Bharadwaj, Daniel
ExcelaCom, Inc.

Daniel P. Bharadwaj is a Business Manager at ExcelaCom, Inc., a global business solutions provider and consultancy. His unique mix of engagements with Fortune 50 and global leaders in Telecommunications, Media and Research industries has positioned him as a subject matter expert, trainer,  advisor and mentor in Project Management, “go to” market strategies, QA, Performance Management and the PMO. He also has deep functional background in marketing, sales, billing, order management/fulfillment, customer care and various software development lifecycles, including managing the rollout of a CMMI compliant quality management system. Daniel has an MBA and is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP), is an active volunteer at the PMI Delaware Valley Chapter, PMI Metrics SIG and the audit division of the American Society for Quality. He loves to read, play golf and mentor young adults.

 

Chyi, Mike
Compuware MdLean, VA

Mike Chyi has over twenty years of experience in the IT industry with fifteen years in software testing specially focused on load testing.  He has led numerous load testing projects while working with Performix, Pure and currently a lead Application Performance Assurance (APA) expert at Compuware Corporation.  His load testing background and experience had assisted in resolving numerous performance issues that positioned him as a subject matter expert, trainer, trusted advisor and mentor.  Mike has a Ph.D degree in Geology from Princeton and a  MS degree in Computer Science from  John Hopkins.

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Eichstadt, Brad
RMS McGladrey

Brad is an experienced professional with an extensive background in managing large multi-million dollar programs/project implementations. He has approximately 10 years of project/program management experience across such diverse industries as telecom, banking, pharmaceuticals and others.  Brad excels at managing complex business, technological, and organizational projects on behalf of business organizations through implementation of effective solutions and delivering desired results. He is recognized in the Project Management community for his skills in Project/Program management and has been an invited guest subject matter expert speaker at both local Kansas City and regional project management conferences.  He is a published author in Telephony magazine on telecomm business continuity practices and holds multiple certifications in a variety of disciplines including project management, software quality assurance, production/inventory management and software testing tools.

Brad has spent 15 of the last 20 years in management consulting with such companies as Accenture (as Andersen Consulting), CapGemini, Ernst & Young and his current position at RSM McGladrey in the Strategy and Operations consulting group.  His industry experience includes telecomm, media and entertainment, financial services and manufacturing/ warehousing services.  Brad attended the University of MM – Mankato where he received degrees in International Business Administration and Computer Science.

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Giacometti, Michael
Capgemini

Michael Giacometti is a Manager at Capgemini focusing on Quality Assurance and Quality Control.  Mr. Giacometti has over 10 years experience with IT Governance, Project Management, and Quality Assurance.  He has spent most of his career creating Quality Assurance Departments and creating Testing Centers of Excellence.  He has also delivered multi-million dollar projects for Fortune 500 organizations.  Lately, he has been focusing on Organizational Transformation around Quality Assurance and IT Governance.

One of Mr. Giacometti's primary roles has been working with Sr. Executives, Management, and Decision Makers on transforming and optimizing their Project and Portfolio Management practices.  Through this, he has successfully cut hundreds of thousands of dollars from an organization's IT budget while increasing their headcount.  He has closely worked with Fortune 100 companies around Quality Assurance.  He is recognized as an expert in Quality Assurance and Quality Control.  He has published numerous white papers and presented at conferences such as Mercury World, HP Software Universe, Better Software Conference and Expo, as well as for the Quality Assurance Institute; all around optimizing IT departments through Quality Assurance.

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Greene, Karen M. - CSTE
Deloitte Consulting, LLP

Karen has over 10 years of experience in testing, managing, and developing best practice for agile and traditional waterfall methodologies, mainframe, client/server, and web-based applications.  She spent 2003 through 2005 working solely on agile teams as a test lead for major insurance and telecommunications companies.  She has firsthand experience as a test analyst, consultant, team leader, and manager for several Fortune 500 companies.  Karen works for Deloitte Consulting LLP and has an active leadership role in Deloitte’s Global Testing Practice and Southeast Testing Community.  She is a Certified Software Tester (CSTE) through the Quality Assurance Institute.  Additionally, she has a B.S. degree in Information Systems and an M.S. degree in Quality Assurance.

