Panelist Bios:
Christopher W. Klaus
Founder / Chief Executive Officer
Panelist Chris Klaus was recently featured in a February 3rd article in the Atlanta Journal and Constitution. To learn more about Mr. Klaus and virtual worlds, check out the following link:
Virtually a Reality...
As founder and chief executive officer of Kaneva, a rapidly growing virtual entertainment world, Christopher W. Klaus is focused on driving overall vision and strategy. Klaus is highly regarded as one of the youngest and brightest Internet pioneers of our time as well as a foremost philanthropist and community leader.
At Kaneva (Latin for “canvas”), Klaus is leading the charge to be the first to unify a 3D Virtual World with the 2D web - tightly integrating social networking, collaborative communities and shared media providing an entirely new social entertainment experience for the masses. Bringing together people, communities and fun things to do, Kaneva provides unique ways to socialize, communicate, share interests and experience entertainment.
Kaneva founder, Christopher Klaus, foresaw that the future of the Internet included the 3D web. With a personal passion for community-building, socialization and gaming, Chris and Kaneva co-founder Greg Frame developed a massively multi-player online (MMO) gaming platform that converges digital entertainment, gaming, Web 2.0 with an immersive 3D environment.
Prior to founding Kaneva, Klaus founded and served as the chief security advisor of Internet Security Systems Inc. (ISS), a company he created in 1994 and sold to IBM in 2006. As a world renowned Internet pioneer, Klaus was one of the first to recognize the emerging need for Internet security and developed the first vulnerability scanning technology. During his time at ISS, Klaus consistently lead the company’s technology vision, contributed significantly to its business strategy and was instrumental in helping organizations around the world safeguard critical data. During his time at ISS, Klaus testified at several U.S. Senate and House of Representative Hearings on issues surrounding cyber security and was selected to co-chair the Technical Standards and Common Criteria Task Force for the Department of Homeland Security National Cyber Security Summit – a private sector sponsored task force within the President’s National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace.
A former student at Georgia Institute of Technology, Klaus decided to share his success by donating $15 million in 1999 for the construction of a new building on the Georgia Tech campus - the Klaus Advanced Computing
Building - representing the largest personal donation from anyone of his generation, according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy. Opened in 2006, the building was designed to inspire students to also give back, as well as accelerate future technology innovation, making a positive, direct impact to our digital lifestyle and the global online community.
Appointed by Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue, Klaus currently sits on the Film, Video, and Music Advisory Commission where he plays an active role in helping define legislation to support the number of films and games made in Georgia. He is a game advisor to American Intercontinental University (AIU), serves on the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) Board of Visitors as well as the boards of VerticalOne, the Georgia Game Developers Association (GGDA), Georgia Tech Advisory Board (GTAB), and the Georgia Tech College of Computing Advisory Board.
Further demonstrating his commitment to creating more opportunities for entrepreneurs and in giving back to the community, Klaus is involved at a high level in groups such as: The Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, Hands on Atlanta, Hands on Network, C.A.R.E., the Technology Association of Georgia and The Georgia Tech Alumni Association.
Benn Konsynski
George S. Craft Professor of Information Systems & Operations Management
Benn R. Konsynski arrived at Goizueta Business School following six years on the faculty at the Harvard Business School where he taught in the MBA program and several executive programs. Prior to arriving at HBS, he was a professor at the University of Arizona where he was a co-founder of the university's multi-million dollar group decision support laboratory. He holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Purdue University.
He has published in such diverse journals as Communications of the ACM, Harvard Business Review, IEEE Transactions on Communications, MIS Quarterly, Journal of MIS, Data Communications, Decision Sciences, Decision Support Systems, Information Systems, and IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering.
