Alan N. Schlaifer President, Wharton Club of DC Alan has led the Club as its president or chairman for over 15 years and was the recipient of the Joseph Wharton Award at the Club’s 37th Annual Dinner in 2005. He also received Wharton’s Distinguished Alumni Service Award from Wharton Dean Pat Harker last year. Alan is an attorney in a business and general practice, with a special interest in the resort, hospitality and travel industries and government regulatory and trade regulation matters. He has published over 100 articles and writes a monthly column for resort and travel industry executives. Previously, Alan was a Senior Trial Attorney at the Federal Trade Commission for 10 years and the U.S. Department of Justice. Wharton, BSE, cum laude; J.D., Harvard Law School.
		Steven Lebischak Conference Chairman Panel One Manager and Keynote Speaker Coordinator Steve is currently a Technical Director with Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin joint venture which will design and manufacture the Department of Homeland Security's maritime air and seagoing assets. He has also served as the Program's Risk Manager. Previously, while with General Electric and later Hughes Electronics, he designed and developed satellite communication systems for government and international customers. Wharton MBA in finance; graduate degree in engineering, Penn State; electrical engineering studies at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. Steve began his career as an officer in the U.S. Coast Guard in Alaska. Contact: 571-218-3438; steve.lebischak@ngc.com.
		Jean-François Orsini Chairman, Wharton Club of DC Panel Three Manager Jean-François teaches corporate simulation seminars online through his own firm, Pin-Stripe.com. The courses facilitate corporate communications between distant locations (Supply Chain Management; International divisions), and are used as well for post M&A integration. He also manages a non-profit business ethics organization. Jean-François started his career in 1972 by implementing a business plan that he developed for an entrepreneurial course at Wharton – the transfer of small-scale technology from Europe to the U.S. Subsequently, he has been involved in other entrepreneurial activities and worked as a consultant with the World Bank and the U.S. Agency for International Development. Jean-François was born in Viet Nam, grew up in Morocco, and was educated in France, earning a degree in business at a top French business school. He is a French citizen of Corsican background. Wharton Ph.D. in corporate policy and management science; Wharton MBA in finance. Contact: 202-686-0859; jorsini@pin-stripe.com.
		John R. Powers John is the Chairman of FirTH, an alliance created to address the need for decisive action in response to catastrophic events. He has over twenty years experience in emergency management and was highlighted by McGraw Hill in its Annual Review of Homeland Security for his concept for managing the response to a major terrorist event. He served as a Commissioner and the Executive Director of the President's Commission for Critical Infrastructure Protection and developed the "National Structures" recommendations adopted by the President. Earlier, he was the architect of the DoD Master Mobilization Plan, developed the "National System for Emergency Coordination" for the Reagan White House, altered our nuclear response doctrine, headed the FEMA regional office in Chicago during the "floods of 1993." He has a Ph.D. in Physics from UPenn, produced one of the early computer pattern recognition algorithms, developed the skin friction law for the Polaris missile and created a stochastic projection of the commercial potential of advanced electric energy generation technologies. He served in the US Marine Corps as a fighter pilot and a reserve A4 squadron commander. Contact: jrpowers@us.net.
		Ali Qureshi Panel Two Co-Manager Ali is the Branch Manager for Web Systems at the U.S. House of Representatives. He oversees web operations for the hosting, consulting, and call center services for House web sites and web-enabled applications. Ali has worked for Booz Allen and Hamilton and Accenture in the following areas: environmental policy; telecommunications (including Operational Support Systems (OSS), wholesale markets, Internet); strategic sourcing; and healthcare. Ali has international on-site consulting experience, specifically in Sub-Saharan Africa (South Africa, Swaziland, and Lesotho) where he partnered with an international health care consulting organization and the US Department of Defense to support the AIDS Awareness campaign and related program management activities. M.S. candidate (2006) in Management of Technology, jointly sponsored by Penn Engineering and Wharton. Ali has conducted extensive academic research on the international private equity markets in the Middle East. B.S. in Environmental Engineering, Wilkes University. Contact: 703-863-2677; ali.Qureshi.wt06@wharton.upenn.edu.
