Government

Anthony Williams—Executive Director

Mayor Williams served as the fourth mayor of the District of Columbia from 1999 to 2007. During his two terms, he is widely credited with leading the comeback of Washington, restoring the finances of the District and improving the performance of government agencies, all while lowering taxes and investing in infrastructure and human services. Before his election as mayor, he was the independent Chief Financial officer of the District from 1995 to 1998, working with and on behalf of local officials, the D.C. Financial Control Board, and the U.S. Congress. Before his service in the District, Mayor Williams worked in a variety of positions in federal, state, and local government, including as the first CFO for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, appointed by President Bill Clinton and confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

In addition to his work on company boards, Mayor Williams devotes his attention to education and the environment, serving on the board of Fight for Children and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. He holds a B.A., magna cum laude, from Yale University, an M.P.P. from the Harvard Kennedy School, and a J.D. from the Harvard Law School, as well as numerous honorary degrees and awards, including Governing Magazine's Public Official of the Year in 1997. He is a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration and former President of the National League of Cities.

Keith Smith—Managing Director

As Managing Director, Keith has overall responsibility for the Government practice at the Corporate Executive Board.  In the Government practice, Keith is responsible for leading the programs’ research and service offerings, ability to meet the needs of the membership, and overall strategy and direction moving forward.  Prior to his current position, Keith held a leadership role in CEB’s professional services division and was responsible for the launch and growth of one of its new businesses.

Keith joined The Corporate Executive Board in 2004 after spending 7 years as a professional services executive in the technology industry and 6 years as a strategy consultant for Booz Allen Hamilton, both on the commercial side and in the public sector.  As a technology executive, Keith was responsible for the growth, health, and direction of the professional services division of a publicly held software company.  As a consultant, Keith focused on operations and technology strategy engagements and advisory services for Fortune 500 and US Federal Government clients.  

Keith holds an MBA with Distinction in Management Strategy from Kellogg (Northwestern University) and a BS in Systems Engineering from the University of Virginia. 

Sampriti Ganguli—Managing Director

Sampriti Ganguli is the Managing Director of The Corporate Executive Board’s Government Practice. She has been with The Corporate Executive Board for eight years, working across corporate treasury, taxation, and audit matters, and has authored more than 25 major publications on topics ranging from share repurchase/dividend strategies and integrated assurance efforts to tax risk management and talent management. She has a specific focus on specific issues related to financial institutions, including capital allocation, operational risk management, and liquidity planning strategies.

Prior to joining The Corporate Executive Board, Ms. Ganguli worked in Emerging Markets Research at JP Morgan in Singapore, in the Corporate Mergers & Acquisitions group at MCI WorldCom, and in the East Asia Division of the World Bank. She also worked for three years at Deloitte Consulting, focusing on their corporate restructuring, health care, and telecommunications practices.

Ms. Ganguli holds an M.B.A. in International Finance from the Wharton School of Business and an M.A. in International Economics from Johns Hopkins University. She graduated with distinction from Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania with a B.A. in Economics and Political Science. Her husband, Eric Gibbs, works in the field of international development and they have two sons.

Ginger Noce—Managing Director

Ginger Noce is the National Practice Lead of The Corporate Executive Board’s Government Practice. Joining the company in September 2009, she is tasked with the overall growth and service of our federal government clients. In this capacity, she is focused on ensuring that our research and services are strongly aligned with our clients’ specific needs, priorities, and mandates. Prior to joining CEB, Ms. Noce spent eight years with FedEx, where she held many key roles for the FedEx Office business unit. During the last three years of her career at FedEx Office, she led the Federal Government Practice, one of FedEx Office’s largest and most successful business segments. At FedEx, she was the recipient of many distinct awards and honors including winner of the prestigious 5-Star Award, FedEx’s premier award recognizing exemplary work and leadership of team members who represent the company’s efforts to achieve strategic goals.

Ms. Noce’s career as a management professional includes 25 years of experience in creating superior business results through effective leadership. She has held senior leadership roles in business development, marketing, and operations for both large and midsized commercial organizations. Those roles have included Executive Vice President of Business Development for avVenta Worldwide, where she oversaw direct sales, channel sales, and overall business development; VP of Marketing for Xpedior Worldwide, where she was responsible for the strategic development and tactical implementation of the corporate marketing organization; and Managing Director of Marketing and Channel Sales for NDC Group.

She holds a B.S. in Business Administration with an emphasis in Finance from East Carolina University where she was a scholarship basketball player. She and her partner, Kristy Kennedy, live in DC with their 3 children.

