA MATRIX global service portfolio, fostering customer base and creating a forward-looking business development culture joining all internal forces to meet customers’ existing and future demand.

Consistently successful sales & marketing, consulting and business development leadership in North America and EMEA is a hallmark of Karen Fraser’s career as she works effectively with executives and multi-disciplined teams alike. With high energy and a strong business foundation, she has led strategic planning events and academies, sales training programs, and consulting engagements for The TAS Group’s market-leading clients across all industry sectors since 2001. In addition, since 2009, Karen has been a Negotiations Consultant certified in Strategic Negotiations, associated with Think! Inc., named one of the fastest growing private companies in America. Enriching client engagements with her experience at all management levels, Karen brings over 25 years of business knowledge and skill. Her business career began in sales for a major Canadian telecom manufacturing company, followed by senior roles in Sales, Business Development, Corporate Development and Strategy. Later, she excelled at the challenge of Senior Manager leading global sales and marketing team for a major telecom company in Europe. Karen maintains the position of Managing Partner for an independent consultancy in the United Kingdom, specializing in corporate strategic planning and business development with clients throughout the United Kingdom and EMEA. An active member of Executive Connections, Sales Best Practices Organization, BD Networking Association, and Future Trends to name a few, Karen is married and travels extensively.

After graduating from Oxford University, David worked in Paris for three years as the speech writer for the President of IBM Europe. He later founded marketing services consultancy The Business Works, then became Managing Director of Hill Murray Public Relations. He has provided consultancy and strategic advice at CEO level for high-profile companies including IBM, HP, BAE Systems, and Logica, as well as a variety of niche software companies. David joined Huthwaite in 2002 as Business Director overseeing the acquisition of clients and growth of business in the technology sector and from 2009 to 2012 was Sales Director in a period of renewed growth. He has driven some of Huthwaite's largest sales which incorporate the entire range of products and services.

David served on the Huthwaite International board from 2009 to 2012 where he was responsible for winning and developing global enterprise business for all sectors in a period of renewed growth. His current role includes leading many major bids, linking sales and marketing operations, directing Huthwaite’s professional services sector business and forging industry partnerships so ensuring the continued growth in Huthwaite's range of clients, the scope of projects and the variety of solutions, including newly launched offerings.

David is a Fellow of the Institute of Sales & Marketing Management, a council member of the Management Consultants’ Association, and former Chairman of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations MarComs group. He has spoken for Huthwaite at conferences and exhibitions including World of Learning, SMP, annual conferences for IACCM, SAMA and APMP and a variety of academic forums. He has also been on the judging panels for the National Sales Awards and the National Business Awards for many years.

Michael is a member of the North American Global and Risk Solutions team. He previously served as the Chief Operating Officer and Sales Leader for Willis’ global Technology Media & Telecom (TMT) group, concentrating mainly on strategy, business development, communications and marketing. His current focus is on delivering content, insight and connectivity to Willis Risk Solutions and large account communities, and creating an accountable, results oriented business development culture.

Michael has over 30 years of insurance industry expertise as a Broker, Customer Relationship Leader, Industry Practice Leader and Corporate Executive. Over the years, he has worked with brokerage and underwriting colleagues who are solving their customers' most challenging and complex risk issues across a wide range of industries and geographies.

Prior to joining Willis in 2014, Mike was responsible for global broker relationship management for two major insurance companies. He also spent 25 years at Marsh where he served as Global Power Industry Practice Leader, Chairman of Marsh’s Global Industry Practices and Head of New England Operations and New York Operations. In addition, he was an Account Executive serving global customers and a member of Marsh’s Nuclear Consulting group. Prior to joining the insurance industry, he was an Engineering Officer in the US Navy’s Nuclear Submarine program.

Francis Gouillart is President and co-founder of the Experience Co-Creation Partnership (ECC Partnership), a consulting firm built to implement co-creative management processes and organizational capabilities with corporate clients around the world.

Francis is considered a leading authority on the topics of strategy, innovation, transformation, and capabilities-building and is a recognized speaker, lecturer, and advisor on Experience Co-Creation, Blue Ocean Strategy, and Organizational Transformation. He works across the United States, Europe, and Asia, and has experience in most industries. Francis has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, and Fortune, among other publications, and has been featured on CNBC. He is currently working with global management consulting firm PwC Advisory to use co-creation concepts and methods to transform enterprise operations and business models across industries globally.

