Meet the Speakers

Emma Flett is a partner in Kirkland’s Technology & IP Transactions Practice Group and heads the London team. Emma's practice is focused on complex IP and technology-related transactions, carve-outs and business separations and EU data protection. Emma regularly counsels clients on the emerging legal risks surrounding the use of AI.

Max Harris
Partner, Technology & IP Transactions, Kirkland & Ellis

Max Harris is a partner in the London office of Kirkland’s Technology & IP Transactions Practice Group. Max supports clients on the IP, technology and data elements of corporate transactions, and regularly counsels on legal risks and considerations in the development and use of AI systems.

Ben Zeris
Associate, Technology & IP Transactions, Kirkland & Ellis

Ben Zeris is an associate in the London office of Kirkland’s Technology & IP Transactions Practice Group. Ben’s practice focuses on advising clients on a variety of complex commercial and corporate transactions in which technology, IP and data play a major role.

James Lee
Principal & Global Supplier Governance Practice Lead, Avasant

Jim Lee is a solutions-oriented leader and accomplished problem-solver specializing in supplier governance and risk, service integration and management, digital transformation, and business and technology architecture. An experienced IT executive and former CIO, he possesses a diverse background of management consulting and hands-on IT architecture, management, applications, and service delivery experience with Fortune 100 US and global clients. Jim has led large sourcing transition programs, vendor governance engagements, and org transformations to enable clients to achieve their business & technology transformation goals. He is a graduate of the University of Phoenix and member of the IAOP Collaborative Supplier Governance CoE.

Mike Wheeler
Partner & Global Supply Chain Practice Lead, Avasant

Mike Wheeler values driving tangible and sustainable results that influence improved operation capabilities and enhanced performance and has over forty years of professional experience, including significant time spent in executive management consulting roles for the energy, construction, and telecommunication industries. He has significant global experience in procurement, contract management, material management, travel and corporate card services, and logistics. Mike holds a BA in Business and Computer Science from Coe College, Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Yele Adelukan
Associate Professor of Information Systems, DePaul University, CDM & Executive Director, iD Lab DePaul Innovation Development Lab

Marv Richardson
Co-Founder & Chairman, Driving Forward

Marv Richardson is an investor and advisor in the healthcare technology sector. He brings distinctive value to his portfolio firms based on his extensive experience as a Fortune 500 technology & operations executive and as a successful entrepreneur, growing companies from first dollar to $100 million in revenue. As a customer and as a provider. Marv has been a key negotiator and accountable leader for billions of dollars in business-to-business services. His current portfolio in the B2B healthcare sector focuses on the leading edge of provider & product data management, healthcare payments, and claims processing.

As a passionate advocate for education and mentorship, Marv Richardson co-founded and is board chair at the Driving Forward Institute. Driving Forward is a nonprofit corporation that prepares first generation and underrepresented college students for meaningful careers via mentorship, professional development, and intern opportunities.

Marv is a first-generation college student with a Bachelor’s in Computer Science from the University of Manitoba, Canada, distinguished with the Governor General’s Gold Medal for highest standing. He has been a featured speaker at Reuter’s Digital Health Conference, HIMSS, CIO Summit, and is a CIO 100 and CTO of the Year award winner.

Dan Lang
Practitioner with Sutherland Labs, and Chief Advisor to IAOP in the Center for Social Impact

As a founding member of Sutherland's executive team, Lang has experienced every aspect of building a business, from an idea and a handful of people to a multinational provider serving some of the most well-known and trusted brands in the world.  In his 35-year career, Dan has led US Service delivery, overseen Global Business Development, been President, Chief Marketing Officer, and held a series of individual contributor roles working on breakthrough missions.  Over the past two decades, he has also led cross-industry social impact investments and sustainable development initiatives that extend beyond the walls of his company.  Initiatives that have been recognized by Microsoft Community Affairs, Rockefeller Foundation, IAOP and the Global Impact Sourcing Coalition for groundbreaking contribution.  He is one of the few private sectors people who has addressed the member countries of the United Nations on the power of companies to change lives and upgrade communities where they operate.  He is known as persistent, and a pioneer with a record of putting people and purpose together to achieve greater ethical and commercial outcomes.  Lang is hardly a typical corporate personality.  He is authentic, a lateral thinker, quite opinionated, and sometimes entertaining. 

Alistair Niederer
CEO, Needlerock

Alistair is a seasoned global executive with over 30 years of experience at the C-level and on various boards. He's worked with leading companies in customer experience, business process outsourcing, CX technology, and business services. From launching a tech startup in Asia to overseeing 10,000 employees at the world's largest CX outsourcer, he's built successful ventures across EMEA and APAC. Now, he's leveraging this wealth of experience to support global businesses. Additionally, Alistair provides guidance on sustainability and ESG practices from a practical, business-focused standpoint.

Christiane Laframboise
VP, Sutherland

Christiane is responsible for Sutherland’s Customer Experience program with the goal of achieving 100% positive references from our clients. When she first joined Sutherland, Christiane worked in London, UK, handling e-retail customer care and premium support programs of leading European brands delivered from our offshore and near shore locations. Prior to Sutherland, Christiane worked for Bell Canada, where she handled the sourcing, contract negotiation and implementation of its contact center programs. Before Bell, Christiane worked at Convergys/Concentrix in Paris where she was first responsible for leading the EMEA sales and bid management team and then as Account Director for EMEA Inside Sales operations for leading high-tech logos. As Client Services Director for TeleTech, in the USA, Christiane supported Fortune 500 clients in setting up and managing their customer care operations. Christiane is based in Canada, and when off work she enjoys travelling, skiing and cycling with her family and friends.

