Alexander Group

EXECUTIVE FORUM

Speakers

Continuing the 25-Year Tradition

We’re proud to offer timely insights, powerful ideas, and innovative journeys from some of the world’s top revenue, sales, marketing, customer success, operations, and HR/Talent leaders.

Hear what Global 2000 leaders (VP and above), and their companies, are doing to plan, refine, and implement innovative Go-To-Market Strategies for Relentless Growth.  

Parthiv Amin

Chief Sales & Marketing Officer
Sloan Valve

As Sloan Valve’s chief sales and marketing officer, Parthiv currently oversees global sales, marketing strategy and expansion for the firm–including new market development in India, China, Middle East and Latin America. His responsibilities also include leading regional/strategic account sales teams and marketing staff with Sloan’s social media and web tools development for the building products industry.

Prior to joining Sloan, Parthiv served as president/CEO of wind turbine start up called Northern Power Systems. He built the leadership team and developed lean facility system as well as go-to-market strategic plan for community wind with a recurring revenue service model in U.S. and Europe. 

Formerly, in his role as president of the Americas for Siemens Corp’s Winergy Drive Systems, Parthiv led Americas organization turnaround—increasing market share to 60%, revenue CAGR by 35% and annual sales by more than 200%. The firm was awarded GE’s “Lean Excellence” award.

As VP of marketing and global service for Emerson Electric (a division of Industrial Automation Group), Amin led worldwide marketing, product management, new product development and service strategy to double digit revenue and EBITDA margin boosts in a short period. He drove the development of offshore teams in India, completed an important acquisition in Spain and led the firm’s market entry into China.

Parthiv is frequently sought after to speak in at various industry conferences and has authored numerous articles cited in the media. He received his MBA in Accounting and MBA in Finance from Loyola College—and his BSME from the University of Illinois at Chicago. 

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Cindy Ballard

Chief Future of Work
Universal Music & Publishing Group

Cindy Ballard is an accomplished Human Resources executive who is an expert at leading media companies in designing, implementing, and accelerating their transformation and Human Resources strategies. Cindy is currently the Chief of the Future of Work at Universal Music Group, the world's largest music company. Cindy is responsible for driving the reimagination of how work will be done in the era of artificial intelligence.

Cindy has been a CHRO at Streamland Media, ICM Partners, and Tribune Publishing, where she partnered closely with the company’s executive leadership teams and was responsible for all facets of HR, including corporate culture, talent performance, planning and development, organizational design, HR analytics, health and welfare benefits, compensation, and more. Cindy’s specialty has been establishing HR as a strategic partner and building the function from the ground up. She has been instrumental in advancing the diversity and inclusion agenda, as well as promoting gender equity, within several organizations.

Before Tribune, Cindy was Senior Vice President of Global HR for 20th Century Fox, where she managed international and domestic activities for the company’s Worldwide Distribution Group in more than 31 countries. For 20th Century Fox, Cindy was instrumental in transforming the company from a legacy media business to a dominant digital content distributor.

Earlier in her career, Cindy served as Senior Vice President of HR for Initiative Media, a global agency that is a part of the Interpublic Group of Companies, and in various leadership capacities with Borders Group, Inc., where she designed and implemented a corporate diversity program.

Cindy earned a Master’s Degree from Pepperdine Law School-Strause Center for Dispute Resolution and a Bachelor’s in Business Administration from Northwood University. She belongs to numerous professional organizations, including the Organization of Women Executives, the National Human Resources Association, and the Society of Human Resource Management. She has received two outstanding achievements, including Top Human Resources Executive of Southern California from NHRA-LA & The Most Powerful and Influential Woman from the Diversity Council of Southern California.

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Jim Blum

Chief Operating Officer
Dialpad

As chief operating officer at Dialpad, Jim drives the company's operational excellence and scales its global go-to-market engine.

A proven operating executive, Jim specializes in transforming complex business challenges into scalable, data-driven operating systems that generate profitable growth and capitalize on market transitions. With over two decades of experience across public, private and IPO-stage SaaS organizations, he combines rigorous operational discipline, deep financial acumen and high-velocity sales strategy to provide executive teams with the clarity and execution required for rapid scale.

Before joining Dialpad, he held senior leadership roles at leading technology companies including Zoom, Sprinklr, Akamai and Cisco. He also holds an MBA in operations management and a B.S. in business finance from Virginia Tech. 

