Aug 12th | 2025
Intelligence Over Hardware: Security Meets Smart Tech
Join Parks Associates, Ubiety, and leading players to explore how to navigate this shift, unlock new value, and position your solutions for long-term success in a rapidly evolving market.
Tuesday, August 12, 2025
Speaker Roundtable
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Parks Associates mission is to help companies navigate the changing consumer technology landscapes through data-driven market insights, extensive consumer and industry intelligence, and executive conferences. With over two decades of dedication to the company, Elizabeth Parks, President and Chief Marketing Officer, has been instrumental in shaping its growth and success, along with the continued focus of delivering timely and quality industry and consumer insights on the broadband, entertainment, connected home and SMB industries.
Elizabeth's commitment to Parks Associates' overarching mission is unwavering. Parks Associates provides clients with the most comprehensive consumer and industry research and analysis to empower businesses to make informed decisions in an ever-evolving landscape.
Elizabeth's journey with Parks Associates began after graduating with a BA in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Plano Texas with her husband and three children.
Keith Puckett
Founder | CEO
Ubiety Technologies
Keith Puckett
Founder | CEO
Ubiety Technologies
Keith Puckett, a former M&A investment banker, has transformed into a serial entrepreneur with a proven track record of creating disruptive start-ups. He is the Founder and CEO of Ubiety Technologies, which offers an AI engine and RF detection platform aimed at enhancing situational awareness across residential, commercial, and government security sectors. Ubiety can detect, categorize, and recognize individuals based on the devices they carry. Its AI engine, Eckleburg, processes high-speed radio frequency data to make real-time identity inferences using only passive RF signals, including WiFi, Bluetooth, and cellular data. Keith is passionate about contributing to safety and security of families throughout America!
Veronica Moturi
Senior Vice President, Customer Experience
Brinks Home
Veronica Moturi
Senior Vice President, Customer Experience
Brinks Home
Veronica Moturi began her career as a customer service phone agent. In 2012, she joined Brinks Home™ as Manager, Consumer Affairs, and has since advanced to her current role as Senior Vice President, Customer Experience. Leveraging what she learned as a frontline representative and her deep understanding of the security industry, Veronica strategizes and executes initiatives aimed at reducing attrition, enhancing customer lifetime value, and improving both the customer and employee experiences. She is dedicated to not only transforming the call center through universal agents, career pathing, and technology-enhanced learning, but also developing a team-focused environment committed to the shared goal of fostering a best-in-class customer experience. Veronica’s leadership and passion have earned her recognition, including being named to Security Systems News’ “40 Under 40” and Industry Tech Outlook's “10 Most Admired Women Leaders 2024.” Veronica prides herself on building an innovative culture and championing solutions centered around our customers, employees, and core values. When not at work, Veronica enjoys exploring new restaurants and spending time with her husband and two kids.
Emily O'Donnell
VP, Product and Communications
Evolution Digital
Emily O'Donnell
VP, Product and Communications
Evolution Digital
Emily is a product leader with more than 10 years of experience driving innovation and strategy at the intersection of whole-home connectivity. Currently serving as Vice President of Product and Communications at Evolution Digital, Emily leads cross-functional teams to deliver scalable broadband, video and IoT solutions that align global service providers’ business goals with consumer needs.
Prior to joining Evolution Digital, Emily served on Sling TV and DISH Network’s product communications team, providing a foundation for compelling narratives around roadmap conversations, launching new features and driving alignment between product, engineering and executive leadership.
Emily earned her bachelor’s degrees in communications and political science from the University of Michigan, graduating with high honors.
Gilles Drieu
SVP & Chief Technology Officer
ADT
Gilles Drieu
SVP & Chief Technology Officer
ADT
Gilles Drieu is an accomplished engineering executive with 25 years of experience driving product innovation and business transformation across some of Silicon Valley’s most iconic companies, including Google, Apple, and Adobe. He is currently the Chief Technology Officer and Senior Vice President of Product Engineering at ADT. His work is helping transform one of the most trusted names in security into a modern, intelligent platform for safety and automation.
Prior to ADT, Gilles spent nearly a decade at Google, where he led engineering teams behind Nest, Chromecast, Google Home, and Assistant, helping define and scale the Helpful Home vision to millions of users globally. In later years, he focused on company-wide data protection, privacy engineering, and regulatory compliance, strengthening Google’s privacy posture across products.
Gilles holds a Master’s degree in Computer Science from l’École Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Paris and a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Rouen.
Chris A. Cholas
SVP, Product and Technology
Hotwire Communications
Chris A. Cholas
SVP, Product and Technology
Hotwire Communications
Chris A Cholas serves as the Senior Vice President of Product and Technology at Hotwire Communications Ltd. In this pivotal role, he drives innovation and strategic development across Hotwire's product offerings and technological infrastructure.
A distinguished leader in the telecommunications and technology sectors, Chris's career is marked by significant contributions, including multiple patents that underscore his innovative spirit. His pioneering work has also been recognized with Technical Emmy Awards, a testament to his impact on the industry.
Chris brings a wealth of experience from his extensive work history, including a notable background in operator executive roles. This experience provides him with a unique perspective on the operational and strategic challenges and opportunities within the industry. He is an alumnus of Metropolitan State College of Denver, where he built a strong foundation for his distinguished career.
With a deep understanding of industry trends, a proven track record of innovation, and a commitment to advancing product and technology solutions, Chris is a recognized and influential figure in his field.
The residential security industry is undergoing a critical transformation. Traditional approaches centered on expensive hardware and professional monitoring are being challenged by a new generation of software-driven, intelligent solutions.
As consumer expectations evolve, the industry must respond with systems that go beyond basic threat detection to deliver actionable insights, personalized experiences, and seamless integration within the broader smart home ecosystem.
Parks Associates’ research highlights a growing demand for intelligent presence detection, contextual awareness, and advanced technologies that provide meaningful differentiation in a highly competitive market. Embedded functionality in devices, combined with cloud-based analytics, is enabling a shift from reactive to proactive security models.
This session examines:
- Economic and technological trends reshaping the home security landscape
- The rise of complementary solutions that enhance, rather than replace, existing hardware
- The growing role of AI and presence-based intelligence in delivering smarter, more contextual security
- The urgent need for providers to align with evolving consumer expectations
- The risk of falling behind as new players quickly gain ground
May 13th | 2025
- May 15th | 2025
CONNECTIONS: The Premier Connected Home Conference
Sessions are in the Legacy Ballroom - 2nd Floor in the Renaissance Dallas at Plano Legacy.
Tuesday, May 13, 2025
Welcome to CONNECTIONS: Highlighting Innovation
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Parks Associates mission is to help companies navigate the changing consumer technology landscapes through data-driven market insights, extensive consumer and industry intelligence, and executive conferences. With over two decades of dedication to the company, Elizabeth Parks, President and Chief Marketing Officer, has been instrumental in shaping its growth and success, along with the continued focus of delivering timely and quality industry and consumer insights on the broadband, entertainment, connected home and SMB industries.
Elizabeth's commitment to Parks Associates' overarching mission is unwavering. Parks Associates provides clients with the most comprehensive consumer and industry research and analysis to empower businesses to make informed decisions in an ever-evolving landscape.
Elizabeth's journey with Parks Associates began after graduating with a BA in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Plano Texas with her husband and three children.
Welcome to CONNECTIONS! The event goals are to provide the best research insights and perspectives from all areas of the connected home and provide a platform for collaboration and business partnerships.
AI Meets the Smart Home | panel discussion
Moderator
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
Moderator
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
INDUSTRY EXPERTISE: Connected Health, Connected Home Technologies and Services, Connected Entertainment Products and Services.
Jennifer manages the research department and Parks Associates' process for producing high-quality, relevant, and meaningful research. Jennifer also leads and advises on syndicated and custom research projects across all connected consumer verticals and guides questionnaire development for Parks Associates’ extensive consumer analytics survey program. Jennifer is a certified focus group moderator, with training from the Burke Institute.
Jennifer earned her PhD in religion, politics, and society and an MA in church-state studies from Baylor University. She earned her BA in politics from the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.
Paul Williams
Global Managing Director, Home Management Business Unit
Nice
Paul Williams
Global Managing Director, Home Management Business Unit
Nice
Paul Williams serves as the Managing Director of the Home Management Solutions Business Unit for Nice and leads the worldwide strategy and business for the connected home in this role. Paul has over 20 years of executive leadership in the connected home space and his career spans start-ups to Fortune 500 companies. Paul previously served as Nice North America’s Chief Product Officer where he led the product management teams and developed the product strategy and product roadmaps of all products / solutions for Nice in North America. Prior to joining Nice, he was at GE Lighting in the role of GM of Product Management and Growth where he was charged with reimagining lighting solutions. In three years, Paul’s team created a DIY smart home ecosystem with innovative products and scaled the consumer mobile app, taking it from just 30,000 users to more than 2 million. During his 14+ years of executive leadership at Control4, a manufacturer of smart home solutions, he was instrumental in building the company from a startup to IPO with double-digit, year-over-year growth.
Marcus Anderson
Director, Sales
Replicant AI
Marcus Anderson
Director, Sales
Replicant AI
Bringing over a decade of experience in the technology industry, Marcus has specialized in Conversational AI, with a keen focus on the security sector. At Replicant.ai, Marcus has partnered with numerous organizations to elevate service levels, drive operational efficiencies, and enhance profit margins. He will be sharing his insights at the Parks Associates’ CONNECTIONS event, where he continues to champion the transformative potential of AI in customer interactions.
Ben Berg
Senior Director Product Management, Video
Alarm.com
Ben Berg
Senior Director Product Management, Video
Alarm.com
Ben Berg, Senior Director Product Management, Video, Alarm.com
Bryce Judd
Chief Revenue Officer
Savant
Bryce Judd
Chief Revenue Officer
Savant
Bryce has nearly 30 years of experience driving business growth globally with a strong emphasis on technology solutions. Currently the Chief Revenue Officer at Savant, he leads sales strategy, operations, and customer service for both the Savant professional smart home and power business and the GE Lighting, a Savant company retail business, while ensuring that the company continues to launch groundbreaking solutions and partnerships that are revolutionizing the smart home, power, and lighting spaces. Most recently he was President and an Operating Partner of Ascent Ventures where he directed strategic oversight of a dynamic portfolio of SaaS, solar, sales enablement, fintech, consumer and multi-site services, and construction companies. He served as both C-Suite and board member for multiple companies within the portfolio. In the five years prior, he served as Chief Sales Officer and Senior Vice President of Global Sales at Control4, where he led the worldwide sales organization with a focus on strengthening Control4’s channel presence, accelerating the business, and working with the field organization, dealers, and distributors to sell and deliver smart solutions to home and business owners. Previously, Bryce led sales and business operations for Nokia Corporation’s subdivision, Motive Inc., a customer experience management platform for connected devices and mobile services, including home automation and IoT. As Division COO he drove the company’s annual revenue from $50 million to $500 million. Before this he served in various executive level positions across Sales, Operations, Product & Business Development, and Marketing at Sprint-Nextel Corporation, which is now T-Mobile. Bryce is a certified Six Sigma Green Belt, a former Board Member of the Home Technology Association (2017-2021), and currently sits on the CEDIA Government Affairs committee. He has a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the University of San Francisco and holds an MBA from the University of Virginia.
Artificial intelligence is revolutionizing the smart home, enabling devices to anticipate needs, adapt to preferences, and deliver personalized experiences. This session explores the latest advancements in AI-driven solutions, how its shaking up the competitive environment, and opening up new business opportunities in home automation, security, entertainment, and energy management.
Keynote: AI and The Smart Home
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Parks Associates mission is to help companies navigate the changing consumer technology landscapes through data-driven market insights, extensive consumer and industry intelligence, and executive conferences. With over two decades of dedication to the company, Elizabeth Parks, President and Chief Marketing Officer, has been instrumental in shaping its growth and success, along with the continued focus of delivering timely and quality industry and consumer insights on the broadband, entertainment, connected home and SMB industries.
Elizabeth's commitment to Parks Associates' overarching mission is unwavering. Parks Associates provides clients with the most comprehensive consumer and industry research and analysis to empower businesses to make informed decisions in an ever-evolving landscape.
Elizabeth's journey with Parks Associates began after graduating with a BA in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Plano Texas with her husband and three children.
Dave Kranzler
Director, IoT Services
Amazon Web Services
Dave Kranzler
Director, IoT Services
Amazon Web Services
Dave Kranzler is the Director, IoT Services at Amazon Web Services. His mission is to help IoT device and solution builders across all industry verticals connect to the AWS Cloud, by providing the device-to-cloud software, tools, and services necessary to accelerate that journey.
Prior to joining AWS, Dave was an IoT solution and device builder. He was Senior Vice President of Product Development at three IoT pioneers: SkyBell (smart home), Trilliant Networks (smart metering and smart grid), and Savi Technology (smart logistics). He was also a General Manager at Broadcom and Cypress Semiconductor, where he specialized in microprocessors, high-speed memories, and networking chips for embedded devices.
Dave holds a BSEE from MIT and an MBA from Santa Clara University.
Artificial intelligence is transforming the smart home. New applications are being introduced, from predictive automation to voice control advancements focused on control, data, and integration. Energy efficiency is a key driver of interest for smart home technology. This keynote addresses how AI is changing the user experience and how these impacts new products coming to market.
Marketing Smart Home Services to the Consumer | panel discussion
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Parks Associates mission is to help companies navigate the changing consumer technology landscapes through data-driven market insights, extensive consumer and industry intelligence, and executive conferences. With over two decades of dedication to the company, Elizabeth Parks, President and Chief Marketing Officer, has been instrumental in shaping its growth and success, along with the continued focus of delivering timely and quality industry and consumer insights on the broadband, entertainment, connected home and SMB industries.
Elizabeth's commitment to Parks Associates' overarching mission is unwavering. Parks Associates provides clients with the most comprehensive consumer and industry research and analysis to empower businesses to make informed decisions in an ever-evolving landscape.
Elizabeth's journey with Parks Associates began after graduating with a BA in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Plano Texas with her husband and three children.
Desiree Mejia
Co-Founder & Chief Operating Officer
SkyBell
Desiree Mejia
Co-Founder & Chief Operating Officer
SkyBell
As a co-founder of SkyBell, Desiree plays a crucial role in steering the company’s strategic operations. Celebrating SkyBell’s 10 years in business in June 2023, Desiree has overseen the professional installation of over 2 Million Video Doorbells through the security industry. Desiree expertly leads SkyBell’s supply chain management and contract manufacturing, while overseeing the development and launch of SkyBell Connect, the company’s proprietary back-office system that overseas all deployed devices. Additionally, in her capacity as SkyBell’s Chief Operating Officer, Desiree focuses on nurturing existing customer relationships, steering Customer Support, and supervising Order Fulfillment. Before setting the foundation for SkyBell, Desiree served as Chief Operating Officer at Location Based Technologies, a firm renowned for its GPS tracking solutions.
Richard Plummer
Senior Director, Home Services
AIG
Richard Plummer
Senior Director, Home Services
AIG
Richard Plummer, Senior Director (Home Services), AIG
Charlie Dougherty
Senior Product Manager for Smart Homes
Kwikset
Charlie Dougherty
Senior Product Manager for Smart Homes
Kwikset
Charlie Dougherty is a Senior Product Manager for Kwikset, leading the company’s portfolio of Matter, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth connected smart locks. Leveraging career experience in marketing both software and hardware products across a variety of smart home categories, Charlie is responsible for developing and launching innovative smart home solutions for Kwikset. Most recently, he drove the launch of Halo Select, the company’s first offering to support both Wi-Fi and Matter connectivity.
Greg Rhoades
Director of Marketing, Smart and New Technology Products
Leviton Manufacturing
Greg Rhoades
Director of Marketing, Smart and New Technology Products
Leviton Manufacturing
Greg Rhoades is the director of marketing for Leviton residential smart and new technology products including Decora Smart and Leviton Load Center. He is responsible for the marketing and training efforts, educating distributor counterpeople, electrical contractors and homeowners alike. For the past 19 years, Greg has appeared in dozens of TV shows and news articles explaining the benefits of smart home technology including security, energy management, convenience and fun! In his free time, Greg enjoys restoring his 200-year old New Orleans Creole Cottage with his wife, Jessica.
The smart home market continues to expand beyond innovators. Consumer adoption hinges on simple, easy experiences, effective messaging, and perceived value. This session highlights insights into consumer motivations, barriers, and trends, offering strategies to target diverse market segments. Speakers share specific marketing approaches, including bundles, discounts, and messaging.
Networking Reception | Sponsored by Kwikset
Location: Legacy Foyer
Wednesday, May 14, 2025
Registration Open | Sponsored by Becklar
Location: Legacy Foyer
Networking Breakfast | Sponsored by AIG
Location: Legacy A
Welcome: Connected Lifestyles – Security at the Heart of the Home
Moderator
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
Moderator
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
INDUSTRY EXPERTISE: Connected Health, Connected Home Technologies and Services, Connected Entertainment Products and Services.
Jennifer manages the research department and Parks Associates' process for producing high-quality, relevant, and meaningful research. Jennifer also leads and advises on syndicated and custom research projects across all connected consumer verticals and guides questionnaire development for Parks Associates’ extensive consumer analytics survey program. Jennifer is a certified focus group moderator, with training from the Burke Institute.
Jennifer earned her PhD in religion, politics, and society and an MA in church-state studies from Baylor University. She earned her BA in politics from the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.
Parks Associates' research finds demand for smart home devices is now the top trigger for security system purchases. This opening session highlights the demand for security as a key part of the smart home experience.
Innovations in Safety, Security, and Monitoring | panel discussion
Moderator
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
Moderator
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
INDUSTRY EXPERTISE: Connected Health, Connected Home Technologies and Services, Connected Entertainment Products and Services.
Jennifer manages the research department and Parks Associates' process for producing high-quality, relevant, and meaningful research. Jennifer also leads and advises on syndicated and custom research projects across all connected consumer verticals and guides questionnaire development for Parks Associates’ extensive consumer analytics survey program. Jennifer is a certified focus group moderator, with training from the Burke Institute.
Jennifer earned her PhD in religion, politics, and society and an MA in church-state studies from Baylor University. She earned her BA in politics from the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.
Morgan Hertel
VP of Technology and Innovation
Rapid Response Monitoring
Morgan Hertel
VP of Technology and Innovation
Rapid Response Monitoring
Morgan Hertel, with over 40 years of experience in the electronic security industry, is a well-respected leader who has served in many executive leadership roles for independent security integration companies and monitoring centers. Currently, as Vice President of Technology & Innovation for Rapid Response Monitoring, Morgan evaluates and harnesses the synergy between the latest technological advancements and the industry’s leading service providers to further advance the unmatched Dealer services of Rapid Response.
Morgan serves as President of The Monitoring Association (TMA) and is actively involved in many local and national industry associations and initiatives, and he dedicates countless hours to the work of several forward-thinking committees throughout the industry, as well.
Morgan holds the following certificates and licenses:
NICET Level III Fire Alarm Technology, California Alarm Company Qualified Manager, Oregon Certified Trainer, Oregon Executive Manager, TMA Level I and II Central Station Operator, SIA Certified Operator and ESA Certified Alarm Installer.
Anthony Iannone
Director of Innovation
Affiliated Monitoring
Anthony Iannone
Director of Innovation
Affiliated Monitoring
Anthony Iannone is an experienced enterprise technology and operations executive with strong problem-solving skills who specializes in creating and implementing innovative and cost-effective solutions in the security and information technology spaces.
With over twenty years of experience in the life safety and security verticals, many of which were focused on IP video and PERS technology development, he was selected as a leader in the security technology industry by Security System News as part of their 2019 '40 Under 40' list. He also has extensive experience in the specification, design, and construction of emergency command and life safety monitoring centers.
Today, Anthony is a director at Affiliated Monitoring, one of the largest wholesale / third-party providers of life safety and IoT monitoring services in the United States. Anthony and his team are responsible for Affiliated's Live Agent Driven Video & PERS Monitoring solutions and technologies, and he led the charge for Affiliated to become the first third-party monitoring provider to achieve a UL827B listing for hosted and monitored video services.
A graduate of the University of Manitoba, Anthony resides in South Orange, New Jersey with his wife Elizabeth and son Miles. In his spare time, he enjoys hiking, attending hockey games, and travelling.
Carie Small
Senior Director ADT Monitoring Product & Engineering
ADT
Carie Small
Senior Director ADT Monitoring Product & Engineering
ADT
Carie Small, Senior Director ADT Monitoring Product & Engineering, ADT
Laura Finson
Director of Product and Product Partnerships
Brinks Home
Laura Finson
Director of Product and Product Partnerships
Brinks Home
Laura is an accomplished product and sourcing leader with nearly three decades of experience in product development, merchandising, sourcing, logistics, cost negotiation and collaboration across global markets. As Director of Product and Product Partnerships at Brinks Home, she leads strategic initiatives that drive innovation, efficiency, and growth in the smart home security sector. Prior to Brinks Home, Laura held multiple leadership roles at Payless ShoeSource, where she managed global sourcing and product development, spearheading initiatives across North America, Latin America, Australia, the Middle East and Asia.
After a few lean years in which security providers optimized business around existing subscribers, providers prepare for a rebound in demand with expanded portfolios of solutions and choice in installation and monitoring options. This opening panel discusses the state of the residential security market, important industry efforts to enhance emergency prevention, detection, and response, and the innovations that will define the next 3-5 years of market competition.
Smart Home Services: A Deeper Dive | panel discussion
Moderator
Daniel Holcomb
Senior Analyst, Smart Home Research
Parks Associates
Moderator
Daniel Holcomb
Senior Analyst, Smart Home Research
Parks Associates
Daniel is responsible for smart home research involving market trend analysis, competitor and positioning assessments, technology evaluations, and forecasts of relevant industry metrics.
Daniel is a market research industry veteran with 13 years of experience across multiple research types such as shopper insights, brand equity and brand health tracking, and customer experience. Daniel has also conducted research across multiple sectors such as consumer packaged goods, consumer electronics, specialty retail, and transportation, travel, and hospitality.
Daniel has a BA in Sociology from the University of Texas at Arlington, with specializations in Research and Evaluation, Diversity, and Family and Gender Studies.
Gene LaNois
Vice President of Product Marketing
Vivint, an NRG company
Gene LaNois
Vice President of Product Marketing
Vivint, an NRG company
Gene LaNois is the Vice President of Product Marketing at Vivint, an NRG company. A smart home expert with extensive channel and multi-trade experience, he is focused on enabling Vivint to chase all consumer and partnership opportunities. He is responsible for overseeing the strategy and direction of Vivint product marketing and channel expansion. Prior to joining Vivint, Mr. LaNois served as a Director for Google’s Professional and Industry Partnerships, working with energy utilities, and professional trade Partnerships. He joined Nest during its startup phase as General Manager of the company's Professional Channel and has held executive and leadership roles with several home and energy leaders including Watsco and Honeywell. Originally starting as the owner and President of his own HVAC mechanical & indoor air quality company in Western Massachusetts until its acquisition by a Fortune 500 competitor. Today, Gene is considered a home-centric B2B expert, and is a pivotal part in Vivint’s ongoing integration into the NRG energy ecosystem while continuing to advance and establish partnerships with other top home product manufacturers, to home builders and more.
Joe McNulty
SVP of Product & Partnerships
Whisker Labs
Joe McNulty
SVP of Product & Partnerships
Whisker Labs
Joe McNulty, SVP of Product & Partnerships, Whisker Labs
Jeff Bales
VP, Insurance Partnerships
Flume
Jeff Bales
VP, Insurance Partnerships
Flume
Jeff Bales is a leading voice in IoT and insurance loss prevention, with over 15 years of experience driving sales, business development, and innovation at companies like GE Lighting, Comcast, and Pepper IoT. He currently serves as VP of Insurance Partnerships at Flume Water, where he works with insurers to implement connected home technology for proactive risk management. Jeff brings a unique blend of technical insight and industry expertise, helping insurers modernize their offerings and better protect policyholders in a digital world.
T
his session will dive into how connected technologies and IoT are optimizing energy use, improving maintenance, and enhancing user control for these critical home systems. Industry leaders share their insights into the latest home services smart pool management, intelligent HVAC solutions, and other integrated services that offer homeowners convenience, sustainability, and cost savings.
Keynote: The Wall Street View: Connected Home, SMB and more
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Parks Associates mission is to help companies navigate the changing consumer technology landscapes through data-driven market insights, extensive consumer and industry intelligence, and executive conferences. With over two decades of dedication to the company, Elizabeth Parks, President and Chief Marketing Officer, has been instrumental in shaping its growth and success, along with the continued focus of delivering timely and quality industry and consumer insights on the broadband, entertainment, connected home and SMB industries.
Elizabeth's commitment to Parks Associates' overarching mission is unwavering. Parks Associates provides clients with the most comprehensive consumer and industry research and analysis to empower businesses to make informed decisions in an ever-evolving landscape.
Elizabeth's journey with Parks Associates began after graduating with a BA in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Plano Texas with her husband and three children.
Alper Cetingok
Senior Managing Director
Raymond James
Alper Cetingok
Senior Managing Director
Raymond James
Mr. Cetingok is a Senior Managing Director within Raymond James’s Investment Banking department and currently serves as Global Head of the firm’s Diversified Industrials practice as well as Sector Head of the firm’s Security & Safety sector team. Mr. Cetingok joined Raymond James in 2012 as Co-Head of the Security, Defense & Government Services Group in connection with Raymond James’s acquisition of Morgan Keegan. In 2018, Mr. Cetingok assumed the dual role of Group Head of the Diversified Industrials practice, which is comprised of approximately 125 bankers across eight sector teams globally, and Sector Head of the Security & Safety group. In this capacity, Mr. Cetingok is responsible for sourcing, evaluating, and executing private placements, public and private offerings of debt and equity, and mergers & acquisitions transactions for companies serving the global security and safety industries. Mr. Cetingok has been actively covering the security and safety industries for approximately 25 years, and under his leadership, Raymond James’s Security & Safety Group has completed approximately 175 M&A and financing transactions, making it the industry’s most prolific investment banking franchise. Mr. Cetingok is also a member of the firm’s Capital Markets Committee. Prior to joining Raymond James, Mr. Cetingok spent approximately 15 years at Morgan Keegan, where he founded and led the firm’s Security & Defense Group. During his tenure at Morgan Keegan, Mr. Cetingok assumed increasing levels of responsibility within the Investment Banking department and held the distinction of being the youngest Managing Director in the firm’s history. Mr. Cetingok was also a member of the firm’s Investment Banking Management Committee and Chairman of its Transaction Committee. Mr. Cetingok was recognized by The M&A Advisor as a 40 Under 40 Dealmaker award recipient. Mr. Cetingok graduated magna cum laude from Rhodes College with a B.A. in Business Administration and International Studies. He is also a member of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society.
Networking Break | Sponsored by Nice
Location: Legacy Foyer
Next-Gen Platforms & Agentic AI
Moderator
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
Moderator
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
INDUSTRY EXPERTISE: Connected Health, Connected Home Technologies and Services, Connected Entertainment Products and Services.
Jennifer manages the research department and Parks Associates' process for producing high-quality, relevant, and meaningful research. Jennifer also leads and advises on syndicated and custom research projects across all connected consumer verticals and guides questionnaire development for Parks Associates’ extensive consumer analytics survey program. Jennifer is a certified focus group moderator, with training from the Burke Institute.
Jennifer earned her PhD in religion, politics, and society and an MA in church-state studies from Baylor University. She earned her BA in politics from the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.
Tyler Tribe
CTO / CPO
Becklar
Tyler Tribe
CTO / CPO
Becklar
Tyler Tribe is a seasoned technology executive with 32 years of experience designing and delivering transformative software solutions. For the past five and a half years, he has played a pivotal role at Becklar, shaping the company’s vision and product strategy with an emphasis on AI-driven innovation and unifying platforms. His leadership has been instrumental in advancing Becklar’s mission to deliver industry-leading safety solutions and services. Tyler is especially passionate about the SMART Critical Event Monitoring category. This rapidly evolving sector blends technology, AI, and human-in-the-loop operators to protect People, Property, and Workers. He sees this industry as a critical frontier for scalable, life-enhancing solutions and is deeply committed to developing platforms that integrate intelligent automation with empathetic human support. Before joining Becklar, Tyler spent two decades at IBM, leading strategic initiatives across product development teams, enterprise solutions, and client experience worldwide. His deep expertise spans global corporations and fast-growing mid-market businesses, and he is widely respected for his ability to bridge technical execution with customer-centric design. Tyler takes pride in building strong, collaborative teams and creating environments where innovation can thrive. He is deeply motivated by the opportunity to help organizations improve the lives of their customers and employees through thoughtful technology. Colleagues and partners appreciate his steady leadership, strategic mindset, and commitment to continuous learning and improvement.
Val Kamenski
Co-CEO
Klika Tech, Inc.
Val Kamenski
Co-CEO
Klika Tech, Inc.
Val Kamenski is the Co-CEO and COO of Klika Tech, a global technology solutions and consulting company specializing in cloud computing, Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence, and embedded systems solutions. With over 15 years of experience delivering successful software projects to global clients, Val co-founded Klika Tech to help companies succeed in the IoT-driven world. Prior to founding Klika Tech, he led diverse engineering teams for clients in the U.S. and Europe, building complex systems for organizations such as IMAX and MTV. Beginning his career as a software developer, Val has maintained a deep-rooted passion for technology, artificial intelligence, and business innovation. He is particularly interested in the application of technology in real-world scenarios, with a focus on property technology (PropTech) where he believes technology can make a significant difference.
This session will explore new innovations transforming B2B smart home solutions, focusing on how advanced AI-driven platforms are enabling seamless automation, personalized user experiences, and enhanced operational efficiency.
Keynote
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Parks Associates mission is to help companies navigate the changing consumer technology landscapes through data-driven market insights, extensive consumer and industry intelligence, and executive conferences. With over two decades of dedication to the company, Elizabeth Parks, President and Chief Marketing Officer, has been instrumental in shaping its growth and success, along with the continued focus of delivering timely and quality industry and consumer insights on the broadband, entertainment, connected home and SMB industries.
Elizabeth's commitment to Parks Associates' overarching mission is unwavering. Parks Associates provides clients with the most comprehensive consumer and industry research and analysis to empower businesses to make informed decisions in an ever-evolving landscape.
Elizabeth's journey with Parks Associates began after graduating with a BA in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Plano Texas with her husband and three children.
Olivier Bernard
Worldwide Go-To-Market Leader, IoT Services
Amazon Web Services
Olivier Bernard
Worldwide Go-To-Market Leader, IoT Services
Amazon Web Services
Olivier Bernard is a seasoned technology leader with over 25 years of experience in marketing, strategy, and engineering, specializing in the IoT and M2M industries since 2005. He currently is a Principal IoT Specialist with AWS, where he drives the global go-to-market strategy for consumer products and the Smart Home. Before joining AWS, he was the Director of High-Performance IoT at Arm, where he led business development and corporate initiatives across the IoT value chain, collaborating with OEMs, ODMs, and Silicon Partners. Prior to that, he served as Executive Vice President at Maestro Wireless, where he founded the company’s American subsidiary before its successful acquisition by Lantronix. Olivier holds a diploma of Engineer from ESIEE (France), an MSEE from the University of Southern California, and an MBA from the University of California, Berkeley.
AI & Data Security: The New Consumer Trust | presentation panel
Moderator
Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
Reviewer, Smart Home
The Verge
Moderator
Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
Reviewer, Smart Home
The Verge
Jennifer Pattison Tuohy is a veteran journalist and editor specializing in smart home technology. As the Smart Home Reviewer for The Verge, she covers the rapidly evolving connected home space, reviewing products, reporting on companies, and offering industry analysis.
With over 30 years in journalism and over a decade focused on the smart home, Jennifer has contributed to The New York Times: Wirecutter, Dwell, Wired, The Ambient, BBC Science Focus, U.S. News & World Report, and more. Her work blends technical expertise with a consumer-first approach, making complex topics accessible and engaging.
Jennifer began her career on London’s Fleet Street with The Daily Telegraph after earning a BA in English and American Studies from the University of Exeter. She later spent a decade in local news in Sun Valley, Idaho, before turning her focus to technology. Now based in Charleston, South Carolina, she lives in a semi-smart home with her husband, two children, two cats, a dog, and several chickens.
Adam Justice
CEO
Grid Connect Inc.
Adam Justice
CEO
Grid Connect Inc.
Adam Justice is the CEO of Grid Connect Inc., a leading provider of IoT solutions, helping OEMs bring secure, innovative smart home products to market. Under his leadership, Grid Connect has developed proprietary smart home devices and collaborated with top brands—including Moen, Schlage, Rollease, and Wayne Water—to create connected products that integrate seamlessly with platforms such as Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit, Google Assistant, and Matter. With extensive experience in smart home security and interoperability, Adam understands the critical role of data protection in building consumer trust. He is a recognized voice in the industry, co-hosting The Smart Home Show, one of the longest-running and most popular podcasts covering smart home trends and challenges. Adam began his career as a consultant at Accenture, working on IT and systems projects for Fortune 500 companies before joining Grid Connect in 2009. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Informatics from Indiana University and is dedicated to advancing secure, user-friendly connected home solutions.
Sharon Hagi
Chief Security Officer
Silicon Labs
Sharon Hagi
Chief Security Officer
Silicon Labs
Sharon Hagi serves as Chief Security Officer of Silicon Labs, where he leads the company’s comprehensive risk-based cybersecurity strategies and programs. Sharon has over 23 years of security experience in multiple technology disciplines. Prior to Silicon Labs, Sharon served as Vice President of Security at Ethoca, a Mastercard company, and Chief Technology Strategist at IBM Security. Sharon is a recognized subject matter expert and respected thought leader in IoT security where he has been promoting the vision and benefits of integrating silicon-rooted trust models and secure manufacturing operations. He holds patents in information security and applied machine learning and is a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). Sharon received his Honors BSc degrees in Computer Science and Physics from the University of Toronto, and he currently volunteers as a subject matter expert with the International Information System Security Certification Consortium (ISC)².
Steven Haase
Head of Sales
BOXX Insurance Co.
Steven Haase
Head of Sales
BOXX Insurance Co.
Over 30 years in commercial insurance focusing primarily on emerging business risks related to new technologies. Recognized as the inventor of cyber insurance-see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyber_insurance Developed the first cyber insurance underwriting platform and policy in 1997. CEO of INSIREtrust from 1997 until 2020. Developed a number of micro embedded insurance products for the smart home industry. Examples are porch piracy protection for theft of packages being monitored by cameras. Similar coverage for water leaks and theft. Recently released new cyber insurance products for families and indviduals that can be delivered by smart home companies. Former Board Member and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Georgia State University Risk Management Foundation. Early in my career I focused on Fortune 2,000 property risks insured by FM Global.
Data security is essential to building and maintaining consumer trust. Parks Associates shows that 72% of smart home product owners are concerned about the security of their personal data. This session addresses the role of data security in the evolution of connected home products and what new solutions are helping protect consumers’ digital environments.
Smart Home Automation in Action: Energy and Water Management | panel discussion
Moderator
Daniel Holcomb
Senior Analyst, Smart Home Research
Parks Associates
Moderator
Daniel Holcomb
Senior Analyst, Smart Home Research
Parks Associates
Daniel is responsible for smart home research involving market trend analysis, competitor and positioning assessments, technology evaluations, and forecasts of relevant industry metrics.
Daniel is a market research industry veteran with 13 years of experience across multiple research types such as shopper insights, brand equity and brand health tracking, and customer experience. Daniel has also conducted research across multiple sectors such as consumer packaged goods, consumer electronics, specialty retail, and transportation, travel, and hospitality.
Daniel has a BA in Sociology from the University of Texas at Arlington, with specializations in Research and Evaluation, Diversity, and Family and Gender Studies.
Victor Carrasco
Director - Strategic Accounts
Johnson Controls
Victor Carrasco
Director - Strategic Accounts
Johnson Controls
Victor Carrasco is the Director of Strategic Accounts for Johnson Controls' Intrusion Products division. Victor has 20 plus years of experience in the security industry. Starting at ADT Security's commercial division in multiple roles from sales to project management for a total of 8 plus years. Then moving on to the Tyco product side of the house for the past 13 years, working on special projects and programs, eventually moving to a role of leading a great team in North America focused on partnering with some of the best companies in our industry.
Casey Anderson
Senior Director of Software Engineering
Lennox International
Casey Anderson
Senior Director of Software Engineering
Lennox International
Casey Anderson is a seasoned software engineering executive with over 25 years of experience driving innovation in smart home connectivity, embedded systems, and IoT solutions. He currently serves as the Senior Director of Controls Software Engineering at Lennox, where he leads the development of next-generation HVAC control systems that integrate seamlessly into connected home ecosystems. Prior to Lennox, Casey led a global team of software engineers at Allegion, the parent company of Schlage Locks, where he directed major initiatives across mobile, IoT, and SaaS platforms. His work was instrumental in delivering a connected lock solution that became foundational to Allegion’s connectivity and IoT strategy. Casey’s passion for home automation was honed during his career at Control4, where was designed and developed the first and second generations of home automation controllers and media distribution devices. At Tendril (now Uplight), he helped pioneer an energy management platform that connected utilities and consumers through intelligent thermostats and residential demand response programs. An advocate for interoperability and open standards, Casey has contributed extensively to the smart home ecosystem through his leadership roles with the Zigbee Alliance—now the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA). He served on the board of directors and held chair and secretary positions in multiple working groups, helping to shape standards that underpin today’s interoperable connected home devices.
Jeff Barnes
VP, Smart Water
Moen
Jeff Barnes
VP, Smart Water
Moen
Jeff Barnes serves as the Vice President of Affinity Partnerships for Moen’s Smart Water division, where he focuses on helping homeowners prevent the disruption, frustration, and expense of in-home flooding through innovative insurance and affinity partnerships.
Before joining Moen at the end of 2023, Jeff led business development and partnerships at ADT Security for over eight years. During his tenure, he established key relationships with major national insurance brands, emphasizing the importance of delivering exceptional customer experiences while generating substantial claims savings for partners.
With over seven years at Florida Power & Light and over 20 years in the service contract industry - Jeff has consistently demonstrated his ability to create new business channels and develop solutions that drive growth, reduce costs, and enhance consumer satisfaction.
Residing in South Florida with his wife, Wendy, and their two poodles, Jeff enjoys spending time with his three adult children and his one remarkable granddaughter.
Connect with Jeff on LinkedIn at www.LinkedIn.com/in/jjeffbarnes and learn more about Moen’s innovative solution for helping prevent in-home flooding at www.Moen.com/Flo.
Energy and water management are top concerns for homeowners and a growing area with new coordinated solutions. Parks Associates' research reveals that 52% of U.S. internet households value the energy-saving benefits of smart home devices. Builders value adding new energy and water tech to differentiate new homes. This session addresses the latest technologies for energy and water management in homes.
Fireside Chat: Security Disrupted: The Shift to Smart Tech
Moderator
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
Moderator
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
INDUSTRY EXPERTISE: Connected Health, Connected Home Technologies and Services, Connected Entertainment Products and Services.
Jennifer manages the research department and Parks Associates' process for producing high-quality, relevant, and meaningful research. Jennifer also leads and advises on syndicated and custom research projects across all connected consumer verticals and guides questionnaire development for Parks Associates’ extensive consumer analytics survey program. Jennifer is a certified focus group moderator, with training from the Burke Institute.
Jennifer earned her PhD in religion, politics, and society and an MA in church-state studies from Baylor University. She earned her BA in politics from the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.
Keith Puckett
Founder | CEO
Ubiety Technologies
Keith Puckett
Founder | CEO
Ubiety Technologies
Keith Puckett, a former M&A investment banker, has transformed into a serial entrepreneur with a proven track record of creating disruptive start-ups. He is the Founder and CEO of Ubiety Technologies, which offers an AI engine and RF detection platform aimed at enhancing situational awareness across residential, commercial, and government security sectors. Ubiety can detect, categorize, and recognize individuals based on the devices they carry. Its AI engine, Eckleburg, processes high-speed radio frequency data to make real-time identity inferences using only passive RF signals, including WiFi, Bluetooth, and cellular data. Keith is passionate about contributing to safety and security of families throughout America!
Veronica Moturi
Senior Vice President, Customer Experience
Brinks Home
Veronica Moturi
Senior Vice President, Customer Experience
Brinks Home
Veronica Moturi began her career as a customer service phone agent. In 2012, she joined Brinks Home™ as Manager, Consumer Affairs, and has since advanced to her current role as Senior Vice President, Customer Experience. Leveraging what she learned as a frontline representative and her deep understanding of the security industry, Veronica strategizes and executes initiatives aimed at reducing attrition, enhancing customer lifetime value, and improving both the customer and employee experiences. She is dedicated to not only transforming the call center through universal agents, career pathing, and technology-enhanced learning, but also developing a team-focused environment committed to the shared goal of fostering a best-in-class customer experience. Veronica’s leadership and passion have earned her recognition, including being named to Security Systems News’ “40 Under 40” and Industry Tech Outlook's “10 Most Admired Women Leaders 2024.” Veronica prides herself on building an innovative culture and championing solutions centered around our customers, employees, and core values. When not at work, Veronica enjoys exploring new restaurants and spending time with her husband and two kids.
This session explores how evolving technologies are reshaping the home security landscape, creating new opportunities—and threats—for legacy security providers. Industry leaders will discuss how traditional players must adapt to stay competitive in a market increasingly dominated by tech giants and innovative disruptors.
Networking Break | Sponsored by Grid Connect
Location: Legacy Foyer
Integrated Living: Rise of Multifamily | panel discussion
Moderator
Kristen Hanich
Director of Research
Parks Associates
Moderator
Kristen Hanich
Director of Research
Parks Associates
INDUSTRY EXPERTISE: Consumer electronics, mobility services and devices, connected health and wellness.
Kristen Hanich heads Parks Associates' consumer electronics and mobility research, with expertise in other verticals including connected cars, mobile networking, healthcare, wellness, and independent living. She leads a mix of custom and syndicated research projects throughout the year, with a focus on major players and emerging trends. Kristen specializes in bridging the gap between data-driven and narrative approaches to understanding the consumer markets via a mix of qualitative and quantitative research approaches.
Kristen has dual master's degrees in applied anthropology and public health from the Universities of North Texas in Denton and Fort Worth. She earned her BSc in health at the University of Texas at San Antonio and has a graduate certificate in Geographic Information Systems.
Marcus Scheiber
CEO
ROCiQ
Marcus Scheiber
CEO
ROCiQ
Marcus Scheiber is Co-Founder and CEO of ROC-Connect, a leading IOT company providing Smart Home as a Service. ROC-Connect delivers full-end-to-end connected brands in the Smart Home space for channels as Retailers, Insurances & Financial Industries, as well as for Service Providers. Before starting ROC-Connect in 2012, Marcus founded the ms.GIS group of companies (Austria and US), a leading geospatial technology provider. Marcus held various positions as Co-CEO, board member, and investor. Earlier in his career, Marcus was working as a technical consultant with Prime-Computervision, and in C.S. research at the AIT (Austrian Institute of Technology). Marcus holds a Masters of Science in Management (Sloan Fellow) and a Master’s Degree of the University of Economics and Business Administration of Vienna, Austria.
George Hechtman
Principal
Hechtman Venture Development
George Hechtman
Principal
Hechtman Venture Development
George Hechtman George’s role as Founding Principal at Hechtman Venture Development is that of a general contractor of sorts: identification of market opportunities, partnerships development, assembling the right “sub-contractors” for the project. Prior to founding HVD, George’s professional career included: · 2003-2007 President of PCI, a 100,000-subscriber cellular provider and mobile products distributor. George founded HVD after the company merged into a publicly held sister company in 2007. · 2000-2003 Head Administrative Officer, Good Guys Inc a $750million consumer electronics retailer, responsible for real estate, MIS, IT and HR. · 1994-1999, Senior Vice President, head of Western Division, OfficeMax Inc. Grew the division from 105 to 350 stores, managed expansion into Mexico. Active Memberships and involvement: Consumer Technology Association (CTA) https://www.cta.tech/ 5G Use Cases working group Winning at Wireless Retail Working Group Wireless Internet Service Provider Association (WISPA) https://www.wispa.org/ Speaker and/or moderator at semi-annual conferences Most recently moderated MDU retrofit panel, spoke on new technologies panel at March WISPAmerica Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) https://wballiance.com/ Currently leading “MDU Centralized Connectivity Management” project group Contributor: Wi-Fi Sensing. OpenRoaming Implementers, Operator Managed IoT and Smart Home, Wi-Fi HaLow project groups Security Industry Association (SIA) https://www.securityindustry.org/ The Marconi Society https://marconisociety.org/ Telecom Infra Project: Open Converged Wi-FI (TIP OpenLAN) TIP OCW, OpenLAN project groups. California Emerging Technology Fund, Board of Expert Advisors.
Lee Miller
Vice President of Multifamily
Brivo
Lee Miller
Vice President of Multifamily
Brivo
Lee Miller is the Vice President of Multifamily at Brivo, a global leader in cloud-based security technology. In this role, he leads strategic initiatives with top multifamily firms and developers to enhance operational efficiency and ensure the safety of residents, properties, and assets. Before joining Brivo, Lee was Vice President of Sales at WhiteSky and Stratis, both RealPage companies, where he directed the strategic vision for smart building platforms and managed a global team of technical sales and solutions experts. Lee also served as Regional Sales Director for Control4 Europe, based in London, where he worked closely with some of Europe’s premier developers. His deep experience across both the European and U.S. multifamily markets plays a key role in Brivo’s global expansion and innovation strategy.
Consumers expect technology to be integrated in the multifamily living experience. Parks Associates’ studies show increasing consumer interest in bundled smart services tailored for apartment dwellers. This session discusses how to deliver cohesive experiences while optimizing operational efficiency.
Eco–Tech: Building Sustainability into Daily Living | presentation panel
Moderator
Daniel Holcomb
Senior Analyst, Smart Home Research
Parks Associates
Moderator
Daniel Holcomb
Senior Analyst, Smart Home Research
Parks Associates
Daniel is responsible for smart home research involving market trend analysis, competitor and positioning assessments, technology evaluations, and forecasts of relevant industry metrics.
Daniel is a market research industry veteran with 13 years of experience across multiple research types such as shopper insights, brand equity and brand health tracking, and customer experience. Daniel has also conducted research across multiple sectors such as consumer packaged goods, consumer electronics, specialty retail, and transportation, travel, and hospitality.
Daniel has a BA in Sociology from the University of Texas at Arlington, with specializations in Research and Evaluation, Diversity, and Family and Gender Studies.
Svetlin Todorov
CEO
Shelly USA
Svetlin Todorov
CEO
Shelly USA
Svetlin Todorov, CEO, Shelly USA
John Hughes
Chief Engineer, Residential Controls | Technical Work Group Chair
Trane Technologies | Home Connectivity Alliance
John Hughes
Chief Engineer, Residential Controls | Technical Work Group Chair
Trane Technologies | Home Connectivity Alliance
John Hughes is the Chief Engineer for residential controls at Trane Technologies. John's responsibilities in this role include innovation, process improvement, mentoring, technical capability building, and sustainment. John is active in the Air Conditioning Heating and Refrigeration Institute Demand Response Task Force (AHRI 1380). As Chair of the Home Connectivity Alliance Technical Workgroup, John is leading the integration between 13 major appliance brands to improve user experience and help consumers make smarter choices about energy usage.
Since 2014, John has held various roles at Trane, including Controls Systems Engineering Manager, and Home Controls Engineering Manager. Prior to working for Trane, John worked for L-3 Communications and Southwest Research Institute as a Project Engineer, Systems Engineer, and Radio Frequency Design Engineer.
Chad Conway
Advisor
Pila Energy
Chad Conway
Advisor
Pila Energy
Chad Conway, is Founding Partner of 981, a seed stage firm accelerating impact through supporting visionary founders building amazing hardware products that customers love. Being a former builder and Tesla product leader, he takes a hands-on approach, bringing an exclusive network of experienced operators to help founders build, launch, and scale faster. Pila Energy is one of the companies Chad has been advising. Before 981, Chad built SPAN from a napkin sketch into one of the fastest-growing hardware startups. Chad began his career at Tesla leading Powerwall development.
Energy-efficient technologies are important to consumers; sustainability features will drive the next wave of smart home solutions. Parks Associates' data shows a 50% increase in interest in energy-efficient solutions in the past year. This presentation panel highlights the latest advancements in consumer-integrated energy management solutions.
Independent Living and Seniors | panel discussion
Moderator
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
Moderator
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
INDUSTRY EXPERTISE: Connected Health, Connected Home Technologies and Services, Connected Entertainment Products and Services.
Jennifer manages the research department and Parks Associates' process for producing high-quality, relevant, and meaningful research. Jennifer also leads and advises on syndicated and custom research projects across all connected consumer verticals and guides questionnaire development for Parks Associates’ extensive consumer analytics survey program. Jennifer is a certified focus group moderator, with training from the Burke Institute.
Jennifer earned her PhD in religion, politics, and society and an MA in church-state studies from Baylor University. She earned her BA in politics from the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.
Taj Manku
CEO & Founder
Cognitive Systems Corp.
Taj Manku
CEO & Founder
Cognitive Systems Corp.
Dr. Tajinder (Taj) Manku is a serial entrepreneur and wireless technology inventor. Experienced in driving ideas to revenue, Taj founded numerous technology companies (e.g., Pravala, Sirific, and Tag-Comm) before the age of 40. The most notable, Sirific Wireless, merged with Icera and then sold to Nvidia for just shy of half a billion dollars. Sirific was the first company in the world to build a cellular chip that used more than one antenna. Today, Sirific’s silicon products can be found in mobile data devices worldwide.
Taj’s educational background tells a story of drive and self-discipline. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in (Quantum) Physics and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Waterloo. Taj received his Ph.D. in one year, faster than any other Ph.D. student in the University’s history! During that time, he also published over 10 journal papers in the area of quantum strained semiconductors. Taj has been granted the designation of Professional Engineer (P. Eng.) in Canada. He was honoured to return to school in 2008 to complete an accelerated executive leadership program from Harvard University. Taj later served as a tenured Professor at his alma mater, the University of Waterloo. He also ran an RFIC consulting firm, working with communications industry giants like Nortel, Motorola, Lucent Technologies and Texas Instruments.
In 2014, Taj co-founded Cognitive Systems Corp., where he is currently the CEO. With this latest endeavour, Taj is passionate about realizing a truly connected, smart home by adding motion sensing to WiFi networks. WiFi Motion™ is software that uses RF sensing and AI to interpret and react to motion in a WiFi-enabled environment.
Taj holds over 150 granted patents, has written over 100 technical papers and has received various technology and business awards for his involvement in Software Defined Radios. Among his many accomplishments, he humbly accepted the Canadian Award of Research Excellence in Radio Technology. Most recently, Taj was recognized as one of the 10 Most Promising Wireless Technology Solution Providers (2019) by CIO Review.
Brock Winzeler
President Personal Health and Safety
Becklar
Brock Winzeler
President Personal Health and Safety
Becklar
Brock Winzeler is the President of Becklar’s Workforce Safety and Personal Health & Safety divisions. Becklar is a leading provider of connected safety solutions, combining innovative technology and compassionate service to enhance the freedom, confidence, and peace of mind of millions across North America. Under Brock’s leadership, Freeus grew into one of the country’s most recognized providers of mobile personal emergency response systems (mPERS), with over 2.5 million devices sold and support for more than one million subscribers through its award-winning monitoring centers. Becklar has championed advancements in AI-driven safety, IoT platform services, and 24/7 professional monitoring, driving $4M+ in annual R&D investments to ensure continuous innovation. Brock is passionate about creating systems that allow seniors to age in place with confidence and help workers stay safe in high-risk environments. Brock lives in Pleasant View, Utah, with his wife and four children. He is deeply committed to family, faith, and building solutions that genuinely care for people first.
Jim Conti
Vice President, Sales HomeSight
Vantiva
Jim Conti
Vice President, Sales HomeSight
Vantiva
With over 30 years of experience in the consumer electronics, IoT, and smart technology industries, I have a proven track record of launching and scaling disruptive products and technologies in various markets and channels. I specialize in IoT strategy and partnerships, business development, VC funding, retail sales and marketing, and training. I have worked with global carriers, distributors, resellers, and retailers to deliver innovative and customer-centric solutions that enhance convenience, security, and efficiency. I am passionate about creating value for customers, stakeholders, and partners by leveraging my expertise in IoT, AI, wireless power, and access control.
Smart home technologies empower seniors to live independently with features like remote monitoring and health alerts. Caretakers also prioritize tech solutions for care support. Parks Associates' research shows consistent demand for solutions tailored to aging-in-place needs, but the market is complicated to navigate. This session highlights solutions that prioritize accessibility and service-based solutions meeting today’s senior needs.
Keynote: Empowering Your Home with Smart Energy Solutions
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Parks Associates mission is to help companies navigate the changing consumer technology landscapes through data-driven market insights, extensive consumer and industry intelligence, and executive conferences. With over two decades of dedication to the company, Elizabeth Parks, President and Chief Marketing Officer, has been instrumental in shaping its growth and success, along with the continued focus of delivering timely and quality industry and consumer insights on the broadband, entertainment, connected home and SMB industries.
Elizabeth's commitment to Parks Associates' overarching mission is unwavering. Parks Associates provides clients with the most comprehensive consumer and industry research and analysis to empower businesses to make informed decisions in an ever-evolving landscape.
Elizabeth's journey with Parks Associates began after graduating with a BA in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Plano Texas with her husband and three children.
Dave Porter
Managing Director
Vivint
Dave Porter
Managing Director
Vivint
David Porter is the Managing Director of Vivint, an NRG company, where he leads the award-winning smart home and security brand.
Mr. Porter was appointed to his current role in January of 2025, following several years in senior executive roles with Vivint. In his previous role as Chief Operating Officer, he oversaw field operations, supply chain, procurement, and customer experience and retention, helping cement Vivint's position as an innovative leader in the smart home and security industry.
Prior to joining Vivint, Mr. Porter spent 14 years at Cummins Inc., a global manufacturer of diesel engines, where he held various leadership and executive roles across manufacturing, procurement, marketing distribution, and logistics.
A retired United States Army Captain, he received his Bachelor of Science degree from Arizona State University, and his Master of Business Administration degree from Harvard Business School. He and his wife Nola have been married for 32 years and have four adult children and two grandchildren.
