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Date: October 15, 2014

Location: Atlanta Tech Village Main Event Space

Time: 5:30 pm – 8:30 pm

Title: First Panel -Privacy vs Security: Where is the red line?  // Second Panel – Funding: Challenges and Opportunities

Join the TAG Southeastern Software Association SSA and 2 panels of industry experts for our annual forum on the impact of emerging issues and trends in the software industry. This is a can’t miss event for the technology community.

First Panel – Privacy vs. Security: Where is the red line?

Panelists:

Joan Christensen, VP Product Development, First Data
Joan Christensen is an experienced relationship and innovative executive with significant successes in the electronic payment industry. Joan has secured double digit CAGR in several payment industries; commercial, credit and healthcare markets. She was responsible for the generation of innovative payment solutions including streamlining major medical payments, the first SKU-level point-of-sale solution with a major pharmaceutical retailer, and working with other industry experts such as MasterCard and Visa as a founding member of a industry standards organization are a few of the major accomplishments. She is highly respected in the payment space with an extensive contact base with top tier Third Party Administrators, Network Associations, health plans and Financial Institutions.

Katherine Fithen, Chief Privacy Officer, Coca-Cola Company
Katherine Fithen has more than 20 years in the Information Security and privacy field. Katherine is currently the Chief Privacy Officer for The Coca-Cola Company. The Global Privacy Program encompasses the laws and regulations of 205+ countries and addresses the privacy requirements for internal (e.g., employee) and external (e.g., consumer) personal data. As the CPO, she leads the Privacy Council — a global cross-functional team that works together to review new/updated laws & regulations to determine implications to The Coca-Cola Company. Katherine is a speaker at many privacy and information security conferences. She is a member of the Ponemon Institute RIM Council, and on the Board of Directors for The Coca-Cola Company Family Federal Credit Union leading the Security & Technology Committee. Prior to the CPO role, Katherine created and built the computer forensics and incident response teams for The Coca-Cola Company. Katherine is a leader in Coca-Cola’s women’s linc organization and she works closely with WIT (Women in Technology). She has also served as a mentor to at least one woman every year at The Coca-Cola Company. Before coming to The Coca-Cola Company, Katherine was a Senior Manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP and was a leader in developing the Cybercrime Prevention and Response service where PwC consulted with companies to build their own CPR team — including computer forensics and incident response capabilities.

Patrick Gaul, VP Sales North America, Safely Locked
Mr. Patrick Gaul serves as Vice President of Sales for the Americas at SafelyLocked, LLC. Mr. Gaul serves as Executive Vice President of sales at Market Force Information, Inc. Mr. Gaul was the President and General Manager of US operations at VIA NET.WORKS, Inc. since February, 2004. He served as Senior Vice President of Sales at Market Force Information, Inc. Patrick served as Vice President of Sales at Market Force Information, Inc. He has more than 26 years of experience in the telecommunications industry. He has held senior roles in Sales Management, Sales Operations and Channel Management. He has worked within major companies in the Industry including AT&T, Infonet Services Corporation, and Masergy Communications for nearly twenty-six years. He served 9 years in the United States Marine Corps and is a decorated veteran of the Vietnam Conflict. Mr. Gaul is Member of the Board of Directors of the Technology Association of Georgia and was the Chair for the Georgia Technology Summit in 2006 and 2007. At United States Marine Corps, he was awarded a number of commendations including National Defense Service Medal, the Combat Action Ribbon and a Purple Heart for his service in the Republic of South Vietnam. Mr. Gaul attended the Edinburgh Graduate School of Business in Edinburgh, Scotland.

David Keating, Partner, Alston & Bird
David Keating is a corporate attorney with a focus on high technology companies and strategic technology and outsourcing initiatives at public and private corporations across industries. Mr. Keating’s privacy and data security practice focuses on developing and implementing strategic initiatives and on enabling transactions that raise complex privacy and security issues. He represents a broad array of U.S. and global businesses in compliance matters involving privacy and security laws in the United States, the European Union, Canada, the Asia-Pacific region and Latin America.

Roger Mahler, Executive, AT&T Innovation Center
Roger Mahler has over 25 years of leadership experience creating, delivering and growing high technology product and services in both the consumer and enterprise segments including delivering executable strategies and realizable migration plans as well as the ability to bring together cross functional teams with diverse backgrounds necessary to realize those strategies. Roger is responsible for supporting 3rd party developers and internal AT&T business units as well as championing, developing, and delivering new projects and business models. Prior to that he was responsible for developing and delivering an executable architecture for the Digital Home environment including end user devices with a migration path necessary in realizing a 5 year architecture plan. Prior to AT&T, Mr. Mahler was the PMTS at Cingular Wireless, developing and delivering a 3 to 5 year plan for the service layer and mobile terminal. Roger has also held leadership roles at Towne Services, DigitalDoctor.com, IBM Global Services, and E3 Associates.