Warren Thune—Executive Director

As Executive Director, Warren has overall responsibility for the Information Technology Research Practice and the Government Practice at the Corporate Executive Board. In the IT practice, Warren is responsible for leading the programs’ research and service offerings, ability to meet the needs of the membership, and direction moving forward. In the Government Practice, Warren leads the firm wide strategy effort to further develop our relationships with that segment. Warren is a member of CEB’s Corporate Leadership Team.

Warren has been with The Corporate Executive Board since March 2004 and came to CEB after spending 10 years with Mercer Management Consulting/Oliver Wyman, the last three as a senior partner running the firm’s San Francisco office. Warren’s work at Mercer focused on developing customer-focused corporate strategies in the telecom and computer services industries. Warren received his MBA from the University of Chicago and his BA from the University of Pennsylvania.

Paul Edelmann—Executive Director

As Executive Director of the Finance and Strategy Division, Paul Edelmann leads a team of more than 50 Managing and Senior Directors, Executive Advisors, and researchers all dedicated to growing the world's largest network of senior executives. His division provides research, advisory, and networking services to CFOs, chief strategists, Chief Procurement Officers, heads of R&D, and their teams at the world's largest companies. The services his program provides help executives navigate through some of the most crucial business challenges like strategic planning and corporate development, leading diverse teams and developing top talent, or restructuring supply chains and cost management.

Mr. Edelmann brings more than 20 years experience with strategy formulation, alliance development, and new product development and has previously lead cross-functional teams for high-tech and professional services companies marked for high growth or turnaround. He previously served on the turnaround team at MCI, a $20 billion telecommunications company, as Vice President of Corporate Strategy and Strategic Program. Mr. Edelmann holds a B.S. in Decision Sciences from the University of Maryland (Class Valedictorian) and an M.B.A. from Duke University (Fuqua Scholar).

Mike Griffin—Managing Director

Mike Griffin is the Managing Director of Global Strategic Research for the Finance and Strategy Division of The Corporate Executive Board. In that capacity, he is responsible for managing global research operations in the United States, Europe, and India for more than a dozen research programs. Together with his team, Mr. Griffin focuses on the most relevant topics in any economic environment to produce the most timely and applicable advice and insights for finance executives today.

Mr. Griffin brings more than 11 years of experience working with senior finance and financial institution executives. He was the former Chief Research Officer for The Corporate Executive Board's Finance & Strategy division and author of more than 50 research publications on topics ranging from capital structure and financial risk management to corporate performance measurement.

Ashwin Srinivasan—Senior Director

As Senior Director of the Procurement Strategy Council, Ashwin Srinivasan closely advises executives to work through today's most pressing procurement challenges. In particular, his efforts and experience focus on Category Management, Supplier Management, Risk Management, and Performance Benchmarking.

Mr. Srinivasan brings more than five years of experience with the Procurement Strategy Council advising CPOs across a range of industries, including High Tech, Financial Services, and Energy. Formerly, he worked with a socially responsible private equity fund in Chicago, which focused on investing in Midwestern growth businesses with the goal of combining financial returns with sustainable social impact. He holds his B.S. in Economics and Computer Science from Clark University, with coursework at the London School of Economics, M.B.A. from the University of Chicago, and recipient of the Edward Kaplan New Venture Challenge award at the University of Chicago.

Nathan Blain—Executive Director

Nathan Blain is the Executive Director of the CEB Valtera business at The Corporate Executive Board. He has managed the program for the past eight years. His work focuses on driving workforce productivity and retention through the delivery of sharp insight about the work environment and actionable support for an organization's managers and HR team. He is a pioneer in the application of advanced research techniques to better understand workforce behavior.

Prior to joining CEB, Mr. Blain was a partner in the tech practice at Mercer Management Consulting. Before Mercer, he worked in the Government Consulting practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers. He also served as a Legislative Director for two members of Congress and as an aide on the House Appropriations Committee.

Nathan Blain has a variety of project experience including his work with the Department of the Navy to assess and improve the department's ability to manage workforce performance. The project was conducted to help create a more performance-driven culture as part of the implementation of the National Security Personnel System. He also worked with the U.S. Postal Service to design and launch what was then the world's most extensive customer satisfaction survey. The survey provided each post office with a monthly report on the levels of customer satisfaction with the service experience provided by the Postal Service in that location. In addition, he designed programs for the collection of delivery performance data for First-Class Mail and Third-Class Mail. On a weekly basis these two systems used seeded mail to measure delivery times and allowed the Postal Service to identify pockets of delivery failure and excellence throughout its nationwide system. Mr. Blain has also led a team that helped Target to redesign its compensation and benefits offering to drive more value for associates at a lower cost for Target. Mr. Blain led a project to survey the employee population at Vanguard in an effort to improve retention and productivity outcomes. He worked with Vanguard to facilitate audits of the aspects of the work environment that makes CEB Valtera Safe Harbor Compliant. In addition, Mr. Blain led a session with the Chairman of the company and the senior management team to identify strategies for improving the work experience. The plan included more than $60 Million of investment in the work experience.