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Executive Forum - Keynote Speaker - John Gucci Foley

John Foley

Blue Angel Lead Solo Pilot, Stanford Fellow, Best-Selling Author & “Gratitude Guru”

Since 2015, John Foley has been recognized as one of the top 10 most in-demand speakers. John has spoken to some of the highest-performing organizations in the world.

His experience as a Blue Angel allows him to provide invaluable insight into cultivating trust, leadership and teamwork under challenging environments—something he has put to use by inspiring audiences to reach for their highest potential and sustain excellence through dynamic change.

John employs the intense realities of his aviation career as a metaphor to inspire—breathe life into—teams to reach for their highest potential and sustain excellence under dynamic change.

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Kevin Hardage

EVP & President of Global Interventional Urology
Coloplast

Kevin Hardage is a seasoned medical device executive with more than 25 years of experience, including senior leadership roles at Medtronic and Teleflex overseeing multi-billion-dollar, global businesses. Most recently, he served as CEO of Healthcare Components Group, a leader in medical components for the endoscopy market, and holds a Bachelor of Science from the University of Missouri, Columbia.

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2026 Executive Forum _ Tom Johnson _ Educate 260

Tom Johnson

Chief Revenue Officer
Educate 360

Bio is forthcoming.

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Renae Leary

Chief Commercial Officer
W.L. Gore

Renae Leary is chief commercial officer, performance solutions, at W. L. Gore & Associates, where she leads the global commercial organization and product management function. In this role, she oversees commercial strategy, portfolio management, business development, sales, marketing and customer engagement—aligning market insights, innovation and customer needs to accelerate growth and deliver differentiated solutions across global markets.

An accomplished commercial and business leader, Renae has a strong track record of driving growth, leading transformation and building high-performing teams. Her expertise spans go-to-market strategy, product management, portfolio optimization, sales leadership and business development. She is known for translating complex market dynamics into clear strategies that create customer value and sustainable business results.

Before joining Gore, Renae held leadership roles at global organizations including Tyco International, Johnson Controls, Ansell and Element Materials Technology. Across these positions, she gained deep experience in industrial, technology, manufacturing and engineered solutions businesses, leading commercial organizations, expanding market presence and delivering profitable growth in competitive markets.

Renae is recognized for her collaborative leadership style and customer-centric approach. She partners closely across product development, operations, marketing and executive leadership to bring innovative solutions to market, strengthen long-term customer relationships and foster inclusive, high-performing teams.

As a member of Gore's leadership team, Renae plays a key role in shaping the strategic direction of the performance solutions business and advancing the company's mission of improving lives through innovation and technology.

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2026 Executive Forum _ Nick Longman_Construction Specialities

Nick Longman

Chief Executive Officer
Construction Specialties

Bio is forthcoming.

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2026 Executive Forum _ Sonal Matai _ KARL STORZ

Sonal Matai

President, North America
KARL STORZ

Sonal is the president of KARL STORZ North America (KSNA), leading more than 2,700 employees across R&D, manufacturing and commercial operations. He oversees KSNA’s overall performance, driving growth, profitability and innovation through strategic leadership and talent development.

Previously, he led KARL STORZ Endoscopy-America with over 1,600 employees, advancing innovation and market share. Sonal brings over two decades of global experience in medical devices, consumer health and B2C sectors, having held senior roles at Philips, GE and as CEO of Onera Health. At Philips, he led the $1.3 billion Sleep and Respiratory Care business in North America, navigating COVID-19 demand surges and business model transformation. He serves on the board of directors for Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed) and California Life Sciences, and he held a prior board role at Respironics Inc. Passionate about improving patient outcomes,

Sonal holds an MBA from IMD, Switzerland and advanced degrees from the University of Pune. He grew up in India and Nigeria, plus holds American and Dutch citizenship.

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Tim McGee

VP, Revenue Operations & Chief of Staff
Clarivate Analytics

Tim McGee is vice president of revenue operations for Clarivate's academic and government business, where he leads a global organization responsible for revenue operations, pricing, bids and tenders, forecasting, analytics, sales enablement, sales training and data governance. His team supports more than 400 sales professionals worldwide by delivering processes, systems, insights and commercial infrastructure that enable revenue growth and operational excellence.

Tim leads the strategy, processes, technology and analytics that underpin Clarivate's commercial organization. His focus is on simplifying how sales teams operate, improving forecasting and business visibility, modernizing commercial processes and leveraging AI and technology to increase productivity. Working across sales, customer success, marketing, finance, product, IT and legal, he helps align strategy with execution while enabling teams to focus more time on customers and less on administrative work.