Moderator

Dr. Benn Konsynski, Professor of Information Systems & Operations Management at Goizueta Business School of Emory University
Benn R. Konsynski arrived at Goizueta Business School following six years on the faculty at the Harvard Business School where he taught in the MBA program and several executive programs. Prior to arriving at HBS, he was a professor at the University of Arizona where he was a co-founder of the university’s multi-million dollar group decision support laboratory. He holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Purdue University. He has published in such diverse journals as Communications of the ACM, Harvard Business Review, IEEE Transactions on Communications, MIS Quarterly, Journal of MIS, Data Communications, Decision Sciences, Decision Support Systems, Information Systems, and IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering.

Second Panel – Funding: Challenges and Opportunities

Frank Dalton, Fulcrum Equity Partners
Mr. Dalton is a founder of Fulcrum Equity Partners, a growth equity fund with over $140 million under management, based in Atlanta, Georgia. Prior to joining Fulcrum, Frank was a General Partner with Cordova Ventures and the managing director of Cordova Intellimedia Ventures, L.P., a $41 million early-stage/seed fund launched in 2000. He is currently a board member of ContactatOnce, Mfg.com, Preparis, Path-Tec, and Bruder Healthcare. Frank has over 16 years of experience in private investing; being involved directly and indirectly in over 100 investments, including several successful exits, such as, Accipiter, Secure Tax, Call Center Technology, Magnet Communications, Intertech, Inc., Digital Envoy, Constructware and Compliance 360.

Stephen Walden, President, Atlanta Technology Angels
Stephen Walden is an active Angel investor and serves on the board of several companies and non-profit organizations. Stephen has been a marketing-savvy CEO, a successful entrepreneur, and a private-equity investor. As Executive Director at Prodigy, he helped launch the first consumer online service and helped his software become the largest selling brand in the retail market of the time. At BellSouth he was a Vice President in the online service division, where his team launched not only BellSouth.net but also several other related businesses, including a webhosting business that grew to several hundred million dollars in value. Later, he took over the role of CEO of a failing technology company and led it to a highly successful turnaround. He revitalized the business, leading it into new markets with new products and new energy. Investors received major cash payouts as a result of this success.

Dales Kirkland, Managing Director, Silicon Valley Bank
Dale Kirkland is Manging Director in Silicon Valley Bank’s (“SVB”) Atlanta office. He is responsible for business development & relationship mangement in the southeast, and focuses on technology lending to growth companies. Kirkland joined SVB in 2003 and, since that time, has provided strategic financing to over 250 companies, making over $1.4 Billion in commitments. Through his work at SVB and his industry operating experience, he has developed deep knowledge of numerous vericals in the software & internet industries. He began his career with SunTrust, & has held sales leadership and financial management roles at several telecom companies including MCI, XO Communications and Broadwing Communications. He was also CFO of BroadBand Technologies. At SVB, Kirkland has built partnerships with such notable accounts as CipherTrust, JBoss, iContact, Brightree, eVestment Alliance, The Rainmaker Group, Pardot, Silverpop, EndoChoice, Numerex, & Prolexic. Kirkland is on the board of directors of TechBridge, an Atlanta based nonprofit that provides technology support to other nonprofits. He is also on the board of directors of the Florida Venture Forum, an Advisory Board member of the MIT Enterprise Forum, & a Board of Advisors member of Venture Atlanta. In 2006, Kirkland was recognized as one of Georgia’s most influential figures in banking and finance by the Atlanta Business Chronicle on their Who’s Who list. Kirkland has spoken at a number tech industry events including Venture Atlanta, The Florida Venture Forum, the Technology Executive Roundtable, ACG, & at ATDC. Kirkland earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a concentration in finance and graduated summa cum laude from Georgia State University. 

Harvey Schuster
Harvey Shuster is a  serial entrepreneur, pioneer in microcomputer software as the CPA/Founder for the acclaimed Peachtree Software where he was part of raising the original private equity and venture capital, and pioneer of eLearning as COO of Comsell, Inc.

Moderator

John Yates, Partner, Morris, Manning & Martin, LLP
Mr. Yates is chair of the Technology Group at the Atlanta law firm, Morris, Manning & Martin LLP. He has been practicing exclusively in this area for over 30 years and is internationally recognized in the technology law field. His firm represents tech companies in all stages of growth and is a leader in VC and private equity, IPOs and M&A. Mr. Yates has held numerous leadership positions in technology associations and has served on the Board of Advisors of technology companies in the U.S. and abroad. He co-founded the Southeastern Software Association, the Technology Association of Georgia, the CEO Council, and the Southeastern Medical Device Association. Mr. Yates is co-chair of the Technology Council of the Metro Atlanta Chamber and also serves on its Board. He is a frequent speaker, has authored hundreds of articles and has been cited by the U.S. Supreme Court. Mr. Yates is frequently quoted in The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, and the Atlanta Business Chronicle. He received his B.A., magna cum laude, and his J.D. from Duke University and serves on the Board of Visitors at the Duke School of Law and Board of Trustees of Furman University. He was also chair of the 2013 NCAA Final Four Basketball Tournament held in Atlanta in April 2013.

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