2008 Speaker Bios
Randy Adkins
Director
U.S. Air Force Knowledge Management Center of Excellence
As director of the U.S. Air Force Knowledge Management Center of Excellence, Randy Adkins is responsible for strategy development and implementation of knowledge management solutions and knowledge process engineering. Mr. Adkins won the "Hammer" award for reinventing government in 1998 for his work in e-learning and was named one of the 2005 Federal 100 award winners for leaders who made a difference in federal information technology. He has held a variety of positions throughout his career with the Air Force. He has B.A. degree from Texas Tech University and an MBA from the University of Dayton.
Robert S. Bauer, Ph.D.
Chief Technology Officer
H5
Chief Technology Officer (Retired)
Xerox Global Services
Bob Bauer has more than 30 years of leadership in turning innovative technologies into strategic advantages. He is currently chief technology officer of H5, where the best of human expertise and advanced proprietary technologies are combined to provide fully outsourced document review and analytic services designed to replicate expert assessments with unparalleled speed and accuracy. Dr. Bauer is the former vice president and founding CTO of Xerox Global Services. He joined Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) in its inaugural year of 1970. On PARC senior staff, he led the System Sciences Laboratory and created PARC's Advanced Systems Development lab. These organizations delivered socio-technical innovations that leveraged deep understanding of how people can better manage increasing amounts of information in the workplace. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society, and has been an advisor for the National Academy of Sciences, the National Science Foundation, UNESCO, and the federal Departments of Commerce, Defense, and Homeland Security. Dr. Bauer earned M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from Stanford University.
Stephen Cranford
Managing Director
PricewaterhouseCoopers
Stephen Cranford is a managing director with PricewaterhouseCoopers' Advisory practice focused on information technology and data management services. A recognized thought leader with more than 25 years experience in the public and private sector in the areas of business intelligence, data warehousing and knowledge management, Mr. Cranford has significant experience developing and growing global consulting practices for large organizations to provide business intelligence and knowledge management services and solutions to the market. In his managing director role at PwC, Mr. Cranford is responsible for the strategic growth and development of the firm's business intelligence and data management practice. He has been quoted in CIO magazine, Intelligent Enterprise Magazine, the Washington Post and he has had a regular column in Data Management Review. Mr. Cranford holds a B.A. in English literature from the University of Maryland.
Jeanne Holm
Chief Knowledge Architect
NASA and Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
California Institute of Technology
Jeanne Holm leads NASA’s Knowledge Management Team, which helps to gather, provide access to, and reuse the knowledge gathered over the many missions of the U.S. space agency to support future missions and to help drive innovation. Her latest activities involve the transformation of NASA into a learning organization through innovative techniques in developing communities of practice, driving collaboration through advanced gaming and virtual worlds, and connecting people and information for predictive analysis for risks. Ms. Holm chairs a group for the United Nations in the international aerospace community setting standards for how space missions should manage knowledge in the future. She co-chairs the U.S. Federal Knowledge Management Working Group, and serves on several international standards and conference boards. In addition, Ms. Holm is an instructor at UCLA and Pepperdine University, teaching KM strategy, information systems, Web design and social network analysis.
Vijay Koduri
Product Marketing Manager
Google Enterprise
Vijay Koduri heads up the marketing efforts for the enterprise search product line at Google Enterprise. Vijay brings more than 14 years of experience in product marketing, marketing strategy, and business development. Prior to Google, Vijay was a management consultant at Accenture, Diamond Consultants, and Market Strategy Group. Vijay holds an MBA from the University of Michigan, and a B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Mark Kotler
Senior Vice President and Director of Technology Projects
Wells Fargo Foothill
As the senior vice president and director of technology projects at Wells Fargo Foothill, the flagship of North American Commercial Lending industry, Mark Kotler is responsible for enterprise-wide implementations of strategic projects. He drives research and development in data mining, business intelligence, knowledge management, infrastructure optimization and enterprise content management. During his 11 and a half years of tenure with Wells Fargo Foothill, he has always been hands-on involved in numerous complex projects, ranging from creating and maintaining IT standards to administering and enhancing the fundamental enterprise applications to managing systems and enterprise migrations. He holds an MSc in applied mathematics and physics from the world-famous Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, the "Russian MIT."
Scott Koziol
Higher Education Account Executive
Apple, Inc.
Scott Koziol drives Apple awareness throughout Southern California via workshops, presentations, and events. Through his work, Scott exposes campus communities to new tools for digital collaboration and content creation. With roots in the creative arts, Scott focuses on techniques that increase productivity and interactivity through effective usage of technology. An accomplished musician, Scott continues to work as a freelance bassist for some of the top names in the recording industry. Scott is a voting member of the Grammy's and is involved in education initiatives for the Grammy Museum scheduled to open later this year. Scott Koziol holds a bachelor's degree in music from Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts.
