Speakers

We've gathered the most knowledgeable industry leaders to discuss the trials and tribulations of producing web applications. You'll hear from early pioneers in web application development, the developers creating the groundbreaking Rich Internet Applications of tomorrow, and expert researchers who have conducted in-depth research on creating powerful web applications.

Chris MacGregor, Flazoom.com
Chris MacGregor, UI Interaction Designer with Intuitive Homes in Houston, Texas, is a leading proponent of using Flash to improve user experience on theweb. MacGregor's 10 year history in interactive communication began withHyperCard, moved to HTML and now focuses on Flash Applications on the web.

As a leader in the field of Flash usability, Chris has consulted on and built projects including online product catalogs, eLearning systems, retail kiosks and web based applications in Flash for clients including ExxonMobil, Halliburton, BMC Software, Shell Chemical, CMS Energy, SmithBits, Dynergy, Emeril Lagasse and Compaq.

In addition to his award-winning interaction work, Chris is the publisher of Flazoom.com, a popular Flash critique site, and is lead author of the book, "The Flash Usability Guide" from Friends of Ed.

Pat Malecek, A.G. Edwards & Sons, Inc.
Pat Malecek is the User Experience Manager at A.G. Edwards & Sons, Inc. Tasked with bringing user-centered design principles to A.G. Edwards' web site initiatives, Pat has built a diverse and skilled team of
certified usability analysts who provide design guidance, usability testing, and standards development. Working "in the trenches" with business stakeholders, technical experts and end users, Pat's team has been instrumental in the ongoing improvement of A.G. Edwards' Internet presence and intranet applications and content design.

Pat was a core player in the ambitious redesign of A.G. Edwards' web sites, moving from a simple client account-access web application to a more dynamic, data-rich application with robust account data presentation and financial tools. The result—a family of sites and customization tools that are innovative in the way they enhance the broker-client relationship—has been recognized by Forbes Magazine as among the "Best of the Web”.

Harley Manning, Forrester Research, Inc.
Harley Manning is Research Director at Forrester Research, Inc. He came to Forrester after spending 18 years designing and building interactive services for companies like Dow Jones, AT&T, MCI, Prodigy, and Sears. Most recently he was at Dow Jones Markets, where he was responsible for international Web sites targeted at brokers and traders. He was also responsible for the design, hosting, and operation of the Markets' intranet site, which later became the intranet site for all of Dow Jones.

Prior to Dow Jones, Harley was at AT&T Labs, where he designed the user experience for research projects such as a search engine enhanced with artificial intelligence, a universal email/telephone/fax message center, and a Web-based community calendar. Harley holds a master of science degree in advertising from the University of Illinois, Urbana.

Christine Perfetti, User Interface Engineering - Summit Moderator
As one of the most requested instructors at User Interface Engineering, Christine has worked with dozens of companies on their toughest web design problems. With her extensive knowledge of human factors, task design, user recruitment, cognitive psychology, and usability testing practices, Christine has been a top-rated presenter at CHI 2001 and 2002, the Usability Professionals' Association, the UIE Research Forums, Intranets 2001, and several STC regional conferences. She has also taught Human Factors at the Tufts University Gordon Institute for Engineering Management.

Christine previously worked at Fidelity Investments, where she was an influential member of their highly-talented instructional design team. She received her Master's degree in Experimental/Social Psychology from Brown University and her Bachelor's degree in Psychology from the University of Rochester.

Janice A. Rohn
Janice A. Rohn is the former Senior Director of User Experience at Siebel Systems, where she founded the department in 1999. Over the past 3 years, she managed the interface and usability of the entire company's product suite as it has moved from a thick-client to a thin-client delivery mode. This effort required leading-edge work on relatively nascent browser-based technologies in order to produce usable application software.

Prior to Siebel, Janice was Senior Manager of Usability for Sun Microsystems, where she founded the Usability Engineering group in 1992 and built usability labs in multiple sites. Janice led efforts to embed usability into the processes, goals, and initiatives at Sun. Prior to Sun. She has worked with members of Congress and Vice-President Gore's office on the economic impact of usability. She has over 40 publications, and has delivered many presentations at CHI, UPA, Interact, and other conferences, along with keynote speeches and courses at several universities.

Will Schroeder, User Interface Engineering
Will is instrumental in designing all of User Interface Engineering's studies and analyzing the results. Will is our statistical wizard who specializes in small data sets. Will has extensive expertise in project management, systems analysis, data analysis, and psychophysics. Before joining User Interface Engineering, he worked for 17 years at Foster-Miller Inc., an engineering consulting firm. Will has lectured at the Harvard Graduate School of Education in visual studies and environmental design.

Will has a Masters in Business Administration from Babson College, a BET in
Mechanical Engineering from Northeastern University, and a BA in English/Mathematics from Harvard College.

Jared Spool, User Interface Engineering - Summit Moderator
If you've ever seen Jared speak about usability, you know that he's one of the most effective, knowledgeable communicators on the subject today. What you probably don't know is that he has guided the research agenda and built User Interface Engineering into the largest research organization of its kind in the world. He's been working in the field of usability and design since 1978, before the term "usability" was ever associated with computers.

Jared spends his time working with the research teams at the company, helps clients understand how to solve their design problems, explains to reporters and industry analysts the current state of design is all about, and is a top-rated speaker at more than 20 conferences every year. He is also the conference chair and keynote speaker at the twice-annual User Interface Conference, is on the faculty of the Tufts University Gordon Institute, and manages to squeeze in a fair amount of writing time.

Mary Frances Theofanos, National Cancer Institute
Mary F. Theofanos is head of the Communication Technologies Research Center of the National Cancer Institute. The Communication Technologies Research Center is a state-of-the-art facility for usability testing, technology evaluation, and education.

Mary is a co-contributor to www.usability.gov. The site is designed to provide current and accurate information on how to make health-related information web sites and other user interfaces more usable, accessible, and useful. The site also links to a variety of quality Web sites and resources on usability, accessibility, and related topics that exist in the field.

Jim Whitney, Webvertising
Jim Whitney, Webvertising's founder and CTO, began his career as an engineer for NASA. He developed NASA's Web site, which was one of the first Web sites ever developed on the Internet.

Last year, Webvertising released its flagship product, iHotelier, a fully customizable reservations system exclusively for the hospitality industry. Today, the iHotelier system provides integrated online solutions to hundreds of hotels and resorts in the US, Latin America, and Asia.

Since starting Webvertising, Jim has not only an intimate knowledge of the technologies, but also an understanding of how to apply them creatively to a specific client. His long history with the Internet gives him a unique insight into coming trends and technologies and how they will be used. Jim holds a B.S. in Engineering from Trinity University and an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Rice University.

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