Thursday, May 15, 2025
Networking Breakfast | Sponsored by Moen
Location: Legacy A
Welcome: What Metrics Matter - Forecasting Growth
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Parks Associates mission is to help companies navigate the changing consumer technology landscapes through data-driven market insights, extensive consumer and industry intelligence, and executive conferences. With over two decades of dedication to the company, Elizabeth Parks, President and Chief Marketing Officer, has been instrumental in shaping its growth and success, along with the continued focus of delivering timely and quality industry and consumer insights on the broadband, entertainment, connected home and SMB industries.
Elizabeth's commitment to Parks Associates' overarching mission is unwavering. Parks Associates provides clients with the most comprehensive consumer and industry research and analysis to empower businesses to make informed decisions in an ever-evolving landscape.
Elizabeth's journey with Parks Associates began after graduating with a BA in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Plano Texas with her husband and three children.
Join Parks Associates as we set the stage for the day, highlighting key metrics shaping the connected home across smart home, health, and entertainment.
Value-Added Services: Broadband and the Smart Home | panel discussion
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Parks Associates mission is to help companies navigate the changing consumer technology landscapes through data-driven market insights, extensive consumer and industry intelligence, and executive conferences. With over two decades of dedication to the company, Elizabeth Parks, President and Chief Marketing Officer, has been instrumental in shaping its growth and success, along with the continued focus of delivering timely and quality industry and consumer insights on the broadband, entertainment, connected home and SMB industries.
Elizabeth's commitment to Parks Associates' overarching mission is unwavering. Parks Associates provides clients with the most comprehensive consumer and industry research and analysis to empower businesses to make informed decisions in an ever-evolving landscape.
Elizabeth's journey with Parks Associates began after graduating with a BA in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Plano Texas with her husband and three children.
Greg Baldauf
Director, SmartLife & Cloud Solution Partnerships
Calix
Greg Baldauf
Director, SmartLife & Cloud Solution Partnerships
Calix
Greg Baldauf is a seasoned professional in the SmartHome and Broadband industries, currently serving as the Director of Smart Life & Cloud Partnerships with Calix. Leveraging his extensive experience, Greg helps Calix drive the future of smart life solutions through strategic technology alignments and innovative partnerships. Greg leads initiatives to find partners in strategic alignment with Calix’s mission to help broadband service providers Simplify, Innovate, and Grow their businesses. Focusing on revenue generation and value creation, Greg’s leadership demonstrates a commitment to delivering advanced solutions creating value for his customers. Previously, Greg held key roles in various broadband, consulting, and technology firms refining his skills in revenue-generating strategies and earned a patent for his work launching the first residential connected door lock with Schlage. His expertise makes him a thought leader in the industry. Calix, a leading FTTx provider, supports over 1,800 fiber-based ISPs globally. Investing over $1.4B in R&D over the last 10 years, Calix has built a platform that enables rapid deployment of managed hardware and software services, creating long-term value for businesses, shareholders, and subscribers. To date, Calix has over 70 diverse partnerships creating even more value for joint customers.
Matt Alba
Product Manager
GVTC Communications
Matt Alba
Product Manager
GVTC Communications
Matt Alba is a seasoned telecom professional with over 17 years of experience in the communications industry. Since September 2024, he has served as a Product Manager at GVTC, where he focuses on developing innovative solutions that enhance connectivity and drive business growth. With deep expertise in telecom networks and cooperative operations, Matt's mission is bridging technology and customer needs, ensuring strategic alignment and competitive positioning. His passion for innovation, product development, and cross-functional collaboration makes him a key driver of success in the evolving telecom landscape.
Patrick Serrato
Director of Ecosystem Business Development and Product Strategy
Xthings
Patrick Serrato
Director of Ecosystem Business Development and Product Strategy
Xthings
From serving on the Board of Directors at the CSA to leading teams in creating innovative solutions, Patrick has been a driving force in the Smart Home industry for over 20 years.
Dave Mayne
President
M2M Services
Dave Mayne
President
M2M Services
Dave Mayne, President, M2M Services
As broadband providers expand their service portfolios, smart home solutions have emerged as a key driver of value and differentiation. This session examines the integration of smart home offerings with broadband services, highlighting strategies to deliver enhanced customer experiences, drive adoption, and unlock new revenue opportunities. Industry experts share insights on advanced Wi-Fi management, personalization, and the evolving role of value-added services in shaping the future of the connected home.
Keynote: Smarter Together: How Industry Standards are Building a Unified Smart Home Ecosystem
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Parks Associates mission is to help companies navigate the changing consumer technology landscapes through data-driven market insights, extensive consumer and industry intelligence, and executive conferences. With over two decades of dedication to the company, Elizabeth Parks, President and Chief Marketing Officer, has been instrumental in shaping its growth and success, along with the continued focus of delivering timely and quality industry and consumer insights on the broadband, entertainment, connected home and SMB industries.
Elizabeth's commitment to Parks Associates' overarching mission is unwavering. Parks Associates provides clients with the most comprehensive consumer and industry research and analysis to empower businesses to make informed decisions in an ever-evolving landscape.
Elizabeth's journey with Parks Associates began after graduating with a BA in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Plano Texas with her husband and three children.
John Hughes
Chief Engineer, Residential Controls | Technical Work Group Chair
Trane Technologies | Home Connectivity Alliance
John Hughes
Chief Engineer, Residential Controls | Technical Work Group Chair
Trane Technologies | Home Connectivity Alliance
John Hughes is the Chief Engineer for residential controls at Trane Technologies. John's responsibilities in this role include innovation, process improvement, mentoring, technical capability building, and sustainment. John is active in the Air Conditioning Heating and Refrigeration Institute Demand Response Task Force (AHRI 1380). As Chair of the Home Connectivity Alliance Technical Workgroup, John is leading the integration between 13 major appliance brands to improve user experience and help consumers make smarter choices about energy usage.
Since 2014, John has held various roles at Trane, including Controls Systems Engineering Manager, and Home Controls Engineering Manager. Prior to working for Trane, John worked for L-3 Communications and Southwest Research Institute as a Project Engineer, Systems Engineer, and Radio Frequency Design Engineer.
As smart home adoption grows, the need for seamless interoperability becomes critical. This keynote explores how connected products like long-life appliances, HVAC systems and TVs are transforming the consumer experience; why standards like Home Connectivity Alliance (HCA) are reshaping the market; and what it takes for manufacturers and other partners to deliver a truly unified smart home. Discover how interoperability drives innovation, reduces friction, and unlocks long-term value for both consumers and the industry. You’ll also learn how HCA is paving the way for more energy-efficient solutions in the connected home, resulting in real-world energy and cost savings for consumers.
Ambient Sensing: Enabling Smarter, Safer Spaces | panel discussion
Moderator
Kristen Hanich
Director of Research
Parks Associates
Moderator
Kristen Hanich
Director of Research
Parks Associates
INDUSTRY EXPERTISE: Consumer electronics, mobility services and devices, connected health and wellness.
Kristen Hanich heads Parks Associates' consumer electronics and mobility research, with expertise in other verticals including connected cars, mobile networking, healthcare, wellness, and independent living. She leads a mix of custom and syndicated research projects throughout the year, with a focus on major players and emerging trends. Kristen specializes in bridging the gap between data-driven and narrative approaches to understanding the consumer markets via a mix of qualitative and quantitative research approaches.
Kristen has dual master's degrees in applied anthropology and public health from the Universities of North Texas in Denton and Fort Worth. She earned her BSc in health at the University of Texas at San Antonio and has a graduate certificate in Geographic Information Systems.
Matthew Wootton
Co-Founder & CTO
Ivani, LLC
Matthew Wootton
Co-Founder & CTO
Ivani, LLC
Co-founder and the innovative “heart and soul” at Ivani, Matt specializes in creating quick turnaround solutions to real problems using systems engineering. Both an engineer and entrepreneur at heart, he has an ever-growing list of granted and pending patents. He holds his ASEP certification, Associate TRIZ certification, B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering, and MBA. In rare sightings in the wild, he can be found playing soccer, bouldering at the climbing gym, or out on a hike. Expected topics of conversation include smart home tech, 3D printing, video games, and formula one.
Petrut Bogdan
Neuromorphic Architect
Innatera Nanosystems
Petrut Bogdan
Neuromorphic Architect
Innatera Nanosystems
Dr. Petrut Bogdan is Neuromorphic Architect at Innatera Nanosystems where he focuses on Hardware-Software co-design, product development and system architecture. He currently co-chairs the Neuromorphic Working Group of the EDGE AI Foundation, aiming to address grand challenges within neuromorphic computing by bringing together industrial and academic experts and offering long term support to open developments. Dr. Bogdan holds a BSc and PhD from the Department of Computer Science at the University of Manchester, UK. His research focused on bio-inspired learning and real-time modelling of very large-scale spiking neural networks modelled on the SpiNNaker 1 million ARM core brain-inspired computer.
Consuelo Ortiz
Senior Product Manager
Wi-Fi Alliance
Consuelo Ortiz
Senior Product Manager
Wi-Fi Alliance
M. Consuelo Ortiz is a Sr. Marketing Manager for the Wi-Fi Alliance. Working with Wi-Fi Alliance’s 600+ member companies, she drives the development and communications of certification programs and promotes Wi-Fi technologies worldwide.
Previously Consuelo held several marketing and engineering roles at Advanced Micro Devices, Freescale and Dell, where she managed engineering, software, marketing, and strategic planning teams responsible for product innovation in the communication, networking and IT segments.
She holds a bachelor's degree, in electrical engineering and a master's degree in computer engineering. Consuelo grew up in Bogotá-Colombia, but calls Austin, Texas her home.
Ambient sensing leverages existing networks for motion detection and spatial awareness, creating all sorts of opportunities for new applications. Parks Associates’ data shows growing consumer interest in passive sensing technologies for enhanced safety and energy management. Speakers address how connectivity, Wi-Fi, and passive sensing technologies are enhancing safety, security, and convenience across the home and SMB markets.
KEYNOTE - Fire. Burglary. Flood. Choose one?
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Parks Associates mission is to help companies navigate the changing consumer technology landscapes through data-driven market insights, extensive consumer and industry intelligence, and executive conferences. With over two decades of dedication to the company, Elizabeth Parks, President and Chief Marketing Officer, has been instrumental in shaping its growth and success, along with the continued focus of delivering timely and quality industry and consumer insights on the broadband, entertainment, connected home and SMB industries.
Elizabeth's commitment to Parks Associates' overarching mission is unwavering. Parks Associates provides clients with the most comprehensive consumer and industry research and analysis to empower businesses to make informed decisions in an ever-evolving landscape.
Elizabeth's journey with Parks Associates began after graduating with a BA in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Plano Texas with her husband and three children.
Jeff Barnes
VP, Smart Water
Moen
Jeff Barnes
VP, Smart Water
Moen
Jeff Barnes serves as the Vice President of Affinity Partnerships for Moen’s Smart Water division, where he focuses on helping homeowners prevent the disruption, frustration, and expense of in-home flooding through innovative insurance and affinity partnerships.
Before joining Moen at the end of 2023, Jeff led business development and partnerships at ADT Security for over eight years. During his tenure, he established key relationships with major national insurance brands, emphasizing the importance of delivering exceptional customer experiences while generating substantial claims savings for partners.
With over seven years at Florida Power & Light and over 20 years in the service contract industry - Jeff has consistently demonstrated his ability to create new business channels and develop solutions that drive growth, reduce costs, and enhance consumer satisfaction.
Residing in South Florida with his wife, Wendy, and their two poodles, Jeff enjoys spending time with his three adult children and his one remarkable granddaughter.
Connect with Jeff on LinkedIn at www.LinkedIn.com/in/jjeffbarnes and learn more about Moen’s innovative solution for helping prevent in-home flooding at www.Moen.com/Flo.
Connected homes aren’t just about convenience and control, if done right they can also add a level of safety, security, and cost avoidance. Good options for detecting theft and fire have been around for decades, but solutions to prevent in-home flooding have been elusive. In this session, we will explore the history of these technologies and share some good news about the choice none of us should have to make.
The User Experience: Accommodating Mass Market
Moderator
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
Moderator
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
INDUSTRY EXPERTISE: Connected Health, Connected Home Technologies and Services, Connected Entertainment Products and Services.
Jennifer manages the research department and Parks Associates' process for producing high-quality, relevant, and meaningful research. Jennifer also leads and advises on syndicated and custom research projects across all connected consumer verticals and guides questionnaire development for Parks Associates’ extensive consumer analytics survey program. Jennifer is a certified focus group moderator, with training from the Burke Institute.
Jennifer earned her PhD in religion, politics, and society and an MA in church-state studies from Baylor University. She earned her BA in politics from the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.
Jeff Rogers
VP, Sales
Sensory
Jeff Rogers
VP, Sales
Sensory
Jeff Rogers is the VP of Sales & Marketing at Sensory. Jeff has been influential in the development and design of hundreds of products over the last 29 years that use Sensory’s technologies. He has licensed speech recognition, voice biometrics and computer vision technologies to companies such as Apple, Amazon, Fujitsu, Garmin, GoPro, Google, Honda, Microsoft, Samsung, Zoom and many more.
Emily O'Donnell
VP, Product and Communications
Evolution Digital
Emily O'Donnell
VP, Product and Communications
Evolution Digital
Emily is a product leader with more than 10 years of experience driving innovation and strategy at the intersection of whole-home connectivity. Currently serving as Vice President of Product and Communications at Evolution Digital, Emily leads cross-functional teams to deliver scalable broadband, video and IoT solutions that align global service providers’ business goals with consumer needs.
Prior to joining Evolution Digital, Emily served on Sling TV and DISH Network’s product communications team, providing a foundation for compelling narratives around roadmap conversations, launching new features and driving alignment between product, engineering and executive leadership.
Emily earned her bachelor’s degrees in communications and political science from the University of Michigan, graduating with high honors.
Dr. Kenneth Wacks
President
Home, Building & Energy Systems
Dr. Kenneth Wacks
President
Home, Building & Energy Systems
Dr. Wacks has been a pioneer in establishing the home systems industry and a management advisor to 150 clients worldwide. His business spans home and building systems, utility customer services, and digital entertainment networks (including HDTV and IPTV). Clients seek his help to locate strategic business partners, financing, and new customers. He also provides due-diligence for investors and expert witness services for litigants. Please visit www.kenwacks.com for information about clients and projects.
He was appointed by the United States Department of Energy to the 13-member GridWise Architecture Council to develop smart grid strategies for reliable and efficient distribution of electricity. The Consumer Electronics Association chose Dr. Wacks to chair the international committee (ISO/IEC) establishing world standards for home and building systems and energy management. In addition, he has written American National Standards in home automation.
Dr. Wacks chairs the Editorial Advisory Board of the CABA magazine iHomes & Buildings (available at www.caba.org) and is a featured contributor under the byline “Ken Wacks’Perspectives.” Dr. Wacks received his Ph.D. from MIT as a Hertz Fellow and studied at the MIT Sloan School of Management.
Naveen Chhangani
SVP & Chief Product Officer
ADT
Naveen Chhangani
SVP & Chief Product Officer
ADT
Naveen Chhangani, SVP & Chief Product Officer, ADT
Reynolds F. (RF) Barnes
Senior Director - Connectivity Business Development and Strategic Initiatives
Intel Corporation
Reynolds F. (RF) Barnes
Senior Director - Connectivity Business Development and Strategic Initiatives
Intel Corporation
Reynolds F. (RF) Barnes, Senior Director in the Client Computing Group at Intel, is a industry veteran with over 25 years of wireless experience. Currently, RF leads Business Development and Strategic Initiatives where he drives global engagements to identify collaboration opportunities that help Intel and the broader ecosystem deliver leading wireless technologies and products, including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and other related solutions for PC and IoT platforms.
Prior to his current role as Business Development and Strategic Initiatives, RF held numerous leadership positions across Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Cellular products at Intel driving innovation above and beyond the standards to continuously improve the connectivity experience for anyone using a PC. He joined Intel in 2002 and was part of the team that developed Intel’s first Wi-Fi products enabling the Centrino mobile PC revolution.
RF holds a BS in Computer Engineering and an MBA from The University of Texas as well as a BS in Computer Science from The University of Houston.
Biometrics and advanced user interfaces are the next generation in convenient but secure authentication for connected devices. Parks Associates' studies show rising consumer interest in devices with intuitive controls and personalized features. This session highlights the next-gen technologies creating new value and advancing security protections in the connected home.
May 13th | 2025
Sessions are in the Legacy Ballroom - 2nd Floor in the Renaissance Dallas at Plano Legacy.
Tuesday, May 13, 2025
Registration Open - Sponsored by Becklar
Location: Legacy Foyer

Welcome & Opening: User Experience in a Maturing Market
Moderator
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
Moderator
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
INDUSTRY EXPERTISE: Connected Health, Connected Home Technologies and Services, Connected Entertainment Products and Services.
Jennifer manages the research department and Parks Associates' process for producing high-quality, relevant, and meaningful research. Jennifer also leads and advises on syndicated and custom research projects across all connected consumer verticals and guides questionnaire development for Parks Associates’ extensive consumer analytics survey program. Jennifer is a certified focus group moderator, with training from the Burke Institute.
Jennifer earned her PhD in religion, politics, and society and an MA in church-state studies from Baylor University. She earned her BA in politics from the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.
The smart home market has reached a new stage of maturity. User experience and value define competitive advantage and growth. This opening research presentation addresses how companies are refining design, addressing pain points, and innovating to meet the demands of an increasingly informed and demanding consumer base. Learn how leading platforms stack up and key elements drive user satisfaction and loyalty.
Keynote Panel: Solving the User Experience | panel discussion
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Parks Associates mission is to help companies navigate the changing consumer technology landscapes through data-driven market insights, extensive consumer and industry intelligence, and executive conferences. With over two decades of dedication to the company, Elizabeth Parks, President and Chief Marketing Officer, has been instrumental in shaping its growth and success, along with the continued focus of delivering timely and quality industry and consumer insights on the broadband, entertainment, connected home and SMB industries.
Elizabeth's commitment to Parks Associates' overarching mission is unwavering. Parks Associates provides clients with the most comprehensive consumer and industry research and analysis to empower businesses to make informed decisions in an ever-evolving landscape.
Elizabeth's journey with Parks Associates began after graduating with a BA in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Plano Texas with her husband and three children.
Sujata Neidig
Vice President of Marketing
Thread Group
Sujata Neidig
Vice President of Marketing
Thread Group
Sujata Neidig has 25 years of experience in the semiconductor industry and has served in a variety of roles ranging from product engineering to marketing and business development. She is currently Director of Marketing i.MX Processors Software and Customer Programs. She also represents NXP as the Vice President of Marketing of the Thread Group, an industry alliance that provides an IP-based wireless mesh networking protocol designed for homes and buildings. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.
Eric Villines
Head of Global Communications
Anker Innovations
Eric Villines
Head of Global Communications
Anker Innovations
Eric Villines brings over 20 years of experience in communications, consumer branding, and reputation management. As Head of Global Communications for Anker Innovations, he manages global communications strategy for its brands, including Anker, the world’s #1 mobile charging brand, and eufy, a leader in home automation and security. An accomplished author and speaker, Eric’s career spans diverse industries, including entertainment, consumer technology, energy, government affairs, and financial services. Outside of work, he enjoys skiing, surfing, traveling, and supporting nonprofits focused on human rights and environmental conservation.
Andrew Bleiman
Executive Vice President
Tractive
Andrew Bleiman
Executive Vice President
Tractive
Andrew leads Tractive's pet GPS tracking and health monitoring business in North America. Previously he led the US business for Furbo Dog Camera and wildlife conservation technology initiatives for Vulcan. Prior to that he helped launch Trunk Club in Chicago as head of marketing. Andrew is the author of the ZooBorns book series with over 2 million books sold. He serves on the Board of the Seattle Aquarium and holds a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania.
Sean O'Neil
CEO
Cardinal Peak (FPT Software)
Sean O'Neil
CEO
Cardinal Peak (FPT Software)
Sean O'Neil, CEO, Cardinal Peak (FPT Software)
As the smart home market matures, delivering an exceptional user experience remains a critical challenge for industry stakeholders. This keynote panel features thought leaders discussing strategies to simplify interfaces, enhance interoperability, and address common consumer pain points.
Special Session: Interoperability | panel discussion
Moderator
Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
Reviewer, Smart Home
The Verge
Moderator
Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
Reviewer, Smart Home
The Verge
Jennifer Pattison Tuohy is a veteran journalist and editor specializing in smart home technology. As the Smart Home Reviewer for The Verge, she covers the rapidly evolving connected home space, reviewing products, reporting on companies, and offering industry analysis.
With over 30 years in journalism and over a decade focused on the smart home, Jennifer has contributed to The New York Times: Wirecutter, Dwell, Wired, The Ambient, BBC Science Focus, U.S. News & World Report, and more. Her work blends technical expertise with a consumer-first approach, making complex topics accessible and engaging.
Jennifer began her career on London’s Fleet Street with The Daily Telegraph after earning a BA in English and American Studies from the University of Exeter. She later spent a decade in local news in Sun Valley, Idaho, before turning her focus to technology. Now based in Charleston, South Carolina, she lives in a semi-smart home with her husband, two children, two cats, a dog, and several chickens.
Avi Rosenthal
Managing Partner | Chairman of the Board
BlueConnect Partners | Z-Wave Alliance
Avi Rosenthal
Managing Partner | Chairman of the Board
BlueConnect Partners | Z-Wave Alliance
Avi Rosenthal has been in the connected device industry for over 25 years. He is the currently the Managing Partner of BlueConnect Partners (formally bluesalve), a full-service consulting firm to the Consumer Products and Connected Device industries. He has held numerous leadership roles within the IoT industry at Nortek, Legrand, Evolve and Superna among others. He currently serves as the Chairperson of the Z-Wave Alliance, and as the chair of the Trade Policy working group of the CTA. Through his deep connections with manufacturers, dealers, and retailers, he has the insights and resources needed to develop, market and manufacture products and services for the IoT Industry. A patented inventor, he has developed over a hundred connected products. He is the recipient of the prestigious CTA Mark of Excellence Leadership Award.
Christopher LaPré
Head of Technology
Connectivity Standards Alliance
Christopher LaPré
Head of Technology
Connectivity Standards Alliance
Chris plays an integral role in several key initiatives for the Alliance, from recruiting and supporting new and expanding ecosystems, to providing technical expertise and guidance in our marketing and developer programs. Chris also represents the Alliance as guest speaker in key market segment events and speaking engagements. With a background in embedded systems, wireless, and developer community, Chris has been working at Zigbee companies since 2004, most recently in the Iris program at Lowe’s.
Gilles Drieu
SVP & Chief Technology Officer
ADT
Gilles Drieu
SVP & Chief Technology Officer
ADT
Gilles Drieu is an accomplished engineering executive with 25 years of experience driving product innovation and business transformation across some of Silicon Valley’s most iconic companies, including Google, Apple, and Adobe. He is currently the Chief Technology Officer and Senior Vice President of Product Engineering at ADT. His work is helping transform one of the most trusted names in security into a modern, intelligent platform for safety and automation.
Prior to ADT, Gilles spent nearly a decade at Google, where he led engineering teams behind Nest, Chromecast, Google Home, and Assistant, helping define and scale the Helpful Home vision to millions of users globally. In later years, he focused on company-wide data protection, privacy engineering, and regulatory compliance, strengthening Google’s privacy posture across products.
Gilles holds a Master’s degree in Computer Science from l’École Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Paris and a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Rouen.
As industries continue to embrace new standards, protocols, and platforms, the ability to interoperate seamlessly across different systems becomes paramount. However, despite technological progress, the path toward true interoperability remains fraught with complexity, particularly when it comes to aligning business models with multi-standard environments. This session addresses the latest developments in standards for the smart home.
Predictive and Autonomous AI: The Smart Home's Edge | research presentation
Moderator
Daniel Holcomb
Senior Analyst, Smart Home Research
Parks Associates
Moderator
Daniel Holcomb
Senior Analyst, Smart Home Research
Parks Associates
Daniel is responsible for smart home research involving market trend analysis, competitor and positioning assessments, technology evaluations, and forecasts of relevant industry metrics.
Daniel is a market research industry veteran with 13 years of experience across multiple research types such as shopper insights, brand equity and brand health tracking, and customer experience. Daniel has also conducted research across multiple sectors such as consumer packaged goods, consumer electronics, specialty retail, and transportation, travel, and hospitality.
Daniel has a BA in Sociology from the University of Texas at Arlington, with specializations in Research and Evaluation, Diversity, and Family and Gender Studies.
This year is pivotal for AI in the smart home. This session examines the potential of predictive and autonomous AI deployed at the edge and its role in driving efficiency, security, and personalization. This presentation shares examples of AI being deployed across the smart home.
Revolutionizing Access Control: A Defining Year | panel discussion
Moderator
Kristen Hanich
Director of Research
Parks Associates
Moderator
Kristen Hanich
Director of Research
Parks Associates
INDUSTRY EXPERTISE: Consumer electronics, mobility services and devices, connected health and wellness.
Kristen Hanich heads Parks Associates' consumer electronics and mobility research, with expertise in other verticals including connected cars, mobile networking, healthcare, wellness, and independent living. She leads a mix of custom and syndicated research projects throughout the year, with a focus on major players and emerging trends. Kristen specializes in bridging the gap between data-driven and narrative approaches to understanding the consumer markets via a mix of qualitative and quantitative research approaches.
Kristen has dual master's degrees in applied anthropology and public health from the Universities of North Texas in Denton and Fort Worth. She earned her BSc in health at the University of Texas at San Antonio and has a graduate certificate in Geographic Information Systems.
Tim Eskew
Director, Residential Electronic Products
Schlage, an Allegion Brand
Tim Eskew
Director, Residential Electronic Products
Schlage, an Allegion Brand
Tim Eskew is a highly accomplished Director of Residential Electronic Products at Schlage where he is responsible for Schlage’s portfolio of connected home products, cloud platform, mobile software and industry partnerships. Prior to joining Schlage, Tim has lead product, business development, and partnerships in a range of industries including connected fitness, embedded wireless, and smart meeting. Always curious, Tim is passionate about solving customer problems through innovative products, software, and services.
Rebecca Delgado-Peterson
Director of Product Solutions- Access Controls
LiftMaster
Rebecca Delgado-Peterson
Director of Product Solutions- Access Controls
LiftMaster
Rebecca Peterson is the Director of Product Solutions for Access Controls and Community Services at LiftMaster. With over a decade of experience in developing new products solutions, leading high-impact product marketing and strategic programs that deliver impactful solutions to minimize customer pain points, Peterson uses her product expertise to provide solutions for gated communities and multifamily communities. Prior to joining LiftMaster, Peterson worked for System Sensor, where she successfully launched over a dozen new product solutions for the fire and security industry. Peterson holds an MBA with an emphasis in marketing from DePaul University and a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Northern Illinois University.
Brad Cook
Head of Product and Integrations
Alfred International, Inc.
Brad Cook
Head of Product and Integrations
Alfred International, Inc.
Brad Cook, Head of Product and Integrations, Alfred International, Inc.
This session explores the latest market trends, technology innovations, and the role of access control in the broader connected home ecosystem. As companies transform products digitally, new applications and integrated services are being introduced. This session also explores the convergence and role of cloud and data services in access control.
Special Session: AI-Powered Presence: Redefining Home Security
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Parks Associates mission is to help companies navigate the changing consumer technology landscapes through data-driven market insights, extensive consumer and industry intelligence, and executive conferences. With over two decades of dedication to the company, Elizabeth Parks, President and Chief Marketing Officer, has been instrumental in shaping its growth and success, along with the continued focus of delivering timely and quality industry and consumer insights on the broadband, entertainment, connected home and SMB industries.
Elizabeth's commitment to Parks Associates' overarching mission is unwavering. Parks Associates provides clients with the most comprehensive consumer and industry research and analysis to empower businesses to make informed decisions in an ever-evolving landscape.
Elizabeth's journey with Parks Associates began after graduating with a BA in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Plano Texas with her husband and three children.
Spencer Maid
CEO
Origin Wireless AI
Spencer Maid
CEO
Origin Wireless AI
Spencer Maid is an accomplished executive with over 20 years of experience in sales, marketing, product management, and innovation development. As CEO of Origin AI, Spencer leads a diverse team of professionals to new levels of success in highly competitive industries, innovation-driven cultures, and fast-paced environments. With a strong technical and business background, Spencer has an impressive track record of strategic planning, business unit development, commercial leadership, project and product management, and global design and supply base development. Spencer has a proven ability to analyze an organization’s critical business requirements, identify deficiencies and potential opportunities, and develop innovative and cost-effective solutions for enhancing competitiveness, increasing shareholder value, and improving the business unit's return on capital. Previously, he founded a hardware company and sold it to a private equity firm. Under Spencer's leadership, Origin has become a recognized leader in the early-stage technology startup community, driven by a culture of innovation, collaboration, and a relentless focus on delivering value to customers. Spencer's exceptional leadership, strategic vision, and extensive experience have been instrumental in creating a new category in home security and IoT. As a highly respected leader in the early-stage technology startup community, Spencer has earned a reputation for being a visionary leader who is always at the forefront of new technology trends. Spencer's deep commitment to innovation and his ability to inspire and motivate his team make him an ideal leader and a true pioneer in the industry.
Tom Reed
Head of Commercial Security Sales
RapidSOS
Tom Reed
Head of Commercial Security Sales
RapidSOS
Mr. Reed has over 28 years of experience in consumer technology with a primary focus on security products with professional monitoring services. He is currently the Head of Commercial Security Sales for RapidSOS. Previously, he was the VP of Sales and Operations of CenCom.com, Inc where he was responsible for the sales strategy and execution for a global home security service company. Reed headed sales and operations for both NextAlarm Monitoring Services, Inc and LaserShield Systems where he was responsible for placing the first professionally monitored DIY system into retail distribution. Reed is former President of HomePlug Powerline Alliance.
Lily Knowles
SVP Strategic Partnerships, Marketing and CX
Arlo Technologies
Lily Knowles
SVP Strategic Partnerships, Marketing and CX
Arlo Technologies
Lily Knowles serves as Arlo’s SVP of Strategic Partnerships, Marketing and CX. Prior to joining Arlo, Ms. Knowles was SVP of Marketing at VIZIO where she led global marketing for VIZIO’s products and services, including corporate marketing, product marketing, retail marketing, digital marketing and partnerships. Ms. Knowles has held senior GTM leadership roles for over 20 years with CE and IOT companies including Cisco-Linksys, Fabrik/SimpleTech and Universal Electronics. She holds an MBA from the University of California, Irvine, and a B.A. of Biochemisty from Azusa Pacific University.
As DIY home security evolves, the industry is shifting from simple Wi-Fi sensing to intelligent AI-driven motion classification—providing verified human presence detection that consumers and emergency responders can trust. In this session, industry leaders will discuss how strategic partnerships are addressing the challenges of false alarms, limited response resources, and rising penalties in top global markets. This thought leadership session explores how AI sensing, camera integration, and hardware-as-a-service models are transforming the security experience and delivering layered value across the smart home ecosystem.
Data Goldmine: What Metrics Matter | research presentation
Moderator
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
Moderator
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
INDUSTRY EXPERTISE: Connected Health, Connected Home Technologies and Services, Connected Entertainment Products and Services.
Jennifer manages the research department and Parks Associates' process for producing high-quality, relevant, and meaningful research. Jennifer also leads and advises on syndicated and custom research projects across all connected consumer verticals and guides questionnaire development for Parks Associates’ extensive consumer analytics survey program. Jennifer is a certified focus group moderator, with training from the Burke Institute.
Jennifer earned her PhD in religion, politics, and society and an MA in church-state studies from Baylor University. She earned her BA in politics from the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.
As data emerges as a critical driver of the smart home economy, understanding which metrics provide the right insights is essential. Join this session to learn more about the key data points influencing product performance, consumer engagement, and market expansion. The voice of the customer is critical as smart home solutions move closer to the mass market experience.
Business of Smart Home: KPIs & Best Practices | Panel + Roundtables
Moderator
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
Moderator
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
INDUSTRY EXPERTISE: Connected Health, Connected Home Technologies and Services, Connected Entertainment Products and Services.
Jennifer manages the research department and Parks Associates' process for producing high-quality, relevant, and meaningful research. Jennifer also leads and advises on syndicated and custom research projects across all connected consumer verticals and guides questionnaire development for Parks Associates’ extensive consumer analytics survey program. Jennifer is a certified focus group moderator, with training from the Burke Institute.
Jennifer earned her PhD in religion, politics, and society and an MA in church-state studies from Baylor University. She earned her BA in politics from the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.
CEO & Co-founder, Holios Jay Cahill is CEO and co-founder of Holios, a leading analytics platform for smart product companies. Holios helps product, marketing, and operations teams optimize product performance, customer engagement, and market fit using real-time data from connected devices. Prior to launching Holios, Jay co-founded Bluefin Technology Partners, a top provider of cloud and IoT solutions. He brings over two decades of experience driving enterprise growth and innovation across software, SaaS, and smart home technologies. Jay’s work with leading brands has helped reshape how smart product companies align KPIs such as activation, engagement and retention with actual consumer behavior. At the roundtable, he brings a data-centric perspective to bundling strategies, pricing optimization, and performance benchmarking.
Peter Giacalone
President
Giacalone Associates, LLC
Peter Giacalone
President
Giacalone Associates, LLC
A successful forty five year career in the electronic security & telecommunications industry that includes building and leading the largest security, life safety, PERS and video third-party monitoring center in the US, with a proven executive track record in increasing revenue and opening new market verticals. Over a ten year period of focus and effort resulted in growing the company from a forty five thousand account regional center to over five hundred thousand accounts with fifty million dollars in annual revenue. Created the business plan, solicited the financing and secured a one hundred million dollar credit facility to fund the start up of King Capital Financial Services, which grew to become one of the longest running Dealer Financial & Acquisition Programs in the security industry. Providing Subject Matter Expert advisory for litigation, M&A and operations both domestically and internationally for the past 20 years.
Sean O'Neil
CEO
Cardinal Peak (FPT Software)
Sean O'Neil
CEO
Cardinal Peak (FPT Software)
Sean O'Neil, CEO, Cardinal Peak (FPT Software)
David Sym-Smith
General Partner
Mobility Ventures
David Sym-Smith
General Partner
Mobility Ventures
David Sym-Smith is a successful entrepreneur, proven CEO, motivational speaker, award winning executive. In his career, he has been the founder of multiple startups, he has been the CEO/President of both public and private companies, and he has served as a senior executive in many capacities. David has been part of several well-known successful startups, including Tele Atlas (acquired by Tom Tom) Innopath Software (acquired by Qualcomm), Areal Comm. (acquired by T-Mobile), American Personal Communications (acquired by Sprint), and more.
David serves on the boards of companies. He supports entrepreneurs and small businesses. He is the Chief Evangelist and a board member of Multiple Incubators which work with entrepreneurs.
David is a frequent speaker. He speaks on the topics of innovation, entrepreneurship, and business leadership.
David was honored with the Tech Titans Technology Advocate and Innovation Awards, TIA People Choice Award, PCIA) Distinguished Citizen Award, as Compass Intelligence - Mobile & Wireless Award.
Outside of the world of technology, David has served on numerous charity and non-profit boards.
This interactive round-table session brings leaders together to discuss and highlight key operational benchmarks in the smart home business markets, including benchmarks for NPS, strategies around bundles, and marketing messaging. Participate in round-table discussions with other executives to gain actionable insights into how top companies are aligning KPIs with shifting consumer expectations.
Speed Networking
Connect with fellow industry professionals in a fast-paced, engaging networking session! This fun experience helps to build valuable relationships with peers across the connected home ecosystem.
Feb 6th | 2025
Beyond Residential: Custom Integration’s Role in Smart Spaces
Special Roundtable sponsored by Nice
Thursday, February 6, 2025
Speaker Roundtable
Moderator
Kristen Hanich
Director of Research
Parks Associates
Moderator
Kristen Hanich
Director of Research
Parks Associates
INDUSTRY EXPERTISE: Consumer electronics, mobility services and devices, connected health and wellness.
Kristen Hanich heads Parks Associates' consumer electronics and mobility research, with expertise in other verticals including connected cars, mobile networking, healthcare, wellness, and independent living. She leads a mix of custom and syndicated research projects throughout the year, with a focus on major players and emerging trends. Kristen specializes in bridging the gap between data-driven and narrative approaches to understanding the consumer markets via a mix of qualitative and quantitative research approaches.
Kristen has dual master's degrees in applied anthropology and public health from the Universities of North Texas in Denton and Fort Worth. She earned her BSc in health at the University of Texas at San Antonio and has a graduate certificate in Geographic Information Systems.
Paul Williams
Global Managing Director, Home Management Business Unit
Nice
Paul Williams
Global Managing Director, Home Management Business Unit
Nice
Paul Williams serves as the Managing Director of the Home Management Solutions Business Unit for Nice and leads the worldwide strategy and business for the connected home in this role. Paul has over 20 years of executive leadership in the connected home space and his career spans start-ups to Fortune 500 companies. Paul previously served as Nice North America’s Chief Product Officer where he led the product management teams and developed the product strategy and product roadmaps of all products / solutions for Nice in North America. Prior to joining Nice, he was at GE Lighting in the role of GM of Product Management and Growth where he was charged with reimagining lighting solutions. In three years, Paul’s team created a DIY smart home ecosystem with innovative products and scaled the consumer mobile app, taking it from just 30,000 users to more than 2 million. During his 14+ years of executive leadership at Control4, a manufacturer of smart home solutions, he was instrumental in building the company from a startup to IPO with double-digit, year-over-year growth.
Horacio Morales
VP of Sales
Nice North America
Horacio Morales
VP of Sales
Nice North America
Horacio Morales, VP of Sales, Nice North America
Scott Osborne
Co-Owner & CEO
Castle Protection & Automation
Scott Osborne
Co-Owner & CEO
Castle Protection & Automation
Castle Protection & Automation
Ryan Heringer
President
Sound Concepts
Ryan Heringer
President
Sound Concepts
Ryan Heringer of Sound Concepts
Custom integrators play a critical role in ensuring technology works as users expect, with thoughtful design, smooth installation, and a seamless user experience. This is true both in a residential setting and beyond the home. Business customers in education, multifamily, hospitality, and other commercial settings seek ways to optimize operations, reduce costs, and enhance their customers’ experience. Custom integrators are uniquely positioned to design and implement solutions that create seamless experiences and support business goals.
During this roundtable session, expert panelists discuss the transformative role of custom integration of IoT and A/V systems across various industries. Speakers assess demand for automation, universal building controls, aggregated insights, professional installation and long-term support, and share learnings from technology deployments. In addition, Parks Associates will share consumer and industry research on the demand for technology and vendor support in commercial spaces, beyond the home.
Jan 23rd | 2025
Future of the Smart Home - Post CES: Innovation and 2025 Trends
Join us to explore the latest smart home innovations introduced at CES 2025 that are set to reshape the market by 2025. This session covers advancements in AI integration, energy management, and home automation, providing a detailed analysis of market trends and revenue forecasts. Learn how these developments will create new business opportunities and influence consumer behaviors in the smart home sector.
Thursday, January 23, 2025
Keynote
Moderator
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
Moderator
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
INDUSTRY EXPERTISE: Connected Health, Connected Home Technologies and Services, Connected Entertainment Products and Services.
Jennifer manages the research department and Parks Associates' process for producing high-quality, relevant, and meaningful research. Jennifer also leads and advises on syndicated and custom research projects across all connected consumer verticals and guides questionnaire development for Parks Associates’ extensive consumer analytics survey program. Jennifer is a certified focus group moderator, with training from the Burke Institute.
Jennifer earned her PhD in religion, politics, and society and an MA in church-state studies from Baylor University. She earned her BA in politics from the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.
Panel
Moderator
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
Moderator
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
INDUSTRY EXPERTISE: Connected Health, Connected Home Technologies and Services, Connected Entertainment Products and Services.
Jennifer manages the research department and Parks Associates' process for producing high-quality, relevant, and meaningful research. Jennifer also leads and advises on syndicated and custom research projects across all connected consumer verticals and guides questionnaire development for Parks Associates’ extensive consumer analytics survey program. Jennifer is a certified focus group moderator, with training from the Burke Institute.
Jennifer earned her PhD in religion, politics, and society and an MA in church-state studies from Baylor University. She earned her BA in politics from the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.
Eric Villines
Head of Global Communications
Anker Innovations
Eric Villines
Head of Global Communications
Anker Innovations
Eric Villines brings over 20 years of experience in communications, consumer branding, and reputation management. As Head of Global Communications for Anker Innovations, he manages global communications strategy for its brands, including Anker, the world’s #1 mobile charging brand, and eufy, a leader in home automation and security. An accomplished author and speaker, Eric’s career spans diverse industries, including entertainment, consumer technology, energy, government affairs, and financial services. Outside of work, he enjoys skiing, surfing, traveling, and supporting nonprofits focused on human rights and environmental conservation.
Sumati Sharan
CEO/Founder
Ladle Cooking
Sumati Sharan
CEO/Founder
Ladle Cooking
Sumati blends her experience as a mother with a child with food allergies, her success as a technology executive, and her ability to attract talent, fundraise, and generate revenue to bring Ladle to market. Highlights include: - Twenty years experience with Fortune 100 companies (Amazon, Intel, and Hewlett-Packard) leading go-to-market strategy for revenue-generating AI, Smart Home, and IoT platforms (Alexa “turn on the lights” and Alex Guard). - Managed million-dollar accounts for Walmart, Walgreens, Tencent, Big W, Tesco, Michaels Art & Crafts, and more while with HP’s Snapfish. The Ladle’s ecosystem is based on the successful Snapfish and Amazon Alexa models. - Ladle is Sumati’s third startup.
Joacim Westlund Prändel
Founder & Chairman
Flic - The Wireless Smart Button
Joacim Westlund Prändel
Founder & Chairman
Flic - The Wireless Smart Button
Joacim Westlund Prändel, Founder & Chairman, Flic - The Wireless Smart Button
Dec 12th | 2024
Smart Home Future Outlook 2025
The future of modern living is a seamlessly connected world. This session highlights how connected devices are changing how consumers interact at home and an outlook for the smart home solutions market for 2025. Speakers share a vision of the future, built on interoperability and the meshing of traditionally separate ecosystems to provide new value for consumers.
Thursday, December 12, 2024
Parks Associates Market Trends
Moderator
Daniel Holcomb
Senior Analyst, Smart Home Research
Parks Associates
Moderator
Daniel Holcomb
Senior Analyst, Smart Home Research
Parks Associates
Daniel is responsible for smart home research involving market trend analysis, competitor and positioning assessments, technology evaluations, and forecasts of relevant industry metrics.
Daniel is a market research industry veteran with 13 years of experience across multiple research types such as shopper insights, brand equity and brand health tracking, and customer experience. Daniel has also conducted research across multiple sectors such as consumer packaged goods, consumer electronics, specialty retail, and transportation, travel, and hospitality.
Daniel has a BA in Sociology from the University of Texas at Arlington, with specializations in Research and Evaluation, Diversity, and Family and Gender Studies.
Panel: Smart Home Future Outlook 2025
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Parks Associates mission is to help companies navigate the changing consumer technology landscapes through data-driven market insights, extensive consumer and industry intelligence, and executive conferences. With over two decades of dedication to the company, Elizabeth Parks, President and Chief Marketing Officer, has been instrumental in shaping its growth and success, along with the continued focus of delivering timely and quality industry and consumer insights on the broadband, entertainment, connected home and SMB industries.
Elizabeth's commitment to Parks Associates' overarching mission is unwavering. Parks Associates provides clients with the most comprehensive consumer and industry research and analysis to empower businesses to make informed decisions in an ever-evolving landscape.
Elizabeth's journey with Parks Associates began after graduating with a BA in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Plano Texas with her husband and three children.
Will West
CEO & Founder
OliverIQ
Will West
CEO & Founder
OliverIQ
Will West is the CEO of Oliver IQ. Will has been involved in the world of Home Automation for decades. He and his partner Eric Smith have created 5 industry leading and award winning companies together. A nice capstone to those awards was their receipt of the CEDIA Lifetime Achievement designation; an honor given to only a select few that have helped shape the industry. Will and Eric created Control4 and along with Mark Morgan, Glen Mella and many others, grew the Company to become the global leader in home automation. They successfully took the Company public in 2013. In 1998, he co-founded iBAHN with Eric Smith. Under Will’s leadership the company became the worldwide leader in broadband services for business travelers serving millions of customers in thousands of hotels. Prior to founding iBAHN, Will was CEO, and co-founder of PHAST Corporation, a manufacturer of high-end home automation equipment. Like his subsequent companies, PHAST became the leader in its field under his direction. Will's other professional experience includes Proctor and Gamble, the FSLIC, and Wasatch Advisors. He holds a degree in Finance from the University of Utah, and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He also holds the CFA designation. Will served as the chairman of the board of the Utah Capital Investment Corporation (the State of Utah's "Fund of Funds") where he served for close to 10 years. He served two terms as the Chairman of the Board for the Utah Technology Council (UTC) helping to create one of the most respected state technology associations in the Country. Along with his other commitments to the local community, Will sat on the Governor’s Economic Council and served multiple terms as Chairman of the Leonardo, Utah’s premier Science, Art, and Technology Museum. Will was also appointed to the Governing Board of the Utah Science Technology and Research initiative (USTAR). Will has been repeatedly named to Utah Business Magazine’s list of the 100 Most Influential People in the State. He was twice named Utah Valley Entrepreneur of the Year, and was named the Ernst and Young Master Entrepreneur Of The Year® in the intermountain region. He was also honored as the CEO of the Year by the Utah Technology Council.
Sujata Neidig
Vice President of Marketing
Thread Group
Sujata Neidig
Vice President of Marketing
Thread Group
Sujata Neidig has 25 years of experience in the semiconductor industry and has served in a variety of roles ranging from product engineering to marketing and business development. She is currently Director of Marketing i.MX Processors Software and Customer Programs. She also represents NXP as the Vice President of Marketing of the Thread Group, an industry alliance that provides an IP-based wireless mesh networking protocol designed for homes and buildings. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.
Michael Lotfy Gierges
EVP of the Global Home & Distribution
Schneider Electric
Michael Lotfy Gierges
EVP of the Global Home & Distribution
Schneider Electric
Michael LotfyGiergesis Executive Vice President for the Home & Distribution division and has held the position since June 2023.
In this role, he has full responsibility for all aspects of Schneider Electric’s residential & small buildings offerand solution development, including strategy, R&D, market development, production and go-to-market, utilizing his extensive industrialization experience.
Michael leads a global staff spanning all four major Schneider Electric regions. His team is focused on leveraging Schneider’s legacy and leading technology in the home space to deliver innovative Home Energy Management Solutions to bring about a sustainable future for homes & small buildings.
Michael is the youngest executive to lead a global business division in Schneider Electric. He is a passionate advocate for sustainability and has spearheaded DE&I initiatives throughout his career.
Michael has more than 20 years of professional experience. He was previously SVP of Power Products for the NAM Hub where he oversaw the division portfolio’s double-digit growth in sales and launched five innovative products for the electrical industry.
Scott Feldstein
Director of US Sales
GrandCare Systems
Scott Feldstein
Director of US Sales
GrandCare Systems
Scott is the director of US Sales and Training at GrandCare. In addition to 20 years of experience in technology, Scott has studied psychology, religion, education and computing. He holds a master’s in education from Marquette University.
Jun 13th | 2024
Home Services: Familiarity, Affordability, and Value
Consumers’ daily lives are shifting to revolve around a service-based model for virtually all aspects of life – and are driven by the role of connectivity in creating new experiences because of devices, cloud services, and advanced technology. This session brings industry leaders to share a vision and reality of connected home services, including safety and security, energy management, and connectivity and Wi-Fi solutions.
Thursday, June 13, 2024
Parks Associates Market Trends
Moderator
Daniel Holcomb
Senior Analyst, Smart Home Research
Parks Associates
Moderator
Daniel Holcomb
Senior Analyst, Smart Home Research
Parks Associates
Daniel is responsible for smart home research involving market trend analysis, competitor and positioning assessments, technology evaluations, and forecasts of relevant industry metrics.
Daniel is a market research industry veteran with 13 years of experience across multiple research types such as shopper insights, brand equity and brand health tracking, and customer experience. Daniel has also conducted research across multiple sectors such as consumer packaged goods, consumer electronics, specialty retail, and transportation, travel, and hospitality.
Daniel has a BA in Sociology from the University of Texas at Arlington, with specializations in Research and Evaluation, Diversity, and Family and Gender Studies.
Keynote Visionary Speaker
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Parks Associates mission is to help companies navigate the changing consumer technology landscapes through data-driven market insights, extensive consumer and industry intelligence, and executive conferences. With over two decades of dedication to the company, Elizabeth Parks, President and Chief Marketing Officer, has been instrumental in shaping its growth and success, along with the continued focus of delivering timely and quality industry and consumer insights on the broadband, entertainment, connected home and SMB industries.
Elizabeth's commitment to Parks Associates' overarching mission is unwavering. Parks Associates provides clients with the most comprehensive consumer and industry research and analysis to empower businesses to make informed decisions in an ever-evolving landscape.
Elizabeth's journey with Parks Associates began after graduating with a BA in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Plano Texas with her husband and three children.
Carie Small
Senior Director ADT Monitoring Product & Engineering
ADT
Carie Small
Senior Director ADT Monitoring Product & Engineering
ADT
Carie Small, Senior Director ADT Monitoring Product & Engineering, ADT
Panel: Home Services: Familiarity, Affordability, and Value
Moderator
Daniel Holcomb
Senior Analyst, Smart Home Research
Parks Associates
Moderator
Daniel Holcomb
Senior Analyst, Smart Home Research
Parks Associates
Daniel is responsible for smart home research involving market trend analysis, competitor and positioning assessments, technology evaluations, and forecasts of relevant industry metrics.
Daniel is a market research industry veteran with 13 years of experience across multiple research types such as shopper insights, brand equity and brand health tracking, and customer experience. Daniel has also conducted research across multiple sectors such as consumer packaged goods, consumer electronics, specialty retail, and transportation, travel, and hospitality.
Daniel has a BA in Sociology from the University of Texas at Arlington, with specializations in Research and Evaluation, Diversity, and Family and Gender Studies.
Andrew Bleiman
Executive Vice President
Tractive
Andrew Bleiman
Executive Vice President
Tractive
Andrew leads Tractive's pet GPS tracking and health monitoring business in North America. Previously he led the US business for Furbo Dog Camera and wildlife conservation technology initiatives for Vulcan. Prior to that he helped launch Trunk Club in Chicago as head of marketing. Andrew is the author of the ZooBorns book series with over 2 million books sold. He serves on the Board of the Seattle Aquarium and holds a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania.
Jing Xue
Senior Director of Product Management
Wyze
Jing Xue
Senior Director of Product Management
Wyze
Jing Xue, Senior Director of Product Management, Wyze Labs
Roel Peeters
Co-Founder and CEO
Roost Labs
Roel Peeters
Co-Founder and CEO
Roost Labs
Roel Peeters is the CEO & Co-founder of Roost. Mr. Peeters is a serial entrepreneur with over 20 years of startup experience ranging from enterprise software to consumer electronics and semiconductors.
Before starting Roost in 2014, he was the co-founder of Ozmo Devices, a pioneer in low-power Wi-Fi. Ozmo delivered the enabling technology for the world’s first WiFi mouse (marketed by HP) and the WiFi remote control shipping with the Roku 3 box. Mr. Peeters is a co-inventor of low-power Wi-Fi Personal Area Networks (PAN) technology and successfully created a worldwide standard known as “Wi-Fi Direct”. Ozmo was acquired by Atmel in 2012.
Prior to Ozmo, Mr. Peeters was one of the first employees at InQuira, a venture-funded search and web self-service enterprise software provider. As a marketing and sales executive, he was responsible for the development and execution of its highly successful early adopter program, signing up several Fortune 500 customers. InQuira was successfully acquired by Oracle.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Peeters held various applications engineering, sales, and sales management positions in Europe, Southeast Asia, and the U.S. with ICOS Vision Systems (acquired by KLA-Tencor), a semiconductor equipment manufacturer.
Mr. Peeters received his MBA from The Wharton School and an MSEE from the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium.
Dan Goodman
CEO and Founder
Building36, an Alarm.com company
Dan Goodman
CEO and Founder
Building36, an Alarm.com company
Dan Goodman is co-founder and President of Building36. Dan founded Building36 to create smart home solutions that make homes safer, more comfortable and energy efficient by designing them with both the homeowner and service provider in mind. Dan has nearly 20 years of engineering and technology experience. Prior to Building36, Dan was an applications engineer at Texas Instruments, founded a company that created the first Wi-Fi thermostat, and was head of sales for a startup company that helped pioneer zigbee wireless technology. Dan graduated from MIT with a degree in electrical engineer and computer science.
New Era of Security: Scaling AVS-01 through Innovation & Leadership
Moderator
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
Moderator
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
INDUSTRY EXPERTISE: Connected Health, Connected Home Technologies and Services, Connected Entertainment Products and Services.
Jennifer manages the research department and Parks Associates' process for producing high-quality, relevant, and meaningful research. Jennifer also leads and advises on syndicated and custom research projects across all connected consumer verticals and guides questionnaire development for Parks Associates’ extensive consumer analytics survey program. Jennifer is a certified focus group moderator, with training from the Burke Institute.
Jennifer earned her PhD in religion, politics, and society and an MA in church-state studies from Baylor University. She earned her BA in politics from the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.
Keith Puckett
Founder | CEO
Ubiety Technologies
Keith Puckett
Founder | CEO
Ubiety Technologies
Keith Puckett, a former M&A investment banker, has transformed into a serial entrepreneur with a proven track record of creating disruptive start-ups. He is the Founder and CEO of Ubiety Technologies, which offers an AI engine and RF detection platform aimed at enhancing situational awareness across residential, commercial, and government security sectors. Ubiety can detect, categorize, and recognize individuals based on the devices they carry. Its AI engine, Eckleburg, processes high-speed radio frequency data to make real-time identity inferences using only passive RF signals, including WiFi, Bluetooth, and cellular data. Keith is passionate about contributing to safety and security of families throughout America!
