INSTEP - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Product Management Advisor
Al is a product management advisor who brings a wealth of experience using product management tools and Agile product management methods in practice as a product manager.
Background
Al Nejmeh is currently a graduate student at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in the Master of Science in Product Management Program. Al began his career in product at Optum Technology, a Fortune 10 company, where he focused on SaaS products in healthcare. His experiences at Optum spanned the roles of ScrumMaster, product owner and product manager. He was the product manager for the ambient intelligence exploratory product team focused on building contextually aware AI/ML applications combined with IoT focused on disrupting healthcare. Al's strong passion for product management tools has led to a curated and classified list of nearly 300+ PM tools in the five product management movements framework . Al has received both his Pragmatic Level VI and Scrum Alliance Product Owner certifications.
EDUCATION
Al is currently enrolled in the Master of Science in Product Management Program at Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh, PA). Al holds a dual undergraduate degree in Business Analytics and Finance from Bethel University.
Job Titles:
- Adjunct Professor
- President
- President of INSTEP, Inc
Brian Nejmeh is the President of INSTEP and has held senior product and technology roles in enterprise software companies.
Background
Brian Nejmeh is the President of INSTEP, Inc., a technology advisory firm where he is an advisor, investor and board member to start-up and advanced stage technology companies. Brian's focus over the past 25 years has been on building and scaling enterprise technology companies, leveraging his core competencies in strategy, product management, product development, and technology leadership.
Brian has held executive leadership or advisory positions at start-up, growth stage, and mature private and publicly held B-to-B SaaS technology companies. He spent his early career in operational and functional management roles that began in software development and product management, and then progressed to executive roles, including corporate strategy. His career has included multiple startup-to-strategic exit cycles, both for acquiring and acquired firms.
Brian is currently the product and technology advisor to the Board of Directors at publicly held Vertex (NASDAQ: VERX), a SaaS-based enterprise tax technology company. Brian also serves on the board of or an advisor to a number of SaaS-based companies, including GRAYSHIFT (mobile forensics), BERA (predictive brand tech) and CellPort Software (cell and gene therapy MES). Brian is also a senior operating partner, focused on product and technology, with PeakEquity Partners, a private equity firm that invests in SaaS-based enterprise software companies.
Brian has published two books and over 40 technical articles on product management, software engineering and related topics in journals such as IEEE Software and Communications of the ACM. Since 2015 he has created a number of widely used SaaS industry frameworks guide companies in their SaaS journey in the key areas of business model, sales/marketing, product, architecture, operations, process/people.
Brian is an Adjunct Professor in the Master of Science in Product Management Program (MSPM) at Carnegie Mellon University. Brian is a member of the IEEE and ACM.
Brian recently served on the board of Friendship Community, a non-profit organization providing residential and day programs for over 100 adults with intellectual disabilities in central PA.
EDUCATION
Brian has an MS in Computer Science from Purdue University and a BS (Phi Beta Kappa) in Computer Science from Allegheny College.
Brian is an avid sports enthusiast, appreciates wine, and enjoys the outdoors. Brian and his wife Laurie are actively involved in supporting families that have a child with disabilities.
Job Titles:
- Principal Consultant
- Chief Product Officer of G5
- Product Management Advisor
David brings 20+ years of digital media and enterprise product management experience from some of the biggest names in the SaaS industry.
Background
David brings 20+ years of digital media and enterprise product management experience from some of the biggest names in the SaaS industry.
With over 20 years in digital media and enterprise software product management, David brings a wealth of experience in conceptualizing, building, and launching innovative and disruptive global products and platforms in transformational and high-growth environments.
In addition to product consulting, David currently serves as Chief Product Officer of G5, a predictive marketing SaaS company. In this capacity, David is responsible for leading G5's Product Management organization, overseeing product planning, strategy, and product roadmap execution for G5's Marketing Platform and portfolio of cloud-based products.
Prior to joining G5, David was the VP of Product Management for Conversant/Epsilon (acquired by Publicis Groupe), a leading provider of data-driven digital marketing and personalization solutions. He has also held a number of senior roles in Product Management at high tech companies including Yahoo Inc. and Adobe Systems.
EDUCATION
David has a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from California State University, Northridge.
Greg is a principal consultant with over 30 years of experience as a technology executive.
Background
Greg Coticchia, MBA, PC, is an award-winning technology executive with over thirty years' experience in high tech products and services. Greg Coticchia is currently the President of Sopheon. An award-winning entrepreneur, business leader, professor and author with over thirty years' experience in tech products and services, he has served as CEO, President and COO at numerous companies, and has been involved or responsible for over 100 product and solution launches. He was the founding Executive Director for the Master of Science in Product Management (MSPM) at Carnegie Mellon University. He previously served the University of Pittsburgh as both its founding Director of the University of Pittsburgh's Student Startup Accelerator, ‘The Blast Furnace', and as its first Executive in Residence (EIR) for software and information technology.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Coticchia has led or been a major contributor in two of the largest and most successful software companies in the world, LEGENT (now CA) and AXENT (now Symantec). Greg has been in fourteen start-ups and founded four, and has held executive positions for better than two-thirds of his career, participating in various size organizations, from ‘$0M to over $1B' in revenue. He has participated in raising over $73M in venture capital in his career, and has actively participated in over seventeen mergers and acquisitions, at both the company or product level. He has served as CEO (four times), President and COO, and has been involved or responsible for the launch of over 100 products and solutions, and several companies.
