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Corporate Vice President, Internal Audit, Microsoft Corporation
As the corporate vice president of Internal Audit at Microsoft, Melvin Flowers oversees the Internal Audit Department and Financial Integrity Unit with the principal charge of ensuring that management has designed and implemented sound internal controls of compliance and business ethics. As an independent, objective source of assurance and consultation, Flowers adds value by bringing a systematic, disciplined and balanced approach to evaluating and improving the effectiveness of internal controls, risk management, control and governance processes. He reports his findings and recommendations to senior management and the Audit Committee.
Flowers joined Microsoft in December 2003. Before his promotion to corporate vice president, he was the chief financial officer for Mobile Communications and Music Business within the Entertainment and Devices Division. Within each group Flowers was responsible for financial and business performance management, including financial reporting, business planning, budgeting, investor/analyst relationships and alliance management. Prior to becoming chief financial officer, Flowers began his career at Microsoft as the senior controller for the Mobile and Embedded Devices business. There he was responsible for accounting, management reporting, and internal controls and compliance.
Before joining Microsoft, Flowers served as vice president and chief financial officer at Novatel Wireless for over four years, and before that he was vice president and chief financial officer of publicly held companies such as ACT Networks and Spectra Med Inc. During his 33 years in the finance and business development field, Flowers has served as president of Pacific Earth Resources and as a member of the Gold Coast branch of the MIT Enterprise Forum. He is currently on the advisory board of Blacks at Microsoft, is a board member of Enterprise Mobile and a mentor for the College Success Foundation.
Flowers graduated from Northern Illinois University with a Bachelor of Science in accounting and grew up in the Chicago area. Aside from his dedication to his career he is an avid runner, enjoys jazz and R&B music, golf and history.
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General Manager, Online Services Marketing, Microsoft Corporation
In her role as General Manager of Online Services Marketing, Betsy Frost Webb leads Microsoft Corp.’s marketing and business strategy for cloud productivity offerings including the company’s e-mail, conferencing and collaboration solutions.
Betsy started her career at Microsoft in 1997 and has held product management and global business leadership roles across the company. Most recently, she was the general manager of Audience Marketing in the Microsoft Business Division where she held responsibility for information worker and business decisionmaker marketing as well as press and analyst relations across the division.
Betsy holds bachelor of arts and bachelor of science degrees in economics from the Wharton School and the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from Harvard Business School. She lives in the Seattle area with her family. |
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President, Microsoft Canada
On June 12, 2009, Eric Gales was named President of Microsoft Canada. In this new role, he is responsible for all elements of Microsoft Canada’s business and for deepening the company’s commitment to this country through its Citizenship efforts.
Eric has more than two decades of experience in the IT industry and an outstanding track record of success in Microsoft’s Small Business Solutions and Partners group. He joined Microsoft Canada three years ago as Vice President, Small Business and Mid-market Solutions & Partners. He has been instrumental in helping businesses understand the depth and breadth of software solutions available and has worked closely with Microsoft’s vast partner community, identifying ways to help small and mid-sized businesses exceed their business goals.
Previously, Eric held positions in various business areas at Microsoft UK, most recently leading the UK Partner Group. During that time, he
was closely involved in developing the highly successful Microsoft Partner Program.
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Chief Technology Officer, Worldwide Services, Microsoft Corporation
Norm Judah serves as Chief Technology Officer of Worldwide Services at Microsoft, focusing on technical strategy, innovation, technical communities, and enterprise services strategy. Acting as the technical conscience for the Services organization, Norm insists on technical excellence and quality assurance across the business. His ability to reach into his global constituency is proven by frequent and measurable feedback with the appropriate product groups and development teams. Driving process focused on customer’s cross product solution scenarios and major design reviews, Norm champions tools and methods that result in reducing risk while also assuring high quality delivery. Norm is passionate about the growth and health of the worldwide technical communities and leverages his team to drive quality and build a strong community connection for the Microsoft customer-facing field.
Collectively, he has more than 30 years of experience in the systems industry, most of which has been spent trying to simplify and streamline the way business applications are built through well defined application architectures. This is fueled by a passion to drive scenario based product planning based on working closely with customers and their applications.
Judah holds a Masters of Applied Science from the University of Toronto and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the
University of Witwatersrand. |
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Publisher, Forbes
Rich Karlgaard is the publisher of Forbes—the world’s most popular business and financial magazine, read by 4.5 million people per issue. He also is the author of the book, Life 2.0 How People Across America Are Transforming Their Lives by Finding the Where of Their Happiness, which was an Amazon and Wall Street Journal business bestseller.
