KM Showcase 2018, Presenter Bios

Meet our Presenters...

John Hovell

As a leader in the convergence of Knowledge Management (KM) and Organization Development (OD), Mr. Hovell is the CEO and co-founder of STRATactical. He is a practitioner, speaker, and author in OD/KM strategies and their application to current challenges.  John led a team to win a Chairman's Award at BAE Systems in 2014. Previously, John was part of a team to win the prestigious NOVA award, Lockheed Martin's top recognition award. Additionally, he was instrumental in the creation and execution of the enterprise KM strategy for ManTech International Corporation.

John has led 5 different teams that have won awards from Chief Learning Officer magazine. In 2015, he was named the 8th most influential person in KM. He published a chapter in a book titled "Making It Real: Sustaining Knowledge Management" and became a fellow with the Royal Society for Arts (RSA). In 2009, he was honored by Training Magazine as one of the "Top Young Trainers" after being honored in 2008 as one of the top “Young Trainers to Watch.” He earned his Project Management Professional (PMP) from the Project Management Institute (PMI) in 2005. He earned his master’s degree from The George Washington University in Washington, D.C. and his undergraduate degree from Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, VA.

John is one of KMI’s Instructors for the world-recognized Certified Knowledge Manager (CKM) program, delivered here in Tysons Corner bi-monthly.

---

Jack Merklein

Jack earned his Certified Knowledge Manager (CKM) Certification back in 2000, and has been practicing KM for over 20 years.

KM professional work: Director of KM and distance learning for the US Army IG School; director of knowledge and learning for Xerox Global Services; worked for Northrop Grumman as a KM consultant to the USPS OIG; chief of knowledge and learning for Peace Corps. Currently the director of KM for World Vision International, and is an adjunct professor teaching KM for the University of Maryland University College and also serves as the course chair for their KM program.

Education:  BS in Engineering from West Point; MS in Human Relations/Organizational Development from Golden Gate University; PhD candidate in Knowledge Management from Walden University.

Jack is also one of KMI’s Instructors for the world-recognized Certified Knowledge Manager (CKM) program, delivered here in Tysons Corner bi-monthly.

---

Zach Wahl

Zach has nearly 20 years of experience leading programs in the knowledge and information management space. He has worked with more than 200 public and private organizations to successfully strategize, design, and implement information management systems, including knowledge bases, intranets, content management, document management, taxonomy management, and websites (eCommerce and informational). Zach has developed his own taxonomy design methodology, has authored a series of courses on knowledge management, and is a frequent speaker and trainer on information governance, web strategy, and taxonomy design. His experience includes projects for a broad spectrum of clients, ranging from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Department of Defense (DoD), and Department of Energy (DOE). He also has extensive experience in the private sector and internationally with institutions including the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Nike, Marriott, Scottish Qualifications Authority, and UK Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.

Zach has served on the board of the DC-based KMI Chapter and as the Chairman of the Institute for International Research (IIR) Enterprise Web, Portals, and Collaborative Technologies conference. He also serves as faculty for the Knowledge Management Institute, providing training and consulting on taxonomy design and development.

---

Joseph Hilger

Joe has over 20 years experience leading and implementing cutting edge, enterprise scale IT projects. He has worked with an array of commercial and public sector clients in a wide range of industries including financial services, healthcare, publishing, hotel and lodging, telecommunications, professional services, federal government, non-profit, and higher education.

Joe uses Agile development techniques to help his customers bridge the gap between business needs and technical implementation. He has a long track record of leading high performance professional teams to deliver enterprise level solutions that provide real value. His development teams have a strong record of client satisfaction, innovation and leadership. Joe is an expert in implementing enterprise-scale content, search, and data analytics solutions. He consults on these areas with organizations across the country and has spoken on a wide range of topics including enterprise search, enterprise content management, big data analytics, agile development and content governance.

---

Dr. Madelyn Blair

Dr. Blair is a resilience advisor to aspiring leaders and executives and a speaker who specializes in resilient leadership.

As part of my resilience practice, I write. I am an author of several books including Riding the Current, Essays in Two Voices and a contributor to many others such as Smarter Innovation: Interactive Processes Spark Better Results. I write a blog, entitled Resilient Leadership, for Psychology Today. I find writing a reinforcement of my personal development.

In 1988 I founded Pelerei, a boutique consulting firm to help business learn how to experience growth, incite innovation, manage talent, harness organizational knowledge, and build resilience. Over the years, I've been privileged to work with wonderful people and organizations, including NASA, Merck, the World Bank, Marriott, Brookings Institute, the Cincinnati Regional Chamber (of Commerce), NIH and PwC. Whether you are an executive or aspiring to leadership, my goal is to help you, wherever you are in your career, develop the resilient leader in you. 