In addition to leading revenue operations, Tim serves as chief of staff to the revenue leadership team, partnering with senior executives on strategic initiatives, organizational design, commercial transformation and operational planning. He has led numerous global initiatives spanning sales systems, commercial process redesign, pricing transformation, data governance, AI adoption and sales productivity, consistently delivering scalable solutions that improve business performance.

With more than two decades of commercial operations leadership experience, Tim has built a reputation for developing high-performing teams, modernizing revenue operations, and driving meaningful business transformation. Prior to joining Clarivate, he held senior leadership positions at Elsevier and IMS Health (now IQVIA), where he led global sales operations, pricing, compensation, forecasting and commercial excellence organizations. Throughout his career, he has successfully built scalable operating models, strengthened commercial execution, improved forecasting accuracy and enhanced sales effectiveness across global organizations.

Tim is passionate about building strong teams and developing future leaders. He believes the best revenue operations organizations remove complexity, provide actionable insights and create an environment where customer-facing teams can spend more time selling and serving customers. 

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Shonodeep Modak

Chief Marketing Officer, Energy Management
Schneider Electric

It's not easy to be daring in Global 500 B2B, B2C and D2C enterprises. Shonodeep’s strengths lie in enhancing customer value, leading organizational transformation and driving AI adoption to realize exponential growth and profitable business expansion in energy technology, retail, aftermarket services and distribution industries.

Early in his career at ExxonMobil, he brought the world's first fuel economy improving motor oil brand to market and then continued to drive commercial impact at GE by doubling the company’s distributed energy market position through data-driven, disruptive demand generation strategy. 

After GE, Shonodeep joined Schneider Electric as chief marketing officer for North America and propelled portfolio expansion through end market and channel brand building and advanced digital marketing. Today he is the chief marketing officer for Schneider’s $30 billion energy management business. His scope extends to more than 200 industry-leading brands in energy technology products, software and services that are transforming AI infrastructure and the energy landscape.

Shonodeep serves on the board of S&S Holdings, the largest wholesale supplier of promotional apparel in North America and a $4 billion portfolio company of Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R). He is also a board advisor of UniGroup, a $1.5 billion transportation company and the parent company of United Van Lines and Mayflower Transit. 

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2026 Executive Forum _ Mark Nasiff _ Lookout

Mark Nasiff

Chief Operating Officer & Chief Financial Officer
Lookout

Mark brings nearly 30 years of finance and operations experience to Lookout, most recently as vice president of worldwide sales operations and sales finance at Brocade. In this role, he was responsible for all aspects of global sales and service operations, sales development, sales and marketing financial planning; and analysis and revenue forecasting in this $2.5 billion operation. Prior to Brocade, Mark served as the chief financial officer for VeriVue, a content delivery solution company. Before VeriVue, Mark was vice president of sales finance and later vice president of worldwide sales processes and operations at Juniper Networks. He joined Juniper through the acquisition of Unisphere Networks, where he served as chief financial officer and managed the Company’s growth from development stage to more than $200 million annual revenue over a two-year period. He's also served as corporate controller at Dragon Systems, a provider of advanced speech recognition products, and LTX Corporation, a manufacturer of semiconductor test equipment. Mark received his bachelor of science in accountancy from Bentley College in Waltham, MA.

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2026 Executive Forum _ Meg Newman _ Shearer's

Meg Newman

Chief People Officer
Shearer’s

Meg Newman joined Shearer’s Foods as chief people officer in January 2026. A seasoned HR leader with a proven track record of guiding organizations through growth and transformation, Meg brings deep expertise across all facets of people strategy and organizational development.

Before joining Shearer’s, Meg served as chief human resources officer at Brand Safway, Keurig Dr Pepper and HD Supply—leading initiatives that strengthened culture, advanced talent development and aligned workforce strategies with business goals. In prior roles, she led HR teams through critical pre- and post-IPO phases, building the people, processes and governance required to support public-company readiness and long-term scalability.

With a rich background spanning compensation and benefits, organizational design and leadership development, Meg has built and scaled high-performing teams that drive both employee engagement and enterprise success. Known for a people-first philosophy and a strategic mindset, Meg is passionate about creating inclusive, high-impact cultures where individuals can growth, thrive and do their best work.

Born and raised in Chicago, Meg is an avid Chicago sports fan and in her free time she enjoys spending time with her family and her five dogs.