Veronica Moturi
Senior Vice President, Customer Experience
Brinks Home
Veronica Moturi
Senior Vice President, Customer Experience
Brinks Home
Veronica Moturi began her career as a customer service phone agent. In 2012, she joined Brinks Home™ as Manager, Consumer Affairs, and has since advanced to her current role as Senior Vice President, Customer Experience. Leveraging what she learned as a frontline representative and her deep understanding of the security industry, Veronica strategizes and executes initiatives aimed at reducing attrition, enhancing customer lifetime value, and improving both the customer and employee experiences. She is dedicated to not only transforming the call center through universal agents, career pathing, and technology-enhanced learning, but also developing a team-focused environment committed to the shared goal of fostering a best-in-class customer experience. Veronica’s leadership and passion have earned her recognition, including being named to Security Systems News’ “40 Under 40” and Industry Tech Outlook's “10 Most Admired Women Leaders 2024.” Veronica prides herself on building an innovative culture and championing solutions centered around our customers, employees, and core values. When not at work, Veronica enjoys exploring new restaurants and spending time with her husband and two kids.
Greg Mora
Executive Director, Business Development
Johnson Controls
Greg Mora
Executive Director, Business Development
Johnson Controls
Greg leads Business Development for Johnson Controls’ Intrusion business, where with his team, they are creating a portfolio of smart products that provide safety, security and automation to homes and businesses around the world.
Morgan Hertel
VP of Technology and Innovation
Rapid Response Monitoring
Morgan Hertel
VP of Technology and Innovation
Rapid Response Monitoring
Morgan Hertel, with over 40 years of experience in the electronic security industry, is a well-respected leader who has served in many executive leadership roles for independent security integration companies and monitoring centers. Currently, as Vice President of Technology & Innovation for Rapid Response Monitoring, Morgan evaluates and harnesses the synergy between the latest technological advancements and the industry’s leading service providers to further advance the unmatched Dealer services of Rapid Response.
Morgan serves as President of The Monitoring Association (TMA) and is actively involved in many local and national industry associations and initiatives, and he dedicates countless hours to the work of several forward-thinking committees throughout the industry, as well.
Morgan holds the following certificates and licenses:
NICET Level III Fire Alarm Technology, California Alarm Company Qualified Manager, Oregon Certified Trainer, Oregon Executive Manager, TMA Level I and II Central Station Operator, SIA Certified Operator and ESA Certified Alarm Installer.
Don Young
EVP and Chief Operating Officer
ADT
Don Young
EVP and Chief Operating Officer
ADT
Don Young is Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at ADT. He previously served as the company’s Chief Information Officer and Executive Vice President, Field Operations. Don started in the alarm industry in 1988 after serving four years in the United States Air Force as a computer programmer analyst. Since then he has held various leadership roles across many areas within the security industry. Don is currently president of The Monitoring Association (TMA) and past president of the Partnership for Priority Video Alarm Response (PPVAR).
This special session is on LinkedIn Live. Register Now and Join Us June 13 at 1 PM CT.
The security industry has undergone substantial change in recent years, but one thing remains the same: security system owners demand a swift, accurate, and effective response to alerts and issues. The value of security solutions is undermined when systems detect and alert users to issues that are not actual security events or emergencies. Plus, response to false alarms diverts responders’ time and attention away from valid security events at a time when law enforcement is facing severe staffing constraints. It also conditions first responders to assume that system-triggered security events are false.
These issues are critically important to the security industry. Players across the residential security ecosystem have worked to improve technologies and processes to decrease the occurrence of false alarms. The Monitoring Association developed an alarm validation scoring standard, TMA-AVS-01, to help emergency operators and responders to prioritize and respond to alarms more effectively, reducing the number of nuisance alarms and improving overall system performance.
In this virtual session, industry leaders from across the residential security ecosystem talk about next steps with AVS-01, with a focus on getting to scale with urgency. Leaders will address how their organizations are offering technologies, new processes, partnerships, and marketing resources to put AVS-01 into action and educate law enforcement partners on the standard. The webinar will also include Parks Associates research from interviews with law enforcement agencies and dispatchers about responding to security alarms and technologies and processes that can help.
May 7th | 2024
- May 9th | 2024
CONNECTIONS™: The Premier Connected Home Conference
Tuesday, May 7, 2024
Welcome: Where’s the Growth? State of the Connected Home - Ballroom C/D
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Parks Associates mission is to help companies navigate the changing consumer technology landscapes through data-driven market insights, extensive consumer and industry intelligence, and executive conferences. With over two decades of dedication to the company, Elizabeth Parks, President and Chief Marketing Officer, has been instrumental in shaping its growth and success, along with the continued focus of delivering timely and quality industry and consumer insights on the broadband, entertainment, connected home and SMB industries.
Elizabeth's commitment to Parks Associates' overarching mission is unwavering. Parks Associates provides clients with the most comprehensive consumer and industry research and analysis to empower businesses to make informed decisions in an ever-evolving landscape.
Elizabeth's journey with Parks Associates began after graduating with a BA in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Plano Texas with her husband and three children.
Join the opening session for an update on what smart home solutions consumers are most interested in, the channels consumers are using to buy these products, and insight into the new services entering the market.
Smart Home Integration: Progress and Barriers - Ballroom C/D
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Parks Associates mission is to help companies navigate the changing consumer technology landscapes through data-driven market insights, extensive consumer and industry intelligence, and executive conferences. With over two decades of dedication to the company, Elizabeth Parks, President and Chief Marketing Officer, has been instrumental in shaping its growth and success, along with the continued focus of delivering timely and quality industry and consumer insights on the broadband, entertainment, connected home and SMB industries.
Elizabeth's commitment to Parks Associates' overarching mission is unwavering. Parks Associates provides clients with the most comprehensive consumer and industry research and analysis to empower businesses to make informed decisions in an ever-evolving landscape.
Elizabeth's journey with Parks Associates began after graduating with a BA in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Plano Texas with her husband and three children.
Nick English
CEO North America
Kaadas
Nick English
CEO North America
Kaadas
Nick English serves as CEO, North America for Kaadas Smart Solutions, leading the company’s expansion operations by leveraging strong manufacturing & engineering capabilities to bring high-quality, innovative products to a new market. English is an accomplished executive with successful experience running organizations & building and leading high-performance Operations, Sales and Management teams.
Mathew Koenig
Director, Sales Strategy and Enablement
Cox Communications
Mathew Koenig
Director, Sales Strategy and Enablement
Cox Communications
Mathew Koenig, Director, Sales Strategy and Enablement, Cox Communications
Kevin Kraus
V.P. Technology Alliances
Fortune Brands Innovations, Inc.
Kevin Kraus
V.P. Technology Alliances
Fortune Brands Innovations, Inc.
Kevin Kraus recently joined Fortune Brands Innovations, Inc. as part of the Divestiture of Yale and August North America from ASSA ABLOY. Kevin is the V.P. Technology Alliances and IoT Business Development for Fortune Brands, prior to the Divestiture, Kevin was V.P. Technology Alliances and IoT Business Development for ASSA ABLOY Smart Residential Group. Prior to being promoted Kevin was Director of Technology and Partner Integration since 2018 and is responsible for defining key product technologies and developing partner integration strategies and tools to support seamless lock integration. Prior to becoming the Director of technology and partner integration, Kevin was Director of product development for Yale Residential Locks. Responsible for product strategy, product development, and technology. Prior to joining ASSA ABLOY/Yale in 2009; Kevin spent 11 years as director of product management electronic locks for the Schlage Residential Business. Prior to Schlage Kevin spent 7 years with Honeywell’s Security Group as product manager for Honeywell Residential Security Products. Kevin has extensive experience in the IOT, Residential Security, and Home Automation Business and is regarded as a subject matter expert in residential electronic locks, residential security and home automation systems and residential systems communication technologies. Kevin has majors in both Electrical Engineering and Business Administration. Kevin is also on the CSA Aliance, Z-Wave Alliance, and Thread Board of Directors. Kevin is currently Vice Chair of the CSA Alliance and Treasure of both the Thread Group and Z-Wave Alliance.
Linsey Miller
Senior Vice President, Business Development and Strategic Marketing
Resideo
Linsey Miller
Senior Vice President, Business Development and Strategic Marketing
Resideo
As the Senior Vice President, Business Development and Strategic Marketing for Resideo, Linsey identifies potential partnerships, technology innovations and solutions to provide comfort, security, energy efficiency, control and life-saving monitoring to customers worldwide. She also serves on the board of directors of the Home Connectivity Alliance (HCA), where she plays a vital role in shaping the future of smart home connectivity and interoperability. A lifelong learner who is passionate about driving the technology and energy industries forward, Linsey can offer insights into topics including energy transition, incubating and growing SaaS businesses, advancing women in tech and the practical application of artificial intelligence for business value creation.
Integrating devices, systems, and services has emerged as a pivotal force shaping the future of connected living. This session provides insights into successful deployments, marketing, and growth of smart home solutions. Speakers highlight real-world success stories, address interoperability challenges, and highlight the role of data analytics in fine-tuning smart home systems to anticipate user needs and preferences better.
Keynote: Rocketship For The Mind - Ballroom C/D
Moderator
Ashton Gambrell
Director of Sales, Sponsorships
Parks Associates
Moderator
Ashton Gambrell
Director of Sales, Sponsorships
Parks Associates
Ashton joined Parks Associates with over 15 years experience in sales, business development, account management and sponsorship sales within the hotel and sports industries. She is now part of the business development team managing event sponsorships and custom marketing services.
Ashton graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington with a BA in Business Administration and concentration in Marketing. After working for Four Seasons Resorts for nearly 10 years, Ashton spent the next seven years working with PGA TOUR pro golfers and their corporate sponsors/partners before joining Parks Associates.
Steve Chazin
VP of Products
Alarm.com
Steve Chazin
VP of Products
Alarm.com
Steve Chazin has nearly three decades experience designing, building, and selling innovative enterprise and consumer technology that changed the world. Steve reimagined collaboration in the cloud at Cisco, Salesforce, and Symantec, launched four successful startups, and created new solutions for video editing, file sharing, and web services long before each became commonplace. As Vice President of Products for Alarm.com, Steve defines next-generation offerings for protecting people at home, at work and beyond. Combining his extensive tech experience with keen insights of emerging consumer trends, Steve has a history of predicting the future, and is currently developing health and wellness solutions for a post Covid-19 world. Steve has been a recurring guest on major network news programs, appeared in the BBC television series “Business Nightmares” and took part in the CNBC documentary “Steve Jobs: Billion Dollar Hippie”. Steve has written and published three books, is quoted by numerous online and printed publications, and is a highly sought-after speaker on topics like connected health and fitness, consumer technology and augmented reality. Steve was rehired by Steve Jobs to help reboot Apple in the late 1990s and was part of the team that returned Apple to profitability.
Major Energy Investments: Transforming the Experience - Ballroom C/D
Moderator
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
Moderator
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
INDUSTRY EXPERTISE: Connected Health, Connected Home Technologies and Services, Connected Entertainment Products and Services.
Jennifer manages the research department and Parks Associates' process for producing high-quality, relevant, and meaningful research. Jennifer also leads and advises on syndicated and custom research projects across all connected consumer verticals and guides questionnaire development for Parks Associates’ extensive consumer analytics survey program. Jennifer is a certified focus group moderator, with training from the Burke Institute.
Jennifer earned her PhD in religion, politics, and society and an MA in church-state studies from Baylor University. She earned her BA in politics from the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.
Paul Williams
Global Managing Director, Home Management Business Unit
Nice
Paul Williams
Global Managing Director, Home Management Business Unit
Nice
Paul Williams serves as the Managing Director of the Home Management Solutions Business Unit for Nice and leads the worldwide strategy and business for the connected home in this role. Paul has over 20 years of executive leadership in the connected home space and his career spans start-ups to Fortune 500 companies. Paul previously served as Nice North America’s Chief Product Officer where he led the product management teams and developed the product strategy and product roadmaps of all products / solutions for Nice in North America. Prior to joining Nice, he was at GE Lighting in the role of GM of Product Management and Growth where he was charged with reimagining lighting solutions. In three years, Paul’s team created a DIY smart home ecosystem with innovative products and scaled the consumer mobile app, taking it from just 30,000 users to more than 2 million. During his 14+ years of executive leadership at Control4, a manufacturer of smart home solutions, he was instrumental in building the company from a startup to IPO with double-digit, year-over-year growth.
Wolfgang Kirsch
CEO
Shelly Group
Wolfgang Kirsch
CEO
Shelly Group
Wolfgang Kirsch has 25+ years of experience in consumer electronics retailers across Europe. Before heading Shelly Group AD, Wolfgang Kirsch held a senior position at MediaMarktSaturn Retail Group until 2018, most recently as Chief Operating Officer. After driving expansion into numerous countries, he was most recently responsible for the development of own brands, the digitalization of the retail business, and the linking of online and offline channels across 14 countries, among other things. After leaving MediaMarktSaturn, Kirsch supported international corporations and medium-sized companies in their digital transformation and the development of direct-to-consumer businesses through his own consulting company, as an external consultant at McKinsey & Company, and on behalf of private equity companies. In parallel, he has contributed his experience to start-ups such as the retail-as-a-service provider Vaund and the sustainable coffee producer Vitaboni. As CEO of Shelly Group AD, Wolfgang Kirsch focuses on the development and expansion of Shelly Group's business through sales and marketing in the respective countries.
Chris Tumpach
CEO
Rainforest Automation
Chris Tumpach
CEO
Rainforest Automation
Chris leads the Rainforest Automation team to deliver innovative solutions to its customers that exceed their expectations. With over 20 years of experience in technical and management roles in semiconductors, software, and hardware, across the networking and energy fields, Chris brings a technology and customer-centric view to solving the problems we all face with the transition to electrification.
Roy Simmons
President, Savant Power
Savant Systems, Inc.
Roy Simmons
President, Savant Power
Savant Systems, Inc.
Roy is currently the President of Savant Power where he is leading the company’s efforts to blaze the trail to energy independence for home and business owners through innovative products and services, strategic partnerships, continuous operational improvement, and a robust sales strategy.
Explore the latest advancements in smart appliances and large energy solution investments and their impact on convenience, energy efficiency, and user experience within connected homes. This session highlights the potential cost savings and environmental benefits of energy-efficient smart appliances and solutions, the challenges in implementing large-scale investments in existing homes, and how to help consumers understand the long-term value of these investments.
Opening Reception - Ballroom E/F
Sponsored by Schlage
Wednesday, May 8, 2024
Registration Open - Foyer
Registration sponsored by Becklar
Networking Breakfast - Ballroom E/F
Sponsored by bluesalve partners
Opening Comments: AI Transforming Industries - Ballroom C/D
Moderator
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
Moderator
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
INDUSTRY EXPERTISE: Connected Health, Connected Home Technologies and Services, Connected Entertainment Products and Services.
Jennifer manages the research department and Parks Associates' process for producing high-quality, relevant, and meaningful research. Jennifer also leads and advises on syndicated and custom research projects across all connected consumer verticals and guides questionnaire development for Parks Associates’ extensive consumer analytics survey program. Jennifer is a certified focus group moderator, with training from the Burke Institute.
Jennifer earned her PhD in religion, politics, and society and an MA in church-state studies from Baylor University. She earned her BA in politics from the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.
AI is changing the way we live and work. Parks Associates shares the practical applications of AI in the smart home and what’s on the horizon, featuring consumer and industry data.
AI in the Smart Home: Predictive, Creative, Responsive - Ballroom C/D
Moderator
Ross Rubin
Sr. Contributing Analyst
Parks Associates
Moderator
Ross Rubin
Sr. Contributing Analyst
Parks Associates
Ross Rubin is a contributing analyst at Parks Associates and the founder and principal analyst at Reticle Research Ross has focused on innovation in the technology, media and telecom markets for over 20 years. Prior to founding Reticle Research, he was executive director and principal analyst at The NPD Group. Prior to NPD, he founded and managed the consumer access and technology service at Jupiter Research (acquired by Forrester Research), where he served as vice president and chief research fellow. He has contributed to and been quoted by leading publications and media outlets hundreds of times. Ross is a graduate of Cornell University.
Lars Oleson
CEO & Co-Founder
Xailient
Lars Oleson
CEO & Co-Founder
Xailient
CEO and Co-Founder of Xailient -22 years in Enterprise Software. -Serial entrepreneur. -Experienced CEO with 100+ employees at exit. -Alipay, Symantec, Oracle. -MIT electrical engineering.
John Leonard
Senior Vice President, Partner Growth
Asurion
John Leonard
Senior Vice President, Partner Growth
Asurion
John has over 25 years of product, sales, and strategy leadership experience in the wireless and technology markets. John and his team are responsible for leading Asurion’s channel partner growth, setting the strategy for the expansion of new partners, and the commercialization of Asurion solutions that fit the needs of our partners and their customers. John previously served as Chief Product Officer of Asurion, leading the development, planning, commercialization, and management of Asurion’s products.
Prior to joining Asurion, John spent twelve years with Alcatel-Lucent. While at Alcatel-Lucent, John held several leadership positions, including head of global sales and operations of the Genesys contact center enterprise division, general manager of the wireless applications business division, and VP of strategy and marketing of the network infrastructure business division.
John holds an MBA from the Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley, and a bachelor’s degree from Universidad Metropolitana in Caracas, Venezuela.
Tony Nicolaidis
Chief Commercial Officer
Origin
Tony Nicolaidis
Chief Commercial Officer
Origin
Tony Nicolaidis: Chief Commercial Officer at Origin AI Tony Nicolaidis is the Chief Commercial Officer at Origin AI, a role he assumed in January 2023 after serving as the Chief Revenue Officer since August 2022. Known for his dynamic approach in the B2B sector, Tony excels in strategic planning, scaling sales and customer success teams, and aligning marketing strategies with revenue goals. His expertise in establishing data-driven SaaS revenue metrics has been pivotal in communicating progress to key stakeholders. Before joining Origin AI, Tony was the Chief Revenue Officer at Successware from June 2020 to August 2022, where he spearheaded sales and customer success strategies to drive company growth. He also contributed his expertise as a Startup Advisor to various construction startups, advising on value proposition and commercialization from January 2020 to June 2020. Tony's earlier career includes over two decades at Stanley Black & Decker, Inc., where he held several key positions, including General Manager - Construction Technology Group and Vice President of Marketing and Product. His journey there showcased his versatility and leadership across various domains. Tony holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Maryland and an MBA from Loyola University, Maryland. His educational background, combined with his extensive professional experience, makes him a knowledgeable and inspiring speaker, particularly in the fields of sales, business development, and customer success.
Discover how AI turns houses into intelligent ecosystems, automates tasks, enhances security, and delivers personalized experiences. Speakers address the role of artificial intelligence in smart home products and systems, including intelligent automation and energy efficiency, to improve safety and customized comfort.
Keynote: Empowering Smart Homes: Professional Channels + Partnerships Drive Growth - Ballroom C/D
Moderator
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
Moderator
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
INDUSTRY EXPERTISE: Connected Health, Connected Home Technologies and Services, Connected Entertainment Products and Services.
Jennifer manages the research department and Parks Associates' process for producing high-quality, relevant, and meaningful research. Jennifer also leads and advises on syndicated and custom research projects across all connected consumer verticals and guides questionnaire development for Parks Associates’ extensive consumer analytics survey program. Jennifer is a certified focus group moderator, with training from the Burke Institute.
Jennifer earned her PhD in religion, politics, and society and an MA in church-state studies from Baylor University. She earned her BA in politics from the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.
Linsey Miller
Senior Vice President, Business Development and Strategic Marketing
Resideo
Linsey Miller
Senior Vice President, Business Development and Strategic Marketing
Resideo
As the Senior Vice President, Business Development and Strategic Marketing for Resideo, Linsey identifies potential partnerships, technology innovations and solutions to provide comfort, security, energy efficiency, control and life-saving monitoring to customers worldwide. She also serves on the board of directors of the Home Connectivity Alliance (HCA), where she plays a vital role in shaping the future of smart home connectivity and interoperability. A lifelong learner who is passionate about driving the technology and energy industries forward, Linsey can offer insights into topics including energy transition, incubating and growing SaaS businesses, advancing women in tech and the practical application of artificial intelligence for business value creation.
Networking Break - Foyer
Sponsored by Xailient
Willingness to Pay for Connected Home Services - Ballroom C/D
Moderator
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
Moderator
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
INDUSTRY EXPERTISE: Connected Health, Connected Home Technologies and Services, Connected Entertainment Products and Services.
Jennifer manages the research department and Parks Associates' process for producing high-quality, relevant, and meaningful research. Jennifer also leads and advises on syndicated and custom research projects across all connected consumer verticals and guides questionnaire development for Parks Associates’ extensive consumer analytics survey program. Jennifer is a certified focus group moderator, with training from the Burke Institute.
Jennifer earned her PhD in religion, politics, and society and an MA in church-state studies from Baylor University. She earned her BA in politics from the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.
Hagan Kappler
Co-Founder and CEO
Daisy
Hagan Kappler
Co-Founder and CEO
Daisy
Hagan Kappler is the co-founder and CEO of Daisy, the first national brand in home and small business technology installation and services. Prior to Daisy, Hagan was the CEO of Threshold Brands, a private equity backed home and commercial services company with nine brands and over 550 locations. Prior to Threshold, Hagan led ServiceMaster Clean and Merry Maids, a $1B+ home and commercial services businesses with thousands of franchisees across the globe, and supported the $1.6B sale of ServiceMaster Brands to Roark Capital. Hagan led corporate development at Ingersoll Rand/Trane, a $23B HVAC and industrial company. She led the launch of Blonde Roast at Starbucks. She has extensive strategy and M&A experience, including McKinsey & Company, as well as Goldman Sachs. Hagan holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Williams College and an MBA from the Darden School at the University of Virginia. Hagan has four children and lives in Newport Beach, California.
Alexander Linn
Founder and CEO
Shipshape AI
Alexander Linn
Founder and CEO
Shipshape AI
Alexander Linn is an expert in the application of AI. As Founder and CEO of Shipshape he is on a mission to make all homes safe, reliable, efficient, and easy to maintain. Formerly an Engineer at Salesforce on their AI team. He holds multiple patents and started developing smart building tech in 2007, including novel HVAC technology.
Dean Avgiris
Executive Director - Xfinity Home
Comcast
Dean Avgiris
Executive Director - Xfinity Home
Comcast
Dean Avgiris, Executive Director - Xfinity Home, Comcast
Consumers understand home service value and are willing to pay for new connected home services. Explore pricing models, market research insights, and successful strategies for monetizing innovative offerings in the connected home industry. Speakers in this session address the importance of communicating the value proposition, concerns about subscription-based models for smart home services, and examples of successful pricing strategies and subscription tiers.
Interoperability and Integration: Creating New Value in Home - Ballroom C/D
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Parks Associates mission is to help companies navigate the changing consumer technology landscapes through data-driven market insights, extensive consumer and industry intelligence, and executive conferences. With over two decades of dedication to the company, Elizabeth Parks, President and Chief Marketing Officer, has been instrumental in shaping its growth and success, along with the continued focus of delivering timely and quality industry and consumer insights on the broadband, entertainment, connected home and SMB industries.
Elizabeth's commitment to Parks Associates' overarching mission is unwavering. Parks Associates provides clients with the most comprehensive consumer and industry research and analysis to empower businesses to make informed decisions in an ever-evolving landscape.
Elizabeth's journey with Parks Associates began after graduating with a BA in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Plano Texas with her husband and three children.
Patrick Serrato
Director of Ecosystem Business Development and Product Strategy
Xthings
Patrick Serrato
Director of Ecosystem Business Development and Product Strategy
Xthings
From serving on the Board of Directors at the CSA to leading teams in creating innovative solutions, Patrick has been a driving force in the Smart Home industry for over 20 years.
Greg Jones
Portfolio Product Lead – Smart Home
Amazon Web Services
Greg Jones
Portfolio Product Lead – Smart Home
Amazon Web Services
Greg Jones, Portfolio Product Lead – Smart Home, Amazon Web Services
Mike Hackett
Senior Vice President of Enterprise Business Development
Brinks Home
Mike Hackett
Senior Vice President of Enterprise Business Development
Brinks Home
Brinks Home™ welcomed Mike in February 2024. As SVP of Enterprise Business Development, Mike plays a key role in leading strategic initiatives for business development and building enterprise partnerships.
With over 25 years of sales and marketing experience, Mike has a proven track record of accelerating growth and establishing successful partnerships. His extensive knowledge of product across the security, technology, e-commerce, and manufacturing industries is a valuable asset as Brinks Home continues to innovate smart home security solutions and solidify itself as a marketplace leader.
Before joining Brinks Home, Mike was Vice President of Global Sales and Marketing at Johnson Controls. He co-founded the security and smart home manufacturer Qolsys, where he also acted as Vice President of Sales and Marketing. Earlier in his career, Mike spent 10 years in multiple positions at eBay, focusing on business development and growth through key partnerships.
Mike holds a Bachelor of Science in Advertising from San Jose State University. Residing in San Jose, California, Mike enjoys spending time with family and friends snow skiing, biking, and golfing.
Interoperability and integration are crucial concepts in modern smart home ecosystems, aiming to enhance the functionality, convenience, and efficiency of home automation systems. This session explores the latest strategies and technologies that are driving new value creation in the smart home sector. Speakers address the role of interoperability and integration including wireless standards and the new initiative matter. By focusing on how different devices and systems within a home can communicate and work together seamlessly, the session highlights the importance of interoperability standards and integration frameworks.
Keynote: The Integration of Energy and Smart Home - Ballroom C/D
Moderator
Ashton Gambrell
Director of Sales, Sponsorships
Parks Associates
Moderator
Ashton Gambrell
Director of Sales, Sponsorships
Parks Associates
Ashton joined Parks Associates with over 15 years experience in sales, business development, account management and sponsorship sales within the hotel and sports industries. She is now part of the business development team managing event sponsorships and custom marketing services.
Ashton graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington with a BA in Business Administration and concentration in Marketing. After working for Four Seasons Resorts for nearly 10 years, Ashton spent the next seven years working with PGA TOUR pro golfers and their corporate sponsors/partners before joining Parks Associates.
Jim Nye
Chief Product Officer
NRG Consumer
Jim Nye
Chief Product Officer
NRG Consumer
Jim Nye is the Chief Product O4icer for the NRG Consumer team, responsible for the company’s consumer energy product strategy, including research and development, new product go-to-market initiatives, and the management of industry related partnerships.
He was named to the position following NRG’s acquisition of Vivint, where he held the same title for the Utah-based leader in smart home and security innovation. Jim previously served as Senior Vice President of Product Management at Vivint, where he helped pioneer and bring to market many security and smart home innovations, including the first fully integrated smart home panel to integrate cellular connectivity and touchscreen technologies. Jim also led the strategy and development of Vivint’s video camera line,
including the Vivint Doorbell Camera and other video products, and holds more than 50 patents for security and smart home technology innovations.
Prior to his time at Vivint, Jim served as a program manager at Northrop Grumman, where he managed security upgrade initiatives for missile defense systems.
Jim received a bachelor’s degree in management information systems from Brigham Young University and an MBA from the University of Colorado.
Networking Lunch - Ballroom E/F
Kevin Woodworth
Sr Director – Global TAM & Tech Support
Johnson Controls
Kevin Woodworth
Sr Director – Global TAM & Tech Support
Johnson Controls
Kevin joined JCI via the Qolsys acquisition in 2020 and currently runs the Global Technical Account Management & Tech Support Teams. With members of his team in North American, EMEA and LATAM, he is responsible for supporting the Intrusion sales team on pre and post-sales activity, helping to win new business while growing and supporting existing business. Most importantly he and his team manage current dealer partners product expectations, needs and feedback loop while liaising directly with Product Management and Engineering on new designs, roadmap and strategy.
In 2011, prior to joining JCI, Kevin was an integral part of the team that took Qolsys from an unknown startup in Silicon Valley to a household name and best-selling intrusion and smart home product in North America, culminating in a successful acquisition by JCI.
Kevin got his start in the security industry in 2002 while in college, working his way up from Installer, then Regional Installation Manager to VP of Installation for two of the largest security companies in America, training and mentoring thousands of security professionals over 20+ years. He lives in Mapleton, Utah with his wife and 3 kids and enjoys skiing, wake surfing and riding his dirt bike in the mountains.
Sponsored by Johnson Controls
Research Presentation - Insurance and Smart Home - Ballroom C/D
Moderator
Daniel Holcomb
Senior Analyst, Smart Home Research
Parks Associates
Moderator
Daniel Holcomb
Senior Analyst, Smart Home Research
Parks Associates
Daniel is responsible for smart home research involving market trend analysis, competitor and positioning assessments, technology evaluations, and forecasts of relevant industry metrics.
Daniel is a market research industry veteran with 13 years of experience across multiple research types such as shopper insights, brand equity and brand health tracking, and customer experience. Daniel has also conducted research across multiple sectors such as consumer packaged goods, consumer electronics, specialty retail, and transportation, travel, and hospitality.
Daniel has a BA in Sociology from the University of Texas at Arlington, with specializations in Research and Evaluation, Diversity, and Family and Gender Studies.
Parks Associates highlights new research from its latest insurance and smart home study, featuring insights on top insurance players, incentives driving consumers' interest in smart home solutions, and the implications for insurance and smart home partnerships.
Insurance Opportunities in the Smart Home - Ballroom C/D
Moderator
Jason Paris
VP, Business Development
Parks Associates
Moderator
Jason Paris
VP, Business Development
Parks Associates
Jason Paris joined Parks Associates as an analyst studying international telephone, cable, and satellite providers and is now a member of the business development team.
Jason graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a BA in psychology and government. After working for the Texas House of Representatives, Jason spent the previous seven years in New York City working with portable and enterprise healthcare technologies.
Mike Hetke
President and CEO
A3 Smart Home
Mike Hetke
President and CEO
A3 Smart Home
Mike Hetke, President and CEO, A3 Smart Home
Geoff Martin
President & Co-founder
vipHomeLink
Geoff Martin
President & Co-founder
vipHomeLink
Geoff Martin is a seasoned business executive who is currently President & Co-founder of software company, vipHomeLink, providing the leading Homeowner Experience & Engagement Platform to homeowners, often in collaboration with insurance carriers, home warranty companies, builders and other valued corporate partners. Geoff is a growth-oriented leader with extensive corporate M&A, capital raising, operations and partnerships expertise. His financial career includes nearly 20 years as a Wall Street investment banker, rising to Managing Director, and subsequently serving as Chief Financial Officer of a global transportation company. During his career, he has been involved with over $10B in executed corporate transactions worldwide. Geoff has been active with technology companies for over 10 years as an operator, advisor, and investor. He co-founded vipHomeLink in 2017 with partner Alfred Bentley. Geoff received his Bachelors in Economics from The Pennsylvania State University, and his MBA from New York University in 1995. He currently resides in Charleston, SC with his family.
Bill Loesch
CEO & Co-Founder
LeakSentinel
Bill Loesch
CEO & Co-Founder
LeakSentinel
Bill Loesch is co-founder and CEO of LeakSentinel Inc. He is a serial entrepreneur, founded four companies, and angel investor in Silicon Valley. His current startup has developed a low-cost and innovative water damage claim mitigation solution. He is the holder of 4 patents including “Non-Invasive, Independently Powered Leak Detector and Valve Shut-off Apparatus.”
Joe McNulty
SVP of Product & Partnerships
Whisker Labs
Joe McNulty
SVP of Product & Partnerships
Whisker Labs
Joe McNulty, SVP of Product & Partnerships, Whisker Labs
The partnerships between insurance companies and smart home device providers are a strategic alignment of business goals. The smart home ecosystem is reshaping the insurance landscape, offering new ways to enhance security, safeguard assets, and provide valuable services to homeowners. Leading companies address the ways insurance can reduce risk, improve customer engagement, differentiate themselves, and tap into the growing smart home market.
Solving False Alarms: Tech Transforming Home Security - Ballroom C/D
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Parks Associates mission is to help companies navigate the changing consumer technology landscapes through data-driven market insights, extensive consumer and industry intelligence, and executive conferences. With over two decades of dedication to the company, Elizabeth Parks, President and Chief Marketing Officer, has been instrumental in shaping its growth and success, along with the continued focus of delivering timely and quality industry and consumer insights on the broadband, entertainment, connected home and SMB industries.
Elizabeth's commitment to Parks Associates' overarching mission is unwavering. Parks Associates provides clients with the most comprehensive consumer and industry research and analysis to empower businesses to make informed decisions in an ever-evolving landscape.
Elizabeth's journey with Parks Associates began after graduating with a BA in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Plano Texas with her husband and three children.
Craig Campbell
Executive Chair
RSPNDR
Craig Campbell
Executive Chair
RSPNDR
Craig Campbell, Executive Chair, RSPNDR
Matthew Wootton
Co-Founder & CTO
Ivani, LLC
Matthew Wootton
Co-Founder & CTO
Ivani, LLC
Co-founder and the innovative “heart and soul” at Ivani, Matt specializes in creating quick turnaround solutions to real problems using systems engineering. Both an engineer and entrepreneur at heart, he has an ever-growing list of granted and pending patents. He holds his ASEP certification, Associate TRIZ certification, B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering, and MBA. In rare sightings in the wild, he can be found playing soccer, bouldering at the climbing gym, or out on a hike. Expected topics of conversation include smart home tech, 3D printing, video games, and formula one.
Craig Rewerts
Vice President, Business Development
Ubiety
Craig Rewerts
Vice President, Business Development
Ubiety
Craig Rewerts unlocks value for partners and consumers at Ubiety. As VP Business Development, he leads revenue generation, including sales, partnerships, and go-to-market. Prior to joining Ubiety, Craig led high performance business and strategic development teams at Amazon and Microsoft, and brings a highly focused B2B2C business development expertise to Ubiety. During his time at Amazon, Craig was on the founding teams at Alexa Automotive, where he delivered Alexa experiences to consumers through integrations with automotive OEMs and aftermarket device manufacturers. After his time at Amazon, Craig joined the Global Internet of Things (IoT) team at Microsoft, where he led sales and go-to-market with strategic Global Solution Integrators (GSIs) and Independent Software Vendors (ISVs).
Anthony Iannone
Director of Innovation
Affiliated Monitoring
Anthony Iannone
Director of Innovation
Affiliated Monitoring
Anthony Iannone is an experienced enterprise technology and operations executive with strong problem-solving skills who specializes in creating and implementing innovative and cost-effective solutions in the security and information technology spaces.
With over twenty years of experience in the life safety and security verticals, many of which were focused on IP video and PERS technology development, he was selected as a leader in the security technology industry by Security System News as part of their 2019 '40 Under 40' list. He also has extensive experience in the specification, design, and construction of emergency command and life safety monitoring centers.
Today, Anthony is a director at Affiliated Monitoring, one of the largest wholesale / third-party providers of life safety and IoT monitoring services in the United States. Anthony and his team are responsible for Affiliated's Live Agent Driven Video & PERS Monitoring solutions and technologies, and he led the charge for Affiliated to become the first third-party monitoring provider to achieve a UL827B listing for hosted and monitored video services.
A graduate of the University of Manitoba, Anthony resides in South Orange, New Jersey with his wife Elizabeth and son Miles. In his spare time, he enjoys hiking, attending hockey games, and travelling.
In a world where home security has become increasingly important, the issue of false alarms has plagued homeowners and law enforcement for decades. This session addresses how cutting-edge technology is reshaping the landscape of home security, making it more efficient, reliable, and user-friendly. Speakers highlight latest innovations in sensor technology, including motion detectors, door/window sensors, and video surveillance and the impact on professional monitoring.
Multifamily: Integrated Living Experiences - Ballroom C/D
Moderator
Kristen Hanich
Director of Research
Parks Associates
Moderator
Kristen Hanich
Director of Research
Parks Associates
INDUSTRY EXPERTISE: Consumer electronics, mobility services and devices, connected health and wellness.
Kristen Hanich heads Parks Associates' consumer electronics and mobility research, with expertise in other verticals including connected cars, mobile networking, healthcare, wellness, and independent living. She leads a mix of custom and syndicated research projects throughout the year, with a focus on major players and emerging trends. Kristen specializes in bridging the gap between data-driven and narrative approaches to understanding the consumer markets via a mix of qualitative and quantitative research approaches.
Kristen has dual master's degrees in applied anthropology and public health from the Universities of North Texas in Denton and Fort Worth. She earned her BSc in health at the University of Texas at San Antonio and has a graduate certificate in Geographic Information Systems.
Braeden Scheer
Vice President of Product Management
SmartRent
Braeden Scheer
Vice President of Product Management
SmartRent
Braeden Scheer is the vice president of product management for SmartRent. He oversees product strategy and development, leading teams to design SmartRent’s best-in-class technology. Prior to joining SmartRent, he served in product management roles at Elevate, an Elm Street Technology company. He has a Bachelor of Science in business management from Grand Canyon University.
Florian Gallini
CEO
Interel
Florian Gallini
CEO
Interel
Florian Gallini, CEO, Interel
Adam Hepworth
President
Della Connect
Adam Hepworth
President
Della Connect
Adam Hepworth, a trailblazer in the smart building industry since 1999, long before the era of smartphones. With visionary foresight, Adam pioneered web interfaces for building management, laying the foundation for today's intelligent infrastructures. Through highs and lows, Adam's resilience has been unwavering. A founding partner of Solexica, Connectrix Citylink & Della Connect, and a distinguished Senior Executive, he boasts a stellar track record in the global automation and smart building sectors. Throughout his illustrious career, Adam has masterfully navigated challenges, transforming them into opportunities and leading businesses to unparalleled success.
Connectivity and smart home tech are driving a transformation of multifamily housing. This session addresses how multifamily properties embrace transformative technologies and connected use cases to better meet residents' needs and improve their internal operations. Speakers address the complexity of the MDU environment and the opportunities for new revenue, property differentiation, and resident satisfaction.
Networking Break - Foyer
Sponsored by RSPNDR
Home Security Transforming to Home Services - Ballroom C/D
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Parks Associates mission is to help companies navigate the changing consumer technology landscapes through data-driven market insights, extensive consumer and industry intelligence, and executive conferences. With over two decades of dedication to the company, Elizabeth Parks, President and Chief Marketing Officer, has been instrumental in shaping its growth and success, along with the continued focus of delivering timely and quality industry and consumer insights on the broadband, entertainment, connected home and SMB industries.
Elizabeth's commitment to Parks Associates' overarching mission is unwavering. Parks Associates provides clients with the most comprehensive consumer and industry research and analysis to empower businesses to make informed decisions in an ever-evolving landscape.
Elizabeth's journey with Parks Associates began after graduating with a BA in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Plano Texas with her husband and three children.
Gilles Drieu
SVP & Chief Technology Officer
ADT
Gilles Drieu
SVP & Chief Technology Officer
ADT
Gilles Drieu is an accomplished engineering executive with 25 years of experience driving product innovation and business transformation across some of Silicon Valley’s most iconic companies, including Google, Apple, and Adobe. He is currently the Chief Technology Officer and Senior Vice President of Product Engineering at ADT. His work is helping transform one of the most trusted names in security into a modern, intelligent platform for safety and automation.
Prior to ADT, Gilles spent nearly a decade at Google, where he led engineering teams behind Nest, Chromecast, Google Home, and Assistant, helping define and scale the Helpful Home vision to millions of users globally. In later years, he focused on company-wide data protection, privacy engineering, and regulatory compliance, strengthening Google’s privacy posture across products.
Gilles holds a Master’s degree in Computer Science from l’École Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Paris and a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Rouen.
Christopher Carney
Co-Founder & CEO
Abode Systems, Inc
Christopher Carney
Co-Founder & CEO
Abode Systems, Inc
Chris Carney is the CEO and founder of Abode, a top-rated DIY Security Solution. He brings almost 20 years of experience in the security and smart home industry. The vision of starting Abode in 2015 was to challenge the status quo in the residential home security market. His goal was to provide a simple, well designed home security system with flexible plans on an open platform to integrate into other smart home devices to give the consumer the ultimate choice and experience. Specializing in strategy and business development. Chris’ leadership has been instrumental to Abode and its success.
Before founding Abode, Chris was Chief Operating Officer at Proximex Corporation, which was acquired by Tyco Security. Chris was also a Director of M&A at ADT. Chris holds a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Rhode Island.
The home security industry has transformed dramatically in the past five years. Explore the latest trends in smart surveillance systems, access control, and intrusion detection. Understand how advanced security solutions protect homes and ensure peace of mind for homeowners. Speakers address the integration of AI and machine learning in creating more advanced and effective security systems and include insights into how modern security systems offer remote monitoring and rapid response capabilities.
Keynote: Fusing Artificial and Human Intelligence to Transform Safety, Security, and Emergency Response - Ballroom C/D
Moderator
Ashton Gambrell
Director of Sales, Sponsorships
Parks Associates
Moderator
Ashton Gambrell
Director of Sales, Sponsorships
Parks Associates
Ashton joined Parks Associates with over 15 years experience in sales, business development, account management and sponsorship sales within the hotel and sports industries. She is now part of the business development team managing event sponsorships and custom marketing services.
Ashton graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington with a BA in Business Administration and concentration in Marketing. After working for Four Seasons Resorts for nearly 10 years, Ashton spent the next seven years working with PGA TOUR pro golfers and their corporate sponsors/partners before joining Parks Associates.
Michael Martin
CEO
RapidSOS
Michael Martin
CEO
RapidSOS
Michael Martin, CEO and co-founder of RapidSOS, is a leading voice on public safety, personal security and technology innovation, commercializing startups, raising capital, and creating public and private partnerships. Michael has built RapidSOS, the world’s first intelligent safety platform that securely links life-saving data from over 500 million connected devices, apps and sensors directly to safety agents and over 15,000 911 and first responder agencies worldwide. RapidSOS has earned the trust and support of big tech, including foundational partners Apple and Google, Instacart, Uber, SimpliSafe, SiriusXM Connected Vehicles and more. He was named to Forbes’ 30 under 30 in the Healthcare category. In 2023, FastCompany named RapidSOS one of the world's most innovative brands. Michael also forms part of Fast Company’s Impact Council.
Before RapidSOS, Michael had his own consulting firm and worked at Braemar Energy Ventures, a prominent New York-based firm focused on both traditional and alternative energy industries and efficiency-related IT areas. During his investing and advisory work, Michael assisted nearly 50 companies in commercializing their technologies, helping them secure over $2 billion in capital.
Michael holds an MBA with High Distinction from Harvard Business School, where he received the R.F. Jasse Distinguished Award in Entrepreneurship and Leadership, the top entrepreneurship award for the class of 2015. Michael was also named one of the “World’s Best & Brightest MBAs” and one of the top HBS ‘15 graduates by Poets & Quants.
Michael has also served as a Board Member of Board Observer for eight companies in four countries. He has also published pieces in a variety of media outlets, including The Washington Post, and has been featured on the homepage of MIT and across national media, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, CNBC, Newsweek, Fox News, TechCrunch, New Scientist, Smithsonian Magazine, and Popular Mechanics.
In this session RapidSOS Founder and CEO will discuss lessons learned from supporting half a billion emergencies over the past five years and the opportunity in front of us to harness artificial and human intelligence with multimedia to transform safety and security across our communities.
Why Interoperability Matters - Ballroom C/D
Moderator
Ross Rubin
Sr. Contributing Analyst
Parks Associates
Moderator
Ross Rubin
Sr. Contributing Analyst
Parks Associates
Ross Rubin is a contributing analyst at Parks Associates and the founder and principal analyst at Reticle Research Ross has focused on innovation in the technology, media and telecom markets for over 20 years. Prior to founding Reticle Research, he was executive director and principal analyst at The NPD Group. Prior to NPD, he founded and managed the consumer access and technology service at Jupiter Research (acquired by Forrester Research), where he served as vice president and chief research fellow. He has contributed to and been quoted by leading publications and media outlets hundreds of times. Ross is a graduate of Cornell University.
Morgan Hertel
VP of Technology and Innovation
Rapid Response Monitoring
Morgan Hertel
VP of Technology and Innovation
Rapid Response Monitoring
Morgan Hertel, with over 40 years of experience in the electronic security industry, is a well-respected leader who has served in many executive leadership roles for independent security integration companies and monitoring centers. Currently, as Vice President of Technology & Innovation for Rapid Response Monitoring, Morgan evaluates and harnesses the synergy between the latest technological advancements and the industry’s leading service providers to further advance the unmatched Dealer services of Rapid Response.
Morgan serves as President of The Monitoring Association (TMA) and is actively involved in many local and national industry associations and initiatives, and he dedicates countless hours to the work of several forward-thinking committees throughout the industry, as well.
Morgan holds the following certificates and licenses:
NICET Level III Fire Alarm Technology, California Alarm Company Qualified Manager, Oregon Certified Trainer, Oregon Executive Manager, TMA Level I and II Central Station Operator, SIA Certified Operator and ESA Certified Alarm Installer.
William Scheffler
VP Sales, Founder
Trident IoT
William Scheffler
VP Sales, Founder
Trident IoT
William Scheffler, VP Sales, Founder, Trident IoT
Geordie Hagerman
EVP Commercialization
Cognitive Systems Corp.
Geordie Hagerman
EVP Commercialization
Cognitive Systems Corp.
Geordie Hagerman is a seasoned executive with over 14 years of experience in wireless and high-tech industries. His expertise spans marketing, sales, product management, operations, and corporate development, particularly in the telecommunications sector. Notably, Geordie served as VP of Business Development at Pravala Networks, where he led highly successful marketing, fundraising, and sales initiatives. These efforts were pivotal in the company's eventual acquisition by Carnegie Technologies.
Currently leading commercialization and marketing efforts at Cognitive Systems Corp., Geordie is focused on forging partnerships and shaping product roadmap strategies. Renowned for his strategic team management, Geordie prioritizes customer success and shareholder value in all endeavors. His vision encompasses unlocking new Wi-Fi services through innovative solutions, steering the organization towards sustained growth and financial success.
Sujata Neidig
Vice President of Marketing
Thread Group
Sujata Neidig
Vice President of Marketing
Thread Group
Sujata Neidig has 25 years of experience in the semiconductor industry and has served in a variety of roles ranging from product engineering to marketing and business development. She is currently Director of Marketing i.MX Processors Software and Customer Programs. She also represents NXP as the Vice President of Marketing of the Thread Group, an industry alliance that provides an IP-based wireless mesh networking protocol designed for homes and buildings. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.
The volume and diversity of connected products that consumers, small businesses, property owners, and others will need to configure, integrate, and control will continue to grow yearly. This session addresses the smart home ecosystem's strides toward interoperability to help move the industry to mass market adoption.
Closing Comments - Ballroom C/D
Networking Reception - Ballroom E/F
Thursday, May 9, 2024
Registration Open - Foyer
Registration sponsored by Becklar
Networking Breakfast - Ballroom E/F
Sponsored by Midea America
Next Gen Smart Home Market: New Growth Segments - Ballroom C/D
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Parks Associates mission is to help companies navigate the changing consumer technology landscapes through data-driven market insights, extensive consumer and industry intelligence, and executive conferences. With over two decades of dedication to the company, Elizabeth Parks, President and Chief Marketing Officer, has been instrumental in shaping its growth and success, along with the continued focus of delivering timely and quality industry and consumer insights on the broadband, entertainment, connected home and SMB industries.
Elizabeth's commitment to Parks Associates' overarching mission is unwavering. Parks Associates provides clients with the most comprehensive consumer and industry research and analysis to empower businesses to make informed decisions in an ever-evolving landscape.
Elizabeth's journey with Parks Associates began after graduating with a BA in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Plano Texas with her husband and three children.
As the smart home industry continues to evolve, the focus is expanding beyond early adopters and single-family homes. Now the early majority and more mass-market consumer is the buyer along with small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and multifamily properties. This session includes insight into how the shifts happening in the evolution of the smart home, including enhancements to security, energy efficiency, and access solutions.
Channels Driving Growth: Triggers for Buying Connected Home Technologies - Ballroom C/D
Moderator
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
Moderator
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
INDUSTRY EXPERTISE: Connected Health, Connected Home Technologies and Services, Connected Entertainment Products and Services.
Jennifer manages the research department and Parks Associates' process for producing high-quality, relevant, and meaningful research. Jennifer also leads and advises on syndicated and custom research projects across all connected consumer verticals and guides questionnaire development for Parks Associates’ extensive consumer analytics survey program. Jennifer is a certified focus group moderator, with training from the Burke Institute.
Jennifer earned her PhD in religion, politics, and society and an MA in church-state studies from Baylor University. She earned her BA in politics from the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.
Desiree Mejia
Co-Founder & Chief Operating Officer
SkyBell
Desiree Mejia
Co-Founder & Chief Operating Officer
SkyBell
As a co-founder of SkyBell, Desiree plays a crucial role in steering the company’s strategic operations. Celebrating SkyBell’s 10 years in business in June 2023, Desiree has overseen the professional installation of over 2 Million Video Doorbells through the security industry. Desiree expertly leads SkyBell’s supply chain management and contract manufacturing, while overseeing the development and launch of SkyBell Connect, the company’s proprietary back-office system that overseas all deployed devices. Additionally, in her capacity as SkyBell’s Chief Operating Officer, Desiree focuses on nurturing existing customer relationships, steering Customer Support, and supervising Order Fulfillment. Before setting the foundation for SkyBell, Desiree served as Chief Operating Officer at Location Based Technologies, a firm renowned for its GPS tracking solutions.
Matt Passalacqua
VP Strategic Partnerships
Blueport
Matt Passalacqua
VP Strategic Partnerships
Blueport
Matt Passalacqua, a seasoned Senior Enterprise & Market Development Executive, has been at the forefront of nationwide multifamily market development since 2006. His expertise extends to both direct and indirect strategies with an unwavering commitment to the Multifamily Solutions vertical. In 2023, he joined Blueport as the VP of MDU Strategic Partners, where his mission is twofold: first, to bolster the strategic partnerships within the MDU Managed Wifi industry, and second, to revolutionize and refine standard multifamily deployment methods, ushering in a new era of seamless, touchless, and "Always On" end-user solutions. In a world where the needs of multifamily residents are constantly evolving, Matt and his dedicated team are steadfast in their pursuit of tailoring Blueport's solutions to meet the ever-changing demands of the MDU industry at every level.
Madison Saab
Senior Manager, Vertical Solutions
Alarm.com
Madison Saab
Senior Manager, Vertical Solutions
Alarm.com
Madison Saab is Senior Vertical Solutions Manager at Alarm.com headquartered in Vienna, VA. Alarm.com creates innovative technology that deepens the connection between people and the things they care about most – their families, homes and businesses. Millions of people trust Alarm.com every day for better security, intelligence automation and dependable services. Alarm.com services are exclusively sold, set up and supported by a nationwide network of authorized service providers. During Madison’s 9-year tenure at Alarm.com, she led inside sales efforts for thousands of Alarm.com Service Provider Partners before joining the Strategic Sales Team to focus on growing new vertical markets such as builders and solar providers. Madison has her undergraduate degree in Industrial Engineering from West Virginia University. She currently resides in Morgantown, WV with her husband and two cats.
Frank DeFilippis
Builder Channel, Americas Professional
Sonos
Frank DeFilippis
Builder Channel, Americas Professional
Sonos
Frank DeFilippis, Builder Channel, Americas Professional, Sonos
Consumers have many options for where to buy technology and key triggers, including decision-making progress. This session highlights marketing strategies, customer journeys, and effective sales tactics to drive adoption and market penetration. Speakers highlight the impact of different channels on adopting smart home solutions, including dealer, builder, and retail.
Keynote: Transforming the Connected Home - Ballroom C/D
Moderator
Ashton Gambrell
Director of Sales, Sponsorships
Parks Associates
Moderator
Ashton Gambrell
Director of Sales, Sponsorships
Parks Associates
Ashton joined Parks Associates with over 15 years experience in sales, business development, account management and sponsorship sales within the hotel and sports industries. She is now part of the business development team managing event sponsorships and custom marketing services.
Ashton graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington with a BA in Business Administration and concentration in Marketing. After working for Four Seasons Resorts for nearly 10 years, Ashton spent the next seven years working with PGA TOUR pro golfers and their corporate sponsors/partners before joining Parks Associates.
Anil Guntupalli
VP of Technology & Product Development
Verizon
Anil Guntupalli
VP of Technology & Product Development
Verizon
Anil Guntupalli is the Vice President of Technology Strategy and Network Cloud for Verizon. He is responsible for developing Network cloud and Edge platforms and driving virtualization, automation, & security across the networks. He is also responsible for developing next-generation network technologies and strategies, identifying and partnering with suppliers to enable Verizon’s technology strategy, and driving technology architecture efforts across Verizon.
Prior to his current role, Anil headed product development and engineering of Fiosdevice development, Interactive Media Guide, Video on Demand, and advertising distribution platforms.
Anil holds a Master’s degree in Computer Science from Midwestern State University, a second Master’s Degree in Telecommunications and Security from Boston University, and a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Mechanical Engineering.
With the introduction of Verizon Home Internet, Verizon’s Fixed Wireless Access complementing its award-winning fiber to the home FIOS product, Verizon is now among the largest providers of home internet service in the country. But not only is Verizon driving home connectivity, it is transforming how people use home automation security, and productivity technologies. Hear from Anil Guntapali, Verizon’s Vice President of Technology and Product Development, about innovations his team is creating which will transform people’s experience in their homes.
Networking Break - Foyer
Sponsored by Trident IoT
Privacy and Data Security in Connected Homes - Ballroom C/D
Moderator
Kristen Hanich
Director of Research
Parks Associates
Moderator
Kristen Hanich
Director of Research
Parks Associates
INDUSTRY EXPERTISE: Consumer electronics, mobility services and devices, connected health and wellness.
Kristen Hanich heads Parks Associates' consumer electronics and mobility research, with expertise in other verticals including connected cars, mobile networking, healthcare, wellness, and independent living. She leads a mix of custom and syndicated research projects throughout the year, with a focus on major players and emerging trends. Kristen specializes in bridging the gap between data-driven and narrative approaches to understanding the consumer markets via a mix of qualitative and quantitative research approaches.
Kristen has dual master's degrees in applied anthropology and public health from the Universities of North Texas in Denton and Fort Worth. She earned her BSc in health at the University of Texas at San Antonio and has a graduate certificate in Geographic Information Systems.
Sean O'Neil
CEO
Cardinal Peak (FPT Software)
Sean O'Neil
CEO
Cardinal Peak (FPT Software)
Sean O'Neil, CEO, Cardinal Peak (FPT Software)
Sharon Hagi
Chief Security Officer
Silicon Labs
Sharon Hagi
Chief Security Officer
Silicon Labs
Sharon Hagi serves as Chief Security Officer of Silicon Labs, where he leads the company’s comprehensive risk-based cybersecurity strategies and programs. Sharon has over 23 years of security experience in multiple technology disciplines. Prior to Silicon Labs, Sharon served as Vice President of Security at Ethoca, a Mastercard company, and Chief Technology Strategist at IBM Security. Sharon is a recognized subject matter expert and respected thought leader in IoT security where he has been promoting the vision and benefits of integrating silicon-rooted trust models and secure manufacturing operations. He holds patents in information security and applied machine learning and is a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). Sharon received his Honors BSc degrees in Computer Science and Physics from the University of Toronto, and he currently volunteers as a subject matter expert with the International Information System Security Certification Consortium (ISC)².
