Speakers

• Brad W. Buss
  EVP & CFO Cypress Semiconductor Corporation
  
  

  Brad Buss was appointed executive vice president of finance and administration and chief financial officer at Cypress in 2005. Prior to joining Cypress, Buss served as vice president of finance at Altera Corp. A veteran of the electronics industry, he spent seven years as a finance executive with Wyle Electronics, culminating as chief financial officer and secretary of the Atlas Services Division. Buss was also a member of Cisco System’s worldwide sales finance team. In addition, he served as senior vice president of finance and chief financial officer and secretary at Zaffire Inc.

  Buss graduated from McMaster University with a bachelor’s degree in economics. He also received an honors business administration degree, majoring in finance and accounting, from the University of Windsor. He began his finance career as an auditor with Arthur Anderson.

• Frank Calderoni
  EVP & CFO Cisco Systems, Inc.
  
  

  Frank Calderoni is executive vice president and chief financial officer at Cisco, managing the financial strategy and operations of a company with more than 72,000 employees and total revenue for fiscal year 2012 of $46B. Calderoni is committed to maximizing long-term shareholder value, ensuring a balanced portfolio of growth initiatives, and maintaining the high level of integrity and transparency for which Cisco is known.

  Previously, as Cisco’s senior vice president, customer solutions finance, Calderoni brought about profitable growth, disciplined decision making and transparency in Cisco’s reporting. He led efforts to create and define the value chain for the sales and services model from which organization, staffing, compensation plans, targets, territory definition, and sales goals could be derived. He is responsible for the decision-support model on investments related to sales, services and marketing, including acquisitions.

  Calderoni joined Cisco in 2004 from QLogic Corporation, where he was the senior vice president and CFO. Prior to that, he was the senior vice president, finance and administration, and CFO for SanDisk Corporation. Previously he spent 21 years at IBM Corporation and was promoted to vice president prior to taking on two CFO roles. While at IBM he held controller responsibilities for several divisions, including Global Small Business, Storage Systems, and the IBM Server Group.

  Calderoni holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting and finance from Fordham University and an MBA in finance from Pace University. He sits on the board of directors for Adobe Systems.

• Rita Cook
  SVP, Treasury Solutions Executive Bank of America Merrill Lynch
  
  

  Rita Cook is solutions executive for North American commercial banking and the international treasury at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. She manages a team of global treasury experts who help structure multi-regional treasury deals that allow clients to meet their global cash management needs while enhancing visibility and access to cash. She assists in driving the strategy and tactics to compliment their clients’ expansion plans outside the North American borders.

  Cook has over 15 years of banking experience holding various management positions within finance, product management and sales. Each position has allowed her to build on her knowledge and gain a holistic view of the global cash management and liquidity continuum. She started her career in banking with LaSalle Bank / ABN AMRO in 1997, which was acquired by Bank of America Merrill Lynch in 2007. Prior to the acquisition, Cook was COO of transaction banking at LaSalle Bank / ABN AMRO. After working on the transition to Bank of America Merrill Lynch, she managed the global liquidity solutions specialists and was the global commercial banking treasury product solutions COO.

  Cook has her CTP and earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Governors State University in 1996.

• Derek Dean
  CEO UC Berkeley Center for Executive Education
  
  

  Derek Dean is the CEO of the UC Berkeley Center for Executive Education. He most recently was a principal at The Exetor Group, where he designed and delivered leadership development programs for corporate clients. Prior to Exetor, he spent 20 years with McKinsey and Company, including managing McKinsey’s San Francisco office and running McKinsey’s global semiconductor practice. He has deep experience helping senior business leaders and their teams address core business issues across a wide variety of industries. His functional experience spans strategy, mergers and acquisitions, operational and cost improvement, and organization transformation. He has industry experience in technology, retail and consumer products, private equity, and gaming.

  Dean has a bachelor’s degree in American studies from Carleton College and an MBA from Stanford University. He serves on the board of governors of the San Francisco Symphony and the San Francisco Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

• F. Michael Dell
  Partner & Leader of the Center for Tax Policy Ernst & Young LLP
  
  

  F. Michael Dell is the director of the Ernst & Young Center for Tax Policy. In this capacity, Dell leads a team of executives focused on helping clients identify trends in federal and state tax legislation and reform including analyzing proposed legislation and reporting on potential implications. Dell is frequently sought to comment on such key tax topics as the Affordable Care Act and the Bush tax cuts. In addition to leading the EY Center for Tax Policy, Dell is a member of the firm’s Partnership Transactional Planning and Economics Group where he advises multinational clients on various tax issues.

