SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES

Michael Cattapan, Director, Software Engineering and Technology Initiatives, AbbVie

Mike Cattapan is a Director, Software Engineering in R&D at AbbVie. He has over 20 years of experience in a variety of IT roles in the biopharmaceutical industry. In his current role, Mike leads a team tasked in leveraging technology to effectively and efficiently deliver new, innovative, custom-built software solutions that accelerate the delivery of AbbVie’s product pipeline. Mike has previously held roles at Abbott Laboratories, ADP, Mercer Consulting and was an adjunct faculty member at William Rainey Harper College. Mike holds an MS in Information Technology from Northwestern University and a BA from Columbia College Chicago.

Gordon Cooper, Director of Customer Solutions, Ardoq

With 30+ years of experience working in Architecture and GRC, Gordon has worked with companies ranging from Fortune 5s to startups. He has helped them produce a holistic vision of strategy, design, and transformation through the lens of authentic enterprise architecture.

He holds the designations of CEA, CBA, ITIL Expert, CISA, CRISC, CGEIT, PMP, and TOGAF. He was a former VP of Enterprise Architecture and Tech Risk at AIG, focusing on Enterprise Architecture, Business Process Management, Data Management, and Data Governance.

Dorene Dickman, Pre-Sales Consultant, Avolution, Inc.

As an Enterprise Architect transplant in software sales, Dorene helps organizations shift from an application-centric mindset to behaviors that elevate strategies, goals, and measures. Especially for M&A organizations, she is passionate about process normalization as a means to seamless experiences for consumers and associates.

Dorene champions for common vocabularies among business and technology stakeholders and is not afraid to “zoom out” to lend simplification to the complex. 

Derek Ferguson, Managing Director, Architecture, Fitch Group

Derek Ferguson is Global Head of Architecture for the Fitch Group, where he is responsible for the design of all technology solutions used in ratings, research and analysis. He graduated with honors from Chicago’s DePaul University , has authored best-selling software development books such as Broadband Internet Access for Dummies, and spoken at events all over the world from JavaOne to Microsoft’s TechEd.

Daniel Hebda, Chief Strategy Officer, Mega International

For over 20 years, Dan has been at the forefront of technology innovation that helps businesses meet their strategic goals. In his current position as Chief Strategy Officer for MEGA, Dan drives the company’s strategy, focusing on formulating product direction that meets evolving market needs for business transformation software solutions. He has worked closely with Fortune 100 companies for many years, providing advice and direction on business transformation and innovation from the perspective of enterprise architecture and change management.

Dean Pipes, Head of Enterprise Architecture, HUB International

Seasoned Enterprise Architect with a flawless record of exceeding corporate goals that drive company-wide strategies.

Talented people leader who is passionate about building and leading effective teams. Skilled at strategic planning, driving innovation, and leading business capability improvement projects on a global level. Experienced in managing complex technology implementations and improvement programs including IT security, software application development, infrastructure & cloud service selections. Adept at simplifying complex concepts for varying audiences and stakeholders.

Dedicated to delivering products, services, and solutions which are closely aligned with business goals and priorities. Collaborates effectively internally and externally, fostering productive partnerships and delivering exceptional results.

Jay Saraiya, Sr Director – Enterprise Architecture, TransUnion LLC

Jay is a Solution oriented IT architect with over 20 years of experience in promoting the business strategic vision through process, architecture and project management. He is an innovative professional with proven ability to identify, analyze and solve problems related to data analysis and application integration. He believes that the monolith of traditional enterprise software architecture has been crumbling for many years. The introduction of microservices and containers speed the application development and give big business a more efficient way to create portable applications that scale.

During his career, Jay has designed and built many innovative and effective solutions in finance and insurance domain by working at the NYSE, Capital One, Computer Sciences Corporation. He is currently the Sr Director for Enterprise Architecture at Transunion, one of the top three credit bureaus in US. His duties are focused on building scalable and resilient software on cloud based platforms with strong security governance, policy and procedures in mind. Jay has lead many projects that involved use of cutting edge technologies like Blockchain and Natural language processing algorithms.

Jay has recently started looking in to Quantum Computing and is fascinated by the possibilities of how Quantum computers can probe the mysteries of future and reveal more about this hidden world outside of our experiences.

Mila Saulle, MGS Enterprise Architect – Finance, Commercial, HR, Corporate Technology, Mars

I am Digital Technologies Senior Leader inspired by making the world a better place through the value of technology and by contributing to our communities.

I have 18 years of experience in various Global/Regional/Local roles located across Europe and North America. I have built my career in multiple technology disciplines, business functional areas by delivering digital transformations, innovations, driving new strategies, providing governance and expertise. Additionally to my career in DT I had a career move in HR as an HR manager for a large IT HUB site in Europe and as a Global HR co-pilot managing an organizational transformation.

In my current role, as the Enterprise Architect for Corporate Technology and Global services at Mars that cover a range of Global functions such as Finance, Commercial, HR, Corporate Affairs, Legal, DT, Labs, I partner with Functional DT Heads to develop Future state architecture strategies and roadmaps. I bring market insights to my internal customers about technology trends, dynamics, innovation opportunities, success stories, ideas for driving change at Mars through purposeful innovation.

As the projects get in the pipeline, I contribute in shortlisting potential vendors, support RFI and RFP process by assessing solutions across technology domains (such as technology stack, integrations, security, data management etc) and functional/strategic fit. I take each project through Architecture Review Board governance process to ensure we provide best solution architecture design. Then I am guiding projects through the implementation, removing roadblocks and finding solutions.

