Speakers

John Colbert

Vice President, BPM Partners

John Colbert is responsible for market trend analysis, services development and technology vendor relationships at BPM Partners, the leading independent authority on business performance management (BPM) solutions. BPM Partners is a trusted source of BPM information and expertise, a founding member of the BPM Standards Group, and creator of the annual Business Finance magazine BPM Software Buyer's Guide and BPM Magazine’s BPM Consulting Services Guide.

Prior to working at BPM Partners, Colbert was Senior Director of Product Marketing at Hyperion Software, responsible for directing Hyperion's OLAP Business Analysis financial software products. Earlier in his career, Colbert was an end user of performance management solutions while he was a product manager at Raychem Corp., a FORTUNE 500 company that Tyco has since acquired. Colbert has contributed to leading business publications, including The New York Times, BPM Magazine, Information Week, Business Finance, eWEEK and the B-EYE Network and is a regular presenter at performance management related conferences. Colbert graduated with an MS in engineering management from Stanford University and a BS in chemical engineering from Rutgers University.

Aiman Zeid
BICC Lead Developer, SAS

Aiman Zeid is Lead Developer of the SAS Americas Business Intelligence Competency Center program. He is also a member of a global team responsible for assisting SAS clients in evaluating the use and delivery of information and business intelligence using the SAS Information Evolution Model, and in establishing enterprise Business Intelligence Competency Centers. Zeid has more than 20 years of experience in information delivery, data warehousing, application development, analytics and business intelligence solutions. He has worked with clients in various industries, including finance, life sciences, healthcare, public health services, energy and pharmaceutical.

Zeid holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and a master’s degree in engineering administration from George Washington University.

Daniel Thorpe
Senior Vice President, Wachovia

Daniel Thorpe currently directs the Statistics and Modeling Group for Wachovia's Customer Analytics and Targeting Division (CART). CART is a recognized Center of Excellence that offers rigorous analytical and marketing research support to develop strategies to acquire, enhance, deepen and retain customer relationships.

Thorpe has a BS in chemical engineering and an MS and PhD in statistics, all from the University of Minnesota, where his research and focus were in industrial statistics (design of experiments) and inference in small sample sizes. Upon finishing his PhD, he took a job with W.L. Gore & Associates, where his areas of contribution varied across experimental design in product development, survey design and analysis in employee engagement and in the financial modeling and forecasting of product demand. During this time, he frequently gave presentations and papers on how the statistical community can more effectively partner and collaborate with business peers.

When he joined Wachovia, Thorpe’s focus turned entirely to generating customer insight from the huge amounts of data and information that Wachovia collects. He and his team partner with Wachovia’s line of business in modeling customer behavior from targeted marketing campaigns to understanding the value of customer loyalty. He leads Wachovia’s marketing ROI modeling efforts, where he partners with Wachovia’s corporate marketing team.

Sylvie Makhzoum
Forecasting and Business Intelligence Manager, TD Meloche Monnex Group

Sylvie Makhzoum joined TD Meloche Monnex Group, Canada’s third-largest P&C personal lines insurance company, in 2002 as a Statistical Analyst. Currently she is the Manager of Forecasting and Business Intelligence and, along with her team of 11 professionals, is responsible for the company’s sales and services budget. Together, they conduct the production, forecasting and analysis of TD Meloche Monnex Group’s marketing expenses and initiatives to improve overall sales. Makhzoum and her team are also responsible for all data mining activities, including client segmentation models and a client retention program – both of which have helped grow company revenue. Makhzoum holds a master’s degree in statistics.