Executive Management Biographies

Jamie Lewis
Chief Executive Officer and Research Chair

One of the IT industry's most respected analysts and consultants, Jamie Lewis drives and provides strategic direction for Burton Group's overall research efforts. With over 19 years of experience in the IT industry, Lewis has both studied and influenced the development of core network infrastructure technologies. In his five-year tenure at Novell, for example, Lewis helped educate the market about the emergence of the network operating system, directory services, and messaging systems.

Lewis continued to focus on these and other core technologies after co-founding Burton Group in 1990. He has dedicated 14 years to Burton Group, working as both an analyst and a consultant. During that time, Lewis was instrumental in defining the concepts relevant to enterprise directories, meta-directories, access management systems, and other essential components of the emerging identity and access management infrastructure. More recently, Lewis charted Burton Group's expansion into Web services and application platforms with the launch of the Application Platform Strategies service. With Lewis' reliable guidance, Burton Group continues to monitor the evolution of these core technologies to support networked business models. Prominent users and vendors turn to Lewis for his keen insights into the evolution of these technologies and the markets that drive their development.

Gary J. Rowe
President

One of the world's leading network technology experts and visionaries, Gary Rowe brings 25 years of computer and networking industry experience to Burton Group. Rowe has led several hundred consulting engagements with the world's leading technology-user organizations. He has also written or contributed to hundreds of published articles about networking and technology for publications such as Network World, InternetWeek, and Computerworld. As a result of his expertise and industry reputation, Rowe has been invited to and has participated in hundreds of speaking engagements around the globe, particularly in North America, Europe and Australia.

As Burton's president, he is primarily responsible for the company's business and operational management as well as its strategic direction. Rowe provides leadership and direction for marketing, sales, IT, and finance, and spearheads the crafting and execution of the corporate business plan. He also serves in an advisory role for Burton's consulting organization and often provides support to the consulting team. During his tenure at Burton, Rowe judiciously and successfully integrated two mergers and acquisitions.

Formerly a principal with Rapport Communication - a global directory, messaging, and security consulting firm - Rowe developed technology strategies, wrote acclaimed reports, and led global consulting engagements for seven years until the company merged with Burton in 1998. Prior to joining Rapport, Rowe held a range of roles in the technology industry including architecture development, business management, and product management positions. For example, Rowe was director of core services for AT&T, responsible for business management of Internet services, directory, messaging infrastructure, and global network expansion programs.

Rowe has represented AT&T in the North American Directory Forum; served on the board of directors for the Electronic Messaging Association; and chaired the US-NMTS, an organization of public service providers collaborating on messaging issues and technologies. He has a bachelor's degree in business and computer science and an MBA from Babson College.

Gary Hein
Vice President, Operations

In charge of Service Operations, Hein is responsible for day-to-day management of all Burton Group Content, Consulting, and Production Services. Hein also draws on his Burton Group Analyst and Service Director experience to improve internal Burton Group operations and growth. He brings 14 years experience in the networking industry, including the design and deployment of directory services and directory-enabled solutions for Fortune 500 customers.

Prior to joining Burton Group, Hein was Vice President of Architecture and Strategy at Novell, Inc., where he was responsible for Novell's product architecture and common services. Hein also pioneered Novell's move towards open source software with the launch of forge.novell.com in 2003. He also designed and built Novell's first billion-user NDS tree as a proof of Novell's NDS v8 technology. His contributions at Novell earned him the Novell President's Award. Hein's background also includes experience in technical sales and support, consulting, marketing, keynote presentations, and the teaching of educational courses (including the development of associated manuals and training guidelines).

Hein has published numerous high-level business-oriented and technical white papers analyzing Novell's NDS and Microsoft's Active Directory. He also co-authored "Novell's Guide to Integrating NetWare 5 and NT" (IDG, 1999).