Mike Vizard
As the Editorial Director and Senior Vice President, Michael Vizard sets the strategic editorial direction for the Enterprise Group at Ziff Davis, which includes eWEEK, Baseline, CIO Insight, The Channel Insider, Publish and Microsoft Watch,. Mr. Vizard has served as the Editor in Chief of CMP Media’s Computer Resellers News, in addition to being Editor in Chief at International Data Group’s InfoWorld. Mr. Vizard has also had extensive editorial management experience over an 18-year career that has included management positions with PC Week, Computerworld, Digital Review and Electronic Buyers’ News.
Juan Pablo Gnecco founder and chief executive officer of Studiocom, is dedicated to harnessing the power of digital and gaming technologies to create uniquely engaging online brand experiences. Infamous for churning highly creative and innovative Web strategies and campaigns, Gnecco specializes in Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOG’s), virtual worlds, online loyalty programs, kiosks and mobile technology, online media strategies, video-to-web integration, animation and original character development.
Prior to his shift to the digital industry, Gnecco founded a multimedia design firm and a commercial photography studio in his native Colombia. However it was an internship at Georgia Tech and later, a stint at iXL (now Scient), as the first creative director, which sparked his interest in utilizing the online space to solidify brand loyalty, and stimulate dialogue between consumers and brands.
In 1998, Gnecco launched Studiocom, an Atlanta-based digital advertising agency, in the privacy of his living room on a laptop. Today, Studiocom has evolved into an award-winning digital agency with clients such as The Coca-Cola Company, Mattel, Nestle, CVS/pharmacy, FX Networks, Baskin-Robbins, Dunkin’ Donuts, Nicktoons, United Airlines, Sony, Phillips, Pilsner Urquell, Dunkin Donuts and more. The agency is the developer for Mattel’s BarbieGirls.com, widely considered the fastest growing virtual world ever, and The Coca-Cola Company’s highly successful My Coke Rewards online loyalty program.
In addition to his professional achievements, in 2006 Gnecco founded and continues to serve as executive director for Colombianitos. The internationally- recognized non-profit, provides enrichment programs for Colombian children stricken by the violence that has plagued Colombia for the past several decades.
Deborah Dunagan specializes in creating and implementing business transformations designed to enable organizations and industries to operate successfully in the emerging and changing marketplace of the 21st century. Ms. Dunagan’s work is specifically focused on building innovation and intellectual property capabilities, building learning organizations, enabling creativity in the workplace, enabling high performance organizations, aligning performance and learning strategies with business strategies, and building and sustaining environments that operate as eco-systems and enable innovation and creativity as part of the business strategy. Her work includes building capabilities through the integration of people, processes and technology to enable organizations to sense and respond to changes in the marketplace, reduce cycle times for learning and time to market activities and to build trust and social capital. Ms. Dunagan is an expert in Communities of Practice, learning organizations, issues management, knowledge management, organizational design and change, building innovation capabilities, business and cultural transformation and industry convergence. She has held several leadership positions since joining IBM in 1997. Most recently she has led the Global Methods Program and the Global Community of Practice Program for IBM. These programs focused on business and individual performance enablement of IBM’s people and business strategies and the transformation of IBM’s business model to build and sustain new capabilities.
Prior to joining IBM, Ms. Dunagan was the president and chief operating officer of the Reddy Corporation International, a strategic issues management organization providing strategic and competitive insights and intelligence to over 150 utility companies in 14 countries. Her career experience spans several major industries - the electric industry, telecommunications, the publishing industry, and the entertainment industry.”
Ms. Dunagan has developed and promoted the vision and concept of the “Nurturing Corporation,” “Tribal Management,” the “Electrimation Industry” - A new industry for the 21st century,” “The Global Media Network” and “Wave Marketing.” She has served as a speaker at key industry conferences in the US, Australia and Europe, and has published works on her vision as well as issues management, knowledge management, organizational change, industry convergence and competitive business issues. Ms. Dunagan’s most recent publication is about her work with Communities of Practice, including the art and thinking involved in assessing “living systems” and can be found in ”IBM Lessons Learned” - Knowledge Management: Systems Implementations: Lessons from the Silicon Valley – Publisher: Chandos Publishing Oxford Ltd – (January 2008).