• Cheryl Eason
  CFO California Public Employees' Retirement System
  
  

  Cheryl Eason joined CalPERS as chief financial officer in 2012. She manages all financial processes for CalPERS, including budgeting, accounting, cash management, financial planning and analysis. She also oversees CalPERS enterprise risk management projects and provides expert consultation to the CalPERS Board of Administration.

  Eason brings more than 25 years of financial management experience and expertise in strategic and business planning, enterprise risk management, corporate social responsibility and stakeholder relations in both the private and public sectors. She held several senior executive positions, most recently as vice president, financial and plan board services for the British Columbia Pension Corporation, one of the largest pension benefit administrators in Canada. Eason managed and directed the business planning and budgeting, accounting and cash management, procurement, pension plan policy and board services activities.

  Previously, Eason served as executive vice president and chief financial officer for the Manitoba Lotteries Corporation, where she led a diverse team that included finance and accounting, business planning and budgeting, policies and procedures, enterprise risk management, procurement and sustainable development, treasury management and bank operations.

  Eason holds an MBA from Royal Roads University and is a certified general accountant. She has also earned the Retirement Plans Associate designation from Dalhousie University and the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans. She is a member of the Government Finance Officers Association and the Financial Executives International.

• Kent Harvey
  SVP & CFO PG&E Corporation
  
  

  Kent Harvey is senior vice president and chief financial officer for PG&E Corporation. Harvey oversees the financial activities of the $40B company, including accounting, treasury, tax, risk, business and financial planning, and investor relations.

  Harvey began his career at PG&E in 1982. He has served the company in many different capacities, including as director of financial analysis, director of investor relations, corporate secretary, vice president and treasurer, and senior vice president, chief financial officer and treasurer of Pacific Gas and Electric Company. In 2005, Harvey became senior vice president and chief risk and audit officer for PG&E Corporation. He assumed his current position in 2009.

  Harvey holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and a master’s degree in engineering — economic systems, both from Stanford University.

• Mark J. Hawkins
  CFO, EVP Autodesk, Inc.
  
  

  Mark Hawkins is executive vice president and chief financial officer of Autodesk, Inc. He oversees the corporate finance, sales finance, division finance, controller, treasury, investor relations, tax, information technology, procurement and internal audit functions. He reports to the CEO and chairs the company’s Operating Council.

  Prior to joining Autodesk in 2009, Hawkins was chief financial officer and senior vice president of finance and IT at Logitech International SA, where he had global financial duties and was also responsible for global information technology solutions. Before joining Logitech in 2006, Hawkins worked with Dell, Inc. in Austin, Texas. At Dell, he served as vice president of finance for the company’s multibillion-dollar Worldwide Procurement and Logistics organization, as well as vice president of finance for the U.S. Home Segment. He joined Dell in 2000 after working with Hewlett-Packard for almost 19 years.

  Hawkins’ extensive global executive experience includes serving on the board of directors for HP’s Japan and Shanghai Analytical Joint Ventures and living in Europe. He serves on the board of directors of BMC Software. Hawkins holds a master’s degree in finance from the University of Colorado, a bachelor’s degree from Michigan State University, and completed the Advance Management Program at Harvard Business School.

• Mitchell Kertzman
  Managing Director Hummer Winblad Venture Partners
  
  

  Mitchell Kertzman is a managing director at Hummer Winblad Venture Partners. He has more than 30 years of experience as a CEO of public and private software companies. Most recently, Kertzman was chairman and CEO of Liberate Technologies, a provider of platform software for the delivery of digital services by cable television companies. Before joining Liberate, he was chairman of the board and CEO of Sybase, Inc. Kertzman was founder and CEO of Powersoft, which merged with Sybase in 1995.

  A former programmer, he founded Powersoft in 1974 as Computer Solutions. He renamed the company and became a member of the Hummer Winblad family in 1991 when Hummer Winblad invested in the company, which became the leading provider of client-server development tools with its flagship product, PowerBuilder. The merger with Sybase in 1995 was, at the time, the most valuable in the history of the software industry.

  Kertzman was awarded an honorary doctorate of humane letters from the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. He currently sits on the Boards of Five9, Flite, HubPages, NuoDB and Palamida.

• Don Lieb
  Group VP & CFO Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco
  
  

  Don Lieb is the 12th District chief financial officer and group vice president for the finance division at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. Lieb manages the division, consisting of credit and risk management, accounting, financial planning and control and enterprise risk management.

