As members of the Certification Magazine Editorial Advisory Board, the industry leaders profiled on these pages have agreed to provide us with their guidance, counsel and, most of all, time to ensure we continue to report the most relevant, accurate and vital information about certification.
Barbara Bowen
Lotus Development
Worldwide Manager of Professional Certification Programs
Barbara Bowen is the worldwide manager of professional certification programs at Lotus Development in Cambridge, Mass., a position she has held for five years. During her tenure, the Lotus CLP Program has grown from 7,000 candidates to more than 68,000 candidates. Prior to joining Lotus, Ms. Bowen managed the professional certification program for Autodesk in San Rafael, Calif. During her time at Autodesk, she also managed operations for the ATC (Autodesk Training Center) Program and the Worldwide International Grants Program. Before moving into Education, she managed operations for the International Sales Division of Autodesk.
Michael Brannick
Prometric
President and Chief Executive Officer
Michael Brannick is the president and chief executive officer of Prometric, a part of The Thomson Corporation; a position he has held since June 2001. Since joining Prometric, Michael has focused on successfully expanding the company's presence in the rapidly growing global testing and certification market. In addition to promoting testing as a validation of the learning experience, he has focused on deploying new technologies, entering new international markets, and placing an unwavering emphasis on client services. For more than two decades, Michael has been involved in a broad range of developmental and research activities in the education industry. Prior to joining Prometric, Michael served as president and chief executive officer of Peterson's, also part of The Thomson Corporation. In this position, Michael built a new infrastructure for the company's databases and business systems, driven by a strategy to transform Peterson's from a print-based publisher of data to an integrated education information service employing print, software, and Internet tools. In addition, Michael oversaw the strategic planning and development functions. Before joining Peterson's, Michael served as senior vice president of business development for Jostens Learning Corporation. He directed international operations, initiated and managed partnerships that focused on entering new markets, and led product development to increase the company's offerings. He joined Jostens Learning in 1994 as vice president of product marketing, and was promoted a year later to vice president, strategy and planning, and then to senior vice president. Michael also spent eight years with the National Education Corporation in a variety of senior marketing roles. He holds a M.A. degree in industrial psychology from California State University at Long Beach, and specialty certifications from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University, and the University of Southern California. He has authored several executive bylined articles and position papers for various higher education trade publications and books.
Peter Childers
Red Hat
Vice President, Global Learning Services
Peter Childers has been involved in computing, education and training since the early 1980s when he worked at the Yale AI Lab. Mr. Childers developed professional services, training and certification programs for Nortel, NetEdge Systems, Seagate Software's Network Management Group and companies in the UNIX, networking, network management and client/server space. Upon joining Red Hat in 1998, Mr. Childers saw an opportunity to create a top-tier performance-based training and certification model for Linux, the Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE) certification. In June of 2001, Mr. Childers led Red Hat's collaboration with Cisco and Novell to help found the Field Certified Professional Association, an independent organization dedicated to advancing performance-based IT certification.
Don Field
Cisco Systems Inc.
Senior Manager, Certifications
Don Field is responsible for the development and growth of the Cisco Career Certifications program worldwide. One of his key initiatives is the implementation and expansion of Internet-enabled certification offerings to all audiences. Prior to joining Cisco, Mr. Field was senior solutions development manager for Apple's education division. His team designed, developed and delivered the highly successful Apple Education Series, a set of complete solutions fostering effective integration of leading-edge technologies into the K-12 curriculum. His 17-year career at Apple included various positions in product management, product marketing and consumer marketing. Mr. Field holds a bachelor of arts degree in economics from Princeton University and an MBA from Stanford University.
David Foster, Ph.D.
Caveon
President
A psychologist, psychometrician and recognized luminary in the measurement industry, Foster is credited with introducing computerized adaptive testing and simulation-based performance testing as part of Novell’s IT certification program. Following his tenure with Novell, Foster co-founded Galton Technologies, which was acquired by Thomson Learning in 2002. Foster is past President of the Association of Test Publishers (ATP) and currently serves on ATP’s Conference Program Committee. He is also active in the International Test Commission, the certification accreditation committee for the American National Standards Institute and the GMAC Technical Advisory Board. Foster is also a member of the National Council for Measurement in Education and the American Educational Research Association.
Neill Hopkins
CompTIA
Vice President of Skills Development
Neill Hopkins began his career in the IT industry in 1982, selling IBM PCs, plotters and printers. As general manager for a large networking distributor in South Africa, he was instrumental in the development of the South African networking market. Hopkins was a key player in the introduction of IT training in South Africa in 1989, with the establishment of one of the first Novell and SCO UNIX training centers. Since then, Hopkins has held senior management positions at Novell Inc. and is currently vice president of CompTIA's Skills Development.
Bee Ng, Ph.D.
Sun Microsystems Inc.
