Chris Shipley
Guidewire Group

Chris Shipley has covered the personal technology business since 1984 and is regarded as one of the top analysts in technology. As a founding partner and editorial director in Guidewire Group, she consults with emerging technology companies in the U.S. and Europe to identify market opportunities and accelerate products to market. She has produced the DEMO conferences for Network World Events & Executive Forums since 1996, and is the lead columnist for the weekly e-newsletter, DEMOletter. Prior to joining the DEMO organization, Chris briefly ran her own media strategy and consulting company. She began her career in technology journalism in 1984 with Ziff-Davis Publishing, where she worked as a writer and editor for PC Week, PC/Computing, and Computer Life. In 1992, she joined the online publishing group at Ziff-Davis where she was editorial director for a range of ZiffNet services.

Chris has won numerous awards for journalistic excellence, and was three times named the #1 newsletter editor by Technology Marketing for her work on DEMOletter. Over the years, she has written for PC Magazine, InfoWorld, Working Woman and Us Magazine, as well as a regional travel magazine.. She has written two books on communications and Internet technology, and is at work on a book of essays discussing the unintended consequences of technology adoption. In 2002, Fortune Small Business Magazine included Chris on its list of 'most perfect board of directors.'

She sits on the board of directors for Forum for Women Entrepreneurs, and is an advisory board member to several startup ventures, including PredatorWatch, Phantom Technologies, and AllenPort. Chris graduated from Allegheny College with a B.A. in literature and communications arts. She lives in the San Francisco Bay area.

Ian Glazer
Burton Group

Ian Glazer is a senior analyst for Burton Group’s Identity and Privacy Strategies service. He covers identity audit, user provisioning, controls management, and privacy. Prior to joining Burton Group, Ian was senior director, of program management at Approva Corporation, director of identity strategy at Trusted Network Technologies, and senior product manager at IBM where he was a top-ranked product manager on the IBM Tivoli Identity Manager team, heading provisioning offerings for small and medium businesses. Ian is a strong advocate for industry standards and efficacy. He was a contributor to OASIS Provisioning Services Technical Committee and is a co-inventor of the patent pending Web Services Federated Provisioning. Ian is a frequent speaker and panelist at identity leadership events and is an active blogger identity management and security issues.

Jeff Kaplan
Think Strategies

Kaplan has over twenty-five years of experience and recognized expertise in IT/network management, SaaS, managed services, cloud computing, telecommunications and outsourcing trends. He helped to launch IDC's Communications Industry Research (CIR) program in 1983; Dataquest's Worldwide Services Research program in 1990; and Meta Group's Benchmarking program in 1995. He then went on to have successful 'real-world' experiences at INS and InterOPS Management Solutions.

Kaplan founded THINKstrategies in 2001 to address the unprecedented IT/network management and sourcing issues facing enterprise IT executives, IT solutions providers and venture capital firms today. Kaplan has a long history of success working with a wide array of clients from each of these sectors.

In 2006, Kaplan founded the SaaS Showplace and Managed Services Showplace, the leading vendor-independent online directories and best practice resource centers in these rapidly growing marketplaces.

Kaplan is also a senior advisor to Triple-Tree, LLC and a member of Pacific Crest Securities' Mosaic Expert Network. He has served as the chairman of the CloudWorld and Cloud Futures conference. He also serves as a member of the SaaScon Advisory Board and On-Demand Conference steering committee of the SIIA; and the chairman of the SaaS/cloud computing/managed services track of NetworkWorld's IT Roadmap and Interops. He has also served as a member of the AMR Research Board of Directors.

He is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and contributing columnist for BusinessWeek Online, Mass High Tech Journal, Financial Times of London, NetworkWorld, Business Communications Review, ComputerWorld, Datamation, eCommerce Times, InfoWorld, InformationWeek, and Web Host Industry Review on topics including managed services, software-as-a-service (SaaS), cloud computing, outsourcing strategies; network and systems operations, service level management (SLM); and IT ROI and TCO calculations. Kaplan is also a contributor to the Seeking Alpha portal of stock market opinion and analysis from blogs, money managers and investment newsletters.

Click here to read his latest columns and commentaries, or visit his blog to read THINKstrategies' latest views regarding industry trends.

Ben Kepes
Cloud Avenue

Ben is an entrepreneur, a commentator and an independent director. His business experience includes a diverse range of industries from manufacturing to property to technology. As a commentator he has a broad presence both in the traditional media and extensively as a blogger. He sits on the boards of a number of organizations, both commercial and not-for-profit.

Ben is the founder and managing director of Diversity Limited the vehicle for both a Blog which he edits, and a consultancy specializing in SaaS, social media and user-centric design. Ben lives on a 12 acre lifestyle block in North Canterbury, New Zealand with his wife and two young children. Ben's disclosure statement can be seen here.