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As Senior Consultant with Ramius Corporation, Simon helps clients to design and deploy the company’s online community and social networking solutions. During his six years at Ramius, Simon has helped launch knowledge, customer and partner networks for organizations like the American Marketing Association, Compuware, the IEEE, Juniper Networks, NASA and SAP.

A spokesperson for Ramius and active contributor to the social computing community, Simon is interested in how social technologies can help people connect and communicate to work, learn and innovate.

Simon is a graduate of the University of Western Ontario’s Administrative Commercial Studies Program, specializing in Finance and Economics. He remains active with the university’s Alumni Board of Directors and is a former president of the alumni’s Ottawa branch.

In his spare time, Simon tries to travel more, take better photos, ski tougher runs and hit a tennis ball around more often.

As Chief Operating Officer for Ramius, Philippe steers the technology direction for the company and is responsible for developing and managing Ramius’ technology partnerships.

Philippe joined Ramius in 1999 as Vice President and Director of Marketing overseeing key operational activities and leading the company’s marketing strategy and business development initiatives. A vital contributor to Ramius’ growth, Philippe played an integral role in the design and development of theprototype of Ramius’ first product, CommunityZero.

In his current role, Philippe leads the company’s technology division. In this capacity, Philippe is responsible for product planning and architectural design of the company’s Sixent social networking platform. He also manages the quality assurance and the customer support teams to lead the successful implementation of Sixent and CommunityZero worldwide.

Prior to joining Ramius, Phil was the design director for Magma Communications where he managed the company’s Web development department. Under his guidance, Philippe’s team built database-driven Web sites for e-commerce and Web applications and opened new revenue opportunities for the company.

Philippe is a graduate of the University of Ottawa’s School of Management.

Alfred founded Ramius in January 1998 after recognizing the market potential for social software. As President and CEO, Alfred leads the strategic direction for Ramius, mapping out new opportunities and positioning the company for continued growth and innovation.

Prior to founding Ramius Corporation, Alfred was President of Jayson Corporation, an investment company focused on early-stage financing of private software companies. Alfred began his career in technology as a software developer with Jayson Data Systems Inc., a developer of accounting, administration and evaluation systems for various federal government departments and healthcare institutions.

Alfred sits on the Board of Directors for iLOOKAbout Corp., a public imaging technology company, and is a member of the Board of Advisors for Progeny Group, a Toronto-based investment-banking boutique. An active member of his community, Alfred is a past President of the Hong Kong-Canada Business Association (Ottawa Section) and has also served as Chair of the organization’s National IT Committee. One of the co-founders of the Ottawa Dragon Boat Race Festival, Alfred has helped shape one of the region’s largest annual charitable events.

A graduate of the Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario, the Ottawa Business Journal named Alfred as one of Ottawa’s Top Forty Under 40 in 2000.

Chris has quickly built a strong resume of technology media relations experience through his work at LaunchSquad. Chris has worked on developing and executing traditional and social media strategies for both enterprise and consumer companies. He relies on his inherent creative skills to create consistently compelling, fresh proactive media campaigns and is passionate about helping companies tell a crisp, engaging story. Chris has worked with a broad range of broadcast, print, and online publications and has been deeply involved in the media communications for the launch of numerous products.

Chris holds a B.A. in Political Science from Vassar College and was a member of the varsity soccer team.

Tessa Greenwood joined LaunchSquad in 2007 after relocating to San Francisco from New York City.

At LaunchSquad, Tessa has worked on several accounts in the retail, advertising and wireless space. In addition to spearheading social media programs, her work on PR campaigns has garnered coverage in major business, consumer and trade publications including Financial Times, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times and Real Simple. Broadcast placements include CNN, Fox News and Good Morning America.

Prior to moving to San Francisco, Tessa served as an account executive at Coburn Communication, where she worked on public relations campaigns for Elizabeth Arden, Boots Inc. and Latina magazine, among others. Tessa holds a B.A. in Journalism and English Literature from New York University.

Since joining LaunchSquad in 2001 as the firm’s fourth partner, Brett has helped the agency evolve into one of the leading boutique technology PR agencies in the Bay Area. Brett previously served as a vice president at Schwartz Communications, where he worked for close to five years.

