About SVPMA

About the Board

Membership Promotions

Partners

About the Board of Directors

Mike Freier
As President of SVPMA, Mike is responsible for communicating with members about events, workshops, as well as maintaining the SVPMA membership list. Most recently, Mike was Director of Product Management at an early stage company focused on developing hardware/software products and equipment for companies in the electronics manufacturing space. Earlier in his career, Mr. Freier has held positions in mechanical design, applications engineering and sales management. Mike graduated from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering.

Greg Cohen
Greg Cohen, Senior Principal Consultant with the 280 Group, is a 15 year Product Management veteran with extensive experience and knowledge of Agile development, a Certified Scrum Master, and former President of the Silicon Valley Product Management Association. He has worked and consulted to
venture start-ups and large companies alike and has trained product managers on Agile development methods throughout the world. Greg is the author of the book "Agile Excellence for Product Managers" and a speaker and frequent commentator on product management issues including Lean Product Management.

Greg has a background in B2B software and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) including spend analysis, business analytics, contract management, network security, and medical technology. Prior to consulting, he has managed over a dozen products from concept through deployment and end of life for Silicon
Valley Companies such as Instill (acquired by iTradeNetworks,) Idealab!, and Pandesic (a joint venture between Intel and SAP.) 

Greg earned an MBA with honor from Babson College and a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering with second major in Electrical Engineering from Tufts University.

Jamie O’Halloran
As Director of Workshops for the SVPMA, Jamie is responsible for developing and managing SVPMA’s workshop series. Jamie is a Sr. Solutions Consultant at GXS, the worlds largest B2B e-commerce network provider. He previously helped managed B2B offerings at Cisco Systems and has 12 years of eCommerce and SCM experience. Prior to Cisco, he held various product management, marketing and operations management positions at QRS Corporation - helping to develop numerous collaborative commerce, product catalog and channel management solutions for the retail industry. Jamie Graduated Cum Laude from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst with a B.S. in Psychology

David Grubman
David serves on the board in support of the SVPMA online services. David is currently a Senior Product Manager with Financial Engines in Palo Alto where he manages the online advice product line. David's products serve the 401k market and customers include all of the major leading retirement plan processing mutual fund companies. Prior to joining Financial Engines David served as the Vice President of Product Development for a start-up in Birmingham Alabama and Chicago Illinois. In his spare times he runs California Jeep Authority, an online retailers, with his wife. David holds his Masters of Science from Northern Illinois University in Computer Science and his Bachelors in the same.

John Armstrong
John Armstrong is responsible for sponsor acquisition for SVPMA.  John has a successful 20+ year track record in the tech industry as a corporate and product marketing professional.   Since 2003, he has provided independent marketing consulting and interim management expertise to clients such as Cisco, Juniper, and Nokia, as well as numerous Silicon Valley-based start-ups including NetScaler, Securent, PacketMotion, and Mobile Money Ventures.  John is currently CMO at LeadForce1.  Prior to his consulting career, John was VP of Market Strategy at managed services provider Yipes Communications, where he pioneered the deployment of metro Ethernet.  He was also VP and Chief Analyst of the networking and telecommunications practice at Gartner/Dataquest.  John is a graduate of the Annenberg School at the University of Southern California, with an M.A. in Communications Management. He also holds a B.A. from Ryerson Polytechnic University..

Rich Mirnov
As Director of Special Events for SVPMA, Rich Mironov organizes the annual P-Camp unconference. He is a principal at Mironov Consulting, where he provides full-time, interim executive and project-based PM consulting to technology companies of all sizes.  Rich has held PM/Marketing leadership roles at Tandem, Sybase, iPass, AirMagnet and Enthiosys.  He's the author of "The Art of Product Management," the ongoing Product Bytes blog, and is a frequent guest lecturer at area business schools.  Rich has a BS Physics from Yale and an MBA from Stanford.

Helene Eichler
As Director of Communications Helene is responsible for developing and implementing Communications Strategies for SVPMA. An accomplished project/program manager, she currently runs HRE Technical Marketing focused on CRM and Partner Marketing Consulting. She has recently collaborated with Marketing Operations Partners on research data for their 2010 Marketing Operations Benchmark Study as well as identifying content for an SVPMA Marketing Operations Workshops.  She was previously Sr. Channel Marketing Manager at Narus, an IP Traffic Management Security company. Ms. Eichler has also held both Channel and Product Marketing roles at telecom networking equipment companies like Ditech Networks; and the semiconductor space for LSI Logic. Earlier in his career, Ms. Eichler has held positions as Marketing Communications Manager at Fairchild and Product Marketing Manager for a division of HP. Helene has an M.B.A. in Marketing from Santa Clara University as well as Network Engineering Certificate from U.C.S.C.-Extension.

Shyla Klinder
As Director of Network events, Shyla is responsible for managing SVPMA’s social networking events. Shyla is a product management professional with over 16 years of experience in enterprise software technology, product management, consulting, and development. As Product Manager at SAP labs, she was responsible for product definition, product planning for SAP’s first ever internet offering and marketplace exchanges. Shyla currently provides her expertise in strategic consulting, managing software products from concept to launch for early stage startups, and non-profits. Shyla holds a Master’s degree in Computer Science from Central Michigan University and a Master’s degree in Mathematics from Bangalore University, India.