Greg has served on many boards (including NFR/Checkpoint, Four Rivers/Accruent, AXIOM, PDMA and others). he currently teaches several courses including B2B marketing at the University of Pittsburgh Katz School Of Business. He holds certificates in Entrepreneurial Management from Carnegie Mellon University and Professional Coaching from Duquesne University. Coticchia was named as a finalist three times for the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award and for the Tech 50 CEO of the Year. He was also named a 2006 Distinguished Graduate of the University of Pittsburgh (Katz).
EDUCATION
Greg is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh in Industrial Engineering, where he also received his MBA.
Job Titles:
- Advisor
- Senior Advisor
- Adviser
- Founder and Principal at Shelamandiam LLC
Jim is a Senior Advisor with over 30 years of experience as a founder, CEO, executive and director of enterprise software businesses.
Background
Jim Sheward is the Founder and Principal at Shelamandiam LLC, an investment firm where he acts as a personal angel investor, advisor, or board member to technology start-ups and later stage companies. Prior to that, Jim spent two decades as the CEO and co-founder of Fiberlink. Under Jim's leadership, the company created a vision for Fiberlink's MaaS360 product to deliver comprehensive mobile security and management capabilities in a cloud-based platform. In December 2013, IBM acquired Fiberlink.
Jim has won various awards including the 2000 Blue Chip Enterprise Award sponsored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Mass Mutual Financial Group, the Greater Philadelphia's 2001 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in the Software and Technology Services Category, and the 2004 Information and Technology Innovator Award from the Fox School of Business at Temple University.
EDUCATION
Jim has a dual degree in Economics and Communications from the University of Virginia.
Jon is a principal consultant with a passion for strategy and has spent the past 25 years in the software industry.
Background
Jon brings a passion for strategy discovery, formulation and expression to INSTEP engagements, based on a 25-year career in the software industry. The work can be particularly powerful when it is rooted in a deep and shared sense of organizational purpose, or mission. Jon has led and contributed to teams focused on international expansion, new product development, ecosystem partnerships, digital transformation, corporate portfolio management, and organizational design. He focuses particularly on corporate growth cycles and the transitions necessary to move from start-up to small, medium, and large organizations.
Along with the rest of the INSTEP team, Jon shares an appreciation for the power of carefully chosen, proven frameworks, models, and techniques as a basis for collaboration and strategy formulation. These frameworks provide structure and shared vocabulary for client workshop design and facilitation as well as the creative expression of strategy - which in turn drives product level planning, ecosystem engagement, and customer and shareholder success. He is a guest faculty member at the University of New Haven's Executive MBA program, lecturing on strategy, technology, finance, and ethics.
EDUCATION
Jon earned his bachelor's degree at Harvard and his MBA at Yale.
Job Titles:
- Product Management Advisor
- Product Manager at SPS Commerce
Scott is a product management advisor where with 5+ years of product management experience and a digital native point of view.
Background
Scott Williams is currently a Product Manager at SPS Commerce, a leading software company that focuses on optimizing the supply chain for all retail partners, and currently leads 2 SaaS products - Assortment and Dev Center. Scott started his career at Optum, a Fortune 10 company, where he focused on SaaS products in healthcare. While at Optum, Scott held a variety of roles, spanning from Business Analyst to Product Owner and Product Manager of large-scale healthcare solutions. Scott has a passion for improving customer experiences, developing products as a core competency, and continual learning.
EDUCATION
Scott has a dual degree in History and Latin American Studies from Gustavus Adolphus College.
Job Titles:
- Advisor to the US FDA
- Expert in Computer System Validation
- Life Sciences IT / Compliance
Stephen is focused on SaaS-based life science software where he has over 20 years of experience in software development and validation.
Mr. Ferrell is a recognized expert in Computer System Validation particularly in the Cloud and Emerging Technologies space. Mr. Ferrell was co-founder of CompliancePath Ltd, a Scottish and US Compliance services company that supports regulated clients all around the world. Mr. Ferrell has held executive and senior level management positions with a number of technology firms in the Life Sciences, including but not limited to RURO, Promedim, CompliancePath, ThermoFisher, QIAGEN, ByteGrid, Sidus BioData.
Mr. Ferrell is a trusted advisor to the US FDA, having provided CSV, Cloud and Data Integrity training directly to field consumer officers and branch division chiefs. Mr. Ferrell's relationships with the US FDA led to the ISPE GAMP IT Infrastructure Control and Compliance Guide being endorsed by CBER, CDER and CDRH as well as the MHRA in the UK. Currently Mr. Ferrell is working closely with one of the US FDA Chief Policy Advisors to provide insight to the agency in emerging technologies such as Pharma 4.0, IOT, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence.