Speakers at the Desktop Virtualization Strategies - Implementation and Management Conference

Mike Chase
As Sr. Director of Cloud Services for En Pointe Technologies, Mr. Chase is actively involved in the recruitment of talented engineers from aroundthe world who are certified in the diversity of products surrounding next generation virtualized datacenters as well as the visionary behind the innovative “think tank” designs & best practice methodologies used at EnPointe to provide high value solutions leveraging state-of-the-art Cloud Services to our customers. His involvement keeps En Pointe moving with high velocity on a wide range of Cloud technologies with sheer focus and extreme precision. On time, on budget, and often replacing current customer expenditures on legacy technology and leveraging them into new private and public Cloud solutions, Mr. Chase oversees the strategy and execution of numerous Cloud offerings across our various technology practices including but not limited to: Cloud Desktops, Cloud Servers, Cloud Storage, Cloud Applications,  and Cloud Voice. Mr. Chase has over 20 years of successful experience with complex global datacenters during his work with such firms as Wells Fargo Bank, IBM/ISSC, Mobil Oil Corporation, Union Oil, LA Cellular, Capitol Records, Equant, AT&T, Broadcom, Experian, among others. His experience spans the design, implementation, operating, optimization, interoperation, migration, and upgrade of datacenters worldwide utilizing technologies from a wide array of hardware manufacturers and software publishers such as Cisco, HP, EMC, Microsoft, Quest Software, VMware, Citrix and more. Since virtualization is the next generation datacenter, Mr. Chase has now focused his expertise exclusively in Cloud Services since it’s both the most challenging and yet most promising next wave in an emerging technology revolution. Mr. Chase holds numerous industry certifications such as the prestigious Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE# 7226), Cisco Technology Solutions Specialist (TSS), Trend Micro Certified Security Expert (TCSE), and EMC Technology Architect (EMC-TA), and has training in various Unix/Linux system platforms. Mr. Chase holds a Juris Doctor degree in law from California Southern University.

Elias Khnaser
 Elias is the virtualization and cloud computing practice manager for Sigma Solutions. In this capacity he draws on over 12 years of experience architecting some of the largest server-based computing environments in the world. As Sigma Solutions’ virtualization practice manager, Elias advises clients on all aspects of virtualization—from server to desktop, all the way through application virtualization. Prior to helping found Sigma Solutions, Elias worked for some of the country’s leading Fortune 500 companies managing teams responsible for environments as small as 2,500 users and as large as 14,000 users. In addition to his role at Sigma, Elias is a recognized industry analyst, speaker, published author, and frequent blogger at publications such as InformationWeek. His publications include: VMware ESX Server 3.0 & 3.5 CBT, VCP Exam Cram: VMware Certified Professional; Exam Cram: Citrix CCA MetaFrame Presentation Server 3.0 and 4.0 (Exams 223/256) (co-author); MCSE Designing Security for a Windows Server 2003 Network: Exam 70-298 Study Guide and DVD Training System (co-author); Citrix MetaFrame XP Including Feature Release 1 (co-author). He is also Contributing author at Windows IT Pro Magazine, Techrepublic.com, Certcities.com, Cramsession.com, InformationWeek and DABCC.com. Elias has a bachelor of science in business marketing from the Lebanese American University and holds numerous industry certifications from Microsoft, Citrix, VMware, Cisco, and other leading vendors.


Mike Nelson
Mike Nelson’s IT career spans 24 years, involving a wide variety of technologies. His roles in corporate management to industry consulting provide him with a wide range of hands-on experience. Mike has a strong passion for virtualization, both from a technical and visionary point of view. For the past several years, his focus has been on major projects in VDI and virtual server consolidations. Mike also writes about the topics of virtualization and enterprise desktop technologies on several Internet news sites and blogs, as well as being a presenter and several conferences on I.T. and Virtualization.