Dr. Florian Heidecke is partner and Head of Key Account Management at Namics AG, a Switzerland and Germany based digital agency offering the full range of high quality professional services for e-business / e-commerce and brand management. He is leading the company's SAM program.

Florian has previously been holding positions as Director Business Process Management and Executive Assistant to the CEO at arvato (Bertelsmann). His responsibilities included: strategic business development and process management within European HQ of video games publisher Electronic Arts and development and design of customer-specific BPO solutions in the area of online, finance and logistics.

Florian Heidecke holds a doctorate in Business Engineering from the renwowned University of St. Gallen (HSG). There he also led several multinational consulting projects for companies like Roche Pharmaceuticals, Airbus and EADS.

Richard is an engaging speaker who combines a warm, enthusiastic style with powerful insight into customer interaction. He has won and led highly effective development programmes with some of Europe's largest financial institutions. His deep experience of long term projects in the financial sector include the design and delivery of comprehensive relationship management, sales, service and leadership programmes for financial institutions across Europe and the US.

Over the past twenty years he has helped in the development over 5000 individuals from more than 100 financial institutions, ranging from banks to accountants, actuaries, insurers, fund managers and private equity.

Beyond the financial sector Richard focuses particularly on strategic account management. He has consulted and trained for leading manufacturing, logistics and engineering companies; is a guest speaker for business schools, trade associations and professional bodies on both sides of the Atlantic.

Andreas Hinterhuber is a Partner of Hinterhuber & Partners (www.hinterhuber.com), a visiting professor at USI Lugano, Switzerland, and was acting chair and head of the Department of International Management at Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt (Germany). Previously he worked for ten years in global management positions in the chemical and pharmaceutical industry. His main research interest is pricing, and he has published articles in Industrial Marketing Management, Long Range Planning, MIT Sloan Management Review, Journal of Strategic Marketing, Business Horizons and other journals. Together with Stephan Liozu he is co-editor of the books Innovation in Pricing (Routledge, 2012) and The ROI of Pricing (Routledge, 2014).

Maureen Hooft Graafland joined Sotheby’s in 2000 and was appointed Head of the European Client Development and the Private Client Groups in 2012.

Mrs. Hooft Graafland has worked on a number of major client and strategic initiatives, including the establishment and leadership of the European Client Development function in 2006. Mrs. Hooft Graafland has helped Sotheby’s to deepen its client base in Europe, strengthening the firm’s relationships with some of the most European important art collectors.

Prior to joining Sotheby’s, Mrs. Hooft Graafland was a Vice President at JP Morgan in New York and London, where she gained extensive international Corporate Finance experience working with German and Austrian financial institutions.

Mrs. Hooft Graafland is a graduate of Smith College in Massachusetts.

Bradley Humbles is an experienced Certified GrowBIG® Facilitator. He is an engaging, knowledgeable presenter with a deep background in business development training, coaching and consulting.

Bradley has 34 years of experience in business development, business development management, and training, focusing primarily on helping clients gain an understanding of what value means to their clients, and on implementing business strategies to provide that value.

Bradley’s career includes serving as Director of Business Development Training for UPS, which is the world’s largest transportation and logistics company. In his 17 years with UPS, Bradley held a variety of management positions, and was responsible for developing and implementing business development and management training initiatives worldwide. He also worked in various positions with companies in the manufacturing and health care sectors.

Bradley earned a B.A. degree in English from Vanguard University of Southern California. He is a certified HBDI® Practitioner. He lives with his wife in Woodstock, Georgia. They enjoy traveling and have enjoyed beach trips to Mexico several times in the past year. He leads mission trips to the Arms of Love children's home in Nicaragua and enjoys mentoring young leaders in both business and volunteer activities.

Thomas Hürlimann is Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Corporate Business of Zurich Insurance Company Ltd (Zurich). He joined Zurich in March 2003 as Global Head of Group Reinsurance. In 2005, he became Chief Operating Officer for Zurich Global Corporate, and in June 2006 was appointed as CEO Global Corporate in Europe. Thomas was CEO of Global Corporate in Europe (GCiE) for 5 years and he took on his current role in March 2011.