Avi Rosenthal
Managing Partner | Chairman of the Board
BlueConnect Partners | Z-Wave Alliance
Avi Rosenthal
Managing Partner | Chairman of the Board
BlueConnect Partners | Z-Wave Alliance
Avi Rosenthal has been in the connected device industry for over 25 years. He is the currently the Managing Partner of BlueConnect Partners (formally bluesalve), a full-service consulting firm to the Consumer Products and Connected Device industries. He has held numerous leadership roles within the IoT industry at Nortek, Legrand, Evolve and Superna among others. He currently serves as the Chairperson of the Z-Wave Alliance, and as the chair of the Trade Policy working group of the CTA. Through his deep connections with manufacturers, dealers, and retailers, he has the insights and resources needed to develop, market and manufacture products and services for the IoT Industry. A patented inventor, he has developed over a hundred connected products. He is the recipient of the prestigious CTA Mark of Excellence Leadership Award.
Greg Baldauf
Director, SmartLife & Cloud Solution Partnerships
Calix
Greg Baldauf
Director, SmartLife & Cloud Solution Partnerships
Calix
Greg Baldauf is a seasoned professional in the SmartHome and Broadband industries, currently serving as the Director of Smart Life & Cloud Partnerships with Calix. Leveraging his extensive experience, Greg helps Calix drive the future of smart life solutions through strategic technology alignments and innovative partnerships. Greg leads initiatives to find partners in strategic alignment with Calix’s mission to help broadband service providers Simplify, Innovate, and Grow their businesses. Focusing on revenue generation and value creation, Greg’s leadership demonstrates a commitment to delivering advanced solutions creating value for his customers. Previously, Greg held key roles in various broadband, consulting, and technology firms refining his skills in revenue-generating strategies and earned a patent for his work launching the first residential connected door lock with Schlage. His expertise makes him a thought leader in the industry. Calix, a leading FTTx provider, supports over 1,800 fiber-based ISPs globally. Investing over $1.4B in R&D over the last 10 years, Calix has built a platform that enables rapid deployment of managed hardware and software services, creating long-term value for businesses, shareholders, and subscribers. To date, Calix has over 70 diverse partnerships creating even more value for joint customers.
Privacy and data security are consistently a top barrier to adopting connected products within connected homes. Discuss best practices and industry standards for protecting personal information, preventing unauthorized access, and maintaining user privacy in an interconnected ecosystem. This session addresses the impact of regulations such as GDPR and CCPA on the connected home industry and the role of transparent data handling practices in building consumer trust.
Independent Living with Connected Devices - Ballroom C/D
Moderator
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
Moderator
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
INDUSTRY EXPERTISE: Connected Health, Connected Home Technologies and Services, Connected Entertainment Products and Services.
Jennifer manages the research department and Parks Associates' process for producing high-quality, relevant, and meaningful research. Jennifer also leads and advises on syndicated and custom research projects across all connected consumer verticals and guides questionnaire development for Parks Associates’ extensive consumer analytics survey program. Jennifer is a certified focus group moderator, with training from the Burke Institute.
Jennifer earned her PhD in religion, politics, and society and an MA in church-state studies from Baylor University. She earned her BA in politics from the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.
Tyler Tribe
CTO / CPO
Becklar
Tyler Tribe
CTO / CPO
Becklar
Tyler Tribe is a seasoned technology executive with 32 years of experience designing and delivering transformative software solutions. For the past five and a half years, he has played a pivotal role at Becklar, shaping the company’s vision and product strategy with an emphasis on AI-driven innovation and unifying platforms. His leadership has been instrumental in advancing Becklar’s mission to deliver industry-leading safety solutions and services. Tyler is especially passionate about the SMART Critical Event Monitoring category. This rapidly evolving sector blends technology, AI, and human-in-the-loop operators to protect People, Property, and Workers. He sees this industry as a critical frontier for scalable, life-enhancing solutions and is deeply committed to developing platforms that integrate intelligent automation with empathetic human support. Before joining Becklar, Tyler spent two decades at IBM, leading strategic initiatives across product development teams, enterprise solutions, and client experience worldwide. His deep expertise spans global corporations and fast-growing mid-market businesses, and he is widely respected for his ability to bridge technical execution with customer-centric design. Tyler takes pride in building strong, collaborative teams and creating environments where innovation can thrive. He is deeply motivated by the opportunity to help organizations improve the lives of their customers and employees through thoughtful technology. Colleagues and partners appreciate his steady leadership, strategic mindset, and commitment to continuous learning and improvement.
Sumit Nagpal
Founder, Chairman and CEO
Cherish Health, Inc.
Sumit Nagpal
Founder, Chairman and CEO
Cherish Health, Inc.
Sumit Kumar Nagpal is a serial entrepreneur with a focus on disruptive digital health innovation. He has co-founded and grown five companies over the past two and a half decades that have tackled progressively bolder challenges facing our healthcare economies, ranging from integrating longitudinal data and workflows across care settings, to bringing hospital-level care to the home.
Dr. David Keeley
Chief Technology Officer
Electronic Caregiver - ECG
Dr. David Keeley
Chief Technology Officer
Electronic Caregiver - ECG
Dr. David Keeley began working with Electronic Caregiver as the lead scientist and liaison at New Mexico State University for the company’s motion analysis and functional movement screenings. David helped ECG formulate, design, and deploy the company’s mobile clinical research lab and the many applications used to run it. He managed data analysis and helped bring numerous scientific studies to publication.
In early 2018, David left a tenured position at NMSU to direct Electronic Caregiver’s ongoing clinical research programs as Chief Clinical Research Officer. In April 2020, David was promoted to Chief Technology Officer to lead and complete the final details of preparing Addison, the Virtual Caregiver for release to the general public. Addison is a state-of-the-art, 3D-animated caregiver providing health monitoring and chronic care management via an interactive touch-screen device placed in the home.
Additionally, David has been instrumental in forming key relationships for Electronic Caregiver, including with the World Health Organization and European Health Organizations. David has also been expertly coordinating with ECG’s partners at AWS (Amazon Web Services), Dell, Google, and Intel.
David is a mature and organized director of ECG’s technical operations. He has assisted the company with setting specifications, validating technique and collected data, establishing testing protocols, and translating clinical research into patient monitoring, mobile health, and wearable technology applications. David has also been a key contributor into the design of both domestic and international patent filings and is listed as a significant inventor on ECG IP assets.
David holds a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology and exercise science from East Central University, a master’s degree in human performance from Texas A&M University-Commerce and is a Doctor of Philosophy in biomechanics/statistics and research methods.
Healthcare devices and autonomous living solutions provide a game-changing possibility for older adults and those with disabilities. This session addresses the latest advancements in remote monitoring, personalized healthcare, and assistive technologies that empower individuals to live independently and improve their well-being.
Keynote: Capital Markets & Driving New Value - Ballroom C/D
Moderator
Ashton Gambrell
Director of Sales, Sponsorships
Parks Associates
Moderator
Ashton Gambrell
Director of Sales, Sponsorships
Parks Associates
Ashton joined Parks Associates with over 15 years experience in sales, business development, account management and sponsorship sales within the hotel and sports industries. She is now part of the business development team managing event sponsorships and custom marketing services.
Ashton graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington with a BA in Business Administration and concentration in Marketing. After working for Four Seasons Resorts for nearly 10 years, Ashton spent the next seven years working with PGA TOUR pro golfers and their corporate sponsors/partners before joining Parks Associates.
John Mack
EVP and MD, Co-Head Investment Banking
Imperial Capital
John Mack
EVP and MD, Co-Head Investment Banking
Imperial Capital
John E. Mack III is Executive Vice President, Co-Head of Investment Banking and Head of Mergers & Acquisitions at Imperial Capital. Based in the Los Angeles office, Mr. Mack joined Imperial Capital in 2008 as part of the firm’s acquisition of certain assets of USBX Inc., an investment banking firm focused on mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Mack was founder and Chief Executive Officer of USBX. Prior to USBX, Mr. Mack served as the Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors of Protection One, Inc. (NASDAQ: PONE), then the nation’s second largest provider of life safety and property monitoring services. Prior to assuming the role of CEO, Mr. Mack held the positions of Chief Financial Officer, Chief Strategy Officer and Executive Vice President of Business Development, where he was involved in over 200 acquisitions and oversaw the company’s growth from approximately 30,000 subscribers and $17 million in revenue to more than 1.6 million subscribers, $600 million in revenue and an enterprise value of over $2 billion. Before joining Protection One, Mr. Mack was a Senior Executive Officer with Westec Security, Inc. and prior to Westec he was a Senior Executive Officer with MCM, Inc., dba FAFCO Solar of Northern California. Mr. Mack earned a B.A. from Stanford University and an M.B.A from the University of California at Los Angeles.
Networking Lunch - Ballroom E/F
EVs and Solar Adoption and Trends - Ballroom C/D
Moderator
Daniel Holcomb
Senior Analyst, Smart Home Research
Parks Associates
Moderator
Daniel Holcomb
Senior Analyst, Smart Home Research
Parks Associates
Daniel is responsible for smart home research involving market trend analysis, competitor and positioning assessments, technology evaluations, and forecasts of relevant industry metrics.
Daniel is a market research industry veteran with 13 years of experience across multiple research types such as shopper insights, brand equity and brand health tracking, and customer experience. Daniel has also conducted research across multiple sectors such as consumer packaged goods, consumer electronics, specialty retail, and transportation, travel, and hospitality.
Daniel has a BA in Sociology from the University of Texas at Arlington, with specializations in Research and Evaluation, Diversity, and Family and Gender Studies.
This session will offer a comprehensive overview of the latest advancements in EV and solar technology, market trends, and sustainability impacts. Attendees will gain insights into the latest research findings on consumer preferences, adoption barriers, and motivational factors influencing the shift towards EVs and solar energy solutions.
Unlocking Energy Management in Connected Homes - Ballroom C/D
Moderator
Jason Paris
VP, Business Development
Parks Associates
Moderator
Jason Paris
VP, Business Development
Parks Associates
Jason Paris joined Parks Associates as an analyst studying international telephone, cable, and satellite providers and is now a member of the business development team.
Jason graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a BA in psychology and government. After working for the Texas House of Representatives, Jason spent the previous seven years in New York City working with portable and enterprise healthcare technologies.
Justin Berghoff
Senior Director, Business Development & Product Management
Leviton
Justin Berghoff
Senior Director, Business Development & Product Management
Leviton
As Director of Business Development and Product Management at Leviton, Justin Berghoff is responsible for providing vision, direction, and customer focus in developing new business and market development opportunities for the Residential Business Unit. General responsibilities include continuously evaluating the competitive landscape, identifying product and market needs, developing new business models, and establishing strategic business alliances. Justin joined Leviton in 2014 from an electronics technology startup in Atlanta, where he built out the team responsible for developing and executing the technology roadmap from the ground up. Prior to that, he spent over 12 years with Siemens in the U.S. and Germany in R&D, Project Management and Product Management capacities focused on electrical power distribution products. Justin has a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and a minor in German from Ohio University and has an M.B.A. from Georgia State.
Keally DeWitt
Vice President, Marketing & Public Policy
GAF Energy
Keally DeWitt
Vice President, Marketing & Public Policy
GAF Energy
Keally comes to solar with the conviction that carbon-neutral is the new black. She started in renewables as the Head of Marketing for the largest solar company in the Northeast before moving into marketing and public policy leadership roles at Sunrun and SunPower. As the National Organizing Director of The Alliance for Solar Choice (TASC), Fortune magazine described the netroots work she pioneered as radically changing political advocacy through digital technology. Prior to joining GAF Energy, she served as Head of Marketing at Mosaic. She has a BA from Brown University. Her favorite roof is the one she used to sit on as a kid, listening to the cicadas, outside her bedroom window in Southwest Ohio.
Elizabeth Brandel
Senior Director of Business Development
ecobee
Elizabeth Brandel
Senior Director of Business Development
ecobee
Elizabeth Brandel, Senior Director of Business Development, ecobee
Anne Ferguson
Chief Marketing Officer
Nomo Hub
Anne Ferguson
Chief Marketing Officer
Nomo Hub
As CMO and head of business development for Nomo, Anne brings more than 20 years of smart home and financial technology services experience to the role. Most recently, she spent more than a decade at Alarm.com with responsibility for all areas of marketing, communications, and PR. At Nomo, her focus is on employing technology to create innovative Corporate Sustainability, retail and builder programs to further the adoption of residential and commercial solar, battery back-up, EV and smart home services. She received her B.A. from Duke University and lives in the Washington, D.C. area with her two sons.
Innovative energy management solutions and their impact on sustainability and cost savings continue to drive adoption of connected home solutions. This session addresses innovative energy management solutions beyond simple automation to optimize energy consumption, the challenges of balancing user comfort with energy savings in connected homes, and the potential for partnerships with utility companies to incentivize energy-efficient behaviors.
Keynote Panel: Enhancing Modern Living with Value-Added Services - Ballroom C/D
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Parks Associates mission is to help companies navigate the changing consumer technology landscapes through data-driven market insights, extensive consumer and industry intelligence, and executive conferences. With over two decades of dedication to the company, Elizabeth Parks, President and Chief Marketing Officer, has been instrumental in shaping its growth and success, along with the continued focus of delivering timely and quality industry and consumer insights on the broadband, entertainment, connected home and SMB industries.
Elizabeth's commitment to Parks Associates' overarching mission is unwavering. Parks Associates provides clients with the most comprehensive consumer and industry research and analysis to empower businesses to make informed decisions in an ever-evolving landscape.
Elizabeth's journey with Parks Associates began after graduating with a BA in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Plano Texas with her husband and three children.
I am a San Antonio native with a robust 20+-year tenure in the service provider industry. I was entrusted to lead GVTC's transformative initiative, "Creating Fiercely Loyal Customers." This endeavor aimed to reshape our organizational culture into a customer-centric powerhouse, redefining GVTC as a true solutions provider. In my current role, I am at the forefront of our product development and strategy efforts, driven by a vision to deliver a Connected, Smart, and Secure home experience for our customers. This includes offering the market's premier broadband and WiFi services, fortifying homes with smart security products, and tailoring our TV Streaming services to meet the diverse needs of both residential and business segments in our market.
Katie Espeseth
Vice President - New Products
EPB
Katie Espeseth
Vice President - New Products
EPB
Katie Espeseth, Vice President - New Products, EPB
Jeff Elbaum
VP of Global Sales
Iris® Powered by Generali
Jeff Elbaum
VP of Global Sales
Iris® Powered by Generali
Jeff Elbaum is currently the Vice President of Global Sales at Iris® Powered by Generali, a global identity and cyber protection company that offers always-available identity resolution experts and tech-forward solutions. Iris is part of the multinational Generali Group, operating in 60 countries with over 72,000 employees.
Prior to joining Iris in 2020, Jeff held several business development leadership positions in consumer security and privacy. He is also a veteran of AOL, where he was responsible for marketing of partner subscription products and overseeing member communications.
Connectivity underpins every facet of contemporary life - from the way we work, learn, and access healthcare, to how we shop, manage our homes, and interact with our communities. This incredible line up of connectivity leaders shares their experiences in the role of speed, Wi-Fi, and the pace of adoption for value-added services.
Future Outlook: Investment and Disruptions in Connected Living - Ballroom C/D
Moderator
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
Moderator
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
INDUSTRY EXPERTISE: Connected Health, Connected Home Technologies and Services, Connected Entertainment Products and Services.
Jennifer manages the research department and Parks Associates' process for producing high-quality, relevant, and meaningful research. Jennifer also leads and advises on syndicated and custom research projects across all connected consumer verticals and guides questionnaire development for Parks Associates’ extensive consumer analytics survey program. Jennifer is a certified focus group moderator, with training from the Burke Institute.
Jennifer earned her PhD in religion, politics, and society and an MA in church-state studies from Baylor University. She earned her BA in politics from the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.
Peter Giacalone
President
Giacalone Associates, LLC
Peter Giacalone
President
Giacalone Associates, LLC
A successful forty five year career in the electronic security & telecommunications industry that includes building and leading the largest security, life safety, PERS and video third-party monitoring center in the US, with a proven executive track record in increasing revenue and opening new market verticals. Over a ten year period of focus and effort resulted in growing the company from a forty five thousand account regional center to over five hundred thousand accounts with fifty million dollars in annual revenue. Created the business plan, solicited the financing and secured a one hundred million dollar credit facility to fund the start up of King Capital Financial Services, which grew to become one of the longest running Dealer Financial & Acquisition Programs in the security industry. Providing Subject Matter Expert advisory for litigation, M&A and operations both domestically and internationally for the past 20 years.
Deepal Mehta
Senior Director, Global Sales and Marketing
InnoPhase IoT
Deepal Mehta
Senior Director, Global Sales and Marketing
InnoPhase IoT
Deepal Mehta has over 30 years of broad-based accomplishments in strategic business unit (SBU) and profit center management, strategic planning, business development, and product marketing/management, focusing on semiconductor-based solutions. He has a BSEE, an MS in Electrical Engineering, and an MBA. At InnoPhase IoT, he leads Business Development, including Partner Programs, Marketing, and Strategic Sales development.
Aleem Lakhani
CEO
VectorSolv Corporation
Aleem Lakhani
CEO
VectorSolv Corporation
Aleem Lakhani, CEO, VectorSolv Corporation
Gain insights into the future of connected living, exploring emerging technologies, disruptive innovations, and anticipated market trends. Understand how advancements such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, the Internet of Things (IoT), and 5G will shape the modern living landscape. This session addresses the potential for cross-industry collaborations to drive innovation in connected homes and the challenges and opportunities arising from the intersection of 5G, IoT, and AI for consumers at home, at work, and on the go.
Closing Comments - Ballroom C/D
Parks Associates ends the conference with a summary of the potential of technology in reshaping consumers’ homes and lifestyles.
Networking Reception - Ballroom E/F
Join us for champagne and strawberries – sponsored by Savant
May 7th | 2024
Building Value for the Modern Consumer
Tuesday, May 7, 2024
Welcome: State of The Connected Home
Moderator
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
Moderator
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
INDUSTRY EXPERTISE: Connected Health, Connected Home Technologies and Services, Connected Entertainment Products and Services.
Jennifer manages the research department and Parks Associates' process for producing high-quality, relevant, and meaningful research. Jennifer also leads and advises on syndicated and custom research projects across all connected consumer verticals and guides questionnaire development for Parks Associates’ extensive consumer analytics survey program. Jennifer is a certified focus group moderator, with training from the Burke Institute.
Jennifer earned her PhD in religion, politics, and society and an MA in church-state studies from Baylor University. She earned her BA in politics from the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.
Building Profitable Business Models
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Parks Associates mission is to help companies navigate the changing consumer technology landscapes through data-driven market insights, extensive consumer and industry intelligence, and executive conferences. With over two decades of dedication to the company, Elizabeth Parks, President and Chief Marketing Officer, has been instrumental in shaping its growth and success, along with the continued focus of delivering timely and quality industry and consumer insights on the broadband, entertainment, connected home and SMB industries.
Elizabeth's commitment to Parks Associates' overarching mission is unwavering. Parks Associates provides clients with the most comprehensive consumer and industry research and analysis to empower businesses to make informed decisions in an ever-evolving landscape.
Elizabeth's journey with Parks Associates began after graduating with a BA in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Plano Texas with her husband and three children.
David Sym-Smith
General Partner
Mobility Ventures
David Sym-Smith
General Partner
Mobility Ventures
David Sym-Smith is a successful entrepreneur, proven CEO, motivational speaker, award winning executive. In his career, he has been the founder of multiple startups, he has been the CEO/President of both public and private companies, and he has served as a senior executive in many capacities. David has been part of several well-known successful startups, including Tele Atlas (acquired by Tom Tom) Innopath Software (acquired by Qualcomm), Areal Comm. (acquired by T-Mobile), American Personal Communications (acquired by Sprint), and more.
David serves on the boards of companies. He supports entrepreneurs and small businesses. He is the Chief Evangelist and a board member of Multiple Incubators which work with entrepreneurs.
David is a frequent speaker. He speaks on the topics of innovation, entrepreneurship, and business leadership.
David was honored with the Tech Titans Technology Advocate and Innovation Awards, TIA People Choice Award, PCIA) Distinguished Citizen Award, as Compass Intelligence - Mobile & Wireless Award.
Outside of the world of technology, David has served on numerous charity and non-profit boards.
Jim Hunter
Founder/CEO
nCent
Jim Hunter
Founder/CEO
nCent
Jim is a successful startup founder and technologist driven by harmonizing the relationship between humans and technology. He's successfully founded and exited two 8 figure IoT startups into Fortune 500 companies, and helped shape the smart home sector. Now, as the founder and CEO of nCent, he's driven by a passion to create a fair and equitable relationship between all consumers, their data, and enterprises. It is time to change the game for good, and empower consumers to be part of the revenue their data generates every day.
Throughout his career, Jim has provided oversight in technology, architecture and innovation. He has done this across a variety of sectors including, Wellness, IoT and Smart Home, in a variety of roles including Delos’s CTO, Greenwave’s Chief Scientist, Fellow at Motorola/Google and Founder and Chief Architect 4Home and Premise Systems. He is a named inventor on 12 issued patents, and has 8 patents pending, thus far, on his innovations as he is building nCent.
Starting his career as a decorated nuclear engineer with the US Navy, Jim's trajectory has been very unique. He's a global thought leader and inventor, speaking at events like CES and WebSummit. His insights grace tech publications like TechCrunch and VentureBeat. Inc. acknowledged him as a Top 20 IoT Leader in 2017. On a personal note, Jim has authored a SciFi series, "ReCollection," his first book, "Recalling your future" is available on Amazon.
Jennifer Mallett
CEO
LevelUp Automation
Jennifer Mallett
CEO
LevelUp Automation
Jennifer Mallett has been in the home technology industry for 24 years with 15 years’ experience on the manufacturer side and 8 years’ experience as the owner of her own integration company, Level Up Automation. She founded Level Up in 2016 with a vision to bring outstanding home automation experiences to the mid market segment. In 2020 she founded Level Up Franchise which has pioneered the first national franchise system in the industry. Today, Level Up Automation creates smart homes and intelligent buildings in Massachusetts, Arizona, Virginia, Connecticut, New York, Louisiana, Florida, Ohio, and Maryland. Prior to establishing Level Up Automation, Jennifer served as the head of the residential custom installation business unit for Bose in the U.S. and Canada, as well as providing additional global leadership advisory roles in Europe, India, the Middle East, and Australia. A graduate of Bentley University, Jennifer has a BS in Marketing and serves on the CEDIA Board of Directors as Treasurer.
Tim Eskew
Director, Residential Electronic Products
Schlage, an Allegion Brand
Tim Eskew
Director, Residential Electronic Products
Schlage, an Allegion Brand
Tim Eskew is a highly accomplished Director of Residential Electronic Products at Schlage where he is responsible for Schlage’s portfolio of connected home products, cloud platform, mobile software and industry partnerships. Prior to joining Schlage, Tim has lead product, business development, and partnerships in a range of industries including connected fitness, embedded wireless, and smart meeting. Always curious, Tim is passionate about solving customer problems through innovative products, software, and services.
Join this session to dissect strategies that leverage subscription-based hardware offerings, and gain insights into monetization, customer engagement, and sustainable growth in the realm of smart home technology.
Role of Energy in the Connected Home
Moderator
Daniel Holcomb
Senior Analyst, Smart Home Research
Parks Associates
Moderator
Daniel Holcomb
Senior Analyst, Smart Home Research
Parks Associates
Daniel is responsible for smart home research involving market trend analysis, competitor and positioning assessments, technology evaluations, and forecasts of relevant industry metrics.
Daniel is a market research industry veteran with 13 years of experience across multiple research types such as shopper insights, brand equity and brand health tracking, and customer experience. Daniel has also conducted research across multiple sectors such as consumer packaged goods, consumer electronics, specialty retail, and transportation, travel, and hospitality.
Daniel has a BA in Sociology from the University of Texas at Arlington, with specializations in Research and Evaluation, Diversity, and Family and Gender Studies.
As households become increasingly integrated with IoT (Internet of Things) devices and smart technologies, understanding the dynamics of energy use within these environments becomes critical. The presentation seeks to provide insights into the challenges and opportunities presented by the integration of energy management solutions in connected homes, with a focus on promoting environmental sustainability and reducing energy use in individual homes and multifamily environments.
Home Security: Market Expansion
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Parks Associates mission is to help companies navigate the changing consumer technology landscapes through data-driven market insights, extensive consumer and industry intelligence, and executive conferences. With over two decades of dedication to the company, Elizabeth Parks, President and Chief Marketing Officer, has been instrumental in shaping its growth and success, along with the continued focus of delivering timely and quality industry and consumer insights on the broadband, entertainment, connected home and SMB industries.
Elizabeth's commitment to Parks Associates' overarching mission is unwavering. Parks Associates provides clients with the most comprehensive consumer and industry research and analysis to empower businesses to make informed decisions in an ever-evolving landscape.
Elizabeth's journey with Parks Associates began after graduating with a BA in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Plano Texas with her husband and three children.
Uncover the latest trends, innovations, and market dynamics that are propelling the growth of the home security industry. This session highlights research on DIY and pro-install security solutions and adoption of monitoring services.
Smart Connections: Speed Networking
Moderator
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
Moderator
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
INDUSTRY EXPERTISE: Connected Health, Connected Home Technologies and Services, Connected Entertainment Products and Services.
Jennifer manages the research department and Parks Associates' process for producing high-quality, relevant, and meaningful research. Jennifer also leads and advises on syndicated and custom research projects across all connected consumer verticals and guides questionnaire development for Parks Associates’ extensive consumer analytics survey program. Jennifer is a certified focus group moderator, with training from the Burke Institute.
Jennifer earned her PhD in religion, politics, and society and an MA in church-state studies from Baylor University. She earned her BA in politics from the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.
Make meaningful connections, exchange ideas, and have fun with colleagues. Engage in a series of rapid-fire conversations, each lasting just a few minutes, designed to maximize your networking potential.
The Future of Connected Homes and the Expanding Markets
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Parks Associates mission is to help companies navigate the changing consumer technology landscapes through data-driven market insights, extensive consumer and industry intelligence, and executive conferences. With over two decades of dedication to the company, Elizabeth Parks, President and Chief Marketing Officer, has been instrumental in shaping its growth and success, along with the continued focus of delivering timely and quality industry and consumer insights on the broadband, entertainment, connected home and SMB industries.
Elizabeth's commitment to Parks Associates' overarching mission is unwavering. Parks Associates provides clients with the most comprehensive consumer and industry research and analysis to empower businesses to make informed decisions in an ever-evolving landscape.
Elizabeth's journey with Parks Associates began after graduating with a BA in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Plano Texas with her husband and three children.
Daniel Herscovici
Partner
Edison Partners
Daniel Herscovici
Partner
Edison Partners
Dan's two-decade journey through Fortune 50 giants reflects his passion for founding, building, and growing innovative businesses within larger ecosystems. As an investor and Partner at Edison since 2018, Dan brings his expertise to growth-stage tech companies. He sources deals and leads investments with companies like Anonos, MacroFab, Recycle Track Systems, and RapidDeploy.
Dan prioritizes building teams with grit, adept at fostering collaboration and consumer listening that achieves breakthrough results. An entrepreneur at heart, he's led internal ventures in consumer technology and services.
Dan holds four patents, and was the CEO and co-founder of Xfinity Home. Notably at Comcast, he launched Xfinity WiFi, recognized for fundamentally transforming and democratizing consumer connectivity.
Dan is a proud child of Romanian immigrants whose sacrifices provided the foundation for his success. He holds degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Boston University, an MS from Drexel University, and an MBA from Wharton.
Kimberly Lancaster
President/Founder
Caster Communications, Inc.
Kimberly Lancaster
President/Founder
Caster Communications, Inc.
Kimberly Lancaster is the president and founder of Caster Communications, an award-winning consumer and emerging tech PR, social media, and consulting firm that specializes in helping smart home, specialty audio and video, digital health and technology clients expand their global reach. Priding herself on Caster’s stellar reputation, expanding client base and impressive accomplishments, Kim’s work ethic, dedication and enthusiasm for this business are core values she instills in the stellar Caster team every day.
Over the nearly three decades, Kim has cultivated an esteemed background in public relations and has worked on everything from start-ups to Fortune 500 companies to the path in-between, including taking major accounts from start-up to NASDAQ. Kim is a member of the WBENC, PRSA, CEA and CEDIA. Kim is an esteemed speaker, presenter and certified instructor, and teaches courses on PR and social media for multiple organizations. Kim has been named a top social media influencer for #smarthome, #CEDIA and #InfoComm, and is a winner of the Alcott Award, PBN’s Women to Watch, 40 Under 40 (a while ago) and PRSA's Excellence Awards.
Available to all clients for strategy, crisis management and brainstorming, Kim manages a range of clients, from Crestron and Hunter Douglas to the Z-Wave Alliance and beyond. Kimberly earned her M.A. in Global Business Communications from Emerson College in Boston and received her B.A. from the University of Rhode Island. Follow her on Twitter at @newscaster.
Dr. Eric L. Luster
CEO
Seniors Rising, LLC.
Dr. Eric L. Luster
CEO
Seniors Rising, LLC.
Dr. Eric Luster Dr. Eric Luster serves as the Chairman of the Board for Seniors Rising Homes, the CEO of Movement Interactive, Inc., and the founder and CEO of Seniors Rising LLC. He is the inventor of Hiji®Band & Hiji®Sense, a device created to track movement and detect/report Traumatic Brain Injuries TBI and the early detection of fall risks in seniors. After 23 years of working as a nuclear biology specialist, research scientist, and engineer in the top ranks of the Department of Defense, Dr. Luster began his pioneering work around concussion detection and wearable technologies in 2012. Today, as a visionary leader and business executive, he is on a mission to develop innovative products that solve problems. As the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Waymark Gardens (Senior Living Community – 150 units) and Community Advisory Board member for ASU’s Center for Innovation in Healthy and Resilient Aging (CIHRA); Dr. Luster continues to use his expertise to make an impact. Through Seniors Rising, Dr. Luster is helping underserved seniors nationwide prolong their independence and vitality through wearable technology and on-site Telemedicine solutions. His goal is to transform the healthcare sector by offering a comprehensive telehealth solution designed for underserved and low-income senior living communities.
Naveen Chhangani
SVP & Chief Product Officer
ADT
Naveen Chhangani
SVP & Chief Product Officer
ADT
Naveen Chhangani, SVP & Chief Product Officer, ADT
Daniel Forrest
CEO
Eyeforce
Daniel Forrest
CEO
Eyeforce
Daniel Forrest, CEO, Eyeforce
The expansion of the connected home market has progressed at a gradual yet consistent pace. This session will spotlight emerging growth areas, showcasing technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, voice interfaces, video verification, and analytics. In addition, panelists will discuss which markets are poised to broaden the reach of connected solutions, including multifamily housing, small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), senior living facilities, and professional installation channels.
Closing Comments
Parks Associates team highlights key takeaways, including the top five things to watch in the second half of the year.
Networking Break
Sponsored by Cognitive Systems
Broadband and Value-Added Services
Moderator
Kristen Hanich
Director of Research
Parks Associates
Moderator
Kristen Hanich
Director of Research
Parks Associates
INDUSTRY EXPERTISE: Consumer electronics, mobility services and devices, connected health and wellness.
Kristen Hanich heads Parks Associates' consumer electronics and mobility research, with expertise in other verticals including connected cars, mobile networking, healthcare, wellness, and independent living. She leads a mix of custom and syndicated research projects throughout the year, with a focus on major players and emerging trends. Kristen specializes in bridging the gap between data-driven and narrative approaches to understanding the consumer markets via a mix of qualitative and quantitative research approaches.
Kristen has dual master's degrees in applied anthropology and public health from the Universities of North Texas in Denton and Fort Worth. She earned her BSc in health at the University of Texas at San Antonio and has a graduate certificate in Geographic Information Systems.
This session focuses on the world of value-added services that are redefining the broadband industry. From advanced cybersecurity solutions to IoT integrations and AI-driven content customization, broadband providers are working to bring the next generation of services to consumers.
Fireside Chat: Consumer Demand for Connectivity and Services
Moderator
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
Moderator
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
INDUSTRY EXPERTISE: Connected Health, Connected Home Technologies and Services, Connected Entertainment Products and Services.
Jennifer manages the research department and Parks Associates' process for producing high-quality, relevant, and meaningful research. Jennifer also leads and advises on syndicated and custom research projects across all connected consumer verticals and guides questionnaire development for Parks Associates’ extensive consumer analytics survey program. Jennifer is a certified focus group moderator, with training from the Burke Institute.
Jennifer earned her PhD in religion, politics, and society and an MA in church-state studies from Baylor University. She earned her BA in politics from the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.
Will West
CEO & Founder
OliverIQ
Will West
CEO & Founder
OliverIQ
Will West is the CEO of Oliver IQ. Will has been involved in the world of Home Automation for decades. He and his partner Eric Smith have created 5 industry leading and award winning companies together. A nice capstone to those awards was their receipt of the CEDIA Lifetime Achievement designation; an honor given to only a select few that have helped shape the industry. Will and Eric created Control4 and along with Mark Morgan, Glen Mella and many others, grew the Company to become the global leader in home automation. They successfully took the Company public in 2013. In 1998, he co-founded iBAHN with Eric Smith. Under Will’s leadership the company became the worldwide leader in broadband services for business travelers serving millions of customers in thousands of hotels. Prior to founding iBAHN, Will was CEO, and co-founder of PHAST Corporation, a manufacturer of high-end home automation equipment. Like his subsequent companies, PHAST became the leader in its field under his direction. Will's other professional experience includes Proctor and Gamble, the FSLIC, and Wasatch Advisors. He holds a degree in Finance from the University of Utah, and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He also holds the CFA designation. Will served as the chairman of the board of the Utah Capital Investment Corporation (the State of Utah's "Fund of Funds") where he served for close to 10 years. He served two terms as the Chairman of the Board for the Utah Technology Council (UTC) helping to create one of the most respected state technology associations in the Country. Along with his other commitments to the local community, Will sat on the Governor’s Economic Council and served multiple terms as Chairman of the Leonardo, Utah’s premier Science, Art, and Technology Museum. Will was also appointed to the Governing Board of the Utah Science Technology and Research initiative (USTAR). Will has been repeatedly named to Utah Business Magazine’s list of the 100 Most Influential People in the State. He was twice named Utah Valley Entrepreneur of the Year, and was named the Ernst and Young Master Entrepreneur Of The Year® in the intermountain region. He was also honored as the CEO of the Year by the Utah Technology Council.
Registration Open
Registration sponsored by Becklar
Jan 23rd | 2024
Post-CES: Innovation and 2024 Trends
Innovative products in the smart home space continue to be introduced. Join this virtual session to hear more on the latest connected home solutions announced at CES 2024, providing an outlook for the year on adopting energy, security, entertainment controls, and wellness devices.
Tuesday, January 23, 2024
Parks Associates Market Trends
Moderator
Daniel Holcomb
Senior Analyst, Smart Home Research
Parks Associates
Moderator
Daniel Holcomb
Senior Analyst, Smart Home Research
Parks Associates
Daniel is responsible for smart home research involving market trend analysis, competitor and positioning assessments, technology evaluations, and forecasts of relevant industry metrics.
Daniel is a market research industry veteran with 13 years of experience across multiple research types such as shopper insights, brand equity and brand health tracking, and customer experience. Daniel has also conducted research across multiple sectors such as consumer packaged goods, consumer electronics, specialty retail, and transportation, travel, and hospitality.
Daniel has a BA in Sociology from the University of Texas at Arlington, with specializations in Research and Evaluation, Diversity, and Family and Gender Studies.
Keynote Visionary Speaker
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Parks Associates mission is to help companies navigate the changing consumer technology landscapes through data-driven market insights, extensive consumer and industry intelligence, and executive conferences. With over two decades of dedication to the company, Elizabeth Parks, President and Chief Marketing Officer, has been instrumental in shaping its growth and success, along with the continued focus of delivering timely and quality industry and consumer insights on the broadband, entertainment, connected home and SMB industries.
Elizabeth's commitment to Parks Associates' overarching mission is unwavering. Parks Associates provides clients with the most comprehensive consumer and industry research and analysis to empower businesses to make informed decisions in an ever-evolving landscape.
Elizabeth's journey with Parks Associates began after graduating with a BA in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Plano Texas with her husband and three children.
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
INDUSTRY EXPERTISE: Connected Health, Connected Home Technologies and Services, Connected Entertainment Products and Services.
Jennifer manages the research department and Parks Associates' process for producing high-quality, relevant, and meaningful research. Jennifer also leads and advises on syndicated and custom research projects across all connected consumer verticals and guides questionnaire development for Parks Associates’ extensive consumer analytics survey program. Jennifer is a certified focus group moderator, with training from the Burke Institute.
Jennifer earned her PhD in religion, politics, and society and an MA in church-state studies from Baylor University. She earned her BA in politics from the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.
Post CES: Innovation and 2024 Trends
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Parks Associates mission is to help companies navigate the changing consumer technology landscapes through data-driven market insights, extensive consumer and industry intelligence, and executive conferences. With over two decades of dedication to the company, Elizabeth Parks, President and Chief Marketing Officer, has been instrumental in shaping its growth and success, along with the continued focus of delivering timely and quality industry and consumer insights on the broadband, entertainment, connected home and SMB industries.
Elizabeth's commitment to Parks Associates' overarching mission is unwavering. Parks Associates provides clients with the most comprehensive consumer and industry research and analysis to empower businesses to make informed decisions in an ever-evolving landscape.
Elizabeth's journey with Parks Associates began after graduating with a BA in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Plano Texas with her husband and three children.
Eran Orr is the Founder & CEO of XRHealth, the leading healthcare platform in Spatial computing. XRHealth operates state-of-the-art therapeutic care Virtual Rooms, utilizing proprietary FDA and CE registered medical Extended Reality (XR) technology (virtual and augmented reality). XRHealth integrates immersive XR technology, licensed clinicians, and advanced data analytics on one platform, providing a comprehensive therapeutic care solution for patients to receive treatment from the comfort of their home. To date, he has been awarded four patents related to technology and healthcare and has published numerous studies in leading medical journals. Eran founded the company after a 12-year career as an executive officer in the Israeli Air Force. After experiencing an injury from flying in the AirForce and a long rehabilitation process, he realized that virtual reality could be applied to physical therapy and would eventually revolutionize the way healthcare is done. Eran is also a co-Founder and Chairman of the Board of Envoya, a leading pioneer in the field of advanced biomedical technologies. He has completed the Global Health Care Leaders Program at Harvard Medical School, earned a BA in Business Management, Government, and Politics, and an MBA in Entrepreneurship and Innovation Business Administration from Ben Gurion University.
Steve Chazin
VP of Products
Alarm.com
Steve Chazin
VP of Products
Alarm.com
Steve Chazin has nearly three decades experience designing, building, and selling innovative enterprise and consumer technology that changed the world. Steve reimagined collaboration in the cloud at Cisco, Salesforce, and Symantec, launched four successful startups, and created new solutions for video editing, file sharing, and web services long before each became commonplace. As Vice President of Products for Alarm.com, Steve defines next-generation offerings for protecting people at home, at work and beyond. Combining his extensive tech experience with keen insights of emerging consumer trends, Steve has a history of predicting the future, and is currently developing health and wellness solutions for a post Covid-19 world. Steve has been a recurring guest on major network news programs, appeared in the BBC television series “Business Nightmares” and took part in the CNBC documentary “Steve Jobs: Billion Dollar Hippie”. Steve has written and published three books, is quoted by numerous online and printed publications, and is a highly sought-after speaker on topics like connected health and fitness, consumer technology and augmented reality. Steve was rehired by Steve Jobs to help reboot Apple in the late 1990s and was part of the team that returned Apple to profitability.
Jeff cofounded Chefling in California in 2017 right after school graduation, aiming to modernize kitchen workflow using technologies. Its main product, Chefling app, has been featured by Amazon Alexa skill store multiple times. The company was invested by BSH, and acquired by Smarter in 2022.
Roeland Nusselder
Co-founder & CEO
Plumerai
Roeland Nusselder
Co-founder & CEO
Plumerai
Roeland Nusselder is the CEO and co-founder of Plumerai, with offices in London and Amsterdam. Plumerai offers a full AI solution for the smart home, from People Detection, Vehicle Detection and Pet Detection to Familiar Face Identification and Stranger Identification. Plumerai’s software can be found in products on the shelves of Walmart and Best Buy. Thanks to its capability to run AI on-device with unmatched accuracy it has won several major US-based video doorbell companies as customers.
Matthew Wootton
Co-Founder & CTO
Ivani, LLC
Matthew Wootton
Co-Founder & CTO
Ivani, LLC
Co-founder and the innovative “heart and soul” at Ivani, Matt specializes in creating quick turnaround solutions to real problems using systems engineering. Both an engineer and entrepreneur at heart, he has an ever-growing list of granted and pending patents. He holds his ASEP certification, Associate TRIZ certification, B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering, and MBA. In rare sightings in the wild, he can be found playing soccer, bouldering at the climbing gym, or out on a hike. Expected topics of conversation include smart home tech, 3D printing, video games, and formula one.
Oct 5th | 2023
State of the Home Security Market
The home security market has experienced growth in the past few years as DIY systems, smart security devices, and pro-monitoring service offerings have been introduced. As product capabilities expand, new monitoring services beyond security are increasing, including proactive defense through video analytics, PERS enhancements, energy usage monitoring, and securing valuable assets such as vehicles and yard equipment. Integration between video, access control, and home automation services will continue to grow in the years to come. This session addresses the developments and forecasts for the security industry.
Thursday, October 5, 2023
Welcome and Analyst Insight
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Parks Associates mission is to help companies navigate the changing consumer technology landscapes through data-driven market insights, extensive consumer and industry intelligence, and executive conferences. With over two decades of dedication to the company, Elizabeth Parks, President and Chief Marketing Officer, has been instrumental in shaping its growth and success, along with the continued focus of delivering timely and quality industry and consumer insights on the broadband, entertainment, connected home and SMB industries.
Elizabeth's commitment to Parks Associates' overarching mission is unwavering. Parks Associates provides clients with the most comprehensive consumer and industry research and analysis to empower businesses to make informed decisions in an ever-evolving landscape.
Elizabeth's journey with Parks Associates began after graduating with a BA in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Plano Texas with her husband and three children.
Insights into the Evolving Security Industry: A Conversation with Don Young, ADT
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Parks Associates mission is to help companies navigate the changing consumer technology landscapes through data-driven market insights, extensive consumer and industry intelligence, and executive conferences. With over two decades of dedication to the company, Elizabeth Parks, President and Chief Marketing Officer, has been instrumental in shaping its growth and success, along with the continued focus of delivering timely and quality industry and consumer insights on the broadband, entertainment, connected home and SMB industries.
Elizabeth's commitment to Parks Associates' overarching mission is unwavering. Parks Associates provides clients with the most comprehensive consumer and industry research and analysis to empower businesses to make informed decisions in an ever-evolving landscape.
Elizabeth's journey with Parks Associates began after graduating with a BA in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Plano Texas with her husband and three children.
Don Young
EVP and Chief Operating Officer
ADT
Don Young
EVP and Chief Operating Officer
ADT
Don Young is Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at ADT. He previously served as the company’s Chief Information Officer and Executive Vice President, Field Operations. Don started in the alarm industry in 1988 after serving four years in the United States Air Force as a computer programmer analyst. Since then he has held various leadership roles across many areas within the security industry. Don is currently president of The Monitoring Association (TMA) and past president of the Partnership for Priority Video Alarm Response (PPVAR).
Professional monitoring operators leverage their strengths by being always on and available to communicate with their users to demonstrate the value they add beyond traditional monitoring solutions. This conversation, featuring ADT’s EVP and COO Don Young, provides insights into the current state of the security industry, focusing on the latest market strategy, alliances, and technological investments. This discussion addresses new product capabilities that are expanding new monitoring services beyond security, including proactive defense through video analytics, AI enhancements, the expansion of security beyond access points, the role of AVS-01 and implementation, and the vision for the future of the security industry.
Jul 20th | 2023
Broadband service providers are turning to new offerings and bundle types, including mobile services, home security and smart home services, and value-added services tied to core residential internet. BSPs are partnering with mobile virtual network operator (MVNOs), security and smart home platforms, managed services providers, and a variety of other innovative companies.
Thursday, July 20, 2023
Welcome and Analyst Insight
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Parks Associates mission is to help companies navigate the changing consumer technology landscapes through data-driven market insights, extensive consumer and industry intelligence, and executive conferences. With over two decades of dedication to the company, Elizabeth Parks, President and Chief Marketing Officer, has been instrumental in shaping its growth and success, along with the continued focus of delivering timely and quality industry and consumer insights on the broadband, entertainment, connected home and SMB industries.
Elizabeth's commitment to Parks Associates' overarching mission is unwavering. Parks Associates provides clients with the most comprehensive consumer and industry research and analysis to empower businesses to make informed decisions in an ever-evolving landscape.
Elizabeth's journey with Parks Associates began after graduating with a BA in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Plano Texas with her husband and three children.
Visionary Spotlight
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Parks Associates mission is to help companies navigate the changing consumer technology landscapes through data-driven market insights, extensive consumer and industry intelligence, and executive conferences. With over two decades of dedication to the company, Elizabeth Parks, President and Chief Marketing Officer, has been instrumental in shaping its growth and success, along with the continued focus of delivering timely and quality industry and consumer insights on the broadband, entertainment, connected home and SMB industries.
Elizabeth's commitment to Parks Associates' overarching mission is unwavering. Parks Associates provides clients with the most comprehensive consumer and industry research and analysis to empower businesses to make informed decisions in an ever-evolving landscape.
Elizabeth's journey with Parks Associates began after graduating with a BA in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Plano Texas with her husband and three children.
Alexander Linn
Founder and CEO
Shipshape AI
Alexander Linn
Founder and CEO
Shipshape AI
Alexander Linn is an expert in the application of AI. As Founder and CEO of Shipshape he is on a mission to make all homes safe, reliable, efficient, and easy to maintain. Formerly an Engineer at Salesforce on their AI team. He holds multiple patents and started developing smart building tech in 2007, including novel HVAC technology.
Smart Home Platforms: Unifying the Experience
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Parks Associates mission is to help companies navigate the changing consumer technology landscapes through data-driven market insights, extensive consumer and industry intelligence, and executive conferences. With over two decades of dedication to the company, Elizabeth Parks, President and Chief Marketing Officer, has been instrumental in shaping its growth and success, along with the continued focus of delivering timely and quality industry and consumer insights on the broadband, entertainment, connected home and SMB industries.
Elizabeth's commitment to Parks Associates' overarching mission is unwavering. Parks Associates provides clients with the most comprehensive consumer and industry research and analysis to empower businesses to make informed decisions in an ever-evolving landscape.
Elizabeth's journey with Parks Associates began after graduating with a BA in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Plano Texas with her husband and three children.
Razvan Todor
VP, Product Management
Bitdefender
Razvan Todor
VP, Product Management
Bitdefender
Razvan Todor is a Product and Business Management Leader with over 15 years of software industry experience. He is currently the Vice President of the B2B2C division at Bitdefender, a global security technology company that serves over 500 million us-ers in over 150 countries with cybersecurity solutions and advanced threat protection services. Since joining the company, Razvan has held several key management positions at Bitdefender, focusing on both business and consumers. For the past five years, he has overseen or been directly involved in the launch of Bitdefender's top-tier B2C and B2B2C products, such as Bitdefender BOX and the Bitdefender IoT Security Plat-form, as well as co-branded solutions such as NETGEAR Armor powered by Bitde-fender. His current mission is to build and expand Bitdefender's technological reach through strategic partnerships with industry leaders in the IoT and smart home cyber-security markets.
Tyson Brown
Manager Strategic Partnerships
Google
Tyson Brown
Manager Strategic Partnerships
Google
Tyson's career has been dedicated to breaking things in the energy industry and helping to rebuild them better than before. His 15+ years at Honeywell, Evergy, Uplight, and now Google have given him a wide range of experiences in the energy space. He uses that experience to help Google's energy partners connect the dots for a clean energy future that is accessible to all.
Rohin Parkar
Co-Founder & CEO
Spintly
Rohin Parkar
Co-Founder & CEO
Spintly
An Eternal learner who believes in intellectually honest learning. Currently solving problems within the Access control and smart buildings space. Revolutionizing and simplifying Access control with Mobile and cloud based access. A Seasoned Wireless technology leader with extensive hardware/product development and Leadership experience. Founded Spintly in 2018. Prior to founding Spintly, worked on development of 2G,3G, 4G(LTE),5G, Wifi and IoT Technologies, with companies like Motorola, Nokia and Broadcom. Traveled extensively around the world and worked with diverse cross functional teams. Realized that people with great attitude, talent and dreams are all over the world. Great products, Solutions and companies can come from anywhere in the world.
Consumers want a unified experience across the different standalone devices and systems in the home. The promise of interoperability hinges partially on the convenience of controlling and coordinating multiple devices through a unified interface application. This session addresses the progress made to simplify the experience and what companies have advanced growth of the whole-home smart home experience through integration.
May 23rd | 2023
Growing Demand for Home Technology
Tuesday, May 23, 2023
Welcome: State of the Connected Home
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
INDUSTRY EXPERTISE: Connected Health, Connected Home Technologies and Services, Connected Entertainment Products and Services.
Jennifer manages the research department and Parks Associates' process for producing high-quality, relevant, and meaningful research. Jennifer also leads and advises on syndicated and custom research projects across all connected consumer verticals and guides questionnaire development for Parks Associates’ extensive consumer analytics survey program. Jennifer is a certified focus group moderator, with training from the Burke Institute.
Jennifer earned her PhD in religion, politics, and society and an MA in church-state studies from Baylor University. She earned her BA in politics from the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.
Parks Associates research team provides an update on market shifts in 2023, the adoption of connected devices, including smart home, entertainment, healthy and energy devices. This opening presentation features research from the firm’s survey work of 10,000 internet US households.
Beyond Security: Video Analytics Driving New Opportunities
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Parks Associates mission is to help companies navigate the changing consumer technology landscapes through data-driven market insights, extensive consumer and industry intelligence, and executive conferences. With over two decades of dedication to the company, Elizabeth Parks, President and Chief Marketing Officer, has been instrumental in shaping its growth and success, along with the continued focus of delivering timely and quality industry and consumer insights on the broadband, entertainment, connected home and SMB industries.
Elizabeth's commitment to Parks Associates' overarching mission is unwavering. Parks Associates provides clients with the most comprehensive consumer and industry research and analysis to empower businesses to make informed decisions in an ever-evolving landscape.
Elizabeth's journey with Parks Associates began after graduating with a BA in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Plano Texas with her husband and three children.
Peter Giacalone
President
Giacalone Associates, LLC
Peter Giacalone
President
Giacalone Associates, LLC
A successful forty five year career in the electronic security & telecommunications industry that includes building and leading the largest security, life safety, PERS and video third-party monitoring center in the US, with a proven executive track record in increasing revenue and opening new market verticals. Over a ten year period of focus and effort resulted in growing the company from a forty five thousand account regional center to over five hundred thousand accounts with fifty million dollars in annual revenue. Created the business plan, solicited the financing and secured a one hundred million dollar credit facility to fund the start up of King Capital Financial Services, which grew to become one of the longest running Dealer Financial & Acquisition Programs in the security industry. Providing Subject Matter Expert advisory for litigation, M&A and operations both domestically and internationally for the past 20 years.
Andreas Rudyk
Co-founder and Co-CEO
Smartfrog & Canary
Andreas Rudyk
Co-founder and Co-CEO
Smartfrog & Canary
Andreas is a serial entrepreneur. He founded his first company, the online gaming enabler lionix, at the age of fifteen. He then founded IM Trading, a stock market newsletter publishing business, later acquired by a Swiss private equity firm. Subsequently, Andreas bootstrapped and co-founded ewido networks, a consumer cyber security company. With over 7 million users worldwide, the business scaled rapidly to a category leader and was awarded, "Best newcomer of the year" by Digital River's ICE. In 2006, ewido merged with AVG Technologies, a leading antivirus and cybersecurity provider where Andreas led business development and later corporate development of the group worldwide. Andreas helped to grow AVG from 40 to over 110 million customers, scaling the team from 100 to 800 employees (including 450 software engineers) and taking the company public on the New York Stock Exchange in 2012. Andreas co-founded Smartfrog as a consumer IoT SaaS pioneer in 2014. The company's mission is making modern technologies useful, easy, affordable and safe providing IoT for everyone. In 2018, the company acquired the US-based Canary Connect Inc. The two businesses were later merged into Smartfrog & Canary, headquartered in NYC. Andreas leads the group as Co-CEO. To date, the business has raised over $150M in funding and is one of the category leaders.
Geordie Hagerman
EVP Commercialization
Cognitive Systems Corp.
Geordie Hagerman
EVP Commercialization
Cognitive Systems Corp.
Geordie Hagerman is a seasoned executive with over 14 years of experience in wireless and high-tech industries. His expertise spans marketing, sales, product management, operations, and corporate development, particularly in the telecommunications sector. Notably, Geordie served as VP of Business Development at Pravala Networks, where he led highly successful marketing, fundraising, and sales initiatives. These efforts were pivotal in the company's eventual acquisition by Carnegie Technologies.
Currently leading commercialization and marketing efforts at Cognitive Systems Corp., Geordie is focused on forging partnerships and shaping product roadmap strategies. Renowned for his strategic team management, Geordie prioritizes customer success and shareholder value in all endeavors. His vision encompasses unlocking new Wi-Fi services through innovative solutions, steering the organization towards sustained growth and financial success.
