Keynote Speaker:
Brian Halligan
Co-Founder and CEO
HubSpot
Brian Patrick Halligan is CEO & Co-Founder of HubSpot, a marketing software company he co-founded six years ago to help businesses transform the way they market their products. Since its founding, HubSpot has accumulated over 8,000 customers. He is a Senior Lecturer at MIT where he teaches 15.S16 Entrepreneurial Product Development and Marketing. He is author of two books:Marketing Lessons From the Grateful Dead and Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media, and Blogs, which is in its seventh printing, has sold more than 50,000 copies, has been translated into nine languages, and peaked at #17 overall on the Amazon bestseller list. Brian was named an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year 2011 New England award recipient. In his spare time, he sits on a few boards of directors, follows his beloved Red Sox, goes to the gym, and is learning to play guitar.
Technology Enabled Services Executive Panel
This panel will feature a group of high profile CEOs and senior executives who will attempt to define the term "Tech Enabled Services" and discuss the evolution and variety of business models in this sector, as well as how they are changing the way customers view and consume technology.
Moderated by Mark Schlack
Senior Vice President - Editorial
Tech Target
Mark Schlack is Senior Vice President, Editorial at TechTarget. Mr. Schlack has covered the use of technology in business for 30 years, concentrating on computer technology for the last 20 years. His focus has been largely online since 1998. Mr. Schlack is currently driving TechTarget’s global expansion, overseeing editorial survey research, as well as shaping editorial policy and strategy for the company as a whole.
Mr. Schlack oversees a group of 140 editors (augmented by about 300 freelancers) on over 100 web sites that produce a mix of original news, features, and tips, as well as blogs, video, audio and other non-traditional content. The audience for these sites is several million IT professionals in the US and world wide.
Prior to TechTarget, Mark was Editor in Chief of BYTE magazine, where he was responsible for both print and Web versions of the magazine, both domestically and internationally. He also served as VP/Content for EarthWeb, and VP/Editorial for ITworld.com.
Mr. Schlack has been the recipient of a number of publishing awards, including a Jesse H. Neal Award and Certificate and numerous awards from ASBPE, the American Society of Business Press Editors. Currently he is the vice-president and a board member of the ASBPE, which is the professional association for business to business journalists. He graduated from the University of Michigan with a BA in Creative Writing, and has since studied both electronics and biology at the university level.
David Friend
Chairman & CEO
Carbonite
David Friend has been a successful technology entrepreneur for over 25 years. After serving as President of ARP Instruments, he co-founded four companies: Sonexis, FaxNet, Pilot Software, and Computer Pictures Corporation. In 2010, David was named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in the Emerging Technology category for the New England Region. He has been featured in USA Today, Tech Capital, The Boston Globe, Mass HiTech, Fortune, Forbes and Tom Peter's best-selling management book, The Pursuit of Wow!
David has been a lecturer at MIT's Sloan School of Management and is an active supporter of music and the arts in Boston. He is a trustee (emeritus) of the New England Conservatory, Berklee College of Music, and the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C.
David holds a bachelor's degree in engineering from Yale University and attended the Princeton University Graduate School of Engineering where he was a David Sarnoff Fellow. He is an avid marathoner, distance cyclist, windsurfer, and hiker.
Bob Badavas
CEO
PlumChoice
Robert P. Badavas has served as President and Chief Executive Officer of PlumChoice, Inc. since January 2012. A venture backed provider of technology services solutions, PlumChoice transforms customer relationship value for Fortune 500 companies by optimizing the benefits its people and companies expect from their technology. Mr. Badavas also has served on the Company’s board of directors since November 2010.
Previously, Mr. Badavas served as President of Petros Ventures, Inc., a management and advisory services firm. He was President and Chief Executive Officer of TAC Worldwide, a multi-national, technical workforce management and business services company, from December 2005 through October 2009, and Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of the Company from November 2003 to December 2005. Prior to joining TAC Worldwide, Mr. Badavas was a Partner and Chief Operating Officer of Atlas Venture, an international venture capital firm, from September 2001 to September 2003, and Chief Executive Officer at Cerulean Technology, Inc., a venture-capital backed wireless application software company from 1995 to 2001.
Mr. Badavas serves on the boards of directors of Constant Contact, Inc. (NASDAQ: CTCT), a provider of engagement marketing solutions for small business, associations, and non-profit organizations, and Hercules Technology Growth Capital (NASDAQ: HTGC), a specialty finance company serving technology, life science, and clean technology venture backed companies.
In addition, Mr. Badavas is the Vice Chairman of the board of trustees of Bentley University in Waltham, MA. and on the Executive Committee of the board of trustees of Hellenic College/Holy Cross School of Theology in Brookline, MA. He is Chairman Emeritus of The Learning Center for the Deaf in Framingham, MA. A certified public accountant with nine years of experience, Mr. Badavas spent his early career at PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP. Mr. Badavas is a magna cum laude graduate of Bentley University with a BS in Accounting and Finance.
Pete Canonne,
President & CEO
OnForce
With two decades of leadership and sales experience, Cannone is the top executive officer of OnForce with ultimate responsibility for product development, operations, sales, and marketing. Prior to assuming his current role, Cannone served as senior vice president of sales and operations at PC Connection. Cannone has a broad perspective on overarching trends in the service sector and an extensive understanding of the technology services industry that drives the strategic direction and value provided by OnForce. Cannone earned a B.A. in Economics from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and an M.B.A. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
William J. Kracunas
Principal, Northeast Technology Consulting Leader
McGladrey
Bill leads McGladrey’s Northeast Region technology consulting practice. He uses his 17 years of experience in technology, business operations management and finance to align people, process and technology to best serve his clients’ organizational strategy. Bill specializes in providing comprehensive services to solve complex business issues in the areas of performance management, IT strategy, IT outsourcing, IT risk, and cloud computing. Bill is responsible for executing strategy and managing operations for the Technology Consulting practice in the Northeast and the Boston consulting practice. He demonstrates excellence in leadership, launching innovative services, and expanding the team’s capabilities.