Nathan Blain received his M.B.A. from Stanford University in 1993 and his B.S. in Foreign Service from Georgetown University in 1987.

Dr. Brian Kropp—Managing Director

Brian Kropp is Managing Director of the Human Capital Practice at The Corporate Executive Board. His current quantitative and strategic research focuses on aligning the various HR performance processes with drivers of human capital outcomes.

Prior to joining CEB in 2002, Dr. Kropp has worked for a variety of research institutions and taught courses in economics, policy analysis, and quantitative methods at the University of North Carolina. He has been published in several books, academic journals, and other periodicals.

Dr. Kropp holds a Ph.D. in Policy Analysis from the University of North Carolina and an M.A. and B.S. in Economics from Clemson University.

Jean Martin—Executive Director

Jean Martin is the Executive Director of the Corporate Leadership Council (CLC). The Council solves the most critical problems facing HR executives in the areas of talent management, HR strategy, and more by measuring and sharing what the best companies do to address their HR challenges, and it serves more than 1,400 of the world's premier organizations. Ms. Martindirects all of the research, business practices, and operations of the Corporate Leadership Council and, together with the leadership team, sets the strategic direction for the Council's work. Most recently, she and the CLC team have been focused on the issues of HR performance and delivery, organizational change management, and managing through times of rapid economic change.

As part of her role, Ms. Martin is responsible for presenting and leading discussions of the Council's strategic research findings at national meetings and international meetings. Most recently, Ms. Martin presented to the executive teams of Bombardier, Intel, Cisco, BBVA, and Eskom among many others. She has addressed the European Union on the topic of labor market scarcities as well as been a keynote speaker at the Schlumberger Oil and Gas Conference in Paris (November 2007) on the topic of Attracting and Retaining Critical Talent Segments.

Prior to joining The Corporate Executive Board, Ms. Martin was a Presidential Management Fellow, during which time she served as a special assistant to the Senior Vice President for Small Business/Community Development Lending at Bank of America. She was project manager for microfinance and microenterprise development at the U.S. Agency for International Development. She also served as the business development finance liaison for the Empowerment Zone program at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and as an aide to the President's Advisor on Domestic Policy.

Ms. Martin received a Masters of Public Policy with a concentration in Economics and Finance from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and a Bachelor of Arts with Highest Distinction from the University of Virginia.

Todd Safferstone—Managing Director

Todd Safferstone serves as a Managing Director with The Corporate Executive Board's Human Capital Practice, where he leads the Learning and Development Roundtable and Recruiting Roundtable. In this role, he maintains overall leadership responsibility for the Roundtables' business operations, product development, and service delivery. Previously, he led the HR Practice's European operations (based in London), including responsibility for the operations of the Corporate Leadership Council in Europe. In this capacity, he also served as a member of the firm's European Leadership Team.

Prior to his work in Europe, he served as a lead member of the management team responsible for the launch of the Learning and Development Roundtable, which now stands as the world's largest for-profit network of Chief Learning Officers and Senior Learning Executives. He also plays an active role in facilitating executive education sessions around the world.

Before joining CEB, he worked as a Consultant and Analyst at Mercer. His particular fields of expertise include leadership development, leadership transitions, experienced-based learning, HR strategy, employee selection, and talent-pipeline management.

Mr. Safferstone's work has been featured in publications including the Harvard Business Review, The Economist, The Washington Post, BusinessWeek, and Computerworld. Most recently, he co-authored a cover article (titled "The Quick Wins Paradox") for the January 2009 edition of the Harvard Business Review. Mr. Safferstone received a B.A. in History from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Jaime M. Capellá—Managing Director

Jaime M. Capellá is a Managing Director with The Corporate Executive Board's IT Practice in Washington, DC.

Mr. Capellá has spent the last decade studying the leadership principles, managerial practices, strategies, metrics, and organizational innovations used by the world's most progressive companies to derive value from their investments in IT. He has extensive experience facilitating executive retreats with CIOs, CISOs, PMO heads, and other Fortune 500 executives in North America and Europe. He is a recipient of CEB's "Force of Ideas" award, the firm's top recognition for research excellence, and he is a member of the firm's Policy Committee.