Tyler Tribe
CTO / CPO
Becklar
Tyler Tribe
CTO / CPO
Becklar
Tyler Tribe is a seasoned technology executive with 32 years of experience designing and delivering transformative software solutions. For the past five and a half years, he has played a pivotal role at Becklar, shaping the company’s vision and product strategy with an emphasis on AI-driven innovation and unifying platforms. His leadership has been instrumental in advancing Becklar’s mission to deliver industry-leading safety solutions and services. Tyler is especially passionate about the SMART Critical Event Monitoring category. This rapidly evolving sector blends technology, AI, and human-in-the-loop operators to protect People, Property, and Workers. He sees this industry as a critical frontier for scalable, life-enhancing solutions and is deeply committed to developing platforms that integrate intelligent automation with empathetic human support. Before joining Becklar, Tyler spent two decades at IBM, leading strategic initiatives across product development teams, enterprise solutions, and client experience worldwide. His deep expertise spans global corporations and fast-growing mid-market businesses, and he is widely respected for his ability to bridge technical execution with customer-centric design. Tyler takes pride in building strong, collaborative teams and creating environments where innovation can thrive. He is deeply motivated by the opportunity to help organizations improve the lives of their customers and employees through thoughtful technology. Colleagues and partners appreciate his steady leadership, strategic mindset, and commitment to continuous learning and improvement.
Ross Garrett
Chief Product Officer
CamerEye
Ross Garrett
Chief Product Officer
CamerEye
Chief Product Officer
AI and advanced video verification technologies are changing the landscape for video security devices. The new capabilities create more context to understand scenarios and determine the best ways to respond. This session highlights the many new use cases and capabililties for video technologies in the home.
Research Presentation - Multifamily and SMB: Growing Opportunities
Kristen Hanich
Director of Research
Parks Associates
Kristen Hanich
Director of Research
Parks Associates
INDUSTRY EXPERTISE: Consumer electronics, mobility services and devices, connected health and wellness.
Kristen Hanich heads Parks Associates' consumer electronics and mobility research, with expertise in other verticals including connected cars, mobile networking, healthcare, wellness, and independent living. She leads a mix of custom and syndicated research projects throughout the year, with a focus on major players and emerging trends. Kristen specializes in bridging the gap between data-driven and narrative approaches to understanding the consumer markets via a mix of qualitative and quantitative research approaches.
Kristen has dual master's degrees in applied anthropology and public health from the Universities of North Texas in Denton and Fort Worth. She earned her BSc in health at the University of Texas at San Antonio and has a graduate certificate in Geographic Information Systems.
Chris White
Research Director
Parks Associates
Chris White
Research Director
Parks Associates
Chris is a Senior Researcher with Parks Associates, covering the connected home market. He was previously a Director of Insights at PeopleMetrics in Philadelphia and the Data Manager of a youth-serving collaborative in New Orleans. He has performed research for companies in a variety of industries, including the telecom/ISP space.
Chris earned his BBA in Marketing from the College of William & Mary and his MBA in Marketing and Finance from American University.
Consumers continue to adopt connected devices. Now, 51% of US households have a least one connected health device. There is growing familiarity and use of telehealth and virtual care as a result of the pandemic. In addition, remote patient monitoring solutions are creating new opportunities for more patient-centric care. This research presentation highlights consumer adoption of and interest in new health to home solutions.
Research Presentation - Demand for Connected Health at Home
Kristen Hanich
Director of Research
Parks Associates
Kristen Hanich
Director of Research
Parks Associates
INDUSTRY EXPERTISE: Consumer electronics, mobility services and devices, connected health and wellness.
Kristen Hanich heads Parks Associates' consumer electronics and mobility research, with expertise in other verticals including connected cars, mobile networking, healthcare, wellness, and independent living. She leads a mix of custom and syndicated research projects throughout the year, with a focus on major players and emerging trends. Kristen specializes in bridging the gap between data-driven and narrative approaches to understanding the consumer markets via a mix of qualitative and quantitative research approaches.
Kristen has dual master's degrees in applied anthropology and public health from the Universities of North Texas in Denton and Fort Worth. She earned her BSc in health at the University of Texas at San Antonio and has a graduate certificate in Geographic Information Systems.
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
INDUSTRY EXPERTISE: Connected Health, Connected Home Technologies and Services, Connected Entertainment Products and Services.
Jennifer manages the research department and Parks Associates' process for producing high-quality, relevant, and meaningful research. Jennifer also leads and advises on syndicated and custom research projects across all connected consumer verticals and guides questionnaire development for Parks Associates’ extensive consumer analytics survey program. Jennifer is a certified focus group moderator, with training from the Burke Institute.
Jennifer earned her PhD in religion, politics, and society and an MA in church-state studies from Baylor University. She earned her BA in politics from the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.
New applications and services stemming from IoT platforms are enabling small-to-medium business (SMB) and MDU owners and managers to have greater insight into the metrics and real-time analytics of their properties. The integration of new tech also provides great value to the end user and enables monitoring across ecosystems in a business or multi-tenant building.
Serving Seniors: Technology-based Solutions
Moderator
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
Moderator
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
INDUSTRY EXPERTISE: Connected Health, Connected Home Technologies and Services, Connected Entertainment Products and Services.
Jennifer manages the research department and Parks Associates' process for producing high-quality, relevant, and meaningful research. Jennifer also leads and advises on syndicated and custom research projects across all connected consumer verticals and guides questionnaire development for Parks Associates’ extensive consumer analytics survey program. Jennifer is a certified focus group moderator, with training from the Burke Institute.
Jennifer earned her PhD in religion, politics, and society and an MA in church-state studies from Baylor University. She earned her BA in politics from the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.
Gene Wang
Chairman
Care Daily
Gene Wang
Chairman
Care Daily
Gene Wang is Chairman and co-founder of Care Daily, a brandable AI+IoT Platform that provides hero solution providers with their own app store of AI Assistants to care daily for people, places, and things. Wang has led five startups in fields ranging from AI, robotics, digital imaging, mobile device management and senior care services.
Gene was previously Chairman and CEO of Bitfone, the industry leader in Over-The-Air device management solutions for mobile phones, which he sold to HP in 2007. Gene was CEO and Chairman of Photo Access, where he sold its high performance PhotoChip division to Agilent Technologies in 2000. Gene was the CEO of Computer Motion, a leader in medical robotics, which he led through a successful IPO in 1997. At Symantec, Gene was Executive VP where he managed four divisions and helped triple sales. Gene was VP and general manager at Borland, where he drove sales of the C++ programming language to over one million copies. Gene earned a bachelor's degree in computer science from the University of California at Berkeley. Gene leads the People Power Band and is happily married with three wonderful children and two bad dogs.
Lainie Muller
Senior Director, Business Development, Health & Wellness
Alarm.com
Lainie Muller
Senior Director, Business Development, Health & Wellness
Alarm.com
Lainie Muller is a 15-year veteran of the technology industry and an emerging voice on Smart Solutions for Aging in Place and Connected Caregiving.
Lainie is Director of Wellness at Alarm.com, a publicly traded company (NASDAQ: ALRM) and the nation’s leading cloud-based platform for the smart home. The Wellness solution leverages Smart Home technology to support Aging in Place and independent living for older adults and those living with disabilities. Wellness, an integrated element of Alarm.com’s comprehensive ecosystem of home management technology, is currently in use in residential homes, senior living communities, schools and in remote caregiving programs funded by Medicare and Medicaid. The product has received critical acclaim from The New York Times, Kiplingers, CNN, NPR and TechCrunch.
In 2010, Lainie joined BeClose, a privately funded start-up company, as the Director of Partnership Sales. In 2015, BeClose was “spun-in” to Alarm.com, an early-stage strategic investor of the company. The BeClose product is now available as Alarm.com Wellness.
Prior to BeClose, Lainie served as National Sales Manager, Major Accounts Unit (MAU) at Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive, the online subsidiary of The Washington Post company, where she led a top revenue producing team driving Healthcare, Consumer Electronics and Retail sales.
Lainie has been an active Board Member for the National Capitol Area Chapter, Alzheimer’s Association since 2012. She holds a BS in Business and Organizational Development from Vanderbilt University. Lainie lives in Chevy Chase, MD with her husband and two teenage boys.
Nathanial Findlay
CEO
Lifeguard Health
Nathanial Findlay
CEO
Lifeguard Health
Nathanial Findlay, CEO, Lifeguard Health
The growing senior population will rely on technology solutions to help with healthcare, communications, and living independently as long as possible. This session addresses the growing demand for technology solutions in the home to help caregivers and seniors enhance safety and security, track important health metrics, and communicate with care providers.
Research Presentation - Consumer Electronics: Bridging Entertainment and Controls
Ross Rubin
Sr. Contributing Analyst
Parks Associates
Ross Rubin
Sr. Contributing Analyst
Parks Associates
Ross Rubin is a contributing analyst at Parks Associates and the founder and principal analyst at Reticle Research Ross has focused on innovation in the technology, media and telecom markets for over 20 years. Prior to founding Reticle Research, he was executive director and principal analyst at The NPD Group. Prior to NPD, he founded and managed the consumer access and technology service at Jupiter Research (acquired by Forrester Research), where he served as vice president and chief research fellow. He has contributed to and been quoted by leading publications and media outlets hundreds of times. Ross is a graduate of Cornell University.
Safety and security have long been the top value propositions for the smart home market. Now, players are expanding on the peace-of-mind concept to end users with new applications of familiar technologies and service models. This research presentation highlights current adoption of home security solutions and market growth.
May 23rd | 2023
- May 25th | 2023
CONNECTIONS: The Premier Connected Home Conference
Co-located with Connected Health Summit: Consumer Engagement and Innovation. Shared sessions are indicated with an asterisk (*).
Tuesday, May 23, 2023
Welcome and Opening Comments: State of the Connected Home
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Parks Associates mission is to help companies navigate the changing consumer technology landscapes through data-driven market insights, extensive consumer and industry intelligence, and executive conferences. With over two decades of dedication to the company, Elizabeth Parks, President and Chief Marketing Officer, has been instrumental in shaping its growth and success, along with the continued focus of delivering timely and quality industry and consumer insights on the broadband, entertainment, connected home and SMB industries.
Elizabeth's commitment to Parks Associates' overarching mission is unwavering. Parks Associates provides clients with the most comprehensive consumer and industry research and analysis to empower businesses to make informed decisions in an ever-evolving landscape.
Elizabeth's journey with Parks Associates began after graduating with a BA in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Plano Texas with her husband and three children.
Parks Associates welcomes attendees and provides opening comments on the state of the market and future of technology for consumers at home and at work.
Opening Session: Building Connected Home Services
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Parks Associates mission is to help companies navigate the changing consumer technology landscapes through data-driven market insights, extensive consumer and industry intelligence, and executive conferences. With over two decades of dedication to the company, Elizabeth Parks, President and Chief Marketing Officer, has been instrumental in shaping its growth and success, along with the continued focus of delivering timely and quality industry and consumer insights on the broadband, entertainment, connected home and SMB industries.
Elizabeth's commitment to Parks Associates' overarching mission is unwavering. Parks Associates provides clients with the most comprehensive consumer and industry research and analysis to empower businesses to make informed decisions in an ever-evolving landscape.
Elizabeth's journey with Parks Associates began after graduating with a BA in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Plano Texas with her husband and three children.
Dean Avgiris
Executive Director - Xfinity Home
Comcast
Dean Avgiris
Executive Director - Xfinity Home
Comcast
Dean Avgiris, Executive Director - Xfinity Home, Comcast
Jim Conti
Vice President, Sales HomeSight
Vantiva
Jim Conti
Vice President, Sales HomeSight
Vantiva
With over 30 years of experience in the consumer electronics, IoT, and smart technology industries, I have a proven track record of launching and scaling disruptive products and technologies in various markets and channels. I specialize in IoT strategy and partnerships, business development, VC funding, retail sales and marketing, and training. I have worked with global carriers, distributors, resellers, and retailers to deliver innovative and customer-centric solutions that enhance convenience, security, and efficiency. I am passionate about creating value for customers, stakeholders, and partners by leveraging my expertise in IoT, AI, wireless power, and access control.
Bruce Mungiguerra
CEO
Riverbend Sandler Pools
Bruce Mungiguerra
CEO
Riverbend Sandler Pools
Bruce Mungiguerra, CEO, Riverbend Sandler Pools
Kian Saneii
CEO
Independa
Kian Saneii
CEO
Independa
Kian Saneii is a computer scientist and serial entrepreneur, passionate about creating innovative solutions that transform lives, organizations and entire markets. Saneii founded Independa in 2009, and is CEO and Chairman of the company. Kian speaks on a wide range of topics, including the Consumerization of Healthcare and is dedicated to helping transform our sickcare system into a dramatically more beneficial healthcare system more effective, cost effective, accessible and convenient. Award-winning solutions from Independa transform the standard TV to deliver an unparalleled person-centric view of remote engagement, education and care for older adults and others who are the hardest to reach, most susceptible to COVID or chronic conditions, most isolated, and the most expensive to care for. From the Hospital to the Home, and throughout the entire care continuum in between. In close association with LG Electronics, LG TVs offer the Independa Health Hub Ecosystem, delivering a wide and growing number of offerings, including 24/7 telemedicine, teledentistry, telebehavioral health, medical grade health education, personalized exercise videos, discount pharmacy, and other benefits and offerings right on the TV. Saneii and Independa are helping transform the healthcare cost curve, along with the quality of lives and care for those most in need. Independa has received numerous awards and recognitions, including CES' Technology for a Better World, 100 Brilliant Companies by Entrepreneur, and Top 10 Patient Engagement Solutions by HealthCare Tech Outlook.
Maggie Zieba
Vice President, Safety and Security Services
Resideo
Maggie Zieba
Vice President, Safety and Security Services
Resideo
Maggie Zieba, Vice President, Safety and Security Services, Resideo
Most connected home product categories have been rising steadily in perceived value as prices fall and the adoption rates and installed base grow. Connectivity and integration of devices enable data to be shared and create new value through services delivered. This session highlights the role of broadband, hardware, software, and security solutions in building connected home services across energy, security, and controls. This session provides insights from key players in the smart home ecosystem.
Keynote
Moderator
Jason Paris
VP, Business Development
Parks Associates
Moderator
Jason Paris
VP, Business Development
Parks Associates
Jason Paris joined Parks Associates as an analyst studying international telephone, cable, and satellite providers and is now a member of the business development team.
Jason graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a BA in psychology and government. After working for the Texas House of Representatives, Jason spent the previous seven years in New York City working with portable and enterprise healthcare technologies.
David Puckett
Vice President, Global Devices Product Strategy
Comcast
David Puckett
Vice President, Global Devices Product Strategy
Comcast
David Puckett serves as the Global Devices Organization's Head of Product Strategy. He is responsible for steering the device product vision, long-term product roadmap, and commercial opportunities across Comcast Cable, Comcast Syndication partners, and Sky Europe in his current position. He directs the device strategy for all consumer and SMB products across the Connectivity and Platforms business units of the company, including Xfinity, Comcast Business, and Sky.
In his 18 years at Comcast, David oversaw the introduction of numerous products and features and the expansion of the company's portfolio. He has delivered innovation in various positions, including Product Marketing, Product Development, Product Management, and Product Strategy, always with the customer experience in mind. Before joining Comcast in 2005, David spent eight years executing consumer marketing strategies across direct and indirect sales channels for both consumer and business-to-business services at various private and public Internet Services companies in both start-up and established stages.
David has four hyper-connected Generation Z children. Although David is one of the rare individuals who began his career by handing out free Dialup Internet Service CDs in retail stores and continues to work in an industry that has paved the way for advanced technologies such as AI, AR/VR, Blockchain, Edge Computing, Cloud Gaming, Videoconferencing, IoT, and whatever the Metaverse ends up being, his children are too preoccupied creating content with Tiktok or video games to care.
Creating Whole-Home Control and Experience
Moderator
Chris White
Research Director
Parks Associates
Moderator
Chris White
Research Director
Parks Associates
Chris is a Senior Researcher with Parks Associates, covering the connected home market. He was previously a Director of Insights at PeopleMetrics in Philadelphia and the Data Manager of a youth-serving collaborative in New Orleans. He has performed research for companies in a variety of industries, including the telecom/ISP space.
Chris earned his BBA in Marketing from the College of William & Mary and his MBA in Marketing and Finance from American University.
Shankar Achanta
Vice President of Products
Sunnova
Shankar Achanta
Vice President of Products
Sunnova
Shankar Achanta serves as Vice of Products at Sunnova where he is responsible for leading and managing portfolio of products and solutions for powering homes and businesses with new electrification technologies. Mr. Achanta brings over 20 years of experience in developing and managing technology product portfolios for power utilities and industrial customers. He received his M.S. in electrical engineering from Arizona State University in 2002. Prior to joining Sunnova, Mr. Achanta held several leadership roles at Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Inc. (SEL) since 2002 in research and development division and is named on 25+ awarded patents in the field of power systems, communications, and sensor technologies and has also authored several technical papers. As an R&D and product leader throughout his career, Mr. Achanta started several new product lines and grew them into successful business units. He developed multiple successful partnerships with large organizations, to build joint solutions and go-to-market strategies.
Colin Cureton
Senior Director of IoT Home & Life Ecosystems & Marketing
Silicon Labs
Colin Cureton
Senior Director of IoT Home & Life Ecosystems & Marketing
Silicon Labs
Colin Cureton is the senior director of ecosystems and marketing for the Home & Life Business at Silicon Labs. He is responsible for driving Silicon Labs engagement with large technology innovators and ensuring that Silicon Labs solutions can help scale the number of devices and solutions across those innovators’ ecosystems. Previously, Colin has held engineering, marketing and product management roles with Motorola, Freescale, AMD and NXP, and has worked across the networking and communications, consumer, embedded and IoT markets.
Wade Gibson
Chief Sales & Customer Acquisition Officer
Brinks Home
Wade Gibson
Chief Sales & Customer Acquisition Officer
Brinks Home
Wade Gibson joined Brinks Home in May 2020, bringing with him over a decade of high-level leadership experience in the private sector, U.S. military, and state and local government. In his role, Wade is responsible for company-wide lead customer acquisition efforts through direct and indirect sales, M&A and bulk buy transactions, lead-sharing, and cross-selling partnerships. He also spearheads business development efforts to attract potential new acquisitions, selling partners, and corporate partnerships. Before starting with Brinks Home, Wade most recently practiced law at Locke Lord LLP, where he advised large and small businesses, private equity funds, banks, and governments on over 75 mergers, acquisitions, and debt finance transactions ranging from $2 million to $2 billion. Outside the office, Wade and his wife Juliet spend their time chasing around their two sons and two dogs trying to prevent emergency room visits.
Jeff Rogers
VP, Sales
Sensory
Jeff Rogers
VP, Sales
Sensory
Jeff Rogers is the VP of Sales & Marketing at Sensory. Jeff has been influential in the development and design of hundreds of products over the last 29 years that use Sensory’s technologies. He has licensed speech recognition, voice biometrics and computer vision technologies to companies such as Apple, Amazon, Fujitsu, Garmin, GoPro, Google, Honda, Microsoft, Samsung, Zoom and many more.
Paul Williams
Global Managing Director, Home Management Business Unit
Nice
Paul Williams
Global Managing Director, Home Management Business Unit
Nice
Paul Williams serves as the Managing Director of the Home Management Solutions Business Unit for Nice and leads the worldwide strategy and business for the connected home in this role. Paul has over 20 years of executive leadership in the connected home space and his career spans start-ups to Fortune 500 companies. Paul previously served as Nice North America’s Chief Product Officer where he led the product management teams and developed the product strategy and product roadmaps of all products / solutions for Nice in North America. Prior to joining Nice, he was at GE Lighting in the role of GM of Product Management and Growth where he was charged with reimagining lighting solutions. In three years, Paul’s team created a DIY smart home ecosystem with innovative products and scaled the consumer mobile app, taking it from just 30,000 users to more than 2 million. During his 14+ years of executive leadership at Control4, a manufacturer of smart home solutions, he was instrumental in building the company from a startup to IPO with double-digit, year-over-year growth.
Security system apps continue to be the most common tool for controlling multiple smart home products, but consumers also look to the CE and tech giants as a control point for devices in the home. This session highlights the key channels that have an opportunity to provide a whole-home experience, incorporating security, smart home, energy, and entertainment devices across a unified platform.
Wednesday, May 24, 2023
Continental Breakfast
Sponsored by Midea
Welcome: Evolution of the Connected Home
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Parks Associates mission is to help companies navigate the changing consumer technology landscapes through data-driven market insights, extensive consumer and industry intelligence, and executive conferences. With over two decades of dedication to the company, Elizabeth Parks, President and Chief Marketing Officer, has been instrumental in shaping its growth and success, along with the continued focus of delivering timely and quality industry and consumer insights on the broadband, entertainment, connected home and SMB industries.
Elizabeth's commitment to Parks Associates' overarching mission is unwavering. Parks Associates provides clients with the most comprehensive consumer and industry research and analysis to empower businesses to make informed decisions in an ever-evolving landscape.
Elizabeth's journey with Parks Associates began after graduating with a BA in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Plano Texas with her husband and three children.
Consumers are embracing connected devices at a slow and steady pace; in addition, broadband speeds are increasing as over-the-top (OTT) video streaming services are now a key way people watch live and entertainment video. This opening presentation from Parks Associates highlights the role of connectivity, platforms, connected devices .and new services in consumer and business environments.
Broadband, Value-Added Services, and Modern Living
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Parks Associates mission is to help companies navigate the changing consumer technology landscapes through data-driven market insights, extensive consumer and industry intelligence, and executive conferences. With over two decades of dedication to the company, Elizabeth Parks, President and Chief Marketing Officer, has been instrumental in shaping its growth and success, along with the continued focus of delivering timely and quality industry and consumer insights on the broadband, entertainment, connected home and SMB industries.
Elizabeth's commitment to Parks Associates' overarching mission is unwavering. Parks Associates provides clients with the most comprehensive consumer and industry research and analysis to empower businesses to make informed decisions in an ever-evolving landscape.
Elizabeth's journey with Parks Associates began after graduating with a BA in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Plano Texas with her husband and three children.
Greg Baldauf
Director, SmartLife & Cloud Solution Partnerships
Calix
Greg Baldauf
Director, SmartLife & Cloud Solution Partnerships
Calix
Greg Baldauf is a seasoned professional in the SmartHome and Broadband industries, currently serving as the Director of Smart Life & Cloud Partnerships with Calix. Leveraging his extensive experience, Greg helps Calix drive the future of smart life solutions through strategic technology alignments and innovative partnerships. Greg leads initiatives to find partners in strategic alignment with Calix’s mission to help broadband service providers Simplify, Innovate, and Grow their businesses. Focusing on revenue generation and value creation, Greg’s leadership demonstrates a commitment to delivering advanced solutions creating value for his customers. Previously, Greg held key roles in various broadband, consulting, and technology firms refining his skills in revenue-generating strategies and earned a patent for his work launching the first residential connected door lock with Schlage. His expertise makes him a thought leader in the industry. Calix, a leading FTTx provider, supports over 1,800 fiber-based ISPs globally. Investing over $1.4B in R&D over the last 10 years, Calix has built a platform that enables rapid deployment of managed hardware and software services, creating long-term value for businesses, shareholders, and subscribers. To date, Calix has over 70 diverse partnerships creating even more value for joint customers.
Jerome Howard
Chief Operating Officer
Culture Wireless
Jerome Howard
Chief Operating Officer
Culture Wireless
Jerome Howard holds a degree in Electrical Engineering from the esteemed Georgia Institute of Technology. Following a successful internship in the Oil & Gas industry as a Security Analyst, he joined the sector full-time in 2011. After spending 7 years in Oil & Gas, Jerome transitioned back to Atlanta, where he assumed the role of Senior Engineer at a prominent Healthcare company. With a rich and varied background in Corporate America, Jerome decided to embark on a journey of serial entrepreneurship and community enrichment. In 2021, he co-founded Culture Wireless, an Internet Service Provider that aims to deliver affordable and high-quality internet services to unserved and underserved communities.
Rob Shema
Director of Business Development
altafiber
Rob Shema
Director of Business Development
altafiber
Rob Shema is focused on developing new opportunities and relationships for altafiber to continue expanding its fiber footprint beyond Greater Cincinnati
Shema was formerly Chief Executive Officer with Com Net. Shema directed Com Net in its efforts to provide IPTV Video, Fiber Optic Transport, Dedicated Internet Access, Authentication, Network Administration, and Call Center Support.
Prior to that he was EVP of ACA Connects and worked with numerous companies on issues such as retransmission consent, permitting and pole attachments.
Earlier in his career he participated in the launch of CN8 a local television network, assisted with the launch of Comcast Newsmakers, and developed and was instrumental in the launch of local OnDemand at Comcast.
He obtained his BA from Duquesne University and his graduate degree from Villanova University.
Chris Weltzien
Senior Vice President Business Development
iolo
Chris Weltzien
Senior Vice President Business Development
iolo
Senior Vice President Business Development, iolo
Jennifer Harris
Federal Program Officer, Texas
National Telecommunications and Information Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce
Jennifer Harris
Federal Program Officer, Texas
National Telecommunications and Information Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce
Jennifer Harris joined the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) in August 2022 as the federal program officer (FPO) for the State of Texas. In this role, Jennifer coordinates partnerships and outreach with the state and local governments, community groups, and other entities with a vested interest on NTIA’s high-speed internet grant programs and policy issues. Jennifer works directly with the Texas Broadband Development Office and the state-level regional, county and municipal associations to ensure comprehensive engagement from all stakeholders in the state on the State’s high-speed internet planning and funding process.
Jennifer started her career at the Texas State Capitol in 2005 holding a wide range of jobs in the public sector. Her professional experience includes legislative, public policy, communications, and government affairs work with the Texas Legislature, and policy and communications work for the Florida Department of Education, along with a variety of roles on local and statewide political campaigns. Following her work at the Texas State Capitol and the Florida Department of Education, Jennifer served for three years as the State Program Director for Texas for Connected Nation, a national non-profit organization which has focused on tackling the digital divide for more than 20 years. Appointed in January 2020, Jennifer served as an inaugural member of the Governor’s Broadband Development Council. Governor Abbott re-appointed her to the Council in March 2022 and named her Vice Chair of the Council, a position which she held until joining NTIA.
Jennifer earned her Bachelor's degree in Business Administration with a focus in Marketing from the McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin. She earned her Master's degree in Public Service and Administration from the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University.
The home broadband market is growing at the fastest rate in well over a decade, and Parks Associates forecasts that by the end of 2025, approximately 93% of US households will have a broadband subscription — either fixed or mobile. The home network is a critical point of visibility and control for all smart home, computing, entertainment, health, and other consumer electronic devices. The home network also has the potential to enable a new dimension of value by offering integrated applications. This session addresses the growth of value-added services and role of connectivity in the home.
Keynote
Moderator
Ashton Gambrell
Director of Sales, Sponsorships
Parks Associates
Moderator
Ashton Gambrell
Director of Sales, Sponsorships
Parks Associates
Ashton joined Parks Associates with over 15 years experience in sales, business development, account management and sponsorship sales within the hotel and sports industries. She is now part of the business development team managing event sponsorships and custom marketing services.
Ashton graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington with a BA in Business Administration and concentration in Marketing. After working for Four Seasons Resorts for nearly 10 years, Ashton spent the next seven years working with PGA TOUR pro golfers and their corporate sponsors/partners before joining Parks Associates.
Jennifer Harris
Federal Program Officer, Texas
National Telecommunications and Information Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce
Jennifer Harris
Federal Program Officer, Texas
National Telecommunications and Information Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce
Jennifer Harris joined the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) in August 2022 as the federal program officer (FPO) for the State of Texas. In this role, Jennifer coordinates partnerships and outreach with the state and local governments, community groups, and other entities with a vested interest on NTIA’s high-speed internet grant programs and policy issues. Jennifer works directly with the Texas Broadband Development Office and the state-level regional, county and municipal associations to ensure comprehensive engagement from all stakeholders in the state on the State’s high-speed internet planning and funding process.
Jennifer started her career at the Texas State Capitol in 2005 holding a wide range of jobs in the public sector. Her professional experience includes legislative, public policy, communications, and government affairs work with the Texas Legislature, and policy and communications work for the Florida Department of Education, along with a variety of roles on local and statewide political campaigns. Following her work at the Texas State Capitol and the Florida Department of Education, Jennifer served for three years as the State Program Director for Texas for Connected Nation, a national non-profit organization which has focused on tackling the digital divide for more than 20 years. Appointed in January 2020, Jennifer served as an inaugural member of the Governor’s Broadband Development Council. Governor Abbott re-appointed her to the Council in March 2022 and named her Vice Chair of the Council, a position which she held until joining NTIA.
Jennifer earned her Bachelor's degree in Business Administration with a focus in Marketing from the McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin. She earned her Master's degree in Public Service and Administration from the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University.
Networking Break
Sponsored by Ivani
The Energy Consumer: Meeting and Driving Demand for Renewables
Moderator
Chris White
Research Director
Parks Associates
Moderator
Chris White
Research Director
Parks Associates
Chris is a Senior Researcher with Parks Associates, covering the connected home market. He was previously a Director of Insights at PeopleMetrics in Philadelphia and the Data Manager of a youth-serving collaborative in New Orleans. He has performed research for companies in a variety of industries, including the telecom/ISP space.
Chris earned his BBA in Marketing from the College of William & Mary and his MBA in Marketing and Finance from American University.
Jesse Fallick
VP of Product
Recurve
Jesse Fallick
VP of Product
Recurve
Jesse Fallick, VP of Product, Recurve
Advait Katarki
Business Development Manager - Connected Solutions & EV Charging Infrastructure
Eaton
Advait Katarki
Business Development Manager - Connected Solutions & EV Charging Infrastructure
Eaton
Advait Katarki is a Business Development Manager at Eaton Corporation for Connected Solutions & Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure (EVCI). With over 10 years of experience in engineering, product development and marketing strategy, Advait has provided expertise and leadership for both the circuit protection business and the digital solutions business. In his current role, Advait leads Go-to-market Strategy for Eaton's Connected Solutions and AC L2 EV Chargers — working closely with strategic eco-system partners, home builders and utilities. Advait is passionate about working on solutions enhancing integration of Distributed Energy Resources (DER) and electric vehicle charging.
Some of Advait’s recent speaking engagements include at Industry events such as Solar Power International, EPRI Infrastructure Working Council, and Energy Star Partner Summit.
Advait joined Eaton in 2012 via the Cooper Industries acquisition and has held other positions of increasing responsibility for the Electrical Sector in Engineering, Product Management & Digital Strategy. Advait graduated from North Carolina State University with a Masters in Mechanical Engineering in 2011 and a Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Mumbai (India).
Eaton’s mission is to improve the quality of life and the environment through the use of power management technologies and services. We provide sustainable solutions that help our customers effectively manage electrical, hydraulic, and mechanical power – more safely, more efficiently, and more reliably. Eaton’s 2021 revenues were $19.6 billion, and we sell products to customers in more than 175 countries. For more information, visit www.Eaton.com
Rich Korthauer
SVP, Home and Distribution
Schneider Electric
Rich Korthauer
SVP, Home and Distribution
Schneider Electric
Rich is the Vice President of Business of Final Distribution for Square D by Schneider Electric, which encompasses products for the residential and light commercial markets.
His BOLD idea is to transform homes by digitally connecting residential electrical service from grid to plug, for sustainability, efficiency, resiliency and personalization as part of a connected home ecosystem, bringing homeowners added energy savings, comfort and safety to their homes.
Paul Wezner
Chief Product and Customer Officer
Powerley
Paul Wezner
Chief Product and Customer Officer
Powerley
Paul has nearly 20 years of experience in the technology and utility sectors. Since joining Powerley as its first employee in 2015, Paul has been pivotal in the company's growth, establishing himself as a subject matter expert in the energy space. He has successfully launched multiple products that drive energy efficiency and consumer engagement and has been a thought leader in the industry, contributing to SEPA, Energy STAR, and the Institute for Electric Innovation (IEI). He also serves on the board of the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative (SECC). Before Powerley, he led marketing intelligence at Organic, Inc., where he developed advanced analytics solutions and drove performance across multiple verticals, including hospitality, CPG, and automotive. He has a strong track record of building strategic partnerships with utility companies and operationalizing businesses for growth. Paul holds both a BA in Economics and an MBA in Strategy and Marketing from the University of Michigan.
Thomas Breare
Head of Flexibility and Partnerships
Octopus Energy
Thomas Breare
Head of Flexibility and Partnerships
Octopus Energy
Tom Breare is Senior Partnerships Manager at Octopus Energy U.S. With seven years in the energy sector, Tom leads Octopus Energy’s connected device partnerships and flexibility products for customers in the US. Tom was an early employee of Octopus Energy in 2016, and moved from the United Kingdom to Texas in 2022.
Energy companies are highly motivated to invest in solutions that provide more energy efficiency and automation in homes. This becomes increasingly important with net zero-goals set by utilities. Smart home technology offers smart energy value for utilities. That can be realized via integration into a wide range of energy-efficiency programs that incentivize customers to save energy. This session provides insight into the future of energy and smart home technologies.
Tackling Pain Points: Returns, Support, and Privacy
Moderator
John Barrett
Director of Consumer Analytics
Parks Associates
Moderator
John Barrett
Director of Consumer Analytics
Parks Associates
John Barrett currently analyzes digital media and international trends for Parks Associates and also heads the company’s consumer research team. He regularly advises companies from both the content and hardware industries on their digital media strategies and has authored dozens of industry reports.
He holds an MA in international economics from the Johns Hopkins University: School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and a BS in international affairs from Georgetown University.
INDUSTRY EXPERTISE: International Research, Digital Media, Mobile TV, Social Media, User-generated Content, Web 2.0
Jennifer Doctor
Senior Director, Product Management
Johnson Controls
Jennifer Doctor
Senior Director, Product Management
Johnson Controls
Jennifer Doctor is the Senior Director of Product Management for Johnson Controls, Global Products’ Intrusion detection portfolio. In this capacity, Jennifer leads a global team managing more than 5,000 traditional and smart home security products around the globe in residential and commercial markets.
Jennifer joined Johnson Controls from ADT North America where she was the Director of Product Strategy. She brings a dozen years of experience in the security industry, and nearly 25 years of experience in product marketing and product management to Johnson Controls, having worked with companies to help them bring products to market profitably. In addition to her unique blend of product management, product marketing and marketing skills, Jennifer also brings IT skills and certifications to her portfolio including ITIL, CMMi, Certified Agile Leader and Certified SAFe 5 Product Owner/Product Manager.
Jennifer is a member of the board of directors for the Z-Wave Alliance where she also serves as the Marketing Committee. She is a frequent industry speaker and is active member of several product management communities. Jennifer was recently included on the SIA Women in Security Forum “Power 100” in 2023. She can be found on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jidoctor/, and followed on twitter at @jidoctor.
Benjamin Myers
National Sales Manager- RAS
Kwikset
Benjamin Myers
National Sales Manager- RAS
Kwikset
Benjamin Myers is the National Sales Manager for Kwikset, an industry leading door lock manufacturer. He has been in the building industry for almost 20 years, with experience in a variety of channels including, but not limited to: retail, wholesale, smart home, single family residential, and multifamily residential. In his current role he leads the Residential Access Solutions team which encompasses smart home, proptech, access control and intrusion amongst others. Benjamin has a bachelor's degree from Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania, where he majored in Marketing and minored in Speech Communication. His professional passion is developing himself and others, which has led to him guiding or participating in many leadership development & mentorship programs throughout his career.
Jonathan Storino
Vice President
Elexa Consumer Products
Jonathan Storino
Vice President
Elexa Consumer Products
Jonathan Storino, Vice President, Elexa Consumer Products
Stefan Witkamp
CEO
Homey, part of LG Electronics
Stefan Witkamp
CEO
Homey, part of LG Electronics
Founder and CEO of Homey, on a mission to create better smart homes. Homey builds a powerful, versatile, user-friendly and privacy-first operating system for smart homes. Available as cloud-based service via the Homey app, or completely local on the company's flagship universal hub Homey Pro. Thanks to its universal hubs and open app platform, Homey can interact directly with devices on local APIs, cloud-based APIs, Zigbee, Z-Wave, Matter, Thread, BLE, KNX-IP, 433MHz RF and Infrared, truly unifying smart home across standards.
The concerns over data invasion and security are not felt solely by prospective purchasers but carry over to current device users as well, impacting not only how they use their smart home devices but also their propensity to purchase additional smart home devices. In addition, the set up, ease of installation, warranty, and whether the product meets expectations and works are all critical to the experience. This session addresses how companies are working to ensure a “delightful” experience for their smart home customers.
Research Presentation: Smart Appliances
Moderator
John Barrett
Director of Consumer Analytics
Parks Associates
Moderator
John Barrett
Director of Consumer Analytics
Parks Associates
John Barrett currently analyzes digital media and international trends for Parks Associates and also heads the company’s consumer research team. He regularly advises companies from both the content and hardware industries on their digital media strategies and has authored dozens of industry reports.
He holds an MA in international economics from the Johns Hopkins University: School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and a BS in international affairs from Georgetown University.
INDUSTRY EXPERTISE: International Research, Digital Media, Mobile TV, Social Media, User-generated Content, Web 2.0
Dr. Kenneth Wacks
President
Home, Building & Energy Systems
Dr. Kenneth Wacks
President
Home, Building & Energy Systems
Dr. Wacks has been a pioneer in establishing the home systems industry and a management advisor to 150 clients worldwide. His business spans home and building systems, utility customer services, and digital entertainment networks (including HDTV and IPTV). Clients seek his help to locate strategic business partners, financing, and new customers. He also provides due-diligence for investors and expert witness services for litigants. Please visit www.kenwacks.com for information about clients and projects.
He was appointed by the United States Department of Energy to the 13-member GridWise Architecture Council to develop smart grid strategies for reliable and efficient distribution of electricity. The Consumer Electronics Association chose Dr. Wacks to chair the international committee (ISO/IEC) establishing world standards for home and building systems and energy management. In addition, he has written American National Standards in home automation.
Dr. Wacks chairs the Editorial Advisory Board of the CABA magazine iHomes & Buildings (available at www.caba.org) and is a featured contributor under the byline “Ken Wacks’Perspectives.” Dr. Wacks received his Ph.D. from MIT as a Hertz Fellow and studied at the MIT Sloan School of Management.
Consumers still see smart appliances as an expensive purchase, with 46% reporting price as one of the major reasons for not purchasing a smart appliance. This research presentation highlights Parks Associates’ consumer and industry data on the smart appliance market, including builder perspectives.
Insurance: Protecting the Home and Proving the ROI
Moderator
Chris White
Research Director
Parks Associates
Moderator
Chris White
Research Director
Parks Associates
Chris is a Senior Researcher with Parks Associates, covering the connected home market. He was previously a Director of Insights at PeopleMetrics in Philadelphia and the Data Manager of a youth-serving collaborative in New Orleans. He has performed research for companies in a variety of industries, including the telecom/ISP space.
Chris earned his BBA in Marketing from the College of William & Mary and his MBA in Marketing and Finance from American University.
Bob Marshall
CEO
Whisker Labs
Bob Marshall
CEO
Whisker Labs
Robert (Bob) Marshall is CEO of Whisker Labs, a newly formed division of Earth Networks, dedicated to bringing next generation home energy intelligence technologies to market. Bob is also founder and CEO of Earth Networks, which operates the largest weather observation, lightning detection and greenhouse gas monitoring networks in the world, providing data to energy companies, NOAA, NWS and other global operations.
Bob is passionate about big data from weather and climate observations to complete home energy intelligence and IoT sensors and beyond. By developing groundbreaking technology to find ˜signals'” valuable, meaningful intelligence in this sea of big-data 'noise', Bob believes in improving and protecting people's lives and livelihoods, as well as delivering peace of mind and savings through whole home and comprehensive energy intelligence.
Prior to founding AWS and launching Earth Networks, Marshall served as a program manager and lead engineer at BBN, where he oversaw the development of several advanced military sensors, signal processing and networking programs. He has been twice-named to Washingtonian magazine's top 100 Tech Titans. Marshall is a cum laude graduate of the University of Maryland College of Engineering. In 2007, Marshall received the distinction of Outstanding Alumnus in Engineering and Information Technology for his contributions to the University and his professional and personal accomplishments.
Geoff Martin
President & Co-founder
vipHomeLink
Geoff Martin
President & Co-founder
vipHomeLink
Geoff Martin is a seasoned business executive who is currently President & Co-founder of software company, vipHomeLink, providing the leading Homeowner Experience & Engagement Platform to homeowners, often in collaboration with insurance carriers, home warranty companies, builders and other valued corporate partners. Geoff is a growth-oriented leader with extensive corporate M&A, capital raising, operations and partnerships expertise. His financial career includes nearly 20 years as a Wall Street investment banker, rising to Managing Director, and subsequently serving as Chief Financial Officer of a global transportation company. During his career, he has been involved with over $10B in executed corporate transactions worldwide. Geoff has been active with technology companies for over 10 years as an operator, advisor, and investor. He co-founded vipHomeLink in 2017 with partner Alfred Bentley. Geoff received his Bachelors in Economics from The Pennsylvania State University, and his MBA from New York University in 1995. He currently resides in Charleston, SC with his family.
Roel Peeters
Co-Founder and CEO
Roost Labs
Roel Peeters
Co-Founder and CEO
Roost Labs
Roel Peeters is the CEO & Co-founder of Roost. Mr. Peeters is a serial entrepreneur with over 20 years of startup experience ranging from enterprise software to consumer electronics and semiconductors.
Before starting Roost in 2014, he was the co-founder of Ozmo Devices, a pioneer in low-power Wi-Fi. Ozmo delivered the enabling technology for the world’s first WiFi mouse (marketed by HP) and the WiFi remote control shipping with the Roku 3 box. Mr. Peeters is a co-inventor of low-power Wi-Fi Personal Area Networks (PAN) technology and successfully created a worldwide standard known as “Wi-Fi Direct”. Ozmo was acquired by Atmel in 2012.
Prior to Ozmo, Mr. Peeters was one of the first employees at InQuira, a venture-funded search and web self-service enterprise software provider. As a marketing and sales executive, he was responsible for the development and execution of its highly successful early adopter program, signing up several Fortune 500 customers. InQuira was successfully acquired by Oracle.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Peeters held various applications engineering, sales, and sales management positions in Europe, Southeast Asia, and the U.S. with ICOS Vision Systems (acquired by KLA-Tencor), a semiconductor equipment manufacturer.
Mr. Peeters received his MBA from The Wharton School and an MSEE from the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium.
Brett Sobol
Sr. Growth Initiatives Lead
Hippo
Brett Sobol
Sr. Growth Initiatives Lead
Hippo
As Sr. Growth Initiatives Lead, Brett drives strategy and operations for Hippo's industry-leading home protection programs, including Smart Home and Hippo Home Care. At Hippo, Brett is responsible for scaling and enhancing these services to better protect the company’s customers in 37 states and to ensure homeowners have a proactive partner to keep small things from becoming big problems.
Prior to Hippo, Brett spent nearly a decade at Comcast, most recently heading up strategy and planning for Comcast’s IoT Growth Division where he focused on new business initiatives, including the company’s acquisition of Notion and its partnership with Hippo. Brett holds a degree in Business Management from Babson College.
Insurance discounts are the #2 motivator to get greenfield buyers into smart home. Insurance policies give consumers peace of mind about their home, and smart home devices can extend the property owners’ ability to protect their home as an asset. This session addresses how smart security products and systems are working with insurance to save billions of dollars through proactive monitoring, detection, and deterrence for burglary, home, and fire damage.
New Business Models: Everything as a Service
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Parks Associates mission is to help companies navigate the changing consumer technology landscapes through data-driven market insights, extensive consumer and industry intelligence, and executive conferences. With over two decades of dedication to the company, Elizabeth Parks, President and Chief Marketing Officer, has been instrumental in shaping its growth and success, along with the continued focus of delivering timely and quality industry and consumer insights on the broadband, entertainment, connected home and SMB industries.
Elizabeth's commitment to Parks Associates' overarching mission is unwavering. Parks Associates provides clients with the most comprehensive consumer and industry research and analysis to empower businesses to make informed decisions in an ever-evolving landscape.
Elizabeth's journey with Parks Associates began after graduating with a BA in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Plano Texas with her husband and three children.
Nathan Matney
Director, IoT Products
Keurig Dr. Pepper
Nathan Matney
Director, IoT Products
Keurig Dr. Pepper
Nathan Matney, Director, IoT Products, Keurig Dr. Pepper
Don Young
EVP and Chief Operating Officer
ADT
Don Young
EVP and Chief Operating Officer
ADT
Don Young is Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at ADT. He previously served as the company’s Chief Information Officer and Executive Vice President, Field Operations. Don started in the alarm industry in 1988 after serving four years in the United States Air Force as a computer programmer analyst. Since then he has held various leadership roles across many areas within the security industry. Don is currently president of The Monitoring Association (TMA) and past president of the Partnership for Priority Video Alarm Response (PPVAR).
In the next phase of smart home development, reliable connectivity and basic interoperability between products are going to be standard. Manufacturers will leverage these benefits to differentiate their product lines, find competitive advantages, and create new value for the user. This session addresses how industry players will deliver on the smart home promise through partnerships, expanded distribution channels, and intelligence derived from sensors that will increasingly expand and personalize services, which will in turn generate recurring revenue.
Networking Break
Sponsored by Gadgeon
Seniors, Caregivers, and Independent Living Solutions
Moderator
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
Moderator
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
INDUSTRY EXPERTISE: Connected Health, Connected Home Technologies and Services, Connected Entertainment Products and Services.
Jennifer manages the research department and Parks Associates' process for producing high-quality, relevant, and meaningful research. Jennifer also leads and advises on syndicated and custom research projects across all connected consumer verticals and guides questionnaire development for Parks Associates’ extensive consumer analytics survey program. Jennifer is a certified focus group moderator, with training from the Burke Institute.
Jennifer earned her PhD in religion, politics, and society and an MA in church-state studies from Baylor University. She earned her BA in politics from the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.
Jean Anne Booth
CEO
UnaliWear
Jean Anne Booth
CEO
UnaliWear
A serial entrepreneur, Jean Anne started UnaliWear after selling previous startups to Texas Instruments and Apple. Jean Anne was the founder of Luminary Micro, the creators of the Stellaris microcontroller platform and the first to market with ARM Cortex-M3-based microcontroller solutions, purchased by Texas Instruments in May 2009 Jean Anne retired from TI in 2012 after serving as the general manager for TI's Stellaris family of products. Jean Anne was also a founder at Intrinsity, the creators of the graphics chip in Apple iPad products. Intrinsity sold to Apple in 2010. Jean Anne holds a BSEE from the University of Texas at Austin, and an MSCE from National Technical University.
Kevin Jameson
Volunteer President | Founder
Dementia Society of America
Kevin Jameson
Volunteer President | Founder
Dementia Society of America
Kevin Jameson, Volunteer President | Founder, Dementia Society of America
Sumit Nagpal
Founder, Chairman and CEO
Cherish Health, Inc.
Sumit Nagpal
Founder, Chairman and CEO
Cherish Health, Inc.
Sumit Kumar Nagpal is a serial entrepreneur with a focus on disruptive digital health innovation. He has co-founded and grown five companies over the past two and a half decades that have tackled progressively bolder challenges facing our healthcare economies, ranging from integrating longitudinal data and workflows across care settings, to bringing hospital-level care to the home.
Laurie Orlov
Industry Analyst
Aging and Health Technology Watch
Laurie Orlov
Industry Analyst
Aging and Health Technology Watch
Laurie Orlov, Industry Analyst, Aging and Health Technology Watch
Brock Winzeler
President Personal Health and Safety
Becklar
Brock Winzeler
President Personal Health and Safety
Becklar
Brock Winzeler is the President of Becklar’s Workforce Safety and Personal Health & Safety divisions. Becklar is a leading provider of connected safety solutions, combining innovative technology and compassionate service to enhance the freedom, confidence, and peace of mind of millions across North America. Under Brock’s leadership, Freeus grew into one of the country’s most recognized providers of mobile personal emergency response systems (mPERS), with over 2.5 million devices sold and support for more than one million subscribers through its award-winning monitoring centers. Becklar has championed advancements in AI-driven safety, IoT platform services, and 24/7 professional monitoring, driving $4M+ in annual R&D investments to ensure continuous innovation. Brock is passionate about creating systems that allow seniors to age in place with confidence and help workers stay safe in high-risk environments. Brock lives in Pleasant View, Utah, with his wife and four children. He is deeply committed to family, faith, and building solutions that genuinely care for people first.
When considering solutions, independent seniors are interested in solutions that can be added to their current home and are self-monitored. Preferences are evenly split between home-based systems and wearable systems. Seniors purchasing solutions for themselves look first to independent living solutions specialists, then to solutions providers, health insurers, and retailers. This session addresses tech solutions for seniors and caregivers, with a special look at purchase channels and growth in PERS.
Keynote
Moderator
Ashton Gambrell
Director of Sales, Sponsorships
Parks Associates
Moderator
Ashton Gambrell
Director of Sales, Sponsorships
Parks Associates
Ashton joined Parks Associates with over 15 years experience in sales, business development, account management and sponsorship sales within the hotel and sports industries. She is now part of the business development team managing event sponsorships and custom marketing services.
Ashton graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington with a BA in Business Administration and concentration in Marketing. After working for Four Seasons Resorts for nearly 10 years, Ashton spent the next seven years working with PGA TOUR pro golfers and their corporate sponsors/partners before joining Parks Associates.
Anthony Dohrmann
Founder and CEO
Electronic Caregiver - ECG
Anthony Dohrmann
Founder and CEO
Electronic Caregiver - ECG
Anthony Dohrmann is the founder and inventor of Electronic Caregiver solutions. Anthony Dohrmann’s latest invention is Addison, the virtual caregiver. She is a state-of-the-art, 3D animated, connected caregiver designed to transform a residence into a digital Smart Health Home, providing chronic care management, rehabilitation, aging in place, behavioral health, and care coordination for patients of all ages.
Integrating Data: Sensors, Standards, and Value
Moderator
Chris White
Research Director
Parks Associates
Moderator
Chris White
Research Director
Parks Associates
Chris is a Senior Researcher with Parks Associates, covering the connected home market. He was previously a Director of Insights at PeopleMetrics in Philadelphia and the Data Manager of a youth-serving collaborative in New Orleans. He has performed research for companies in a variety of industries, including the telecom/ISP space.
Chris earned his BBA in Marketing from the College of William & Mary and his MBA in Marketing and Finance from American University.
Justin McKinney
CEO & Co-Founder
Ivani
Justin McKinney
CEO & Co-Founder
Ivani
Justin McKinney is an experienced business leader, entrepreneur, and innovator. He is currently the co-founder and CEO of Ivani, the technology company leading the Sensing as a Service model in IoT. As co-inventor of dozens of patents, Justin has successfully driven the innovation process at multiple companies through a focus on end-user wants and needs while balancing the trade-offs inherent to business operations. Justin holds a BA from Principia College and Executive MBA from Washington University in St Louis.
Tony Nicolaidis
Chief Commercial Officer
Origin
Tony Nicolaidis
Chief Commercial Officer
Origin
Tony Nicolaidis: Chief Commercial Officer at Origin AI Tony Nicolaidis is the Chief Commercial Officer at Origin AI, a role he assumed in January 2023 after serving as the Chief Revenue Officer since August 2022. Known for his dynamic approach in the B2B sector, Tony excels in strategic planning, scaling sales and customer success teams, and aligning marketing strategies with revenue goals. His expertise in establishing data-driven SaaS revenue metrics has been pivotal in communicating progress to key stakeholders. Before joining Origin AI, Tony was the Chief Revenue Officer at Successware from June 2020 to August 2022, where he spearheaded sales and customer success strategies to drive company growth. He also contributed his expertise as a Startup Advisor to various construction startups, advising on value proposition and commercialization from January 2020 to June 2020. Tony's earlier career includes over two decades at Stanley Black & Decker, Inc., where he held several key positions, including General Manager - Construction Technology Group and Vice President of Marketing and Product. His journey there showcased his versatility and leadership across various domains. Tony holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Maryland and an MBA from Loyola University, Maryland. His educational background, combined with his extensive professional experience, makes him a knowledgeable and inspiring speaker, particularly in the fields of sales, business development, and customer success.
Lars Oleson
CEO & Co-Founder
Xailient
Lars Oleson
CEO & Co-Founder
Xailient
CEO and Co-Founder of Xailient -22 years in Enterprise Software. -Serial entrepreneur. -Experienced CEO with 100+ employees at exit. -Alipay, Symantec, Oracle. -MIT electrical engineering.
Sonny Tai
Chief Executive Officer
Actuate
Sonny Tai
Chief Executive Officer
Actuate
Sonny Tai, Chief Executive Officer, Actuate
Devices with video and audio data capture capacity are the fastest-growing smart home categories, and analytics are improving due to more powerful edge components (chipsets) or more effective and efficient cloud interactions. This session addresses the opportunities for growth as a result of advanced technologies embedded in devices.
Networking Reception
Sponsored by Kudelski IoT
Thursday, May 25, 2023
Opening Comments: What Channels are Driving Growth
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Parks Associates mission is to help companies navigate the changing consumer technology landscapes through data-driven market insights, extensive consumer and industry intelligence, and executive conferences. With over two decades of dedication to the company, Elizabeth Parks, President and Chief Marketing Officer, has been instrumental in shaping its growth and success, along with the continued focus of delivering timely and quality industry and consumer insights on the broadband, entertainment, connected home and SMB industries.
Elizabeth's commitment to Parks Associates' overarching mission is unwavering. Parks Associates provides clients with the most comprehensive consumer and industry research and analysis to empower businesses to make informed decisions in an ever-evolving landscape.
Elizabeth's journey with Parks Associates began after graduating with a BA in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Plano Texas with her husband and three children.
The buying experience for consumers and smart home products is fractured, but the many choices, including DIY and pro install options, have helped expand the market. This session provides highlights of Parks Associates data on the different channels selling smart home solutions: retail, home security, energy, and insurance.
What’s Driving Growth in the Smart Home?
Moderator
Chris White
Research Director
Parks Associates
Moderator
Chris White
Research Director
Parks Associates
Chris is a Senior Researcher with Parks Associates, covering the connected home market. He was previously a Director of Insights at PeopleMetrics in Philadelphia and the Data Manager of a youth-serving collaborative in New Orleans. He has performed research for companies in a variety of industries, including the telecom/ISP space.
Chris earned his BBA in Marketing from the College of William & Mary and his MBA in Marketing and Finance from American University.