Christopher W. KlausFounder / Chief Executive Officer
Panelist Chris Klaus was recently featured in a February 3rd article in the Atlanta Journal and Constitution. To learn more about Mr. Klaus and virtual worlds, check out the following link:
Virtually a Reality...
As founder and chief executive officer of Kaneva, a rapidly growing virtual entertainment world, Christopher W. Klaus is focused on driving overall vision and strategy. Klaus is highly regarded as one of the youngest and brightest Internet pioneers of our time as well as a foremost philanthropist and community leader.
At Kaneva (Latin for “canvas”), Klaus is leading the charge to be the first to unify a 3D Virtual World with the 2D web - tightly integrating social networking, collaborative communities and shared media providing an entirely new social entertainment experience for the masses. Bringing together people, communities and fun things to do, Kaneva provides unique ways to socialize, communicate, share interests and experience entertainment.
Kaneva founder, Christopher Klaus, foresaw that the future of the Internet included the 3D web. With a personal passion for community-building, socialization and gaming, Chris and Kaneva co-founder Greg Frame developed a massively multi-player online (MMO) gaming platform that converges digital entertainment, gaming, Web 2.0 with an immersive 3D environment.
Prior to founding Kaneva, Klaus founded and served as the chief security advisor of Internet Security Systems Inc. (ISS), a company he created in 1994 and sold to IBM in 2006. As a world renowned Internet pioneer, Klaus was one of the first to recognize the emerging need for Internet security and developed the first vulnerability scanning technology. During his time at ISS, Klaus consistently lead the company’s technology vision, contributed significantly to its business strategy and was instrumental in helping organizations around the world safeguard critical data. During his time at ISS, Klaus testified at several U.S. Senate and House of Representative Hearings on issues surrounding cyber security and was selected to co-chair the Technical Standards and Common Criteria Task Force for the Department of Homeland Security National Cyber Security Summit – a private sector sponsored task force within the President’s National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace.
A former student at Georgia Institute of Technology, Klaus decided to share his success by donating $15 million in 1999 for the construction of a new building on the Georgia Tech campus - the Klaus Advanced Computing
Building - representing the largest personal donation from anyone of his generation, according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy. Opened in 2006, the building was designed to inspire students to also give back, as well as accelerate future technology innovation, making a positive, direct impact to our digital lifestyle and the global online community.
Appointed by Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue, Klaus currently sits on the Film, Video, and Music Advisory Commission where he plays an active role in helping define legislation to support the number of films and games made in Georgia. He is a game advisor to American Intercontinental University (AIU), serves on the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) Board of Visitors as well as the boards of VerticalOne, the Georgia Game Developers Association (GGDA), Georgia Tech Advisory Board (GTAB), and the Georgia Tech College of Computing Advisory Board.
Further demonstrating his commitment to creating more opportunities for entrepreneurs and in giving back to the community, Klaus is involved at a high level in groups such as: The Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, Hands on Atlanta, Hands on Network, C.A.R.E., the Technology Association of Georgia and The Georgia Tech Alumni Association.
Benn Konsynski George S. Craft Professor of Information Systems & Operations Management
Benn R. Konsynski arrived at Goizueta Business School following six years on the faculty at the Harvard Business School where he taught in the MBA program and several executive programs. Prior to arriving at HBS, he was a professor at the University of Arizona where he was a co-founder of the university's multi-million dollar group decision support laboratory. He holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Purdue University.
He has published in such diverse journals as Communications of the ACM, Harvard Business Review, IEEE Transactions on Communications, MIS Quarterly, Journal of MIS, Data Communications, Decision Sciences, Decision Support Systems, Information Systems, and IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering.
