David Klein, President
David is currently the Product Director for Brainshark, the leader in on-demand business communication solutions, where he launched and now oversees myBrainshark, an online marketplace and community of business expertise. David thrives on the evolution the internet, and has been involved in many web-based startups: as a member of the pre-launch team at Eons, an online social media startup lead by the founder of Monster.com; to being employee number 21 at Monster focusing on international expansion, with his latter years based in London; as well as working to improve the technology presence of the Houghton Mifflin's college market of educational publishing. David holds a BA from the University at Albany, NY.

 

Andrew Shepard, Vice-President, Treasurer and President Emeritus
Andrew develops and implements product and company strategies to improve profitability throughout the value chain including. Andrew has extensive experience across the Transportation, Appliance, Paper, and Hi-Tech industries. Andrew is recognized for his success as a Six-sigma Black Belt and Kaizen facilitator. As a Global Director of Market Management at Hollingsworth & Vose, Andrew is researching, designing and leading strategic long-range plans, internal process improvements and innovative new product introductions. He holds an MBA with Highest Honors from Boston University and a Double Major, Engineering and English, from Dartmouth College.

Leslie Ament, Director of Employer and Recruiter Relations
Leslie Ament, Managing Partner & Vice President of Research at, Hypatia Research LLC, is an industry analyst, technology thought-leader and Customer Intelligence professional. Leslie provides research-driven market intelligence, strategy and services that deliver high impact industry-specific best practices, performance benchmarking, vendor selection and ROI assessment methodologies to reduce cycle-time and influence customer management, product strategy and channel development goals.

Previously, Leslie served on management teams and lead global marketing and market research groups at Demantra, Inc. (acquired by Oracle), Arthur D. Little Management Consulting, Harte-Hanks, Banta Corporation, International Thomson Publishing (Chapman & Hall, UK) and Carnegie Hall, Inc. She is a member of the American Marketing Association, Society for Competitive Intelligence Professionals, Customer Relationship Management Association, DataShaping Certified Analytic Professional, Arthur D. Little Alumni Association, Software Industry Information Association and Phi Kappa Phi. Leslie completed her doctorate at the University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign and her Master's and Bachelor's degrees at the Bloomington campus of Indiana University. Her passions are international travel, food and jazz.

Jane Fine, Director of Marketing
Jane has recently accepted a newly created role at David Begg Associates (DBA) where
she is responsible for development and implementation of the marketing plan
for the US headquarters.. A division of NSF International, The Public Health and Safety Company™, David Begg Associates provides GMP consulting, auditing and training services to the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. Jane is also principal of Fine Edge, a primary B2B market research and strategy firm to the software and service industries, where she continues to work with technology clients on industry and customer market strategy and competitive intelligence. Her prior experience includes roles as Vice President of Business Development in a software start-up and field sales of outsourced document management services for Xerox Corporation. Prior to assuming the position of Director of Marketing for BPMA, Jane was the BPMA Alliance Manager where she helped to define and execute strategic relationships that culminated in a successful joint program with Society of Competitive Intelligence and co-promotion with professional associations such as ASAP, MEMG, and Mass Technology Leadership Council. Jane holds a Bachelor's degree from Lesley College, a master's degree from Cambridge College, and certificates in Data Systems Technology from Northeastern University.

Sarela Bliman-Cohen, Director of Staffing and Event Operations
Sarela is a highly experienced product manager and product marketing professional with extensive experience in the Hi-Tech industry. She has worked with various Hi-Tech companies where she analyzed and defined market direction, developed and implemented go-to-market strategies and marketing plans. In recent years she has worked with several start ups where she has successfully implemented product management practices. Sarela holds a MSEE from Northeastern University and a BSEE from the the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology.

Ray Trevisani, Director of Sponsorships
Ray is currently a Director of Sales for MessageGate, a software start-up specializing in email governance solutions. He has extensive experience in direct sales, channel sales, business development, strategic partnering, and building territories. Ray possesses a mix of entrepreneurial savvy along with large Fortune 500 experience with companies like Apple and Tektronix. Ray has received numerous awards throughout his career and is well-respected for his ability to drive growth. Ray earned a B.A. from Northeastern University and an M.B.A. from Tulane University. Ray also has professional certification from Dale Carnegie, Solution Selling, The Complex Sale, The Executive Conversation, and the Xerox School of Selling.

Deepthi Bathina, Director of Executive Council
Deepthi currently works as the Senior Director of Product Marketing and Strategy at ADP, a Fortune 300 company and is on the Board of Directors for BPMA. She has extensive experience in Product Management, Marketing, Global Strategy, Operations and Engineering functions. She is also a reputable Business Consultant and regularly consults directly for Jack Welch (ex-CEO of GE) and Suzy Welch. Through her consulting work, she created and implemented strategic initiatives to influence and shape the ideas of business leaders, students and entrepreneurs all over the world.

 

Prior to that, Deepthi co-founded and ran a global software firm, Vega IT Systems. She also held various senior management and engineering roles at Akamai, Verisign, Level3 Communications and Rational Software (now IBM). Deepthi was recognized by Boston Business Journal for her overall professional excellence through the MBA All Star Award. Deepthi holds an MBA in Global Strategy from Babson College, Wellesley and a Masters in Computer Science from Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Deepthi served as the Executive Vice President of Graduate Student Council and as the Vice President of Babson Association of Women MBAs at Babson.

 

You are welcome to visit Deepthi's personal blog at http://360bizblog.com/

 

Deepthi also holds the role of Director of BPMA Executive Concil, where she built an exclusive organization that brings together product management and marketing executives from the New England area to sound board key business topics and to provide mentorship to marketing/product management professionals in the area. (To apply to 2011 BPMA Mentorship program, please contact Deepthi at dbathina@gmail.com)

 

 

Tom is a product management professional with extensive experience in the computer industry, leading product management, engineering, marketing, 3rd party partners, and cross-functional teams to deliver successful products. He has worked in product and program management, and business development roles at NetApp, EMC, DEC and several startups during his career in the Boston area. Creation of successful new businesses has been central to many of Tom’s roles including the starting the Fibrechannel and V-Series business units at NetApp, developing the market for Symmetrix with Microsoft Windows at EMC, and building an Alpha single board computer at DEC. He holds an MBA from Northeastern, an MS in Mechanical Engineering from MIT, and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Lafayette College. His recreation interests include singing and travel.