Working closely with the Executive Committee, ISSIP Strategy Council guides, and influences the strategic direction of ISSIP. The Council is comprised of representatives from ISSIP corporate and institutional members, as well as representatives of organizations that are appointed by the Board of Directors of ISSIP.
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ISSIP Strategy Council Chair: Utpal Mangla, General Manager, IBM Utpal Mangla (MBA, PEng, CMC, ITCP, PMP, ITIL, CSM) is General Manager, Industry EDGE Cloud; IBM Cloud Platform, at IBM where he is responsible for driving EDGE Cloud use cases and offerings across all industries. He is a member of IBM’s Industry Academy, Industry Services Talent Ecosystem growth & 5G EDGE Acceleration teams. He has been an active member of the ISSIP leadership team having served as Strategy Council Chair and ISSIP Ambassador. More… |
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ISSIP Strategy Council Member: PK Agarwal, Dean UC Santa Cruz Extension A celebrated technology and academic leader in Silicon Valley, PK Agarwal serves as the Dean of UC Santa Cruz Extension in Silicon Valley. Prior to this, he was the Dean and CEO of Northeastern University-Silicon Valley, where he oversaw the startup and growth of the University by creating innovative programs, working with major employers, and contributing the economic vitality of the San Francisco Bay Area. More… |
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ISSIP Strategy Council Member, and ISSIP Past President (2018): Rama Akkiraju, IBM Fellow and CTO AIOps Rama Akkiraju is an IBM Fellow, IBM Master Inventor and IBM Academy Member. Presently, Rama is the CTO of AI Operations, which aims to optimize the IT Operations management processes with AI-infusion. Prior to this role, Rama led the AI mission of enabling natural, personalized and compassionate conversations between computers and humans. More… |
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ISSIP Strategy Council Member, and ISSIP Past President (2020): Gerhard Gudergan, Head of Department, Business Transformation, RWTH Aachen University Gudergan Gudergan is the founding director of the CENTER SMART Services on the RWTH Aachen Campus and acting head of the initiative METROPOLITAN CITIES. He is senior lecturer at RWTH Aachen University for “Service Design and Engineering.” More… |
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ISSIP Strategy Council Member: Annie Hardy, Senior Visioneer, Cisco As a creative innovator, strategic researcher, and bridge builder, Annie Hardy’s expertise ranges from product strategy and marketing to innovation and research, for companies in multiple industries. Today, as the Senior Visioneer at Cisco, Annie is establishing a practice in the Customer Experience organization to pull empathy and the customer’s voice into conversations around corporate innovation. More… |
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ISSIP Strategy Council Member: Alice Pollard, Innovation Program Manager, Cisco Alice Pollard is currently part of the Chief Technology Office in the Customer Experience organization at Cisco. The CTO’s focus is to drive impact for Customers, Technical Talent, Strategy, and broader Industry leveraging Technology and Innovation. Working alongside the Distinguished Service Engineers Alice leads various innovation initiatives and programs to build customer mindshare. More… |
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ISSIP Strategy Council Member: Deborah R. Stokes, Leader, External Research, Dell Technologies Deborah Stokes is Leader & Senior Consultant, External Research, Dell Technologies Office of the CTO, responsible for the management and collaboration with universities and research institutions to drive innovation, and advanced technology exploration, delivering insights and metrics on emerging/disruptive technologies. More… |
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ISSIP Strategy Council Member, and ISSIP Past President (2019): Heather Yurko, Director of Global Channels Management, Facebook Heather Yurko is the Director Channels Management at Facebook where she and her teams are focused on bringing the best out of technology and talent. Prior to this role, she was the Chief of Staff + Lead, Future of Work at Cisco, where she enabled Global Services Management acceleration through culture, role and skill transformation. More… |
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ISSIP Strategy Council Member: Ulf Vinneras, ISSIP 2021 President, Senior Director, Aruba Networks Mr. Ulf Vinneras is Sr Director of High Touch Services, IaaS, Analytics, Automation, and Cloud-Native, Aruba Networks (an HPE company) where he leads service engagements focused on customer needs with Cloud-Native, Analytics, Automation and Security as the foundation. More… |
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ISSIP Strategy Council Member: Ralph Perrine, Director, IT Strategy & Innovation at Blue Cross NC Ralph Perrine is the founder of the award-winning Innovation Garage and the Director for IT Strategy & Transformation at Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina. At Blue Cross he has led the adoption and development of emerging technologies that drive more cost-effective capabilities for healthcare, guiding the teams in the engineering and incubation of innovative platforms. More… |