Throughout his career, Brett has provided clients with strategic and tactical counsel, managed account teams, and worked with influential media and analyst firms. Brett’s a talented PR strategist and works hand-in-hand with LaunchSquad clients to craft and direct PR programs.

Brett manages LaunchSquad’s HR and employee issues and plays an integral role in new business activities. He is known for his thoughtful and insightful advice and counsel, both for clients and the firm overall. Brett has taken multiple clients through successful IPOs and acquisitions, delivered dozens of high-profile media placements (including The Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, Business 2.0, and CNBC) and has received several prominent awards for client work. However, one of Brett’s proudest PR achievements was on his own behalf when his wedding announcement appeared on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Ask him about it.

Prior to joining Schwartz, Brett promoted new technologies for Scitex in conjunction with the 1996 Summer Olympics and worked in marketing with Thomson Financial Services. Brett is also an award-winning playwright. He received a B.A. in English and Creative Writing from Emory University in Atlanta.

Marc is the Director of Product Management for InsideView, a pioneer in on-demand business search and intelligence. He is responsible for InsideView’s product strategy, evangelism, and execution.

Marc has been in technology for 10+ years with experience in product strategy, product management, product marketing, consulting, and sales engineering.  Prior to joining InsideView, he served as Director of Product Management at Convergys, Senior Solution Architect at DigitalThink, and Project Manager at Lifescape, LLC.

Victoria G. Axelrod is an organization strategist and management consultant with extensive global experience developing, integrating and executing company strategy and transformation. She is former Senior Vice President and Head of Global Best Practices for the American Management Association International.  

As principal of Axelrod Becker Consulting she creates sustainable growth and identifies new revenue opportunities based on the power of stakeholder networks.  

Her clients range from startups to Fortune 500s, nonprofits and government agencies.

Victoria co-founded the 21^st Century Organization Group and blog http://c21org.typepad.com in 2005 to address emerging business issues and trends in today’s interconnected global business environment. 

Her latest writing appears in Inside Knowledge on open innovation networks, prediction markets and online virtual business environments; The Sustainable Enterprise Fieldbook July, 2008 chapters on transorganizational collaboration, sustainable networks and sustainable globalization.

She is a frequent presenter to groups such as the U. S. National Security Agency (on “Aligning Human Systems and Business Strategy”), Bausch & Lomb, Baruch College MBA Program, New School, the Lawyers Alliance of New York, Human Resource Planning Society, IIRUSA, US Chamber Institute and Management Centre Europe.  Her BA is from the University of Michigan and an MA from Columbia University. 

She serves as a current board member of eSight and the Organization Development Network of Greater New York. You can reach her at www.axelrodbecker.com or vaxelrod@axelrodbecker.com.

Bill  has three decades  of  consulting in a range of  industries, from medium sized companies to large Fortune 500 corporations.  He is a hands-on practitioner who has helped organizations through major strategic, operational, and cultural change efforts, and has designed and implemented workshops, seminars and conferences for all levels of management.

  He has served as an internal Director of OD for HSBC, the Investment Sector of AXA Financial, Estee Lauder Manufacturing, New York Power Authority Nuclear Plant, and Maritz Travel & Training, and the American Management Association International.

Dawn Lacallade is the Manager of IdeaStorm within the Global Communities and Conversations team at Dell Inc. In this role, Dawn manages the technology that drives Dell’s IdeaStorm and the team that engages on the site, evaluates ideas, and steers business action on innovation. Dell’s vibrant online community currently consists of more than 20 properties with over 22 million monthly views. Dell’s IdeaStorm has collected more than 600k votes and almost 9,000 customer-driven ideas.

Dawn has a nine-year history with Dell and has been a member of Community, Corporate Business Group, Manufacturing, and Global Program Management. Prior to joining the IdeaStorm team, Dawn managed the Dell Community Forums and was involved with Dell’s Customer Advocate outreach programs. Dawn is a proud Aggie and holds a bachelors degree from Texas A&M University. Currently Dawn calls Round Rock, TX home and enjoys kayaking, jewelry design, hiking, rock hounding and spending time with her family. Dawn can be found on Twitter @DawnL, Linked-In and Facebook.