North America 2023

Thursday, May 18, 2023

Days
Hours
Minutes
Seconds

Our virtual North American Digital Revolution Awards promises to be one of the biggest cloud awards and fundraisers of the year! Join us on May 18, 2023 as we recognize and reward the individuals and organizations that are having a major positive impact in the cloud space.

Thank you for joining us for our fantastic 2023 event.

Why not register interest for our virtual 2023 Global event?

The Digital Revolution Awards North America 2023 awards show and fundraiser has now ended

Be sure to check out our winning and highly commended individuals and businesses, our shortlisted nominees, or watch the show again!

2023 Headline Sponsor

Cognizant (Nasdaq-100: CTSH) engineers modern businesses. As one of the largest global professional services companies, we help our clients modernise technology, reimagine processes and transform experiences so they can stay ahead in our fast-changing world. Together, we’re improving everyday life. See how at www.cognizant.com.

Our 2023 sponsors

Our North America 2023 Judges

The Digital Revolution Awards celebrate the cloud industry’s very best pioneers, innovators and glass ceiling breakers across categories that recognize sustainability, employer branding, ED&I, talent development, and L&D. We’ve put together an expert panel that represents some of tech’s leading figures, meaning they’re best placed to judge the individuals and organizations that have truly excelled in the last year.

Ashley Morris

Director of Salesforce Talent Alliance | Salesforce

Ashley leads the Salesforce Talent Alliance, working with Salesforce partners and customers to build the next generation of talent—one that reflects the communities where we live and work. Prior to this role, she spent 10+ years at the intersection of education and recruiting across roles in non-profit, education, and startup sectors. She is a born and bred New Yorker, and can tell you the best pizza spot within a 10 block radius of nearly any location in NYC.

Mike Karban

Senior Cloud Solution Architect | Microsoft

Mike has over 20 years of experience in the tech industry and has done many roles throughout his career including, programming, product management, partner technology strategist and partner marketing to name a few. He currently works with some of Microsoft’s top partners to build solutions on Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Power Platform. He also loves following the latest technologies and holds 16 active Microsoft certifications.

Erika M. Smith

Manager, TechSpark Metro | Microsoft Philanthropies

Erika is a social innovator focused on creating economic opportunities for communities of color. She leads Microsoft’s philanthropic portfolio for the TechSpark Metro Team (ATL, LA, and CHI), focused on advancing digital equity and inclusion and creating wealth-building pathways for communities of color. Before joining Microsoft, Erika focused on movement-building strategies and deepening organizational investment in creating economic pathways for BIPOC communities. As the Senior Program Manager for the Annie E. Casey Foundation, she increased investment in Black-led incubators and accelerators and developed platforms for youth engagement in the local economy. In addition, she served as the Assistant Director of Southside Community & Economic Development. During her tenure, she raised capital to develop and pilot new products to increase access to wealth-building systems and test a commercial down payment assistance program as an antidisplacement strategy.

Eric DuBrow

Partner | West Monroe

Eric, a Partner within West Monroe’s Customer Solutions Practice, has over 25 years of consulting experience with a focus on leading large technology transformation initiatives within the customer relationship management space. Eric’s design and implementation depth spans key business processes including customer service, field service, and sales across multiple technology platforms. At West Monroe, Eric leads the Midwest Salesforce team focused on serving our most important Financial Services/Banking clients.

Amit Agarwal

Software Engineer | Meta
Amit is an engineering leader with over 15 years of industry experience. Previously, he has worked at places like Walmart, Google and Yahoo, where he has contributed to make the lives of an average internet user better—through services including Google Maps, Yahoo Mail or by improving the online shopping experience at Walmart. He has built many large scale web solutions that impact billions of users across the globe, and is passionate about solving problems that can be solved by web based solutions. Currently, Amit is a Software Engineer at Meta and is responsible for making Video Creators at Meta successful, which he achieves by leveraging AI and ML at scale.

Cate Gutowski

Chief Growth Officer | Primo Water

As the Chief Growth Officer of the largest global supplier of water to consumers and businesses, Cate is responsible for driving organic growth and delivering a differentiated Customer Experience. Prior to her role as CGO, she was Chief Operating Officer, with additional responsibility for Operations, Manufacturing, Production, Distribution, Supply Chain, Process Excellence and Quality. Prior to Primo Water, Cate worked in the technology industry at Amazon Web Services (AWS) where she led the Worldwide Sales Enablement, Training, and Communications functions. She utilized her go-to-market and product management expertise to design, build, and deliver AI and Machine Learning based technologies to push just-in-time training to sales and technical Amazonians across 132 countries. During her tenure, AWS grew their customer-facing teams from 10,000 in to 41,000, and grew revenue from $17B to a $59B.

Nitzan Pelman

Founder & CEO | Climb Hire

Nitzan founded Climb Hire in 2019 as a way to create economic opportunity and mobility for people earning below liveable wage. Climb Hire marries social capital and non-coding tech skills together through a 4-5 month intensive training program. Climb Hire is Nitzan’s third social impact venture—she also founded ReUp Education, an Entangled Ventures company in 2015 and served as its founding CEO. She also founded the New York region of Citizen Schools, and is currently an Aspen Institute Ascend Fellow. Early in her career she worked at the Department of Education in New York City, KIPP, and Teach for America. Nitzan holds a Masters in Public Administration from New York University and a BA from Stern College for Women.

