Avaya

Alan Masarek is President and Chief Executive Officer. He brings over 30 years of software and cloud-based business experience. Alan is an industry innovator with deep expertise in enterprise communications, information technology and business services. He most recently served as Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors of Vonage Holdings Corp. In this role, which he held from November 2014 to June 2020, Alan led the company through an era of transformation from a VoIP-based residential phone provider into a global enterprise cloud communications company. Over the course of his tenure, Vonage completed eight acquisitions and its market capitalization increased severalfold. As importantly, Mr. Masarek led a revitalization of Vonage’s culture, creating a talent-driven organization with a culture of agility, technology innovation and customer centricity.Prior to Vonage, Alan served as Director, Chrome & Apps at Google, Inc. from June 2012 until October 2014, following Google’s acquisition of his prior company, Quickoffice, Inc. Alan was Co-founder and CEO of Quickoffice from June 2007 to June 2012. Under his leadership, Quickoffice became one of the world’s most widely used mobile productivity software solutions, engaging more than 26 million registered users at the time of Google’s purchase. Alan earned his M.B.A., with Distinction, from Harvard Business School and his B.B.A., magna cum laude, from the University of Georgia.

Avaya

Jayesh (Jay) Patel serves as the Global Vice President of Product Management at Avaya, bringing over 30 years of experience as a seasoned global executive. His expertise lies in developing and implementing growth strategies, innovating products, and driving profitable revenue growth. Prior to his role at Avaya, Jay held the position of Chief Product Officer at Kandy Communications, a provider of white label cloud communications solutions to service providers. In this capacity, he contributed to the development and success of innovative communication solutions. Before his tenure at Kandy Communications, Jay served as the Chief Product Officer at Vonage, a leading business cloud communications provider. There, he led product management for UCaaS, CCaaS, and CPaaS product lines, playing a pivotal role in the post-acquisition portfolio diversification and integration, which led to significant revenue growth. Earlier in his career, Jay held various leadership positions at Motorola, where he spearheaded corporate strategy and product development. His diverse experience positions him as a strategic leader with a proven track record in shaping successful product strategies and driving business growth.

CPaaS Acceleration Alliance

Robert is a CPaaS industry pioneer with 25+ years of success in crea:ng winning products andGTM strategies. He has a passion for how thoughAul design and technologies converge todeliver great customer and employee experiences. As CMO and head of product at IntelePeer,Robert spear-headed the delivery of low-code / no-code tools, AI-powered analy:cs andprocesses, and end-user applica:ons in the CPaaS industry.

Cresta

Genesys

Dr. Peter Graf is the Chief Strategy and Operations Officer at Genesys. In his role, he is responsible for developing, communicating, sustaining and executing the Genesys strategy. He oversees strategy management, business development, business transformation and operations, information technology, sustainability, and executive and employee communications. Prior to joining Genesys in 2017, Peter held a variety of executive leadership positions in strategy, development, and marketing throughout his more than 25 years in the global enterprise software industry, most notably as an Executive Vice President at multinational software corporation SAP. Peter earned a doctorate in artificial intelligence from Saarland University and a master’s degree in computer science and economics from Technical University of Kaiserslautern in Germany.

IntelePeer

Frank is the President and Chief Executive Officer at IntelePeer. He has been a guiding force in driving the company’s growth and achieving its mission to become a dominant force in the AI-driven Communications Automation Platforms market. With IntelePeer’s platform, businesses can solve for the automation needs of both the enterprise contact center as well as the specific needs of regional and local offices. The Company’s platform lowers the cost of doing business while improving customer experience and accelerating ROI. Frank founded and grew CommTech Corporation between 1990 and 2001 to be an early leader in the communications software sector before selling the company to ADC, a leading provider of broadband solutions for the telecommunications industry, for $178 million. Prior to founding CommTech, he worked at AT&T Bell Laboratories as the lead data communications architect for a $1.4B winning bid to the IRS.? Frank received a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and a Master of Science in Management from Stevens Institute of Technology and participated in the Wharton Executive Management Program at the University of Pennsylvania. He was also selected as a QuantumShift’s Top Entrepreneurs in America for 2017 by KPMG’s Private Markets Group and the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business.

