August 28, 2007
Jon Arnold / Elliot Katz - Microsoft Vista - Enterprise Update
On this week's podcast, Jon's guest was Elliot Katz, Senior Product Manager, Windows Client, with Microsoft Canada. Jon talked with Elliot about what Vista and Office 2007 brings to the business market, and how they are supporting today's communications and networking needs. Elliot elaborated further on key aspects of what's new with Vista, especially security and mobility. The security topic was particularly timely in light of the recent Skype outage, and Elliot commented briefly on why this was not caused by Microsoft. Elliot also noted how adoption trends of Vista compare between Canada and the U.S.
Elliot Katz
Product Manager, Windows Client
Microsoft Canada Co.
Mississauga, ON
As a senior product manager for Windows Client at Microsoft Canada, Elliot Katz is responsible for marketing strategies and key initiatives for Microsoft Windows desktop products, including the release of Windows Vista.
Elliot joined Microsoft Canada as the Windows 3.1 Product Manager in 1992. Over the past decade he has been instrumental in steering numerous products to launch, including Windows 95, Windows NT, Windows XP, Pocket PC and the Tablet PC. Having contributed to many areas within Microsoft Canada including sales, evangelism and the overseeing of product management teams, Elliot returned to his role as Product Manager for Windows Client in 2002 to drive the marketing vision of the operating system. Prior to joining Microsoft Canada, Elliot spent 15 years working with industry leaders in both hardware and software.
A native Torontonian, Elliot holds a B.Sc. from the University of Toronto and an MBA from York University. He enjoys traveling throughout Europe, bike riding, and playing defense for his pickup hockey team.
Posted at 11:40 AM • Comments (0)
August 21, 2007
Craig Gosselin, NewStep Networks, with Carl Ford
A conversation between Pulvermedia's Carl Ford and Craig Gosselin from NewStep Networks about some of the FMC solutions NewStep offers, including of course dual-mode call continuity, but also strong single-mode convergence, and extending the features of the PBX in meaningful ways.
Craig Gosselin, Chief Marketing Officer, NewStep Networks
Craig is responsible for business strategy, offer management, marketing, and communications at NewStep Networks. A leader with 20 years of experience, Craig has successfully led business units, marketing, and sales organizations in corporate, venture capital, and private equity environments. He has worked with leading brands in technology, financial services, and consumer products while also having managed large global operations teams.
Prior to joining NewStep, Craig served as Chief Marketing and Sales Officer at Velocita Wireless. Velocita was a Cerberus Capital portfolio company and a leader in wireless data networking with nearly $150M in revenue. The company exceeded EBITDA objectives and was successfully sold to Sprint Nextel in 2006, representing a significant increase in value.
Prior to joining Velocita, Craig served as Vice President of Sales and Channel Marketing at Virgin Mobile USA. He joined the startup company prior to market launch and led the development of the distribution network and Virgin Mobile presence at over 30,000 locations, resulting in 2 million new customers.
Previous to Virgin Mobile, Craig held the position of Senior Vice President at American Express. In this capacity, Craig was a member of the senior management team and guided a 1000 person sales and service organization that also had responsibility for internet service strategy, new account development, and product development.
From 1998 to 2000, Craig was a Managing Director with Deutsche Bank, where he was responsible for creating, building, and leading the worldwide Client Service Organization supporting the Securities Services business. In this role, Craig's organization supported the custody and security transaction needs of asset managers throughout the world. From 1986 to 1998, Craig held multiple leadership roles within AT&T, directing large sales, product management, marketing, and service organizations. In his last assignment at AT&T, Craig led the international consumer long distance business where he had profit and loss responsibility for a $3.5 Billion business unit.
Craig received a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and a M.B.A. degree from the University of Houston.
Posted at 03:44 PM • Comments (0)
Jon Arnold / Mark Farmer - meemo and Mobile Email for the Masses
On this week's Canadian IP Thought Leaders podcast, Jon's guest was Mark Farmer. Mark is the Vice President of Marketing for Toronto-based OceanLake Commerce, a company that has recently launched a new mobile service called meemo that works on regular cellular phones. Mark spoke with Jon about the market opportunity for consumer-based mobile email, and the need for affordable solutions that can be used with existing handsets.
He discussed how email is a natural extension of text messaging, and for the under-30 market, the time is right now for mobile email solutions such as meemo. Jon and Mark also touched on the business models that could arise from this, including both subscriber-based and advertising-based.
Mark Farmer, Vice President Marketing, OceanLake Commerce
Based in Toronto, Canada, Mark Farmer brings almost 15 years of technology and marketing experience to his role at OceanLake where he is responsible for leading market strategy, product positioning and communications. Prior to joining the company, Mr. Farmer held several senior marketing positions at various technology companies primarily in the mobile communications marketplace. Most recently he was Director of Marketing for QuickPlay Media where he oversaw the launch of the company, its brand and portfolio of mobile platforms and services. Before joining QuickPlay Media, he was Director Services Marketing at Amdocs for their services portfolio including managed services, consulting and integrations services. He came to Amdocs by way of acquisition of Solect Technology Group in April 2000. Solect was acquired for US $1.2 Billion, which at the time was the largest private acquisition in Canadian corporate history. At Solect, Mr. Farmer held various product-marketing positions with responsibility for service management and their broadband market strategy. Mr. Farmer graduated from the University of Toronto with a Bachelor of Applied Science (Engineering).
