Recap WITI Boston - October 24, 2012 Leadership Networking: Creating Your Competitive Advantage

  Recap WITI Boston - November 28, 2012 WITI Offline "A Tasting Tour of Fine Chocolates"

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Boston Leadership Team

Regional Director - Deborah Stark

Deb Stark is an award-winning marketing professional with demonstrated success increasing profitability and visibility for technology companies and market research firms across multiple verticals and geographies. Currently at Charles River Development, a leading investment management solutions company based in Burlington, MA, she creates content rich marketing programs and manages field events for the Americas.

Deb was formerly the Director of Marketing at CXO Media's CIO Executive Council and was responsible for brand positioning, demand generation, sales enablement, and a variety of virtual and in-person events. Through extensive collaboration across IDG Enterprise, Deb increased revenue through strategic lead generation programs including a recent Executive Women in IT multi-city workshop series.

Prior to CXO Media, Deb was the marketing director for Industry Insights at IDC and implemented brand and lead management programs for the financial services, government, manufacturing and retail sectors. Prior to marketing research, Deb provided marketing services for technology companies including Financial Fusion, Sybase and Powersoft. Deb holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management from Northeastern University and is a co-chair within the WITI chapter in Boston.

Social Media Chair - Kelly Burton

Kelly Burton is excited to call Boston home after having lived in 6 cities (Toronto, Amsterdam, Stuttgart, Basel, Zurich and Tokyo) in the last 6 years. Originally from Toronto, Kelly dates her involvement in technology to 1998, when she was the first Account Director at Canada's largest newspaper (The Toronto Star) to switch from print to online. She developed integrated sales programs for clients like GM and IBM before creating the first digital training program for the paper.

Kelly's last role in her native Canada was as Product Manager for the Digital Division of DAC Group; a leading multi-platform Digital and Directory agency with 7 offices across the United States and Canada. There she led a team of product specialists and provided project management support for their work in directory, CPM, CPC and SEM campaigns billing $4 million (USD).

Outside North America, Kelly worked as a Global Key Account Manager for Zanox; the leading European performance advertising network before starting her own digital consultancy: Burton Media Consulting. She brings her expertise in online marketing, social media, PR and engagement to her role as Social Media Chair for the Boston chapter.

Membership Chair - Marina Gil-Santamaria

Marina Gil-Santamaria joins the WITI Boston Leadership team as Chair for Membership, where she will be bring her community-building and customer engagement skills to this role. She is the Founder & President of Blue Arrow Marketing Inc., a strategic, product management and marketing consulting company focused on advancing technology firms marketing and sales efficiency by 200% or more.

During the past 14 years, Marina has held leadership positions in development, professional services, product management and product marketing with organizations such as CA, Wily, Empirix, Oracle and Gomez. Most recently Marina was the Director of Product Marketing Management at Ipswitch's IT Management Division --where she built and managed the Product Marketing department from the ground up, and was responsible for Go-to-Market strategies, messaging and positioning worldwide.

Earlier in her career she was responsible for planning, launching, managing and evangelizing a new online community, QAZone, which was subsequently acquired by Oracle. Over a short period, QAZone grew from conception to a community of 15,000+ members and 100,000+ monthly visitors.

Marina holds an MS in electrical engineering from the Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, Spain. She came to America as a Visiting Scientist at the Electrical and Computer Engineering School at Boston University.

Sponsorship Chair - Alison C. Duncanson

Alison C. Duncanson has over 15 years of sales and marketing experience, and is currently the Director of Business Development for Softeach, Inc.- a national computer training company specializing in customized training for its client needs. Alison brings a unique set of sales, marketing, and leadership skills to Softeach, Inc. As the Director of Business Development, she is responsible for increasing revenue through sales and marketing efforts.

Alison retired from the Massachusetts Army National Guard in April 2012 after 20 years of service. As a Platoon Sergeant she was a leader of Soldiers, responsible for the health and well-being of over 50 people as well as upwards of 4 million dollars of equipment. Her service included many overseas deployments, most recently in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

With her civilian and military background, Alison brings leadership, drive, and self-discipline to her work. Alison is excited to be the Sponsorship Chair of Women in Technology International-Boston.

Alliances - Universities - Mary Ellen Sullivan

Mary Ellen Sullivan is a Talent & Learning Professional with innovative knowledge management and learning development expertise. She is a disciplined and effective project manager leading projects in high-profile and fast-changing areas of the technology services business. She is an early adopter and pioneer in innovative technology delivery in eLearning and virtual worlds. Mary Ellen joins the WITI Boston Leadership team as Chair for Education Alliances and Co-Chair Programs & Events.

Mary Ellen was formerly with IBM for 10 years and most recently the Talent & Learning Portfolio/Project Manager for IBM Marketing & Communications. She was responsible for the M&C Learning Portfolio Strategy leading Expertise Assessment to define & develop required learning and the Talent & Learning lead for External Relations, Brand Systems, and Workforce & Field Enablement. Prior roles include Learning and Knowledge Lead for IBM, Global Business Services, Technology Strategy and Global Knowledge Manager. She designed and delivered learning curriculum on a wide variety of topics, including strategy, governance, business value, leadership, innovative technologies, wikis and blogs, collaboration tools, and Second Life.

Programs / Events / C-Level Connection - Nirva Fereshetian

Nirva Fereshetian is a highly skilled senior Information Technology leader, experienced in managing projects and people with an interdisciplinary background in Architecture/Construction/Technology and a capacity to bridge that knowledge to enable informed business decisions and increased productivity.

She is currently the Chief Information Officer at CBT Architects, a professional design firm providing services nationally and internationally in architecture, interior design, urban design and site planning. She is responsible for aligning business technology strategy to meet primary business objectives. She specializes in leading and managing technology solutions in creative design environments, technology adoption and change management. Results driven Information Systems Executive delivering Practice Services (Building Information Modeling), Knowledge Services (Business Intelligence, Collaboration, Corporate Knowledge) and IT Services (Infrastructure Management, Vendor Relations and Application Deployment). Her experience includes delivery of cost effective information services, outsourced business models, virtualization, cloud computing, collaborative technologies and business analytics. She is a member of AIA CIO Large Firm Roundtable and AEC/IT Leaders organization.