Andrew Gaeckle

Senior Partner – Customer Solutions Practice Lead | West Monroe

Andrew helps his clients with an approachable attitude, and he emotionally invests in his teams. His work style has been described as action oriented and “get it done”, yet he maintains a lighthearted and fun persona. Andrew strongly believes in a servant leadership mindset. Andrew joined West Monroe in 2015 when Etherios, a division of Digi International, was acquired. He has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Toledo and a master’s degree from Benedictine University. 

Erin Hawkins

Senior Vice President, Cloud Center Of Excellence | Orion

Erin is currently establishing a Cloud Center of Excellence at Orion Advisor Solutions, focusing on cementing Orion’s partnership with AWS, facilitating the creation of v next business solutions, and establishing a user focused culture of observability. She relies heavily on her 20 years of varied leadership experience, both in deed and in title, which have instilled deep empathy for the client and end user, a sharp eye for right sized solutions, and the value of an hour – both for the organization and her teammates.

Gene Bornac

SVP, Microsoft and Retail Technologies | Envista

Gene Bornac is a well-respected thought leader with more than 35 years’ experience in the retail and consumer products industries. His leadership experience includes executive responsibility at several national and global consulting and software organizations. Gene has led design and delivery of numerous projects. Gene has led retail organizations at the local and field level as well as businesses in the U.S. and abroad. Gene’s expertise in many facets of commerce, especially Retail and CPG has provided insights and direction for companies he has worked with in the strategic consulting industry. He works with enterprises to help deliver real results for organizations and their customers. As a member of enVista’s executive leadership team, Gene runs several key solution groups, including the Microsoft Sales and Delivery team as well as enVista’s IT Managed Services and Retail consulting organizations.

Michael LaVista

Founder and CEO | Caxy Interactive

Michael has over 20 years of experience in web application and mobile app development, consulting and management. He also authored Superpowered: 7 Leadership Superpowers Technology Executives Can Use to Grow a More Engaged, Tech-driven and Profitable Organization, a book that addresses key problem areas for technology executives trying to evolve into better leaders. Michael and Caxy serve clients in growing businesses who want to achieve enterprise value but are blocked when they realize nearly every initiative runs through technologyCaxy’s specialty is in creating customized web applications for business customers with a focus on performance, security, application modernization, and software innovation projects.

Patrick Gartlan

General Manager, Cloud FinOps | Spot by NetApp 

Patrick is the General Manager of FinOps at Spot by NetApp, a company providing cloud optimization technology that allows customers to maximize their cloud savings. Patrick is a seasoned entrepreneur with his latest company acquired by Spot and now known as Spot Eco, where he continues to lead the Spot FinOps practice, setting strategic roadmap, product and sales strategies.

Karthik Sundaram

IT Solutions Management Director | Applied Materials

Karthik is an accomplished IT leader with over 25 years of experience in various aspects of IT including architecture, consulting, delivery, strategy, governance, project, and people management. Working as IT Solutions Director with Applied Materials, he is responsible for for creating solutions to critical problems in global supply chain & logistics.

Kevin McGrath

VP | Spot by NetApp 

Kevin is VP of Spot by NetApp, focused on delivering unique technology for cloud automation and optimization that makes it possible for customers to get the most out of their cloud investments through world-class CloudOps. Kevin is responsible for researching and evaluating innovative technologies and processes to guide the company’s technology roadmap, leveraging his extensive background in DevOps and in delivering Software as a Service within the communications and IT infrastructure industry.

Will McLendon

Solution Architect | Hitachi Solutions
In the past 15 years, he has worked with organizations large and small. For the past five years, he has helped Fortune 500 organizations leverage Dynamics365 and the Power Platform, resulting in better performance and being more competitive. This has included working through complex #compliance and regulatory requirements that required a multi-disciplined approach to make the move cost-effective and meet business requirements.

Eric Alfaro

Global CIO | People 2.0

As Global CIO, Eric leads technology strategy and execution for People2.0, supporting the world’s most comprehensive workforce deployment and management capabilities and delivering on People2.0’s ethos: the Human Spirit is the greatest Human Resource. With twenty-five years of business technology experience, Eric leads technology operations, strategic planning, infrastructure, security and privacy, and data assets across the Americas, EMEA, and APAC operating regions. Prior to People2.0, Eric held multiple regional and global leadership roles with Adecco Group. He has a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Georgia Tech and completed executive programs at IMD and the Wharton School.

Steven Brown

Director of Delivery Excellence | 3Cloud

Steven is a proven leader with experience in successfully building and organizing cross-functional teams. He is currently the Director of Delivery Excellence at 3Cloud Solutions responsible for providing the “ultimate Azure experience” for clients looking to leverage the world’s most cutting-edge technologies to run their businesses. In addition to running delivery, he currently holds the Chair position for 3Cloud’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiative; if you were to ask him, this is where he does his best work!

