GSA Technology Council

Word of Mouth Inspiration Officer, Brains on Fire

Geno was born and raised in the South and proudly calls Greenville, SC his home. He spent two years at Furman University and went on to the University of South Carolina to receive a degree in Advertising. In his 13+ years with Brains On Fire, Geno has helped build word of mouth into the identities of brands that include Fiskars Brands, the American Booksellers Association, Earshot Independent Music Stores, Ronald McDonald Children’s Charities, and Rage Against the Haze (South Carolina’s youth led anti-tobacco movement). Geno is responsible for developing word of mouth, buzz, viral and evangelism strategies for Brains on Fire’s clients.

Geno has been repeatedly recognized as a thought leader in both the identity and word of mouth realms and has also received awards from numerous organizations, including the 2004 National ADDYs, where he received honors for his work with Rage Against the Haze. Rage also won a coveted gold Effie award in 2008 and a Wommie award in 2006 from the Word of Mouth Marketing Association. The Fiskars Brand Ambassador movement, of which was Geno’s brainchild, was also recognized by ad:tech and the Forrester Groundswell awards in 2007. In addition, the children’s book he helped illustrate and create, The Red Ribbon Works, was used as a backdrop for President Clinton’s War on Drugs.

Geno has given presentations at numerous events, including the National Conference on Tobacco and Health, the American Public Health Association Exposition, several Word of Mouth Marketing Association conferences, Social Media 2007 in Atlanta and Customer Management World 2007 in Johannesburg, South Africa. He is a frequent contributor to the Brains on Fire blog, which is one of the top marketing and word of mouth blogs in the world and referenced industry wide on a weekly basis.

Geno speaks to the GSA Technology Council in August.

Dave McQueeney is the Chief Technology Officer for IBM’s US Federal Government unit. Dave’s team works with IBM’s Federal Clients and IBM’s Federal System Integrator partners to provide technical leadership across the domain of enterprise systems technology and architecture.

Dave’s background covers a wide range of disciplines ranging from solid state Physics, to high-speed interconnect design, to distributed software development tools, to Government-specific industry solutions. Dave has spent half of his career as a researcher and research executive, and half in IBM’s customer-facing units including Global Sales and Distribution, acting as the Global Government Solutions General Manager and leader of the Federal Systems Integration services unit.

Immediately prior to joining IBM’s Federal team, Dave led the IBM Global Services Intellectual Property and Global Competencies team. Dave was responsible for developing and deploying the business and technical strategies, methodologies, professions, and intellectual property licensing strategies that maximize the creation of business value for IBM’s customers.

Throughout his career, Dave has driven strong connections between IBM Research and the other units of IBM, most recently IBM Global Services. Dave was recognized by Consulting Magazine as one of the top 25 consultants for 2002, citing his work to make the innovations of IBM Research directly available to customers via IBM’s Business Consulting Services.

Dave has held a number of significant positions in IBM Research, including Director of the IBM Zurich Research Laboratory, Vice President of Communication Technology, and Vice President of Technical Strategy and Worldwide Operations.

Dave has published a wide range of papers ranging from liquid Helium Physics, advanced electronic packaging, high-speed interconnects, and the evolution of Research in the commercial environment.

He joined IBM in the Research Division in 1988. He holds an M.S. and Ph.D. in Solid-State Physics from Cornell University, and an A.B. in Physics from Dartmouth College.

Dave was recognized as one of the “Fed 100” top leaders in the Federal community for 2006 by Federal Computer Week magazine.

Dave McQueeney will speak to the GSA Technology Council (www.GSATC.org) at it’s October 8, 2008 Learning Lunch.

Keith Coker is CTO (Chief Technology Officer) at Nuvox.

Keith has served in the planning and engineering capacity at NuVox Communications for 8 years, developing the network strategy that has kept NuVox at the forefront of technology. Keith is currently leading NuVox further into carrier-class VoIP services and extending the products that are available across NuVox’s IP-centric network.

Before joining NuVox, Keith managed carrier services for Knology, which was one of the first companies providing voice, video, and data services over a hybrid fiber coax plant. Prior to Knology, Keith oversaw fixed network planning for Powertel, a PCS wireless company that grew from a startup to over 1 million subscribers during his tenure. Before Keith’s work in wireless and cable, he began his career working on a myriad of projects for longhaul fiber provider Interstate Fibernet.

Education
Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering, Auburn University; graduated cum laude
Masters of Science in Electrical and Optical Engineering; University of Arizona

Jeff Brewer has 20 years of experience within the information technology and telecommunications industries in the U.S. and Western Europe. His primary areas of focus have covered two key disciplines marked by tremendous change: IT/telecom security and selective outsourcing.

Jeff founded Business Vitals as a self-funded business deciding to bypass venture capital. His unique business model and approach have been rewarded with enduring client relationships and a rare track record of financial stability and profitability every quarter of operation since launch.