  Lieb joined the Reserve Bank in 1979 as a bank examiner in Banking Supervision and Regulation. In 1982, Lieb rotated within the credit department as the bank's discount officer. In 1996, he rotated out of BS&R and assumed responsibility for financial planning and control and, soon thereafter, for the bank’s accounting and payroll functions. In 2005, Lieb also assumed responsibility for the enterprise risk management function and the bank’s Sarbanes-Oxley compliance activities. In 2005, he was appointed chief financial officer.

  Lieb is a graduate of the University of California, Davis, and Hastings College of the Law, San Francisco. He is also a graduate of the Pacific Coast Banking School, Seattle. He is a member of the California State Bar Association and a former director and president of the Northern California Chapter of the Risk Management Association. He currently serves on the finance committee for the United Way of the Bay Area.

• Greg Matz
  VP & CFO The Cooper Companies, Inc.
  
  

  Greg Matz is the vice president and chief financial officer for The Cooper Companies. The Cooper Companies is a global medical device company that operates through two business units, CooperVision and CooperSurgical. In his role, he provides leadership for the financial functions, including planning, reporting and tax. In addition, he closely partners with the executive team on global strategy and business development activities.

  Matz has served in this capacity since 2011. He was previously vice president and chief financial officer of CooperVision. Prior to joining the company, Matz held key management roles in finance and marketing at Agilent Technologies and Hewlett Packard. He began his career at KPMG.

• Juliette Meunier
  Partner, West Region Leader – Performance & Reward Ernst & Young LLP
  
  

  Juliette Meunier is the performance and reward leader for the West Region at Ernst & Young. She provides clients with guidance on executive compensation and employee benefits issues and assists them in all stages of development as it relates to the financial, cost, tax and risk implications of their compensation and benefits programs.

  In addition, Meunier regularly advises companies on the employer implications of healthcare reform, working with companies to understand the impact from a financial perspective, as well as assisting them with operational and compliance issues associated with the new legislation. She is a frequent speaker in the areas of HR cost management and healthcare reform.

• Jeff Minick
  SVP and Manager, Treasury Solutions Sales – Northern California Global Transaction Services Bank of America Merrill Lynch
  
  

  Jeff Minick leads a team of seasoned treasury management professionals who are responsible for consulting with clients to implement efficient and cost-effective treasury solutions. Prior to this role, Minick led a national specialty sales team focused on leveraging emerging technology and increasing operational efficiency to deliver working capital benefits to clients. He has held positions in operations, systems development, and consulting on eCommerce and eBanking services.

  Minick has been a frequent speaker at industry conferences throughout the U.S., including the National AFP, Oracle Open World, TEXPO, New York Treasury Management Association, and the San Francisco Treasury Symposium. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a focus on business analysis and information systems management, from Texas A&M University.

• Richard B. Payne, Jr.
  Vice Chairman U. S. Bancorp Wholesale Banking
  
  

  Richard Payne is a vice chairman and member of the managing committee of U.S. Bancorp and acts as manager of the wholesale banking group. He is responsible throughout the U.S. for national corporate banking, commercial banking, capital markets, financial institutions, equipment finance, global treasury management, government and nonprofit banking, leveraged lending, specialized industries, specialty finance, high grade fixed income, and wholesale customer support.

  Payne joined U.S. Bank in 2006. Prior to joining the bank, he worked at National City Corporation in Cleveland where he was executive vice president of capital markets, a position he held since 2001. He is a veteran of the banking industry with 30 years in corporate banking positions at Wachovia, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and Chemical Bank. Prior to his banking career, he spent two years in the United States Navy as a supply officer on the USS Neptune.

  Payne earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He is a board member of CureSearch/National Childhood Cancer Foundation and a past chairman and current emeritus member of the University of Virginia Alumni Association. He also serves as a board member of the Walker Art Center, Minnesota Public Radio, Syncada from Visa and SIFMA.

• Michael D. Rowe
  SVP/CFO, Northern California Region Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc.
  
  

  Mike Rowe is the chief financial officer and senior vice president of finance for the Northern California Region of Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Kaiser Foundation Hospitals. He joined Kaiser Permanente in 2010.

  Prior to joining Kaiser Permanente, Rowe was senior vice president, chief financial officer and treasurer for Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth Health System (SCLHS).SCLHS is a multi-state Catholic health system with 12 hospitals in California, Colorado, Montana, and Kansas.