Rachel Wortman Morris

Director, Talent & Employability – Worldwide Learning | Microsoft

Systems thinker, great with a blank sheet of paper, calm and poised under pressure, Rachel Wortman Morris, Ph.D. is the Director of Microsoft Learn Career Connected. She was one of the creators behind the Microsoft Learn for Educators program and former co-director of the Microsoft AI Business School. Dr. Wortman Morris is also a clinical assistant professor in the School of Public Health at the University of Washington. She holds her Ph.D. in Comparative Studies from The Ohio State University, a master’s in literature from Middlebury College, and a bachelor’s of English from Oberlin College.

Avish Jain

Product Manager | Remitly
Avish Jain is a seasoned Product Manager with more than eight years’ experience leading product teams in the ecommerce and fintech space. He is a strong believer in cross-functional collaboration and has led cross-functional teams comprising engineering, design, product, analytics, data science, and marketing at eBay, PwC, and Remitly, to define the product roadmap and launch minimum viable products. Outside of work, Avish enjoys a good Netflix binge, reading non-fiction books on productivity, and going on bike rides on hilly countryside roads.

Ronnie Bryant

CIO | Hornets Sports & Entertainment

Ronnie Bryant is in his 19th year with Hornets Sports & Entertainment and his fourth as Chief Information Officer. In this role, he is responsible for all IT infrastructure for the organization, including the Charlotte Hornets, Greensboro Swarm, Hornets Venom GT and Spectrum Center. He oversees the implementation, management and support of the organization’s computer hardware and software, networking, internet, telephones and more.  

Ronald Membreno

Digital Cloud Solution Architect | Microsoft 

As a Digital Cloud Solution Architect, Ronald relies on 29+ years of professional and technical experience to drive Microsoft’s most dynamic customers to adopt leading Azure cloud products and services. He spent many years honing his technical skills in multiple consulting roles performing Web Development, DB Administration, and Network Architecture for major Fortune 500 companies. His professional experience spans into the finance, telecommunications, and IT industries. In his role as Director of Forum Nokia for LATAM, he not only travelled extensively to South America, but also learned Portuguese as his third language to interact with Brazilian customers. He is passionate about technology and working out of his comfort zone for growing to the next level.

Dan McAllister

Senior Vice President, Global Alliances and Channels | Boomi

Dan has over 20 years of global alliance leadership experience, focusing on creating win-win relationships with partners that drive measurable outcomes. He joined Salesforce through the acquisition of MuleSoft, where he led the channels team through industry-leading growth. Prior to joining MuleSoft, Dan held alliance leadership roles at Box, NetSuite, and SAP, where he delivered outsized results through his focus on developing the partner community’s revenue share, creating awareness through market-to and market-with campaigns, developing practices via flexible enablement programs, and driving innovation with partner IP through solution and asset creation.

Heather Fitz-Gerald

Vice-President, Dynamics 365 Market Leader | Thinkmax

Heather has worked in the Microsoft channel for over 25 years and is currently the Dynamics 365 ERP Leader at Thinkmax, a professional services firm that specialize in the strategic application of technology to solve business challenges. Prior to joining Thinkmax, Heather was the Vice President of Business Technology for Castrol – Wakefield Canada. With prior leadership roles at both PwC and Deloitte, Heather blends traditional business consulting with hands-on implementation experience across a variety of technologies and industries including manufacturing, distribution, retail, financial services and public sector. Having been both a vendor, an advisor and a customer during her career, she brings a unique perspective to driving value out of investments in technology. 

Brittany Burke

Solutions Architect | Caf2Code LLC 

Brittany is an end-user turned Solutions Architect for D365 F&O who uses her Master’s degree in accounting to bridge the gap between finance and technical teams. She holds two Microsoft Certifications and is a certified Microsoft D365 F&O Apps Solutions Architect Expert. 

Brittany strives to ensure client needs are always heard, addressed, and resolved. When out-of-the-box solutions don’t meet requirements, she designs comprehensive solutions that take business processes and end goals into account.

Brittany has worked with numerous companies to create Segregation of Duties compliant security roles within Dynamics AX 2012 and D365 F&O systems. In her current role at Caf2Code LLC, she focuses primarily on the financial modules of D365, delivering strong subject matter expertise in inventory costing, inventory transaction analysis, and inventory impact to financial statements.

Erin Hirtle

Talent Acquisition Lead | USAC

Erin Hirtle has been in talent acquisition for over 16 years. She started her career recruiting medical professionals and expanded into technical recruitment ten years ago when she joined 3M. She has helped build technical teams throughout the USA and Dublin, Ireland, focusing on but not limited to Software Engineers, Cloud Engineers, DevOps, Machine Learning, AI, and Speech Scientists. Erin enjoys partnering closely with candidates, managers and industry organizations to stay focused on bringing diverse candidates of all levels to support building exceptional teams.

Kellen Wise

Managing Director | Business Solutions Technologies

Kellen is a leader in FORVIS’ Business Technology Solutions division, specifically managing the Enterprise Solutions Group. He has more than 15 years of experience in the technology, operations, and process improvement areas of enterprises across multiple industries, including deep, international experience with private equity, wealth management, and retail businesses. 

Prior to moving into technologies, Kellen spent time as a Controller and CFO growing small start-ups into leading organizations. He helps clients achieve their goals by leveraging technology to improve processes and information visibility. 