Prior to joining The Corporate Executive Board, Mr. Capellá was a publishing executive with Times Publishing Company in St. Petersburg, Florida, and Washington, D.C. He also worked for the governor of his native Puerto Rico.

Mr. Capellá holds an A.B. cum laude from Harvard University as well as M.B.A. and M.A. degrees from Yale University. He lives in the Capitol Hill area of Washington DC with his wife and two young boys, and enjoys kayaking with them in Virginia's Shenandoah river.

Brian Foster—Managing Director

Brian Foster is a Managing Director in The Corporate Executive Board's IT Practice.

Mr. Foster joined The Corporate Executive Board in 1993 as a research director within the company's Financial Services and Technology Practices. He has done extensive research on emerging trends and technologies in the financial services industry and authored numerous publications on topics ranging from new technologies in Infrastructure development to key strategic priorities for IT executives.

After leaving CEB to attend graduate school, Mr. Foster worked in Silicon Valley and served as Director of Business Development at Excite@Home Corporation, then the largest provider of high-speed cable Internet service. He rejoined CEB in 2001 in the IT Practice directing research in The CIO Executive Board and the Enterprise Architecture Executive Council before assuming leadership of all of CEB's IT Infrastructure programs in late 2006.

Mr. Foster holds a B.A. from Williams College and an M.B.A. from The Tuck School of Business Administration at Dartmouth.

Shvetank Shah—Executive Director

As Executive Director, Shvetank leads a global team that provides best practice research, decision support tools, and executive education to networks of more than2,500 IT leaders, including CIOs, enterprise architects, Applications, Infrastructure, Security, and PMO executives. He also sits on the firm's Policy and Operating Committees.

Prior to joining the Corporate Executive Board, Mr. Shah was the founding CEO of CNet Networks' Indian operations, and has also spent a decade as a management consultant with PriceWaterhouse and PA Consulting Group. Mr. Shah has worked with a variety of private and public-sector clients in the United States, Europe, and Asia on acquisition strategy and due diligence, regulatory and policy analysis, information architecture, and business process redesign. He has extensive experience in working with new business vehicles, having developed cross-border joint ventures and launched start-ups in the IT and content services space.

Mr. Shah is the author of several papers and articles on technology strategy, economic policy, and strategic planning and has been quoted in leading publications such as The New York Times, BusinessWeek, Computerworld, and Newsweek. Educated as an engineer and economist, Mr. Shah holds an M.S. in Management & Public Policy from Carnegie Mellon University, where he was a W.W. Cooper scholar.

Ken Weitzel—Senior Research Director

Ken Weitzel is a Senior Research Director at the CIO Executive Board, a unit of The Corporate Executive Board in Washington, D.C. In this role, he is the key interface point between our clients and the case-based strategic research we develop. While working with the research teams to identify and communicate the key teachings of exemplar companies, Mr. Weitzel regularly presents the research of the Council in front of large and small audiences and designs interactions to meet the specific needs of IT executives and their teams in a variety of industries. He joined the Corporate Executive Board in 2003.

Mr. Weitzel brings more than 25 years of business and technology experience to the Board. Beginning his career with what is now Accenture, he specialized in technology implementations for the manufacturing and commercial distribution industries. He also has worked in industry, as International Manager of Information Systems for PepsiCo Foods International, and also with Hewlett-Packard. Based in Brussels with Hewlett-Packard, he led international projects for clients, as well as developed change management, reengineering, and strategic-level consulting approaches and training initiatives. He has been a Consultant on technology-driven change with Ernst & Young LLP, Computer Sciences Corporation, and Scient Corporation. He was the founder and Managing Director of Future Foundry LLC, a network-based consulting company for strategic planning, change management, and executive alignment.

Mr. Weitzel holds an M.B.A. in Information Systems Management from the University of Texas at Austin and a B.A. in Liberal Arts from Austin College in Sherman, Texas. He lives in Dallas, Texas.

Dan Currell—Managing Director

Dan Currell is Managing Director of Content Delivery with the General Counsel Roundtable. His role is to bring the Roundtable's research to its clients through meetings, presentations, and working sessions, and to assist Roundtable researchers to ensure that initiatives are responsive to client needs. Prior to his work with the General Counsel Roundtable, Mr. Currell worked with the Corporate Leadership Council, the Recruiting Roundtable, and the Corporate Strategy Board. He serves as an editor for The Green Bag: An Entertaining Journal of Law and has published occasional pieces relating to legal issues. Prior to joining The Corporate Executive Board, Mr. Currell practiced commercial litigation.