Prior to Business Vitals, Jeff held engineering, project management, and marketing management positions with TRW and GTE, later becoming the CIO for a major IT services provider. Jeff began his career with the U.S. Department of Defense/National Security Agency as a systems engineer and eventual liaison to key suppliers of confidential initiatives using leading edge security and encryption technologies.

With the explosion of the Internet for commercial use, Jeff was at the forefront of commercializing and marketing these security technologies via domestic and overseas channels before setting his sights on the emerging growth segment of IT infrastructure and applications services delivery. He has successfully helped launch two IT services firms that were later acquired.

Jeff is a graduate of USC-Columbia, receiving his BS degree in Computer Engineering and an MBA from the University of Maryland. Jeff is also a certified Information Systems Auditor.

James Pepin is Clemson University’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and Director of High Performance Computing.

Pepin has worked on a number of high profile projects, including heading up the Los Angeles Access Point, a key Internet utility operated by USC’s Information Sciences Institute that serves all major Southern California colleges and Universities (including Caltech and the UC and CSU systems).

“Jim Pepin is a world-class authority on high performance computing, communications and the facilities necessary to operate at the very high-end of performance. He will help pave the way for a top-20 ranking for Clemson by leading our technical efforts to build the kind of cyberinfrastructure that is necessary for our faculty and students to perform serious computational research”, said Jim Bottum, Clemson’s Vice Provost for Computing and Information Technology and CIO.

Pepin’s role is advisory and strategic in nature. His duties include advising the CIO on technical issues; leading the development of Clemson’s technical road maps; working with the community to define our technical architecture; leading the development of Clemson’s HPC environment; serving as an adjunct in Clemson’s School of Computing; evaluating new technologies and serving on national level technical committees.

Jim Pepin speaks to the GSA Technology Council on June 4, 2008.

Darla Moore, Vice President of Rainwater, Inc., is founder and chair of the Palmetto Institute, a nonprofit think tank aimed at bolstering per capita income in South Carolina. She serves on the boards of the University of South Carolina and New York University Medical School and Hospital. The University of South Carolina’s business school is named in her honor and she is the first woman profiled on the cover of Fortune magazine and named to the “List of the Top 50 Most Powerful Women in American Business”. She has served on numerous corporate boards, including Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) and Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. She currently serves on the board of The South Financial Group, MPS Group and the National Advisory Board of JP Morgan and was formerly a managing director of the predecessor Chemical Bank. She recently received the “Business Person of the Year Award” from the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce, and was inducted into the South Carolina Business Hall of Fame. She is a graduate of the University of South Carolina, Moore holds an M.B.A. from George Washington University.

After many years of successfully working for large organizations, J. B. Holeman decided to pursue a more entrepreneurial business path in 2002 forming Holeman Investments. The primary area of focus was to invest in early stage companies. He has invested in more than 15 early stage companies, many through the Charleston Angel Partners (CHAP). Based on that experience, Mr. Holeman became one of the two co-founders of the first Angel group in the Upstate called the Upstate Carolina Angel Network or UCAN.

Additionally, Mr. Holeman founded his own technology start-up called Oversight, Inc. This start-up firm focuses on using technology to significantly improve the accountability associated with temporary employees, security guards, and fixed assets.

Mr. Holeman also founded Holeman Developments, LLC with his son to create an environmentally sound, high performance, sustainable Green development. Their plan is to be one of the first developments to fully integrate both the horizontal and vertical aspects into a genuinely green community.

Mr. Holeman is also president of a small family business called Mound City Sand, Inc (MCS).

Prior to his entrepreneurial endeavors, Mr. Holeman worked for 10 years with large engineering and remediation companies that focused on environmental engineering and cleanup. Prior to that, he served in the US Army.

From 1999 to 2002, Mr. Holeman was the Senior Vice President and General Manager of Radian Remediation and Operating Services (RROS). RROS was the wholly owned subsidiary of URS, Inc., the largest engineering company in the US. RROS was URS’ environmentally related construction company whose revenues averaged $140MM. Mr. Holeman managed all aspects of RROS. The largest project was a six year, $65MM landfill recovery, heavy construction job in Beirut, Lebanon.

From 1991 to 1998, Mr. Holeman was the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Rust Environment and Infrastructure (RE&I). RE&I was a wholly owned subsidiary of Waste Management, Inc. RE&I was an environmentally related engineering and consulting company whose revenues averaged $290MM. For his last three years Mr. Holeman served as the Chief Operating Officer (COO) for the entire company. Working with large EPC firms, Mr. Holeman successfully converted RE&I from a 99.5% commercial business to one that after seven years was about 50-50 commercial and governmental.

