George Assimakopoulos
EyeTraffic Media, LLC
Managing Director

Current Roles & Responsibilities:
George Assimakopoulos is an accomplished marketing professional offering over a decade of Interactive Marketing experience to various industry businesses and organizations. In 2003, George co-founded EyeTraffic Media, LLC - a consulting services firm that provides strategic direction and program management of interactive marketing initiatives as part of an integrated advertising approach. Companies such as Pfizer, Harvard Business School Publishing, Mazda USA, and Chevron have partnered with EyeTraffic Media to support their search marketing efforts, online media buying, mobile and viral marketing campaigns, as well as other integrated lead generation programs.

Prior to starting EyeTraffic Media, George served as Director of Client Services at PROXICOM, Inc. where he managed the implementation of marketing, branding, and commerce programs through the Internet. At Proxicom, George was an integral part for several strategic web engagements to Fortune 500 companies, including: ExxonMobil, NIKE, Merrill Lynch, Chase Bank, DuPont Company, Toyota USA, Marriott Corporation, and Home Box Office (HBO).

George is a frequent speaker at industry conferences on topics for Internet marketing, branding strategies and emerging media. In addition, he regularly teaches classes at the University of Maryland, The American University, and The University of Virginia on topics of Interactive and Integrated Marketing. George received his Bachelors of Science in Marketing from the University of Maryland in May of 1992, and his MBA in International Marketing & Information Systems from The American University in Washington, DC in December of 1995.

Gaurav Bhalla, PhD
Entrepreneur/Owner
Knowledge Kinetics

Current Roles & Responsibilities:
Gaurav Bhalla is a strategy, innovation, and marketing professional with global experience, having worked on three continents and with companies in over 20 countries.  Since the mid-70's, he has been associated with the business world as a consultant, executive, entrepreneur, and academic/executive educator.

Dr. Bhalla recently launched Knowledge Kinetics, a new entrepreneurial venture. The company focuses on the practice of customer-driven innovation and value co-creation. The goal is to provoke deeper thinking and more rigorous execution of initiatives related to innovation and business growth, through a mix of consulting, executive education, and research/analysis.

Gaurav previously was the Global Innovation Director, at Kantar-TNS, one of the world's largest market information and insight companies.  Additionally, he held positions in corporate strategy, brand management, sales management, and market research at companies such as Nestle, Richardson Vicks, and Burke.   

Gaurav has worked with some of the largest brands in the world, such as GlaxoSmithKline, Bristol-Myers Squib, Amgen, Astra Zeneca, Pfizer, HP, Microsoft, IBM, Motorola, Samsung, Hughes Electronics, Seiko Epson, Coca Cola, P&G, Heinz, Capital One, Wachovia, and NASDAQ. 

Dr. Bhalla holds a BA (Hons.) degree in Economics and Mathematics from Delhi University, an MBA with a concentration in Marketing and Finance from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, and a PhD in Business from the University of Kansas. He has published research papers in leading technical journals dedicated to marketing, marketing research and statistics, and has presented before professional and academic societies in the USA and abroad. Dr. Bhalla has also served as an adjunct professor at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.  He is currently associated with the University of Maryland's Smith School of Business as a member of the Department of Marketing’s Corporate Advisory Board.

Current Roles and Responsibilities:

Charles Colby is the Founder and President of Rockbridge Associates, Inc., a market research firm that specializes in the services and technology sectors. Over the past 25+ years, he has consulted for numerous Fortune 500s, government agencies and non-profits on marketing strategy, service quality and e-service implementation. He has contributed extensively to the body of knowledge on technology adoption, having authored a book, Techno-Ready Marketing, numerous articles and presentations. He is a senior fellow at the Center for Excellence in Service at the Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland. Prior to founding Rockbridge in 1992, he held positions at Opinion Research Corporation, Citigroup and Westat. He obtained his MBA from the Smith School in 1980. 

Matthew H. DeFeo
Black & Decker
Vice President Training, Recruiting, & Sales Services

Current Roles & Responsibilities:
Lead Sales/Marketing Training, Sales Recruiting and Sales Services for Black & Decker's North American Power Tool & Accessory Business.