		James Tiani Panel Two Co-Manager Jim has worked for the Office of the Chief Administrative Officer, U.S. House of Representatives, Finance & Procurement Department since 2003. He provides procurement support for the Members of Congress as well as the Chief Administrative Office. Prior to entering the Government sector, Jim spent 29 years with Mobil Oil, mainly in the U.S. Marketing & Refining Division. Jim was a key player in the development and implementation of projects such as Mobil Speedpass, embedded credit card machines in the dispenser, electronic purchasing system – one of the first companies in the industry to have such a system on an intranet, and various cost reduction initiatives. Jim was twice the recipient of Mobil’s Outstanding Marketing Achievement Award. Jim also serves on the Board of Directors of the Vienna Baseball Foundation. An invited member of the Wharton Club of DC. Contact: jat3311@aol.com
		Shaun Chakrabarti Keynote Speaker Coordinator Shaun has held a number of positions within Intelsat, focused on product development and channel management. Most recently he has worked on developing Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Solutions. Prior to joining Intelsat, Sean was director of business development and analysis for AGIS, a Tier 1 Internet backbone provider. Previously, he gained strategic and business process consulting experience with Telcordia. Shaun held a variety of positions with MCI for eight years and also worked in proprietary research with boutique investment banks. Wharton MBA; B.S., University of Maryland Smith School of Business; Certified Public Accountant. Contact: shaun.chakrabarti@intelsat.com.
		William Kyburz Panelist Coordinator Bill is a program and business development manager in the General Dynamics Network Systems Business Unit, where he has managed several government contract programs. One project focus is the teleport connectivity between a next-generation satellite communication system and the land-based user networks. He has also evaluated customer-specific solutions for potential marketing to large commercial markets and “plug and play” solutions for the Federal Civil market. Previously, Bill was with MCI Communications for 20 years. He wore many hats at MCI, moving among product development, marketing, finance and IT/systems development. He held end-to-end product and revenue responsibilities and managed strategic planning, project development, and marketing programs, including sales incentives and promotions. M.S. Engineering & Management Technology, jointly sponsored by Penn Engineering and Wharton. Contact: 703-284-9003; william.kyburz.wt02@ wharton.upenn.edu.
		Kevin LeGrand Kevin is the founder of Cohesion Partners, a management consulting firm that helps clients align their people, processes and technology with their strategic aims. Previously, Kevin was a director of the strategic consulting practice at Plural, a systems integration company later acquired by Dell Computer. He focused on strategy formation and execution while a managing consultant in the Information and Technology Strategy practice of Accenture. He was a principal of the Strategic Consulting Group for the telecom industry at American Management Systems and also worked for McDonnell Douglas in various capacities. Wharton MBA; M.S. in computer science, Washington University (St. Louis); Certification in Organizational Development and Change Management, Georgetown University. Contact: 202-363-3117; klegrand@cohesionpartners.com.
		Andrea Essex At the law firm Kelley Drye & Warren, Andrea handles business development and a variety of marketing initiatives for the two local branch offices in Tysons Corner and Washington, DC. She is active in the TelecomHUB, the Washington Board of Trade, several private telecom policy committees and some NVTC committees. A New York transplant, she brought a wealth of experience from prior jobs with Cartier, CS First Boston, Warner Communications, General Motors Investment Management Corp., Dean Witter & Co., Grey Advertising and Peat Marwick Mitchell & Co., mostly in corporate identity imaging and promotion, public relations, event management and corporate sales. In the DC metro area, Andrea has developed an ever-growing network of contacts across a broad spectrum of the business community. A former entrepreneur, Andrea once had her own firm on Wall Street as a financial ad agent working in print media (tombstones, brochures, integrated corporate identity materials). An invited member of the Wharton Club of DC. Contact: 703-918-2329; aessex@kelleydrye.com.
		Kevin Hayes Kevin is a Senior Analyst with Pearson Analytic Solutions. He advises clients on how to make best use of their enterprise computing solutions. He manages the development of enterprise solutions that encompass processes, their associated technologies, and the personnel plans to support those solutions. His background includes developing solutions for CRM, ERP, Supply Chain Management, Knowledge Management and developing solutions that bring Commercial-off-the-Shelf (COTS) technologies and client/customer technologies together. Prior to Pearson Analytic Solutions, Kevin worked for IBM and Lockheed Martin. M.S. in systems engineering and is a graduate of the Executive Masters of Technology Management Program, a jointly sponsored program by Penn and Wharton; B.S. in mechanical engineering, Penn State. Contact: 703-597-9821; khayes83@comcast.net.