Mike VizardAs the Editorial Director and Senior Vice President, Michael Vizard sets the strategic editorial direction for the Enterprise Group at Ziff Davis, which includes eWEEK, Baseline, CIO Insight, The Channel Insider, Publish and Microsoft Watch,. Mr. Vizard has served as the Editor in Chief of CMP Media’s Computer Resellers News, in addition to being Editor in Chief at International Data Group’s InfoWorld. Mr. Vizard has also had extensive editorial management experience over an 18-year career that has included management positions with PC Week, Computerworld, Digital Review and Electronic Buyers’ News.
Juan Pablo Gnecco founder and chief executive officer of Studiocom, is dedicated to harnessing the power of digital and gaming technologies to create uniquely engaging online brand experiences. Infamous for churning highly creative and innovative Web strategies and campaigns, Gnecco specializes in Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOG’s), virtual worlds, online loyalty programs, kiosks and mobile technology, online media strategies, video-to-web integration, animation and original character development. Prior to his shift to the digital industry, Gnecco founded a multimedia design firm and a commercial photography studio in his native Colombia. However it was an internship at Georgia Tech and later, a stint at iXL (now Scient), as the first creative director, which sparked his interest in utilizing the online space to solidify brand loyalty, and stimulate dialogue between consumers and brands.
In 1998, Gnecco launched Studiocom, an Atlanta-based digital advertising agency, in the privacy of his living room on a laptop. Today, Studiocom has evolved into an award-winning digital agency with clients such as The Coca-Cola Company, Mattel, Nestle, CVS/pharmacy, FX Networks, Baskin-Robbins, Dunkin’ Donuts, Nicktoons, United Airlines, Sony, Phillips, Pilsner Urquell, Dunkin Donuts and more. The agency is the developer for Mattel’s BarbieGirls.com, widely considered the fastest growing virtual world ever, and The Coca-Cola Company’s highly successful My Coke Rewards online loyalty program.
In addition to his professional achievements, in 2006 Gnecco founded and continues to serve as executive director for Colombianitos. The internationally- recognized non-profit, provides enrichment programs for Colombian children stricken by the violence that has plagued Colombia for the past several decades.
Deborah Dunagan specializes in creating and implementing business transformations designed to enable organizations and industries to operate successfully in the emerging and changing marketplace of the 21st century. Ms. Dunagan’s work is specifically focused on building innovation and intellectual property capabilities, building learning organizations, enabling creativity in the workplace, enabling high performance organizations, aligning performance and learning strategies with business strategies, and building and sustaining environments that operate as eco-systems and enable innovation and creativity as part of the business strategy. Her work includes building capabilities through the integration of people, processes and technology to enable organizations to sense and respond to changes in the marketplace, reduce cycle times for learning and time to market activities and to build trust and social capital. Ms. Dunagan is an expert in Communities of Practice, learning organizations, issues management, knowledge management, organizational design and change, building innovation capabilities, business and cultural transformation and industry convergence. She has held several leadership positions since joining IBM in 1997. Most recently she has led the Global Methods Program and the Global Community of Practice Program for IBM. These programs focused on business and individual performance enablement of IBM’s people and business strategies and the transformation of IBM’s business model to build and sustain new capabilities. Prior to joining IBM, Ms. Dunagan was the president and chief operating officer of the Reddy Corporation International, a strategic issues management organization providing strategic and competitive insights and intelligence to over 150 utility companies in 14 countries. Her career experience spans several major industries - the electric industry, telecommunications, the publishing industry, and the entertainment industry.”
Ms. Dunagan has developed and promoted the vision and concept of the “Nurturing Corporation,” “Tribal Management,” the “Electrimation Industry” - A new industry for the 21st century,” “The Global Media Network” and “Wave Marketing.” She has served as a speaker at key industry conferences in the US, Australia and Europe, and has published works on her vision as well as issues management, knowledge management, organizational change, industry convergence and competitive business issues. Ms. Dunagan’s most recent publication is about her work with Communities of Practice, including the art and thinking involved in assessing “living systems” and can be found in ”IBM Lessons Learned” - Knowledge Management: Systems Implementations: Lessons from the Silicon Valley – Publisher: Chandos Publishing Oxford Ltd – (January 2008).