Vic Bhagat is the Chief Information Officer for GE Corporate Information Services. Vic’s 12+ years with GE spans many businesses and various responsibilities – his career with GE started at GE Appliances in 1994 as Pricing Manager in Louisville, KY. The following year, he was appointed Sales Force Automation leader for GE Appliances’ worldwide sales force. In 1996, he took on the role of CIO for GE Corporate Audit Staff driving IM Controllership in GE. In December 1998, he was appointed Vice President & CIO for CNBC to re-engineer on-air data presentation. In 2000, he became the Chief Information Security Officer for GE, leading all information security initiatives & launched Session i’s. In January 2002, Vic assumed a global role as the CIO for India & SE Asia based out of New Delhi, India. In early 2005 Vic was asked to help define the new strategy for GE’s Global Infrastructure Services and establish business integration plans. In Nov. 2005, Vic assumed his current position at GE Corporate. Vic’s previous work experience includes positions as a Information Management Consultant with the firm of Keane Inc. and Director - Information Technology for Paradigm Insurance Company. He has also worked for Humana Inc. & Colgate Palmolive. Vic holds a degree in Information Management & Marketing from the University of Louisville and a degree in Physics & Mathematics from St. John’s University, India. Vic currently resides with his wife & son in Cincinnati, OH. He enjoys badminton, squash, swimming & racquetball.

Larry Biagini is Chief Information Officer of GE Capital, responsible for GE company-wide applications and services. After receiving a Bachelor Degree in Accounting from Fairfield University, in 1980 Larry joined a programmer development program at Olin Chemical working in the Financial Systems Area. In 1983 he joined Emery Air Freight as a programmer working in freight and customer systems. From there he moved into the manager of technical services role. Prior to leaving Emery he was the VP of international applications and technologies. Larry joined GE in 1989, first in its consulting group, and subsequently GE Capital. At GE Capital Fleet Services he had responsibility for service applications and ultimately was named CTO. As CTO, he was responsible for all architecture, technology and operations globally, concentrating on acquisitions and integrations. In 1995 Larry joined GE Aircraft Engines as CTO, responsible for operations, application architecture and technology direction. He also led the information technology portion of the Aircraft Engines acquisition team. In 1998 Larry assumed his current role as Chief Technology Officer of General Electric, responsible for driving technology direction across the enterprise. In 2001 he also assumed the responsibility of Chief Information Officer for Corporate Information Services, responsible for company wide applications and shared technology services.

Rich Dino is the Northeast Utilities Scholar in Technological Entrepreneurship at the University of Connecticut School of Business and a member of the Management faculty. He serves as Executive Director of the Connecticut Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (CCEI), with leadership responsibilities for developing and implementing the School’s strategy in the field of entrepreneurship. He is a member of the Investment Advisory Board of Next Generation Ventures, LLC, a Connecticut venture capital firm. His research stream focuses on small to medium-sized, closely-held businesses with most recent interest in Founder CEOs and the stages of growth in entrepreneurial firms. His work has been published in the Academy of Management Journal, the Journal of Applied Psychology, the Journal of Organizational Behavior, the Journal of Business Venturing, and Organization Science, among others. Rich served as Associate Dean for Graduate Programs, Business Partnering and External Alliances from 1998 – 2006 at the UConn School of Business. He spent more than two decades in the business world, working for several firms including Eastman Kodak, Corning, Inc. and Xerox. He has extensive experience as an entrepreneur having started four enterprises. Rich earned his B.S. at the Pennsylvania State University (1972, with High Distinction), and M.A. (1975) and Ph.D. (1977) in economics at the State University of New York at Buffalo. Rich was one of the co-developers/founders of edgelab.

Ram D. Gopal is a GE Endowed Professor of Business and Associate Professor of Operations and Information Management in the School of Business, University of Connecticut. He currently serves as the Ph.D. director for the department. His current research interests include economics of information systems management, data security, economic and ethical issues relating to intellectual property rights, and multimedia applications. His research has appeared in Management Science, Operations Research, INFORMS Journal on Computing, Information Systems Research, Communications of the ACM, IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering, Journal of Management Information Systems, Decision Support Systems, and other journals and conference proceedings. He is the recipient of the School of Business Undergraduate teaching award in 2002 and the School of Business Graduate teaching award in 2003.

Rusty Irving is the Global Technology Leader of the Information and Decision Technology Labs at GE Global Research. This organization consists of six labs located in the U.S. and India. This group comprises over 100 scientists and engineers who develop automated and decision support systems for all GE businesses. These systems range from monitoring and diagnostics of medical imaging equipment, aircraft engines, and locomotives to RFID tagging of mobile assets to digitally underwriting insurance policies. Rusty attended Siena College and graduated with a B.S. Degree in Computer Science in 1985. Upon graduation he entered the Software Technology Training Program at GE Corporate Research and Development in Schenectady, New York. In 1988 Rusty graduated from that program and also received his Masters Degree in Computer Science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He transferred to the GE Advanced Technology Labs of GE Aerospace in Moorestown, New Jersey where he was an Artificial Intelligence Systems Engineer. In 1990 he went back to GE CRD and joined the Information Systems Lab as a Computer Scientist. In 1996 he became the first coordinator of the Information Technology Training Program. In 1997 Rusty became a Master Black Belt focusing on Commercial Quality. In 1998 he was a founding member of the GE CRD Remote Services Delivery Center of Excellence. He also took the position of Manager of the Service Informatics Program. In 2000 Rusty took his current position.

Dr. James R. Marsden is a Professor and Head of the Department of Operations and Information Management who joined UConn in 1993. He was part of a three-person team that conceptualized, initiated and oversaw the development of the Connecticut Information Technology Institute and is currently serving as its Executive Director. He also developed and implemented the Treibick Electronic Commerce Initiative. Dr. Marsden also serves as Director of the OPIM/SBA MIS Research Lab and served for several years as a member of the Advisory Board and Steering Committee of CIBER (Center for International Business Education and Research). He currently serves on the edgelab Steering Committee which selects and resources projects and oversees operations. Dr. Marsden is a two-time winner of the Chancellor's Award for IT Excellence and a co-winner of the Team Connecticut Program Award from the Office of Economic Development.

Joseph E. Parsons is President, North America Equity Holdings of GE Real Estate. He is responsible for the wholly owned real estate Operating Platforms, the Strategic Ventures joint venture partnerships, and the Leveraged Equity investing business at GE Real Estate, which collectively own and operate in excess of $12 Billion of real estate investments. Prior roles at GE Capital include serving as President and CEO of GE Equity, where he managed GE's $5+ billion portfolio of global private equity investments. Before GE Equity, he was President and CEO, e-Business, of GE Capital, where he led GE Capital's efforts to transform and enhance its businesses through technology. Before that he was Vice President and Manager, Business Development, in the Office of the CEO, where he was responsible for the Corporate Business Development function and managing GE Capital's North American merger and acquisition activities. Prior experiences included Managing Director, Corporate Finance, KPMG; President and COO, Sovereign National Management; and Vice President, Merrill Lynch Realty, Merrill Lynch & Co. Parsons received his MBA from the University of Arkansas in 1982, and his B.S. in Finance from the University of Connecticut in 1979.