Rick Ladd
Information and Learning Specialist
Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne
Rick Ladd joined Rocketdyne in 1987 as part of the team preparing the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) program for the shuttle's return to flight. Before that he spent more than 20 years as a self-employed small business entrepreneur in both the food services industry and the entertainment industry, where he introduced the practice of using portable computers in performing on-site royalty audits on behalf of major recording artists. Rick has worked extensively at Rocketdyne as a process improvement facilitator and has gained a reputation as an articulate and thoughtful problem solver. Rick is a long-time member of the PWR KM team, serves as the KM liaison to the Program Management Office, and is currently lead for the SSME team's knowledge management efforts. He also is the project manager for both AskMe Enterprise, PWR's Expertise Social Networking tool, and Quindi Meeting Companion, one of PWR's methods for capturing meeting, presentation, and educational content.
Darcy Lemons
Senior Project Manager
APQC
Darcy Lemons is a senior project manager with APQC's Customer Solutions Group. In her nine years with APQC, she has led numerous benchmarking studies focused on best practices in knowledge management, including topics such as critical knowledge retention, communities of practice, and Web 2.0 for KM. She was the project manager for APQC's 2007 benchmarking study Retaining Today's Knowledge for Tomorrow's Workforce and a special advisor on the benchmarking study The Role of Evolving Technologies: Accelerating Collaboration and Knowledge Transfer. Additionally, she coauthored APQC's Capturing Critical Knowledge From a Shifting Work Force (2003).
Charlotte Linde
Sociolinguist and Anthropologist
Computational Sciences Division at NASA Ames Research Center
Charlotte Linde works on issues of narrative and institutional memory, knowledge management, human centered computing and work systems design and evaluation. In particular, she examines how people and institutions use narrative to create a sense of "me" or "us" - how we use narratives to remember, and how individuals carry on the stories of the institutions that they join. In addition to narratives, she examines the data bases, forms, file cabinets and procedures which remember (or fail to remember) the details of what the institution has learned and what it has done. She has published two books on narrative and memory: Life Stories: The Creation of Coherence and Working the Past: How Institutions Use Narrative to Remember. She has published a number of papers on space knowledge management, which can be found at http://ic.arc.nasa.gov/people/clinde.
Mark May
Executive Consultant and Program Manager
IBM Global Technology Services (GTS)
Mark May holds 14 years experience leading internal business transformation projects for IBM with a special expertise in global services and its transition to being an asset-based business. Currently he is managing programs and executing projects to implement GTS's brand transformation strategy. He is also the program manager for GTS's communities of practice program and is leading a major IC repository project. In his prior position in the IBM Global Services Knowledge Enablement organization, his work on measuring the business impact of knowledge management contributed directly to IBM's recognition by the APQC as one of five "best practices" companies. Mark has a B.S. in management science and engineering from Stanford University and an MBA from UCLA.
Donald McAlister
Director, Program Management Office
Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne
Don McAlister is responsible defining, deploying, and improving program management processes, tools and best practices; assessing program performance; providing program operations advisory services; and developing program management talent at Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne. Mr. McAlister began his career at Rocketdyne in 1972 as a development engineer in combustion devices engineering. Since that time he has served in a variety of leadership positions in engineering, test, advanced programs and program management. He received a B.S. degree in aerospace engineering from Texas A & M University. He also has a Program Management Certificate from West Coast University, and is a certified professional manager. Mr. McAlister is a member of AIAA, the Project Management Institute, and the Institute of Certified Professional Managers. In 2004 he was recognized for his career contributions with a Stellar Award from the Rotary National Award for Space Achievement Foundation.
Paul McDowall
Knolwedge Management Advisor
Canada School of Public Service
Paul McDowall has more than 30 years experience as a manager and project manager in the federal government. For the last 10 years Paul has lead the knowledge management (KM) and organizational learning activities within Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, the Bank of Canada, and Human Resources and Social Development Canada. He is also the longstanding chairperson of the federal public sector’s Interdepartmental Knowledge Management Forum (IKMF), a community of practice on the topic of applying Knowledge Management in the public sector. Paul is also a frequent speaker at national and international conferences. His educational background is in business administration with a specialization in information technology.
Kurt Motamedi, Ph.D.