Metrigy

Robin Gareiss is CEO and Principal Analyst at Metrigy, where she oversees research product development, conducts primary research, and advises leading enterprises, vendors, and carriers. For 25+ years, Robin has advised hundreds of senior IT executives, ranging in size from Fortune 100 to Fortune 1000, developing technology strategies and analyzing how they can transform their businesses. She has developed industry-leading, interactive cost models for some of the world’s largest enterprises and vendors. Robin leads Metrigy’s Digital Transformation and Digital Customer Experience research. She also is a widely recognized expert in the communications field, with specialty areas of contact center, AI-enabled customer engagement, customer success analytics, and UCC. She is a sought-after speaker at conferences and trade shows, presenting at events such as Enterprise Connect, ICMI, IDG’s FutureIT, Interop, Mobile Business Expo, and CeBit. She also writes a blog for No Jitter. Additional entrepreneurial experience includes co-founding and overseeing marketing and business development for The OnBoard Group, a water-purification and general contracting business in Illinois. She also served as president and treasurer of Living Hope Lutheran Church, led youth mission trips, and ran successful fundraisers for children’s cancer research. She serves on the University of Illinois College of Media Advisory Council, as well. Before starting Metrigy, Robin was President and Co-Founder of Nemertes Research. Prior to that, she shaped technology and business coverage as Senior News Editor of InformationWeek, a leading business-technology publication with 440,000 readers. She also served in a variety of capacities at Data Communications and CommunicationsWeek magazines, where she helped set strategic direction, oversaw reader surveys, and provided quantitative and statistical analysis. In addition to publishing hundreds of research reports, she has won several prestigious awards for her in-depth analyses of business-technology issues. Ms. Gareiss also taught ethics at the Poynter Institute for Advanced Media Studies. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Newsweek, and American Medical News. She earned a bachelor of science degree in journalism from the University of Illinois.

Metrigy

In her role at Metrigy, Beth Schultz conducts primary research and analysis to provide metrics-based guidance for IT, customer experience, and business decision makers. Additionally, Beth manages the firm’s multimedia thought leadership content and research agenda. With more than 30 years in the IT media and events business, Beth is a well-known industry influencer, speaker, and creator of compelling content. She brings to Metrigy a wealth of industry knowledge from her more than three decades of coverage of the rapidly changing areas of digital transformation and the digital workplace. Most recently, Beth was with Informa Tech, where for seven years she served as program co-chair for Enterprise Connect, the leading independent conference and exhibition for the unified communications and customer experience industries, and editor in chief of the companion No Jitter media site. While with Informa Tech, Beth also oversaw the development, launch, and management of WorkSpace Connect, a multidisciplinary media site providing thought leadership for IT, HR, and facilities/real estate managers responsible for creating collaborative, connected workplaces. Over the years, Beth has worked at a number of other technology news organizations, including All Analytics, Network World, CommunicationsWeek, and Telephony Magazine. In these positions, she has earned more than a dozen national and regional editorial excellence awards from American Business Media, American Society of Business Press Editors, Folio.net, and others. Beth has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and lives in Chicago.

RingCentral

Salesforce

Telarus

Dan Foster is the chief revenue officer for Telarus. Dan, an inspirational and visionary leader, has provided market expertise to strategize and define opportunities that maximize revenue and shareholder return for multiple organizations. In his previous role at Ericsson, he pioneered the entry into the North America partner channel. In his more than 25 years of senior leadership experience in technology and data communications, Dan held the title of CRO at StratusWorX, Fusion Connect, Primus.ca, and two other companies. Under Dan’s stewardship as President and COO of MegaPath, the organization experienced exponential growth from $5 million to over $600 million via organic development and acquisitions. He has garnered industry recognition and awards throughout his career including being a five-time winner of Channel Chief by CRN. Dan received dual engineering and liberal arts degrees from Tufts University and graduated from Harvard Business Schools Executive PMD program.

UJET

Verint

Webex by Cisco

Aruna Ravichandran is the Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing & Customer Officer at Webex by Cisco. She is a dynamic and accomplished leader in the technology industry with more than two decades of experience leading global teams through workforce and technology transformations. With robust expertise in both computer engineering and marketing, Aruna is a recognized leader in SaaS marketing and building digital routes to market that support sales and empower customers and partners. Her visionary perspective of branding and exceptional skill in data storytelling set her apart as a change agent in the industry. Aruna believes in the collective power of marketing and technology to create revenue, accelerate brand value, and enable human connections. Aruna thrives in an ever-changing technology landscape with a passion for innovation and brand evolution. She has a long and consistent track record of mobilizing corporate vision across every facet of the business—from brand to demand, from purpose to products, and from employee experience to customer experience. Her ability to translate complex products into compelling stories has driven significant brand awareness and revenue growth. She is also a prolific writer, passionate about knowledge-sharing. She has authored two pioneering books on DevOps, is a contributor for Forbes.com, and is a multi-award honoree, including the Elite 18 Customer-Led CMOs, Top 100 Most Influential Women in Silicon Valley 2016 and the National Diversity Council’s 2016 Most Powerful and Influential Woman. Aruna advocates for empowering women through her work as a public speaker and thought leader. She regularly presents and speaks at colleges and universities about the importance of women embracing STEM careers. Through the work she does at Webex and on various boards and committees, she actively seeks to make the field more accessible and enticing to women everywhere. Prior to Cisco, Aruna led DevOps marketing at CA Technologies (now Broadcom), spearheaded marketing and strategy at Juniper Networks, and held a variety of roles across Engineering, Product Development, and Marketing in her 17-year tenure at Hewlett Packard. Aruna holds an MBA and an MS in Computer Engineering from Santa Clara University, a BS in Computer Science from Bangalore Institute of Technology (BIT) and graduated from the esteemed CMO Leadership program at Kellogg Business School in 2019. Aruna also serves on the board at Cal Polytechnic San Luis Obispo, Fast Company, Forbes Technology Council, and Vox Media.