James “J.B.” Wood is president and CEO of the Service & Support Professionals Association (SSPA) and the Technology Professional Services Association (TPSA). In this role, J.B. has been a staunch advocate for key issues revolving around the technology services industry.  He has also been a strong voice for the vital role that service and support plays across a growing spectrum of both business-to-business and consumer product categories. Over the course of his career, Wood has counseled hundreds of leading companies – including Cisco, Microsoft, Oracle, and IBM – on leveraging quantitative, verifiable metrics to improving products and services through a more concise understanding of their customer bases.

Previously, Wood was a co-founder of InsightExpress, which pioneered use of the Internet in market research applications, resulting in reductions in the cost, time and complexity of research. Prior to InsightExpress, he was president and CEO of Prognostics, one of the largest research and consulting companies in the IT industry. Wood also spent 10 years in the software industry as a marketing executive.

Thomas Pridham – executive director, SRII and Senior VP Membership Development
Tom Pridham is the executive director of the SRII. In this role, Tom is leading the Service Research & Innovation initiative (SRII) to fulfill its mission to increase the amount of funding for services research, development and innovation in the technology industry. Pridham also maintains overall responsibility for developing and providing members of SSPA, TPSA and AFSMI with access to core knowledge and capabilities of the associations as well as their advanced programs which include Organizational Certification, Operational Service & Support Consulting, Advisory Services, Executive Education, and Individual Education & Training.

Previously, Tom was the CEO of Diversified Software; President of Micro Optics Design Corporation and Vice President, Western Region, for Amdahl Corporation.  In each of these executive roles he gained the knowledge and experience that service and support is a critical foundation for effective and efficient procurement, installation, implementation, integration, deployment and ongoing use of hardware, software and services to global corporations.  As a result, Tom shares SSPA’s passion for the need for technology companies to increase their investment in service research and innovation in order to meet the growing complexity and demands of our service based economy.

Denise Villamil – vice president, Member Programs, SRII
Denise Villamil is the vice president, Member Program, for the SRII.  In this position, she is responsible for the overall program delivery, member satisfaction and to help foster and facilitate cross dialogue between industry service stakeholders, academia and government within the SRII online community.  In addition to her work with SRII, Villamil is vice president of Member Programs for the Electronics Supply Chain Association (ESCA) where she holds a similar role for stakeholders within the Electronics sector.

Prior to SRII, Villamil was the Senior Director of Product Marketing at S3 Inc., a fabless semiconductor company in Santa Clara, CA.   Villamil was responsible for corporate marketing strategies within the multimedia division, which included market research, product positioning, promotional campaigns, product line sales and customer satisfaction.  During Villamil’s tenure, S3 Inc. was one of the premier industry leaders in delivering streamline communications, multimedia and graphics solutions to the personal computer and Internet appliance markets.  In addition to S3, Villamil has held a number of senior level management positions focused on product / process innovation strategies & research within the high tech and biotechnology sectors in Silicon Valley over the past 22 years.   Her wide range of business experience, contacts and passion for service research are a considerable asset to the SRII initiative in helping drive visibility and needed community engagement to this critical initiative.

•