Mr. Hürlimann began his professional life on the banking side, working in treasury and corporate finance as well as on strategic projects. He subsequently spent seven years with Swiss Re where he led the Insurance Practice of Swiss Re New Markets. He was also Managing Director of Fox-Pitt, Kelton. Throughout his career, Mr. Hürlimann has gained international work experience in Central and Eastern Europe, North and South America, South East Asia and West Africa.

Thomas Hürlimann holds a degree in business administration and economics from the University of Zurich and an MBA from IMD, Lausanne, Switzerland.

Pascal Kemps, with DHL since 1999, joined Global Customer Solutions & Innovation (CSI) – the newly founded cross-BU Strategic Account Management group within Deutsche Post DHL – in 2004 as Global Strategy Manager for Automotive, Engineering & Manufacturing and Public Sector.

He has since held various positions within CSI including the roles of Regional Customer Manager and Head of Program Management Office. Before starting a career with DHL, Pascal worked for Black & Decker as a Trade Marketeer. He is a specialist in the fields of International management, Innovation & change management, Cross-cultural management and global integrated Supply chains.

Pascal is holder of a Master in Economics from the University of Brussels, complemented with several sales (leadership)-, leadership- and technical (Prince 2 project management, 6-sigma/lean) certifications.

Brian spent over 12 years focusing on the strategies, processes, and technologies of Differential Value Proposition (DVP) and Customer Relationship Management. He worked in many industries including telecommunications, finance, insurance, health care, building materials, and technology. As a result, he has extensive practical experience in general management, eCommerce, B2B marketing and sales, and change management. Brian holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a BS in Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

With over two decades of international consulting experience, LaVon Koerner is recognized worldwide as a leading expert in diagnosing and transforming sales and marketing organizations. LaVon passionately believes that companies and people can tap systematic disciplines and rigorous analysis to unleash profitable revenues and professionalize the business of sales.

As Chief Revenue Officer,LaVon helps organizations achieve revenue acceleration through demand creation and reap immediate, sustainable gains.

Prior to co-founding Revenue Storm, LaVon spent fifteen years with Holden Corporation, ultimately as its president. LaVon developed Holden’s core training methodology, which has been installed in hundreds of organizations worldwide. Called upon as both a thought leader and coach, LaVon traveled the globe to help organizations uncover the true cost of sales.

LaVon has been privileged to help many of today’s Fortune 500 companies achieve sales excellence, including ABB, HP, IBM, Schneider Electric, TCS, and Wipro. He is uniquely positioned at the forefront of the design and installation of sales and marketing methodologies.

Dan Kosch is Co-President of IMPAX Corporation and co-author of Beyond Selling Value: A Proven Process to Avoid the Vendor Trap. Dan is a leading authority in the areas of strategic account selling, strategic account management (including account planning), sales management/leadership and the integration of strategic selling efforts into broader management systems. His concepts enable organizations to catapult themselves beyond today’s challenges, steering them away from selling based on price and product alone–a long-term formula for failure–and establishing unwavering competitive immunity by creating high-level, long-term strategic customer relationships. 

He has more than 40 years of experience in direct sales, sales management, and sales consulting and training. He is a highly sought-after speaker on a range of sales topics including selling value, strategic account selling, strategic account management, account planning and sales leadership, presentations and gaining competitive immunity.

Alexander Kotschi is responsible for Key Account Management for major European power utilities customers across Siemens businesses. He graduated from University of Erlangen-Nuremberg with a diploma in Business Management. Mr. Kotschi joined Siemens in 1990 and has held various positions in sales, marketing, strategy and finance for both power generation and oil & gas.

Peter Linn has over 25 years’ experience in the Property & Casualty insurance industry and is currently serving as CEO of AXA MATRIX Risk Consultants in USA. His responsibilities include leading all aspects of AXA MATRIX US and Canadian operations including business performance, business development, finances, operations, vendor relationships, and all internal and external relationships (domestic and international). Peter is also leading the global digital initiatives in his group.

Peter is a senior business leader who understands and supports organizational strategy & vision and is an outstanding collaborator with customers, distributors, and all internal & external business partners to promote business results and brand value.

Peter has also enjoyed past career experiences at Zurich, Liberty Mutual, Frank B Hall, and Home Insurance.

