*Guest speakers will vary by city.

Bryan Ball
Vice President, Principal Analyst, Aberdeen Group

Bryan Ball is the Vice President and Principal Analyst for Aberdeen Group’s Supply Chain and Supplier Management research practice. With over 30 years of experience in supply chain, operations and materials management, acquired across multiple product lines and markets including retail, wholesale, commercial, OEM and private brand customers, Bryan brings a high level of knowledge and insight to the challenges and opportunities facing supply chain practitioners worldwide. Bryan’s career encompasses system implementations, startup operations, consolidations, and outsourcing—all focused on delivering value in the form of cost reductions, improved inventory turns and enhanced efficiencies attained through process improvement. His professional accomplishments cover a wide range of disciplines including sales and operations planning, risk mitigation, strategic sourcing, lean manufacturing and more.

Christopher Dwyer
Research Director, Global Supply Management, Aberdeen Group

Christopher Dwyer is a Research Director at Aberdeen Group and oversees the spend management (Global Supply Management) and financial management (Governance, Risk and Compliance/Finance) research practices. Chris also leads Aberdeen’s research on contingent workforce management, travel and expense management, strategic meetings management, e-payables (A/P and A/R) and global payments. Christopher is considered a thought leader in complex spend management research, and has authored over 130 research studies and documents during his nearly seven-year tenure with Aberdeen.

Pierre Guillaume
President, Beyond EPS

Pierre Guillaume, the President of Beyond EPS, has more than 25 years of experience as a management consultant specializing in cost management, advanced planning and budgeting, and business strategy development. A recognized thought leader with a deep understanding of both the strategic and tactical implications of costing and planning issues and a strong tactical knowledge of finance theory, Pierre has been responsible for cost, performance management, planning and budget systems, and strategic information systems implementations for clients in a variety of industries in the North America, Europe, and Asia.
Pierre co-founded Beyond EPS Advisors after leaving Capital One where he ran the cost budgeting, forecasting and planning function. Pierre also served as a practice leader with Arthur Andersen and is recognized for his contributions to the development of the basic principles of activity-base costing. Pierre is a frequent speaker on advanced costing, planning and business strategy, and he has taught accounting and financial management at the Université de Paris and business strategy at the Centre de Perfectionnement aux Affaires in Paris.

Steve Morlidge
Director, Satori Partners

Steve Morlidge has 30 years of practical experience in designing and running performance management systems at Unilever, including three years as the leader of a global change project. Steve is a former Chairman of the European Beyond Budgeting Round Table and now works as an academic and independent consultant for a range of major companies. He is a prominent public speaker, drawing on his years of experience at the leading edge of performance management thought and practice.

Steve Player
Director, BBRT North America; Managing Director, The Player Group

Steve Player serves as the North America Program Director for the Beyond Budgeting Round Table (BBRT) and works with BBRT member companies to implement continuous planning processes. He has more than 30 years experience with improving performance management and implementing strategic planning processes. He is also the Managing Director of Beyond EPS Advisors, a business consulting firm, and founder of ABM SMART. Steve is the co-author of Future Ready: How to Master Business Forecasting and Beyond Performance Management as well as five other books. He writes the “Finance Transformation” column for Business Finance Magazine featuring CFO interviews from leading organizations on innovative finance and planning processes.

Kevin Prouty
Senior Vice President, Research Operations, Aberdeen Group

As the Senior Vice President of Research Operations, Kevin Prouty is responsible for creating research deliverables to educate end user organizations in the use of technology to address important business challenges. During his career at Aberdeen Group, Kevin has managed research for Aberdeen’s Enterprise Applications and Product Innovation research practices, and the supporting manufacturing industry research initiatives. Before joining Aberdeen, Kevin was the Director for Manufacturing Solutions at Infor and served as Senior Director of Manufacturing Solutions at Motorola, where he was the resident expert on technology’s role in lean manufacturing. Kevin’s career also includes stints at AMR Research and Gartner G2, and many years of practical experience as a plant manager and project manager at a global manufacturer and at automotive and industrial companies.