Jer Thorp, Co-Founder, Office for Creative Research

Jer Thorp is a data artist whose work focuses on adding narrative meaning to huge amounts of data. In other words, he makes data more human. Through cutting edge data visualization techniques, Thorp helps people and corporations take control of the information that surrounds them, using technology and data as a new way to tell stories.

Originally from Vancouver, Jer Thorp lives in New York City, where he teaches in NYU’s ITP program. To investigate the results of Big Data, Thorp helped launch The Office for Creative Research with his peers. He has been a vocal advocate around data, ethics, and privacy, and is currently spearheading a new project with The OCR called Floodwatch: a collective ad monitoring tool that empowers individuals to see how advertisers are profiling them, and to share data with privacy researchers in an effort to combat discriminatory practice.

Jeff Lawton, Director, Data Management and Analytics, Grant Thornton

Jeff Lawton is the Director for Data Management and Analytics in Grant Thornton’s public sector practice, located in Alexandria, Virginia. He has 20 years of full life cycle development experience for large, complex information systems, data warehouses, and data management projects. He has provided services for many Federal agencies, including EPA, HUD, IRS, CBP, VA, FAA, and FDIC. An avid user of PowerCenter since 2000, he is a Certified Designer and Administrator and a co-chair of the Mid Atlantic Informatica Users Group. For the Consortium of Advanced Management International, he serves as the Intelligent Data Management working group chair, a special interest group that is developing a framework and equation for calculating the dollar value of a record of data. He received his MBA from the University of Georgia and his BA in Economics and Environmental Science from the University of Virginia.

Haden Land, Vice President, Research and Technology, Lockheed Martin Corporation

Haden Land is vice president of Research and Technology for Lockheed Martin Corporation with thirty years of professional experience. He serves numerous U.S. government agencies, allied nations, and regulated commercial industries.

Mr. Land is responsible for technical solutions, strategic partnerships, global innovation centers, research and development, and emerging technology planning. His areas of expertise include cloud computing, big data, cyber security, enterprise mobility, complex adaptive systems, enterprise architecture, advanced concepts, and has domain knowledge within government, space, energy, law enforcement, transportation, and healthcare.

Mr. Land holds a bachelor's degree in Mathematics and Computer Science from Potsdam University and a master's degree in Computer Science from Syracuse University. He has been selected as one of the Top Hispanics in Business and Technology by numerous organizations; received the prestigious Global CIO Executive Top 10 Breakaway Leader award; received professional lifetime achievement awards; and recipient of two honorary doctorate degrees.

Jelena Roljevic, Assistant Vice President, Business Intelligence Services, The George Washington University

Jelena Roljevic is experienced business intelligence professional with a background in analytics, data governance, data management, enterprise architecture and program management. Ms. Roljevic is leading the George Washington University, Division of Information Technology (DIT), Office of Business Intelligence Service. As Assistant Vice President for Business Intelligence she is responsible for the university’s business intelligence, and data governance and integration, strategy and execution, resulting in numerous analytics solutions created to provide insight to academic and administrative decision makers necessary to drive the university forward.

Ms. Roljevic is frequent speaker and active promoter of business intelligence and data governance in higher-education, participating in forums such as EDUCASE and HEDW (Higher Education Data Warehousing), Northern Virginia technology Council (NVTC), and others. For her work Ms. Roljevic and her Office of Business Intelligence Service team have received numerous recognitions. Most recently Ms. Roljevic and her team received 2015 Innovation Award from the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) for developing the GW Principal Investigators (PI) Dashboard.

Prior to joining the George Washington University, Ms. Roljevic spent 19 years at the Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), where she oversaw the enterprise cloud IR&D, customer business intelligence and enterprise architecture programs. She has contributed to the book Achieving Interoperability in Critical IT and Communication Systems and serves as an active member of Women in Technology (WIT), in which she focuses on mentoring younger colleagues. Ms. Roljevic holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the Belgrade Univeristy, Serbia and a master’s degree in systems engineering from the George Washington University. She lives in Bethesda, MD, with her husband and their two daughters.