Chris Ross
Vice President, Marketing

Chris Ross brings 15 years of marketing and communication experience to Burton Group. Throughout his career, Ross has successfully led company brand initiatives, product launches, and marketing and lead generation campaigns that produced remarkable results.

As vice president of marketing for Burton Group, Ross leads marketing activities including marketing communications, brand management, web marketing, public relations, and new product and services launches. He is also responsible for client services and corporate seminars/events.

Prior to joining Burton Group, Ross owned his own marketing strategy firm, MarketingMPH. He has also held marketing management positions at Dynix Corporation, Raindance Communications, Rhythms Netconnections, Sprint and Qwest Communications.

Jason C. Lewis
Vice President, of Product Development and IT

Jason Lewis brings over fifteen years of senior technology management experience to Burton Group. Throughout his technology career, he contributed to and participated in a dozen high-level product rollouts in services industries; managed numerous systems integrations resulting from corporate M&As; implemented major database and directory services initiatives; and upgraded mission-critical systems for corporate-wide IT infrastructures. He has earned awards for both individual outstanding achievements as well as those recognizing corporate contributions.

As vice president of product development and information technology for Burton Group, Lewis oversees the design and development of Burton Group’s online features and functionality. Utilizing a user-oriented approach, Lewis and his staff work closely with clients to ensure continuous improvements in usability, findability and overall satisfaction with the company’s web-based services. Lewis also sets and executes the company’s IT strategy in support of key corporate initiatives.

Alexander F. Obbard
Vice President, Sales

As Burton Group's vice president of sales, Alex Obbard spearheads new business development and sales operations. Leading the charge to grow both Burton's revenue- and client-base, Obbard uses his 15 years of experience in the IT industry. Most recently, Obbard served as vice president of enterprise sales for Critical Path, a global provider of Internet messaging products and services. At Critical path, he led the sales team focused on messaging and directory software and services to the Fortune 500, and increasing revenue by a factor of ten. Obbard was vice president of sales and marketing for dotOne, a leading provider of outsourced messaging and messaging consulting services. At dotOne, he grew the revenue and customer base by a factor of five, launching nine new services, and establishing dotOne - which was ultimately acquired by Critical Path - as one of two clear market leaders in messaging services. Prior to dotOne, Obbard was vice president of sales and marketing for ViewSoft, an internet applications development company, where he launched three products and established a customer base of over 200 companies. Before joining ViewSoft, Obbard held various sales and sales management positions at XVT Software, Cyberscience, and Total Tec Systems. Obbard began his career as a hardware design engineer for Digital Equipment Corporation. He holds a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Pennsylvania.

Jancy Loughridge
Controller

With 25 years of accounting and finance experience, Loughridge is responsible for both day-to-day operations (accounts payable and receivable, payroll, budgeting, and purchasing) and financial planning/modeling and cash flow management for Burton Group. In addition, she facilitates the company's annual audits and focuses on corporate standards and positioning in anticipation of an initial public offering.

Since joining Burton in 1994, Loughridge saw the company through three corporate facilities expansions, and performed due diligence and managed financial integration on two M&As. She also created and implemented Burton's core accounting systems and coordinated the company's first comprehensive benefits program. Loughridge has been responsible for office management, conference coordination/logistics, venue negotiation and management, and facilities management including vendor relations and contract management. Loughridge also played a primary role in implementing and executing Burton's first stock option plans as well as creating and instituting corporate expense policies.

Prior to joining Burton, Loughridge was assistant controller at a dental insurance firm with annual revenues of $20 million. In this role, she reduced the company's annual audit fees by $80,000. Before her tenure with the dental firm, Loughridge held financial and accounting positions in multi-million dollar real estate, franchise and CPA industries.

The proud recipient of an accounting scholarship, Loughridge earned her degree in Business Management and Accounting in 1981. Over the past decade, Loughridge has honed her financial acumen by participating in numerous industry seminars and workshops such as Financial Modeling, Activity-Based Accounting, and Budgeting and Management Reporting.