Guided by his extensive strategic, operations, and technology experience, Kellen helps companies assess their technology needs, develop strategic plans, and implement business transformation objectives.  Kellen brings to bear FORVIS’ digital transformation capabilities across the ecosystem – Dynamics 365, Power Automate, Power BI, Azure Cloud Transformation/Enablement and Industry Solutions, Infrastructure, Data and Analytics, Intelligent Automation, Blockchain, Internet of Things, and Modern Workplace. 

Before joining FORVIS, Kellen worked for several other leading Microsoft Partners and held global leadership positions in operations, technology, and executive management. He holds multiple Microsoft Dynamics certifications including in Finance, Trade and Logistics, Supply Chain, Solution Architect, and Catalyst.

Dan Madden

CRM Director | Ascensus

Dan Madden is a seasoned CRM professional with over seventeen years’ experience who drives business results through CRM technology. His entire career has been within the financial services industry, and he is an avid conference attendee, volunteer, and speaker—who shares experiences with the technology community on a variety of topics relating to CRM best practices. 

Yogi Dhanda

Managing Director, Global Head of IT | Morrow Sodali

Yogi leads technology for Morrow Sodali and is responsible for setting and executing the IT strategic roadmap for the organization. He has extensive experience in designing, delivering and managing strategic and transformational business and technology strategies that improve operational efficiencies, adhere to compliance and regulatory standards and create new revenue models. Having delivered a number of large strategic business and digital transformational programs within procurement, supply chain, environmental consulting and financial services, he is adept at understanding business complexities and leveraging IT, business management and program management expertise to move organizations forward. 

Mike Buob

VP Digital Experience and Innovation | Capgemini 

Mike has been with the Capgemini group for over 18 years, helping clients create impactful experiences for their customers. He has a diverse background in technology, innovation and strategy which has allowed him to play a critical role helping organizations with their transformation and innovation initiatives.

Nelson Rodriguez

Senior Director of Product GTM and Customer Transformation for Business Applications | Microsoft

Nelson is responsible for driving Microsoft’s BizApps product go-to-market strategy in the US, covering both Dynamics 365 and Power Platform. His career spans sales leadership, BtoC marketing and, for the last decade, a focus on BtoB technology product marketing. Through it all, he’s mostly been obsessed with customers and how to ignite their imaginations. 

Corey Harrison

Managing Director | Protiviti

Corey Harrison is a Managing Director and Practice Lead for Protiviti’s MSFT Cloud Applications arm, a global team of Microsoft technologists, strategically built with a balance of recognized technical leadership, creative user experience, process automation and dedicated technical project governance. His team is primarily focused on the modern workplace, security and compliance, Dynamics CE, the Power Platform and modernization of custom applications to Azure. With over 25 years of experience, Corey has provided expertise on strategy, deployment and adoption of cloud technologies across local and global organizations in financial services, legal, public sector, manufacturing and the insurance industries. 

Domenic Luppino

Vice President Consulting Services | CGI

Domenic has over 30 years of experience as a results and quality oriented transformation executive, with a proven track record of operations management, portfolio management, and selling and delivering solutions for consulting and industry companies. As a VP of Consulting Services for CGI, he works with C-level executives to lead high priority and high visibility initiatives in the healthcare and insurance industries. Domenic understands people, both how to connect with them and how to inspire them. His strong leadership and a demonstrated ability to motivate teams has helped solve the most complex business problems and demanding timelines during his career. 

John Accardi

Principal | Enterprise Systems Practice Leader

John guides transformations for operations and IT environments. With over 30 years of experience, he leverages his strong technical and analytical background to offer solutions to complex business problems by maximizing operational value, driving down costs, and enhancing technology innovation.  Focused on Enterprise Resource Planning and Customer Relationship Management, John brings the ability to recognize patterns, identify opportunities, build efficiencies, capitalize on market trends, and build high-performance teams. He has an extensive background with Microsoft platforms.

Erin Brodie

Head of Alliances North America | NetSuite 

With over 20 years of experience in the high-tech industry, Erin has served as a key opinion leader throughout her career, with a specific interest in sales, solution marketing, program marketing, and most notably, partner ecosystems. Currently leading NetSuite’s alliance organization for North America, Erin implements partner strategies to increase market share and improve win-rate percentage. Passionate about creating and promoting a winning culture by aligning sales and marketing organizations tightly with the broader ecosystem, she is fiercely dedicated to investing in people and is a proud, co-founding member of NetSuite’s Women who Mean Business group in Los Angeles.

Dan Biernacki

Vice President | Digital Solutions

Dan looks after digital innovation efforts and oversees three organizational units at MAXIMUS—Digital Solutions, the Emerging Technologies Center of Excellence, and the Transformation Office. He is passionate about helping organizations create game-changing digital strategies, understanding users, creating delightful user experiences, and providing flawless solution delivery execution. He joined MAXIMUS as a Vice President of Digital Delivery in January 2019, bringing years of experience in business-driven digital transformation, complex systems integration, technology delivery, product development, and service and user experience design.