Michael Nacarato, COP
Head of Third Party Risk Management,Transamerica

Over the last 25 years Michael has held executive leadership roles designing, developing, and implementing outsourcing, offshoring and third party risk management programs for some of the top US and multi-national financial services companies.  In his various roles he has established multiple offshore captive and vendor operations in India, Costa Rica, Jamaica, and the Philippines.  Michael is IAOP COP certified and currently sits on the IAOP’s Strategic Advisory Board.  He is a past IAOP Member of the year, Deputy Global Ambassador, and Buy Side Ambassador.  Michael is committed to maintaining high industry standards and has supporting multiple resources obtaining their IAOP COP certifications.  And most recently he participated as a judge for the 2023 IAOP Global Top !00 Awards.

Troy Riley
Sr. Director, Vendor Risk Management, Fannie Mae

As the Sr. Director, Vendor Risk Management, Troy reports to the VP Supplier and Vendor Risk Management and manages a team of Vendor Management professionals who provide governance, oversight, and vendor management of CIO / Operations technology based critical third parties, ensuring contract, financial, and service performance expectations are delivered per our contractual agreements. Troy also oversees the Third Party Security Management function responsible for assessing the information security posture of prospective and current supplier / vendors to Fannie Mae and Seller / Servicers that work with Fannie Mae.

Before joining Fannie Mae in 2013, Troy held numerous leadership positions including Director and Account Executive roles for several large technology firms overseeing the management of data centers, cloud infrastructure, agile applications development, and production support for EDS, HP, and SAIC with customers that included The World Bank and IFC, DOD and DHS, as well as FINRA (formally NASD/R) and AMEX. His 30+ years of experience in the management of technology and people spans across healthcare, financial services, and the public sectors with both onshore and offshore capabilities.

Cristina Messerschmidt
Associate, North America Privacy & Technology Practice, Baker McKenzie

Cristina G. Messerschmidt is an associate in the Privacy and Security practice group based in Chicago, advising global organizations on privacy and data security compliance requirements, as well as data security incident response.

Cristina focuses her practice on domestic and global privacy and data security. She provides advice to a wide range of clients in the healthcare space, including pharmaceutical and medical device companies, healthcare providers, financial institutions, sourcing providers, retail companies, online businesses, and other organizations on issues relating to healthcare privacy, domestic and global privacy, cross-border data transfers, behavioral advertising, and the preparation and implementation of broad-based privacy compliance. Cristina is well-versed in HIPAA and related issues, as well as GDPR and CCPA readiness, CPRA, CAN-SPAM, other US privacy and state medical privacy laws.

Cristina also regularly counsels clients on complex domestic and global data security events, including investigations of potential compromise, determining notification obligations to federal and state and global breach notification requirements, as well as response to related inquiries from government agencies and other parties. Cristina had advised companies on a wide range of data security incidents, including ransomware, HIPAA breaches, insider threats, phishing attacks, and access controls.

Chris Zlocki
Head of Client Experience, Executive Vice President, Global Occupier Services, Colliers

Chris is responsible for leading innovation, generating increased value to our clients and internal service lines. He is focused on developing new service offerings for Colliers to leverage with our clients and improving service delivery across all areas of Corporate Solutions. This includes the evaluation of strategic alliances with other 3rd party providers. Chris also oversees Consulting Services and Colliers360. Over the course of his 20 years in consulting, Chris has established a reputation of scale in development, planning and strategy for corporate and institutional clients. His range of experience encompasses the financial services, real estate development and industrial sectors. Throughout the years, Chris has developed expertise in business analytics, portfolio strategy, footprint optimization, operational consolidation, capital expenditure management and financial forecasting.

Pam Sands
Associate, North America Privacy & Technology Practice

As Vice President within the Diversity Office at Kelly, a global workforce solutions provider, Pam Sands leads defining, implementing, and managing relationships strategic partners. Pam also spearheads initiatives for enterprise inclusion through the Kelly Affinity Group network. She also responsible for reducing barriers to work and connecting underleveraged talent with meaningful work opportunities. She is passionate about social impact and advancing diversity, equity and inclusion at Kelly and with clients, and she builds partnerships across the industry’s supply chain in support of that goal.

Mark Voytek, COP
Chief Advisor of Thought Leadership, IAOP and Founder and Managing Partner, Voytechnology Partners

Mark has over 25 years of experience as a transformational business executive helping Global 1000 organizations drive business and technology transformations across several industries, including CPG, health care & life sciences, technology & software, services, manufacturing, energy and utilities, financial services, and retail. Prior to his current role at SirionLabs, Mark held leadership roles at EY and KPMG advising clients across all aspects of enterprise transformation related to Information Technology, Supply Chain & Operations, Quality, Finance & Accounting, Enterprise Resource Planning, Procurement, and other functions.

Mark is a frequent guest-lecturer for top MBA programs such as Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management, Vanderbilt’s Owen School, Ohio State’s Fischer College of Business, and UNC Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flagler, where he shares his expertise and industry insights with young professionals across the U.S.

Nilesh Thakker
President, Globalization Excellence, Zinnov Consulting