The document provides information on guest speakers and McKinsey speakers for an event. It lists 22 speakers, providing 1-3 sentences on their background, experience, education, and current role for each. The speakers come from a variety of companies and academic institutions.

1. Speakers
Guest speakers
Adam Braff JPMorgan Chase
Alexander Budzier Oxford University
Bent Flyvbjerg Oxford University
Denis Fortin AXA
Celso Guiotoko Renault Nissan
Loïc le Guisquet Oracle
Greg Keeley American Express
Dirk Linnenbrügger Allianz
Sylvan Morley Cummins
Herbert Pick Bundesagentur für Arbeit
Nassim N. Taleb Polytechnic Institute NYU
Gotthard Tischner cundus
Jürgen Wippel BASF
McKinsey speakers
Janaki Akella McKinsey Silicon Valley
Enrico Benni McKinsey Beijing
Jürgen Laartz McKinsey Berlin
Jörg Mayer McKinsey Frankfurt
Sebastian Muschter McKinsey Frankfurt
Ulrike Vogelgesang McKinsey Stuttgart
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2. Speakers
McKinsey speaker
Janaki Akella
Janaki Akella is an expert principal with McKinsey & Company’s Business Technology Office and is based in our Silicon
Valley location in the USA.
Ms. Akella has deep experience in IT architecture and management and in enterprise application software. She serves a
broad range of public institutions and agencies in addition to private companies. Before joining McKinsey, she was an
engineer scientist and technical contributor at Hewlett Packard. Ms. Akella received her PhD in electrical and computer
engineering from Carnegie Mellon University in the USA. She has published papers for the ACM International Symposium
on Computer Architecture, IEEE Transactions of Computer-aided Design, Design Automation Conference, IBM Technical
Report Series, AT&T Bell Labs Technical Report Series, HP Technical Report Series, and IEEE/ACM International
Workshops.
McKinsey speaker
Enrico Benni
Enrico Benni is a principal with McKinsey & Company's Business Technology Office (BTO) in Beijing, China.
He is a leader of the BTO's global Telecommunications and E-enabled Operations practices. Mr. Benni primarily serves
clients in the telecommunications, software, and professional services sectors with a focus on operations, technology
and organizational issues. Before joining McKinsey, he worked at Andersen Consulting and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Mr. Benni has a degree in electrical engineering and automation from the Università degli Studi di Bologna, Italy.
Guest speaker
Adam Braff
Adam Braff is Senior Vice President, Head of Customer Data and Analytics, for JPMorgan Chase.
Before joining JPMorgan Chase, Mr. Braff was a partner at McKinsey & Company in Washington, D.C. For 10 years at
McKinsey, he advised senior executives in a range of consumer industries, founded and led McKinsey’s Customer
Experience practice, and was a leader of the Customer Lifecycle Management practice. Mr. Braff has a degree in law
from the University of Virginia, where he served as executive editor of the law review, and a degree in linguistics from
Brown University in the USA.
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3. Speakers
Guest speaker
Alexander Budzier
Alexander Budzier is a doctoral student at Oxford University’s BT Centre for Major Programme Management and a tutor
of rhetoric at St. Catherine’s College, Oxford.
Mr. Budzier researches managerial decision-making on IT megaprojects and is building a database of IT project cost
performance as a joint research effort of Oxford University and McKinsey & Company. Previously, he was a consultant
with McKinsey’s Business Technology Office, primarily serving banking and insurance clients on IT and operations
topics. He was also a market research executive at T-Mobile International in London. Mr. Budzier is a PMI-certified
Project Management Professional and a graduate of Dresden Technical University in Germany.
Guest speaker
Bent Flyvbjerg
Bent Flyvbjerg is Director of Oxford University’s BT Centre for Major Programme Management.
He is Professor and Chair of Major Programme Management at Oxford’s Saïd Business School. He was twice a Visiting
Fulbright Scholar to the US, where he did research at UCLA, UC Berkeley, and Harvard. Prof. Flyvbjerg studies bias in
decision-making as well as how to de-bias decisions. He pioneers the use of reference-class forecasting in risk
assessment and large infrastructure project management. His books and articles have been translated into 18 languages
and his research covered by Science, the Economist, the Financial Times, the New York Times, the BBC, and many other
media. His books include Megaprojects and risk: an anatomy of ambition and Decision-making on mega-projects:
cost-benefit analysis, planning, and innovation. Further details at www.sbs.ox.ac.uk.