Eugenia Blackstone
Chief Marketing Officer
Iris Powered by Generali
Eugenia Blackstone
Chief Marketing Officer
Iris Powered by Generali
Eugenia Blackstone is the Chief Marketing Officer for Iris Powered by Generali, a division of Generali Global Assistance (GGA) and part of the larger Generali Group. Eugenia has been responsible for developing comprehensive marketing strategies for GGA's global identity protection solutions, now offered under the Iris Powered by Generali brand, for over a decade starting as a marketing manager for the business before serving as a Director of Marketing and VP of Global Marketing ahead of her current tenure as CMO. During her time at Iris, the brand's marketing campaigns have been recognized for multiple awards, including two Gold Globees for Marketing Campaign of the Year in 2022. Prior to her time marketing identity protection services, Eugenia worked in marketing for major industrial equipment brands, CNH Industrial and Caterpillar. Eugenia received her Bachelors of Science in Marketing from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University.
Jan Dawson
Senior Director of Research and Insights
Vivint
Jan Dawson
Senior Director of Research and Insights
Vivint
Jan Dawson is the Senior Director, Research and Insights at Vivint. In that capacity, he leads a team which conducts primary and secondary customer and consumer research on behalf of Vivint’s product, design, and engineering teams. He has spent over twenty years in research and product strategy in the technology industry.
Kevin Kraus
V.P. Technology Alliances
Fortune Brands Innovations, Inc.
Kevin Kraus
V.P. Technology Alliances
Fortune Brands Innovations, Inc.
Kevin Kraus recently joined Fortune Brands Innovations, Inc. as part of the Divestiture of Yale and August North America from ASSA ABLOY. Kevin is the V.P. Technology Alliances and IoT Business Development for Fortune Brands, prior to the Divestiture, Kevin was V.P. Technology Alliances and IoT Business Development for ASSA ABLOY Smart Residential Group. Prior to being promoted Kevin was Director of Technology and Partner Integration since 2018 and is responsible for defining key product technologies and developing partner integration strategies and tools to support seamless lock integration. Prior to becoming the Director of technology and partner integration, Kevin was Director of product development for Yale Residential Locks. Responsible for product strategy, product development, and technology. Prior to joining ASSA ABLOY/Yale in 2009; Kevin spent 11 years as director of product management electronic locks for the Schlage Residential Business. Prior to Schlage Kevin spent 7 years with Honeywell’s Security Group as product manager for Honeywell Residential Security Products. Kevin has extensive experience in the IOT, Residential Security, and Home Automation Business and is regarded as a subject matter expert in residential electronic locks, residential security and home automation systems and residential systems communication technologies. Kevin has majors in both Electrical Engineering and Business Administration. Kevin is also on the CSA Aliance, Z-Wave Alliance, and Thread Board of Directors. Kevin is currently Vice Chair of the CSA Alliance and Treasure of both the Thread Group and Z-Wave Alliance.
Teddy Meyer
VP of Marketing & Customer Experience
GreenMarbles
Teddy Meyer
VP of Marketing & Customer Experience
GreenMarbles
Teddy Meyer, VP of Marketing & Customer Experience, Green Marbles
Martin Milani
CEO
Sunverge Energy
Martin Milani
CEO
Sunverge Energy
Martin is responsible for strategy, development, delivery and operations of Sunverge’s advanced energy platform. He is an industry-recognized thought-leader and expert on cloud and edge computing, AI, IoT and SOA with more than 20 years of experience in product design, development and systems architecture spanning the evolution of distributed systems. He joined Sunverge from Nexant where he was General Manager and CTO, responsible for the company's advanced smart grid software platforms. Previous positions include CTO of Tidal Software (acquired by Cisco Systems), CEO, CTO of Intersperse (acquired by Tidal Software), CTO of iBuilding, a smart building intelligent control and orchestration platform and Chief Internet Strategist and Technologist at Times Mirror Corporation. Before joining Times Mirror, he held senior-level technology, consulting, and distributed system architect positions at Wells Fargo, IBM, Retix, and Locus computing.
The standard smart home buyer journey today is via retail, often one device at a time. But many consumers start with a home security system and are adding smart home devices to extend applications and value. This session brings industry leaders together to talk about what channels are driving the biggest growth for smart home solutions.
Keynote - From Electrons to Ecosystems: Customer-Centric Decarbonization and the New Era of Utility Partnerships
Moderator
Chris White
Research Director
Parks Associates
Moderator
Chris White
Research Director
Parks Associates
Chris is a Senior Researcher with Parks Associates, covering the connected home market. He was previously a Director of Insights at PeopleMetrics in Philadelphia and the Data Manager of a youth-serving collaborative in New Orleans. He has performed research for companies in a variety of industries, including the telecom/ISP space.
Chris earned his BBA in Marketing from the College of William & Mary and his MBA in Marketing and Finance from American University.
Lon Huber
Senior Vice President, Pricing and Customer Solutions
Duke Energy Corporation
Lon Huber
Senior Vice President, Pricing and Customer Solutions
Duke Energy Corporation
Lon Huber serves as senior vice president of pricing and customer solutions for Duke Energy. In this role, he oversees key customer functions spanning economic development, rate design, wholesale contracts, large customer accounts, load analytics, and regulatory enablement.
Prior to joining Duke Energy, Lon worked with state utility commissions, clean technology companies, and consumer advocates on tackling some of the most critical challenges facing the electricity industry. Lon has received numerous awards for his creative solutions, including awards from Public Utilities Fortnightly, the top honor from the Energy Storage Association as well as Utility Dive’s Innovator of the Year award.
Focusing on customer-centric decarbonization presents an unparalleled opportunity to holistically address customer needs.
This keynote will emphasize the value of strategic partnerships with utilities, extending beyond the conventional realm of selling elections. It will highlight the necessity for innovation-fueled collaborations spanning across various domains, from connected care to digital solutions and beyond. The aim is to ready homes for a future that is not just cleaner, but also more interconnected.
Networking Break
Sponsored by Savant
Connecting the Smart Home & Joining Ecosystems, Sponsored by CSA
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Parks Associates mission is to help companies navigate the changing consumer technology landscapes through data-driven market insights, extensive consumer and industry intelligence, and executive conferences. With over two decades of dedication to the company, Elizabeth Parks, President and Chief Marketing Officer, has been instrumental in shaping its growth and success, along with the continued focus of delivering timely and quality industry and consumer insights on the broadband, entertainment, connected home and SMB industries.
Elizabeth's commitment to Parks Associates' overarching mission is unwavering. Parks Associates provides clients with the most comprehensive consumer and industry research and analysis to empower businesses to make informed decisions in an ever-evolving landscape.
Elizabeth's journey with Parks Associates began after graduating with a BA in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Plano Texas with her husband and three children.
Roger Clawson
Director Home Builder Division
SafeStreets USA
Roger Clawson
Director Home Builder Division
SafeStreets USA
Roger has spent 40 years in sales, consulting and business development. He's passionate about giving back and providing mentorship and development of young entrepreneurs. He started his career in home services at the ripe age of 15. His ventures have included early stints in vending, real estate development, construction, and the dairy industry. In 1993, upon completing a successful collegiate five-year athletic commitment, he graduated and assumed a role with Black & Decker (Kwikset) where he was privileged to participate, develop materials for and instruct within their world-renowned sales and marketing program. In 2000, Roger acquired a fledgling food franchise in Southern California and helped to usher in the golden age of frozen yogurt consumption. In 2005 he was introduced to the technology incubator at University of California Irvine and built a practice consulting and coaching low-tech and high-tech start-ups through their early stages of development. He reentered the construction services industry in 2020 following a request by Safe Streets USA, ADT's second largest dealer, to write a plan to deliver the best in smart home technology to the nation's Top 50 builders. Today, that plan has delivered solutions to seven of the nation's Top 10 production builders and sixteen of the Top 30. In addition, he is also bringing high tech security solutions to address job site safety and security with Live View Technologies, Inc. Roger earned his bachelor's degree from Southern Utah University in 1992. He serves his community through mentorship programs and volunteers as a high school football coach.
Steve Elliston
President
Elliston Systems & Design
Steve Elliston
President
Elliston Systems & Design
Steve Elliston is the Founder and President of Elliston Systems & Design, a leading audiovisual integration company with a 10,000 sqft. experience center located in the design district of Dallas, TX. Founded in 2001, Steve has built a reputation for expertise and exceptional service while working with architects, designers, and builders to design and implement advanced lighting, electrical, and AV solutions. Simplifying that advanced technology through custom design, innovative products, detailed documentation, and exceptional service is core to the company’s mission.
Under Steve's leadership, Elliston Systems & Design has earned numerous industry accolades and has been recognized as a top AV integrator by leading publications. Steve prides himself on relationships - from his talented team of experts to a growing list of discerning clients. Like him, Steve’s team is dedicated to delivering exceptional service and creating tailored solutions that meet each client's unique needs and exceeds their expectations.
Abe Kinney
Senior Director, Product Management
Alarm.com
Abe Kinney
Senior Director, Product Management
Alarm.com
Abe is responsible for the management and development of several Alarm.com solutions, including security hardware integrations, energy management and home automation. Since joining the company in 2012, he has worked across both service provider and customer experiences to deliver dependable technology that connects people with the things they care about most.
Michelle Mindala-Freeman
Chief Operating Officer
Connectivity Standards Alliance
Michelle Mindala-Freeman
Chief Operating Officer
Connectivity Standards Alliance
As a leader at Connectivity Standards Alliance, Michelle works to promote the Alliance, its mission, standards, and solutions, and drive the growth and success of IoT for the benefit of our members, consumers, and the marketplace at large. As a former executive in the telecom, energy & professional services industries, she has built and led teams across marketing, strategy, brand, customer experience, and go-to-market. With 25+ years of industry and consulting experience, she brings a wealth of experience, perspectives, and a passion for the Alliance’s mission to build the foundation and the future of IoT.
A unified smart home experience is the holy grail of convenience and value for consumers, but fragmentation and interoperability issues have hindered the early development for the smart home. Industry players have been building standards for decades, and the new Matter standard provides a possible solution that serves an enormous number of stakeholders in the smart home marketplace, including solution providers, manufacturers, and consumers. This session features industry leaders’ insights on partnerships, opportunities, and challenges.
Special Session
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Parks Associates mission is to help companies navigate the changing consumer technology landscapes through data-driven market insights, extensive consumer and industry intelligence, and executive conferences. With over two decades of dedication to the company, Elizabeth Parks, President and Chief Marketing Officer, has been instrumental in shaping its growth and success, along with the continued focus of delivering timely and quality industry and consumer insights on the broadband, entertainment, connected home and SMB industries.
Elizabeth's commitment to Parks Associates' overarching mission is unwavering. Parks Associates provides clients with the most comprehensive consumer and industry research and analysis to empower businesses to make informed decisions in an ever-evolving landscape.
Elizabeth's journey with Parks Associates began after graduating with a BA in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Plano Texas with her husband and three children.
Morgan Hertel
VP of Technology and Innovation
Rapid Response Monitoring
Morgan Hertel
VP of Technology and Innovation
Rapid Response Monitoring
Morgan Hertel, with over 40 years of experience in the electronic security industry, is a well-respected leader who has served in many executive leadership roles for independent security integration companies and monitoring centers. Currently, as Vice President of Technology & Innovation for Rapid Response Monitoring, Morgan evaluates and harnesses the synergy between the latest technological advancements and the industry’s leading service providers to further advance the unmatched Dealer services of Rapid Response.
Morgan serves as President of The Monitoring Association (TMA) and is actively involved in many local and national industry associations and initiatives, and he dedicates countless hours to the work of several forward-thinking committees throughout the industry, as well.
Morgan holds the following certificates and licenses:
NICET Level III Fire Alarm Technology, California Alarm Company Qualified Manager, Oregon Certified Trainer, Oregon Executive Manager, TMA Level I and II Central Station Operator, SIA Certified Operator and ESA Certified Alarm Installer.
Keynote: Overcoming the top 3 barriers to mass adoption of smart home technology
Moderator
Ashton Gambrell
Director of Sales, Sponsorships
Parks Associates
Moderator
Ashton Gambrell
Director of Sales, Sponsorships
Parks Associates
Ashton joined Parks Associates with over 15 years experience in sales, business development, account management and sponsorship sales within the hotel and sports industries. She is now part of the business development team managing event sponsorships and custom marketing services.
Ashton graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington with a BA in Business Administration and concentration in Marketing. After working for Four Seasons Resorts for nearly 10 years, Ashton spent the next seven years working with PGA TOUR pro golfers and their corporate sponsors/partners before joining Parks Associates.
Mark Benson
Head of Samsung SmartThings U.S.
Samsung SmartThings
Mark Benson
Head of Samsung SmartThings U.S.
Samsung SmartThings
Mark Benson is the Head of Samsung SmartThings U.S. Mark oversees SmartThings’ growth and development strategy, furthering its mission to achieve mass smart home adoption with a unified and intelligent home experience. Prior to SmartThings, Mark held executive leadership roles at several technology companies across industries ranging from software development to design and manufacturing. Mark is a recognized speaker on the value of connected products to users and businesses and has authored several technical papers on strategic planning, organizational behavior, competitive strategy, product management, software engineering leadership, data analytics, and information security. Mark is also the author of The Art of Software Thermal Management for Embedded Systems (Springer 2014). Mark earned a Master of Science in Software Engineering from the University of Minnesota and a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Bethel University.
Smart home adoption is at a massive inflection point, with a strong potential for exponential growth. This is accelerating as the smart home goes mainstream, driven by transformative technologies like Matter and innovative connected experiences, creating new opportunities and challenges to address.
While the average household has smart devices, the average user continues to encounter roadblocks to fully realizing the potential of a smart home. Overcoming these barriers through the experience that consumers care about are the key to unlocking mass adoption.
In this session, Mark Benson, Head of SmartThings, will talk through the unique needs of the mass consumer market for Smart Home, and how Samsung and SmartThings are using services and experiences to take advantage of the present opportunities we see to provide our users with convenience, security, sustainability, and fun!
Research Presentation: Security Beyond the Home: Personal & Mobile
Sarah Lee
Research Analyst
Parks Associates
Sarah Lee
Research Analyst
Parks Associates
Sarah joined Parks Associates as a Research Analyst on the Entertainment side and covers topics such as OTT and consumer electronics.
Sarah earned her PhD in Experimental Psychology from The University of Texas at Arlington. She also earned an MS in General Experimental Psychology from Murray State University and a BS in Psychology from Xavier University.
Selling Peace of Mind: Safety and Security
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Parks Associates mission is to help companies navigate the changing consumer technology landscapes through data-driven market insights, extensive consumer and industry intelligence, and executive conferences. With over two decades of dedication to the company, Elizabeth Parks, President and Chief Marketing Officer, has been instrumental in shaping its growth and success, along with the continued focus of delivering timely and quality industry and consumer insights on the broadband, entertainment, connected home and SMB industries.
Elizabeth's commitment to Parks Associates' overarching mission is unwavering. Parks Associates provides clients with the most comprehensive consumer and industry research and analysis to empower businesses to make informed decisions in an ever-evolving landscape.
Elizabeth's journey with Parks Associates began after graduating with a BA in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Plano Texas with her husband and three children.
Mason Hall
Head of Connected Products
Moen
Mason Hall
Head of Connected Products
Moen
Mason Hall is head of connected products for Fortune Brands Innovations. He joined Fortune Brands and Moen in 2020 and is responsible for leading and growing the development of smart home technology across the Moen brand and rest of Fortune brands. Prior to joining Fortune Brands Innovations, Mason was at GE Lighting - where he spent more than a decade across various GE business units in roles supporting GE's consumer and commercial digital transformation and strategic business development. Mason also holds Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Master of Business Administration degrees from John Carroll University.
Keith Puckett
Founder | CEO
Ubiety Technologies
Keith Puckett
Founder | CEO
Ubiety Technologies
Keith Puckett, a former M&A investment banker, has transformed into a serial entrepreneur with a proven track record of creating disruptive start-ups. He is the Founder and CEO of Ubiety Technologies, which offers an AI engine and RF detection platform aimed at enhancing situational awareness across residential, commercial, and government security sectors. Ubiety can detect, categorize, and recognize individuals based on the devices they carry. Its AI engine, Eckleburg, processes high-speed radio frequency data to make real-time identity inferences using only passive RF signals, including WiFi, Bluetooth, and cellular data. Keith is passionate about contributing to safety and security of families throughout America!
Jing Xue
Senior Director of Product Management
Wyze
Jing Xue
Senior Director of Product Management
Wyze
Jing Xue, Senior Director of Product Management, Wyze Labs
Consumer demand for Wi-Fi devices like smart cameras and video doorbells will only increase over time. Integration capabilities across smart home devices and security systems create a stickier customer base that is engaged with their system. Security dealers can expand beyond the perimeter of the home with new solutions, including vehicle monitoring and personal emergency services. This session highlights the new role security players have in the home as consumers add more and more connected devices.
Power of Tech: Enabling Accessibility & Independence
Moderator
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
Moderator
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
INDUSTRY EXPERTISE: Connected Health, Connected Home Technologies and Services, Connected Entertainment Products and Services.
Jennifer manages the research department and Parks Associates' process for producing high-quality, relevant, and meaningful research. Jennifer also leads and advises on syndicated and custom research projects across all connected consumer verticals and guides questionnaire development for Parks Associates’ extensive consumer analytics survey program. Jennifer is a certified focus group moderator, with training from the Burke Institute.
Jennifer earned her PhD in religion, politics, and society and an MA in church-state studies from Baylor University. She earned her BA in politics from the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.
Brooke Ellison
VP of Technology and Innovation
United Spinal Association
Brooke Ellison
VP of Technology and Innovation
United Spinal Association
Brooke Ellison, VP of Technology and Innovation, United Spinal Association
This session is designed to help understand the transformative power of technology in enabling accessibility and independence for people with disabilities, chronic health conditions, and life-changing diagnoses. The session provides practical guidance for designing technology that is inclusive and accessible by users of all abilities. In addition, the session provide insights into how these technologies can be leveraged to help consumers and caregivers manage care. Participants will gain a deeper understanding of the personal aspects of health and the need and demand to incorporate technology that supports consumers at every stage of life.
Special Session: Kudelski IoT & CSA Explore Security and Certification in the New Matter Standard
Moderator
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
Moderator
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
INDUSTRY EXPERTISE: Connected Health, Connected Home Technologies and Services, Connected Entertainment Products and Services.
Jennifer manages the research department and Parks Associates' process for producing high-quality, relevant, and meaningful research. Jennifer also leads and advises on syndicated and custom research projects across all connected consumer verticals and guides questionnaire development for Parks Associates’ extensive consumer analytics survey program. Jennifer is a certified focus group moderator, with training from the Burke Institute.
Jennifer earned her PhD in religion, politics, and society and an MA in church-state studies from Baylor University. She earned her BA in politics from the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.
Michelle Mindala-Freeman
Chief Operating Officer
Connectivity Standards Alliance
Michelle Mindala-Freeman
Chief Operating Officer
Connectivity Standards Alliance
As a leader at Connectivity Standards Alliance, Michelle works to promote the Alliance, its mission, standards, and solutions, and drive the growth and success of IoT for the benefit of our members, consumers, and the marketplace at large. As a former executive in the telecom, energy & professional services industries, she has built and led teams across marketing, strategy, brand, customer experience, and go-to-market. With 25+ years of industry and consulting experience, she brings a wealth of experience, perspectives, and a passion for the Alliance’s mission to build the foundation and the future of IoT.
Christopher Schouten
Sr. Marketing Director
Kudelski IoT
Christopher Schouten
Sr. Marketing Director
Kudelski IoT
Christopher Schouten is Sr. Marketing Director for Kudelski IoT and has worked for more than 20 years for security companies whose mission is to protect devices, data and high-value business models. He joined Kudelski Group in 2013, and prior to that he held various marketing and operational management roles in pay-TV security and mobile and fixed telecommunications in the U.S. and Europe. Christopher is an honors graduate of the University of Iowa, having studied Mass Communications and Linguistics. Christopher speaks five languages and is a passionate early adopter of IoT and smart home technologies. He is currently based in Phoenix, AZ (USA).
Funding the Connected Solutions: View from Investors
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Parks Associates mission is to help companies navigate the changing consumer technology landscapes through data-driven market insights, extensive consumer and industry intelligence, and executive conferences. With over two decades of dedication to the company, Elizabeth Parks, President and Chief Marketing Officer, has been instrumental in shaping its growth and success, along with the continued focus of delivering timely and quality industry and consumer insights on the broadband, entertainment, connected home and SMB industries.
Elizabeth's commitment to Parks Associates' overarching mission is unwavering. Parks Associates provides clients with the most comprehensive consumer and industry research and analysis to empower businesses to make informed decisions in an ever-evolving landscape.
Elizabeth's journey with Parks Associates began after graduating with a BA in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Plano Texas with her husband and three children.
Gregory Couvreur
Founder and Managing Principal
Mighty Acorns Capital
Gregory Couvreur
Founder and Managing Principal
Mighty Acorns Capital
Gregory Couvreur, Founder and Managing Principal, Mighty Acorns Capital
Peter Giacalone
President
Giacalone Associates, LLC
Peter Giacalone
President
Giacalone Associates, LLC
A successful forty five year career in the electronic security & telecommunications industry that includes building and leading the largest security, life safety, PERS and video third-party monitoring center in the US, with a proven executive track record in increasing revenue and opening new market verticals. Over a ten year period of focus and effort resulted in growing the company from a forty five thousand account regional center to over five hundred thousand accounts with fifty million dollars in annual revenue. Created the business plan, solicited the financing and secured a one hundred million dollar credit facility to fund the start up of King Capital Financial Services, which grew to become one of the longest running Dealer Financial & Acquisition Programs in the security industry. Providing Subject Matter Expert advisory for litigation, M&A and operations both domestically and internationally for the past 20 years.
Daniel Herscovici
Partner
Edison Partners
Daniel Herscovici
Partner
Edison Partners
Dan's two-decade journey through Fortune 50 giants reflects his passion for founding, building, and growing innovative businesses within larger ecosystems. As an investor and Partner at Edison since 2018, Dan brings his expertise to growth-stage tech companies. He sources deals and leads investments with companies like Anonos, MacroFab, Recycle Track Systems, and RapidDeploy.
Dan prioritizes building teams with grit, adept at fostering collaboration and consumer listening that achieves breakthrough results. An entrepreneur at heart, he's led internal ventures in consumer technology and services.
Dan holds four patents, and was the CEO and co-founder of Xfinity Home. Notably at Comcast, he launched Xfinity WiFi, recognized for fundamentally transforming and democratizing consumer connectivity.
Dan is a proud child of Romanian immigrants whose sacrifices provided the foundation for his success. He holds degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Boston University, an MS from Drexel University, and an MBA from Wharton.
Michael Meyers
Executive Partner
Ethos Capital
Michael Meyers
Executive Partner
Ethos Capital
Michael Meyers, Executive Partner, Ethos Capital
David Sym-Smith
General Partner
Mobility Ventures
David Sym-Smith
General Partner
Mobility Ventures
David Sym-Smith is a successful entrepreneur, proven CEO, motivational speaker, award winning executive. In his career, he has been the founder of multiple startups, he has been the CEO/President of both public and private companies, and he has served as a senior executive in many capacities. David has been part of several well-known successful startups, including Tele Atlas (acquired by Tom Tom) Innopath Software (acquired by Qualcomm), Areal Comm. (acquired by T-Mobile), American Personal Communications (acquired by Sprint), and more.
David serves on the boards of companies. He supports entrepreneurs and small businesses. He is the Chief Evangelist and a board member of Multiple Incubators which work with entrepreneurs.
David is a frequent speaker. He speaks on the topics of innovation, entrepreneurship, and business leadership.
David was honored with the Tech Titans Technology Advocate and Innovation Awards, TIA People Choice Award, PCIA) Distinguished Citizen Award, as Compass Intelligence - Mobile & Wireless Award.
Outside of the world of technology, David has served on numerous charity and non-profit boards.
In the last 10 years of development, the smart home market has established important foundations for future growth. In 2023 and beyond, solution creators have the necessary ingredients to deliver on the promise of the vision of the smart home where the sum – an intelligent, integrated, helpful home – is greater than the individual parts. This session brings experts from the industry to share their perspectives on where the next stage of growth and investments are coming from.
Mar 2nd | 2023
Energizing a Smarter Home: Solar and Security, sponsored by Alarm.com
Smart homes are a key driver of residential energy efficiency.
This session addresses the role of energy management solutions, driven by solar and storage, in forming the next generation of services in the connected home. Speakers discuss strategies that integrate solar, security, and smart home and how this combination can lower attrition, deliver short- and long-term energy savings, and keep consumers engaged with positive experiences among all home systems.
Thursday, March 2, 2023
Energizing a Smarter Home: Solar and Security
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Parks Associates mission is to help companies navigate the changing consumer technology landscapes through data-driven market insights, extensive consumer and industry intelligence, and executive conferences. With over two decades of dedication to the company, Elizabeth Parks, President and Chief Marketing Officer, has been instrumental in shaping its growth and success, along with the continued focus of delivering timely and quality industry and consumer insights on the broadband, entertainment, connected home and SMB industries.
Elizabeth's commitment to Parks Associates' overarching mission is unwavering. Parks Associates provides clients with the most comprehensive consumer and industry research and analysis to empower businesses to make informed decisions in an ever-evolving landscape.
Elizabeth's journey with Parks Associates began after graduating with a BA in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Plano Texas with her husband and three children.
Shawn Barry
VP Strategic Sales
Alarm.com
Shawn Barry
VP Strategic Sales
Alarm.com
Shawn Barry is North American VP, Strategic Sales at Alarm.com headquartered in Vienna, VA. Alarm.com creates innovative technology that deepens the connection between people and the things they care about most – their families, homes and businesses. Millions of people trust Alarm.com every day for better security, intelligence automation and dependable services. Alarm.com services are exclusively sold, set up and supported by a nationwide network of authorized service providers. Shawn’s strategic sales team focuses on fast growing vertical markets such as healthcare, builders, property management, utilities and insurance.
He also worked at MicroStrategy, an enterprise business intelligence software company and former parent company of Alarm.com. Shawn has his undergraduate degree in Finance from Virginia Tech. He resides in the Vienna, VA area with his wife and children.
Clint Cushing
CEO
Nomo Hub
Clint Cushing
CEO
Nomo Hub
Coming Soon
Brendan Armstrong Sr.
Controller
Trinity Wiring & Security Solutions
Brendan Armstrong Sr.
Controller
Trinity Wiring & Security Solutions
Coming Soon
Jason Dudley
Director, Product Development and Implementation
GreenMarbles
Jason Dudley
Director, Product Development and Implementation
GreenMarbles
Coming Soon
Sponsored by Alarm.com
Mar 2nd | 2023
New Market Segments: Consumers and the Smart Home
Consumers continue to expect more tech in the home that provides convenience, safety and security, and energy management solutions. This session brings together leaders talking about the evolution of the smart home and where the market is expanding to capture the next generation of smart home buyers.
Thursday, March 2, 2023
Welcome and Analyst Insight
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
INDUSTRY EXPERTISE: Connected Health, Connected Home Technologies and Services, Connected Entertainment Products and Services.
Jennifer manages the research department and Parks Associates' process for producing high-quality, relevant, and meaningful research. Jennifer also leads and advises on syndicated and custom research projects across all connected consumer verticals and guides questionnaire development for Parks Associates’ extensive consumer analytics survey program. Jennifer is a certified focus group moderator, with training from the Burke Institute.
Jennifer earned her PhD in religion, politics, and society and an MA in church-state studies from Baylor University. She earned her BA in politics from the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.
Strategies for Attracting New Buyers
Moderator
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
Moderator
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
INDUSTRY EXPERTISE: Connected Health, Connected Home Technologies and Services, Connected Entertainment Products and Services.
Jennifer manages the research department and Parks Associates' process for producing high-quality, relevant, and meaningful research. Jennifer also leads and advises on syndicated and custom research projects across all connected consumer verticals and guides questionnaire development for Parks Associates’ extensive consumer analytics survey program. Jennifer is a certified focus group moderator, with training from the Burke Institute.
Jennifer earned her PhD in religion, politics, and society and an MA in church-state studies from Baylor University. She earned her BA in politics from the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.
Warren Hill
VP Marketing and Partner Development
Alula
Warren Hill
VP Marketing and Partner Development
Alula
Warren Hill has spent 15 years in the security industry with experience in Marketing, Product and Program Management. He is currently the VP of Marketing and Partner Development for Alula. Prior to joining Alula he spent time with GE Security and Interlogix. He enjoys hiking, biking, golfing and a number of other outdoor activities.
Nick English
CEO North America
Kaadas
Nick English
CEO North America
Kaadas
Nick English serves as CEO, North America for Kaadas Smart Solutions, leading the company’s expansion operations by leveraging strong manufacturing & engineering capabilities to bring high-quality, innovative products to a new market. English is an accomplished executive with successful experience running organizations & building and leading high-performance Operations, Sales and Management teams.
Scott Ford
Founder and CEO
Pepper IoT
Scott Ford
Founder and CEO
Pepper IoT
As CEO, Scott is responsible for setting the company vision and overseeing all aspects of the business. He lends his more than 30-years of professional experience in company operations, business development, venture capital investing, and multiple board-level roles to help shape the future of the company. Scott is a Kauffman Fellow and a decorated Desert Storm U.S. Navy Aircrewman with 300 combat flight hours.
Marketing to consumers has become a battle for attention. How consumers research and purchase products has changed dramatically in the past five years. This session brings insight from various companies reaching new consumer segments including marketing strategies, incentives, and educational information about smart home solutions.
Executive Q&A
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
INDUSTRY EXPERTISE: Connected Health, Connected Home Technologies and Services, Connected Entertainment Products and Services.
Jennifer manages the research department and Parks Associates' process for producing high-quality, relevant, and meaningful research. Jennifer also leads and advises on syndicated and custom research projects across all connected consumer verticals and guides questionnaire development for Parks Associates’ extensive consumer analytics survey program. Jennifer is a certified focus group moderator, with training from the Burke Institute.
Jennifer earned her PhD in religion, politics, and society and an MA in church-state studies from Baylor University. She earned her BA in politics from the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Parks Associates mission is to help companies navigate the changing consumer technology landscapes through data-driven market insights, extensive consumer and industry intelligence, and executive conferences. With over two decades of dedication to the company, Elizabeth Parks, President and Chief Marketing Officer, has been instrumental in shaping its growth and success, along with the continued focus of delivering timely and quality industry and consumer insights on the broadband, entertainment, connected home and SMB industries.
Elizabeth's commitment to Parks Associates' overarching mission is unwavering. Parks Associates provides clients with the most comprehensive consumer and industry research and analysis to empower businesses to make informed decisions in an ever-evolving landscape.
Elizabeth's journey with Parks Associates began after graduating with a BA in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Plano Texas with her husband and three children.
Channel Expansion: Where’s the Growth Coming From
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Parks Associates mission is to help companies navigate the changing consumer technology landscapes through data-driven market insights, extensive consumer and industry intelligence, and executive conferences. With over two decades of dedication to the company, Elizabeth Parks, President and Chief Marketing Officer, has been instrumental in shaping its growth and success, along with the continued focus of delivering timely and quality industry and consumer insights on the broadband, entertainment, connected home and SMB industries.
Elizabeth's commitment to Parks Associates' overarching mission is unwavering. Parks Associates provides clients with the most comprehensive consumer and industry research and analysis to empower businesses to make informed decisions in an ever-evolving landscape.
Elizabeth's journey with Parks Associates began after graduating with a BA in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Plano Texas with her husband and three children.
Aaron Emigh
CEO and Co-Founder
Brilliant
Aaron Emigh
CEO and Co-Founder
Brilliant
Aaron is the Co-Founder and CEO of Brilliant, a leading Smart Home and Smart Apartment company and recipient of the CES Innovation Award, the CTA TechHome Mark of Excellence, the IoT Breakthrough Award, and the CEDIA BEST Award. Aaron is an accomplished Silicon Valley technology entrepreneur and investor, who previously served as the Co-Founder and CTO of shopkick, the #1 mobile retail application that pioneered the use of in-store beacons at dozens of top retailers such as Target, Macy’s, and Best Buy. Aaron was previously the EVP and GM of Technology at Six Apart, now known as SAY Media, and held founding leadership roles at Radix Labs and CommerceFlow, which was acquired by eBay. Aaron is an inventor on over 100 issued patents and has been recognized as a Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum.
Benjamin Myers
National Sales Manager- RAS
Kwikset
Benjamin Myers
National Sales Manager- RAS
Kwikset
Benjamin Myers is the National Sales Manager for Kwikset, an industry leading door lock manufacturer. He has been in the building industry for almost 20 years, with experience in a variety of channels including, but not limited to: retail, wholesale, smart home, single family residential, and multifamily residential. In his current role he leads the Residential Access Solutions team which encompasses smart home, proptech, access control and intrusion amongst others. Benjamin has a bachelor's degree from Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania, where he majored in Marketing and minored in Speech Communication. His professional passion is developing himself and others, which has led to him guiding or participating in many leadership development & mentorship programs throughout his career.
Matthew Wootton
Co-Founder & CTO
Ivani, LLC
Matthew Wootton
Co-Founder & CTO
Ivani, LLC
Co-founder and the innovative “heart and soul” at Ivani, Matt specializes in creating quick turnaround solutions to real problems using systems engineering. Both an engineer and entrepreneur at heart, he has an ever-growing list of granted and pending patents. He holds his ASEP certification, Associate TRIZ certification, B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering, and MBA. In rare sightings in the wild, he can be found playing soccer, bouldering at the climbing gym, or out on a hike. Expected topics of conversation include smart home tech, 3D printing, video games, and formula one.
Mitchell Klein
Executive Director
Z-Wave Alliance
Mitchell Klein
Executive Director
Z-Wave Alliance
Mitchell Klein is a leader in smart home and IoT, dedicating his career to educating the industry, creating and implementing strategic business programs and leading companies that helped bring smart home and custom installation into the mainstream. Mitch’s career has included systems integration management to business strategy and development, but above all he is a 30+ year industry veteran in IoT, consumer electronics, home automation, and the integrator market. In his current role as executive director of the Z-Wave Alliance, he leads a member consortium of global companies supporting the Z-Wave smart home standard. Mitch is a CEDIA Fellow and committee chair – in 2019, he was awarded the CEDIA Lifetime Achievement Award for his decades of work supporting the custom integrator channel. Mitch is a regular contributor to trade and technology publications, podcasts, and a presenter and panelist at key industry events including CES, CEDIA, ISE, Parks CONNECTIONS Summit, and many more.
Stefan Witkamp
CEO
Homey, part of LG Electronics
Stefan Witkamp
CEO
Homey, part of LG Electronics
Founder and CEO of Homey, on a mission to create better smart homes. Homey builds a powerful, versatile, user-friendly and privacy-first operating system for smart homes. Available as cloud-based service via the Homey app, or completely local on the company's flagship universal hub Homey Pro. Thanks to its universal hubs and open app platform, Homey can interact directly with devices on local APIs, cloud-based APIs, Zigbee, Z-Wave, Matter, Thread, BLE, KNX-IP, 433MHz RF and Infrared, truly unifying smart home across standards.
Energy, insurance, retailers, security dealers, and custom home systems providers all sell smart home solutions. This session addresses the fragmentation in the market with distribution of products and what companies are doing to integrate across product ecosystems in the home to make a more seamless, unified experience for consumers.
Nov 10th | 2022
Tech Innovation and New Partnerships
New tech like AI and machine learning can drive business value through enabling enhanced capabilities over non-AI-powered solutions. Just as connected products will supplant non-connected models, AI is creating a new value tier that will enable brands to be more competitive at the same price point or enable them to demand higher prices for hardware and services.
Thursday, November 10, 2022
Welcome and Analyst Insight: Delivering New Value through Technology
This opening presentation from Parks Associates provides an overview of emerging tech, including some of the latest features and applications, drawing from its research work. It also highlights some of the latest industry partnerships in the connected home.
AI and Video Analytics: Driving More Value for the Smart Home
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Parks Associates mission is to help companies navigate the changing consumer technology landscapes through data-driven market insights, extensive consumer and industry intelligence, and executive conferences. With over two decades of dedication to the company, Elizabeth Parks, President and Chief Marketing Officer, has been instrumental in shaping its growth and success, along with the continued focus of delivering timely and quality industry and consumer insights on the broadband, entertainment, connected home and SMB industries.
Elizabeth's commitment to Parks Associates' overarching mission is unwavering. Parks Associates provides clients with the most comprehensive consumer and industry research and analysis to empower businesses to make informed decisions in an ever-evolving landscape.
Elizabeth's journey with Parks Associates began after graduating with a BA in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Plano Texas with her husband and three children.
Alex Capecelatro
CEO
Josh.ai
Alex Capecelatro
CEO
Josh.ai
Alex started his career as a research scientist for NASA, the Naval Research Lab, and Sandia National Lab. He later joined Fisker Automotive heading sustainability initiatives across design and engineering. In 2010 he left to launch At The Pool and Yeti, social apps reaching members in more than 120 countries. Alex has an engineering degree from UCLA, lives in Los Angeles, and likes to ski, bike, and skydive.
Todd Mozer is President and CEO of Sensory, which has played a pioneering role in bringing speech recognition into consumer products over the past 20 years. Sensory has enabled hundreds of products with speech recognition by companies such as Ecobee, Huawei, Garmin, GoPro, Motorola, Plantronics, Samsung, Sony, and many, many others. Mr. Mozer hold over 20 patents issued in speech technology and related fields, and holds an MBA from Stanford University.
Tom Doyle brings over 30 years of experience in operational excellence and executive leadership in analog and mixed-signal semiconductor technology to Aspinity. Prior to Aspinity, Tom was group director of Cadence Design Systems’ analog and mixed-signal IC business unit, where he managed the deployment of the company’s technology to the world’s foremost semiconductor companies. Previously, Mr. Doyle was founder and president of the analog/mixed-signal software firm, Paragon IC solutions, where he was responsible for all operational facets of the company including sales and marketing, global partners/distributors, and engineering teams in the US and Asia. He holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from West Virginia University and an MBA from California State University, Long Beach.
Uday Kiran Chaka
CEO
Sentry AI
Uday Kiran Chaka
CEO
Sentry AI
Uday Kiran Chaka, the Founder & CEO of Sentry AI, is on a mission to build a crime-free society using AI-based Video Monitoring. Uday has more than 20 years of experience in the technology industry, holds 2 patents for innovative computer vision AI applications, and has presented at many industry conferences. Earlier in his career, Uday advised Fortune-100 companies as a strategy consultant at Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC). His formal education includes an MBA from Duke University and B.Tech. from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). He is a tech evangelist, entrepreneur, and angel investor who has co-founded 4 technology companies in Silicon Valley and advises many tech startups.
Sai Reddy, Ph.D., is the CEO and founder of CamerEye, Sai, a lifelong water lover - swimming, surfing, and sailing - decided to use his knowledge and experience in building AI technology to address one of the biggest problems in the aquatic industry: water safety using video based AI recognition system. With CamerEye, Sai is working to build peace of mind and safety for millions of pool owners across the nation.
Innovation in video and audio analytics drives new applications and services like facial, emotion, gender, situational, and object recognition, creating dramatic new capabilities to understand context and deliver value through advanced insights and improved user experience. This session addressees how video and audio analytics are evolving and impacting the smart home user experience.
Fireside Chat / Executive Q&A
Moderator
Jason Paris
VP, Business Development
Parks Associates
Moderator
Jason Paris
VP, Business Development
Parks Associates
Jason Paris joined Parks Associates as an analyst studying international telephone, cable, and satellite providers and is now a member of the business development team.
Jason graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a BA in psychology and government. After working for the Texas House of Representatives, Jason spent the previous seven years in New York City working with portable and enterprise healthcare technologies.
Mike Dooley
Co-Founder and CEO
Labrador Systems
Mike Dooley
Co-Founder and CEO
Labrador Systems
Mike Dooley is a leading pioneer in consumer robotics, shipping millions of robots into homes over the past 25 years. He launched LEGO MindStorms in 1998, introducing millions of kids to robotics as well as the best-selling product in the history of LEGO. He later co-invented and launched what is now the Braava series of smart robotic mops (acquired by iRobot) and helped develop the autonomous navigation system used in Roomba today. Mike now serves as co-founder and CEO of Labrador Systems, a robotics startup backed by SOSV, Amazon and iRobot. Labrador is developing a new generation of assistive robots to transform home health and empower individuals to live more independently. Mike has an MBA from Stanford and BA in Psychology from Tufts.
Hardware as a Service
Moderator
Chris White
Research Director
Parks Associates
Moderator
Chris White
Research Director
Parks Associates
Chris is a Senior Researcher with Parks Associates, covering the connected home market. He was previously a Director of Insights at PeopleMetrics in Philadelphia and the Data Manager of a youth-serving collaborative in New Orleans. He has performed research for companies in a variety of industries, including the telecom/ISP space.
Chris earned his BBA in Marketing from the College of William & Mary and his MBA in Marketing and Finance from American University.
Terry Anderton
Founder & CEO
WAGZ
Terry Anderton
Founder & CEO
WAGZ
Terry Anderton is the Founder and CEO of Wagz® Inc. and a lifelong dog owner with a long history of building disruptive and forward-thinking technology companies.
He founded Wagz after attending a Fourth of July party in which his newly rescued puppy, Abby, ran away after being scared off by fireworks. Luckily, Abby was found safe five days later. However, after the worry and fear Anderton and his family felt, he decided to create a better way for pet parents to keep their dogs safe while giving them peace of mind.
Before Wagz, Anderton was involved in the creation and worldwide growth of the game of Paintball. Anderton led global sales at Cabletron Systems and McAfee before co-founding NitroSecurity, a network security developer, in 2004. Anderton served as President & CEO of NitroSecurity raising over $40M of venture funding before being acquired by Intel in 2011. He went on to create Trunity, a cloud-based textbook and learning platform company, raising over $15M in venture funding and eventually taking it public in 2012. Anderton also founded the social commerce platform, Gemr in 2013, raising $5.43M before its sale to a private equity firm.
Anderton is completing his Master of Business Administration from UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School and has a Bachelor of Science in Organizational Behavior from Daniel Webster College. Anderton has been granted four patents. He has also been appointed by the Governor of New Hampshire to serve on the Board of the New Hampshire Innovative Research Council. He currently lives in New Hampshire with his wife, four children, and two dogs.
Rebecca Belding
Vice President
Silicon Valley Bank
Rebecca Belding
Vice President
Silicon Valley Bank
Tom Klein
Senior Director, IoT Business Development
DigiCert
Tom Klein
Senior Director, IoT Business Development
DigiCert
Tom Klein is a 40+ year IT professional with 10 years of specialization in digital security and PKI. His experience includes running business groups for IBM, Microsoft, and AWS in both product and professional services. In addition, he has served as a senior go-to market specialist in PKI, IoT, and access management with several high-growth organizations. Tom has contributed to the FDA's Cybersecurity Premarket Guidance for Medical Device Design and is a member of the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA) working on Matter . He is passionate about business outcomes that represent customer value and end-user confidence.
Bob Langlois
Founder
Water Control Management
Bob Langlois
Founder
Water Control Management
Bob Langlois Founder Water Control Management www.water-controls.com (WCM) As an entrepreneur Bob has developed, managed and sold professional services practices in the property tax field where a large share of the revenue was contingency based with fees derived from identifying and delivering savings. This same contingency model is being deployed in the water sector to support owners with the capability to reduce their operating costs by using less water and/or reduce their loss rate with no capital or on-going operational investment. The deployment of technology has been key in supporting this business model. WCM is an Advisory and Project Management firm focused on providing technology enabled solutions to measure and minimize how the built environment uses water. Solution implementation includes testing and deploying a variety of #IoT based sensors to measure and minimize the water footprint for residential, multi-residential and commercial buildings and to apply insight from these efforts to save money and/or reduce risk for building owners. Bob has identified and developed a series of key relationships with industry partners to provide testing grounds for their new IoT technology and support proof of concept for these new market entrants. This passion for value creation and identifying trends that others have not yet embraced best demonstrate the impact Bob is able to deliver for his clients and various stakeholders within the communities he supports. As an Ideator, Bob excels in value creation where existing tools and solutions are redirected to a problem that often varies from the original intent of the solution. Falling in love with the problem vs falling in love with the solution is a guiding discipline for Bob.
Glenn Reid
CEO
Marathon Machines
Glenn Reid
CEO
Marathon Machines
Glenn Reid is CEO of Marathon Machines, who make smart, connected appliances. A veteran product guy from Silicon Valley, Glenn built iconic products like iMovie and iPhoto at Apple, and is now working in connected hardware, IoT, smart home, and manufacturing.
As hardware becomes more advanced and has software updates incorporated, features are enabled that allow for monthly service revenues to be achieved. As devices become more integrated, they add value through monitoring capabilities. This session spotlights leaders pioneering the hardware-as-a-service business model.
Oct 20th | 2022
Broadband Future Proofing: Driving New Experiences and Value
Consumers continue to upgrade their broadband services at home. Smart Wi-Fi technology, mesh networking products, and new cybersecurity solutions have become increasingly important as consumers require private spaces in their house to conduct remote business. This session addresses how technology providers and operators are expanding functionality to enable new services at home.
Thursday, October 20, 2022
Welcome and Analyst Insight: Broadband Speeds and the Future
Kristen Hanich
Director of Research
Parks Associates
Kristen Hanich
Director of Research
Parks Associates
INDUSTRY EXPERTISE: Consumer electronics, mobility services and devices, connected health and wellness.
Kristen Hanich heads Parks Associates' consumer electronics and mobility research, with expertise in other verticals including connected cars, mobile networking, healthcare, wellness, and independent living. She leads a mix of custom and syndicated research projects throughout the year, with a focus on major players and emerging trends. Kristen specializes in bridging the gap between data-driven and narrative approaches to understanding the consumer markets via a mix of qualitative and quantitative research approaches.
Kristen has dual master's degrees in applied anthropology and public health from the Universities of North Texas in Denton and Fort Worth. She earned her BSc in health at the University of Texas at San Antonio and has a graduate certificate in Geographic Information Systems.
This opening session from Parks Associates provides insights into current broadband speeds at home, the growth of broadband access for consumers, and sets the stage for the panel discussions.
Broadband Services and MDUs
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Parks Associates mission is to help companies navigate the changing consumer technology landscapes through data-driven market insights, extensive consumer and industry intelligence, and executive conferences. With over two decades of dedication to the company, Elizabeth Parks, President and Chief Marketing Officer, has been instrumental in shaping its growth and success, along with the continued focus of delivering timely and quality industry and consumer insights on the broadband, entertainment, connected home and SMB industries.
Elizabeth's commitment to Parks Associates' overarching mission is unwavering. Parks Associates provides clients with the most comprehensive consumer and industry research and analysis to empower businesses to make informed decisions in an ever-evolving landscape.
Elizabeth's journey with Parks Associates began after graduating with a BA in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Plano Texas with her husband and three children.
Vickie Rodgers
Vice President and General Manager, Cox Communities
Cox Communications
Vickie Rodgers
Vice President and General Manager, Cox Communities
Cox Communications
As part of the Cox Communications Residential Sales and Marketing executive leadership team, Vickie is responsible for the long-term vision and strategy for the Multifamily and New Build segments. Cox Communities is responsible for building high trust, long-term relationships with builders, owners, property managers, and consultants to act as their the “Trusted Advisor” in supporting them with optimizing rents, occupancy, and net operating income. They accomplish this by conducting joint research, developing specialized technology and automation solutions, and supporting owners in future-proofing their properties with technology. Her organization consists of Strategy, Operations and Sales Execution while influencing Cox’s specialized product roadmap. Her team is known for innovation, strategic partnering, and growth. Prior to her role at Cox, Vickie held various executive roles leading Strategy, Operations, and Sales at Fortune 500 companies such as Time Warner Cable, BellSouth, and Sprint.
David Huynh
Chief Product Officer
Plume
David Huynh
Chief Product Officer
Plume
David is Chief Product Officer at Plume where he leads all activities across Plume's product suites and services. His experience in the wireless and cloud services industry spans over two decades, and cuts across all functions from product development to strategic finance, including the consumer, industrial, and energy verticals.
Ted Maulucci
President
SmartONE
Ted Maulucci
President
SmartONE
Ted Maulucci is the President of SmartONE Solutions Inc., a company committed to advancing the digital living experience in communities. Mr. Maulucci is passionate about contribution and advancing innovation across North America through partnerships and collaboration. He was named the Private Sector Canadian CIO of the Year in 2016 for his work on smart communities and has been recognized with several other awards for social contribution and innovation.
Scott Stinson
Head Of Business Development - Americas
Airties
Scott Stinson
Head Of Business Development - Americas
Airties
Scott Stinson is Airties’ Head of Business Development for the Americas. Airties is the most widely deployed provider of managed Wi-Fi solutions to operators around the globe including: Altice USA, AT&T, Singtel, Sky, Telia, Telstra, Vodafone, and many others.
Scott has worked in the telecommunications industry for the past 20 years, with the past 15 focused on the customer premise for cable, telco, satellite, and non-traditional service providers across the globe. He has served in positions ranging from Tier1 Key Account Management, Solutions Engineering and Management, and Presales and Business Development. He holds an MBA from the State University System of Georgia, with a concentration in Supply Chain and Marketing.
ISPs are offering new services to residential customers and the MDU space at the network edge. These services make use of agents running directly on customers’ routers, as well as a hybrid edge/cloud computing model, to offer services such as advanced device recognition and parental controls, smart optimized Wi-Fi, whole-home cybersecurity, or Wi-Fi motion sensing. This session addresses the increase managed Wi-Fi deployments – both as a valuable amenity for residents, and to better support and enable smart apartment technology.
Fireside Chat / Executive Q&A
Moderator
Jason Paris
VP, Business Development
Parks Associates
Moderator
Jason Paris
VP, Business Development
Parks Associates
Jason Paris joined Parks Associates as an analyst studying international telephone, cable, and satellite providers and is now a member of the business development team.
Jason graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a BA in psychology and government. After working for the Texas House of Representatives, Jason spent the previous seven years in New York City working with portable and enterprise healthcare technologies.
Joshua Pettiette
VP - Product, Business Development, and Strategic Planning
GVTC
Joshua Pettiette
VP - Product, Business Development, and Strategic Planning
GVTC
Josh Pettiette is vice president-product, business development & strategic planning for GVTC. One of his primary responsibilities is managing development and profitability for the company's broadband, cable TV, voice, and security products ensuring they provide the greatest value in the marketplace. He also evaluates emerging technologies that best leverage the power of GVTC's fiber-to-the-home network. In addition, Mr. Pettiette oversees the newly established wholesale services business, selling Ethernet access and transport throughout the state of Texas. He also oversees the company's Fiber-to-the-Tower data backhaul business capitalizing on the growing market demands of wireless data and IoT. Under business development, Mr. Pettiette evaluates growth opportunities for GVTC based on strategic priorities from market expansion to mergers or acquisitions. He also leads GVTC's strategic planning process that involves creating and prioritizing strategic objectives and long-range planning, in conjunction with the company's executive team and board of directors. In the community, Mr. Pettiette serves as chairman of the Bulverde/Spring Branch Economic Development Foundation. Mr. Pettiette holds a Bachelor of Science degree in telecommunications engineering technology from Texas A&M University.
Smart Home Strategies: Transition to Services
Moderator
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
Moderator
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
INDUSTRY EXPERTISE: Connected Health, Connected Home Technologies and Services, Connected Entertainment Products and Services.
Jennifer manages the research department and Parks Associates' process for producing high-quality, relevant, and meaningful research. Jennifer also leads and advises on syndicated and custom research projects across all connected consumer verticals and guides questionnaire development for Parks Associates’ extensive consumer analytics survey program. Jennifer is a certified focus group moderator, with training from the Burke Institute.
Jennifer earned her PhD in religion, politics, and society and an MA in church-state studies from Baylor University. She earned her BA in politics from the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.
Alan Coleman
Founder and CEO
Sweepr
Alan Coleman
Founder and CEO
Sweepr
Alan Coleman is co-founder and CEO of Sweepr, which provides a contextually adaptive technical support platform for connected homes. Sweepr works with Tier 1 Internet service providers and connected product manufacturers across North America and Europe, and the company is backed by the Amazon Alexa Fund, Draper Esprit, and Frontline. Alan is also chairman of Technology Ireland’s TechCEO Forum, a network of software CEOs & Founders that support each other in building and scaling software companies in Ireland.
Sweepr continues Alan's journey of reinventing customer experiences that began with his previous start-up Brite:Bill (acquired by Amdocs). Brite:Bill transformed customer bills from being revenue collection tools to being strategic customer communications and materially reduced call volumes for CSP customers. At its time of acquisition, Brite:Bill was powering more than 200 million bills per month from communication service providers around the globe.
Before establishing Brite:Bill, Alan was Alliance Sales Director at Accenture and held a senior business development role with Macalla Software. Alan began his career as a business analyst with Morgan Stanley. Alan is graduate of University College Dublin where he earned a BSc in Math and Computer Science, and a masters’ degree in Management Information Systems.
Greg Baldauf
Director, SmartLife & Cloud Solution Partnerships
Calix
Greg Baldauf
Director, SmartLife & Cloud Solution Partnerships
Calix
Greg Baldauf is a seasoned professional in the SmartHome and Broadband industries, currently serving as the Director of Smart Life & Cloud Partnerships with Calix. Leveraging his extensive experience, Greg helps Calix drive the future of smart life solutions through strategic technology alignments and innovative partnerships. Greg leads initiatives to find partners in strategic alignment with Calix’s mission to help broadband service providers Simplify, Innovate, and Grow their businesses. Focusing on revenue generation and value creation, Greg’s leadership demonstrates a commitment to delivering advanced solutions creating value for his customers. Previously, Greg held key roles in various broadband, consulting, and technology firms refining his skills in revenue-generating strategies and earned a patent for his work launching the first residential connected door lock with Schlage. His expertise makes him a thought leader in the industry. Calix, a leading FTTx provider, supports over 1,800 fiber-based ISPs globally. Investing over $1.4B in R&D over the last 10 years, Calix has built a platform that enables rapid deployment of managed hardware and software services, creating long-term value for businesses, shareholders, and subscribers. To date, Calix has over 70 diverse partnerships creating even more value for joint customers.
Rebecca Gutierrez
Vice President Marketing & Public Relations
Blink Charging
Rebecca Gutierrez
Vice President Marketing & Public Relations
Blink Charging
Rebecca brings to Blink nearly 20 years of marketing and public relations experience and more than a decade of practical experience marketing for architecture, engineering, and construction industries. Her wealth of knowledge crafts Blink's marketing and communication strategies and implements effective marketing efforts that drive sales and support Blink clients, members, and investors.