Professor of Strategy and Leadership
Graziadio School of Business and Management
Pepperdine University
Dr. Motamedi specializes in strategic management and organization development, design, and behavior. He has served at various companies as president, managing director, managing partner, special projects director, board member, and long-term consultant. He has worked with multinational companies in diverse global industries including biotechnology, semiconductors, software, information technology, health care, news media, and financial services as well as with government organizations at city, county, state, and federal levels. An author of numerous publications and a frequent speaker on management topics, Dr. Motamedi has received the excellence in teaching and service award from UCLA's Ojai Leadership and Engineering and Management programs. He is a fellow of the Division of Applied Behavior Science at UCLA and a member of the Academy of Management and the American Psychological Association.
Dan Nerison
Manager of Knowledge Community Deployment and Performance
Fluor Corporation
Dan Nerison has over eight years experience in Knowledge Management (KM) at Fluor Corporation, including the coordination and performance of highly successful knowledge communities. This included leading organizations through change, influencing individuals and organizations without authority, and planning and executing strategic communication plans through advanced teamwork and collaboration methods. Dan also has 25 years experience in mechanical and piping engineering at Fluor Corp. This included leading design teams on many diverse nuclear and petrochemical projects, in some cases where team members were not fluent with the English language.
David Pender
Visiting Lecturer
University of Adelaide Business School
Principal
Knowledge Perspectives
David has two key roles in his professional life. He is an adjunct academic at the University of Adelaide Business School where he teaches knowledge management, leadership and negotiation in its Executive MBA program in Adelaide, Singapore and Hong Kong. His research interests are in knowledge management with a particular emphasis on collaboration and networks. He is also principal of Knowledge Perspectives, an international consulting collaborative that works with knowledge-intensive firms with an emphasis on “people, platforms and performance,” which borrows heavily from his research. Recent assignments have involved strategy and execution, collaborative R&D clusters, network analysis and metrics. His clients are from both the public and private sector.
Captain Ralph T. Soule
Commanding Officer, Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Conversion and Repair
U.S. Navy
Captain Ralph T. Soule is the supervisor of shipbuilding, conversion and repair, USN, Newport News, Virginia responsible for the U. S. Navy's Aircraft Carrier and Submarine Ship Construction, Nuclear Refueling and Repair Programs at Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding, Newport News Operations. Captain Soule was the first engineering duty officer to be assigned as reactor officer aboard a nuclear powered aircraft carrier and is the senior nuclear qualified engineering duty officer in the Navy. Captain Soule's awards include the Legion of Merit, the Meritorious Service Medal (three awards), the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal (three awards), and various unit awards. He graduated from the Naval Academy with distinction in 1982, earning a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering. He attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he earned master's degrees in nuclear engineering and electrical engineering.
Norman Makoto Su
Doctoral Candidate
UC Irvine
Norman Makoto Su is a doctoral candidate in the Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences at the University of California, Irvine. His research interests include Human Computer Interaction (HCI), Computer System (CSCW), ubiquitous computing, and historical/reflective studies of technology. He has extensive experience with both the technological and social side of computing. On the technological side, Mr. Su has developed novel user interfaces for mobile systems as well as wireless sensor enabled smart spaces for film and video. On the social side, he has conducted a large scale survey of bloggers across international cultures as well as an ethnography on nomadic (extremely mobile) workers. He is currently conducting a longitudinal study investigating the communication patterns of people who utilize information technologies in their everyday lives to manage and interact with their communities. Additionally, he is investigating how corporations view, implement, and espouse knowledge management practices to their industry peers and coworkers.
Stew Sutton
Director of Knowledge Management
The Aerospace Corporation
Stew Sutton leads the knowledge management initiatives for The Aerospace Corporation, providing acquisition support and oversight to the Air Force Space and Missiles Center. He directs multiple strategic initiatives addressing workforce collaboration and knowledge stewardship. As head of the corporation's Knowledge Management Office, Mr. Sutton also leads the Aerospace Knowledge Management Community of Practice, which is chartered to continually
improve cross-organizational knowledge management outcomes. The Aerospace KM Strategic Initiative has prospered under Mr. Sutton's tenure with the introduction of an enterprise-wide reporting system for technical and programmatic issues, an enterprise level document management service, and Communities of Practice to address the complex cross-organizational stewardship of knowledge within The Aerospace Corporation. Mr. Sutton has more than 25 years experience in product development, project management, and consulting of modern information technology solutions.
Deone Zell
Associate Professor
California State University, Northridge
Dr. Deone Zell joined the CSUN faculty in 1998. Before coming to CSUN, she worked in consulting, taught at UCLA and worked as an industrial anthropologist on large-scale research projects at companies such as Hewlett-Packard, McDonnell-Douglas and New United Motors Manufacturing, Inc. (NUMMI). She is the author or co-author of three academic books and various articles in scholarly journals. Her research interests include organizational change, the diffusion of innovations, social networks, and strategic organizational alignment. Dr. Zell earned her Ph.D. at UCLA.