Anne-Sophie currently serves as Strategic Customers Director within Air Liquide’s Customer Development Group. She is based at the headquarters in Paris and manages Strategic Account Programs across the company; she is also directly involved in Strategic Account Teams for specific customers. She joined Air Liquide in 2009 and initially worked in the Industrial Merchant division as Business Developer for the French optoelectronics market. In 2011, she joined the Large Industries business line as Marketing Manager before taking the position of Customer Relationship Manager. In this role, she led the development and launch of a worldwide CRM dedicated to Strategic and Key Accounts, coordinated the Large Industries KAM platform, managed Air Liquide’s presence in major international conferences and organized large-scale customer events. Anne-Sophie is Canadian; she holds a Bachelor’s and a Master’s Degree in Physics from McGill University, and a further Master’s Degree in Operations Management from HEC Montréal.

Patrick Mazeau is in charge of the Xerox Innovation Group’s customer-led innovation program, an initiative with the goal of accelerating the pace of bringing disruptive technologies to the marketplace. As such, Mazeau is an expert in predicting how, when and where future technologies are gaining entry into today’s business world. Mazeau started as a software developer in 1989, moving to technical coordination and project management for the French navy. After working in the telecom industry in network management, he came to Xerox in 1996.

As a senior vice president and a strategic account manager, McAllister is responsible for ensuring customer intelligence is being used as effectively as possible to drive bottom line business results for Walker clients. Based near San Diego, her primary focus is working with current and potential clients in the western part of the United States to maximize the strategic impact customer intelligence can have in their organizations. McAllister was previously senior vice president of business development.

McAllister joined Walker in 1991, and worked in a variety of client service roles through 1998. She then served as vice president of inside sales and marketing at telstreet.com – an e-tailer of wireless phones and service – before returning to Walker in 2000 as a member of the business development team. McAllister earned her bachelor's degree in marketing from Indiana University and her master's of business administration from Butler University.

In his roles as entrepreneur and technology executive, Jim McDonnell is a recognized industry leader in cloud software and services. He launched his career with four start-ups, and went on to lead the creation of new Cloud business units at Cisco and Avaya. Today, Jim serves as General Manager, Services Integration Technology Group at Cisco.

Jim rejoined Cisco with the acquisition of SolveDirect, where he served as President, Americas & Chief Product Officer.

While at Cisco earlier, Jim consolidated all software teams within Cisco Services to form the new Smart Services Technology Group, growing the business to $500M over three years and forming an architecturally unified portfolio of Cloud products. He grew the team from 30 into a globally distributed team of 1,000, and scaled the architecture to support 1M daily transactions.

Before joining Cisco, Jim held senior IT positions at Avaya and Openwave.

Michel Milerioux is responsible for executive relation and business development between Engie group and Siemens group since 2011. He graduated from University of Paris with a PHD in computing. After 20 years spent in IT as sales, marketing and services manager, Mr. Milerioux joined Siemens in 2001, holding various positions in sales management in automotive and transportation markets.

Geraldine Pace is a language graduate from Malta University and has a diploma in Advanced Executive Coaching. She is an experienced coach and consultant with over 25 years practice in the training and development of management skills and behaviours. She now concentrates on providing marketing and commercial support to WorldWork in developing and promoting products and events and in communicating with its new and potential licensees.

Bernard started his career in 1969 with The Boston Consulting Group in the Boston and Paris offices. He joined Telemecanique (Schneider Electric Group) in 1975 as Vice President, Corporate Strategy and became VP/General Manager of the Switch Gear division in 1978 and of the Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) division in 1988. In 1994, he joined the management board of AEG Schneider Automation (Schneider Electric Group) as Executive VP, Worldwide Sales and Marketing.

Bernard moved to Chicago in 1997 for Square D/Schneider Electric as Senior VP/General Manager of Schneider Global Business Development (SGBD), the entity managing global strategic accounts (GSAs) for Schneider Electric worldwide. That year, SGBD was managing 24 GSAs, driving $180 million of consolidated sales. By 2001, the entity was managing 74 GSAs with over a billion dollars of consolidated sales. The compounded growth of Schneider Electric sales at GSAs was twice the average growth rate of the total company. Strategic Account Management at Schneider Electric was recognized by the organization and its competitors as a major competitive advantage.

Bernard retired from Schneider Electric in March 2005, and was recruited in 2006 by the Strategic Account Management Association Board of Directors to lead the organization in a new, more practitioner-focused direction. Under Bernard’s leadership, SAMA has experienced significant growth in its corporate membership, and expanded SAMA’s global footprint with a greater presence in Europe and Asia Pacific. He is a frequent keynote speaker and regarded as a leading expert in the principles and practices of strategic customer management.

