Information and Registration for ZapThink Events

Jason Bloomberg is Senior Analyst and Principal at Service-Oriented Architecture industry analysis and advisory firm ZapThink LLC. Mr. Bloomberg has a diverse background in eBusiness technology management and industry analysis, including serving as a senior analyst in IDC's eBusiness Advisory group, as well as holding eBusiness management positions at USWeb/CKS (later marchFIRST) and WaveBend Solutions (now Hitachi Consulting).

He co-authored the book Web Page Scripting Techniques (Hayden Books, 1996), and in association with ZapThink founder Ronald Schmelzer, contributed the chapters on Web Services to XML and Web Services Unleashed (SAMS Publishing, 2002). Messrs. Bloomberg and Schmelzer's book, Service Orient or Be Doomed! How Service Orientation Will Change Your Business (John Wiley & Sons, 2006), was released in February, 2006.

Mr. Bloomberg has Masters' Degrees in Mathematics and History & Philosophy of Science from the University of Pittsburgh, and a BA in Physics from Pomona College.

Franco Castaldini is Software AG’s Director of SOA Product Marketing responsible for managing Software AG’s global go-to-market strategy for SOA. He works closely with customers on real-life SOA projects to guide the direction of Software AGs products. As one of the company’s leading spokespersons on SOA Governance, he is committed to providing the market with the intelligence businesses need to make optimal decisions about business integration. Prior to Software AG, Franco has held marketing and business development positions at Seagate Technology, Commerce One, and Intel. Franco holds a Masters of Business Administration degree from Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota and a Bachelors of Science degree in Journalism from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

Chris Connell is the SVP of Sales & Services for SEEC and is responsible for driving the company's sales and marketing as well SEEC's professional services organization. Mr. Connell joined SEEC in 2005 as VP, Sales & Marketing, following a six-year career at Ariba. (formerly FreeMarkets). At FreeMarkets, Mr. Connell served as VP and GM of Global Account Management where he was responsible for sales, professional services, and client management for Fortune 500 customers globally. Mr. Connell has also held positions at Tyco Electronics and Raychem, and served for eight years as an officer in the United States Marine Corps.

Dan Finerty serves as Director of Product Marketing for DataDirect Technologies’ Shadow mainframe integration products. Dan has over 20 years of varied experience in integrating disparate technologies into new systems. Over the last several years he has focused on using SOA based solutions to assist with the challenges associated with mainframe integration.

Chris is an expert testing and architecture strategist, with a 17 year background in computer software development, product management, and sales support for enterprise software. As Product Manager for iTKO's LISA SOA Testing software suite, Chris applies both project management and development experience to refine LISA features to best suit customer quality needs throughout the software delivery lifecycle. Chris was previously a Retail and Manufacturing Industry Manager at the enterprise software platform firm webMethods, overseeing requirements, customer presales and training for the $16M annual group. At supply chain software provider i2 Technologies he worked in i2's infrastructure group, with responsibility for the release of business process, workflow and monitoring engines. Prior to i2 at Software AG, Chris specialized in cross platform product installation and administration. As a software engineer, project manager, and solution architect, Chris has a great breath of industry knowledge from working with companies like Citi, TD Ameritrade, Lenovo, Tandy, Rubbermaid, TI, and TxDoT.

Benjamin Moreland is presently employed at The Hartford as the Director of Foundation Services within the EA group, which is responsible for the realization of The Hartford's P&C SOA direction. He is a recognized leader in the SOA domain, having developed The Hartford's SOA Maturity Model, SOA Governance best practices, led the design and implementation of over 80 course grained services, deployed a UDDI registry, WSM engine, service bus, BPEL engine and helped set the SOA standards for The Hartford. He has 24+ years of IT experience that includes management, research, presentations and development, with a strong background in artificial intelligence. While at United Technologies and The Univ. of Conn., he led and participated in many research and development efforts. Mr. Moreland has a BA in mathematics, and an MS in Computer Science & Engineering from The Univ. of Conn.

K. Scott Morrison is the VP of Engineering and Chief Architect at Layer 7 Technologies, where he is leading a team to develop the next generation of security infrastructure for Web services. An architect and developer of highly scalable, enterprise systems for over 15 years, he has extensive experience across industry sectors as diverse as health, travel and transportation, and financial services. Scott has also been a Director of Architecture and Technology at Infowave Software, a maker of wireless security and acceleration software for mobile devices, and held senior architect positions with IBM. Before shifting to the private sector, he spent a number of years at the world-renowned medical research program of the University of British Columbia, studying neurodegenerative disorders using medical imaging technology. Scott is a dynamic and highly sought-after speaker. He has published over 50 book chapters, magazine articles, and papers in medical, physics, and engineering journals. He is the recent co-author of Java Web Services Unleashed and Professional JMS. Scott is an editor of the WS-I Basic Security Profile, as well as a co-author a version of the WS-Federation specification. His current interests are in Web services security, secure mobile computing, grid systems, and enterprise system architectures.

Frank Neugebauer is ACORD's Senior Enterprise Architect, responsible for the ACORD Standards Framework. He came to ACORD from IBM where he held various positions in the insurance consulting, software architecture, and software sales areas of the business. His more recent roles were Software Account Manager, Software Architect, and Managing Consultant. Prior to IBM, he was the Enterprise Architect for Titan Insurance. Frank holds the Certified IT Architect designation from The Open Group.