Board Member Emeritus

Brian Lawley
Brian Lawley was President of SVPMA during 2006 and 2007. He is the President and Founder of the 280 Group, a Product Management services firm that provides consulting, contractors, training and templates. During his twenty year career in Product Management he has defined, launched and marketed over fifty successful products for companies such as Apple, Symantec, Adobe, Palm, SAP, Nokia and dozens of startup and mid-sized companies. Mr. Lawley is the Author of the Book “Expert Product Management: Advanced Techniques, Tips & Strategies for Product Management & Product Marketing.” He was nominated for the Product Management Excellence Award for Thought Leadership by the Association of International Product Marketing & Management in 2006 and 2007. He is the editor of Product Management 2.0, a newsletter and Blog devoted to excellence in Product Management and routinely writes guest articles for a variety of other publications. He frequently speaks on the topic of Product Management, has delivered several keynote addresses at well-known conferences and has been featured on CNBC's World Business Review and the Silicon Valley Business Report. Mr. Lawley is a Certified Product Manager (CPM) and Certified Product Marketing Manager (CPMM). He earned an MBA with honors from San Jose State University and Bachelors Degree in Management Science from the University of California at San Diego with a Minor in Music Technology.

Anar Taori
Anar is the SVPMA Member Emeritus, helping with Membership. She is a Product Manager at Metreo. Prior to Metreo, Anar worked for several years in product development, management and marketing at industry leaders such as Intel, Compression Labs, Sprint, and American Express. Anar holds an MBA from The Wharton School with a MS in Electrical Engineering & Computer Science from Purdue University and a BSEE from BITS Pilani.

Gautam Patil
Gautam's professional background is in Technology Product Management in Enterprise Software Products. He is a founding director of the Silicon Valley Product Management Association Inc and has worn many hats in its first 5 years. As an activist, Gautam founded Cshops, a recognized, low overhead non-profit ecommerce organization which helps to connect the rural artisans of Manav Sadhna (Gandhi Ashram) and Guria with global customers. As an avid mountaineer, Gautam has been invited to present motivational talks at various venues including Sierra Club, REI Company Stores, and Any Mountain Company. He has earned kudos for bravery in dealing with people and situations in extreme conditions including those involving death and dramatic rescue operations. Gautum is competing this year to be the first Indian to scale the seven summits. Check on his progress at www.isummitworld.com.

Neeta Mhatre (Godhwani)
Neeta has over 14 years of experience in product management, marketing & IT. She currently works with Siemens Medical Solutions as a Chief Information Officer within the Ultrasound Division. Prior to joining Siemens, she has worked with Genzyme Diagnostics, Hewlett Packard, Yodlee & geneticXchange. She has an MBA (Marketing & IT) from Santa Clara University & a BS in Biomedical Engineering from University of Bombay.

Sachin Gangupantula
Sachin served as Director of Business Development. He was in-charge of sponsor relationships and strategic marketing. Sachin is currently the Director-Professional Services at IGN/Gamespy Entertainment. He has amassed considerable experience during the past twelve years in software industry with evolving roles in software design and development, product marketing, professional services, strategic marketing and business development. Sachin holds an MS degree in computer science from University of Hawaii and a BSEE degree in Electrical Engineering from Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), India.

Ray Stendall
Ray was the SVPMA Director of Social Networking, and has been on the SVPMA Board since it started in May 2000. In this capacity, Ray is responsible for ensuring the organization operates within budget and that membership fees collected can successfully offset costs to operate. Previously Ray held the position of Director of Membership and transitioned into Finance in June 2002. Ray is a Product Manager with Lucent Technologies' Network Operations Software Division. Prior to joining Lucent, Ray worked in various Product Management roles for Compuware Corporation and 2 software startups in the Seattle area. Ray holds a B.S. in Business Administration from the Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario in Canada and a Masters of Science in Computers and Information Systems from the University of Phoenix.

Jasmine de Gaia
Jasmine de Gaia was President of SVPMA from 2002 to 2004 and has been actively involved in the organization since its inception in 2000. As President, she was responsible for leading and managing all aspects of the organization and under her leadership, the association officially obtained its non-profit, 501c status. She was instrumental in the growth of the SVPMA and increased membership by 50% during her tenure. Prior to serving as President, Jasmine managed a variety of functions within the SVPMA, including planning and coordinating monthly events, recruiting speakers, moderating panel discussions and coordinating membership.

Jasmine is currently a Global Product Manager at OCLC, a world-wide, non-profit library cooperative. Prior to joining OCLC, Jasmine led the product management of a portfolio of web-based software products at Lucent Technologies and various Silicon Valley startups. She holds a Master’s degree in Management & Engineering from Stanford University

Previous Board Members

Sharon Grimshaw - Director of Volunteers

Sharon Rush - Director of Partnerships

Sarah Lynne Cooper - Director of Marketing

Ivan Chalif - one of the early organizers of SVPMA

Simon Peel - An early SVPMA Board member.

Laura Lukitsch - A founding member of SVPMA.

Bill Kong - Founded the SVPMA in May, 2000.