Wednesday’s Whispers: The Word On The Street - March 2009


PEOPLE WHISPERS: MOVES, PROMOTIONS, AND MILESTONES*
Congratulations to all!  Thanks for your emails and alerts.  If you’ve got a change or know of a promotion, keep dropping me a line!  If you need a referral, don't hesitate to reach out to me via Linked In.

Nigel Alcock is now the new Sales Director for the UK and Ireland at Lawson Software.   Nigel joins Lawson from previous roles at SAP.
David Boulanger is now GLG Educator at Gerson Lehrman Group.  David was formerly an industry analyst and research director for CRM at Aberdeen Group.
Eric Chow became an International Business Consultant at the University of San Francisco - Massagung School of Business in September 2008.  His past positions include serving as a Senior Project Manager at Williams Sonoma and a Systems Project Manager at Providian Financial.
Oliver Claude became Program Director at InfoSphere MDM Product Management at IBM in October 2008.  Msr. Claude formerly served as a Worldwide Business Unit Executive for the InfoSphere Sales Consulting In a Product Strategy Role.  Prior to IBM, he was a Lead Architect in Sales Consulting, CRM, CRM Analytics, and CDI at Siebel Systems.
Steve Cole is now a VP of Marketing at Gladson Interactive. Steve brings a rich history of marketing experiences serving as a former VP of Solutions Marketing at SPSS, SVP of Marketing and Strategy at Click Commerce, and VP of Marketing at ClearCross.
Robert C. Cresanti was named Vice President of Government relations at SAP America Inc., a subsidiary of SAP AG.  In his new role, he will lead SAP's federal and state government relations activities, support and advise SAP's public sector group, and manage SAP's non-profit relationships in DC.   Rob joins SAP from the Gray Company, a public relations and lobbying firm.  He was the former Under Secretary of Commerce for Technology during the Bush Administration.
Rob Enselin was appointed as President, SAP North America. Enselin has served at SAP for 16 years. Previous roles include President and Chief Executive Officer of SAP Japan and Interim President and CEO for SAP Latin America.
Mohammed Ghadyali is now Senior Manager at North Highland Group.  Mo brings a wealth of healthcare consulting experience from powerhouse consultancies such as IBM, PriceWaterhouse Coopers, Booz Allen and Hamilton, Ernst and Young, and Deloitte.
Michael Hickins is now an independent Journalist/Blogger/Editor for a variety of technology media including Bnet.  Michael has served roles including the Executive Editor at Webscanner, Executive Editor at eWeek, and Executive Editor at Ziff Davis Enterprise.

Jessica (Sweeten) Hood is now Senior Account Executive at AlertSite She was formerly a Senior Account Manager at Forrester Research. 
Thanh Huynh became President at Mercury Tax Service in November 2008.  Thanh bring a strong tax perspective from experiences as a Director at KLA-Tencor Corp and Oracle Corporation.
Sandeep Kumar now serves as a Senior Advisor with TPI after spending more than a decade and half being at service providers such as SAP, Wipro and PwC.
Rob Lloyd named as Executive Vice President, Worldwide Operations at Cisco. Rob will run Cisco's Worldwide Sales, Worldwide Channels, Internet Business Solutions Group and Strategic Alliances organizations.
Fred McClimans became CIO at DTECH LABS in January 2009.  Fred's served roles as Founder and Chairman of the Board at Current Analysis and as an Editorial Contributor at Network World.
Robert McNeill has been an Advisory Board Member at Saugatuck Technology. He's also the Founder at ThoughtBright.
Peter Quinn has been named Chief Customer Officer at Lawson Software.  Peter will lead Lawson’s new Customer Experience Office.  He formerly ran marketing operations and is a tech  industry veteran in customer experience.
Sarah Reed joins Eloqua as the Director of Corporate Communications.  She brings a wealth of experience from similar roles at Vignette and IONA technologies.
Tom Rubenak is now a Technology Advisor Gartner Group.  Tom has served in many technology roles at leading advisory and analyst firms such as a manager at Forrester Research, Business Analyst at Dun & Bradstreet, and Sales Director at META Group.
Benjamin Wan is now Vice President of Sales and Business Development at TheBroth, a FaceBook Apps company, and on the Board of Advisors at Motally, a firm focused on mobile analytics.

CORPORATE WHISPERS
Hearing from investment bankers, venture capitalists, and enterprenuers the following:
  • A growing fear among the innovative class that the current political climate may deter innovation.  As the public sector continues to increase in size and presence, there seems to be an inclination to decrease incentives that support entrepreneurial activities.
  • US health care costs are out of control but will not necessarily drive an enmasse shift away from Silicon Valley to other countries like Canada or China.
  • Merger and acquisition market will continue to be led by the last vendors standing.  IPO market, well, that's pretty much dead.
  • Clean tech looks promising but lacks a good coordinating body.

Got a scoop or something to share? Please post or send on to rwang0 at gmail dot com and we’ll keep your anonymity.
* Not responsible for any factual errors or omissions.  However, happy to correct any errors upon email receipt.
Copyright © 2009 R Wang. All rights reserved.