Guest speaker
Denis Fortin
Denis Fortin has been Head of IT Strategy and Enterprise Architecture for AXA Group since the start of 2010, leading the
transformation in the Group IS organization and the Groupwide IS Architecture Council.
Mr. Fortin has been working in the area of IT for close to 30 years. Previously, he held senior positions within the telecom
industry, as SVP for IT Development within the Orange-France Télécom Group, and in the financial services industry,
notably as Head of Global IT Operations and IT Architecture for Zurich Financial Services, and as Head of Global
Infrastructure for BNP Paribas. Mr. Fortin has a master’s degree in computer science from the University of
Montreal, Canada.
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4. Speakers
Guest speaker
Celso Guiotoko
Celso Guiotoko is Corporate Vice President and CIO of the Global IS division of Nissan Motor Company in Japan and the
Alliance Managing Director for Renault-Nissan.
He is responsible for managing Renault’s and Nissan’s IS divisions worldwide. Mr. Guiotoko has held various IS and
business management positions in multicultural environments, especially in Japan. Before joining Nissan, Mr. Guiotoko
was VP of i2 Technologies Japan Inc. He began his career as a systems analyst in Brazil, joining Andersen Consulting
(Accenture) in 1985. He was later assigned to the USA and Japan. In 1996, he joined Toshiba’s US semiconductor
division as Director of IS.
Guest speaker
Loïc le Guisquet
Loïc le Guisquet is Executive Vice President for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) at Oracle Corporation.
Mr. le Guisquet has been with Oracle since 1989, accumulating experience in a range of roles including license sales,
consulting, education, and marketing. In his present position, Mr. le Guisquet is directly engaged in the success of
Oracle’s customers in EMEA, focusing the entire organization on the goal of continually delivering more value to
customers. Mr. le Guisquet holds an MBA from INSEAD and a master’s degree in computer science from Supélec
in France.
Guest speaker
Greg Keeley
Greg Keeley is Senior Vice President, Enterprise Utility Development and AXP Interactive (AXPi) at American Express.
Mr. Keeley is responsible for developing the enterprise technology utilities that drive value across multiple lines of
business. He leads an organization that encompasses the Risk, Interactive, World Service, and IM technology portfolios,
as well as AXPi. He is a member of the Global Services Executive Team, the Consumer Services Leadership Team, and
AET Executive Team. Before joining Amex, Mr. Keeley was a Global Business Architect for Electronic Data Systems,
focusing on international money transfer and banking applications. He has a bachelor’s degree from Wake Forest
University, North Carolina, and serves on the Visitor Board of its Calloway School of Business and Accountancy.
He sits on the Board of Directors of the United Service Organizations of Metropolitan New York.
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5. Speakers
McKinsey speaker
Jürgen Laartz
Jürgen Laartz is a director with McKinsey & Company’s Business Technology Office and is based in Berlin, Germany.
Mr. Laartz leads McKinsey’s global IT Architecture practice. He serves clients in a wide range of industries, primarily
telecommunications, high-tech, electronics, software, professional services, logistics, and financial services.
His activities focus on topics in the areas of IT architecture, IT strategy, and IT organization. Mr. Laartz holds a doctor of
science degree in physics from the University of Freiburg in Germany.
Guest speaker
Dirk Linnenbrügger
Dirk Linnenbrügger is Executive Vice President and Chief IT Strategist and Architect for the Allianz Group.
His primary focus is the corporate transformation of the Group into a digital insurance company. Mr. Linnenbrügger has
accountability for a EUR 1 billion budget. He is the Group’s IT Security Officer and a member of the Group’s IT Executive
Committee, and has supervisory board seats on two IT organizations with revenues over EUR 100 million. Before joining
Allianz in 2008, he was Executive VP for Business Intelligence, Enterprise Resource Planning, Network Planning, and
Operations Support Systems in Europe for T-Mobile International. Mr. Linnenbrügger graduated in computer science
from the RWTH Aachen, Germany, and has an MBA from the London Business School.
McKinsey speaker
Jörg Mayer
Jörg Mayer is an expert with McKinsey & Company’s Business Technology Office and is based in Frankfurt, Germany.
Mr. Mayer is a project manager for the Corporate Management Systems Competence Center at the University of
St. Gallen in Switzerland. He also lectures in management accounting at the Darmstadt Technical University in Germany.