  In addition, he served in executive financial roles for Baptist Health System in San Antonio, and spent 12 years with Allina Health System in Minneapolis. He started in health care at Allina as director, reporting and analysis, and ended as the VP of finance for the $2.4B integrated health system that included 19 hospitals, 60 clinics and an HMO with approximately 1 million enrollees. He started his career at Ernst & Young LLP.

  Rowe earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting and management and an MBA in finance and accounting from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He is a certified public accountant and a fellow in the Healthcare Financial Management Association.

• Brad Smith
  President and CEO Intuit Inc.
  
  

  Brad Smith became Intuit’s president and chief executive officer in 2008, culminating a five-year rise through the company where he successfully led several of its major businesses. Intuit is a leading provider of business and financial management solutions for small and mid-sized businesses, financial institutions, consumers and accounting professionals, and is consistently ranked as one of the most-admired software companies and best places to work.

  Before being named CEO, Smith was senior vice president and general manager of Intuit's Small Business Division. Appointed to the position in 2006, Smith was responsible for the company’s portfolio of QuickBooks, Quicken and Payroll products. Before that, he led the company’s Consumer Tax Group in San Diego from 2004—2005. The group produces TurboTax, the nation’s leading consumer tax preparation software.

  Smith joined the company in 2003 as the vice president and general manager of Intuit’s Accountant Central and Developer Network in Plano, Texas. Previously, he was senior vice president of marketing and business development at ADP. Smith also held various sales, marketing and general management positions with Pepsi, Seven-Up and Advo, Inc.

  Smith earned his master’s degree in management from Aquinas College in Michigan and a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Marshall University in West Virginia.

• Paul Swenson
  SVP/Chief Strategic Planning Officer Kaiser Permanente
  
  

  Paul Swenson joined Kaiser Permanente as senior vice president/chief strategic planning officer in 2012, with responsibilities for strategic planning, capital planning, delivery system planning and enterprise risk management.

  Prior to Kaiser, Swenson was with John Muir Health, where he served as president/CEO for the John Muir Physician Network, in addition to executive vice president/administration. During his tenure there, his responsibilities included finance, human resources, marketing, strategic planning, information technology, legal, compliance and community benefit.

  Previously, Swenson was with Blue Shield of California in positions including CFO, SVP for the Northern Region business unit and EVP of corporate development. Between 1990 and 1998, he held various general management positions with Aetna’s health plan organization in California. Prior to that, he was chief operating officer for Bay Pacific Health Plan and served as a senior manager for the Amherst/Ernst and Young healthcare consulting practice.

  He holds a bachelor’s degree from Duke University and an MBA from the University of California, Berkeley.

• Tommaso Todesca
  SVP, International Treasury Solutions Officer Bank of America Merrill Lynch
  
  
• Cy Wakeman
  Author & Thought Leader
  
  

  Cy Wakeman is a dynamic, well-respected national keynote speaker with an uncanny ability to quickly diagnose group interplay and tailor strategies to exactly fit the goals of the client organization. She is a well-known thought leader and is featured as an expert blogger for FastCompany.com. She is also a contributing author or featured expert to a variety of magazines, newspapers and online publications including Pink Magazine, Women’s Health and the New York Post. Her book, “Reality-Based Leadership,” is receiving rave reviews across the nation.

  Wakeman has a unique background that combines four successful business start-ups with 18 years working and consulting in a variety of arenas including manufacturing, government, high-tech and healthcare. With expertise in leadership and change management principles, she has ensured the business readiness for multimillion-dollar ERP and IT project implementations. She created management development programs, provided executive coaching and conducted business process re-engineering.

  Wakeman holds a bachelor’s degree in political science with an emphasis in international relations and a degree in social work. She also received an M.S. in health administration with an emphasis on organizational development.

• Neil Williams
  SVP & CFO Intuit Inc.
  
  

  R. Neil Williams became Intuit’s senior vice president and chief financial officer in 2008, bringing strategic, operational and transactional experience gained in nearly 30 years in the financial services industry. He is responsible for all financial aspects of the company, including corporate strategy and business development, investor relations, financial operations and real estate.

  Before joining Intuit, Williams was the executive vice president and chief financial officer for Visa U.S.A., Inc. He led all financial functions for the company and its subsidiaries, including financial planning, business planning and financial monitoring. Williams concurrently served as chief financial officer for Inovant LLC, Visa’s global information technology organization, responsible for global transactions processing and technology development.

  His previous banking experience includes senior financial positions at commercial banks in the Southern and Midwest regions of the United States.

  Williams, a certified public accountant, received his bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Southern Mississippi.