Posted at 11:49 AM • Comments (0)
August 13, 2007
Pulverize - Booth Staffing
This episode of the Pulverize series covers where the rubber really meets the road at a face-to-face marketing event: your booth staff. Without a capable and coordinated staff to execute your plans in the booth, all the planning and strategy you've done to plan the event will be for naught. Pulvermedia's VP and GM of Events Bill Sell speaks with CMO Glenn Gaudet about the three types of people he recommends you have in the booth:
- Salespeople
- Technical People, Engineers
- "Random" Booth Staffers
Of course, Bill has a large number of suggestions to help each kind of staffer be more effective on the floor. Listen in to learn how to maximize your ROI on booth and staff expenditures.
Posted at 05:06 PM • Comments (0)
Pulverize - 3 Important Event Planning Strategies
Pulvermedia's CMO Glenn Gaudet and VP & GM of Events Bill Sell team up again to discuss 3 important strategies to consider separately when planning to exhibit at a trade show:
- Lead Generation
- Branding
- PR
Posted at 04:35 PM • Comments (0)
Jon Arnold / Mike Fox - High Tech Recruiting
On this week's podcast, Jon's guest was Mike Fox, who runs Toronto-based recruiting firm, Brightlights. Mike is an established high tech recruiter, and he spoke with Jon about the state of the industry. His focus is mainly on senior level talent, and he talked about the challenges that start ups face in attracting these people, especially for Canadian-based companies.. He also emphasized the richness of Toronto's job market, and the diversity of talent that makes it a great place for startups.
Mike added his perspective on how the job market has changed from the bubble days, and how imporant it is for seasoned tech workers to adjust their expectations to today's realities. He also provided some practical advice for people just starting out and looking for a career in tech.
Mike Fox is passionate in his efforts to help organizations meet their true potential. His last 15 years have been in recruitment in the Technology sector, focusing on executive, senior management, sales, marketing, and technical roles. He has a deep understanding of the ICT sector and his monthly reading includes MIT Technology Review, Computing Canada, Business Week, Business 2.0, Information Week, Harvard Business Review, and Strategy and Business among others.
Mike was a senior recruiter for one of Canada's largest recruiting firms (CNC Global) and was the top performer, out of 187 recruiting specialists, for each of his last five years with the company. He also spent 1.5 years working with Mandrake, an Executive Recruiting Specialty firm. Previous to that he worked with Comdisco Disaster Recovery Services, Hamilton Computers (which later became GE Capital), Vernon Computer Financing, and ran his own training company. He has been a sales representative, a sales manager, a product manager, and a fledgling entrepreneur. This provides a wide experience base from which to provide clients a perspective on the best candidates possible.
Mike interviews 200-300 professionals each year and brings a wealth of knowledge to provide you with information on best practices. He has been a speaker at 2 Conference Board of Canada National Conferences as well as the IHRIM (International Human Resource Management Association) National Conference. As well, he was a past Board Member of The Strategic Leadership Forum and now the MIT Schulich Enterprise Forum.
Posted at 11:51 AM • Comments (0)
August 07, 2007
Jon Arnold / Dave Dobbin - Toronto Hydro Telecom
On this week's podcast, Jon's guest was Dave Dobbin, President of Toronto Hydro Telecom. Jon invited Dave to talk about how and why public utilities become telecom providers, and in his particular case, why they recently launched One Zone, a WiFi service serving Toronto's core downtown area.
Dave touched on several aspects of their initiatives, including some pertinent regulatory issues that explain why they focus on the business market with voice services, and do not pursue residential telephony. He also drew some parallels to the U.S. market and how the regulatory environment differs there.
Jon and Dave also discussed how their broadband infrastructure is based on fiber optics and is different from broadband over powerline. Finally, Dave shared some perspectives on One Zone, including an overview of how different types of subscribers use the service.
David Dobbin, President, Toronto Hydro Telecom Inc.
David Dobbin is responsible for leading the market growth and development of Toronto Hydro Telecom Inc., with operational responsibilities for business strategy, sales and marketing, network operations, services creation and customer care.
Dave has extensive knowledge of the telecommunications industry in Canada. In recent years, he has provided strategic counsel to carriers and large corporations both nationally and internationally on projects related to telecom network construction and optimization. He has been instrumental in assisting a large number of municipal electric utilities in Ontario enter the telecom business.
Prior to joining Toronto Hydro Telecom, Dave was the Chief Operating Officer of Telecom Ottawa Limited where he created a successful telecommunications subsidiary for Hydro Ottawa Holdings Inc. Prior to this, he served in senior level executive positions with organizations such as Hydro One Telecom and BDO Watson/Watson and Associates.
Posted at 04:34 PM • Comments (0)