Bobbi Powers-Hey

Chief Financial Officer | Howard Fertilizer and Chemical 

Bobbi oversees the IT, HR and accounting departments at Howard Fertilizer and Chemical, as well as being responsible for all financial, treasury and accounting functions. She holds a Batchelor of Science degree in accounting from Truman State University (formally known as Northeast Missouri State University) and became a licensed CPA in Illinois in 1990. Bobbi has served in several financial and systems capacities through her career both as a Senior Systems Project Consultant and in controller/finance and accounting functions for several companies.

Ashley Morris

Director of Salesforce Talent Alliance | Salesforce

Ashley leads the Salesforce Talent Alliance, working with Salesforce partners and customers to build the next generation of talent—one that reflects the communities where we live and work. Prior to this role, she spent 10+ years at the intersection of education and recruiting across roles in non-profit, education, and startup sectors. She is a born and bred New Yorker, and can tell you the best pizza spot within a 10 block radius of nearly any location in NYC.

Mike Karban

Senior Cloud Solution Architect | Microsoft

Mike has over 20 years of experience in the tech industry and has done many roles throughout his career including, programming, product management, partner technology strategist and partner marketing to name a few. He currently works with some of Microsoft’s top partners to build solutions on Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Power Platform. He also loves following the latest technologies and holds 16 active Microsoft certifications.

Erika M. Smith

Manager, TechSpark Metro | Microsoft Philanthropies

Erika is a social innovator focused on creating economic opportunities for communities of color. She leads Microsoft’s philanthropic portfolio for the TechSpark Metro Team (ATL, LA, and CHI), focused on advancing digital equity and inclusion and creating wealth-building pathways for communities of color. Before joining Microsoft, Erika focused on movement-building strategies and deepening organizational investment in creating economic pathways for BIPOC communities. As the Senior Program Manager for the Annie E. Casey Foundation, she increased investment in Black-led incubators and accelerators and developed platforms for youth engagement in the local economy. In addition, she served as the Assistant Director of Southside Community & Economic Development. During her tenure, she raised capital to develop and pilot new products to increase access to wealth-building systems and test a commercial down payment assistance program as an antidisplacement strategy.

Eric DuBrow

Partner | West Monroe

Eric, a Partner within West Monroe’s Customer Solutions Practice, has over 25 years of consulting experience with a focus on leading large technology transformation initiatives within the customer relationship management space. Eric’s design and implementation depth spans key business processes including customer service, field service, and sales across multiple technology platforms. At West Monroe, Eric leads the Midwest Salesforce team focused on serving our most important Financial Services/Banking clients.

Amit Agarwal

Software Engineer | Meta
Amit is an engineering leader with over 15 years of industry experience. Previously, he has worked at places like Walmart, Google and Yahoo, where he has contributed to make the lives of an average internet user better—through services including Google Maps, Yahoo Mail or by improving the online shopping experience at Walmart. He has built many large scale web solutions that impact billions of users across the globe, and is passionate about solving problems that can be solved by web based solutions. Currently, Amit is a Software Engineer at Meta and is responsible for making Video Creators at Meta successful, which he achieves by leveraging AI and ML at scale.

Cate Gutowski

Chief Growth Officer | Primo Water

As the Chief Growth Officer of the largest global supplier of water to consumers and businesses, Cate is responsible for driving organic growth and delivering a differentiated Customer Experience. Prior to her role as CGO, she was Chief Operating Officer, with additional responsibility for Operations, Manufacturing, Production, Distribution, Supply Chain, Process Excellence and Quality. Prior to Primo Water, Cate worked in the technology industry at Amazon Web Services (AWS) where she led the Worldwide Sales Enablement, Training, and Communications functions. She utilized her go-to-market and product management expertise to design, build, and deliver AI and Machine Learning based technologies to push just-in-time training to sales and technical Amazonians across 132 countries. During her tenure, AWS grew their customer-facing teams from 10,000 in to 41,000, and grew revenue from $17B to a $59B.

Nitzan Pelman

Founder & CEO | Climb Hire

Nitzan founded Climb Hire in 2019 as a way to create economic opportunity and mobility for people earning below liveable wage. Climb Hire marries social capital and non-coding tech skills together through a 4-5 month intensive training program. Climb Hire is Nitzan’s third social impact venture—she also founded ReUp Education, an Entangled Ventures company in 2015 and served as its founding CEO. She also founded the New York region of Citizen Schools, and is currently an Aspen Institute Ascend Fellow. Early in her career she worked at the Department of Education in New York City, KIPP, and Teach for America. Nitzan holds a Masters in Public Administration from New York University and a BA from Stern College for Women.

Andrew Gaeckle

Senior Partner – Customer Solutions Practice Lead | West Monroe

Andrew helps his clients with an approachable attitude, and he emotionally invests in his teams. His work style has been described as action oriented and “get it done”, yet he maintains a lighthearted and fun persona. Andrew strongly believes in a servant leadership mindset. Andrew joined West Monroe in 2015 when Etherios, a division of Digi International, was acquired. He has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Toledo and a master’s degree from Benedictine University. 

Erin Hawkins

Senior Vice President, Cloud Center Of Excellence | Orion

Erin is currently establishing a Cloud Center of Excellence at Orion Advisor Solutions, focusing on cementing Orion’s partnership with AWS, facilitating the creation of v next business solutions, and establishing a user focused culture of observability. She relies heavily on her 20 years of varied leadership experience, both in deed and in title, which have instilled deep empathy for the client and end user, a sharp eye for right sized solutions, and the value of an hour – both for the organization and her teammates.

