Today, I'm excited to share with you some details on the 2015 Dataand Analytics Conference, October 20-22 at the Hilton Chicago. The inaugural event will showcase some of the most innovative data and analytics thought leaders.

My favorite part of the event is listening to the customer presenters. I'd like to share with you a little background on these speakers and topics they will be presenting to get you excited as you're planning your trip to Chicago.

Peter Memon, J.P. Morgan

Peter Memon is executive director at J.P. Morgan. He has over 23 years of experience in technology as a developer, architect, technology strategist, entrepreneur and manager of complex implementations. He has worked at several financial firms, including, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, Lehman Brothers, and previously as the global head of data analytics and visualization at Barclays Capital. Peter will share his experience and knowledge in big data, data analytics, and data virtualization.

Sam Paper, Bank of America

Sam Paper is senior vice president at Bank of America. To support Bank of America's data as a service strategy, he's joined the enterprise data management's data virtualization center of excellence. He also co-leads the business intelligence and analytics architecture product management group. Sam has previously worked at Citibank, and several consulting engagements including Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida, NASA and other Department of Defense projects before joining the public sector. Sam will share lessons learned and business benefits of upgrading to the latest Cisco Information Server.

Jason Hull, Comcast

Jason Hull is senior data architect at Comcast's northeast division IT. He has over 16 years of IT experience in data integration, business intelligence, and database administration and design. Jason will share how his team is connecting data from multiple, disparate sources for an easily accessible view of data. Jason will share the challenges Comcast was faced with, the options they considered, and ultimately, the solution they chose. He will explore the business and technical benefits Comcast is receiving from their data and analytics solution.

Michelle Lacy, Monsanto

Michelle Lacy is head of visual analytics and data integration. She leads the visual analytics and data integration team in Monsanto's research and development group. The team is aligned closely with the business to streamline the transformation of data into information to make rapid, well-informed business decisions. Michelle will discuss how her team set up an analytics and data integration operations for the high demands of their organization. She will elaborate on the actions that work and pitfalls to avoid in building a world-class data and analytics strategy.

Scott Harker, GSK

Scott Haker is technical services lead at GlaxoSmithKline. Scott has over 20 years of IT experience in industries including pharmaceuticals, education, transportation and manufacturing. Scott will share the difficulties GSK has experienced in their ever-changing data management environment. He will share their technical solution and lessons learned on their journey. Finally, he will explore the next steps in this evolution that aligns with the company mission -to help people do more, feel better, live longer.

Mark Pietz, Excellus BlueCross BlueShield and Univera Healthcare

Mark Pietz is business intelligence solutions architect in the enterprise IT, data management and integration team at Excellus BlueCross BlueShield and Univera Healthcare. He has over 15 years of experience in business intelligence, data warehousing, enterprise architecture in multiple sectors including government, financial, retail, and healthcare. Mark will share how to leverage data virtualization for successful enterprise-wide data integration. He will also dive into the return on investment they are seeing from the implementation.

But Wait, There's More!

Other highlights include our keynote speaker, Stephen Dubner, award-winning author ofFreakonomics, 20+ business and technical tracks for you to choose from, and an evening at the Museum of Science and Industry where we've rented out the space solely for our event attendees. Also check out Mike Flannagan's blog for the top 10 reasons you should attend.

For readers of my blog, I'd like to share with you an exclusive offer to join us in Chicago.Register now and use code FC75DA to receive 75% off the full conference pass.

Do you have questions about the conference? Please ask in the comments section below.

Cheers!

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Learn More from My Colleagues

Check out the blogs of Mala Anand, Mike Flannagan, Bob Eve and Nicola Villa to learn more.