From 1964 to 1991, Colonel Holeman had a career in the US Army. He served in two principal fields: troop command and material acquisition. He commanded troops at following levels: Platoon, Company, Battalion, and Brigade Commands respectively in Germany, Vietnam, Texas, and Korea. Colonel Holeman’s Material Acquisition experience included both R&D and Manufacturing. He taught at the Defense Systems Management College, served three tours in Pentagon, selected for one year Training with Industry (Avco Lycoming), and culminated as Army’s Program Manager for the Bradley Fighting Vehicle System ($600MM annually). COL Holeman made numerous trips to Saudi Arabia supporting the sale of Bradleys to the Saudis and delivering Bradleys to US Army units during Desert Storm. He retired from active duty as a Full Colonel.

Mr. Holeman has had extensive international work and sales experience both in the Army and his civilian career. His direct overseas experience includes Germany, Vietnam, Korea, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Mexico, and Lebanon. He has lived for seven years outside the United States. Recently, he was inducted into the prestigious Society of International Business Fellows, a group of highly successful business people working together to broaden and deepen their international operations.

Mr. Holeman serves on the Board of UCAN and on the Advisory Council for the Greenville Memorial Hospital.

Mr. Holeman’s education includes the following:

• National War College, Washington, D.C., 1985. International Relations.


• Defense Systems Management College, 1975. Program/Project Management.


• MS, Industrial Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 1971.


• BS, United States Military Academy, West Point, 1964.

Climax Global Energy is an early-stage alternative energy company with a unique, world-class, patented technology. The company is completing development of a process that will enable it to economically convert waste plastics, used oils and forestry-industry by-products into valuable synthetic crude oil, transportation fuels and industrial petrochemicals.

Climax Global Energy offers unique value in several ways. For its refinery customers, it offers quality refinery feedstocks at an attractive rate, while at the same time conserving crude oil. For waste suppliers like recycling agencies, it provides a new and profitable market for disposing of non-recyclable waste which would otherwise need to be landfilled at a cost. For the community, the company helps solve the waste management problem by providing a beneficial use for large quantities of waste, while providing the general public with a renewable source of energy. Climax Global Energy, whose technology has undergone extensive lab testing since 1998, offers this value in an energy-efficient, environmentally responsible and highly profitable manner. In fact, the light gases that are emitted during the production process will actually be used to power its production plants.

The company is developing modular plants so that its technology can be located near the waste supply or refinery that would purchase the product. “We are grateful to SC Launch! for their endorsement of our company. We’re making great strides in developing our technology and we look forward to commercialization with our first plant in South Carolina,” says Climax Global Energy COO Thomas Pinto.

Profile provided by SC Launch!

David A. Thomas entered on duty as a Special Agent with the FBI on May 7, 1989. Upon completion of training at the FBI Academy in Quantico, VA, he reported to Tampa Division. After completing more than a dozen years of supervisory and leadership roles in areas such as violent crimes, domestic terrorism, and national infrastructure protection, Mr. Thomas was appointed Chief of the Cyber Division’s Criminal Computer Intrusion Unit in 2001.

In April 2003, Mr. Thomas was promoted to Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the St. Louis Field Office. He returned to FBI Headquarters in July 2004 as Chief of Counterterrorism/Counterintelligence and Criminal Computer Intrusion Section. In this capacity, Mr. Thomas has directed the FBI’s efforts on all major transnational cyber investigations and was responsible for the creation of Cyber Action Teams, which deploy domestically and internationally in response to major cyber events.

Mr. Thomas was selected as the Deputy Assistant Director for the Science and Technology Branch in September 2006. In this position, he was responsible for providing the vision, leadership, and direction for the Branch, as well as ensuring the operational availability of state-of-the-art technologies, support, and expertise necessary to enable and enhance the FBI’s intelligence and investigative mandates. Mr. Thomas also oversaw the application of forensics services related to the collection, processing, and exploitation of computer and audio visual media in the Counterintelligence, Counterterrorism, Criminal Investigative, and Cyber program areas.

On October 1, 2007, Mr. Thomas was designated Special Agent in Charge (SAC) of the FBI’s Columbia, SC, Division.

Mr. Thomas was born in Richmond, VA, and raised in Dunlap, TN. He is a graduate of the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga. Prior to joining the FBI,

Mr. Thomas was the Assistant Director of the 12th Judicial District Drug Task Force in Jasper, TN.

Thomas speaks to the GSA Technology Council on April 9, 2008.

George Fletcher is Executive Director of the South Carolina Council on Competitiveness. Before being selected as the Council’s first Executive Director, he was President of Fletcher Group, Inc, a group of environmental management companies headquartered in Greenville. He is a Professional Engineer registered in six states and a Diplomate in the American Academy of Environmental Engineers. George’s community involvement has included serving as Chair of the Greenville Chamber of Commerce, Co-Chair (with his wife) of the Greenville County United Way Campaign, Assistant Governor for Rotary District 7750, President of the American Council of Engineering Companies – SC, and numerous other boards and commissions. He has been recognized by Greenville Magazine as their 2000 Business Person of the Year, by Clemson as a 2004 inductee into the Thomas Green Clemson Academy of Scientists and Engineers, and by the SC Society of Professional Engineers as their 1999 SC Engineer of the Year.