Pushpa Gowda, Global Technology Presence Director, JLL

Pushpa Gowda is the Global Technology Presence Director for JLL, a Fortune 500 commercial real estate services firm. Pushpa has 20 years of experience in this industry spanning business lines and geographies with a focus on sales operations, business development, strategic planning, marketing/communications and CRM systems. In her current role, Pushpa raises awareness of and promotes new and existing technology through PR, communications, tech showcases and education to accelerate sales processes, win more business and increase productivity for the firm.

Originally from Boston, Pushpa has spent time in Barbados and now lives in Miami. She received her MBA from Bentley College and her BA from Tufts University. She is a member of Women in Technology International and National Association of Professional Women and plays a key role in the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life.

Kenneth Jeckell, Specialist Master, Deloitte Consulting LLP

Kenny Jeckell is a specialist master in the Federal Practice of Deloitte Consulting LLP. He is a certified Informatica PowerCenter administrator with more than 15 years of experience enabling business operations through technology. Kenny has spent the last four years leading a project team to deliver Business Intelligence and Data Warehousing using Agile Scrum. He is a co-author of the Deloitte methodology for Agile Analytics, which provides a standardized approach to delivering analytic projects using the Scrum framework.

Webster Mudge,Senior Director, Technology Solutions, Cloudera

Webster Mudge is a Senior Director, Technology Solutions in Cloudera’s marketing team where he strives to bring Apache Hadoop technologies and business objectives together. Webster currently leads Cloudera’s Public Sector solution marketing efforts, focusing on mission objectives like insider threat, security intelligence, and supply chain/logistics. Webster brings more than 20 years of hands-on experience in software and services management.

Piet Loubser, Vice President of Platform Product Marketing, Informatica

Piet Loubser serves as Vice President of Platform Product Marketing at Informatica. He is responsible for the holistic positioning of the Informatica Platform, and driving broader adoption of the Informatica portfolio. Loubser’s professional career includes more than 25 years in the IT industry driving strategic marketing, product marketing, sales and software development. Prior to Informatica, Loubser headed up Service and Portfolio Product Marketing at HP, and before that he led the global Market Intelligence group at SAP. Loubser joined SAP as part of the Business Objects acquisition, where he led Portfolio Market Strategies. While at Business Objects, he held numerous positions in regional sales management and business development in offices within the United States, Europe and South Africa. In various strategic roles, Loubser has developed business and go-to-market strategies for software solutions in several regions. Loubser holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science from the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa.

Michelle Blackmer, Senior Director Customer Advocacy, Informatica

Michelle Blackmer leads Customer Advocacy at Informatica. She and her team focus on fostering relationships with Informatica clients, understanding their challenges and successes and providing channels for clients to share their stories. Michelle previously led Healthcare Industry Marketing at Informatica where she was responsible for healthcare go-to-market. With over 15 years of enterprise software and application marketing experience there is no place Michelle would rather be than in front of a client whether that be meeting with them face-to-face or conveying “voice of customer” to her colleagues. Michelle sees an opportunity to free the value locked in application data silos for organizations to realize their potential.

Prior to joining Informatica, Michelle launched the first Watson based predictive analytics solution at IBM, led healthcare product strategy at Initiate systems (successfully acquired by IBM), implemented Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE) and Medication Administration Record (MAR) for GE Healthcare and drove delivery and project management of beta projects at scheduling.com and Dynamic Healthcare. She graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in business administration and marketing from Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Michelle is a frequent blogger on Informatica Perspectives and often speaks on the value that can be realized when organizations deliver clean, safe and connected information about the things that matter most to their business. Michelle is based out of her home office in Seattle, Washington.

Monica Mullen, Principal Solutions Marketing Manager, Informatica

Monica Mullen is Principal Solutions Marketing Manager for Informatica Corporation's Information Quality Solutions. Monica has 25+ years of marketing experience, with 15 in B2B tech marketing, identifying high-value analytic business solutions for the public and private sectors. Currently, she is all about the Total Customer Relationship. She believes that today’s global organizations need to make decisions quickly; that the customer is in control; and that the margins for error continue get tighter. She’s observed industry leaders who realize the immense value of their data as a strategic asset are also the first to capitalize on changing conditions. They arm front-line staff, back office employees and executives with insights to confidently move toward the best result, regardless of the challenge. And in doing so, they iterate and improve, build stronger customer relationships and enhance their overall efficiency and effectiveness. Connect with Monica on LinkedIn or follow her on Twitter at @monica1mullen.