Gene Bornac

SVP, Microsoft and Retail Technologies | Envista

Gene Bornac is a well-respected thought leader with more than 35 years’ experience in the retail and consumer products industries. His leadership experience includes executive responsibility at several national and global consulting and software organizations. Gene has led design and delivery of numerous projects. Gene has led retail organizations at the local and field level as well as businesses in the U.S. and abroad. Gene’s expertise in many facets of commerce, especially Retail and CPG has provided insights and direction for companies he has worked with in the strategic consulting industry. He works with enterprises to help deliver real results for organizations and their customers. As a member of enVista’s executive leadership team, Gene runs several key solution groups, including the Microsoft Sales and Delivery team as well as enVista’s IT Managed Services and Retail consulting organizations.

Michael LaVista

Founder and CEO | Caxy Interactive

Michael has over 20 years of experience in web application and mobile app development, consulting and management. He also authored Superpowered: 7 Leadership Superpowers Technology Executives Can Use to Grow a More Engaged, Tech-driven and Profitable Organization, a book that addresses key problem areas for technology executives trying to evolve into better leaders. Michael and Caxy serve clients in growing businesses who want to achieve enterprise value but are blocked when they realize nearly every initiative runs through technologyCaxy’s specialty is in creating customized web applications for business customers with a focus on performance, security, application modernization, and software innovation projects.

Patrick Gartlan

General Manager, Cloud FinOps | Spot by NetApp 

Patrick is the General Manager of FinOps at Spot by NetApp, a company providing cloud optimization technology that allows customers to maximize their cloud savings. Patrick is a seasoned entrepreneur with his latest company acquired by Spot and now known as Spot Eco, where he continues to lead the Spot FinOps practice, setting strategic roadmap, product and sales strategies.

Karthik Sundaram

IT Solutions Management Director | Applied Materials

Karthik is an accomplished IT leader with over 25 years of experience in various aspects of IT including architecture, consulting, delivery, strategy, governance, project, and people management. Working as IT Solutions Director with Applied Materials, he is responsible for for creating solutions to critical problems in global supply chain & logistics.

Kevin McGrath

VP | Spot by NetApp 

Kevin is VP of Spot by NetApp, focused on delivering unique technology for cloud automation and optimization that makes it possible for customers to get the most out of their cloud investments through world-class CloudOps. Kevin is responsible for researching and evaluating innovative technologies and processes to guide the company’s technology roadmap, leveraging his extensive background in DevOps and in delivering Software as a Service within the communications and IT infrastructure industry.

Will McLendon

Solution Architect | Hitachi Solutions
In the past 15 years, he has worked with organizations large and small. For the past five years, he has helped Fortune 500 organizations leverage Dynamics365 and the Power Platform, resulting in better performance and being more competitive. This has included working through complex #compliance and regulatory requirements that required a multi-disciplined approach to make the move cost-effective and meet business requirements.

Eric Alfaro

Global CIO | People 2.0

As Global CIO, Eric leads technology strategy and execution for People2.0, supporting the world’s most comprehensive workforce deployment and management capabilities and delivering on People2.0’s ethos: the Human Spirit is the greatest Human Resource. With twenty-five years of business technology experience, Eric leads technology operations, strategic planning, infrastructure, security and privacy, and data assets across the Americas, EMEA, and APAC operating regions. Prior to People2.0, Eric held multiple regional and global leadership roles with Adecco Group. He has a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Georgia Tech and completed executive programs at IMD and the Wharton School.

Steven Brown

Director of Delivery Excellence | 3Cloud

Steven is a proven leader with experience in successfully building and organizing cross-functional teams. He is currently the Director of Delivery Excellence at 3Cloud Solutions responsible for providing the “ultimate Azure experience” for clients looking to leverage the world’s most cutting-edge technologies to run their businesses. In addition to running delivery, he currently holds the Chair position for 3Cloud’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiative; if you were to ask him, this is where he does his best work!

Rachel Wortman Morris

Director, Talent & Employability – Worldwide Learning | Microsoft

Systems thinker, great with a blank sheet of paper, calm and poised under pressure, Rachel Wortman Morris, Ph.D. is the Director of Microsoft Learn Career Connected. She was one of the creators behind the Microsoft Learn for Educators program and former co-director of the Microsoft AI Business School. Dr. Wortman Morris is also a clinical assistant professor in the School of Public Health at the University of Washington. She holds her Ph.D. in Comparative Studies from The Ohio State University, a master’s in literature from Middlebury College, and a bachelor’s of English from Oberlin College.

Avish Jain

Product Manager | Remitly
Avish Jain is a seasoned Product Manager with more than eight years’ experience leading product teams in the ecommerce and fintech space. He is a strong believer in cross-functional collaboration and has led cross-functional teams comprising engineering, design, product, analytics, data science, and marketing at eBay, PwC, and Remitly, to define the product roadmap and launch minimum viable products. Outside of work, Avish enjoys a good Netflix binge, reading non-fiction books on productivity, and going on bike rides on hilly countryside roads.