Ronan LePoupon
VP OnTech & Smart Home Services
OnTech Smart Services
Ronan LePoupon
VP OnTech & Smart Home Services
OnTech Smart Services
Ronan LePoupon is the VP, OnTech Smart Services. Ronan is responsible for executing OnTech’s strategic business plan and driving growth through partnerships across several direct-to-consumer sales channels. He’s a skilled people leader with great intuition, and he’s able to connect his team with the bigger purpose and mission so they understand the “why.”
With 20 years of sales, marketing and product management experience, Ronan thrives connecting people to technology. He’s been at the forefront of wireless technology, selling IoT solutions and connected smart devices in various environments.
Ronan received a Bachelor's Degree in Business. He and his wife Victoria have two sons at the University of Colorado, Boulder and he enjoys skiing, hiking and mountain biking. He most recently learned a Japanese fly-fishing technique called Tenkara. He volunteers and is a mentor at Colorado State University.
Mariam Rogers
Director of Sales for Multifamily
Brivo
Mariam Rogers
Director of Sales for Multifamily
Brivo
Mariam Rogers is currently the Director of Multifamily Sales for Brivo. She began her career in pharmaceutical sales and service before transitioning into the hospitality space. During her tenure at RxAmerica, Mariam led national support and sales teams, who specialized in the assistance of rebates, qualification and adjudication of all medication and prescription claims between the insurance providers and end users. While managing the properties of Mr. John Huntsman Senior, Mariam oversaw all aspects of the properties, including housekeeping, security, lease-up, sales, ground crews, maintenance, concierge services, and customized programs. Prior to joining Brivo, Mariam served as Director of Sales for Hyatt and Vivint Smart Properties, where she sold into national MDUs, enhancing their offerings with smart products increasing their values in both rentals and conversion.
As aspects of daily life get more connected, remote work continues on for many, and consumer interest in smart home devices and expanded professional monitoring services will continue. In addition, we expect to see new interest in whole-home security and other services in general. This session brings industry leaders to talk about appliance monitoring, health monitoring, energy monitoring, and more.
Oct 13th | 2022
Special Roundtable, sponsored by Alarm.com
Thursday, October 13, 2022
State of Commercial and SMB Security: Video is the New Perimeter
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Parks Associates mission is to help companies navigate the changing consumer technology landscapes through data-driven market insights, extensive consumer and industry intelligence, and executive conferences. With over two decades of dedication to the company, Elizabeth Parks, President and Chief Marketing Officer, has been instrumental in shaping its growth and success, along with the continued focus of delivering timely and quality industry and consumer insights on the broadband, entertainment, connected home and SMB industries.
Elizabeth's commitment to Parks Associates' overarching mission is unwavering. Parks Associates provides clients with the most comprehensive consumer and industry research and analysis to empower businesses to make informed decisions in an ever-evolving landscape.
Elizabeth's journey with Parks Associates began after graduating with a BA in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Plano Texas with her husband and three children.
James Reno
Vice President of Sales - Commercial Business
Alarm.com
James Reno
Vice President of Sales - Commercial Business
Alarm.com
James Reno is Vice President of Sales - Commercial Business at Alarm.com and a member of the sales leadership team for North America. He joined Alarm.com in early 2019, bringing more than 20 years of management, commercial sales expertise, and channel sales leadership experience to his role with the company. Leading the Commercial sales organization for North America, Reno is responsible for sales efforts to the Alarm.com dealer network, focusing on increased the adoption of the Alarm.com commercial platform with SMB clients. A frequent speaker and trainer, Reno specializes in developing sales strategies that build value for channel partners that deliver a best-in-class solution to the SMB market. Reno has an extensive management background in security technology, building both technical and sales teams. He spent most of his career working at HID Global and served in various sales leadership roles, including Director of Channel Sales and Sr. Director of Business Development & Presales before serving as the Americas Vice President of Sales for the Identity and Access Management business unit.
Dominique Meyer
CTO
CamerEye
Dominique Meyer
CTO
CamerEye
Dr. Dominique Meyer serves as tech executive and technical advisor in AI startups to align business strategy with state-of-the-art technology. As CTO of CamerEye, he oversees the development of state-of-the-art algorithms for pool safety. He holds an undergraduate degree in Physics and a Ph.D. in Computer Engineering from the University of California San Diego, alongside a Mini-MBA from the Rady School of Management. He is recognized as author in over 30 international publications and numerous patents in the fields of robotics, and applications of computer vision. His areas of expertise include Computer Vision for industrial systems, consumer products and medical devices.
Stephen Soltis
Sales Manager
Vector Security
Stephen Soltis
Sales Manager
Vector Security
Sales Manager
Uday Kiran Chaka
CEO
Sentry AI
Uday Kiran Chaka
CEO
Sentry AI
Uday Kiran Chaka, the Founder & CEO of Sentry AI, is on a mission to build a crime-free society using AI-based Video Monitoring. Uday has more than 20 years of experience in the technology industry, holds 2 patents for innovative computer vision AI applications, and has presented at many industry conferences. Earlier in his career, Uday advised Fortune-100 companies as a strategy consultant at Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC). His formal education includes an MBA from Duke University and B.Tech. from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). He is a tech evangelist, entrepreneur, and angel investor who has co-founded 4 technology companies in Silicon Valley and advises many tech startups.
Avery Rigg
Sales Representative
Professional Sales Agents, Inc.
Avery Rigg
Sales Representative
Professional Sales Agents, Inc.
Matt Vallis
Consultant – Complex Solutions & Smart Buildings
TELUS
Matt Vallis
Consultant – Complex Solutions & Smart Buildings
TELUS
Matt Vallis is a consultant with TELUS, in their Smart Building program. He works with property managers, developers and builders on a daily basis to design customized, sustainable building security and automation solutions for condominium and rental properties.
Matt is an experienced Security Professional with over 12 years of management, leadership and consulting experience in the security and technology industry. With expertise in Enterprise level systems integration as well as hands-on experience in hardware and software installations for networked security systems.
Prior to joining TELUS’ Smart Building team as a consultant, Matt was a Project Manager with several large security integrators. Directing technical security projects for new construction projects, ongoing renovations to existing sites and upgrading legacy systems for customers in various industries including retail, commercial and industrial. His portfolio consistently ranging from $50,000 to over $1 million in various locations all over Canada; from small independent buildings to full large scale infrastructure projects.
He has also obtained his Certified Protection Professional designation (CCP) through ASIS International. Often referred to as the “gold standard” certification for security professionals, this achievement represents his extensive knowledge of the seven key domains of security and protection.
In his spare time Matt enjoys hiking, camping and exploring the mountains near his home in Calgary, Alberta.
Businesses are transforming in a post pandemic world and security of staff and business locations are top of mind. 21% of SMBs report their need for products and services to protect or monitor the physical safety of the business location or employees has increased since COVID-19 crisis began. New security applications and services stemming from cloud based and video verification solutions are enabling commercial and small to medium business insight into the metrics and real-time analytics of the environment.
Operation visibility provide a clear path for system optimization, early warning systems or remote diagnostics, support predictions, and intelligent automation. This special session addresses the growing role of video verification and analytics in security solutions for commercial and small-to-medium business. Speakers address how “video” is the new perimeter and the impact of automated platform based technology solutions on business operations.
Aug 18th | 2022
State of the Home Security Market
Security systems with 24/7 professional monitoring are the foundation of consumer familiarity with home monitoring services. These traditional services set the standard for safety, theft prevention, and detection for homes and businesses and have a straightforward and robust value proposition that resonates with consumers and companies. Currently, 33% of broadband households have a security system with professional security monitoring.
Thursday, August 18, 2022
Welcome and Analyst Insight: Consumers Want Choice
This opening presentation from Parks Associates provides the latest trends in home security and smart home, drawing from the firm’s quarterly research of 10,000 broadband households.
Hybrid Business Models: Security and Smart Home
Moderator
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
Moderator
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
INDUSTRY EXPERTISE: Connected Health, Connected Home Technologies and Services, Connected Entertainment Products and Services.
Jennifer manages the research department and Parks Associates' process for producing high-quality, relevant, and meaningful research. Jennifer also leads and advises on syndicated and custom research projects across all connected consumer verticals and guides questionnaire development for Parks Associates’ extensive consumer analytics survey program. Jennifer is a certified focus group moderator, with training from the Burke Institute.
Jennifer earned her PhD in religion, politics, and society and an MA in church-state studies from Baylor University. She earned her BA in politics from the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.
Jennifer Doctor
Senior Director, Product Management
Johnson Controls
Jennifer Doctor
Senior Director, Product Management
Johnson Controls
Jennifer Doctor is the Senior Director of Product Management for Johnson Controls, Global Products’ Intrusion detection portfolio. In this capacity, Jennifer leads a global team managing more than 5,000 traditional and smart home security products around the globe in residential and commercial markets.
Jennifer joined Johnson Controls from ADT North America where she was the Director of Product Strategy. She brings a dozen years of experience in the security industry, and nearly 25 years of experience in product marketing and product management to Johnson Controls, having worked with companies to help them bring products to market profitably. In addition to her unique blend of product management, product marketing and marketing skills, Jennifer also brings IT skills and certifications to her portfolio including ITIL, CMMi, Certified Agile Leader and Certified SAFe 5 Product Owner/Product Manager.
Jennifer is a member of the board of directors for the Z-Wave Alliance where she also serves as the Marketing Committee. She is a frequent industry speaker and is active member of several product management communities. Jennifer was recently included on the SIA Women in Security Forum “Power 100” in 2023. She can be found on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jidoctor/, and followed on twitter at @jidoctor.
Larry Folsom
SVP and Chief Monitoring Officer
ADT
Larry Folsom
SVP and Chief Monitoring Officer
ADT
Larry Folsom is the Senior Vice President and Chief Monitoring Officer at ADT and has more than 20 years of security industry experience, with a high degree of expertise and specialization in security monitoring. In his role, Larry is responsible for ADT's monitoring strategy, infrastructure and software platforms. Under Larry's leadership , the company developed the ADT System Monitoring and Response Technology (SMART) platform, which helps reduce false alarms, enable verified alarms and priority response, and dramatically increases the accuracy and speed of delivering alarm information to 911 centers. Larry considers it a privilege to lead the teams that maintain, develop and administer ADT’s world-class life safety systems. Larry joined ADT in 2019 when ADT acquired his company, I-View Now, an emergency information and signaling platform leading the way in innovation and delivery of low cost and dependable alarm verification and video guard tour services. He served as the President and Co-Founder of the company prior to its acquisition. Larry is active in a variety of security-related industry organizations. In addition to serving as Co-Chair for the Alarm Validation Scoring Standards Committee of The Monitoring Association, he was past President of the Partnership for Priority Verified Alarm Response and the Nevada Security Association. He has also held leadership roles in the Electronic Security Association and The Monitoring Association.
Jing Xue
Senior Director of Product Management
Wyze
Jing Xue
Senior Director of Product Management
Wyze
Jing Xue, Senior Director of Product Management, Wyze Labs
Jen Theobald
Director of Strategic Partnerships
Rapid Response Monitoring
Jen Theobald
Director of Strategic Partnerships
Rapid Response Monitoring
Jen Theobold, currently Director of Strategic Partnerships at Rapid Response Monitoring, has been in the security industry for over 15 years. Her experience is comprehensive and includes development in Sales, Business Development, Product Management, Strategy, as well as Mergers and Acquisitions.
Jen has held strategic roles at Bold Technologies, Rapid Response Monitoring, Milestone Systems, Axis Communications and Comcast Business before returning to Rapid Response in her current role.
Her guideposts in the development of her career have provided a perspective focusing on corporate future, industry evolution, market trends and culture development… an organizational roadmap to success.
Michael Bobich
Director of Partnerships
SimpliSafe
Michael Bobich
Director of Partnerships
SimpliSafe
Michael Bobich is the Head of Partnerships for SimpliSafe, responsible for growing strategic partnerships, testing innovative channels, and incubating new business models. Additionally, he serves as Chief of Staff to the Chief Growth Officer, and previously served as Head of Marketing Strategy for the organization. Prior to joining SimpliSafe, Michael served as a management consultant for Deloitte Consulting driving growth for consumer products companies and a brand manager at Johnson & Johnson Consumer, leading brands such as Motrin and Sudafed. He holds a Masters in Business Administration from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a Bachelors of Science in Business Administration from Villanova University.
Part of the rise in adoption of home security systems is the separation of professional installation from professional monitoring. Self-installation provides a new way for consumers to buy with lower upfront costs. Lower prices, no contract offerings, and new installation and services options provide consumers with the ultimate choice in home security, automation, and monitoring services. Consumers can determine the optimal combination of installation, monitoring, and automation that provides a sufficient level of security and convenience for their household — a package that is “safe enough” for their needs. This session addresses the new business models emerging and how providers are engaging consumers with choice and value.
Fireside Chat / Executive Q&A
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Parks Associates mission is to help companies navigate the changing consumer technology landscapes through data-driven market insights, extensive consumer and industry intelligence, and executive conferences. With over two decades of dedication to the company, Elizabeth Parks, President and Chief Marketing Officer, has been instrumental in shaping its growth and success, along with the continued focus of delivering timely and quality industry and consumer insights on the broadband, entertainment, connected home and SMB industries.
Elizabeth's commitment to Parks Associates' overarching mission is unwavering. Parks Associates provides clients with the most comprehensive consumer and industry research and analysis to empower businesses to make informed decisions in an ever-evolving landscape.
Elizabeth's journey with Parks Associates began after graduating with a BA in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Plano Texas with her husband and three children.
Daniel Oppenheim
CEO
Affiliated Monitoring
Daniel Oppenheim
CEO
Affiliated Monitoring
Daniel Oppenheim is the CEO of Affiliated Monitoring, one of the largest and most innovative providers of security, fire, PERS, and IoT professional monitoring services in North America. From world-class redundant monitoring centers in Texas and New Jersey, Affiliated's monitoring services and software tools power the growth engines of thousands of companies. He currently serves as the president of the Medical Alert Monitoring Association (MAMA), the national trade association of the PERS industry. Prior to the life safety technology industry, Daniel was an attorney focused on mergers & acquisitions at the law firm Skadden, Arps in New York. Daniel is a graduate of Columbia University Law School and Brown University.
Monitoring Services: Extending Beyond Security Services
Moderator
Chris White
Research Director
Parks Associates
Moderator
Chris White
Research Director
Parks Associates
Chris is a Senior Researcher with Parks Associates, covering the connected home market. He was previously a Director of Insights at PeopleMetrics in Philadelphia and the Data Manager of a youth-serving collaborative in New Orleans. He has performed research for companies in a variety of industries, including the telecom/ISP space.
Chris earned his BBA in Marketing from the College of William & Mary and his MBA in Marketing and Finance from American University.
Jeff Bales
VP, Insurance Partnerships
Flume
Jeff Bales
VP, Insurance Partnerships
Flume
Jeff Bales is a leading voice in IoT and insurance loss prevention, with over 15 years of experience driving sales, business development, and innovation at companies like GE Lighting, Comcast, and Pepper IoT. He currently serves as VP of Insurance Partnerships at Flume Water, where he works with insurers to implement connected home technology for proactive risk management. Jeff brings a unique blend of technical insight and industry expertise, helping insurers modernize their offerings and better protect policyholders in a digital world.
Jody Patterson
National Accounts, Central Region
AvantGuard Monitoring Centers
Jody Patterson
National Accounts, Central Region
AvantGuard Monitoring Centers
Marty Hebert
Head of Security Sales & Strategy
RapidSOS
Marty Hebert
Head of Security Sales & Strategy
RapidSOS
Marty Hebert has spent 15 years in the Smart Home and Security industries leading go-to-market functions and building strong partnerships. His belief in technology-centric applications to business problems has helped him build unique experiences that he is applying to the emergency response space today.
Prior to RapidSOS, Marty served as the Senior Director of Corporate and Program Accounts for Alarm.com. There, he led partnerships with some of the largest companies in the home security marketplace. He helped craft go-to-market strategies that those companies enacted to deploy Alarm.com products and services to millions of homes and businesses. As an early member of the Alarm.com team, Marty was an early and ongoing contributor to the construction of the largest smart home platform company in North America. Working closely with all functional teams within the company, Marty helped develop partner and customer-facing solutions that are now recognized as expected standards.
Marty is not only an expert but also a thought leader in the smart home and security space. He is passionate about harnessing next-generation technologies to overcome the challenges of security-related emergency response. As Head of Security at RapidSOS, Marty will lead the charge in empowering first responders with life-saving data by linking connected security platforms to emergency services, which in turn, will better protect individuals, homes, and communities.
Robert McDonald
District General Manager
Vintage Security
Robert McDonald
District General Manager
Vintage Security
Consumers expect their security systems to provide basic interactivity that enables them to access and control the household security system remotely as well as receive notifications as scheduled or requested. This session addresses the role of devices in extending security services to provide additional value and convenience to consumers. Value-added services include professional monitoring for energy usage, risk mitigation from flood and fire, health monitoring, asset monitoring, and appliance maintenance monitoring.
Special Roundtable: Smart Home Tech and the Pros: View from the Channel
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Parks Associates mission is to help companies navigate the changing consumer technology landscapes through data-driven market insights, extensive consumer and industry intelligence, and executive conferences. With over two decades of dedication to the company, Elizabeth Parks, President and Chief Marketing Officer, has been instrumental in shaping its growth and success, along with the continued focus of delivering timely and quality industry and consumer insights on the broadband, entertainment, connected home and SMB industries.
Elizabeth's commitment to Parks Associates' overarching mission is unwavering. Parks Associates provides clients with the most comprehensive consumer and industry research and analysis to empower businesses to make informed decisions in an ever-evolving landscape.
Elizabeth's journey with Parks Associates began after graduating with a BA in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Plano Texas with her husband and three children.
Brian Helt
Vice President, Strategy and Transformation
HomePro, Inc.
Brian Helt
Vice President, Strategy and Transformation
HomePro, Inc.
Rich Campbell
Training and Development Specialist
RFI
Rich Campbell
Training and Development Specialist
RFI
Rich uses 24 years of industry experience in Information Technology and 10 years of experience in Security Integration to train the next generation of security and life safety industry leaders. Rich is passionate about education and process improvement through training. Rich is committed to teaching technical concepts to non-technical individuals to help them improve their technology literacy. Rich works through difficult service delivery issues to improve customer satisfaction and empower service teams to go the extra mile for customers.
Tim Meekin
CEO
DealerAlly
Tim Meekin
CEO
DealerAlly
Tim Meekin is the CEO of DealerAlly, a security centric technology-focused company that provides debt-free capital solutions. DealerAlly's program goal is designed to close more sales, drive more revenue and increase dealer equity. Before starting DealerAlly, Tim was VP of Sales for RMR Capital Group; spent 17 years as a National Account Executive with ITI/GE Security/UTC/Interlogix; sold commercial security at Honeywell; residential security for an AT&T dealer; and sold door to door for a summer while in college for the Southwestern Company. After a successful career helping dealers utilize the best products and capital solutions as a residential expert, Tim now takes a quantum leap forward. He has been leading an industry revolution at DealerAlly since 2017 of transferring debt from the dealer to the lender. In addition, he provides expert training for residential and business dealers on the art of offering a no money down, affordable monthly payment in lieu of a cash based only solution allowing the dealer more product and service customization, upselling, and flexibility.
Sean Miller
Chief Revenue Officer
Lessen LLC
Sean Miller
Chief Revenue Officer
Lessen LLC
Sean Miller, Chief Revenue Officer, Lessen LLC
Giles Sutton
Senior Vice President, Member Success and Sales
CEDIA
Giles Sutton
Senior Vice President, Member Success and Sales
CEDIA
Giles is the SVP of Product & Business Development at CEDIA, the global membership association that serves the home technology industry through advocacy, connection, and education.
Prior to joining CEDIA, Giles spent 13 years as CEO of an award-winning integrator based in London, UK. Under his leadership the company worked on residential and hospitality projects across Europe for a high-profile clientele.
Wil Vitela
Owner
Home Technology Expert
Wil Vitela
Owner
Home Technology Expert
Since 1992 Wil Vitela of Home Technology Expert has offered sales and custom installation of home electronics in the Orange County, California area for single family detached homes 3 to 6 bedrooms. In the beginning Wil was offering rear projection TVs, rack Hi Fi audio systems, and Directv to now being an early adopter of on trend smart home technologies such as voice control, streaming services, 4k TV and surround sound systems, and mesh wi fi networks. During the early 2000's Wil also concurrently imported from overseas and distributed private labeled audio video cables and accessories regionally to other audio video installation companies while also being a manufacturers' representative for companies such as Onkyo and others. Home Technology Expert focuses on complete solutions where various smart home devices can work together in the best possible way for the families' homes that they work with by offering select products within each category to create a repeatable results process.
Join Parks Associates as we bring together industry players from the pro-service channels and hear directly about the challenges of connectivity and incorporating smart home technology into offerings. This 90-minute session includes visionary insight from leaders and interactive discussions on the impact of new technology and services, and the challenges that come with “smart” technology in the home.
May 17th | 2022
Pre-show Research Workshop: Quantifying Technology across the Home
Tuesday, May 17, 2022
Welcome: Moving Beyond Early Adoption
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
INDUSTRY EXPERTISE: Connected Health, Connected Home Technologies and Services, Connected Entertainment Products and Services.
Jennifer manages the research department and Parks Associates' process for producing high-quality, relevant, and meaningful research. Jennifer also leads and advises on syndicated and custom research projects across all connected consumer verticals and guides questionnaire development for Parks Associates’ extensive consumer analytics survey program. Jennifer is a certified focus group moderator, with training from the Burke Institute.
Jennifer earned her PhD in religion, politics, and society and an MA in church-state studies from Baylor University. She earned her BA in politics from the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.
The smart home market is accelerating as more consumers discover the value of connected products. This research presentation provides insight into connected home adoption trends, channel preferences, and new use cases.
Industry Roundtable: Distribution Channels: Moving Beyond Early Adoption
Moderator
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
Moderator
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
INDUSTRY EXPERTISE: Connected Health, Connected Home Technologies and Services, Connected Entertainment Products and Services.
Jennifer manages the research department and Parks Associates' process for producing high-quality, relevant, and meaningful research. Jennifer also leads and advises on syndicated and custom research projects across all connected consumer verticals and guides questionnaire development for Parks Associates’ extensive consumer analytics survey program. Jennifer is a certified focus group moderator, with training from the Burke Institute.
Jennifer earned her PhD in religion, politics, and society and an MA in church-state studies from Baylor University. She earned her BA in politics from the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.
Kevin Huisman
Service Manager
Grand Home Automation
Kevin Huisman
Service Manager
Grand Home Automation
Kevin is the Service Manager at Grand Home Automation, a home technology and smart home design company that offers professional design, engineering, fabrication, installation, and maintenance of home technology systems. While relatively new to home technology integration, Kevin previously spent over a decade in the information technology field and several years in the building materials industry, giving him a solid foundation for the transition into home automation.
Mariam Rogers
Director of Sales for Multifamily
Brivo
Mariam Rogers
Director of Sales for Multifamily
Brivo
Mariam Rogers is currently the Director of Multifamily Sales for Brivo. She began her career in pharmaceutical sales and service before transitioning into the hospitality space. During her tenure at RxAmerica, Mariam led national support and sales teams, who specialized in the assistance of rebates, qualification and adjudication of all medication and prescription claims between the insurance providers and end users. While managing the properties of Mr. John Huntsman Senior, Mariam oversaw all aspects of the properties, including housekeeping, security, lease-up, sales, ground crews, maintenance, concierge services, and customized programs. Prior to joining Brivo, Mariam served as Director of Sales for Hyatt and Vivint Smart Properties, where she sold into national MDUs, enhancing their offerings with smart products increasing their values in both rentals and conversion.
Charita Johnson
Vice President, Content & Creative Strategy
Peloton Interactive
Charita Johnson
Vice President, Content & Creative Strategy
Peloton Interactive
Charita Johnson is the Vice President of Content and Creative Strategy at Peloton. There she is responsible for setting the global content and creative direction for digital fitness streaming platforms. When she first joined Peloton in 2020, as Vice President of Production, Engineering and Technology she led the production operations, broadcast, and streaming engineering teams. Under her leadership the department was responsible for building, maintaining and the daily operations of seven control rooms and studios. The creative arm of her team also designed the studio sets.
In 2017, She founded Johnson Bridge Media; a boutique agency focused on identifying and developing broadcast talent in news and sports. Before JBM, Charita spent over 25 years at ESPN, where she held leadership roles in Production. There she honed the competencies of innovation and business acumen.
She was responsible for multi-platform content development, revenue integration, and talent development.
In her role of Vice President within Production, she led units in Radio Platforms and Content (radio streaming and podcasting), Emerging Platforms (ESPN Local.com), Production Performance and Development (established to drive improved performance, career agility, and skill development for more than two thousand associates across ESPN Production). She is a collaborative think partner who has created complex strategies for matrixed organizations.
Her experience as the champion for the employee resource group (ERG), Asian Business Leaders (ABLE) highlighted her ability to lead diverse groups and coach them in executing critical business strategies. Her previous experience as an executive at The Walt Disney Corporation qualifies her to lead production strategies, operational execution, ad sales integration, business priorities, and KPIs.
Jeff Morrison
Senior Director, Multifamily Sales
Brivo
Jeff Morrison
Senior Director, Multifamily Sales
Brivo
“20-year multifamily veteran and Senior Director of Multifamily for BRIVO, with extensive experience with building management and automation solutions. BRIVO is celebrating 20 years in the physical security industry with our cloud-based SaaS platform. We support over 23 million active users in 42 countries worldwide, and our employees span the globe. We secure over 200 Fortune 500 customers and our customer base uses over 1 million mobile credentials for daily access. We also have 1,500 authorized resellers and over 10 years of cyber audits to keep the BRIVO platform secure.
During the race toward "intelligent buildings" and "smart apartments" in the Multifamily industry over the past several years, there has been one constant across all major vendors and early adopters....secure access control by BRIVO (www.Brivo.com). We provide the foundation of smart mobile access using one mobile app for residents, staff, visitors/guests and vendors. Our platform enables safe, secure access and smart automation for all who live, work, visit and service a multifamily property.“
Yana Welinder
CEO
Kraftful Inc
Yana Welinder
CEO
Kraftful Inc
Yana Welinder founded Kraftful after working with the makers of thousands of connected products as Head of Product at IFTTT. She noticed the reason most IoT products are difficult to use is that hardware companies rarely use UX analytics in product development. With internet connectivity coming to every object around us, poor usability prevents connected devices from reaching mass adoption. Yana put together a team of Apple, Facebook, and Slack alumni to bring the data approach behind massively adopted software to the world of IoT. Kraftful is backed by Y Combinator, Samsung NEXT, Google, and many exceptional investors. In previous roles, Yana worked on disrupting manufacturing with digital production at Carbon and tackled free knowledge creation on Wikipedia. As a tech policy thought leader, she's published pieces about AI and biometrics in the New York Times, Harvard Journal of Law & Tech, and a chapter in the Cambridge Handbook on Consumer Privacy. She's given talks at the White House, Yale, Stanford, and holds degrees from Harvard, USC, and LSE.
This session features presentations from industry executives from key distribution channels for smart home products. Speakers address the key challenges around smart home product adoption, as well as innovative business models and partnerships spurring new opportunities.
Research Presentation: Future of Broadband Services
Kristen Hanich
Director of Research
Parks Associates
Kristen Hanich
Director of Research
Parks Associates
INDUSTRY EXPERTISE: Consumer electronics, mobility services and devices, connected health and wellness.
Kristen Hanich heads Parks Associates' consumer electronics and mobility research, with expertise in other verticals including connected cars, mobile networking, healthcare, wellness, and independent living. She leads a mix of custom and syndicated research projects throughout the year, with a focus on major players and emerging trends. Kristen specializes in bridging the gap between data-driven and narrative approaches to understanding the consumer markets via a mix of qualitative and quantitative research approaches.
Kristen has dual master's degrees in applied anthropology and public health from the Universities of North Texas in Denton and Fort Worth. She earned her BSc in health at the University of Texas at San Antonio and has a graduate certificate in Geographic Information Systems.
The internet services market is in a state of transition as traditional home service bundles have steadily declined over the past seven years. As a result, the penetration of stand-alone internet service is increasing, jumping from 34% in 2017 to 42% in 2021. Service providers seek a new bundle of services, with opportunities around connected device management, network security, and other connected home services. This presentation addresses key trends for the service provider market, including shifting broadband buying behaviors, new service offerings, the value of the home network, growth of connected devices, and interest in value-added services.
Q&A with Analysts
Parks Associates analyst team take the stage for question-and-answer session with the audience.
Research Presentation: Solving the User Experience for the Smart Home
Chris White
Research Director
Parks Associates
Chris White
Research Director
Parks Associates
Chris is a Senior Researcher with Parks Associates, covering the connected home market. He was previously a Director of Insights at PeopleMetrics in Philadelphia and the Data Manager of a youth-serving collaborative in New Orleans. He has performed research for companies in a variety of industries, including the telecom/ISP space.
Chris earned his BBA in Marketing from the College of William & Mary and his MBA in Marketing and Finance from American University.
Consumers are experiencing a growing number of technical problems with their smart home devices—38% of smart home device owners report experiencing two or more technical problems with their devices in 2021, up from just 6% in 2018. User experience issues result in returned products and depresses repeat sales. This presentation explores key pain points in the smart home user experience, and consumer preferences for set-up and ongoing technical support.
Getting Technical: AI, ML, and Sensor-based Technology
Moderator
Stacey Higginbotham
Founder/Editor
Stacey on IoT
Moderator
Stacey Higginbotham
Founder/Editor
Stacey on IoT
Stacey Higginbotham has been covering technology for major publications for two decades. She is an expert when it comes to the internet of things and technology in general. Her work has appeared in Fortune (where she was Senior Editor), PCMag, MIT Technology Review, Gigaom and Worth magazine. She is also a co-host on This Week in Google.
Vera Gavrilovich
VP of Marketing
Sunnova
Vera Gavrilovich
VP of Marketing
Sunnova
Vera Gavrilovich is the Vice President of Marketing for Sunnova Energy International Inc. (NYSE: NOVA), a leading residential solar and energy storage service provider, with customers across the U.S. and its territories. At Sunnova, Vera leads the demand generation, customer marketing, brand strategy, creative, partnership marketing, retail, and channel marketing teams. Prior to joining Sunnova, Vera lead marketing and customer experience teams for T-Mobile, ADT Security Services, and Navistar International. Vera received her B.S. Degree in Marketing from The University of Illinois-Urbana and her MBA from the Northwestern Kellogg Graduate School of Business.
Naveen Narayanan
Head of Sports and Data Products
Quickplay
Naveen Narayanan
Head of Sports and Data Products
Quickplay
Naveen is the Head of Sports and Data Products at Quickplay. He is responsible for the strategy and roadmap of products for the Sports OTT vertical and Quickplay's Data Science & Analytics offering. He is focused on building a flexible and modular video platform that relies on experimentation to capture deep insights which is used to maximize user growth and engagement while unlocking multiple monetization opportunities for Quickplay's customers.
Before joining Quickplay, he was leading Go-To-Market and Sales Enablement for a high-growth AI startup in Toronto that specialized in specific solutions for Tier 1 Retail and CPG organizations.
Prior to that, Naveen was one of the founding members of Quickplay’s Product Management team and successfully managed a cross-functional team that helped scale the technology and business model for the world’s first cloud-based global enterprise video platform. Quickplay was acquired by AT&T in 2016 to help accelerate its Next Generation video strategy. At Quickplay, he was responsible for product strategy, roadmap, and delivery to support the launch of various Tier 1 video services across the world - including DirecTV Now, FoxPlay, Hooq, Telus Optik TV, and AT&T U-verse.
Naveen holds an engineering degree in Computer Science from the National Institute of Technology, India, and an MBA from Smith (Queens) School of Business, Canada.
Jennifer Doctor
Senior Director, Product Management
Johnson Controls
Jennifer Doctor
Senior Director, Product Management
Johnson Controls
Jennifer Doctor is the Senior Director of Product Management for Johnson Controls, Global Products’ Intrusion detection portfolio. In this capacity, Jennifer leads a global team managing more than 5,000 traditional and smart home security products around the globe in residential and commercial markets.
Jennifer joined Johnson Controls from ADT North America where she was the Director of Product Strategy. She brings a dozen years of experience in the security industry, and nearly 25 years of experience in product marketing and product management to Johnson Controls, having worked with companies to help them bring products to market profitably. In addition to her unique blend of product management, product marketing and marketing skills, Jennifer also brings IT skills and certifications to her portfolio including ITIL, CMMi, Certified Agile Leader and Certified SAFe 5 Product Owner/Product Manager.
Jennifer is a member of the board of directors for the Z-Wave Alliance where she also serves as the Marketing Committee. She is a frequent industry speaker and is active member of several product management communities. Jennifer was recently included on the SIA Women in Security Forum “Power 100” in 2023. She can be found on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jidoctor/, and followed on twitter at @jidoctor.
Peter Giacalone
President
Giacalone Associates, LLC
Peter Giacalone
President
Giacalone Associates, LLC
A successful forty five year career in the electronic security & telecommunications industry that includes building and leading the largest security, life safety, PERS and video third-party monitoring center in the US, with a proven executive track record in increasing revenue and opening new market verticals. Over a ten year period of focus and effort resulted in growing the company from a forty five thousand account regional center to over five hundred thousand accounts with fifty million dollars in annual revenue. Created the business plan, solicited the financing and secured a one hundred million dollar credit facility to fund the start up of King Capital Financial Services, which grew to become one of the longest running Dealer Financial & Acquisition Programs in the security industry. Providing Subject Matter Expert advisory for litigation, M&A and operations both domestically and internationally for the past 20 years.
Devices with video and audio data capture capacity are the fastest-growing smart home categories, and sensors of all sorts are dispersing throughout the home in connected lighting, energy, and even health devices. AI applications have an important and growing role in realizing the context and value in all of this data, for both the pro-monitored and DIY security segments and the wider smart home market. This session addresses the latest in technology innovations, new applications, and impact on service business models.
Research Presentation: User Segmentation and Consumer Demand
John Barrett
Director of Consumer Analytics
Parks Associates
John Barrett
Director of Consumer Analytics
Parks Associates
John Barrett currently analyzes digital media and international trends for Parks Associates and also heads the company’s consumer research team. He regularly advises companies from both the content and hardware industries on their digital media strategies and has authored dozens of industry reports.
He holds an MA in international economics from the Johns Hopkins University: School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and a BS in international affairs from Georgetown University.
INDUSTRY EXPERTISE: International Research, Digital Media, Mobile TV, Social Media, User-generated Content, Web 2.0
About half of the smart home market is composed of Power Users, owning five or more smart home devices, while just a third own one or two devices. Designing and selling products both for Power Users and homes new to the smart home requires understanding how customer segments differ in their motivations, purchase journeys, and responsiveness to messaging and merchandizing approaches. This session discusses the trends driving consumer adoption of new products including marketing messages, consumer segments most interested in specific products, and generational differences about attitudes to technology.
May 17th | 2022
- May 19th | 2022
CONNECTIONS: The Premier Connected Home Conference Recap
Tuesday, May 17, 2022
Welcome and Opening Comments: Technology as Fourth Utility
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Parks Associates mission is to help companies navigate the changing consumer technology landscapes through data-driven market insights, extensive consumer and industry intelligence, and executive conferences. With over two decades of dedication to the company, Elizabeth Parks, President and Chief Marketing Officer, has been instrumental in shaping its growth and success, along with the continued focus of delivering timely and quality industry and consumer insights on the broadband, entertainment, connected home and SMB industries.
Elizabeth's commitment to Parks Associates' overarching mission is unwavering. Parks Associates provides clients with the most comprehensive consumer and industry research and analysis to empower businesses to make informed decisions in an ever-evolving landscape.
Elizabeth's journey with Parks Associates began after graduating with a BA in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Plano Texas with her husband and three children.
Opening Session: Services, Choice, and Trust – Consumers and Modern Living
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Parks Associates mission is to help companies navigate the changing consumer technology landscapes through data-driven market insights, extensive consumer and industry intelligence, and executive conferences. With over two decades of dedication to the company, Elizabeth Parks, President and Chief Marketing Officer, has been instrumental in shaping its growth and success, along with the continued focus of delivering timely and quality industry and consumer insights on the broadband, entertainment, connected home and SMB industries.
Elizabeth's commitment to Parks Associates' overarching mission is unwavering. Parks Associates provides clients with the most comprehensive consumer and industry research and analysis to empower businesses to make informed decisions in an ever-evolving landscape.
Elizabeth's journey with Parks Associates began after graduating with a BA in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Plano Texas with her husband and three children.
Jennifer Doctor
Senior Director, Product Management
Johnson Controls
Jennifer Doctor
Senior Director, Product Management
Johnson Controls
Jennifer Doctor is the Senior Director of Product Management for Johnson Controls, Global Products’ Intrusion detection portfolio. In this capacity, Jennifer leads a global team managing more than 5,000 traditional and smart home security products around the globe in residential and commercial markets.
Jennifer joined Johnson Controls from ADT North America where she was the Director of Product Strategy. She brings a dozen years of experience in the security industry, and nearly 25 years of experience in product marketing and product management to Johnson Controls, having worked with companies to help them bring products to market profitably. In addition to her unique blend of product management, product marketing and marketing skills, Jennifer also brings IT skills and certifications to her portfolio including ITIL, CMMi, Certified Agile Leader and Certified SAFe 5 Product Owner/Product Manager.
Jennifer is a member of the board of directors for the Z-Wave Alliance where she also serves as the Marketing Committee. She is a frequent industry speaker and is active member of several product management communities. Jennifer was recently included on the SIA Women in Security Forum “Power 100” in 2023. She can be found on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jidoctor/, and followed on twitter at @jidoctor.
Morgan Hertel
VP of Technology and Innovation
Rapid Response Monitoring
Morgan Hertel
VP of Technology and Innovation
Rapid Response Monitoring
Morgan Hertel, with over 40 years of experience in the electronic security industry, is a well-respected leader who has served in many executive leadership roles for independent security integration companies and monitoring centers. Currently, as Vice President of Technology & Innovation for Rapid Response Monitoring, Morgan evaluates and harnesses the synergy between the latest technological advancements and the industry’s leading service providers to further advance the unmatched Dealer services of Rapid Response.
Morgan serves as President of The Monitoring Association (TMA) and is actively involved in many local and national industry associations and initiatives, and he dedicates countless hours to the work of several forward-thinking committees throughout the industry, as well.
Morgan holds the following certificates and licenses:
NICET Level III Fire Alarm Technology, California Alarm Company Qualified Manager, Oregon Certified Trainer, Oregon Executive Manager, TMA Level I and II Central Station Operator, SIA Certified Operator and ESA Certified Alarm Installer.
Abe Kinney
Senior Director, Product Management
Alarm.com
Abe Kinney
Senior Director, Product Management
Alarm.com
Abe is responsible for the management and development of several Alarm.com solutions, including security hardware integrations, energy management and home automation. Since joining the company in 2012, he has worked across both service provider and customer experiences to deliver dependable technology that connects people with the things they care about most.
Yana Welinder
CEO
Kraftful Inc
Yana Welinder
CEO
Kraftful Inc
Yana Welinder founded Kraftful after working with the makers of thousands of connected products as Head of Product at IFTTT. She noticed the reason most IoT products are difficult to use is that hardware companies rarely use UX analytics in product development. With internet connectivity coming to every object around us, poor usability prevents connected devices from reaching mass adoption. Yana put together a team of Apple, Facebook, and Slack alumni to bring the data approach behind massively adopted software to the world of IoT. Kraftful is backed by Y Combinator, Samsung NEXT, Google, and many exceptional investors. In previous roles, Yana worked on disrupting manufacturing with digital production at Carbon and tackled free knowledge creation on Wikipedia. As a tech policy thought leader, she's published pieces about AI and biometrics in the New York Times, Harvard Journal of Law & Tech, and a chapter in the Cambridge Handbook on Consumer Privacy. She's given talks at the White House, Yale, Stanford, and holds degrees from Harvard, USC, and LSE.
The changing dynamics of the smart home create opportunities for service providers, who possess distinct advantages in selling and delivering devices and services to consumers. This session addresses the role of the service provider in providing comprehensive smart home solutions. Speakers examine the position of service providers in the smart home ecosystem, the role of choice and trust, and present strategies to expand the smart home market.
Keynote – Creating Opportunity from Chaos
Moderator
Jason Paris
VP, Business Development
Parks Associates
Moderator
Jason Paris
VP, Business Development
Parks Associates
Jason Paris joined Parks Associates as an analyst studying international telephone, cable, and satellite providers and is now a member of the business development team.
Jason graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a BA in psychology and government. After working for the Texas House of Representatives, Jason spent the previous seven years in New York City working with portable and enterprise healthcare technologies.
Vickie Rodgers
Vice President and General Manager, Cox Communities
Cox Communications
Vickie Rodgers
Vice President and General Manager, Cox Communities
Cox Communications
As part of the Cox Communications Residential Sales and Marketing executive leadership team, Vickie is responsible for the long-term vision and strategy for the Multifamily and New Build segments. Cox Communities is responsible for building high trust, long-term relationships with builders, owners, property managers, and consultants to act as their the “Trusted Advisor” in supporting them with optimizing rents, occupancy, and net operating income. They accomplish this by conducting joint research, developing specialized technology and automation solutions, and supporting owners in future-proofing their properties with technology. Her organization consists of Strategy, Operations and Sales Execution while influencing Cox’s specialized product roadmap. Her team is known for innovation, strategic partnering, and growth. Prior to her role at Cox, Vickie held various executive roles leading Strategy, Operations, and Sales at Fortune 500 companies such as Time Warner Cable, BellSouth, and Sprint.
We’ve seen time and again how history repeats itself. Recent crisis has been bad for almost everyone other than perhaps mask makers, pharmaceutical companies and gun shops. Crisis eventually leads to chaos, but it also creates opportunity. Chaos changes the rules and ultimately changes who is in the lead. Join Cox Communities’ VPGM, Vickie Rodgers, to learn about the predictable patterns that we see through history and how surges in technology come after every major crisis. We may be experiencing the highest rate of change and disruption, but there has never been a better time to innovate.
Special Session—Home Network: Foundation of the Smart Home
Moderator
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
Moderator
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
INDUSTRY EXPERTISE: Connected Health, Connected Home Technologies and Services, Connected Entertainment Products and Services.
Jennifer manages the research department and Parks Associates' process for producing high-quality, relevant, and meaningful research. Jennifer also leads and advises on syndicated and custom research projects across all connected consumer verticals and guides questionnaire development for Parks Associates’ extensive consumer analytics survey program. Jennifer is a certified focus group moderator, with training from the Burke Institute.
Jennifer earned her PhD in religion, politics, and society and an MA in church-state studies from Baylor University. She earned her BA in politics from the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.
Stephen Eyre
VP, Partner Community
Calix
Stephen Eyre
VP, Partner Community
Calix
As VP Calix Partner Ecosystem, Stephen is responsible for coordinating the various partner activities and initiatives across Calix into one coherent ecosystem that is beneficial for all participants.
A veteran of many aspects of the ITC industry including 10 years in banking, 10 years in telecommunications and 15 years at Microsoft, Stephen's 25+ year career has encompassed phases as varied as expert system programming, IT and capital markets consulting, systems architecture, alliance creation and management, IoT Solutions Ecosystem creation, and, most recently, three years helping to build the Calix Cloud and Smart Home business at Calix. Stephen has three wonderful daughters aged 29, 37 & 38, plays as much soccer and golf as possible, and is an avid supporter of the Toronto Blue Jays & Raptors, the New York Islanders, and most of all, Chelsea FC.
Greg Mora
Executive Director, Business Development
Johnson Controls
Greg Mora
Executive Director, Business Development
Johnson Controls
Greg leads Business Development for Johnson Controls’ Intrusion business, where with his team, they are creating a portfolio of smart products that provide safety, security and automation to homes and businesses around the world.
David Puckett
Vice President, Global Devices Product Strategy
Comcast
David Puckett
Vice President, Global Devices Product Strategy
Comcast
David Puckett serves as the Global Devices Organization's Head of Product Strategy. He is responsible for steering the device product vision, long-term product roadmap, and commercial opportunities across Comcast Cable, Comcast Syndication partners, and Sky Europe in his current position. He directs the device strategy for all consumer and SMB products across the Connectivity and Platforms business units of the company, including Xfinity, Comcast Business, and Sky.
In his 18 years at Comcast, David oversaw the introduction of numerous products and features and the expansion of the company's portfolio. He has delivered innovation in various positions, including Product Marketing, Product Development, Product Management, and Product Strategy, always with the customer experience in mind. Before joining Comcast in 2005, David spent eight years executing consumer marketing strategies across direct and indirect sales channels for both consumer and business-to-business services at various private and public Internet Services companies in both start-up and established stages.
David has four hyper-connected Generation Z children. Although David is one of the rare individuals who began his career by handing out free Dialup Internet Service CDs in retail stores and continues to work in an industry that has paved the way for advanced technologies such as AI, AR/VR, Blockchain, Edge Computing, Cloud Gaming, Videoconferencing, IoT, and whatever the Metaverse ends up being, his children are too preoccupied creating content with Tiktok or video games to care.
David Henry
President and GM, Connected Home Products
NETGEAR
David Henry
President and GM, Connected Home Products
NETGEAR
David J. Henry serves as our Senior Vice President, Connected Home Products and Services. He has worldwide responsibility for both Product Marketing and Engineering of our home networking products, encompassing product strategy, development and delivery. He has been with NETGEAR since July 2004, most recently serving as our Vice President of Product Management of our Retail Business Unit from March 2011 to January 2016 and as our Senior Director of Product Marketing from October 2010 to March 2011. Prior to NETGEAR, Mr. Henry was a senior product manager for the high technology vertical application at Siebel Systems (acquired by Oracle Corporation). His professional experience also includes business process and information technology consulting with Deloitte Consulting. Mr. Henry received a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering, with an emphasis on Signal Processing, from the University of Washington and an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Demand for fast, reliable, and secure broadband to the home has never been greater, and this connectivity, together with a high-performing home network, is the foundation of the connected home. The home network is a critical point of visibility and control for all of the smart home, computing, entertainment, health, and other consumer electronic devices across the home and has the potential to enable a new dimension of value by offering integrated applications. This session addresses issues driving home networking technology purchases, legacy and emerging usage models, advances in home networking equipment, the role of managed services, and the critical need to protect the connected home at the gateway.
Opening Reception
Join attendees for networking and a view of the Cowboys training fields in the heart of Texas.
Wednesday, May 18, 2022
Continental Breakfast

Sponsored by Cooktop Safety
Opening Comments: Life Stages and the Role of Technology
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Parks Associates mission is to help companies navigate the changing consumer technology landscapes through data-driven market insights, extensive consumer and industry intelligence, and executive conferences. With over two decades of dedication to the company, Elizabeth Parks, President and Chief Marketing Officer, has been instrumental in shaping its growth and success, along with the continued focus of delivering timely and quality industry and consumer insights on the broadband, entertainment, connected home and SMB industries.
Elizabeth's commitment to Parks Associates' overarching mission is unwavering. Parks Associates provides clients with the most comprehensive consumer and industry research and analysis to empower businesses to make informed decisions in an ever-evolving landscape.
Elizabeth's journey with Parks Associates began after graduating with a BA in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Plano Texas with her husband and three children.
Changes in life spur the adoption of new home environments, new technology, and new services. Parks Associates presents research on life stages and adoption of smart home, security, and entertainment services.
Bringing New Value: Growing Role of Smart Home Platforms
Moderator
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
Moderator
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
INDUSTRY EXPERTISE: Connected Health, Connected Home Technologies and Services, Connected Entertainment Products and Services.
Jennifer manages the research department and Parks Associates' process for producing high-quality, relevant, and meaningful research. Jennifer also leads and advises on syndicated and custom research projects across all connected consumer verticals and guides questionnaire development for Parks Associates’ extensive consumer analytics survey program. Jennifer is a certified focus group moderator, with training from the Burke Institute.
Jennifer earned her PhD in religion, politics, and society and an MA in church-state studies from Baylor University. She earned her BA in politics from the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.
Mitchell Klein
Executive Director
Z-Wave Alliance
Mitchell Klein
Executive Director
Z-Wave Alliance
Mitchell Klein is a leader in smart home and IoT, dedicating his career to educating the industry, creating and implementing strategic business programs and leading companies that helped bring smart home and custom installation into the mainstream. Mitch’s career has included systems integration management to business strategy and development, but above all he is a 30+ year industry veteran in IoT, consumer electronics, home automation, and the integrator market. In his current role as executive director of the Z-Wave Alliance, he leads a member consortium of global companies supporting the Z-Wave smart home standard. Mitch is a CEDIA Fellow and committee chair – in 2019, he was awarded the CEDIA Lifetime Achievement Award for his decades of work supporting the custom integrator channel. Mitch is a regular contributor to trade and technology publications, podcasts, and a presenter and panelist at key industry events including CES, CEDIA, ISE, Parks CONNECTIONS Summit, and many more.
William Scheffler
VP Sales, Founder
Trident IoT
William Scheffler
VP Sales, Founder
Trident IoT
William Scheffler, VP Sales, Founder, Trident IoT
Jay Lent
Director of Business Development, North America
Tuya Smart
Jay Lent
Director of Business Development, North America
Tuya Smart
Jay Lent serves as Director of Business Development-North America for Tuya Global, a global leading IoT platform provider. He has been in the consumer electronics space for over 15 years leading both national sales and product development teams in developing cutting edge technology products and delivering hundreds of product to market. Over the last 8 years he has focused on the IoT space and has deep knowledge of all the major protocols as well as voice services. Prior to entering the consumer electronics industry, he held senior level positions at several leading retailers throughout the United States. This combination of experience gives him a unique perspective on production ideation to production to sales execution.
Jeff Morrison
Senior Director, Multifamily Sales
Brivo
Jeff Morrison
Senior Director, Multifamily Sales
Brivo
“20-year multifamily veteran and Senior Director of Multifamily for BRIVO, with extensive experience with building management and automation solutions. BRIVO is celebrating 20 years in the physical security industry with our cloud-based SaaS platform. We support over 23 million active users in 42 countries worldwide, and our employees span the globe. We secure over 200 Fortune 500 customers and our customer base uses over 1 million mobile credentials for daily access. We also have 1,500 authorized resellers and over 10 years of cyber audits to keep the BRIVO platform secure.
During the race toward "intelligent buildings" and "smart apartments" in the Multifamily industry over the past several years, there has been one constant across all major vendors and early adopters....secure access control by BRIVO (www.Brivo.com). We provide the foundation of smart mobile access using one mobile app for residents, staff, visitors/guests and vendors. Our platform enables safe, secure access and smart automation for all who live, work, visit and service a multifamily property.“
Katherine Schieltz
Senior Manager, Innovation and Product Development
Constellation
Katherine Schieltz
Senior Manager, Innovation and Product Development
Constellation
Katie Schieltz is a customer focused energy leader with nearly 15 years of industry experience. Katie is currently the Senior Manager of Innovation and Product Development for Constellation’s retail energy organization, leading the development of smart home and energy management solutions for residential and small business consumers. In her role, Katie develops strategic pilots to test key products and services, informing the growth and direction of Constellation’s energy management and engagement platform. Katie has a passion for using innovation to solve customer problems and drive business results. Her team is focused on developing and delivering solutions that help consumers meet their energy goals, whether that means savings and efficiency, sustainability, or peace of mind.
Katie has spent nearly 15 years in the Energy industry, serving in in various roles ranging from finance, strategy and risk management at AES and Conoco Phillips, prior to joining Constellation in 2010. Katie earned her BBA in Finance from College of William and Mary and her MBA from the University of Virginia.
Smart home platforms promise to establish order out of the chaos that comes from the steady influx of smart home devices into the home. This session addresses how companies in this space can leverage platforms and industry standards to provide a reliable, interoperable ecosystem with a simplified user experience, delivering expanded value through enhanced features, cloud intelligence, and security to protect user data and privacy. Speakers address the role of AI, voice, and wireless technologies in the expansion of the connected home.
Keynote
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Parks Associates mission is to help companies navigate the changing consumer technology landscapes through data-driven market insights, extensive consumer and industry intelligence, and executive conferences. With over two decades of dedication to the company, Elizabeth Parks, President and Chief Marketing Officer, has been instrumental in shaping its growth and success, along with the continued focus of delivering timely and quality industry and consumer insights on the broadband, entertainment, connected home and SMB industries.
Elizabeth's commitment to Parks Associates' overarching mission is unwavering. Parks Associates provides clients with the most comprehensive consumer and industry research and analysis to empower businesses to make informed decisions in an ever-evolving landscape.
Elizabeth's journey with Parks Associates began after graduating with a BA in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Plano Texas with her husband and three children.
Lainie Muller
Senior Director, Business Development, Health & Wellness
Alarm.com
Lainie Muller
Senior Director, Business Development, Health & Wellness
Alarm.com
Lainie Muller is a 15-year veteran of the technology industry and an emerging voice on Smart Solutions for Aging in Place and Connected Caregiving.
Lainie is Director of Wellness at Alarm.com, a publicly traded company (NASDAQ: ALRM) and the nation’s leading cloud-based platform for the smart home. The Wellness solution leverages Smart Home technology to support Aging in Place and independent living for older adults and those living with disabilities. Wellness, an integrated element of Alarm.com’s comprehensive ecosystem of home management technology, is currently in use in residential homes, senior living communities, schools and in remote caregiving programs funded by Medicare and Medicaid. The product has received critical acclaim from The New York Times, Kiplingers, CNN, NPR and TechCrunch.
In 2010, Lainie joined BeClose, a privately funded start-up company, as the Director of Partnership Sales. In 2015, BeClose was “spun-in” to Alarm.com, an early-stage strategic investor of the company. The BeClose product is now available as Alarm.com Wellness.
Prior to BeClose, Lainie served as National Sales Manager, Major Accounts Unit (MAU) at Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive, the online subsidiary of The Washington Post company, where she led a top revenue producing team driving Healthcare, Consumer Electronics and Retail sales.
Lainie has been an active Board Member for the National Capitol Area Chapter, Alzheimer’s Association since 2012. She holds a BS in Business and Organizational Development from Vanderbilt University. Lainie lives in Chevy Chase, MD with her husband and two teenage boys.
Paradigm Shift: Smart Home and the Future of Energy
Moderator
Chris White
Research Director
Parks Associates
Moderator
Chris White
Research Director
Parks Associates
Chris is a Senior Researcher with Parks Associates, covering the connected home market. He was previously a Director of Insights at PeopleMetrics in Philadelphia and the Data Manager of a youth-serving collaborative in New Orleans. He has performed research for companies in a variety of industries, including the telecom/ISP space.