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2026 Executive Forum _ Jim Norton _ OUTFRONT Media

Jim Norton

Chief Revenue Officer
Outfront

Jim Norton has served as the company's executive vice president, chief revenue officer, enterprise since August 2025, leading Fortune 500 partnerships and enterprise sales. With more than 25 years of experience across SaaS, media and advertising, he has built and scaled teams at both startups and global companies. Previously, he was the CRO at Brightcove, where he led the global go-to-market strategy and helped position the company for a successful exit to private equity. Prior to that, he was the founding CRO at Flowcode, where he grew the business into a market-leading SaaS QR code platform focused on IRL analytics. Earlier in his career, Jim held senior leadership roles at Conde Nast, AOL/Verizon, Google and Tribune Broadcasting, and served as a chairman of both the IAB and AAF, as well as a board member of the Ad Council.

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Saket Pradhan

Vice President, Worldwide GTM Operations
dbt Labs

Bio is forthcoming.

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Anand Rao

Chief Marketing Officer
CDW

Anand Rao is senior vice president, chief marketing officer at CDW, a global provider of full-stack technology solutions and services. His mandate is to drive brand awareness, demand generation, category growth, customer loyalty and retention across corporate, small business and government entities.

Anand is sharply focused on MarTech automation, and has an AI driven approach towards propensity modeling, audience segmentation, creative and content generation, campaign delivery and measurement.

Before joining CDW in 2022, Anand served as senior vice president of marketing at AutoNation, the largest automotive retailer in the US. As a management consultant at McKinsey, IBM Consulting and PwC, he has helped several companies transform digitally and modernize their marketing capabilities.

Anand earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree in engineering as well as a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He currently serves on the board of directors of Compudopt and formerly served on the board of directors for Vroom. 

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2026 Executive Forum _ Brendan Ripp_Pushly

Brendan Ripp

Chief Executive Officer
Pushly

Brendan is an experienced operator and industry leader focused on helping media companies build direct audience relationships and unlock long-term enterprise value. As CEO of Pushly, he brings more than 20 years of leading growth and strategic initiatives across media and technology.

Before Pushly, Brendan held executive roles at WPP, Time Warner, Disney, and Fox Networks Group, where he built expertise spanning audience development, linear and streaming, digital products, advertising, partnerships, and subscriptions. That cross-industry perspective now shapes how he guides media companies to own their audience relationships through Pushly. 

He is a board member of several organizations, and served as the North American representative on the Global Board of the International Advertising Association from 2017 to 2019. Brendan was named the 2024 North America CEO of the Year- Audience Development.

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Ross Shuster

Chief Executive Officer
Copeland

Ross Shuster joined Copeland in June 2023 as the chief executive officer upon it becoming a standalone company after its divestiture by Emerson and acquisition by private equity firm Blackstone.

Ross is a veteran global executive with more than 25 years of leadership experience having lived and worked in the United States, United Kingdom, China and Singapore. His expertise ranges across leadership, strategy, mergers and acquisitions and corporate board participation. 

Before joining Copeland, Ross served as the chief executive officer of Howden, a leading global provider of mission critical air and gas handling products and services headquartered in Glasgow, Scotland. Ross joined Howden in October 2019 upon the acquisition of Howden by private equity firm KPS Capital Partners and led the company through its carve-out from a United States headquartered conglomerate and Howden’s eventual sale in March 2023 to Chart Industries. During his tenure, he drove significant growth through repositioning the business and entering new markets.

Prior to Howden, Ross spent 12 years with United Technologies, holding several senior executive leadership positions across the carrier, otis and fire and security business units. He also spent 17 years with Johnson Controls, holding various executive level roles in the company’s San Francisco, Los Angeles, Singapore and Shanghai offices.

Ross is currently a non-executive director on the Board of Flowserve. He also previously served as a non-executive director on the Board of Beijer Ref, a publicly traded company based in Sweden.

Ross earned a master of business administration from the University of San Francisco and a bachelor of science in mechanical engineering from the University of California, Davis.

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Kathleen Smith

VP, Industrial Products
Norfolk Southern

Kathleen is a seasoned railroader with nearly 30 years of experience at NS spanning various commercial roles. Her leadership has helped drive long-term growth, created strategic partnerships and enhanced NS’ ability to deliver innovative transportation solutions.

In her prior role, Kathleen served as vice president of Business Development and Real Estate. She played a critical role in partnering with state and local economic developers, site selection consultants, and industry leaders to locate strategic opportunities for industrial expansion and new rail served sites for customers.