Purnima Padmanabhan
Purnima brings extensive experience in building teams that can define and deliver products based on a keen understanding of market dynamics & customer needs. As the VP of Products at MokaFive, Purnima is responsible for marketing, product management and user experience functions. Most recently, Purnima served as the Director of Product Management for BMC's Service Automation business where she drove business strategy, M&A, and product definition. Prior to BMC, Purnima held various marketing roles at Marimba, a software distribution vendor & Loudcloud, a managed services provider. Purnima has a Masters in Business Administration from Graduate School of Business, Stanford and Masters in Computer Engineering from University of Southern California.
Loring Pelz
Loring Pelz has over 17 years of information technology consulting experience. His diverse background makes him an expert at helping organizations transition and reap the operational benefits of virtual end-user computing environments and private cloud infrastructures. He is charged with leading delivery teams in the design and implementation of large-scale virtualization projects for Ahead.
Loring has applied his unique insight and leadership on many successful client initiatives. Most recently these included the following:
• Solution architect responsible for architecting, designing, and planning a 10,000 user VDI deployment for a large healthcare provider
• Design and planning for the implementation of a 3,500-seat virtual end-user computing infrastructure for a large financial services company
• Infrastructure architect responsible for designing and planning a private cloud infrastructure for a government IT service provider
• Architect on a data center migration project for a leading online equities trading company
Loring is driven to help companies implement high-density virtual server and desktop environments, better utilize physical resources, and reduce IT maintenance and operations costs. He is highly skilled at identifying business requirements and translating them into technical solutions that meet a company’s needs and smoothly integrate with its business processes and procedures.
 


Sham Sao
Sham leads marketing, communications, product management, and product marketing at Virtual Computer. He brings deep experience in Software and Technology and demonstrated success leading high-growth companies in functions including Marketing, Product Management, Business & Corporate Development, Strategy, and M&A.

Prior to joining Virtual Computer, Sham served as CMO of OneSource, a division of Infogroup. At OneSource, he led a Global Marketing Team supporting sales teams in the United States, Europe, Australia, and Asia. He also developed the idea for and launched a new web-based offering that grew unique visitors to the website from 40,000 per month to nearly 1,000,000 per month. Sham played a key role as part of a team that launched a new software offering that included new capabilities such as sales triggering and role-based personalization.

Previously, Sham served as Global Vice President of Marketing and Business Development for Deploy Solutions, a leading provider of software and hardware-based workforce solutions. At Deploy, he drove consistent pipeline and revenue growth resulting in the company winning a spot on the Deloitte & Touche Fast 50 list for high-growth companies, and ultimately being sold to Kronos. In addition to leading Marketing and Business Development, Sham also led Corporate Development. He identified and drove Deploy’s acquisition of Humetrics and then helped grow it to become the largest revenue stream for Deploy.

He has served in executive positions at companies ranging in size from startups to well over a hundred million in revenues, including companies such as Partnerware and Trilogy. Prior to working in operational roles at technology companies, he was a consulting team leader at McKinsey & Company, where he led multi-million dollar consulting engagements for Fortune 500 companies in industries including Technology, Media, Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals, and Financial Services.

He holds a B.S. in Computer Science and a B.A. in Economics from Yale University. He attended Harvard Business School and Harvard Law School, where he earned a J.D. in technology law and served as an Editor on the Journal of Law & Technology.


Annur Sumar
 Annur Sumar is a Vice President of IT for Duff & Phelps. One of the world’s leading independent financial advisory firms serving client needs in the areas of valuation, investment banking and transaction advice, and dispute consulting. Annur is responsible for planning, designing, engineering and implementing the underlying technology infrastructure for Duff & Phelps ranging from the Datacenter to the Desktop. Prior to joining Duff & Phelps, Annur served as a Senior Consultant for Unified Synergies, LLC a leading Technology Consulting firm in the area of Strategic Infrastructure Design and Technology driven Business Intelligence, positioning and designing strategic technology driven process improvements for clients by aligning IT Services, Engineering best practices, Operations Management, and Helpdesk Support to lower Total Cost of Ownership and raise Return on Investments. Annur’s most recent accomplishments for Q1 of 2009 at Duff & Phelps includes the planning, designing and engineering of a Server Consolidation / Virtualization Architecture and a Unified Infrastructure Strategy based on the (MOF) Microsoft Operations Framework Model.


 
Chris Wahl
Chris Wahl is the Senior Virtualization Engineer at Career Education Corporation, and is responsible for providing enterprise design, administration, and performance tuning for the virtual environment. Over the past 11 years, Chris has spent much of his time helping companies realize the benefits of virtualization, while also focusing on technical modernization, internal process improvement, business continuity, and disaster recovery. He has achieved both a Bachelors of Science in Network and Communications Management from DeVry University and a Masters in Business Administration, with a concentration in Project Management, from Keller Graduate School of Management. Chris is involved with a number of groups that focus on helping members of the technical community identify and solve challenges.  
 

David Wright

David Wright is the Sr. Manager of IT for Comcast Cable. He has 14 years of industry experience and has led Comcast multi-tier support teams for the last 8 years. He is also the principal architect for all network data and voice infrastructure for the Greater Chicago Region. Prior to joining Comcast, David held roles in technical management and consulting with IT solution providers like Sentinel Technologies, Darwin Networks and Cap Gemini. David also spent five years as a military engineer with the British Army.