September 27, 2007
The Millenium Hilton Hotel
New York, New York 

At Computerworld’s upcoming IT Executive Summit and Roundtable on Maximizing Performance in Financial Services Companies, a select group of IT executives will probe and discuss the many facets to this challenge. This highly focused, no-nonsense program will examine some of the more prominent opportunities, including  newer ways to boost performance, including virtualization, migration to open systems and use of messaging middleware.

Why You Should Attend
You'll not only hear from experts, but also from your peers struggling with the same IT performance issues. From this targeted, morning-long program you will gain valuable insights into the following business-critical topics and challenges:

• The significant potential benefit of moving from Unix to Linux, including major performance gains
  
• An honest look at barriers to adoption of virtualization
  
• The importance of serviceability in platform choices
  
• AMQP as a platform-agnostic, proven approach to a messaging middleware solution in financial services

---

Agenda

8:15-8:45 a.m.	Registration and Networking Breakfast
8:45-9:00 a.m.	Introduction and Overview Bill Laberis, Vice President, Computerworld
9:00-9:45 a.m.	Linux: Adoption, Migration and Virtualization Al Gillen, Research Vice President, System Software, IDC Financial Insights
9:45-10:15 a.m.	The Data Center's Packed! How We "Virtually" Panicked Drew Hiltz, Managing Director, Deputy Chief Information Officer, Natixis Capital Markets, Inc.
10:15-10:30 a.m.	Refreshment and Networking Break
10:30-Noon.	Moderated Roundtable Discussion
Noon	Program Concludes

---

Presenters

Al Gillen, Research Vice President, System Software, IDC Financial Insights
As research vice president of system software, Al Gillen is responsible for research and analysis on server and client operating systems as well as related infrastructure software. These operating environments include Linux, Windows, Unix, NetWare, OS/390, and OS/400.

Mr. Gillen brings 25 years of computer industry experience to IDC. His research at IDC has included participation in studies on total cost of ownership for Linux, Windows and Unix systems in both client and server configurations, as well as assisting in IDC's recurring demand-side research covering the growth and evolution of the Linux market. In addition, he has tracked the changing licensing programs used by Microsoft and by the major Linux vendors. Mr. Gillen has participated at various industry events as a panel discussion moderator, topic speaker, and as an expert presenter at launch events.

Prior to joining IDC in 1999, Mr. Gillen was editor-in-chief of ENT, an 80,000 circulation, 20-times per year trade publication that focuses on the use and deployment of Windows NT Server and Windows 2000 Server in business environments. Prior to running ENT, Mr. Gillen served as editor-in-chief of MIDRANGE Systems, a 24-times per year trade publication that focuses on the use and deployment of IBM AS/400 servers. Mr. Gillen spent the first 10 years of his career at an engineering firm where he performed embedded system design, development and real time programming. He holds a BS degree in Computer Science from New Jersey Institute of Technology.

Drew Hiltz, Managing Director, Deputy Chief Information Officer, Natixis Capital Markets, Inc.
Drew Hiltz is the Deputy Chief Information Officer at Natixis Capital Markets Inc, formerly IXIS Capital Markets.   Natixis Capital Markets is part of the NATIXIS group formed in 2006 in the merger between the French banks, Groupe Caisse D’Epargne and Group Banque Populaire both of which are headquartered in Paris, France.  Mr. Hiltz was previously the Chief Technology Officer for IXIS and had been Vice President, Information Technology for Greenwich Capital Markets, a primary dealer in US government securities.  Mr. Hiltz was employed by Citicorp, Dun & Bradstreet and Mobius Management Systems, and has been work in technology for over 20 years the majority of which have been focused on financial services.

Mr. Hiltz’s responsibilities included day-to-day management of all aspects of the technology operations and systems development at Natixis CM.  He is responsible for the proper deployment of technology for the Natixis trading environment including cost management and continuous availability of critical systems.  Mr. Hiltz is a member of a number of Natixis’s management committees including Business Continuity Planning; Security; and Technology.  In the past Mr. Hiltz has been directly responsible for strategic technology planning, application development, database design and support, delivery of real-time market data, communications and network administration, and systems administration on mainframe, Unix and Wintel systems.

A graduate of Fairfield University, Mr. Hiltz holds a Bachelor of Science in Finance and a minor in Biology.  Drew was introduced to computers in 1974 while programming APL on a Honeywell mid-range computer system shared between the town high schools and the local university.  Mr. Hiltz has received technology certifications from Epson, Apple, Sybase and Cisco; was an instructor in application development & database design; and has deployed application on a range of large and small systems.  He has been a guest speaker for a number of technology groups and companies.

Bill Laberis, Vice President, Computerworld
Bill Laberis is Vice President of Custom Content Strategy at Computerworld, a new position he filled in October of 2006. In this exciting role, Bill will work closely with Computerworld’s vendor clients to create highly individualized custom content programs  that leverage the wide range of Computerworld’s media capabilities, including print, online, multimedia, and custom events.

No stranger to Computerworld or IDG, Bill was editor-in-chief of Computerworld for ten years from 1986-1996. During his editorial tenure, Computerworld won more than 80 awards for editorial and design excellence, including the Computer Press Association’s award as Best Computer Newspaper an unprecedented three times. And as editor, Bill was also frequent speaker and keynoter, having delivered over 100 speeches and addresses while writing over 400 signed editorials. He was often quoted in the business media as an industry spokesman; wrote for several publications including the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal; and was also a frequent contributor to panel sessions at major industry trade shows and served on the boards of advisors of several major conferences.

In the ten years between leaving Computerworld as editor and rejoining as Vice President of Custom Content Strategy, Bill was founder and president of Bill Laberis Associates, a custom publishing and media consulting company. His company produced special supplements, magazines, newsletters, Webcasts, content-oriented marketing materials, and other special customer publications for nearly all first and second tier vendors in the computer industry. His company’s work included all content and design creation for the quarterly magazine Microsoft Executive Circle Magazine, read by more than 120,000 business and technology managers in N. America and produced from 2001-2005.

back to top