Ronnie Bryant

CIO | Hornets Sports & Entertainment

Ronnie Bryant is in his 19th year with Hornets Sports & Entertainment and his fourth as Chief Information Officer. In this role, he is responsible for all IT infrastructure for the organization, including the Charlotte Hornets, Greensboro Swarm, Hornets Venom GT and Spectrum Center. He oversees the implementation, management and support of the organization’s computer hardware and software, networking, internet, telephones and more.  

Ronald Membreno

Digital Cloud Solution Architect | Microsoft 

As a Digital Cloud Solution Architect, Ronald relies on 29+ years of professional and technical experience to drive Microsoft’s most dynamic customers to adopt leading Azure cloud products and services. He spent many years honing his technical skills in multiple consulting roles performing Web Development, DB Administration, and Network Architecture for major Fortune 500 companies. His professional experience spans into the finance, telecommunications, and IT industries. In his role as Director of Forum Nokia for LATAM, he not only travelled extensively to South America, but also learned Portuguese as his third language to interact with Brazilian customers. He is passionate about technology and working out of his comfort zone for growing to the next level.

Dan McAllister

Senior Vice President, Global Alliances and Channels | Boomi

Dan has over 20 years of global alliance leadership experience, focusing on creating win-win relationships with partners that drive measurable outcomes. He joined Salesforce through the acquisition of MuleSoft, where he led the channels team through industry-leading growth. Prior to joining MuleSoft, Dan held alliance leadership roles at Box, NetSuite, and SAP, where he delivered outsized results through his focus on developing the partner community’s revenue share, creating awareness through market-to and market-with campaigns, developing practices via flexible enablement programs, and driving innovation with partner IP through solution and asset creation.

Heather Fitz-Gerald

Vice-President, Dynamics 365 Market Leader | Thinkmax

Heather has worked in the Microsoft channel for over 25 years and is currently the Dynamics 365 ERP Leader at Thinkmax, a professional services firm that specialize in the strategic application of technology to solve business challenges. Prior to joining Thinkmax, Heather was the Vice President of Business Technology for Castrol – Wakefield Canada. With prior leadership roles at both PwC and Deloitte, Heather blends traditional business consulting with hands-on implementation experience across a variety of technologies and industries including manufacturing, distribution, retail, financial services and public sector. Having been both a vendor, an advisor and a customer during her career, she brings a unique perspective to driving value out of investments in technology. 

Brittany Burke

Solutions Architect | Caf2Code LLC 

Brittany is an end-user turned Solutions Architect for D365 F&O who uses her Master’s degree in accounting to bridge the gap between finance and technical teams. She holds two Microsoft Certifications and is a certified Microsoft D365 F&O Apps Solutions Architect Expert. 

Brittany strives to ensure client needs are always heard, addressed, and resolved. When out-of-the-box solutions don’t meet requirements, she designs comprehensive solutions that take business processes and end goals into account.

Brittany has worked with numerous companies to create Segregation of Duties compliant security roles within Dynamics AX 2012 and D365 F&O systems. In her current role at Caf2Code LLC, she focuses primarily on the financial modules of D365, delivering strong subject matter expertise in inventory costing, inventory transaction analysis, and inventory impact to financial statements.

Erin Hirtle

Talent Acquisition Lead | USAC

Erin Hirtle has been in talent acquisition for over 16 years. She started her career recruiting medical professionals and expanded into technical recruitment ten years ago when she joined 3M. She has helped build technical teams throughout the USA and Dublin, Ireland, focusing on but not limited to Software Engineers, Cloud Engineers, DevOps, Machine Learning, AI, and Speech Scientists. Erin enjoys partnering closely with candidates, managers and industry organizations to stay focused on bringing diverse candidates of all levels to support building exceptional teams.

Kellen Wise

Managing Director | Business Solutions Technologies

Kellen is a leader in FORVIS’ Business Technology Solutions division, specifically managing the Enterprise Solutions Group. He has more than 15 years of experience in the technology, operations, and process improvement areas of enterprises across multiple industries, including deep, international experience with private equity, wealth management, and retail businesses. 

Prior to moving into technologies, Kellen spent time as a Controller and CFO growing small start-ups into leading organizations. He helps clients achieve their goals by leveraging technology to improve processes and information visibility. 

Guided by his extensive strategic, operations, and technology experience, Kellen helps companies assess their technology needs, develop strategic plans, and implement business transformation objectives.  Kellen brings to bear FORVIS’ digital transformation capabilities across the ecosystem – Dynamics 365, Power Automate, Power BI, Azure Cloud Transformation/Enablement and Industry Solutions, Infrastructure, Data and Analytics, Intelligent Automation, Blockchain, Internet of Things, and Modern Workplace. 

Before joining FORVIS, Kellen worked for several other leading Microsoft Partners and held global leadership positions in operations, technology, and executive management. He holds multiple Microsoft Dynamics certifications including in Finance, Trade and Logistics, Supply Chain, Solution Architect, and Catalyst.