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Grossman, Paul
Technisource

An HP Certified Instructor and a Senior Consultant heading up test automation projects for clients. As a national company resource, his responsibilities include Proof of Concept projects support sales, technical screenings of potential candidates, and leading product training classes. He most recently participated as a Beta tester for HP's Quick Test Professional 9.5 product.

Paul continually explores avenues that take advantage of multiple Test Automation Tools including Quick Test Professional and AutoIt3. Paul has also participated in the implementation, customization and administration of several Quality Center projects. Prior to joining Spherion, he used legacy Mercury automation tools for several years leading a successful automation project for a major medical device manufacturer. His project focused on automated endurance stress testing and regression testing using WinRunner. His career features a wide variety of experiences including product testing for a military defense contractor, providing product testing for a video production software company, and as a video editor for a major network television affiliate in Savannah, Georgia. Paul is a veteran track presenter at multiple conferences including Mercury World, HP Universe and PSTT/PSQT.

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Jackelen, George - PMP
Software Consultants, Inc. (SCI)

George Jackelen is working with Software Consultants, Inc. (SCI), Lanham, MD, as a Principle Consultant.  Since 1996 he has provided Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) analytical and management support to various Federal agencies and the States of Colorado and California.  Prior to that, he spent 10 years performing quality assurance analysis.  He spent 20 years in the United States Air Force in various computer jobs and also assisted ISO, IEEE and PMI to develop standards.

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Jarzombek, Joe - PMP
Director of Software Assurance, Homeland Security - Cyber Security Division

Joe Jarzombek is the Director for Software Assurance in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) National Cyber Security Division.  He leads government interagency efforts with industry, academia, and standards organizations to shift the security paradigm away from patch management by addressing security needs in work force education and training, research and development (especially diagnostic tools), and development and acquisition practices.  After retiring from the U.S. Air Force as a Lt. Col. in program management, Jarzombek worked in the cyber security industry as vice president for product and process engineering. He later served in two software-related positions within the Office of the Secretary of Defense prior to accepting his current position.  As a Project Management Professional, Jarzombek has spoken extensively on measurement, software assurance, and acquisition topics.  He encourages further review of DHS-sponsored software assurance efforts via the Build Security In website.

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Kennedy, Yolonda
PepsiCo Business Solutions Group

Yolonda Kennedy is a Quality Assurance professional with 10+ years of experience with expertise in leading quality and testing initiatives. She has proven ability to drive organizational change to maximize processes and deliver quality systems resulting in higher levels of efficiency and productivity.

Yolonda is a Test Manager in PepsiCo’s Enterprise Test Center of Excellence and has been employed by PepsiCo for 8+ years. She is experienced in test planning, test design, test execution, and test process improvement. Yolonda has been a QA Analyst and Lead, Performance Test Engineer and Lead, Business Analyst, and Test Process Specialist.

Yolonda has a B.S. degree in Computer Science/Mathematics and an M.B.A. in Information Technology. She also holds a Certified Quality Improvement Associate (CQIA) certification from the American Society for Quality (ASQ), Certified Software Test Engineer (CSTE) certification from the Quality Assurance Institute (QAI) and the Certified Tester, Foundational Level (CTFL) certification from the International Software Testing Qualifications Board (ISTQB).

Yolonda has also been a speaker at the 2004 Mercury World Conference in on the topic “Test Director Test Management and Offshore Testing.”

