Jason Ryan Dorsey
The Gen Y Guy®

Jason Ryan Dorsey, The Gen Y Guy®, authored his first bestselling book at age 18. His talent is teaching business leaders step-by-steps strategies and creative tactics that best leverage the four generations in their workplace. A well-known generational expert, Jason has appeared on 60 Minutes, 20/20, The View, The Today Show, and in Fortune Magazine. His new book, coming in late 2009, is titled Y-Size Your Business: How Gen Y Employees Can Grow Your Business and Save You Money. In recognition of his business achievement, Jason won the Austin Under 40 Entrepreneur of the Year at age 25—one of the youngest winners ever. For more information visit www.JasonDorsey.com.

Brian Kilcourse
Managing Partner, RSR Research

Brian is a recognized leader in retail technology practices. One of the top retail CIO's in the United States during his ten-year tenure at a leading West Coast retailer, Kilcourse was named one of the Premier 100IT Leaders by Computer world magazine and by Information Week as leader of the #1 retail IT shop in 2001. Brian is a frequent public speaker on subjects ranging from emerging technologies to IT governance and best practices. He also has led training seminars on the subject of “selling technology value to retailers".

Brian has authored research on Multi-Channel Retailing, Supply Chain Collaboration, Retail Data Security, Business Intelligence, and IT Governance, among other topics.

James Dion
President, DionCo. Inc.

Jim Dion, founder and president of Chicago-based Dionco Inc., is an internationally known Retail Speaker & Trainer, Retail Consultant, and the Author of the best-sellers Retail Selling Ain’t Brain Surgery, It’s Twice As Hard, Start and Run a Retail Business and The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Starting and Running a Retail Store.
 
Jim consults, trains and speaks on consumer trends, retail technology, selling and service, retail merchandising and operations, marketing and leadership.   
 
With a BS, MS degree in Psychology from Chicago State University and a Ph.D. (abd) in Industrial Psychology from the Illinois Institute of Technology combined with over 30 years of progressive retail experience working at Sears, Levi Strauss and Gilmore Department Stores, Jim is one of the most sought after Retail Consultants and Retail Speakers in the US and internationally.
 
As a Retail Consultant, he has helped hundreds of retailers large and small successfully reposition their retail business, including Ritz-Carlton, Harley-Davidson, Hummer, Poster Plus, The Hat Shack, and Potomac ABC to name a few.  
 
A PC expert and a Microsoft Developer, Jim has conducted major retail system and POS installs at retailers nationwide. He also studies and evaluates new retail POS, EDI, merchandising systems and relationship marketing software. He has been a judge for the Microsoft© Retail Developer Awards as well as for CIO Magazine Top 100.
 
A writer for hundreds of national and international trade magazines and a regular contributor at www.allexperts.com, Jim is consistently ranked at the top for his insights and practical advice. He has also appeared on NBC, Fox News, First Business and CNN US and Turkey.

Jeff Wakefield
Vice President Marketing, VeriFone

Jeff Wakefield is VeriFone’s Vice President Marketing for Integrated Systems and is responsible for launching secure integrated payment solutions into the U.S. market and leading the company’s payment security initiatives. Jeff has 27 years of retail and payment systems experience and has served on the Electronic Funds Transfer Association, the EBT Industry Council and the Association for Retail Technology Standards. He is currently VeriFone’s representative on the PCI Security Standards Council Board of Advisors and has spoken at numerous industry events on payment and payment security topics including NRF, FMI, NACS and NACS Tech.

John Pruban

President & CEO, tekservePOS

John Pruban, President and CEO of tekservePOS, has over 15 years of experience in retail point-of-sale. From its inception in 2001, Pruban has taken tekservePOS from a refurbished hardware company to a complete, end-to-end solutions company serving retailers of all sizes across North and South America. Prior to forming tekservePOS, John worked at R2 Corporation in various roles including IBM Business Director, Division Vice President and VP of Sales. Before that, John served in various systems analyst and project management roles at Moore Business Forms. John graduated from DeVry University in 1987 with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer Science.

Alan Outlaw

Business Line Executive POS Products, IBM

Alan is currently the Business Line Executive for all Point of Sale products within IBM’s Retail Store Solutions division. In this capacity, he is responsible for all portfolio and process management decisions associated with those products lines. He also provides strategy, investment and policy direction on retail products in support of the RSS business model.

Alan has worked for IBM over twenty years in a variety of positions and has spent 15+ years associated with the RSS organization. Alan has held positions across multiple functions in support of RSS including manufacturing, development, marketing and sales.
 

Alan Langford
Senior Network Manager, Communications Systems, J.C. Penney Company
 

J. C. Penney is one of America's largest department store, catalog, and e-commerce retailers, employing approximately 150,000 associates.

As Senior Network Manager, Alan’s responsibilities include the JCPenney Satellite and videoconferencing networks, television studios and audio visual services. As a 30 year veteran of the company, Alan has held a series of management positions in both JCPenney stores and the home office.

Next year, the JCPenney Satellite Network will celebrate it’s 25th anniversary. The network delivers video and two way audio to approximately 1200 sites, providing critical training and communication to all associates.
 

Dan Pryor

Vice President of Corporate communications and Retail Technology, Safeway Inc.

Safeway Inc. is one of the largest food and drug retailers in North America. Headquartered in California, Safeway is a Fortune 100 company, operating 1,767 stores in the United States and Canada. Regarded as one of the best managed food retail companies, Safeway has been ranked by Fortune magazine as one of the "most admired" companies in the food and drug sector.

Dan Pryor is the Vice President of Corporate Communications and Retail Technology for Safeway Inc. The position reports to the Chief Strategist and Administration Officer. He has been with Safeway for over 23 years. Dan is responsible for developing and executing the company’s communication strategy and developing the strategy for Retail Technology. Dan has six major areas of responsibility that include Retail Technology, the Safeway Satellite Network, Video Production, Web Content and Development, Executive Communications, and eLearning.

Dan is currently President of CMMA (Communication Media Manager Association)

Tim Trush

Manager, Operations Communications and Employee Recognition

Tim Trush, Medline Industries’ Manager of Operations Communications and Employee Recognition, is responsible for corporate- and distribution center-specific messages for Medline Operations across the U.S.

Headquartered in Mundelein, Ill., Medline is the nation’s largest privately held manufacturer and distributor of healthcare products.

In the first quarter of 2009, Tim drove the implementation of a digital media system into Medline’s network of distribution centers that provided a well-organized method for delivering company news and the sharing of team member activity information to effectively reach the 1,500 employees in the Medline Operations group.

Prior to joining Medline in June of 2008, Tim was responsible for corporate communications and public relations activities for Schneider Electric’s North American Operating Division in Palatine, Ill., and worked closely with the company’s business television team in the production of corporate videos and satellite broadcasts. Tim has held positions of increasing responsibility in communications roles in both print and electronic media throughout his career.

Kevin Lawrence
Sr. Vice President, Sales & Marketing

Kevin Lawrence has responsibility for generating the company’s revenue growth through the development and management of the Helius sales and marketing organizations. Mr. Lawrence also has responsibility for developing and managing partner and customer relationships and insuring the highest degree of customer satisfaction.

Mr. Lawrence is a demonstrated leader with 20 year of experience working with commercial, federal, and international markets. Prior to Helius he held various sales and marketing positions with AT&T and OneTouch Systems. Mr. Lawrence received his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Strayer University.