Rob Young
Rob Young was the Head of the Finance & Accounting function at the UK Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S) organisation, which is part of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) before taking early retirement 2 years ago and setting up his own Consultancy company.
He has recently successfully supported a number of companies win bids with the Ministry of Defence and also in support of the International Fund for Ukraine.
He is a Chartered Public Finance Accountant with over 35 years experience across Local and Central Government.
Rob joined the MoD working for Commander-in-Chief Fleet at the National Command Centre. He then became the first qualified accountant to hold the role of Corporate Finance Manager for the entire MoD working closely with Her Majesty’s Treasury on the 2004 government spending review and moving them from Cash Accounting to UK GAAP accruals based accounting. Subsequently he took up role as Deputy Command Secretary for Royal Air Force Personnel and Training Command.
At DE&S he was responsible for finance policy, processes, systems, compliance, capability and capacity to support the business deliver its £14bn per annum order book of acquisition and in-service support contracts to the Front Line Commands.
Rob started his career in Local Government and has worked across the whole range of organisations finally becoming Chief Accountant (and Section 151 officer) for a Borough Council where he won a National Award for Innovation using new technology to transform the IT service & Financial management. Wanting a new challenge and change of direction he moved over to Central Government becoming the first Finance Manager for Her Majesty’s Prison Pentonville in London, one of the oldest and largest Prisons in the Country.
He has a Joint honours degree in Botany and Geography which he studied at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. Married for 30 years to Debbie, and with their daughter Samantha, they live on the edge of the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire.
Derek Sandison
Derek Sandison is a senior partner at Landmark Decisions Inc., a Canadian niche consulting firm. Derek provides leadership and support to Landmark’s Performance Alignment advisory services.
Derek is a subject matter expert for the collaborative research organization, the Consortium for Advanced Management International (CAM-I) and is recognized as a leading authority in the field of Performance Management.
He is an author, facilitator and frequent speaker particularly in the real-world deployment of performance management solutions for critical business improvement. His career has encompassed the design of innovative methodologies and solutions in aerospace, engineering and software systems.
A pioneer of Activity Based Management and Balanced Scorecard concepts, Derek was founder and CEO of Sapling Corporation and was instrumental in the original design, development and deployment of Sapling’s Performance Management software and implementation methodology. After Sapling was acquired by Hyperion (now Oracle), Derek continued his career as an independent management consultant and designed and developed advanced Performance Management systems for over one hundred companies internationally.
Derek has a B.Sc. in mathematics from Aberdeen University, Scotland and a Certificate in Operations Research from the University of Toronto. He has acted as an advisory member of the board for several technology related companies. On behalf of Sapling Corporation, he received the National Quality Institute Award for Innovation and he recently received the CAM-I Bonsack Award for Distinguished Contribution in the Advancement of Cost Management.
Dr. Saju Skaria
Dr. Saju Skaria, CEO of Digitech Services Inc., is a visionary leader, business executive, mentor, speaker, and author renowned for his expertise in international business, information technology, outsourcing, and cultural diversity. His leadership philosophy is grounded in Servant Leadership and the belief that exceeding stakeholder expectations through clarity of purpose is essential for business success.
Dr. Skaria's extensive experience in global business and IT outsourcing equips him to guide clients in transforming their businesses into modern digital enterprises. His global perspective, practical skills, and leadership have enabled him to create a unique ecosystem of customers, partners, and service professionals. This ecosystem delivers value-based IT solutions to Fortune and Global 1000 corporations, making Dr. Skaria a leader in strategic large deals, business and technology consulting, large account management, strategy development, market analysis, global delivery, P&L management, innovation, and sales & operations.
Dr. Skaria is the Chairman and CEO of The Skaria Foundation, a US 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. He also serves on the Board of Hope Foundation, which supports girls aged 6-21 from underserved communities in India by promoting emotional strength, education, employment, and entrepreneurship. Additionally, he is an Executive Advisor to the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University.
As an accomplished author and engaging public speaker, Dr. Skaria shares his insights on industry dynamics, the future workforce, IT innovations, and leadership during change and growth. His passion for workplace inclusion and his efforts to bridge the gap between the professional world and academic institutions are evident in his work. A US citizen with an international and bi-cultural background, Dr. Skaria is well-suited for global settings.
Nate Regimbal
Nate Regimbal brings decades of experience helping companies of all sizes accelerate the launch of new and disruptive digital solutions, with distinct experiences in Artificial Intelligence (AI) strategy, solutioning, and organizational enablement. He's consulted in strategy, technology, operations, and product management, and held management roles as CEO, CTO, and as a division lead for a Digital Transformation Center of Excellence in a high-growth professional services firm.
Nate has worked and consulted with Fortune 100 giants, to Russel 2000, to SMB to early-stage companies (pre-seed through Series funding). His experience across maturity models allows him to "dial up or down" approaches to solutioning and launch - from big-company governance, processes and controls, to bootstrapping company agility - with due attention to company culture, mission, and vision.
Over the course of his career, Nate developed a framework that helps guide product managers and teams through the process of defining a New Product Introduction (NPI) and also helps them identify, scope, and plan for the organizational capabilities required to successfully launch and then manage operation of the solution.
Nate's launch experiences include the following. The life sciences experiences are notable because of the increased rigor needed to comply or conform with regulatory requirements for software quality testing and documentation.
- First of a kind workflow track & trace solution for anatomic pathology laboratories - improving patient safety and driving process standardization in critical healthcare- and diagnostics-related processes
- First of a kind cloud storage, compute, and data collaboration platform for DNA/RNA sequencing data - also enabling a new "app store" type of model for biostatisticians and other app developers
- Instrumentation control and data analysis software for a platform that analyzes the volume of cells in a rapidly flowing fluid stream - in concert with methodology consulting to achieve targeted product launch dates</>
- First of a kind app for golfers that calculates how changes in temperature, elevation, and humidity affect golf club carry distances and the distance a measured shot "plays" - immediately adopted worldwide by collegiate players and coaches and professional golfers and caddies
- Going to market with IBM Watson and other advanced analytics, IoT and cloud offerings from IBM tailored for Medical Devices and Technology companies, composed under a consumption-metered, managed solution model
- AI enabled solutions for
- a) analyzing job descriptions and resumes and recommending candidates for positions,
- b) analyzing medical publications and then searching PubMed to find other publications possessing both implicit and explicit similarities, with
- c) adjacent recommendation engine use cases in other areas
- Defining and launching a family of "Digital Transformation" professional services offerings for a top-10 integrated professional services firm
- Establishing within a professional services organization a Digital Transformation & Enablement department, and rolling out product management and launch operations in parallel with establishing an enterprise Program Management Office
Nate's AI experience includes an industry-leadership role for IBM Watson's go-to-market, followed by being the non-founding CEO at an AI startup that pioneered the AI as a Service model. He has authored and ghost written several articles. Nate also led AI solutioning efforts for a $500M professional services firm. Nate serves CAM-I as an AI Special Interest Group leader, and also is leading the CAM-I effort to launch an AI-enabled service for both CAM-I and non-CAM-I members to access and expertly navigate the CAM-I body of knowledge, as well as use generative AI in a way that will essentially allow businesses and leaders to "have CAM-I expertise in their pocket".
Nate earned a Bachelor's of Science in Microbiology from Washington State University, and an MBA from University of San Diego. He resides in San Diego, CA.