Bill’s leadership has earned the practice numerous accolades, including being named one of the area’s "Top 15 Technology Consulting" firms by the Boston Business Journal for 5 consecutive years. In 2008, he was honored by the Boston Business Journal as one of the 40 professionals under the age of 40 for business success and community contributions on the Boston area. In May 2011, Bill was chosen by Consulting Magazine as one of the "Top 15 Consultants" in the nation. Bill frequently speaks on topics relating to cloud computing, operational strategy, change management, IT trends, IT outsourcing, and IT governance.
Corporate Development and Private Equity Panel
Strategic and financial acquirers have been extremely active in the Tech Enabled Services sector. This panel of experts will discuss what is attractive about Tech Enabled Services businesses, which areas within this sector are most interesting and how buyers anticipate generating returns on capital in this category.
Moderated by Mike Conza
Partner
Bingham McCutchen
Michael A. Conza is co-leader of the firm’s Corporate Practice Group. He has more than two decades of experience representing privately held and publicly traded companies, investment banks and venture capital firms. His practice is primarily targeted toward the representation of emerging growth companies, with strong emphasis on companies in the software and communications industries. He concentrates his practice in the areas of general corporate representation, corporate finance and acquisitions.
A significant portion of Mike’s practice involves general corporate work for ongoing clients, both private and public, on matters such as business counseling, licensing and joint venture arrangements, contract negotiation, corporate governance matters, and regulatory compliance (including the SEC and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act). He has considerable experience in the areas of outsourcing and open-source software licensing.
With respect to his acquisitions practice, Mike has broad and deep experience in structuring and negotiating mergers, tender offers, asset transactions and other acquisitions as well as designing defenses against unsolicited takeovers. His practice embraces both public and private companies and the representation of independent committees of directors. He regularly represents buyers and sellers in transactions ranging from tens of millions of dollars to billions of dollars.
Mike’s corporate finance practice includes extensive experience with both private and public offerings. He is a nationally recognized counselor in the area of venture capital financings. He has represented companies and venture capitalists in more than 200 completed financings, and has served as chairman of the Charter Committee for the National Venture Capital Association forms project and on the advisory boards of the VentureOne Deal Terms Reports from 2004 through 2010. Mike’s public offering practice includes the representation of issuers as well as investment banking firms in a wide variety of public and quasi-public offerings, including IPOs, convertible debt transactions and PIPEs.
Mike is a frequent public speaker on matters relating to venture capital transactions, mergers and acquisitions, PIPE transactions, public offerings, and other topics relevant to private and public technology companies.
Gillis Cashman
Managing Partner
MC Partners
Mr. Cashman leads the broadband infrastructure and services portion of the firm's portfolio. He currently serves as the Chairman of Baja Broadband, and is on the Board of Directors of Zayo Group, Corelink Data Centers, CSDVRS, GTS Central Europe, and PlumChoice. Previous board seats include ICG Holdings (sold to Level 3), City Signal Communications (sold to Cavalier Telephone), Elantic Networks (merged with Cavalier Telephone), FDN Networks (merged with NuVox Communications), and Cavalier Telephone (sold to Paetec). He also previously held a Board of Director observer seat at NuVox Communications (sold to Windstream) and Telution (sold to CSG).
Prior to joining M/C, Mr. Cashman was with Salomon's Telecommunications Corporate Finance Group, where he focused on mergers and acquisitions. He graduated cum laude from Duke University and received an AB in economics with distinction.
CJ Brucato
Partner
ABRY Partners
C. J. joined ABRY in 1996. He has been involved in a variety of media, communications, and business and information services investments, including data center services, satellite communications, medical information and human capital management information. Previously, C. J. was a member of the Media and Communications Group at Prudential Securities, Inc. He is a graduate of Princeton University.
Jen St. Pierre,
Director, Corporate Development
EMC
Jennifer St. Pierre is currently working as a Director in EMC’s Corporate Development organization. In this role, Jen is responsible for leading acquisitions through the diligence process, managing deal teams of 30-60 people, negotiating terms within the legal documents and attaining transaction approval from Senior Management and the M&A Committee. Jen joined EMC’s Corporate Development team in 2008 and has played an active role in over $5.7 billion in software and other technology acquisitions during this time. The Team is responsible for helping accelerate EMC’s growth by investigating and executing on market opportunities that align to the strategies and objectives of the company’s business units and Board. EMC’s M&A team has an established and successful track record of acquiring and integrating transactions of all sizes in a variety of geographies.
Jen joined EMC in 2006 through the Finance Training Program, working a year and half in the Internal Audit Department before joining Corporate Development. Jen holds a MBA from Bentley College, and a Bachelor of Science in accounting from UMass Lowell.
John Raveret
Senior Vice President, Corporate Development
Cognizant
Since 1999, John Raveret has led all aspects of Cognizant’s global corporate development program, including strategy, execution and integration. During his tenure, John has led a disciplined, high-impact acquisition program, executing over 20 transactions, which represent over $1 billion in revenue and $0.5 billion in consideration. Revenue from the companies that have been acquired by Cognizant during this period has more than tripled since acquisition. From 1991 to 1999, John held a number of corporate development, finance and strategy positions at The Dun & Bradstreet Corporation and IMS Health. Over the last 20 years, John has executed over 50 strategic transactions within the information, software and business services industries. John received an MBA in finance from The Wharton School and has an AB in economics and public policy studies from Duke University.