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Get to know the speakers who will be presenting at this year’s VisionCSI event and see what there is to look forward to!
Bruce Phillips
Bruce joined the Foundation in 2010 and is now the Director of Operations.
As the resident foodie and BBQ expert he is a favorite at office potlucks. An avid golfer, amateur interior designer, self-proclaimed wine connoisseur, and father of two, Bruce stays busy out of the office too. Bruce has that rare quality of always making time for everyone. No problem is too big or too small for him to talk to you about.
He is always there for everyone in the office, and if you're lucky, you'll get to talk to him when you call the Foundation.
Saul de Jesus
In 2015, Saul joined designDATA as an engineer. He excelled in this role and was quickly promoted to Supervisor, then Client Technology Manager, Program Manager, and finally to the well-suited position as our Director of Customer Service and Delivery. Saul is also designDATA’s Microsoft Teams Telephony practice lead and assists customers in planning and migrating to Microsoft’s cloud-based corporate phone system.
Currently, Saul is responsible for leading the client service delivery teams. This requires close collaboration with engineers, client team leadership, and our professional services teams to ensure technical standards are met.
Saul carries several certifications, including Microsoft Teams and 365 Security, Apple ACMT, A+, and Ne+.
Jake Belcher
Jake Belcher is the Director of Security and Compliance at designDATA. He is responsible for leading our cybersecurity practice, staying up to date on the latest cybersecurity threats and the latest thought leadership in the cybersecurity industry. His top focus is designing and implementing countermeasures to protect our client’s and designDATA’s IT networks and data in a cost-effective, pragmatic manner.
Prior to leading the cybersecurity efforts at designDATA, Jake has worked for over 20 years in IT and cybersecurity across multiple industries including Big 4 consulting, financial services, healthcare and retail in both small and large enterprises. Jake comes to designDATA with many years of designing, implementing and maintaining comprehensive cybersecurity programs for numerous companies leveraging industry leading practices. Jake has led compliance efforts including HIPAA, HITRUST, PCI, SOX, SOC1 type II, SOC2 type II GDPR and CCPA. As such, he is well versed in leading cybersecurity frameworks such as NIST 800-53, NIST CSF, CoBIT and ISO 27001/2
Jake obtained an MBA from the University of Pittsburgh Katz Graduate School of Business, two Bachelor degrees from Allegheny College and currently maintains CISSP, CISM, A+, Network+ and Security+ certifications.
Bill Travitz
Bill Travitz serves as Director of Client Technology Strategy for Arctic IT.
His technology career spans more than three decades in a variety of critical roles including engineer, developer, IT security and leadership. He has served the Enterprise, Small and Medium Business (SMB) as well as Federal, State, Local and Tribal Governments. Bill came to Arctic IT after owning his own business for more than 20 years.
Most recently he was the Director of the Office of Information Technology at the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. There he led a complete digital transformation effort from fully on-premises to a cloud based, zero trust architecture. Bill lives in Bryson City, NC with his wife Katy in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Eric O'Connor
Eric O’Connor is the Chief Innovation Officer for the American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology (AANA). He is responsible for building innovative teams that lead and drive change, accelerate growth, and deliver on strategic initiatives with an obsessive member-first approach.
Prior to the AANA, Eric was the chief marketing officer of RUBIS, an innovation and marketing agency. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in marketing from Drake University and started his career building photography businesses. Eric lives in the Chicago area with his wife and three sons.
Greg Pollack
Greg is a seasoned professional having worked both for, and with, associations for over 15 years. He started his career working for a not-for-profit, learning all about membership, recruiting and training volunteers, running fundraising campaigns, and overall structure of the industry. From there, he moved over to an association selling exhibit space, magazine advertisements, and sponsorships.
Wanting to use his technical skills, Greg moved to a technology provider, working first as an implementation project manager supporting associations, then as a lead product manager prior to moving into direct sales and ultimately sales management. Greg moved on to the next challenge of working for a small (at the time) start-up company, Higher Logic, where he again started as an individual contributor, but quickly moved into sales management and ultimately went on to build out the sales enablement and sales engineering teams.
As VP of Enablement at Association Analytics, Greg leads the sales team and helps spread the company’s values and offerings to the association community. He regularly attends and speaks at industry conferences including ASAE, Association Forum, and technology partner user groups. He’s also one of the regular contributors to Association Analytics monthly webinar series and blog.
Tom Mercer
Tom Mercer is the President and CEO of designDATA. He’s known for inventing, engineering and being a thought leader, setting the global stage for technology.
Before joining designDATA’s team, he started as a developer and quickly transitioned into product development. While he’s been working at Arctic IT alongside designDATA, he used to work at 3M Library Systems Business Unit. He worked closely with the leadership team, merging the sector with Bibliotheca and expanding the Cloud Library to several international markets. In turn, this increased the range of content, including audiobooks, magazines, comics and movies.
Tom has a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from North Dakota State University and a Master of Science in Management of Technology from the University of Minnesota.