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Mayo, Joseph
Keane Federal Systems

IT Professional with 25 years of experience including 13 years of hands-on development and 12 years of Project and Program Management.  Mr. Mayo has spent 17 of the past 25 years as a consultant for a number of companies including CSC and Keane.  Mr. Mayo holds a BS/IT degree from the University of Phoenix.  Career highlights include:

  • Developed PMO procedures, the collaboration workspace, and Executive level dashboards for a PMO to divest a large International conglomerate ($18B 2005 revenue). The PMO was responsible for cloning 112 Corporate Applications for 4 separate operating companies, and renegotiating 1300 telecommunications, IT service and license contracts without impacting the day to day operations of any one of the operating companies. This project was selected as #7 of the top 100 IT Projects of 2006 by InfoWorld.
  • Leveraged the Rational Unified Process (RUP) and the Evolutionary Process for Integrating COTS (EPIC) to deliver new capability that dramatically improved the efficiency of the Air Force supply chain resulting in a ROI calculated at 6:1 in the first 12 months alone.

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McCown, Patricia
EDS

Patty McCown has been with EDS almost 27 years where she has performed roles of software engineering, project management and quality assurance.  Patty is currently a Certified Software Quality Engineer (CSQE) in the American Society of Quality (ASQ) and PMI Certified Project Manager.
Over the past seven years, Patty has established and developed the Quality Assurance Program for the EDS Healthcare Industry organization, which was essential for the organization to be assessed at CMMI Level 3.

  Patty’s current role is Quality Assurance Audit Coordinator for the US Applications Division at EDS where she frequently presents organizational QA results to leadership meetings.  Patty was also a presenter at 2007 SEPG conference in Austin Texas on this topic.

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Oliva, Lawrence
CH2M Hill, Inc.

Lawrence Oliva is a senior Program Manager with CH2M HILL Inc., specializing in IT Risk Management and IT Strategic Technology Planning. He leads mid to large IT programs for federal government and commercial clients having unique technical risks or challenges that require substantial risk management or strategic positioning. Mr. Oliva is a Professional Project Manager (PMP), and during the past 25 years has led major software development and IT technology development programs for Dell, Sun Microsystems, NCR and Computer Sciences Corporation.  He has applied formal methodologies to projects including the PMI Book of Knowledge (PMBoK), Total Quality Management (TQM), Capabilities Maturity Model (CMM), Just-in-Time (JIT), and 6Sigma. He is currently managing projects for the Department of Energy and General Services Administration.

In 2003, Mr. Oliva received the Donald S. Barrie Award from the Project Management Institute for his presentation on “Successfully Managing, High-Risk, Critical-Path Projects.”

In 2005, based on his experience managing large government projects, Mr. Oliva was selected by PMI to be a core team member and contributor for version three of the PMBoK Government Extensions Update handbook. The handbook provides guidance and expertise concerning the differences between government and commercial project management practices, and is used by Project Managers around the world. Mr. Oliva has taught project management and business leadership classes at several universities.

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Sivakumar Thekkenaduvath & Padmakumar Gopalakrishnan Nair
QAL Associates

QALabs, Canada is a subsidiary of US Technology Global, CA which owns all quality control and testing solutions within the organization. UST-Global is providing various test automation services to fortune 500 companies for more than 7 years.

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Phippen, John G. - CSQA, CSPM, CSA, CISA

John has worked in the area of Software Quality and Process for more than twenty five years, for major defense contractors, government organizations, and in wider general industry areas in both Australia and the United States.  He has assisted a number of clients in both public and private sectors to achieve ISO 9001 registration, has performed third party audits for a number of registrars, and has also led many process improvement activities.  His most recent work has involved the definition and implementation of IT Service pro cesses within an ISO 9001 and CMMI environment.  He currently represents USA on the International Systems and Software Engineering Standards Committee.  He has published a number of papers on aspects of Software Process and Quality.  John holds a number of respected industry certifications in quality, assessment, project management and auditing.

