Joseph Pucciarelli, IDC Group Vice-President, guides business and technology executives leveraging technology to achieve innovative and disruptive business outcomes. He presents at more than 40 CIO executive summits worldwide annually, speaking to senior business leaders and technology executives on technology transformation strategies. He is a research agenda leader and facilitator for more than 75 analysts publishing dedicated research for IDC’s CIO and technology buyer clients.

His research enables clients to create preemptive business and technology strategies grounded in sound financial practices and a comprehensive understanding of competitive ecosystems. He empowers IT leaders to deliver strategically aligned organizational development and talent management plans. A skilled executive coach and change agent, Pucciarelli works with clients to foster executive intrapreneurship in enterprise-class organizations.

Pucciarelli previously served as program director, IDC Technology Financial Strategies providing wide-ranging research on IT funding and financing strategies for technology providers and IT organizations. He has also held senior management positions in product management, operational management, and financial management at GE Capital, Gartner, Peregrine Systems, and Strategance. Pucciarelli is a graduate of Stevens Institute of Technology.

Kevin Brown’s unconventional path to business and personal success has taught him that winning in business and in life requires anything but conventional thinking. He grew up in Muskegon, Mich., where his blue-collar roots taught him the value of hard work and determination. His resume includes an eclectic mix of career stops that ultimately led him to the purchase of a franchise at the age of seventeen. With a street-wise aptitude and a never quit attitude, he worked his way from the front lines in business to the executive boardroom. For nearly two decades, Brown was a sales and marketing executive that helped grow a little known family business into an industry giant with annual revenues reaching two billion dollars. After a career in franchising that spanned 30 years, Brown decided to retire from corporate America and pursue his passion for bringing The Hero Effect message to as many people and organizations as possible. Brown is on a mission to help people and organizations embrace a simple philosophy that separates world class organizations and high-performance people from everybody else. He is passionate about helping people expand their vision, develop their potential and grow their results. And, as the father of an autistic child he knows firsthand how the principles of true success reach beyond the boardroom and into the lives of real people facing the challenges of everyday life.

Having managed more than a billion dollars in revenue for some of the world’s largest media companies including CNN, A&E, The History Channel, The Weather Channel, and BET Networks/BET Her, Michele Thornton Ghee is a strategic force inside and outside the bounds of Corporate America. She was instrumental in the rebranding of Centric as ‘The First Network Designed for Black Women” and then again into BET Her. She currently serves as Executive Vice President of Business Development for Endeavor Global Marketing and has received a host of honors including the ADCOLOR Change Agent Award, American Advertising Federation Mosaic Role Model of the Year Award, She Runs It Working Mother of the Year Award Class of 2018, and most recently, a Multichannel News 2019 Wonder Woman.