Speakers
If you have any questions regarding speaker or presentation submissions for Voice Biometrics Conference London 2008, please contact Derek Top: (415) 904-7666, or dtop@opusresearch.net.
David Attwater, Senior Scientist, EIG
David Attwater has over 14 years experience researching and designing spoken user interfaces. He joined EIG in 2003 with responsibilities for user interface usability, design, research and development. Attwater also manages the EIG UK Office. Before joining EIG he was head of the spoken dialog research team at the British Telecom Research Labs. Amongst his specific areas of expertise are applications using statistical language models, very large directory applications, and wizard of oz usability testing on live traffic. Attwater's current research interests include turn-taking and mixed-mode dialogue. He has several international patents pending and numerous publications. He holds two engineering degrees from the University of York, UK.
Jean Rusela A. Bengo - VP, eServices Support Office, GSIS
Jean Rusela A. Bengo is the Vice-President of the eServices Support Office in the Information Technology Service Group of the Philippine's Government Service Insurance System. She headed the team that developed and implemented the GSIS Wireless Automated Processing System (GW@PS), an end-to-end solution which combines advanced technologies as Radio Frequency ID, general packet radio service (GPRS), short messaging service (SMS), virtual private network and fingerprint biometrics resulting to completely paperless transactions such as loan application and processing for the GSIS members. She is also in the forefront in the development and implementation of the GSIS Voice Activated Processing System or GVAPS, a secure, voice activated system that processes GSIS frontline transactions real-time in the same level of completely paperless environment as GWAPS. GV@PS is a seamless integration of different technologies such as telephony, voice authentication software, voice prints and virtual private network (VPN) that delivers efficient and reliable service to GSIS members and pensioners anytime anywhere. Ms. Bengo has over 15 years of varied experience in information technology (IT) planning, project management, systems development, EDP operations and training.
David Birch - Director, Consult Hyperion
David Birch is a Director of Consult Hyperion, the IT management consultancy that specialises in electronic transactions, where he provides specialist consultancy support to clients around the world. Birch is also the editor of the book, "Digital Identity Management: Social, Business and Technical Implications" (2007).
Described by The Independent newspaper as a "grade-A geek," by the Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation as "one of the most user-friendly of the UK's uber-techies" and by Financial World as "mad," Birch is a member of the editorial board of the E-Finance & Payments Law and Policy Journal and of the advisory board for European Business Review, a columnist for SPEED and UK correspondent to the Journal of Internet Banking and Commerce.
He has lectured to MBA level on the impact of new information and communications technologies, contributed to publications ranging from the Parliamentary IT Review to Grocery Trader and wrote more than 100 Second Sight columns for The Guardian. He is a media commentator on electronic business issues and has appeared on BBC television and radio, Sky and other channels around the world.
Chuck Buffum - VP, Caller Authentication Solutions, Nuance
Chuck Buffum, VP of Caller Authentication Solutions for Nuance, is a visionary and pioneer in the call center, speech technology and secure authentication domains. Over the past 30 years he has guided more than a dozen companies to bring these technologies and solutions to market addressing the needs of over 50 clients. Prior to Nuance, Buffum ran Buffum Group, a caller authentication consulting firm, and was the founding CEO of Vocent, a voice authentication solutions company, sold to PassMark Security in 2005. Prior to Vocent he lead Nuance's partner development and field technical organizations, managed Tandem's solution programs, and created IBM's call center solutions program, bringing CallPath and an IVR to market in the 1980s.
Sapna Capoor - Director of Corporate Development and Strategy (Global Markets), AGNITIO
Sapna Capoor is currently spearheading AGNITIO's voice biometrics corporate development and strategy program. She is a keen advocate for raising the profile of the Biometrics industry in the media and regularly presents at biometrics/security conferences. Capoor has been quoted in top global publications such as the Economist, Financial Times and Business Week. Previously, Capoor was the Global Programme Manager for Biometrics at Frost and Sullivan where she has authored numerous studies and white papers on different aspects of the biometrics industry. She has worked successfully with clients on biometrics/security based projects that range from product development strategies to entering new geographic markets. She has extensive experience in the development of business growth strategies.
Ziv Cohen - EMEA Sales and Business Development Director, PerSay
Ziv Cohen is EMEA Sales and Business Development Director at PerSay. Prior to working at PerSay, he held various positions in the enterprise and telecom service providers arena focusing on customer experience and security. In his former position, Ziv performed as the business development director and product manager of Aladdin Knowledge Systems specializing in biometric authentication technologies. Cohen holds a B.A. in Business Administration from the University of Derby in the U.K.
Lee Cottle - Chief Operating Officer, Vicorp
Lee Cottle, joined Vicorp in February 2005 from ScanSoft where he was Director & General Manager for their UK, Ireland and South African regions. Cottle brings with him 16 years of call center enabling-technology experience and has been involved in the design, installation and support of over 200 call centers in both Europe and the U.S. Prior to ScanSoft, Cottle has worked for Nortel Networks, Unisys, and Aspect Communications in a variety of senior business and technical roles.
Jim Cook - Chief Technology Officer, VoiceVault
During a career that has spanned over three decades, Jim Cook has been instrumental in managing the development of pioneering enterprise technologies. He has a strong pedigree in strategic management and technology leadership with previous senior management roles in companies spanning a range of software sectors including collaboration, enterprise content workflow and lifecycle management, and information security. Cook is a chartered engineer and has a Bachelor of Science degree with honours in electrical and electronic engineering from the University of Bath and is also a fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA).