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Porter, Tangela
Deloitte Consulting, LLP

Tangela Porter is a Manager at Deloitte Consulting LLP focusing on delivering technology solutions for Deloitte’s Consumer & Industrial Products Practice.  With over 10 years of experience, she has played managerial and hands-on roles across all phases of the SDLC for large-scale system development projects.  Tangela has extensive management experience in software testing, requirements gathering, product management, and developing best practice methodologies for software applications in mainframe, client/server, and web based environments. Her knowledge of the software development life cycle, test methodologies, PMI methodology, and requirements management spans the telecommunications, retail, real estate, and email security industries.  Tangela is a Certified Software Tester (CSTE).

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Rinko-Gay, William
Spherion

Bill Rinko-Gay is a Solutions Director for Spherion.  Bill has been involved in Software Test and Quality Assurance since 1982 when he began testing command and control software for orbiting satellites.  Frustrated with the lack of structure in the testing program Bill began working on a more comprehensive approach to software quality.  Since leaving the space program Bill has worked on projects in defense, computer manufacturing, publishing, computer security, financial, state and local governments.  With experience in development teams ranging in size from three to sixty and in the middle of his third decade in the field, Bill is still looking for techniques to allow teams to work well.  His most recent research is in Agile methodologies, and the role of Software Quality Assurance in these methodologies.  Bill currently holds PMP and CSQA certifications.


Schofield, Joe
Sandia National Labs

Joe Schofield is a husband, father, and a Distinguished Member of the Technical Staff at Sandia National Laboratories.  He serves as the SEPG Chair for an organization of about 400 personnel which was awarded a SW-CMM® Level 3 in 2005.  He continues as the migration lead to CMMI® Level 4.  Joe has facilitated over 100 teams in the areas of software specification, team building and organizational planning, using lean six sigma and business process reengineering.  Beyond Sandia, he has taught graduate courses since 1990 and is a licensed and practicing girl’s mid-school basketball coach.  He has over three dozen published papers, conference presentations and keynotes—including contributions to the book IT Measurement.  He is a SEI-authorized Instructor for the Introduction to the CMMI®, Certified Quality Analyst, Certified Function Point Specialist, Certified Software Measurement Specialist, and a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt.  He serves on the Board of the International Function Point Users Group (IFPUG).  Joe is a frequent presenter in the Software Best Practices Webinar Series sponsored by Computer Aid, Inc.  Joe completed his Master’s degree in MIS at the University of Arizona in 1980.


Ticknor, Tom
Chief Operating Officer, Quality Assurance Institute

Mr. Ticknor has over 25 years of experience in IT software development and quality. He has a wide range of experience including management of product design teams, development teams, software QA and testing departments.

Mr. Ticknor has been a speaker at testing and quality conferences, software development trade conferences and has spoken both in the U.S. and internationally.

Mr. Ticknor was recently named to the post of Chief Operating Officer for the Quality Assurance Institute overseeing the daily operations of QAI’s worldwide business activities. Before joining QAI, Mr. Ticknor held executive level positions with software development companies in Boston and Orlando.

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Williams, Ralph
Cooliemon

Ralph Williams, President and Founder of Cooliemon, LLC - a Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) Software Engineering Institute (SEI) Transition Partner - is one of the most active SEI CMMI® Lead Appraisers in the world. His unique ways of communicating through storytelling, and his creative consulting style have secured him a solid reputation in the business world and have made him an in-demand speaker at international conferences.

Ralph earned his Bachelor’s in Mathematics and Computer Science at Northumbria University. His new book, Stomp Yer Croc!, is the result of his extensive experience as a business and process improvement consultant. His expertise in multiple models and standards such as ISO, IEEE, CMMI®, and ITIL combined with practical working knowledge from classical Quality Improvement methods established by Juran, Deming, and Shewhart has earned him a reputation in the organizational improvement field.

Ralph has provided services for clients ranging from commercial firms such as Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, Argon ST, Constella Health Sciences, and JP Morgan Chase Manhattan and government agencies such as the Federal Energy and Research Commission.

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