Before joining McKinsey, Mr. Mayer was a director of SAP Consulting/SAP SI, responsible for management consultancy
in the areas of financial accounting and management accounting (controlling) in Germany. Prior to this, he spent four
years as a principal at KPMG.
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6. Speakers
Guest speaker
Sylvan Morley
Sylvan Morley is Director of Global IT Strategy and Planning at Cummins.
Mr. Morley is responsible for leading the evolution of Cummins’ IT function in order to support the firm’s historic business
growth in over 190 countries. Mr. Morley was formerly the Vice President of Technology Services at NetJets, Inc. He has
deep experience in enterprise IT strategy, governance, collaboration, and mobility computing. Mr. Morley holds a JD
from Brigham Young University Law School, Utah, and a BA from Princeton University, and he is an active member of the
Utah Bar Association.
McKinsey speaker
Sebastian Muschter
Sebastian Muschter is an associate principal with McKinsey & Company’s Business Technology Office and is based in
Frankfurt, Germany.
He is a leading member of our Utilities practice and has extensive experience in ERP systems and megaproject
management in industrial and public sector organizations. Before joining McKinsey, Mr. Muschter worked in the US for
software and consulting firms. Most recently, he was the Director of Professional Services for a provider of integration
software for over 20 large industrial companies in the energy sector. He has a doctorate in information management from
the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland, where he developed ways to improve the ROI of ERP implementations.
Guest speaker
Herbert Pick
Herbert Pick is the Program Manager for ERP implementation at the Bundesagentur für Arbeit (BA), the German Federal
Employment Agency.
He joined the BA in 2004 as Manager of HR and Finance for the Montabaur and Mainz local agencies. Before that, Mr.
Pick was CEO of the internal software provider of the Volksbanken and Raiffeisenbanken (German cooperative banks) for
over 10 years. With 400 employees, his responsibilities included, among others, the management of several IT mega
projects. Mr. Pick has a degree in business administration.
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7. Speakers
Guest speaker
Nassim N. Taleb
Nassim N. Taleb is a philosophical essayist, a professor, and a former derivatives trader.
Prof. Taleb is known for his multidisciplinary approach to probability and the role of the high-impact rare event (“Black
Swan”). His current program is to design ways to live in a world we don’t quite understand and help “robustify” the world
against the Black Swan. Prof. Taleb is the author of the global success The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly
Improbable, which the Times named as one of the 12 most influential books of the past 60 years. Currently, his books
have more than 3 million copies in print in 31 languages. Prof. Taleb is the Distinguished Professor of Risk Engineering at
New York University Polytechnic Institute. He has an MBA from Wharton and a PhD from the University of Paris.
Guest speaker
Gotthard Tischner
Gotthard Tischner is a founder and member of the Executive Board of cundus AG, a consulting company focusing on
business intelligence (BI).
Mr. Tischner is responsible for finance, controlling, internal services, and technology. In over 10 years building up
cundus, he has developed BI consulting services for SAP products and cundus’s product business. After studying
electrical and mechanical engineering, Mr. Tischner was a partner and managing director of an innovative company for
plant and production processes automation in the chemical industry. In this role, he was in charge of project
implementation, application development, process control, and networking technology.
McKinsey speaker
Ulrike Vogelgesang
Ulrike Vogelgesang is an associate principal with McKinsey & Company’s Business Technology Office and is based in
Stuttgart, Germany.
Ms. Vogelgesang primarily serves clients in the financial industry and the public sector, advising executives on issues
at the interface between business and information technology. Ms. Vogelgesang studied macroeconomics at the
University of Bielefeld in Germany and Purdue University in the USA. She has a doctoral degree in microfinance and
applied econometrics from the University of Mannheim, Germany, and Northwestern University (Chicago).
While completing her doctorate, she taught at the Mannheim University of Cooperative Education.
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8. Speakers
Guest speaker
Jürgen Wippel
Jürgen Wippel is Vice President Finance, Controlling and IT at BASF’s Styrenics division in Ludwigshafen, Germany.
Before joining BASF, Mr. Wippel was Director of Finance and Accounting at the Knoll/Abbot healthcare company.
He started his career as a tax consultant, working for Arthur Andersen in Frankfurt, Germany. Mr. Wippel has an MBA
from the University of Mannheim in Germany and he is a certified tax consultant.
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