---

Dr. John Lewis

Dr. Lewis is a life-long learner, and believes in balancing work (Gartner Best Practice implementation) with underlying models and theory (USC doctorate in Educational Psychology). His key interests are within Knowledge Management, and the intersections made with Leadership, Policy-Making, Organizational Learning, User Experience, and AI.

His primary work is currently at The CoHero Institute for Collaborative Leadership, and teaching in the Knowledge Management program at Kent State University. Also currently the Associate Editor for Leadership and Organizational Behavior at the Journal of Innovation Management, and serve on the AIIM oversight committee to develop a framework of certification standards for the field of Knowledge & Innovation Management.

---

Jane Maliszewski

Jane is the owner of VAULT Associates, a Leadership and Team Development company providing Executive and Leadership Coaching and Team Development consulting for the individual, team, and organization level.  Jane is an ICF ACC-credentialed Leadership Coach and a Certified Neuro-Transformation Coach and licensed trainer, integrating emerging brain-based research into the coaching, consulting, and training process to increase the capacity for positive and lasting change, resilience, and growth.

She has Masters degrees in Business Administration and National Strategy, is a U.S. Army veteran (Colonel, retired), and has served as a Chief Information Officer. For more information, visit her at www.VAULTassociates.com or connect with her on LinkedIn. 
 

---

Howard Cohen

Howard recently led a Knowledge Management Practice with a focus on Strategy and Operations across one of the top insurance companies in the world.   Howard’s work is derived from years of experience in the Department of Defense and the commercial energy industry.  Howard has over 18 years of experience in Consulting, Systems Integration, Knowledge Management, Technical Strategy, Management and Leadership.

He holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Saint Leo University, Saint Leo, Florida, along with various industry-recognized certifications.  He has worked extensively in government and the commercial industry.  He has taught numerous courses on Management of Information Systems, Information Technology Security, and Cloud Computing and Service Oriented Architectures.

Focus of most recent work: Created and implemented a long-term K-strategy for Chubb Insurance with specific connections to the business units and technology groups at Chubb.

---

Claire Brawdy

Claire Brawdy is an adept facilitator, Design Thinker, and Knowledge Management Consultant focused on collaborating with clients to achieve solutions which reflect an organization’s unique challenges. As a Senior Analyst at Enterprise Knowledge, LLC, Claire enjoys using her diverse array of technical and business qualifications to successfully execute efforts ranging from strategy and design, to implementation and management. 

Expertise and Focus: UX/UI Design, Design Thinking, Knowledge and Information Management Strategy, Taxonomy and Metadata Design, Front End Web Development.

---

David Kamien

David Kamien is the CEO of Mind-Alliance Systems (www.mind-alliance.com). Mind-Alliance provides KM strategy consulting and custom software development for firms that need to incorporate collaborative intelligence into decision making.

Trained as an attorney, David has provided strategy, KM and research support to law firms, government regulators, and organizations such as Ogletree Deakins, NATO, the Rockefeller Foundation, the World Bank, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Raytheon, and the Center for Strategic & International Studies.

He is the editor of the seminal McGraw-Hill Homeland Security Handbook (2005, 2012 editions), and is an inventor of a patented information sharing planning method and system.

---

Yanko Ivanov

Yanko Ivanov is a PMP certified project manager with over 8 years of professional experience consulting on content and document management systems, design and implementation for public and commercial customers. Mr. Ivanov specializes in requirements elicitation and analysis, taxonomy design and implementation, content approval workflows, business process reengineering, and systems analysis and integration. Experienced in all phases of the software development life-cycle, he is also well versed in product management, content management and migration, and information architecture.

Mr. Ivanov obtained his Master of Information Systems Management degree from Carnegie Mellon University. He excels in gaining deep understanding of his client’s needs. His technical and consulting background allows him to effectively bridge the gap between business needs and technical challenges.

---

Chris Marino

Chris Marino is a Solutions Architect with Enterprise Knowledge. He is a KM consultant, developer, and architect, focused on addressing complex technical challenges to achieve user-centered systems for his clients. He possesses over 15 years of experience architecting, integrating, and developing cutting edge enterprise search, taxonomy and ontology, and content management solutions.  He has worked with a host of public and private organizations, with particular experience implementing Agile KM solutions for the Federal sector.

---