Years of Service within Black & Decker: 15 years

Work Experience Black & Decker:
Training: 3 Years
Marketing: 5 Years - Product & Channel Management
Sales: 7 Years - National Account Management, Regional Sales Management

Education:
Bachelors of Science, Business Administration
Northeastern University Boston, MA 1987

Hobbies & Interest:
Family, Coaching Baseball and Soccer and Sport Fishing

Howard Graham
Barbara Jean's
Vice President of Operations

Current Roles & Responsibilities:
Howard Graham is Vice President of Operations for Barbara Jean’s, a multi-unit restaurant chain, located in South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, which specializes in seafood and home-style cooking. In addition to its restaurants, Barbara Jean’s operates a highly successful Internet store, which features crab cakes and she-crab soup. Before entering the restaurant business, Howard was in information technology with FreeMarkets, Inc. He is a former wrestler, part-time business school instructor, and loyal alumnus of the Smith School, M.B.A. Class of 2001.

Timothy Keiningham
Ipsos Loyalty
Senior Vice President & Head of Consulting

Current Roles & Responsibilities:
Timothy L. Keiningham is Global Chief Strategy Officer and Executive Vice President for Ipsos Loyalty. Tim is a recognized authority in the areas of service marketing and linking service improvement efforts to the bottom-line. A prolific writer, Tim has several books to his credit. His most recent book, Loyalty Myths: Hyped Strategies that Will Put You Out of Business – And Proven Tactics that Really Work, by John Wiley and Sons, exposes the fallacies of most of the conventional wisdom surrounding customer loyalty. The Globe and Mail (Toronto, Canada) counted Loyalty Myths as the Number 4 best business book of the year; Soundview Executive Book Summaries chose Loyalty Myths as one of the 30 best business books of 2006; and it is a 2007 finalist for the Berry-AMA Book Prize for Best Book in Marketing.

Tim is co-author of the book The Customer Delight Principle: Exceeding Customers’ Expectations for Bottom-Line Success, © 2001 by McGraw Hill. He is co-author of the book Return on Quality: Measuring the Financial Impact of Your Company's Quest for Quality, © 1994 by Irwin Professional Publishing. He is also co-author of the book Service Marketing and is co-editor of the book Readings in Service Marketing, both © 1996 by HarperCollins.

Tim’s article, “Return on Quality: Making Service Quality Financially Accountable,” (with Roland Rust and Anthony Zahorik) was selected as one of the “Top 20” marketing science papers written within the past 25 years by INFORMS Society for Marketing Science. His article, “The Brand-Customer Connection,” (with Lerzan Aksoy, Tiffany Perkins-Munn and Terry G. Vavra) was awarded the Citations of Excellence “Top 50” award (top 50 management papers of approximately 20,000 papers reviewed) from Emerald Management Reviews. Tim was twice awarded the Marketing Science Institute - H. Paul Root Award (formerly the Alpha Kappa Psi Foundation Award) from the American Marketing Association / Journal of Marketing for the article judged by the editorial review board to represent “the most significant contribution to the advancement of the practice of marketing” (the first award was with Roland Rust and Anthony Zahorik; the second award was with Bruce Cooil, Tor Wallin Andreassen and Lerzan Aksoy). Tim received the Excellence in Service Research Award (with Tiffany Perkins-Munn and Heather Evans) for the best paper to appear in the Journal of Service Research. Tim was awarded the Outstanding Paper Award (Best Paper) from Managing Service Quality twice (the first award was with Lerzan Aksoy, Bruce Cooil, Ken Peterson, and Terry Vavra; the second award was with Bruce Cooil, Lerzan Aksoy, Tor Wallin Andreassen, and Jay Weiner). Additionally, a paper he co-authored was a finalist for best paper in Managing Service Quality, while one more was a finalist for Highly Commended paper in Managing Service Quality. Tim also has received the 2006 best reviewer award from the Journal of Service Research.