Olivier joined Air Liquide in 1990 after working for a consulting firm. He held several positions in Air Liquide Group, starting as business developer in the French merchant organization. He then worked more than 10 years for the Air Liquide Electronics business line (supply of gas, equipment and services to semiconductor and flat panel industry). Within this activity, he managed key accounts from Dallas, Texas, then the electronics activity in France, to finally be in charge of electronics markets for Asia, based in Taiwan. He was then sent to Turkey to establish Air Liquide in this country, with 100M€ invested on two main production sites. Before being appointed as Group Chief Customer Officer, Olivier was VP, Central Europe, based in Krakow, Poland.

Dr. Hajo Rapp started his career as a Management Consultant for Management Partner in Stuttgart. From there he moved to Siemens Nixdorf as a sales representative for IT Services, and joined Account Management in 1997. In 1999 he took over his first leading role on an account team responsible for Europe. From 2002 to 2007 he had worldwide responsibility of one of Siemens' largest customers, covering the total Siemens portfolio.

In June 2007 he moved to Siemens Headquarters as Head of Account Management and Market Development within the Corporate Development Department in Munich. He leads a team of specialists which harmonizes the global approaches in account management - like structures and processes - within Siemens.

Tim Riesterer has dedicated his career to improving the conversations salespeople have with prospects and customers. He is the co-author of three books on the subject and has consulted and trained the top companies in the world. As chief strategy and marketing officer for Corporate Visions, he sets the direction and develops products for this leading marketing and sales messaging, tools and training company.

Sonya is a Corporate Coach and Senior Trainer with over 25 years of working experience. Of those, 18 years have been in the private sector where she has held key leading roles with national and European responsibilities, both in large international corporate organisations as well as in small to mid-size organisations, gaining extensive experience in sales, retail, training and development as well as international remote team management.

Jacques Sciammas has held the roles of COO and CFO for several large global corporations, where he was responsible for making executive buying decisions for over 20 years.

Drawing on his Corporate Executive experience, and representing the Executive Buyer’s perspective, he conducts interactive workshops and keynotes for sales teams, engineers, and consultants, on how to successfully sell to the C-Suite and build long-term C-level relationships. His corporate experience includes EVP at Berkshire, Group CFO at Charles Schwab, Director of International Operations at Standard & Poor’s, and Director of Capital Programs at TWA. All the roles entailed directing the company’s buying decisions and selection of vendors.

In addition to conducting workshops around the globe since 2003, Jacques also serves as Chairman of the CFO Council and as President ERG, an international executive firm that conducts operational projects for CEOs, COOs, and CFOs. In addition to family and friends, Jacques counts tennis, impressionist art, film, and world cultures as his passions and splits his time between Europe and the US. BA, MBA, Harvard University Executive Program.

Veronika holds a master's degree from the University of Zürich with focus on organization, IT and process management. At Namics since 2012, she worked in numerous projects on user research, requirement engineering, business processes, design, prototyping and project management in various industry sectors. Having this very broad experience, she joined the key account management team last year and actively participated in the organizational restructuring process.

A leading authority on the cognitive aspect of strategic thinking, Julia is widely recognized for her pioneering work on the application of complex cognitive theory to everyday global strategy practice. She is the author of the definitive book, Learning to Think Strategically (1st ed., Elsevier, 2nd ed., Routledge, 3rd ed. forthcoming, 2016), which was awarded Best Business Book of the Year by the Financial Times (2007). She is a contributing author to Democratic Practices as Learning Opportunities, 2008, and Women as Global Leaders, 2013 and a forthcoming book on strategic thinking in 2016. Additionally, Julia has authored 22 privately commissioned articles and contributed 34 unpublished papers to think tanks and corporations.

Drawing on more than two decades of her own corporate expatriate experience, Julia regularly travels abroad to work on-site with business executives and public policy leaders. Her work aims to expand their focus beyond a strategic planning model to include a more expansive and complex notion of strategy that includes innovation and perpetual change.