Chris earned his BBA in Marketing from the College of William & Mary and his MBA in Marketing and Finance from American University.
Joel Berntsen
Vice President, Channels & Partnerships
Vutility
Joel Berntsen
Vice President, Channels & Partnerships
Vutility
Joel is an award-winning and strategic senior sales, marketing, and technology leader with 15+ years of experience creating and scaling exceptional product offerings at organizations ranging from Fortune 100 leaders to Inc. 500 start-ups. In his various roles, he has advanced the emergence of innovative smart building and energy management solutions to increase efficiency, sustainability, and peace of mind in the IoT-enabled world of today and tomorrow.
Wannie Park
CEO of New Energy Orchestration Venture
LG Electronics | LG NOVA
Wannie Park
CEO of New Energy Orchestration Venture
LG Electronics | LG NOVA
A seasoned executive with more than 20 years of experience in energy, renewables, IoT and SaaS. He has scaled companies with a focus on making a profitable impact around the use and management of energy.
Previous to joining LG, Wannie was SVP of Business and Corporate development at Bidgely, a global AI powered SaaS provider focused in energy analytics delivering partnerships with Itron, Salesforce and Snowflake. Prior to Bidgely, he was CEO of Zen Ecosystems, a leading provider of energy management solutions to the SMB market, leading to a successful exit in 2023 and SVP of Business and Corporate development at Inspire Energy, leading to a successful exit in 2021.
Brad Wills
Director: Strategic Customers & Programs
Schneider Electric
Brad Wills
Director: Strategic Customers & Programs
Schneider Electric
Brad joined Square D in August of 1993 after completing his MBA from the University of Kentucky. Over the last 28 years he has served in many roles including:
- Market Research
- Product Management and Development
- Segment Sales Management & Marketing
- Channel Management
- US Marketing Operations
- New business startup
In his latest role as Director: Strategic Customers & Programs Brad is responsible for strategic development and execution of go to market and business programs for Schneider Electric’s Home & Distribution business.
EDUCATION: The University of Kentucky - Lexington, KY
May 1993 Master of Business Administration - Concentration: Marketing
May 1991 BS Journalism
May 1990 BS Advertising - Concentration: Media Research and Selection
May 1990 Minor Political Science
The Economics University of Vienna - Vienna, Austria
Summer 1992 Graduate studies in International Marketing and Art History
Michael Lee
CEO
Octopus Energy
Michael Lee
CEO
Octopus Energy
Michael Lee is CEO of Octopus Energy U.S. With nearly a decade in renewable energy, including working on some of the first battery storage projects and developing solar solutions for Fortune 500's internationally, Michael is an entrepreneur who believes technology can unlock cleaner and cheaper electricity all while delighting the customer. He is the co-founder of Evolve Energy, which was acquired by Octopus Energy in 2020. Michael has a background in finance and holds an MBA from Harvard.
Energy savings has always been a leading driver of smart home technology adoption, and major changes in the energy landscape point to a paradigm shift in how consumers will manage their home energy in the future. This session addresses how the electrification of the grid, increasing grid outages and the need for energy resilience, growth in electric vehicles, and new models for solar and storage are coalescing to bring about a new reality in home energy management where connected home devices and platforms enable the consumer to be an engaged and active participant in energy markets.
New Era of Home Security
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Parks Associates mission is to help companies navigate the changing consumer technology landscapes through data-driven market insights, extensive consumer and industry intelligence, and executive conferences. With over two decades of dedication to the company, Elizabeth Parks, President and Chief Marketing Officer, has been instrumental in shaping its growth and success, along with the continued focus of delivering timely and quality industry and consumer insights on the broadband, entertainment, connected home and SMB industries.
Elizabeth's commitment to Parks Associates' overarching mission is unwavering. Parks Associates provides clients with the most comprehensive consumer and industry research and analysis to empower businesses to make informed decisions in an ever-evolving landscape.
Elizabeth's journey with Parks Associates began after graduating with a BA in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Plano Texas with her husband and three children.
Dave Mayne
President
M2M Services
Dave Mayne
President
M2M Services
Dave Mayne, President, M2M Services
Andreas Rudyk
Co-founder and Co-CEO
Smartfrog & Canary
Andreas Rudyk
Co-founder and Co-CEO
Smartfrog & Canary
Andreas is a serial entrepreneur. He founded his first company, the online gaming enabler lionix, at the age of fifteen. He then founded IM Trading, a stock market newsletter publishing business, later acquired by a Swiss private equity firm. Subsequently, Andreas bootstrapped and co-founded ewido networks, a consumer cyber security company. With over 7 million users worldwide, the business scaled rapidly to a category leader and was awarded, "Best newcomer of the year" by Digital River's ICE. In 2006, ewido merged with AVG Technologies, a leading antivirus and cybersecurity provider where Andreas led business development and later corporate development of the group worldwide. Andreas helped to grow AVG from 40 to over 110 million customers, scaling the team from 100 to 800 employees (including 450 software engineers) and taking the company public on the New York Stock Exchange in 2012. Andreas co-founded Smartfrog as a consumer IoT SaaS pioneer in 2014. The company's mission is making modern technologies useful, easy, affordable and safe providing IoT for everyone. In 2018, the company acquired the US-based Canary Connect Inc. The two businesses were later merged into Smartfrog & Canary, headquartered in NYC. Andreas leads the group as Co-CEO. To date, the business has raised over $150M in funding and is one of the category leaders.
Marty Hebert
Head of Security Sales & Strategy
RapidSOS
Marty Hebert
Head of Security Sales & Strategy
RapidSOS
Marty Hebert has spent 15 years in the Smart Home and Security industries leading go-to-market functions and building strong partnerships. His belief in technology-centric applications to business problems has helped him build unique experiences that he is applying to the emergency response space today.
Prior to RapidSOS, Marty served as the Senior Director of Corporate and Program Accounts for Alarm.com. There, he led partnerships with some of the largest companies in the home security marketplace. He helped craft go-to-market strategies that those companies enacted to deploy Alarm.com products and services to millions of homes and businesses. As an early member of the Alarm.com team, Marty was an early and ongoing contributor to the construction of the largest smart home platform company in North America. Working closely with all functional teams within the company, Marty helped develop partner and customer-facing solutions that are now recognized as expected standards.
Marty is not only an expert but also a thought leader in the smart home and security space. He is passionate about harnessing next-generation technologies to overcome the challenges of security-related emergency response. As Head of Security at RapidSOS, Marty will lead the charge in empowering first responders with life-saving data by linking connected security platforms to emergency services, which in turn, will better protect individuals, homes, and communities.
Akash Sah
Chief Procurement Officer
Brinks Home
Akash Sah
Chief Procurement Officer
Brinks Home
Akash joined Brinks Home Security in July 2020, with more than 20 years of operations management experience.
Most recently, Akash was the Head of Manufacturing Operations at Bossa Nova Robotics (a San Francisco Bay-area based startup) where he scaled their production capacity more than 5X and reduced the product cost by over 20 percent during his tenure. Prior to that, Akash was a management consultant for 6 years (Ernst & Young and McKinsey & Company) focused on operational performance improvement, and has also worked with Applied Materials, Align Technology, and Primus Power.
Akash has a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Nagpur University (India), a masters in Mechanical Engineering from Cornell, and a MBA from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business.
Jen Theobald
Director of Strategic Partnerships
Rapid Response Monitoring
Jen Theobald
Director of Strategic Partnerships
Rapid Response Monitoring
Jen Theobold, currently Director of Strategic Partnerships at Rapid Response Monitoring, has been in the security industry for over 15 years. Her experience is comprehensive and includes development in Sales, Business Development, Product Management, Strategy, as well as Mergers and Acquisitions.
Jen has held strategic roles at Bold Technologies, Rapid Response Monitoring, Milestone Systems, Axis Communications and Comcast Business before returning to Rapid Response in her current role.
Her guideposts in the development of her career have provided a perspective focusing on corporate future, industry evolution, market trends and culture development… an organizational roadmap to success.
The security industry is grappling with several years of market shifts, where new competitors, changes in business models, and enhancements in current product offerings have expanded the market considerably. This session addresses the changing dynamics in the security industry, including new technologies that will challenge traditional models while expanding its appeal. Speakers share insights on technology choices, interactive services, and changes in consumer behavior.
Insurance and Smart Products: Fire and Water Solutions
Moderator
Jason Paris
VP, Business Development
Parks Associates
Moderator
Jason Paris
VP, Business Development
Parks Associates
Jason Paris joined Parks Associates as an analyst studying international telephone, cable, and satellite providers and is now a member of the business development team.
Jason graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a BA in psychology and government. After working for the Texas House of Representatives, Jason spent the previous seven years in New York City working with portable and enterprise healthcare technologies.
Erik Bernal
CEO
Elite Water Systems
Erik Bernal
CEO
Elite Water Systems
Originally from Winters, Texas, now residing in San Antonio, Erik Bernal is married to Heidi Bernal and the father of five beautiful girls. He is an honors graduate of the University of Tennessee receiving a B.S. in Logistics with a minor in Marketing in 2003. Erik started his career with Accenture in Atlanta as an information technology consultant working with SunTrust Bank and the State of North Carolina. He moved on from Accenture in the fall of 2004 working as a sales representative for Schindler Elevator in New Orleans.
When Hurricane Katrina struck southern Louisiana in August of 2005, Bernal became extremely concerned with the environmental impact. Thus began his journey with water quality. He began working in various roles in the Central U.S., understanding the challenges of inadequate water quality. In August of 2007, he was provided an exclusive contract with GE Water and Pentair Water Filtration for San Antonio, Texas. He has since expanded his territory to include Texas, Colorado, New Mexico, Florida, Nevada, and soon to be moving his products into the Southeast. Currently, Elite Water Systems is manufacturing and distributing water and air quality solutions in multiple market segments including residential and commercial construction as well as yachts in the high-end marine industry.
Since 2016, Bernal has progressively built his organization into a total home wellness-driven organization focused on indoor air quality, water quality and smart plumbing solutions working with over 60 home builders including many in the Top 10. Erik and his team are recognized as thought leaders in the residential industry providing environmentally sound and pandemic-ready solutions that are affordable and scalable across all market segments. Today, Bernal enjoys spending his free time with his wife and daughters traveling as well as attending sporting events.
Jeff Bales
VP, Insurance Partnerships
Flume
Jeff Bales
VP, Insurance Partnerships
Flume
Jeff Bales is a leading voice in IoT and insurance loss prevention, with over 15 years of experience driving sales, business development, and innovation at companies like GE Lighting, Comcast, and Pepper IoT. He currently serves as VP of Insurance Partnerships at Flume Water, where he works with insurers to implement connected home technology for proactive risk management. Jeff brings a unique blend of technical insight and industry expertise, helping insurers modernize their offerings and better protect policyholders in a digital world.
Sai Reddy, Ph.D., is the CEO and founder of CamerEye, Sai, a lifelong water lover - swimming, surfing, and sailing - decided to use his knowledge and experience in building AI technology to address one of the biggest problems in the aquatic industry: water safety using video based AI recognition system. With CamerEye, Sai is working to build peace of mind and safety for millions of pool owners across the nation.
Brett Sobol
Sr. Growth Initiatives Lead
Hippo
Brett Sobol
Sr. Growth Initiatives Lead
Hippo
As Sr. Growth Initiatives Lead, Brett drives strategy and operations for Hippo's industry-leading home protection programs, including Smart Home and Hippo Home Care. At Hippo, Brett is responsible for scaling and enhancing these services to better protect the company’s customers in 37 states and to ensure homeowners have a proactive partner to keep small things from becoming big problems.
Prior to Hippo, Brett spent nearly a decade at Comcast, most recently heading up strategy and planning for Comcast’s IoT Growth Division where he focused on new business initiatives, including the company’s acquisition of Notion and its partnership with Hippo. Brett holds a degree in Business Management from Babson College.
Smart home devices and sensors offer insurers new data-driven tools to enhance underwriting, mitigate risk, expedite and validate claims, and deepen customer engagement. This session addresses how insurers and builders can leverage smart home solutions, especially fire and water safety devices, to increase their value propositions for protecting the home while also providing operational efficiencies and introducing new services.
Protecting Consumers at Home: Security and Privacy Matters
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Parks Associates mission is to help companies navigate the changing consumer technology landscapes through data-driven market insights, extensive consumer and industry intelligence, and executive conferences. With over two decades of dedication to the company, Elizabeth Parks, President and Chief Marketing Officer, has been instrumental in shaping its growth and success, along with the continued focus of delivering timely and quality industry and consumer insights on the broadband, entertainment, connected home and SMB industries.
Elizabeth's commitment to Parks Associates' overarching mission is unwavering. Parks Associates provides clients with the most comprehensive consumer and industry research and analysis to empower businesses to make informed decisions in an ever-evolving landscape.
Elizabeth's journey with Parks Associates began after graduating with a BA in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Plano Texas with her husband and three children.
Paul Palmer
Vice President Service Provider Business, Consumer Business Unit
F-Secure
Paul Palmer
Vice President Service Provider Business, Consumer Business Unit
F-Secure
Paul has been with F-Secure for over 8 years and is currently leading our Service Provider sales, marketing and delivery teams globally who work with around 170 service provider partners to offer F-Secure products and services to their consumers. Paul has previously managed Sales and Marketing teams in Europe and APAC regions, as well as managing Business Development at F-Secure and has over 30 years' experience in the telecommunications industry. Prior to joining F-Secure, Paul held sales management positions in both Europe and APAC with start-ups as well as larger multinational companies such as Lucent Technologies and Vodafone.
Razvan Todor
VP, Product Management
Bitdefender
Razvan Todor
VP, Product Management
Bitdefender
Razvan Todor is a Product and Business Management Leader with over 15 years of software industry experience. He is currently the Vice President of the B2B2C division at Bitdefender, a global security technology company that serves over 500 million us-ers in over 150 countries with cybersecurity solutions and advanced threat protection services. Since joining the company, Razvan has held several key management positions at Bitdefender, focusing on both business and consumers. For the past five years, he has overseen or been directly involved in the launch of Bitdefender's top-tier B2C and B2B2C products, such as Bitdefender BOX and the Bitdefender IoT Security Plat-form, as well as co-branded solutions such as NETGEAR Armor powered by Bitde-fender. His current mission is to build and expand Bitdefender's technological reach through strategic partnerships with industry leaders in the IoT and smart home cyber-security markets.
Jeff Elbaum
VP of Global Sales
Iris® Powered by Generali
Jeff Elbaum
VP of Global Sales
Iris® Powered by Generali
Jeff Elbaum is currently the Vice President of Global Sales at Iris® Powered by Generali, a global identity and cyber protection company that offers always-available identity resolution experts and tech-forward solutions. Iris is part of the multinational Generali Group, operating in 60 countries with over 72,000 employees.
Prior to joining Iris in 2020, Jeff held several business development leadership positions in consumer security and privacy. He is also a veteran of AOL, where he was responsible for marketing of partner subscription products and overseeing member communications.
David Jurgens
VP Strategic Alliances
SAM Seamless Network
David Jurgens
VP Strategic Alliances
SAM Seamless Network
David Jurgens is SAM Seamless Network’s VP Strategic Alliances. Dave is an IT business development and sales professional with over 20 years experience in creating partnered sales strategies and building executive relationships while growing sales in enterprise, mid-market and SMB segments. Dave holds an MBA from DePaul's Kellstadt Graduate School of Business in Finance and Marketing.
By their nature, connected devices pose a risk to consumers’ privacy. For consumers to embrace the value propositions of smart home products and services, they need assurances the industry is taking steps to secure their data and protect their privacy. In response, device manufacturers are exploring opportunities to conduct more computing at the edge, to minimize vulnerabilities. This session addresses current attitudes around data privacy as well as how companies collect and manage their data, with speakers offering insights on the best solutions and strategies to communicate these practices to consumers.
Business Model Innovations in the Smart Home
Moderator
Chris White
Research Director
Parks Associates
Moderator
Chris White
Research Director
Parks Associates
Chris is a Senior Researcher with Parks Associates, covering the connected home market. He was previously a Director of Insights at PeopleMetrics in Philadelphia and the Data Manager of a youth-serving collaborative in New Orleans. He has performed research for companies in a variety of industries, including the telecom/ISP space.
Chris earned his BBA in Marketing from the College of William & Mary and his MBA in Marketing and Finance from American University.
Kent Dickson
GM, IoT Platforms & Services
Yonomi/Allegion
Kent Dickson
GM, IoT Platforms & Services
Yonomi/Allegion
Kent Dickson is an experienced technology leader who enjoys building great teams and disruptive products. He is VP and GM of IoT Platforms & Services for Allegion, a global pioneer in seamless access, with leading brands like CISA, Interflex, LCN, Schlage, SimonsVoss, and Von Duprin. Before Allegion, Kent was co-founder and CEO of Yonomi, the simple connected home integration platform, which joined the Allegion family of brands in January 2021. Kent's background includes serving as General Manager of GridMachine, a massive scale Grid Computing-as-a-Service operated as a business unit of Sentient AI. Kent spent nine years at BEA Systems, leading the teams for several market-defining products in the WebLogic and AquaLogic lines. Kent has spent ten years working on the smart home frontier, partnering with leading device makers, voice assistants, AI innovators, and service providers. Kent holds a BS in Aerospace Engineering and an MBA from the University of Colorado, Boulder.
Jennifer Doctor
Senior Director, Product Management
Johnson Controls
Jennifer Doctor
Senior Director, Product Management
Johnson Controls
Jennifer Doctor is the Senior Director of Product Management for Johnson Controls, Global Products’ Intrusion detection portfolio. In this capacity, Jennifer leads a global team managing more than 5,000 traditional and smart home security products around the globe in residential and commercial markets.
Jennifer joined Johnson Controls from ADT North America where she was the Director of Product Strategy. She brings a dozen years of experience in the security industry, and nearly 25 years of experience in product marketing and product management to Johnson Controls, having worked with companies to help them bring products to market profitably. In addition to her unique blend of product management, product marketing and marketing skills, Jennifer also brings IT skills and certifications to her portfolio including ITIL, CMMi, Certified Agile Leader and Certified SAFe 5 Product Owner/Product Manager.
Jennifer is a member of the board of directors for the Z-Wave Alliance where she also serves as the Marketing Committee. She is a frequent industry speaker and is active member of several product management communities. Jennifer was recently included on the SIA Women in Security Forum “Power 100” in 2023. She can be found on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jidoctor/, and followed on twitter at @jidoctor.
Scott Ford
Founder and CEO
Pepper IoT
Scott Ford
Founder and CEO
Pepper IoT
As CEO, Scott is responsible for setting the company vision and overseeing all aspects of the business. He lends his more than 30-years of professional experience in company operations, business development, venture capital investing, and multiple board-level roles to help shape the future of the company. Scott is a Kauffman Fellow and a decorated Desert Storm U.S. Navy Aircrewman with 300 combat flight hours.
The IoT play transforms the traditional device value proposition by enabling new services and business models on top of the hardware itself. As more devices gain connectivity – from home appliances, to lawncare products, beds, and HVAC products – the opportunities to sell products in new ways, offer new services, and generate new recurring revenue streams grow. This session addresses next generation offerings across use cases like grocery and cooking solutions, video and audio analytics services, energy management services, intelligent monitoring services, and cybersecurity services as companies introduce new service-based business models.
Special Session: Seniors, Caregivers, and Tech Services: A Growing Opportunity
Moderator
Kristen Hanich
Director of Research
Parks Associates
Moderator
Kristen Hanich
Director of Research
Parks Associates
INDUSTRY EXPERTISE: Consumer electronics, mobility services and devices, connected health and wellness.
Kristen Hanich heads Parks Associates' consumer electronics and mobility research, with expertise in other verticals including connected cars, mobile networking, healthcare, wellness, and independent living. She leads a mix of custom and syndicated research projects throughout the year, with a focus on major players and emerging trends. Kristen specializes in bridging the gap between data-driven and narrative approaches to understanding the consumer markets via a mix of qualitative and quantitative research approaches.
Kristen has dual master's degrees in applied anthropology and public health from the Universities of North Texas in Denton and Fort Worth. She earned her BSc in health at the University of Texas at San Antonio and has a graduate certificate in Geographic Information Systems.
Lainie Muller
Senior Director, Business Development, Health & Wellness
Alarm.com
Lainie Muller
Senior Director, Business Development, Health & Wellness
Alarm.com
Lainie Muller is a 15-year veteran of the technology industry and an emerging voice on Smart Solutions for Aging in Place and Connected Caregiving.
Lainie is Director of Wellness at Alarm.com, a publicly traded company (NASDAQ: ALRM) and the nation’s leading cloud-based platform for the smart home. The Wellness solution leverages Smart Home technology to support Aging in Place and independent living for older adults and those living with disabilities. Wellness, an integrated element of Alarm.com’s comprehensive ecosystem of home management technology, is currently in use in residential homes, senior living communities, schools and in remote caregiving programs funded by Medicare and Medicaid. The product has received critical acclaim from The New York Times, Kiplingers, CNN, NPR and TechCrunch.
In 2010, Lainie joined BeClose, a privately funded start-up company, as the Director of Partnership Sales. In 2015, BeClose was “spun-in” to Alarm.com, an early-stage strategic investor of the company. The BeClose product is now available as Alarm.com Wellness.
Prior to BeClose, Lainie served as National Sales Manager, Major Accounts Unit (MAU) at Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive, the online subsidiary of The Washington Post company, where she led a top revenue producing team driving Healthcare, Consumer Electronics and Retail sales.
Lainie has been an active Board Member for the National Capitol Area Chapter, Alzheimer’s Association since 2012. She holds a BS in Business and Organizational Development from Vanderbilt University. Lainie lives in Chevy Chase, MD with her husband and two teenage boys.
Kian Saneii
CEO
Independa
Kian Saneii
CEO
Independa
Kian Saneii is a computer scientist and serial entrepreneur, passionate about creating innovative solutions that transform lives, organizations and entire markets. Saneii founded Independa in 2009, and is CEO and Chairman of the company. Kian speaks on a wide range of topics, including the Consumerization of Healthcare and is dedicated to helping transform our sickcare system into a dramatically more beneficial healthcare system more effective, cost effective, accessible and convenient. Award-winning solutions from Independa transform the standard TV to deliver an unparalleled person-centric view of remote engagement, education and care for older adults and others who are the hardest to reach, most susceptible to COVID or chronic conditions, most isolated, and the most expensive to care for. From the Hospital to the Home, and throughout the entire care continuum in between. In close association with LG Electronics, LG TVs offer the Independa Health Hub Ecosystem, delivering a wide and growing number of offerings, including 24/7 telemedicine, teledentistry, telebehavioral health, medical grade health education, personalized exercise videos, discount pharmacy, and other benefits and offerings right on the TV. Saneii and Independa are helping transform the healthcare cost curve, along with the quality of lives and care for those most in need. Independa has received numerous awards and recognitions, including CES' Technology for a Better World, 100 Brilliant Companies by Entrepreneur, and Top 10 Patient Engagement Solutions by HealthCare Tech Outlook.
Heather Sellar
Director of Sales and Business Development
Essence
Heather Sellar
Director of Sales and Business Development
Essence
Heather Sellar is the Director of Sales for Essence USA, a global, custom manufacturer of Security, Healthcare and IOT devices. Essence SmartCare specializes in Telecare and Remote Patient Monitoring solutions enabling smart, preventative care and emergency response so the elderly and vulnerable individuals can lead more independent and safer lives with peace of mind. Prior to joining Essence in March of 2021, Heather spent over a decade in several sales and operational roles with Critical Signal Technologies, a health service provider. Heather has held the designation of Certified Senior Advisor since 2011.
Retailers, service providers, and device manufacturers are expanding the market of technology solutions that help seniors live safely and well in their homes. This session addresses emerging strategies to serve people ages 50 and older, as well as their family caregivers, and the innovations that allow companies to address existing needs of these populations and anticipate future demands.
Connected Entertainment and Smart Home: Whole-Home Experiences
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Parks Associates mission is to help companies navigate the changing consumer technology landscapes through data-driven market insights, extensive consumer and industry intelligence, and executive conferences. With over two decades of dedication to the company, Elizabeth Parks, President and Chief Marketing Officer, has been instrumental in shaping its growth and success, along with the continued focus of delivering timely and quality industry and consumer insights on the broadband, entertainment, connected home and SMB industries.
Elizabeth's commitment to Parks Associates' overarching mission is unwavering. Parks Associates provides clients with the most comprehensive consumer and industry research and analysis to empower businesses to make informed decisions in an ever-evolving landscape.
Elizabeth's journey with Parks Associates began after graduating with a BA in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Plano Texas with her husband and three children.
Josh Lunsford
Executive Director Cox Communities Strategy
Cox Communities
Josh Lunsford
Executive Director Cox Communities Strategy
Cox Communities
Josh is the Executive Director of Multi-Family and New Build Strategy for Cox Communities. In this role, Josh is responsible for overseeing the company’s corporate multi-family and new build residential strategies across the enterprise. In addition to overseeing sales, growth and innovation strategies throughout the 18 states of operation, Josh also works closely with the Field Sales, Enablement, Marketing, Field Ops, Product and Technology teams to ensure greater alignment between product offerings and speed-to-market to enhance the B2C and B2B customer experience.
Josh has more than 25 years of sales and technology experience in both the consumer and business sectors, 21 of which have been with Cox. He started out his career at Cox in commercial sales serving the SMB, healthcare, hotel/motel, higher education, senior living and multi-family segments working his way into sales and sales operations leadership primarily focused on the multi-family industry. During his time in field sales, he was a pioneer creating and selling the first managed Wifi solution for Cox in the multi-family space. Prior to shifting his focus to corporate strategy, he led Cox’s Central Region multi-family sales team across 5 states with responsibilities for the Digital Transformation and some of Cox’s largest multi-family portfolios.
For the last 5 years, Josh has served in his current capacity leading Strategy. In this role, he has guided the expansion of Cox’s new build program, enhancing managed services and the development of emerging technologies like move-in ready internet and property automation services.
Josh holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Agricultural Business and Marketing from the University of Arkansas. He has served on numerous boards including the NWA Apartment Association, Boy Scouts of America and the Cancer Challenge. Josh is an avid outdoorsmen and spends as much time as possible on the family farm with his wife, son and daughter where they raise cattle and horses.
Bill Nicholson
Director
Rutestock
Bill Nicholson
Director
Rutestock
Bill Nicholson, Founder and Managing Director of rutestock, an energy & smart technology marketing & consulting company with strong influencer roots to New Home Builders. US based, rutestock evaluates, tests and recommends energy products integrated with emerging smart home tech, providing training of these technologies to its dealer network, guaranteeing complete integration to our iBuilder partners. Mr Nicholson began rutestock in 2019 after 40 years developing the Smart Home process within the New Home Builder market from designing the first in-wall speaker with SpeakerCraft, to implementing the SmartHome Structured Wiring Package, to creating the plug-n-play Home Energy Package. The Integrated Home was always the final piece of the SmartHome collection providing peace of mind and trust for all.
Bob Scaglione
VP of Business Development
Support.com
Bob Scaglione
VP of Business Development
Support.com
Bob Scaglione is the VP of Business Development for Support.com, the leading provider of 24/7 technical support solutions delivered by home-based employees. Prior to that he was the VP of Strategic Account Development for Ziff Media Group where he was responsible for the end-to-end brand licensing pipeline.
Before Ziff, Scaglione was the SVP of Strategic Channel Development for OwnerIQ, programmatic ad-tech solution provider focused on consumer shopping behaviors.
In addition, Scaglione capped off his 23 year career at Sharp Electronics by serving as their Chief Marketing Officer where he focused on reshaping its brand position through a revitalized strategic messaging platform, brand vision, identity, and voice. He holds a BS in Marketing from the University of Scranton, and he resides in Chatham, NJ.
Chad Shepler
COO
StoryBuilt
Chad Shepler
COO
StoryBuilt
Chad joined StoryBuilt in 2017 after first becoming an investor in 2015. He quickly implemented a systems overhaul by launching a new ERP, sales, scheduling, reporting and HR platform aimed at scaling StoryBuilt’s operations. As a process-driven operator, he leads the Executive Committee and runs point on many of the strategic and scale related efforts underway at StoryBuilt. In addition, he heads up new verticals related to technology, service, and innovation.
Chad is an experienced entrepreneur, having spent the past 20 years leading high impact operational initiatives and high-performance teams through to realization. He holds an MBA from Duke University and Bachelors in Architectural Studies from University of Kansas.
Connected entertainment and smart home ecosystems have developed in parallel but generally separate silos. Recently, more device manufacturers and platform players offer crossover use cases, and TV manufacturers are building more smart home controls into the TV as a control platform. As ecosystems in the home converge, new solutions to bring the whole-home experience to the consumer are marked by unified solutions focused on entertainment, peace of mind, energy, and convenience. This session assesses the barriers that remain between entertainment and smart home, the drivers of new crossover experiences, and industry leaders’ vision of the whole-home smart home experience.
Keynote - The Future of the Smart Home
Moderator
Jason Paris
VP, Business Development
Parks Associates
Moderator
Jason Paris
VP, Business Development
Parks Associates
Jason Paris joined Parks Associates as an analyst studying international telephone, cable, and satellite providers and is now a member of the business development team.
Jason graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a BA in psychology and government. After working for the Texas House of Representatives, Jason spent the previous seven years in New York City working with portable and enterprise healthcare technologies.
Paul Williams
Global Managing Director, Home Management Business Unit
Nice
Paul Williams
Global Managing Director, Home Management Business Unit
Nice
Paul Williams serves as the Managing Director of the Home Management Solutions Business Unit for Nice and leads the worldwide strategy and business for the connected home in this role. Paul has over 20 years of executive leadership in the connected home space and his career spans start-ups to Fortune 500 companies. Paul previously served as Nice North America’s Chief Product Officer where he led the product management teams and developed the product strategy and product roadmaps of all products / solutions for Nice in North America. Prior to joining Nice, he was at GE Lighting in the role of GM of Product Management and Growth where he was charged with reimagining lighting solutions. In three years, Paul’s team created a DIY smart home ecosystem with innovative products and scaled the consumer mobile app, taking it from just 30,000 users to more than 2 million. During his 14+ years of executive leadership at Control4, a manufacturer of smart home solutions, he was instrumental in building the company from a startup to IPO with double-digit, year-over-year growth.
If you were to step into a time machine and go back in time 15 years and bring someone from that time to now, they would be amazed in how the smart home has progressed and the advancements that have taken place. You would be equally amazed if you stepped into that same time machine and went into the future. This session takes a brief look back at the history of smart home and discusses what that future may look like (sans time machine), including the technologies that will be used and most importantly what consumers can look forward to in their smart home experiences.
Thursday, May 19, 2022
Opening Comments - Eye on Growth: Channels and New Markets
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
INDUSTRY EXPERTISE: Connected Health, Connected Home Technologies and Services, Connected Entertainment Products and Services.
Jennifer manages the research department and Parks Associates' process for producing high-quality, relevant, and meaningful research. Jennifer also leads and advises on syndicated and custom research projects across all connected consumer verticals and guides questionnaire development for Parks Associates’ extensive consumer analytics survey program. Jennifer is a certified focus group moderator, with training from the Burke Institute.
Jennifer earned her PhD in religion, politics, and society and an MA in church-state studies from Baylor University. She earned her BA in politics from the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.
Channel Strategies for Smart Home: Where’s the Growth
Brent Corn
Vice President of Sales and Alliances
IOTAS
Brent Corn
Vice President of Sales and Alliances
IOTAS
Kelly Hall
Director of Business Development
AmTrust
Kelly Hall
Director of Business Development
AmTrust
Kelly joined the AmTrust Specialty Risk team in 2017. Kelly is responsible for leading business development efforts for the Specialty Risk division to include programs with OEMs, TPAs and Retailers for the consumer product segment. Prior to joining AmTrust, Kelly held various Business Development and Account Management leadership roles within the retail warranty sector, supporting partners like Target, Amazon, and other major brands. Kelly received her Bachelor of Business Administration in Economics from Georgia Southern University.
Nick Millette
Product Development Merchant - Smart Home
The Home Depot
Nick Millette
Product Development Merchant - Smart Home
The Home Depot
Nick Millette led the creation of Hubspace, Home Depot’s new Smart Home platform, and is responsible for the development and strategic sourcing of Home Depot’s proprietary branded products in the Smart Home category. As the Product Development Merchant for Smart Home, Nick is responsible for the strategy on how The Home Depot's proprietary brands enter the Smart Home space.
John Morin
Director, Connected Home Product Development
Assurant
John Morin
Director, Connected Home Product Development
Assurant
Scott W. Tjaden
Product Development for Smart Home
Constellation
Scott W. Tjaden
Product Development for Smart Home
Constellation
Scott currently leads the strategy for Mass Markets zero-carbon energy products at Constellation Energy in Baltimore Maryland. Constellation is the leading carbon-free energy provider in the US, while also helping customers ranging from commercial to mass market residential customers achieve their sustainability goals through energy management solutions. Current focus areas include innovations around the larger smart home and energy management solution nexus. Scott has a Master's degree in Ecological Engineering, which provide a lens for sustainability and engaging others to think of and challenge emerging zero-carbon solutions to help further evolve the energy sector. Scott previously managed emerging Innovation opportunities which focused on grid edge technologies for Pepco Holdings Utility in Washington, DC where a balance of large-scale grid benefit, customer adoption, and regulatory alignment was critical for success.
Keynote - Connected Home Evolution
David Puckett
Vice President, Global Devices Product Strategy
Comcast
David Puckett
Vice President, Global Devices Product Strategy
Comcast
David Puckett serves as the Global Devices Organization's Head of Product Strategy. He is responsible for steering the device product vision, long-term product roadmap, and commercial opportunities across Comcast Cable, Comcast Syndication partners, and Sky Europe in his current position. He directs the device strategy for all consumer and SMB products across the Connectivity and Platforms business units of the company, including Xfinity, Comcast Business, and Sky.
In his 18 years at Comcast, David oversaw the introduction of numerous products and features and the expansion of the company's portfolio. He has delivered innovation in various positions, including Product Marketing, Product Development, Product Management, and Product Strategy, always with the customer experience in mind. Before joining Comcast in 2005, David spent eight years executing consumer marketing strategies across direct and indirect sales channels for both consumer and business-to-business services at various private and public Internet Services companies in both start-up and established stages.
David has four hyper-connected Generation Z children. Although David is one of the rare individuals who began his career by handing out free Dialup Internet Service CDs in retail stores and continues to work in an industry that has paved the way for advanced technologies such as AI, AR/VR, Blockchain, Edge Computing, Cloud Gaming, Videoconferencing, IoT, and whatever the Metaverse ends up being, his children are too preoccupied creating content with Tiktok or video games to care.
Smart Apartments: Broadband, Platforms, and Value
Moderator
Kristen Hanich
Director of Research
Parks Associates
Moderator
Kristen Hanich
Director of Research
Parks Associates
INDUSTRY EXPERTISE: Consumer electronics, mobility services and devices, connected health and wellness.
Kristen Hanich heads Parks Associates' consumer electronics and mobility research, with expertise in other verticals including connected cars, mobile networking, healthcare, wellness, and independent living. She leads a mix of custom and syndicated research projects throughout the year, with a focus on major players and emerging trends. Kristen specializes in bridging the gap between data-driven and narrative approaches to understanding the consumer markets via a mix of qualitative and quantitative research approaches.
Kristen has dual master's degrees in applied anthropology and public health from the Universities of North Texas in Denton and Fort Worth. She earned her BSc in health at the University of Texas at San Antonio and has a graduate certificate in Geographic Information Systems.
Jamie Hsu
Product Manage
RealPage
Jamie Hsu
Product Manage
RealPage
Jamie Hsu (She/Her) is Product Manager at STRATIS leading the frontend user experience for STRATIS Mobile and Web Applications. Jamie joined RealPage in September 2020 through its acquisition of Chirp Systems Inc., where she co-built the company from concept and lead product development for smart access control. Jamie is passionate about building one-of-a-kind applications people cannot live without.
Fun Fact: Jamie recently restored her 15 year old violin.
Henry Kim
Director, ThinQ Platform
LG Electronics U.S.A., Inc.
Henry Kim
Director, ThinQ Platform
LG Electronics U.S.A., Inc.
Blake Miller
Founder
Homebase.ai, a Quext Company
Blake Miller
Founder
Homebase.ai, a Quext Company
Blake Miller is the Founder of Homebase.ai, a resident experience and connected building solution for the multi-family housing industry, which was acquired by Quext in September 2023. He also hosts The Future of Living Podcast. Prior to founding Homebase, Blake was a Partner at Think Big, a startup incubator in Kansas City, MO, where he led the incubator program, investing in and advising early-stage startups. In 2012, Blake spearheaded the Kansas City Smart City Initiative, a public-private partnership led by Cisco, deploying smart city technologies in Downtown Kansas City, MO. This project created one of the world's largest smart cities and earned a 2017 Edison Award for innovation. Blake has been honored as the Tech Connector of the Year by the KC Tech Council and a Next Gen Leader by the Kansas City Business Journal. He speaks nationally and serves as a board member, advisor, and mentor to startups.
Lee Odess
General Manager, New Markets
Latch
Lee Odess
General Manager, New Markets
Latch
Labeled as an “uber-networker” by the Washington Post and selected as one of The IFSEC Global influencers in security and fire in 2020, Lee Odess has nearly 20 years of experience starting, building, and leading businesses. Currently, Lee is the General Manager of Latch, which acquired Lee’s consulting business, Group337. Group337 consulted for 40+ of the leading and emerging companies in and around the physical security. also developed content through The Inside and created industry analyst reports through Security Industry Metrics. Prior to founding Group337, Lee served as Vice President of strategic partnering for Allegion PLC. Lee formerly led teams at UniKey Technologies, Brivo Inc., Lutron Electronics and his own companies, Energy + Light + Control and Fresh Confections. Lee writes often on the industry and has presented at technology and security conferences around the world, including SXSW, Dreamforce, ISC West, GSX, Security Investor Conference, and the International Builders Show,
Fireside Chat: Home Builders Adding Value through Tech
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Parks Associates mission is to help companies navigate the changing consumer technology landscapes through data-driven market insights, extensive consumer and industry intelligence, and executive conferences. With over two decades of dedication to the company, Elizabeth Parks, President and Chief Marketing Officer, has been instrumental in shaping its growth and success, along with the continued focus of delivering timely and quality industry and consumer insights on the broadband, entertainment, connected home and SMB industries.
Elizabeth's commitment to Parks Associates' overarching mission is unwavering. Parks Associates provides clients with the most comprehensive consumer and industry research and analysis to empower businesses to make informed decisions in an ever-evolving landscape.
Elizabeth's journey with Parks Associates began after graduating with a BA in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Plano Texas with her husband and three children.
Madison Saab
Senior Manager, Vertical Solutions
Alarm.com
Madison Saab
Senior Manager, Vertical Solutions
Alarm.com
Madison Saab is Senior Vertical Solutions Manager at Alarm.com headquartered in Vienna, VA. Alarm.com creates innovative technology that deepens the connection between people and the things they care about most – their families, homes and businesses. Millions of people trust Alarm.com every day for better security, intelligence automation and dependable services. Alarm.com services are exclusively sold, set up and supported by a nationwide network of authorized service providers. During Madison’s 9-year tenure at Alarm.com, she led inside sales efforts for thousands of Alarm.com Service Provider Partners before joining the Strategic Sales Team to focus on growing new vertical markets such as builders and solar providers. Madison has her undergraduate degree in Industrial Engineering from West Virginia University. She currently resides in Morgantown, WV with her husband and two cats.
Keynote
Vera Gavrilovich
VP of Marketing
Sunnova
Vera Gavrilovich
VP of Marketing
Sunnova
Vera Gavrilovich is the Vice President of Marketing for Sunnova Energy International Inc. (NYSE: NOVA), a leading residential solar and energy storage service provider, with customers across the U.S. and its territories. At Sunnova, Vera leads the demand generation, customer marketing, brand strategy, creative, partnership marketing, retail, and channel marketing teams. Prior to joining Sunnova, Vera lead marketing and customer experience teams for T-Mobile, ADT Security Services, and Navistar International. Vera received her B.S. Degree in Marketing from The University of Illinois-Urbana and her MBA from the Northwestern Kellogg Graduate School of Business.
Health and Wellness Solutions: Expanding the Market
Moderator
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
Moderator
Jennifer Kent
Vice President, Research
Parks Associates
INDUSTRY EXPERTISE: Connected Health, Connected Home Technologies and Services, Connected Entertainment Products and Services.
Jennifer manages the research department and Parks Associates' process for producing high-quality, relevant, and meaningful research. Jennifer also leads and advises on syndicated and custom research projects across all connected consumer verticals and guides questionnaire development for Parks Associates’ extensive consumer analytics survey program. Jennifer is a certified focus group moderator, with training from the Burke Institute.
Jennifer earned her PhD in religion, politics, and society and an MA in church-state studies from Baylor University. She earned her BA in politics from the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.
Patrick Dunn
Program Director, Center for Health Tech and Innovation
American Heart Association
Patrick Dunn
Program Director, Center for Health Tech and Innovation
American Heart Association
Patrick Dunn, PhD, MS, MBA, FAHA is the Program Director for Connected Heart Health and the architect of the Intelligent Health Solutions for the American Heart Association's Center of Excellence for Health Technology and Innovation. Patrick has a unique blend of knowledge and experience in healthcare, business development, software engineering, quality and research. Dr. Dunn is a clinical exercise physiologist and health educator with 36 years of experience in cardiac rehabilitation, preventive cardiology and wellness with specific expertise in digital health literacy and digital coaching methods.
Amanda Forsyth
Director of Product Management
Cognitive Systems
Amanda Forsyth
Director of Product Management
Cognitive Systems
Amanda Forsyth is an ambitious and visionary product leader, striving to build out products in industries ripe for disruption with novel, unorthodox solutions to age-old problems. Her areas of experience include market gap identification, critical thinking, and research, which she has successfully applied to areas including product management, market analysis, data analysis, company development, and strategic planning. Amanda enjoys solving difficult challenges — a quality she has used, notably in product management, to define effective solutions.
Amanda holds both a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science from Wilfrid Laurier University, where her studies were focused on neuroscience and aging. The critical knowledge she gained here about the processes of the human body throughout its lifespan has proven extremely useful in her efforts to develop the Cognitive Systems eldercare product, Caregiver Aware. She built on her previous two degrees by earning a Master of Business Administration from Wilfrid Laurier University's Lazaridis School of Business & Economics, where she learned how to apply much of her scientific knowledge and ability to identify and question gaps in reasoning to build out amazing products.
Amanda has been forging her own path since joining Cognitive in 2016. She has been instrumental in building out the product team to transition the company from its engineering-focused technology innovation phase to its customer-focused productization phase over the last few years. Her efforts were recently rewarded with the successful launch of Caregiver Aware, in which she was challenged to take on an industry with a very different approach and carve out a solution that is truly focused on the needs of users and service providers, rather than basing the product on the existing incumbent solution.
Matt Johnson
CEO
EarlySense
Matt Johnson
CEO
EarlySense
Mr. Johnson brings with him over 15 years of experience as a healthcare and healthtech executive and investor. Throughout his career, he has served in multiple senior management positions, including managing director of healthcare private equity investments at Sowell & Co., CEO of CareCycle Solutions and CEO of HealthBridge In-Home Care.
Dr. David Keeley
Chief Technology Officer
Electronic Caregiver - ECG
Dr. David Keeley
Chief Technology Officer
Electronic Caregiver - ECG
Dr. David Keeley began working with Electronic Caregiver as the lead scientist and liaison at New Mexico State University for the company’s motion analysis and functional movement screenings. David helped ECG formulate, design, and deploy the company’s mobile clinical research lab and the many applications used to run it. He managed data analysis and helped bring numerous scientific studies to publication.
In early 2018, David left a tenured position at NMSU to direct Electronic Caregiver’s ongoing clinical research programs as Chief Clinical Research Officer. In April 2020, David was promoted to Chief Technology Officer to lead and complete the final details of preparing Addison, the Virtual Caregiver for release to the general public. Addison is a state-of-the-art, 3D-animated caregiver providing health monitoring and chronic care management via an interactive touch-screen device placed in the home.
Additionally, David has been instrumental in forming key relationships for Electronic Caregiver, including with the World Health Organization and European Health Organizations. David has also been expertly coordinating with ECG’s partners at AWS (Amazon Web Services), Dell, Google, and Intel.
David is a mature and organized director of ECG’s technical operations. He has assisted the company with setting specifications, validating technique and collected data, establishing testing protocols, and translating clinical research into patient monitoring, mobile health, and wearable technology applications. David has also been a key contributor into the design of both domestic and international patent filings and is listed as a significant inventor on ECG IP assets.
David holds a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology and exercise science from East Central University, a master’s degree in human performance from Texas A&M University-Commerce and is a Doctor of Philosophy in biomechanics/statistics and research methods.
Funding the Smart Home: View from the Industry
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Parks Associates mission is to help companies navigate the changing consumer technology landscapes through data-driven market insights, extensive consumer and industry intelligence, and executive conferences. With over two decades of dedication to the company, Elizabeth Parks, President and Chief Marketing Officer, has been instrumental in shaping its growth and success, along with the continued focus of delivering timely and quality industry and consumer insights on the broadband, entertainment, connected home and SMB industries.
Elizabeth's commitment to Parks Associates' overarching mission is unwavering. Parks Associates provides clients with the most comprehensive consumer and industry research and analysis to empower businesses to make informed decisions in an ever-evolving landscape.
Elizabeth's journey with Parks Associates began after graduating with a BA in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Plano Texas with her husband and three children.
Peter Giacalone
President
Giacalone Associates, LLC
Peter Giacalone
President
Giacalone Associates, LLC
A successful forty five year career in the electronic security & telecommunications industry that includes building and leading the largest security, life safety, PERS and video third-party monitoring center in the US, with a proven executive track record in increasing revenue and opening new market verticals. Over a ten year period of focus and effort resulted in growing the company from a forty five thousand account regional center to over five hundred thousand accounts with fifty million dollars in annual revenue. Created the business plan, solicited the financing and secured a one hundred million dollar credit facility to fund the start up of King Capital Financial Services, which grew to become one of the longest running Dealer Financial & Acquisition Programs in the security industry. Providing Subject Matter Expert advisory for litigation, M&A and operations both domestically and internationally for the past 20 years.
Nancy Green
Senior Vice President
Aveus
Nancy Green
Senior Vice President
Aveus
Nancy Green is a Senior Vice President at Aveus and an award-winning global healthcare and strategic business development executive with expertise in stimulating growth, bringing new and disruptive innovative ideas to market as well as a strong thought leader and creator of strategic alliances.
Prior to joining Aveus, Nancy built her own comprehensive business consulting firm, where she focused on identifying gaps and opportunities to accelerate business success. She specialized in creating strategic partnerships and leading BOLD transformational leadership work. Nancy also led global healthcare thought leadership, strategy and strategic innovation partnerships with Verizon working with healthcare industry leaders on transforming the sector through the adoption of innovation solutions and transformational change.
Nancy has a special affinity and passion to help impact and support the aging population. She is the Chair for the American Telemedicine Association (ATA) Special Interest Group on Healthy Aging - a personal passion for her!
Michael Meyers
Executive Partner
Ethos Capital
Michael Meyers
Executive Partner
Ethos Capital
Michael Meyers, Executive Partner, Ethos Capital
David Sym-Smith
General Partner
Mobility Ventures
David Sym-Smith
General Partner
Mobility Ventures
David Sym-Smith is a successful entrepreneur, proven CEO, motivational speaker, award winning executive. In his career, he has been the founder of multiple startups, he has been the CEO/President of both public and private companies, and he has served as a senior executive in many capacities. David has been part of several well-known successful startups, including Tele Atlas (acquired by Tom Tom) Innopath Software (acquired by Qualcomm), Areal Comm. (acquired by T-Mobile), American Personal Communications (acquired by Sprint), and more.
David serves on the boards of companies. He supports entrepreneurs and small businesses. He is the Chief Evangelist and a board member of Multiple Incubators which work with entrepreneurs.
David is a frequent speaker. He speaks on the topics of innovation, entrepreneurship, and business leadership.
David was honored with the Tech Titans Technology Advocate and Innovation Awards, TIA People Choice Award, PCIA) Distinguished Citizen Award, as Compass Intelligence - Mobile & Wireless Award.
Outside of the world of technology, David has served on numerous charity and non-profit boards.
Feb 16th | 2022
Join us to hear the latest smart home innovations in 2022, following CES. This session includes insights on consumer perception of smart home solutions, and specifically focused on partnerships, efforts to achieve interoperability, and the role of stand-alone devices and whole home systems in the continued move toward mass-market adoption.
Wednesday, February 16, 2022
Welcome and Analyst Insight: Bringing a Unified Experience to the Smart Home
Chris White
Research Director
Parks Associates
Chris White
Research Director
Parks Associates
Chris is a Senior Researcher with Parks Associates, covering the connected home market. He was previously a Director of Insights at PeopleMetrics in Philadelphia and the Data Manager of a youth-serving collaborative in New Orleans. He has performed research for companies in a variety of industries, including the telecom/ISP space.
Chris earned his BBA in Marketing from the College of William & Mary and his MBA in Marketing and Finance from American University.
This opening presentation from Parks Associates provides the latest trends in home security and smart home, drawing from the firm’s quarterly research of 10,000 broadband households.
Integration and the Consumer Experience
Moderator
Chris White
Research Director
Parks Associates
Moderator
Chris White
Research Director
Parks Associates
Chris is a Senior Researcher with Parks Associates, covering the connected home market. He was previously a Director of Insights at PeopleMetrics in Philadelphia and the Data Manager of a youth-serving collaborative in New Orleans. He has performed research for companies in a variety of industries, including the telecom/ISP space.
Chris earned his BBA in Marketing from the College of William & Mary and his MBA in Marketing and Finance from American University.
Jacob Alamat
Senior Vice President, Home and Life Business Unit
Silicon Labs, Inc.
Jacob Alamat
Senior Vice President, Home and Life Business Unit
Silicon Labs, Inc.
Jake Alamat serves as Senior Vice President of Home and Life Business at Silicon Labs. In this role, Jake is responsible for the delivery of intelligent, wireless solutions central to IoT products widely used in daily life including smart lights, voice assistants, portable medical devices, HVAC controls, smart appliances, and more. With more than 20 years of industry experience at NXP and Texas Instruments, Jake has served in multiple leadership roles focused on embedded processing and analog semiconductor solutions. His career experience spans consumer, mobile, automotive, industrial and infrastructure end markets. Prior to joining Silicon Labs in September 2019, Jake served as Vice President and General Manager of Automotive Connectivity at NXP Semiconductors. Jake holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in computer engineering from Michigan State University.
Samantha Fein
Vice President of Business Development and Marketing
Samsung SmartThings
Samantha Fein
Vice President of Business Development and Marketing
Samsung SmartThings
Samantha Fein is an Internet executive and entrepreneur with over 25 years of experience in scaling brands from early stage through explosive growth with a focus on marketing, GTM strategy and business development. She is currently Vice President of Business Development and Marketing for Samsung SmartThings, and is responsible for developing innovative go-to-market strategy and forging partnerships that will help shape the future of smart home. Samantha serves on the Board of Directors for the Connectivity Standards Alliance, is a board member of Thread Group, and is a leading sponsor of the Matter initiative.
John Osborne
Chair Emeritus, CSA; Vice Chairman, Z-Wave Alliance; COO, Lexi
Lexi
John Osborne
Chair Emeritus, CSA; Vice Chairman, Z-Wave Alliance; COO, Lexi
Lexi
John E. Osborne II is currently Chair Emeritus of the CSA (formerly The Zigbee Alliance), Vice Chairman of the Z-Wave Alliance and COO at Lexi Devices and most recently President of LEEDARSON North America and GM of R&D at The Kroger Co.
John has extensive experience in new product development, rapid product commercialization, systems innovations, and operations improvement. He has demonstrated ability to manage and inspire multi-cultural, internal-external teams. He is a skilled communicator and presenter and has a sound background in budgeting, resource allocation and operations efficiency.
Stefan Witkamp
CEO
Homey, part of LG Electronics
Stefan Witkamp
CEO
Homey, part of LG Electronics
Founder and CEO of Homey, on a mission to create better smart homes. Homey builds a powerful, versatile, user-friendly and privacy-first operating system for smart homes. Available as cloud-based service via the Homey app, or completely local on the company's flagship universal hub Homey Pro. Thanks to its universal hubs and open app platform, Homey can interact directly with devices on local APIs, cloud-based APIs, Zigbee, Z-Wave, Matter, Thread, BLE, KNX-IP, 433MHz RF and Infrared, truly unifying smart home across standards.
Matter is an ambitious initiative, and its implementation could drive massive growth in device adoption because product interoperability remains important for consumers. More than one-quarter of consumers who purchased door locks and smart plugs report devices’ ability to work with other owned smart home products was a major purchase consideration. This session brings together industry leaders to share their perspectives on interoperability and the growth of the smart home.
Fireside Chat / Executive Q&A
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Moderator
Elizabeth Parks
President & CMO
Parks Associates
Parks Associates mission is to help companies navigate the changing consumer technology landscapes through data-driven market insights, extensive consumer and industry intelligence, and executive conferences. With over two decades of dedication to the company, Elizabeth Parks, President and Chief Marketing Officer, has been instrumental in shaping its growth and success, along with the continued focus of delivering timely and quality industry and consumer insights on the broadband, entertainment, connected home and SMB industries.
Elizabeth's commitment to Parks Associates' overarching mission is unwavering. Parks Associates provides clients with the most comprehensive consumer and industry research and analysis to empower businesses to make informed decisions in an ever-evolving landscape.
Elizabeth's journey with Parks Associates began after graduating with a BA in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Plano Texas with her husband and three children.
Michelle Mindala-Freeman
Chief Operating Officer
Connectivity Standards Alliance
Michelle Mindala-Freeman
Chief Operating Officer
Connectivity Standards Alliance
As a leader at Connectivity Standards Alliance, Michelle works to promote the Alliance, its mission, standards, and solutions, and drive the growth and success of IoT for the benefit of our members, consumers, and the marketplace at large. As a former executive in the telecom, energy & professional services industries, she has built and led teams across marketing, strategy, brand, customer experience, and go-to-market. With 25+ years of industry and consulting experience, she brings a wealth of experience, perspectives, and a passion for the Alliance’s mission to build the foundation and the future of IoT.