His articles have been accepted for publication in such journals as Journal of Marketing, Marketing Science, Journal of Service Research, MIT Sloan Management Review, Journal of Relationship Marketing, International Journal of Service Industry Management, Interfaces, Marketing Management, Managing Service Quality, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Financial Executive, Journal of Retail Banking, and American Banker. Tim also serves on the advisory board of the Journal of Relationship Marketing, and on the editorial review boards of the Journal of Marketing, and the Journal of Service Research, and International Journal of Service Industry Management.

Education:
BA, Kentucky Wesleyan College
MBA, Vanderbilt University's Owen Graduate School of Management

Mark Koepsell
CORT
Senior Vice President of Business Development

Current Roles & Responsibilities:
Mark Koepsell, senior vice president of new business development, has been a leader in the development of CORT’s Rental Relocation Services. He joined CORT in 1988 as the national accounts manager. During his tenure, Mark has been responsible for developing CORT’s National Accounts, Federal Sales and Global Furniture Rental teams. Mark first became involved in 1988 with the Employee Relocation Council, an association of professionals who oversee, manage and support U.S. domestic and international employee transfer. Mark was among the first to receive the association’s Certified Relocation Professional designation in 1991. A graduate with both a bachelor of science and an MBA in finance from the University of Maryland, Mark continues to be involved with the University as a senior mentor with the Smith Graduate School of Business.

Education:
BS, University of Maryland
MBA, University of Maryland

Cheryl Max
IBM, IMC Center for Excellence
Director, IMC

Current Roles & Responsibilities:
Cheryl Max has had 20 year career in global marketing. She joined at IBM in 1997 and has worked in the PC division, Sectors, our Systems Division and Global Technology Services. Currently, Cheryl is the Director, Corporate Functional Lead for Demand Generation (DM, interactive and events) across IBM globally. Prior to joining IBM, her tenure included roles in companies such as Royal Doulton Canada, J. Walter Thompson Advertising and Royal Doulton China Manufacturers. She has worked and lived in JCanada, the US, Japan and Europe (Netherlands). Cheryl holds a BA from the University of Toronto, and an MBA from Thunderbird - the Garvin Graduate School of Business. Cheryl also guest lectures at Business Schools, bringing to life her experiences at IBM into business case studies.

Education:
BS, University of Toronto
MBA, Thunderbird - the Garvin Graduate School of Business

Barbara Kline Pope
The National Academies
Executive Director of the National Academies Press & Executive Director of Communications for The National Academies

Current Roles & Responsibilities:
Ms. Pope is Executive Director of the National Academies Press and Executive Director of Communications for The National Academies. She is responsible for an innovative and dynamic publishing operation of both scholarly and trade books that have been available on the Web free to read since 1995.

Branding, marketing research, derivative products, and social marketing projects occupy her time as executive director for communications. Research articles she has authored or co-authored revolve around the discipline of consumer behavior and include specific projects on business models for the digital publishing arena and the use of information sources among organizational buyers. She has been guest lecturer for marketing and technology courses at the University of Maryland and an adjunct faculty member at the University of Virginia’s continuing education program. She is on the board of directors of Hands On Science Outreach, a nonprofit organization that provides high quality after school science programs for children. She may be reached at bkline@nas.edu.

Education:
BS, Indiana University of Pennsylvania
MS, University of Maryland

David N. Townshend
Marriott International
Senior Vice President, Global Sales - The Americas

Current Roles & Responsibilities:
Mr. Townshend is the Senior Vice President of Global Sales for Marriott International. His markets are located throughout America with annual sales of approximately $3.5 billion.

During Mr. Townshend’s 26 years with Marriott International, he has gained both sales and marketing experience through many different positions including Senior Vice President of Strategic Accounts and Director of Sales and Marketing of the JW Marriott in Washington DC. He has also held the titles of Regional Director, National Director and Vice President of Alliance Accounts with Marriott International. Mr. Townshend has a Business Administration degree from the University of Denver with a concentration in Hotel and Restaurant Management.

Tony Zahorik
The Burke Institute
Vice President