PETER SONDERGAARD
Senior Vice President, Gartner Research
Peter Sondergaard is responsible for the management and direction of worldwide research at Gartner Research. He leads a team of 650 analysts, ensuring that the Research organization's priorities align directly with those of clients. Sondergaard is a distinguished analyst and a highly respected research leader with years of experience in senior positions within Gartner Research. Prior to his current role, Sondergaard was head of research for the technology and services sector. His previous roles include hardware and systems sector vice president and general manager for Gartner Research EMEA, responsible for research integrity, integration and methodology. Sondergaard started at Gartner as a program director for the company's personal computing research area, specializing in the desktop computing issues of European users.
Prior to joining Gartner, Sondergaard was research director at IDC in Europe, where he concentrated his efforts on PC analysis and consulting projects for large European users and technology providers. He also worked for Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) where he was responsible for the integration of PCs between hotels and SAS data. He has contributed to various European trade and business publications. Sondergaard holds a master's degree in economics from the University of Copenhagen.
HOWARD D. ELIAS
President, EMC Global Services and Resource Management Software Group, Executive Vice President, EMC Corporation
Howard Elias oversees EMC's professional services and award-winning global customer support organizations, EMC Consulting, and Global Pre-Sales and Education Services, which provide strategic guidance and technology expertise to help organizations address their business and information infrastructure challenges and derive the maximum value from their information assets and investments. Formerly, Elias was Executive Vice President, Global Marketing and Corporate Development, overseeing all of EMC's marketing, sales enablement, communications, and technology alliances activities.
A veteran IT executive, Elias joined EMC in October 2003 from Hewlett-Packard Company, where he was Senior Vice President of Business Management and Operations for the Enterprise Systems Group. Prior to HP's acquisition of Compaq in 2002, Elias spent a year as Senior Vice President and General Manager of Compaq's Business Critical Server Group and three years as Vice President and General Manager of the company's Storage Products Division, during which Compaq became a leader in mid-tier storage systems. He has also held various senior business and product management positions at Digital, AST Research, and Tandy Corporation. Elias attended Wayne State University and Lawrence Technical University, where he studied electrical engineering and computer science.