Mr. Currell received his law degree from the University of Chicago. He did his undergraduate work at Gustavus Adolphus College in Minnesota.

Ronnie Kann—Managing Director

Ronnie Kann is the Managing Director of the Compliance and Ethics Leadership Council (CELC) and leads the CELC's day-to-day operations and all of its research initiatives. Mr. Kann is a frequent lecturer and leads discussions of the CELC's research insights for companies around the world.

Mr. Kann has been with The Corporate Executive Board since 2000. During his tenure, he has also held senior management positions in the General Counsel Roundtable and the Corporate Leadership Council.

Prior to joining The Corporate Executive Board, Mr. Kann clerked for U.S. District Judge Benson Legg and practiced law at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett in New York and at Ropes & Gray in Boston. He was also a Trial Attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice and a lecturer at the Catholic University School of Law.

Mr. Kann received his A.B in Politics from Princeton University and his law degree from Duke University School of Law.

Steven Williams—Managing Director

Steven Williams is the Managing Director of the General Counsel Roundtable, a business unit of The Corporate Executive Board, designed to serve the general counsel of the world's preeminent organizations.

Prior to joining The Corporate Executive Board, Mr. Williams was an Economist at the U.S. Federal Reserve Board.

Mr. Williams received his graduate degree in Economics from the University of Wisconsin and his undergraduate degree from Vassar College.

Eric Braun—Managing Director

Eric Braun is a Managing Director at The Corporate Executive Board, responsible for guiding research and content development in the areas of Sales, Marketing, and Communications. He has published numerous studies on topics ranging from customer orientation to reputation management and has counseled executives at Fortune 500 and FTSE 100 companies. Prior, he led the Communications Executive Council from its inception. He has also led research for CIOs and Heads of Corporate Strategy.

Prior to joining The Corporate Executive Board, Mr. Braun served as an officer in the U.S. Navy, completing three tours at sea and one as an intelligence officer. He holds an undergraduate degree from Cornell University and a graduate degree from the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University.

Scott Christofferson—Managing Director

Scott Christofferson is a Managing Director in the Sales, Marketing, and Communications Practice at The Corporate Executive Board.

He leads the research teams for both the Market Research Executive Board and the Communications Executive Council. His current strategic research focuses on maintaining business impact with constrained resources and on practices and techniques that rally employees behind corporate goals.

Prior to joining The Corporate Executive Board in 2006, Mr. Christofferson was a Senior Expert in Post Merger Management with McKinsey & Company. He served clients in a wide range of industries and authored articles for both The McKinsey Quarterly and McKinsey on Finance.

Mr. Christofferson holds a J.D. from Yale Law School and an A.B. in Economics (with honors and distinction) and a B.S. in Mathematics (with distinction) from Stanford University.

Matt Dixon—Managing Director

Matt Dixon is Managing Director of the Sales and Service Practice of The Corporate Executive Board. In this capacity, he has management responsibility for the Customer Contact Council and its sister program, the Sales Executive Council, which together serve more than 1,000 customer service and sales organizations globally. As Managing Director, Mr. Dixon has overseen dozens of original quantitative and qualitative research studies of customer service and sales and has presented to hundreds of senior executives and management teams around the world, including those of many Fortune 500 companies, on issues ranging from customer service strategy to sales productivity.

Prior to assuming this position in 2007, Mr. Dixon served as Research Director for the Customer Contact Council, a role he held from January 2006 to July 2007. Before joining the Customer Contact Council, he served as Senior Director of New Product Development for The Corporate Executive Board from January 2004 to December 2005. In this capacity, he was responsible for working with the CEO and Executive Committee of The Corporate Executive Board to set and execute against the company's annual domestic and international new product exploration and launch plan. During his 10-year tenure at The Corporate Executive Board, he has also served as a project manager in New Product Development, as well as a researcher in the CIO Executive Board, a division of CEB's Information Technology Practice. In addition to his current responsibilities as Managing Director, he serves as a member of The Corporate Executive Board's Policy Committee, the principal advisory group for firmwide policy and strategy.

Mr. Dixon holds a Ph.D. from the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh. His doctoral research focused on multinational sourcing and technology transfer between U.S. and Asian aerospace manufacturers. As part of his research, he conducted field research in Japan, China, and South Korea. Prior to receiving his doctorate, he completed his bachelor's degree in International Politics from Mount Saint Mary's College in Emmitsburg, Maryland, where he graduated summa cum laude. Matt currently resides in Silver Spring, Maryland.