VP, Conference Management

If you are interested in being part of this list please email hdp@hthts.com.

Just under one year ago, I had the pleasure of accepting a job with High Tech High Touch Solutions (HTHTS). Since then, I have had the opportunity to learn and grow more than I have ever imagined. My opportunities are endless, my challenges great.

My personal goal is to achieve a better sense of myself and improve my abilities through leadership skills and practices learned from people I respect the most – my HTHTS team as well as the Help Desk Professionals conference and expo speakers that have touched my life over the past year.

High Tech High Touch Solutions prides itself in delivering rich content and an extraordinary educational experience to our attendees. The quality of your experience at the conference is in large part determined by the quality of speakers and the topics explored. HDP speakers are pre-qualified and hand picked to ensure you get the most of out of this experience.

You are being taught by speakers who are considered the top experts in their field / topic. But you are not only learning from these top experts, you have the chance to network and become a part of the HDP family with these experts. Ask anyone who has been to HDP in the past – HDP is not just a conference, it is a community brought together year after year with common goals: to learn, network and become better leaders while catching up with old friends and meeting new ones.

Our speakers help create this sense of community and are an indispensable part of our community. Most speakers stay for the entire conference and are available to network with attendees at functions, evening activities, in the halls, etc. You may also catch a glimpse of our speakers helping in registration or collecting evaluations. Please be sure to recognize them, ask them questions – this is your chance to learn from their experience. Your time with the speakers is limitless and makes the conference great!

These speakers have been mentors to me in so many ways. Listen to their message, reach further than your dreams, rise to the challenge – our speakers do it everyday and so can you!

Sincerely,

Lisa Prendergast

VP of Program Development

Michelle Borboa

Patrick Bultema is Entrepreneur-in-Residence at vSpring Capital, a venture capital firm with a focus on innovation in the Support and IT Infrastructure Management space. In this role, he works with early phase, high-tech companies, both as a venture investor as well as strategic advisor to the businesses. Formerly, Mr. Bultema was CEO of XAware, as well as CEO for FrontRange Solutions, the maker of HEAT and GoldMine. He was also Co-founder and Chairman of the Board of Knowlix, acquired by Peregrine Systems. And he has served on the boards of over 10 different software companies, and has worked as an investor and advisor with more than 30 additional companies.

As a recognized industry expert, Mr. Bultema was Chairman and General Manager of the Help Desk Institute, and was the founding Executive Editor of Customer Support Management magazine. Extensively published, Bultema is recognized worldwide as one the most prominent experts in the business of high-tech start ups, and various segments of the software industry, particularly in the area of high tech support. He holds a bachelor’s degree from California State University and a master’s from Princeton.

Daryl Covey

Daryl Covey manages the NEXRAD Hotline which supports a global network of advanced Doppler weather radar systems for the U. S. Departments of Commerce, Defense, and Transportation. During his tenure, the Hotline staff has been recognized with the U. S. Department of Commerce Customer Service Excellence and Silver Medal Awards, the Vice President's Hammer Award, and the Federal Agency Excellence Award from Government Computer News.

As a longstanding advocate for progressive customer support in the public sector, Daryl facilitates the Government Customer Support Community of Practice and it's annual Government Customer Support Excellence Awards, edits the Government Customer Support News monthly eletter, chairs the annual Government Customer Support Conference, serves periodically as an invited advisor to government agencies on contact center initiatives, and is regularly interviewed by Government Computer News, Federal Computer Week, Federal Technology, Government Executive Magazine, and other publications for articles on public sector customer support. Recently he served as co-chair and primary facilitator for the Citizen Service Level Interagency Committee convened by the General Services Administration to create uniform customer service level guidance for all Federal agencies. Daryl is a graduate of the Universities of Oklahoma and Wisconsin as well as the Federal Executive.

Donna Earl

Phil Eastman

Peggy Gritt

Todd Haley

Todd Haley has 17 years of experience in business process re-engineering and staff management in a variety of industries including aviation, financial services, manufacturing, and information technology.  Todd is currently leading the Honeywell I.T.S.M. Program and spearheading the global deployment of the I.T.I.L. processes.

A much sought-after speaker, Donna Holt utilizes humor in her presentations as a method to stimulate the learning process.  She has been in the customer support industry over thirty years, including more than twelve years in the Help Desk/Support Center arena.  She is an active participant in the Support Center and IT best practices community, presenting HDI Authorized Certification Training, performing HDI Support Center Audits and is HDI’s Member Advisory Board’s Western Region Director.  She is a trainer and consultant in the areas of call centers, support centers and ITIL Best Practices.

Lou Hunnebeck

Ivy Meadors is CEO and founder of High Tech High Touch Solutions, Inc., a trade show producer and consulting firm specializing in help desks and call centers. Speaker-consultant, Ivy Meadors, has over 29 years of experience in call centers and help desks. She is considered one of the industry’s most respected leaders and is one of the top 5 most recognized names in the Help Desk industry.

