SpeechTEK Europe 2010

26 - 27 May 2010 • Copthorne Tara Hotel • London, UK

SpeechTEK University • 25 May 2010

SpeechTEK Europe Advisory Board

SpeechTEK Europe is developed and steered by a global Advisory Board, all respected commentators and practitioners in the speech community.

To contact any member of the SpeechTEK Europe advisory board, please email: STEuropeChairs@infotoday.com.

Conference Chair

James A. Larson, Larson Technical Services, USA

James A. Larson, Ph.D., is programme chair for the SpeechTEK Europe 2010 Conference, co-chair of the World Wide Web Consortium's Voice Browser Working Group, and author of the home-study guide, The VoiceXML Guide (www.vxmlguide.com). Larson also teaches courses in speech application development at Portland State University and Oregon Institute of Technology.

Advisory Board

Detlev Artelt, Aixvox GmbH, Germany

Detlev Artelt is CEO of aixvox GmbH and author of the book series, Voice Compass. A European pioneer in communication and speech automation, Detlev has been breaking new ground since 1993 and focuses on helping enterprises improve their business results by employing Unified Communications (UC) and Speech automation. A keynote speaker and well-known Panel Moderator for many events, Detlev leads the UC Working Committee at the German eco institution for Internet business, is active in a number of other related communities and just started a local European chapter of The Applied Voice Input/Output Society (AVIOS).

Rosana Duce, Loquendo, Italy

Rosanna Duce manages the strategy and operations of Loquendo's international sales team. She plays a direct role in creating strategic partnerships and alliances with key market players throughout the world. Rosanna has led sales operations at Loquendo since the company was founded in 2001. She joined the company from her role as CEO of Formula Group in France, subsidiary of a leading Italian software solutions provider, where she built a strong sales organisation and consolidated the company's market presence. Prior to this, she achieved considerable experience in Sales and Marketing in the Communications Systems and Software Industry. Rosanna holds a degree in Computer Science from the University of Turin.

Susan Hura, SpeechUsability, USA

Susan L. Hura, Ph.D., is the founder of SpeechUsability, a consultancy focusing on improving the user experience by incorporating user-centered design practices in speech technology projects. Susan started and managed the usability program at Intervoice as their Head of User Experience, and prior to that worked a member of the human factors team at a Lucent Technologies, providing experience in user interface design, usability testing, and speech acoustics. She held a faculty position at Purdue University in the Department of Audiology and Speech Sciences where she cofounded a multidisciplinary research team dedicated to studying novel approaches to computer speech recognition. Susan holds a doctorate in Linguistics from the University of Texas at Austin. She is a frequent invited presenter at speech technology and usability conferences, and serves on the Board of Directors of AVIOS (the Applied Voice Input Output Society).

Nava Shaked, Business Technologies, Israel

Dr Shaked is leading a professional practice, focusing on Voice applications. With 20 years’ experience both in Speech technology research as well as leading major projects in Israel and the US, Nava holds a Ph.D. from CUNY in Computational Linguistics and is a member of AVIOS board and has established the Israeli local chapter which she is chairing. Nava held a research position in Bell Labs and IBM Research and until recently was the Manager of the CC and CRM group in IBM Israel.

Caroline Leathem , Verizon, UK

Caroline is Interaction Specialist for the Communications Team at Verizon Business EMEA. Her main responsibilities are leading their VUI and Business Consulting engagements. Previous roles include: independent consultant working with customers in the UK, US, Europe and Africa; Head of Consulting at Fluency where she led engagements across the UK and US for customers such as Eon, Orange, Reuters and Circuit City. She has a BA Hons in Linguistics from Manchester University and an MSc in Speech and Language Processing from Edinburgh University. She is passionate about the caller experience and is committed to providing independent expertise to customers at all stages in a speech solution life cycle.