Kathleen began her career at NS in 1995 as a Management Trainee. Throughout her tenure she has held roles of increasing responsibility within the Commercial division, where she honed her expertise in market analysis, business strategy and customer solutions. Kathleen has also served as group vice president of Chemicals in Industrial Products as well as group vice president of Automotive in the Intermodal-Automotive group, where she drove commercial growth and industry partnerships.

Kathleen holds a master of business administration and a bachelor of science in marketing from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

She serves as a board member of the National Freight Transportation Association, the Business Advisory Council of Northwestern University’s Transportation Center and the Grady Hospital Foundation in Atlanta. In her prior role, she served as a board member of Georgia Allies—a group of business leaders working with the state of Georgia to attract new industry.

Kathleen has earned certifications from prestigious business development programs, including the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, the University of Tennessee’s Supply Chain Management Program and Development Dimensions International’s Leadership Coach Program.

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Jennifer Swem

VP, Operational Excellence & AI
Schneider Electric

Jennifer Swem is vice president of operational excellence and AI for North American operations at Schneider Electric. Jennifer oversees enterprise processes, lean, AI and front‑office technology. Jennifer’s work spans elevating operational performance, scaling AI capabilities and strengthening end‑to‑end processes to support growth and customer experience.

Prior to this role, Jennifer was chief of staff to the North American president and served in progressive leadership functions across Schneider Electric, including sales enablement and technology, AI and customer satisfaction and quality. Jennifer is an active mentor and champion of the Asian Professionals Network at Schneider.

Jennifer’s background includes twelve years in the automotive industry in product, manufacturing and process engineering roles. She is a Six Sigma Black Belt and holds a bachelor’s degree (University at Buffalo) and master’s degree (University of Michigan) in mechanical engineering. 

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2026 Executive Forum _ Blake Tatum _ Medtronic

Blake Tatum

Vice President, U.S. Sales & Global Training
Medtronic

Bio is forthcoming.

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2026 Executive Forum _ Rob Whitney _ Univar Solutions

Rob Whitney

SVP, Innovation, Growth & Strategy
Univar Solutions

Bio is forthcoming.

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2026 Executive Forum _ Rob Whitney _ Univar Solutions

Rob Whitney

SVP, Innovation, Growth & Strategy
Univar Solutions

Bio is forthcoming.

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Lisa Wilding-Brown

Chief Executive Officer
InnovateMR

Lisa Wilding-Brown has been in the industry for nearly 20 years. Lisa’s specialties include executive business leadership, product innovation, sampling and survey design, panel development and management, online and mobile recruitment as well as full service mixed-mode field management across a multitude of industry sectors. As chief executive officer at InnovateMR, Lisa has a passion for building strong relationships and a relentless mission to drive innovation and efficiency. Lisa and the InnovateMR executive team deliver transformational research strategies for their clients by harnessing the power of technology-enabled solutions that accelerate and activate insights for agencies and brands alike. In 2021, Lisa and the InnovateMR team launched the Vision Suite, a fully integrated and hyper-intuitive research platform that allows market researchers and marketing professionals the autonomy to conduct high quality research; expediting the insights journey and answering the resounding call for democratized and accessible insights.

Prior to joining Innovate, Lisa was a member of the executive team at uSamp where she developed the company’s global panel and led the firm’s mobile business division. Lisa got her start in insights at Harris Interactive, where she played an instrumental role in developing the company’s first full-service online project management practice. Lisa later joined the panel team, focusing her efforts on research-on-research, survey methodology, specialty panel development and online user engagement for the Harris Poll Online.

Lisa serves on the board for both the MMRA and UTA’s master of science in marketing research and she is an active contributor to WIRexec, the Women-in-Research mentorship program and the Global Research Business Network. Lisa is a widely sought after global speaker and she has presented at such conferences as AAPOR, ESOMAR, the MRMW North America and Europe, The MRS, The Insights Association, IIEX, SampleCon and she has published research related to business transformation, operational efficiency, data privacy, multicultural insights, participant engagement, online survey design, fraud mitigation and mobile best practices.

Wilding-Brown is a founding member of the Multicultural Insights Collective, an inaugural member of the Insights Association’s Laureate Program, nominated Insights Top 250 industry leader list, a recipient of the Global Research Business Network’s Participant Excellence Program and an elected member of the ESOMAR Global Council 2021-2023. Lisa attended the State University of New York at Geneseo, where she graduated magna cum laude with a double BA in international relations and communication with minors in political science and history. Lisa also attended the University College Dublin, where she pursued graduate studies in politics and history.

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