In every issue of Forbes, Karlgaard writes a column called Digital Rules, about technology, entrepreneurship, regional and economical development, and the future of business and work. He frequently lectures on these subjects and is a regular guest on the Fox News Channel’s Forbes on Fox. He also writes a daily blog on the homepage of Forbes.com.
Karlgaard joined Forbes in 1992 to start Forbes ASAP, a technology magazine, with Forbes CEO and Editor-in-Chief Steve Forbes, and the futurist and writer George Gilder. At Forbes ASAP Karlgaard commissioned original works by Tom Wolfe, John Updike and other notable American writers. An accomplished entrepreneur, Karlgaard has co-founded two companies (Garage Technology Ventures, in 1997; and Upside magazine in 1988) and one civic organization (the 5,500-member Churchill Club in 1985, for which he was a co-winner of the Ernst & Young Northern California "Entrepreneur of the Year" award).
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Corporate Vice President, Windows Server and Solutions Division
Bill Laing is corporate vice president of Microsoft's Windows Server and Solutions Division. As leader of the division he is responsible for project-managing, delivering and documenting the various versions of Windows Server including Windows Home Server, Windows Small Business Server, Windows Essential Business Server and Windows HPC Server. He also is responsible for virtualization and Terminal Services product delivery, customer engagement programs, and relationships with strategic partners such as original equipment manufacturers. He reports to the President of the Server and Tools Business, Bob Muglia.
Prior to joining Microsoft in 1999, Laing worked for Compaq Computer Corp. (which bought Digital Equipment Corp.) for 17 years as a corporate consulting engineer. During his career at Digital Laing worked on OpenVMS systems performance analysis, VAXcluster design and development, operating systems kernel development, transaction processing, file systems, software strategy, and systems research. He was technical director of engineering in Europe and chief technology officer of AltaVista Internet Software Inc.
Laing has held research and teaching posts in operating systems at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, where he worked on the EMAS operating system. He holds a bachelor of science in mathematics and computer science and a master of philosophy in computer science, both from the University of Edinburgh. |
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Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Online
Ron Markezich is responsible for growing the Microsoft Online business, including business development and service delivery. Microsoft Online provides businesses with the option to have their Microsoft technology delivered as an online service. The services that are part of Microsoft Online are Microsoft Exchange Online, Microsoft Office SharePoint Online, Microsoft Office Communications Online, Business Online Service Delivery, Microsoft Exchange Hosted Services and Microsoft Office Live Meeting.
Microsoft organizations under Markezich’s leadership have received numerous awards, including the CFO Magazine Best in Finance, the Alexander Hamilton Award for Technology and Primus Luminary award.
Markezich joined Microsoft in 1998. Before that, he was at Accenture (formerly Andersen Consulting) in the Electronics and High Tech Group. Markezich is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame, where he was an All-American cross-country runner and captain of the track and field team. |
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Senior Vice President, Ipsos-Reid
John Wright is the Senior Vice President for the Canadian Public Affairs Division of Ipsos-Reid Corp. In addition to his client responsibilities involving strategic and tactical communications research, Wright has been the company’s lead media spokesperson for the last decade on politics, policy and consumer trends.
Wright's presentations are full of useful, practical information and are pertinent to particular areas of concern. His knowledge, unlimited access to research, and strong sense of humour allow Wright to provide his audiences with useful concepts and information on the state of the economy, business in transition, technology and the future, and what we should be doing to succeed in a changing business and social environment. He also draws on the latest findings of Ipsos-Reid’s annual poll on Canada’s Most Respected Corporations to provide insight on what Canada’s leaders are thinking and planning, where leading organizations plan to take their companies and what makes a great company. |
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President, North America Sales & Marketing and Corporate Vice President
Robert Youngjohns is President, North America Sales & Marketing and Corporate Vice President for Microsoft, and oversees a sales force of over 8,500.
Youngjohns brings more than 30 years experience in sales, marketing and strategic business development. Prior to joining Microsoft, Youngjohns served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Callidus Software, Inc., a publicly traded company and leading provider of sales management software based in San Jose, CA.
Before joining Callidus, Youngjohns spent 10 years at Sun Microsystems, where in his last role as Executive Vice President of Global Sales, he was responsible for Sun's worldwide sales organization. He also spent 18 years in various roles at IBM.
Youngjohns received a M.A. with Honors in Physics and Philosophy from Oxford University. Youngjohns resides in Bellevue with his wife, where he continues to pursue his hobbies of sailing and learning how to fly. |
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