The owner and producer of both the Help Desk Professionals Conference and the Government Customer Support Conference, Ivy is the sole woman tradeshow / events company owner in our industry. Ivy is also co-founder and President of the Northwest Call Center Professionals Association and President of the Help Desk Northwest User Group in Seattle.

Ivy publishes the online newsletter, eSharings, has been published in the top industry magazines and newsletters, wrote a monthly column for Customer Interface Magazine, received the IT Support News Award for being one of the “Top 25 Most Influential Professionals in the Service and Support Industry”, Support Technologies awarded her with recognition for being one of the greatest contributors to the Service and Support industry, and she received the honor of being one of the Top 10 Legends in the Help Desk Industry.

As an experienced keynote speaker and seminar leader, Ivy is known for her engaging, thought provoking, spontaneous style, delivering forward thinking, and unconventional ideas. She carries the title of Professional Speaker as recognized by the National Speakers Association. Ivy’s presentations are rich with content and alive with humor and real-life examples. You may not always agree with her position but she will certainly challenge you to think of things from a different view-point as she challenges the norm and promotes the exceptional, and sometimes even unusual, solutions.

Kate Nassar

Kate is wise, funny, down-to-earth, and just wild and different enough to inspire growth and improvement in individuals and teams. Her varied background as a business owner, certified teacher, technology professional, and organizational psychologist, makes her credible to many.

Before founding CAS, Inc. Kate Nasser worked for American Home Products and Johnson & Johnson in Computer Systems Development and Client Services/Training. She has a B.S. Mathematics, M.A. in Organizational Psychology and is a member of the American Consultants League and the American Society of Training & Development. Kate’s customers include IBM, Time Inc., Pfizer Inc, Discover Card, The Gap, GTE, The National Institutes of Health, NIST, and US Veterans Administration, to name just a few. Please see endorsement page on this web site for additional customer information.

Bill Price was named one of the first wave of “Call Center Pioneers” in 1997 and has continued to innovate since then. Bill has over 26 years in the services business starting with strategic consulting with McKinsey & Company, CFO for a start-up IVR service bureau, VP & General Manager for four business units at MCI, and then almost 3 years as Amazon’s first Global VP of Customer Service. Since leaving Amazon in late 2001 to form Driva Solutions, Bill and his team have served more than 50 clients in the US, UK, Thailand, Japan, and Australia.

Bill formed and chairs the 24-company Global Operations Council whose members include Cisco, Dell, Delta Airlines, Express Scripts, Microsoft, and Charles Schwab; he also co-founded the 10-country LimeBridge Global Alliance to expand each others’ reach across Europe (UK, France, Germany, and Sweden) and Asia (Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, and India). Bill is also one of sixteen global “CRM Gurus,” teaches CRM at the University of Washington Business School, and speaks at conferences all over the country but prefers chasing his daughters at home in Bellevue, Washington.

Eric Rabinowitz

Dave Stockwell

Dave Stockwell is the Service Desk Manager for Recreational Equipment Inc
(REI) where he and his team are responsible for supporting all 9000 employees across 100+ stores, 5 different operating systems, AS400's, iSeries, Linux, Mac and a little thing called Windows. Living the REI life he is also a mountain biker, hiker, kayaker as well as a musician with a penchant for over-reaching his talent in a search of the ultimate bass riff.

Dave's eight years in the support industry combined with an exuberant style, unending energy and enthusiasm along with his exemplary leadership skills, motivates his staff to do extraordinary work with a limited budget. As an experienced speaker, Dave is known for his engaging, thought provoking, style. With an eye to the future, Dave presents proven ideas that you can use right now in your own Help Desk with little to no budget.

Corina Stretch

Madeline Svendsen

Scott Vincent

Scott Vincent is the Manager – Customer Service for DICKEY-john Corp. Scott has over 15 years of experience in small to medium sized call centers and has extensive experience in team building, hiring and training agents, technical support centers, and managing agents supporting highly technical and diverse products.

Mikki Williams

Christophe Zajpt

As a member of the Honeywell Global Technology Services Leadership Team, Christophe Zajpt  supports 2000 employees and contractors worldwide and is the global sponsor for process improvement initiatives including ITSM/ITIL, CMM, Six Sigma Plus, COBIT, Process Training, and overall Customer Satisfaction. He has held several international leadership positions for Honeywell including Director of IT for the EMEA and APAC Regions

 Honeywell International is a $31 billion diversified technology and manufacturing leader, serving customers worldwide with aerospace products and services; control technologies for buildings, homes and industry; automotive products; turbochargers; and specialty materials. 

 Christophe holds an Engineering Degree in Computer Sciences and Information Technology from CNAM University (France), a Graduate Certificate in Computer Sciences from Nancy University (France) and a Bachelor of Science degree from Longwy University in France.