My key personal values at work are:

• empowerment to achieve and act
• motivated by challenge and opportunity
• collaboration and relationships
• freedom

I am very focused on building collaborative relationships with my customers, my team, suppliers, and I get great joy from co-creating strategies and solutions together. I build successful teams and contributing to talent development by coaching and mentoring our associates across organization.

Currently, I am focused on supporting our Women in Digital community at Mars, helping us to develop into Leadership roles. I am also contributing to our communities outside of Mars (e.g. Schools, Universities, non-profit organizations).

On a personal side I am happily married with 3 children, live in Greater Chicago area, social, love travelling and learning to cook new dishes.

Phil Smith, Sr. Sales Executive – Central, Perforce 

As a sales leader, I have set myself apart by achieving both immediate and long-term sales growth across multiple verticals. I have 20+ years of sales leadership experience selling Enterprise Software, Search, Big Data, IoT, Supply Chain, low code platforms, Cybersecurity, Business Intelligence and Analytics utilizing CRM such as Salesforce and Hubspot for Account Management.

My record of exceeding sales goals speaks for itself and I have won numerous sales awards, captured mulitmilllion contacts with Fortune 500 companies, and outperformed top competitors. My ability to penetrate new markets and inspire employees has led to exponential revenue growth. Well versed in sales methodologies such as MEDDPICC.

I develop strong relationships as a “Connector” with C-level executives and decision makers, delivering outstanding sales. As a confident, aggressive sales leader and a true rainmaker, I am known for my sales success in numerous industries and verticals which include Manufacturing, Healthcare, Life Sciences, Retail, CPG, Government – SLED, Utilities, Financial, Insurance, Communications, Higher Ed, Media and Entertainment.

David Swierzynski, Vice President of Business Solutions Architecture, Gallagher Bassett Services

David Swierzynski is an accomplished Senior IT Executive with 28+ years of Insurance expertise in the areas of Finance, Managed Care, Banking, and E-commerce Portfolios.

David is currently the Vice President of Business Solutions Architecture at Gallagher Bassett Services in Rolling Meadows, IL. He has held several key Leadership roles throughout his career and has been responsible and accountable for several Organizations within Gallagher Bassett. Some key positions include the Vice President of Application Development and Maintenance, where Dave guided and lead several Development Teams that primarily focused on Claim payments, Banking, International Banking, Managed Care, E-bill processing, and dotcom development. David also held the position of Vice President of Business Analysis where he guided and lead the Business Analysts to create an environment that standardized Business Requirements documents, created requirements traceability matrixes, and created a Business Analysis Center of Excellence for the Organization. David later took over the Quality Assurance Organization as well as the Vice President of Quality Assurance and Testing. David’s leadership created an environment that cultivated comprehensive testing solutions along with modernized automated testing scripts and the development of regression test case scenario libraries. These key items directly contributed to a reduction in defect density and an increase in defect free software deployment. 

After establishing the foundation for these Organizations, David became the Vice President of IT Portfolio Management. Under David’s direction and guidance, he established partnerships with the Business Organizations that were previously nonexistent. David assisted individuals and Organizations define and scope their IT Initiatives and Business Priorities by asking insightful questions, scoring intake requests, understanding requirements, and coaching Corporate alignment while building and strengthening Partnerships and Alliances throughout the Organization. David felt that this role awarded his Team and himself to be responsible and accountable for the direction of the Strategic and Tactical Initiatives while ensuring capacity bandwidth and demand constraints were aligned in the most optimal and efficient manner. David’s current role as the Vice President of Business Solutions Architecture has allowed him to have oversight on several key initiatives that allow him to draw from his vast knowledge and expertise and provide proven guidance in the implementation solutions of these Strategic goals.

David feels the three pillars of any successful Team can be defined and supported by Attitude, Communication, and Trust. If you demonstrate these traits in a positive way, your Team will take you above and beyond your wildest expectations! David was recently quoted in an article, “It’s not what you ask a person to do for you, it’s how you ask it! I have been so very fortunate and blessed to have had the opportunity to work with such amazingly dedicated professional individuals who I am honored to have as friends! ”

Di Wang, Head of Enterprise Architecture, NORC at the University of Chicago

I am an Enterprise Architecture leader with significant experience in Fortune 40 companies. I truly believe the most effective role for enterprise architecture is to cast and communicate the vision and design the framework driving enterprise-wide initiatives, simultaneously building cultures within the organization to leverage the power of communities.

My passion is to partner with both business and IT stakeholders to leverage technologies to enable, enhance and differentiate business capabilities. And my expertise is to find balance between strategic objectives and tactical solutions.

Over the course of my career, I’ve built my knowledge across the full spectrum of architecture domains including business, application, data, and technology. Most of my career has been in healthcare, with some experience in insurance, retail and finance as well.

I am an earnest learner and eager adopter of new technologies. On the other side of the coin, I appreciate the value of existing business systems and focus on transforming legacy applications with pragmatic approaches without losing principles and vision.

Matt Weber, Cloud Strategist, Workspot, Inc.

Matt Weber has 15+ years of industry experience focused on Cloud and Emergent Technologies. Matt has helped companies from the Fortune 1000 to early-stage start-ups chart their digital and cloud strategies and is regarded as a forward looking thought leader with a keen understanding of the future of business technology.