Robert A. "Rob" Strickland is presently Executive Vice President and CTO for Leap Wireless. Since joining the Cricket brand in February 2012, Strickland has led the Engineering and Operations team, National Field Services and the Information Technology Team.
Strickland previously was President of Strickland Consulting LLC, which advised global companies on business and technology strategy surrounding the ecosystems of carrier services. Additionally, he serves as an active member of the Sundance Institute’s Board of Directors Technology Committee and Teradata’s Customer Advisory Board.
Rob is formerly the Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer for T-Mobile, USA. During his 4 years at T-Mobile, he brought over 20 years of Business and IT leadership to his staff of over 2000. Strickland migrated IT into a fully right-shored model with just over 1000 FTEs in the US and another 1000 off shore. As the lead for the Enterprise IT (EIT) team, he was responsible for aligning IT strategy with business initiatives and delivering innovative solutions to support T-Mobile’s J.D. Power, award winning customer-driven philosophy.
Rob has been honored with a CIO 100 Award twice, in 2009 and in 2006.
- Watch a playlist of Rob's videos on various customer experience topics »
Until retiring in 2002, Stan McKee served for over 13 years as the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial and Administrative Officer of Electronic Arts Inc., the world's largest developer and publisher of interactive entertainment. Among his many claims to fame in the gaming industry, he led the acquisition by EA of Maxis, which led to the final development of the innovative The Sims. During Stan's executive-committee tenure, EA grew to become a leader in the global gaming business online and across all game platforms, including the development and acquisition of many leading brand franchises such as Madden Football. Mr. McKee has served on numerous private company and joint venture boards and holds B.A and M.B.A. degrees from Stanford University.
Jeffrey Papows is President & Chief Executive Officer of Weblayers, the industry leader for automated IT governance solutions. With more than 25 years of industry experience, Papows has a proven history of success in both emerging companies and global organizations. Most notably, Papows was president and CEO of Lotus Development Corporation where he is widely credited for taking Lotus Notes from its initial release to sales of more than 70 million copies worldwide, making it the leading collaboration platform. Upon the acquisition of Lotus, Papows helped steer the company's successful integration into IBM. Papows was also president of Cognos Corporation, taking the business intelligence software provider from its early stages to sustained profitability, a successful public offering and years of continued growth that met or exceeded market expectations.
Papows has been a frequent guest of CNN and Fox News. A successful author, Papows wrote "Enterprise.com: Information Leadership in the Digital Age" has sold more than 80,000 copies.
- Watch a video of Jeff discussing ClickFox's powerful solution »
Rob Davis, the founder of VIA Partners, is a recognized thought leader in strategy, organizational design, brand, and implementing complex change. He is viewed by many senior executive clients as a trusted advisor when they face difficult choices associated with improving business performance. Rob has over 30 years of experience working with Fortune 500 companies spanning the Telecommunications, Financial Services, High Tech, and Consumer Packaged Goods industries, and works with clients to define strategic change, and ensure successful implementation and achievement of desired results.
Prior to VIA Partners, Rob was Managing Vice President of Hitachi Consulting, leading the Organization & Transformation Solutions Practice. Before Hitachi, Rob served as VP & Managing Director, Strategy & Organization Effectiveness Practice for Dove Consulting, which was acquired by Hitachi in 2005.
Fred Seegal joined Peter J Solomon Company in 2009 as a Senior Advisor and was named a Vice Chairman in 2012. Mr. Seegal came to PJSC after spending most of his 35 year investment banking career at Wasserstein Perella, where he served as President; and Salomon Brothers and Lehman Brothers, where he concentrated primarily on major media, telecom and internet clients. In recent years, Mr. Seegal has advised such companies as eBay, BellSouth, LIN Cellular, SBC Communications, Time Warner, EDS, Gannett Co. Inc., McCaw Cellular, AT&T, LIN Broadcasting Corporation, Infinity Broadcasting Corporation, Media General, Vanguard Cellular Systems, Cellular Communications International, Inc., Viacom, Lycos, Geo Cities & Insight Communications.