Director, Educational Services
Bee Ng, Ph.D., oversees Sun Educational Services product lines which includes classroom training, online learning and Sun Certifications. Leading with Java and Solaris Certifications, Sun is one of the top three IT certification vendors in terms of certifications granted. Sun Educational Services is one of the top 10 IT training providers on the planet. Bee’s team manages more than 5,000 active learning products available in over 50 countries across the globe.
In her 19-year tenure in the high-tech industry, Bee has been an educator, an architect, a consultant and a functional and business leader in the areas of learning, productivity and human performance for sales, services and IT professionals. In the late ’90s, she led the design and development of the popular industry-wide A+ certification exams for the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA).
Prior to Sun, Bee jump-started the Education Department for Lutris Technologies, a startup in open-source application server. Before that, she was director of Sales and Services Performance at a Pearson Education company. She also spent many years at Digital Equipment Corp. and Compaq.
Bee received her Ph.D. in Instructional Systems Technology from Indiana University, Bloomington, Ind.
Shawn B. Rogers
Hewlett-Packard Certified Professional Program
Worldwide Certification Project Manager
Shawn has been involved in the training and certification industry for twelve years, having worked for WordPerfect, Novell, Compaq, and now HP. Prior to the Compaq/HP merger, he was the Certification Program Manager for Compaq's Industry Standard Server division. He holds IT industry certifications from Novell (Master CNI and Master CNE), Microsoft (MCSE), and CompTIA (Server+ Certified Professional and Certified Technical Trainer). He is also the author or co-author of seven books relating to electronic messaging technologies.
Alok Shrivastava
EMC Corp.
Senior Director, Education Services
Alok Shrivastava is responsible for various functions within EMC Education Services. Key areas of his responsibility include major components of technical training and field readiness, EMC Proven Professional Certification, internal communications and program management, new products readiness, Storage Technologist “open” training and Certification, and the EMC Academy program. Prior to joining the Education Services team in 2003, Alok was responsible for building and managing a strong Sales Engineering team for EMC Asia-Pacific/Japan.
In his nearly 24-year professional career, he has been a SW developer, systems manager, pre- and post-sales consultant, sales engineering manager and director of sales engineering function at a regional level. Carrying a blend of technical, commercial and leadership skills, Alok has earned numerous recognitions throughout his career. He holds two master’s degrees in technology from IIT, Bombay and University of Sagar, India.
Erik Ullanderson
Learning@Cisco Group, Cisco Systems Inc
Manager of Global Certifications
Erik Ullanderson serves as the manager of global certifications for the Learning@Cisco Group, for which he is responsible for the design, development and exam strategy for the Cisco Career Certifications Program. In this role, Ullanderson oversees all certification exam developments, delivery and policy updates for Associate- through Expert-level certifications.
He has been active in the certification industry for more than a decade, formerly working in the Netherlands, managing test development. Ullanderson holds a bachelor’s degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a certificate in education from North Park University.
Daniel Veitkus
Novell, Inc.
Vice President, Global Field Operations
Dan Veitkus is responsible for all aspects of field operations including the firm’s partner programs which define the company’s engagement with more than 5000 global partners that sell and deliver Novell products and services. Previously, Veitkus served as Vice President, Training Services, with global responsibility for leading the development, publishing and delivery of a comprehensive portfolio of education services to customers, partners and employees. Prior to his tenure with Novell, he served in a variety of leadership roles in the IT and Telecommunications Industries. Veitkus is an alumnus of Harvard Business School. He is vice-chair of the CompTIA Education Foundation and he is an executive mentor for business students enrolled at several leading universities.
Robert D. Whelan
Pearson VUE
Vice President and General Manager
As vice president and general manager of Pearson VUE, Whelan has overall management responsibility for the electronic testing business, including test development, program management and finance. Whelan is also responsible for the two Pearson VUE test center networks: more than 3,500 Pearson VUE Authorized Centers worldwide and 202 company-owned and –operated, domestic Pearson Professional Centers. Before joining Pearson VUE, Whelan served as vice president of business development for Personnel Decisions International and vice president of sales and marketing for NCS (National Computer Systems).
Lutz L. Ziob
Microsoft Training & Certification
General Manager
Lutz Ziob joined Microsoft in July 2002 as General Manager of Training & Certification, a world-class organization reaching over 2 million students worldwide with courseware in 18 languages. Lutz oversees the development, distribution, and worldwide marketing of developer training, IT professional training, certification, and skills assessments. Prior to joining Microsoft, Lutz was Vice President of Certification at CompTIA since April 2000. In that role, he led CompTIA's certification department with overall responsibility for certification development and global program growth. Previously, Lutz was director of Worldwide Education Sales Programs at Novell, Inc. His responsibilities included managing Novell Education's global training channel and IT certification programs, and directing Novell Education's business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Lutz also served as a sales account manager for WordPerfect Corporation in Germany and was a research fellow at the University of Bochum, Germany and the University of London, UK, where he specialized in comparative studies of European education. Lutz holds a master's degree in education and history from the University of Bochum, (Germany). He has also studied in Exeter and London, UK.