Brett Feldon - General Manager, EMEA, VeCommerce
Brett Feldon, General Manager of VeCommerce EMEA, entered the speech industry in March 1996 as a software engineer has been involved ever since with speech recognition solutions in a range of capacities. He became CTO in July 2004, and has been involved with almost every speech deployment at VeCommerce and indeed in Australasia, either in a technical or oversight role. He has provided assistance and/or oversight for some of the most complex speech applications in the world, including the first commercial deployment of speaker verification in Australia. Feldon's work has been featured in leading industry publications and he is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and user group events worldwide. In his current role he continues his championing of the delivery of quality customer service and business outcomes using speech technologies.
Ariel Freidenberg - Executive VP, Global Sales & Business Development, PerSay
Ariel Freidenberg joined PerSay during 2000, shortly after PerSay was founded. From 2000 to 2003, he has held various positions within PerSay's sales and business development team and in 2003 was appointed as VP Sales & Business Development and a member of the PerSay's management team. Freidenberg holds a B.A. in Law and Economics and an MBA in Business Administration, both from Bar-Ilan University. Prior to joining PerSay, he was an attorney in one of the leading law offices in Israel, following an internship at the Supreme Court of Israel.
Avery Glasser - Director, Product Strategy, Agnitio
Avery Glasser is Agnitio's Director of Product Strategy. He is responsible for shaping the product roadmap and release schedule for both the Homeland Security and Corporate product lines. Glasser brings over a decade's worth of voice product design and management experience to Agnitio. Previously he has designed and managed voice biometric product offerings for VOICE.TRUST AG and VxV Solutions. He has also devised biometric rollout strategies for a number of European banks, and built voice biometric practices at both Opus Research and most recently at Vicorp. Glasser has extensive experience designing and implementing solutions both in the government and corporate sectors.
Dorota Iskra - Speech Technology Consultant, Logica
Dorota Iskra is a leading Speech Technology Consultant at Logica. She has over 13 years experience in researching and applying speech recognition and speaker verification technologies for different organizations. Her career spans the University of Birmingham, where she received her PhD degree, KPN Research and the University of Nijmegen. In 2005, she joined Logica in the Netherlands where she has specialized in voice user interfaces. Her extensive knowledge and expertise allow her to advise customer organizations on the optimal use of speech technology to achieve their business objectives. Her recent involvements comprise projects in the financial and public markets in countries such as the Netherlands, UK and Germany.
Jiri Kottas - Adviser of the Board, Homecredit and Finance Bank
Jiri Kottas is responsible for coordination of antifraud activities and related special tasks with Homecredit and Finance Bank based in Moscow, Russia. He is the chief sponsor of the Information Security Projects, a set of pilot projects on voice analysis (including biometrics, vocal passwords, and voice risk analyser technology). Previously, Kottas was Head of Risk at Homecredit and Finance Bank, where he was responsible for integration, development and standardization of market, credit and operational risk departments in the bank and a full redesign of collection processes.
Jim Lound - Product Director, Fraud & Identity Solutions, Experian
Jim Lound has more than 20 years experience in the financial services environment having worked for two clearing banks before joining Experian in 1996. His current role at the company is as a Product Director with responsibility for Global Authentication and Identity Management. Lound's background is in risk management coupled with extensive involvement in business process re-engineering. He has focussed on the UK market in relation to anti-money laundering and personal identity initiatives in the private and public sectors. Lound is now developing identity assurance solutions for other countries around the globe.
Dan Miller - Senior Analyst, Opus Research
Dan Miller has over 25 years experience in marketing, business development and corporate strategy for telecom service providers, computer manufacturers and application software developers. Dan founded Opus Research in 1985 and helped define the Conversational Access Technologies marketplace by authoring scores of reports, advisories and newsletters addressing business opportunities that reside where automated speech leverages Web services, mobility and enterprise software infrastructure. He also participated in consulting projects in call center-based commerce, voice-based communications and electronic commerce for clients that include top IT, telecommunications and hosted service providers, as well as a number of entrepreneurial firms.
Nick Ogden - Chairman and Chief Executive, Voice Commerce Group
Nick Ogden is currently Chairman and Chief Executive of The Voice Commerce Group Limited. He has been at the forefront of financial services technology since 1985. In 1993, he founded Multi Media Investments Limited, a technology research and development company that brought the Internet to the Channel Islands through Interactive Telephony Ltd. This led to the construction of Europe's first online store in October 1994 and the development of one of the first bank-endorsed e-commerce initiatives BarclaySquare in 1995. Ogden founded the multi-currency processor WorldPay and led the company through its growth to over 270 employees with 20,000 merchants in 120 countries and processing transactions in excess of $2bn per annum. He invented the internet payment guarantee in 2001 guaranteeing Internet transactions for consumers and businesses. WorldPay was sold to the Royal Bank of Scotland in 2000.
Javier Roldan - Senior Manager, Technological Innovation, Bankinter
Javier Roldan has over 10 years experience in Banking and Finance. He has held various positions on Bankinter's IT team, ranging from Infrastructure Designer to Main Software Architect. Currently, his role consists of monitoring the technology trends in the IT market and evaluating what technologies are best suited to meeting business and customers' needs. Roldan is leading the voice biometrics implementation project at Bankinter