Julia is principal of Sloan International Inc., a New York-based executive development firm specializing in strategic thinking for organizations operating in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and North America. In addition to seven of the top-10 most innovative companies, her client base consists of major corporations representing finance, technology, manufacturing, consumer products, petroleum, the United Nations and international agencies. She sits on the advisory board for the Arab-American Policy Consortium and the Silicone Valley start-up, RoboTerra. Julia’s educational background includes a doctorate from Columbia University, master’s study from Yale University and University of Alaska, and undergraduate study from Kent State University.

Todd Snelgrove is the Global Manager of Value at SKF, a leading Global Industrial Engineering Company. He has developed and led SKF’s initiatives to quantify customer value for over 16 years. His main interests lie in value-based pricing, value-based selling, value communication and value quantification. He has published articles on value-based selling and value quantification in the Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management and other journals. He regularly speaks at international conferences and is a guest speaker at the MBA programs of Northwestern University, London Business School, and IMD.

Michael Stevens has more than three decades of Fortune 100 high-technology sales, marketing, senior business management, international and P&L experience, having spent a total of 35 years with 3M, 27 of which were in the globally competitive data storage industry with management positions in the US and Japan.

From 1996-1999 he was with a 3M spin-off company, Imation Corp., where he was General Manager for Optical Storage, and then for Enterprise Storage. He rejoined 3M in 1999, where he spent eight years in the electronics industry. In this capacity, he held executive management, business development and global strategic account management positions, dealing primarily with strategy development and sales execution of leading technologies in the electronic components area.

In early 2007, Michael joined Performance Methods, Inc. (PMI) as a Senior Partner, and focused primarily on companies needing assistance with designing, developing and deploying a Strategic Account Management program.

Michael is the CEO of the best-practice consultancy, The Simplexity Group (TSG).

As CEO of The Summit Group, Phil is a recognized thought leader on business value transformation as part of the go-to-market strategies of some of the world's premier organizations, both in the public and private sectors. In addition to his keynote presentations and engaging programs, Phil serves as a coach, mentor, consultant, and advisor to top leaders across a range of industries and has delivered sessions in over 40 countries. Phil has served on the Board of Directors for SAMA (Strategic Account Management Association) and also leads the CEO Forum as part of the annual National Prayer Breakfast in Washington D.C.

Phil has written for, or been cited in, articles in leading publications that include: The Wall Street Journal, The National Account Management Journal, The Los Angeles Times, Inc., Fast Company, as well as in several best-selling books including Adversity Quotient and The Power of Purpose. In 2014, the book Relevance: Matter More was released; co-written by Phil.

His career includes key leadership positions with US West and ADC Telecommunications. Phil also teaches in various University and Executive Education programs, and has Masters Degrees in Business Administration and Telecommunications Science. He currently is engaged in a Doctorate Program at Middlesex University in London.

Ms. Taphoorn is an enterprise sales professional for Linkedin Sales Solutions, providing sales organizations the ability to transform to social selling champions through the usage of Sales Navigator. Sales Navigator gives sales professionals the ability to follow and engage with their accounts and leads in a personalized dashboard and move from cold acquisition to warm introductions using Teamlink, the ability to leverage your employees network.

Ms. Taphoorn helps companies become successful with overall guidance, sharing of best practices, and helps companies develop true social selling skills! That way companies will experience a better insight and better results in their prospecting activities and a deeper relationship with existing customers.

Lisa Taylor is Global Sales Director for Valéron Strength Films, a division of Illinois Tool Works, which specializes in the worldwide manufacturing of cross laminated high strength films. She leads an international commercial team with strategic clients in the waterproofing, automotive, healthcare, print media, and specialty packaging segments. She has spent the last 13 years with the Illinois Tool Works corporation (NYSE: ITW), a Fortune 250 global multi industrial manufacturing leader, where she has served in multiple strategic areas such as national accounts management, new business development, and new product development for several different ITW divisions. Prior to her promotion to the Valéron division in 2012, Ms. Taylor held the role of Business Unit Manager for the ITW Minigrip unit with full P&L leadership. With a BS degree in Chemical Engineering, Ms. Taylor has fulfilled roles throughout her career in both commercial and operational areas with a focus on value creation and bottom line improvement.

Gert Van den Bossche worked in the Belgian headquarters of ABI as Global Director Logistics Sourcing. He has a background in shipping and transportation, and held multiple positions in Anheuser Busch Inbev since 1997, including working in the former malting houses, brewery export operations and global supply and procurement. Anheuser Busch Inbev (ABI) is the leading global brewer, with brands like Budweiser, Stella and Corona.