Dan Madden

CRM Director | Ascensus

Dan Madden is a seasoned CRM professional with over seventeen years’ experience who drives business results through CRM technology. His entire career has been within the financial services industry, and he is an avid conference attendee, volunteer, and speaker—who shares experiences with the technology community on a variety of topics relating to CRM best practices. 

Yogi Dhanda

Managing Director, Global Head of IT | Morrow Sodali

Yogi leads technology for Morrow Sodali and is responsible for setting and executing the IT strategic roadmap for the organization. He has extensive experience in designing, delivering and managing strategic and transformational business and technology strategies that improve operational efficiencies, adhere to compliance and regulatory standards and create new revenue models. Having delivered a number of large strategic business and digital transformational programs within procurement, supply chain, environmental consulting and financial services, he is adept at understanding business complexities and leveraging IT, business management and program management expertise to move organizations forward. 

Mike Buob

VP Digital Experience and Innovation | Capgemini 

Mike has been with the Capgemini group for over 18 years, helping clients create impactful experiences for their customers. He has a diverse background in technology, innovation and strategy which has allowed him to play a critical role helping organizations with their transformation and innovation initiatives.

Nelson Rodriguez

Senior Director of Product GTM and Customer Transformation for Business Applications | Microsoft

Nelson is responsible for driving Microsoft’s BizApps product go-to-market strategy in the US, covering both Dynamics 365 and Power Platform. His career spans sales leadership, BtoC marketing and, for the last decade, a focus on BtoB technology product marketing. Through it all, he’s mostly been obsessed with customers and how to ignite their imaginations. 

Corey Harrison

Managing Director | Protiviti

Corey Harrison is a Managing Director and Practice Lead for Protiviti’s MSFT Cloud Applications arm, a global team of Microsoft technologists, strategically built with a balance of recognized technical leadership, creative user experience, process automation and dedicated technical project governance. His team is primarily focused on the modern workplace, security and compliance, Dynamics CE, the Power Platform and modernization of custom applications to Azure. With over 25 years of experience, Corey has provided expertise on strategy, deployment and adoption of cloud technologies across local and global organizations in financial services, legal, public sector, manufacturing and the insurance industries. 

Domenic Luppino

Vice President Consulting Services | CGI

Domenic has over 30 years of experience as a results and quality oriented transformation executive, with a proven track record of operations management, portfolio management, and selling and delivering solutions for consulting and industry companies. As a VP of Consulting Services for CGI, he works with C-level executives to lead high priority and high visibility initiatives in the healthcare and insurance industries. Domenic understands people, both how to connect with them and how to inspire them. His strong leadership and a demonstrated ability to motivate teams has helped solve the most complex business problems and demanding timelines during his career. 

John Accardi

Principal | Enterprise Systems Practice Leader

John guides transformations for operations and IT environments. With over 30 years of experience, he leverages his strong technical and analytical background to offer solutions to complex business problems by maximizing operational value, driving down costs, and enhancing technology innovation.  Focused on Enterprise Resource Planning and Customer Relationship Management, John brings the ability to recognize patterns, identify opportunities, build efficiencies, capitalize on market trends, and build high-performance teams. He has an extensive background with Microsoft platforms.

Erin Brodie

Head of Alliances North America | NetSuite 

With over 20 years of experience in the high-tech industry, Erin has served as a key opinion leader throughout her career, with a specific interest in sales, solution marketing, program marketing, and most notably, partner ecosystems. Currently leading NetSuite’s alliance organization for North America, Erin implements partner strategies to increase market share and improve win-rate percentage. Passionate about creating and promoting a winning culture by aligning sales and marketing organizations tightly with the broader ecosystem, she is fiercely dedicated to investing in people and is a proud, co-founding member of NetSuite’s Women who Mean Business group in Los Angeles.

Dan Biernacki

Vice President | Digital Solutions

Dan looks after digital innovation efforts and oversees three organizational units at MAXIMUS—Digital Solutions, the Emerging Technologies Center of Excellence, and the Transformation Office. He is passionate about helping organizations create game-changing digital strategies, understanding users, creating delightful user experiences, and providing flawless solution delivery execution. He joined MAXIMUS as a Vice President of Digital Delivery in January 2019, bringing years of experience in business-driven digital transformation, complex systems integration, technology delivery, product development, and service and user experience design.

Bobbi Powers-Hey

Chief Financial Officer | Howard Fertilizer and Chemical 

Bobbi oversees the IT, HR and accounting departments at Howard Fertilizer and Chemical, as well as being responsible for all financial, treasury and accounting functions. She holds a Batchelor of Science degree in accounting from Truman State University (formally known as Northeast Missouri State University) and became a licensed CPA in Illinois in 1990. Bobbi has served in several financial and systems capacities through her career both as a Senior Systems Project Consultant and in controller/finance and accounting functions for several companies.

Hosting our US event will be Zoë Morris and Kashif Naqshbandi.

With over two decades of experience in the recruitment industry, Zoë is President of cloud talent specialists Frank Recruitment Group. Kashif is Chief Marketing Officer of Tenth Revolution Group, and a co-founder of the Digital Revolution Awards. 

Award Categories

Unable to make it?

Our global virtual ceremony will be broadcast online so you can still join us live no matter where in the world you are. Why not sign up for a free email reminder to make sure you don’t miss it?
Register for your free reminder email