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  Past Events - 2005  
     
 
OPEN Washington DC Seminar - May 14 2005  
Outsourcing Opportunities in Pakistan
(Narrative)
(Photos)
(
Speaker Bios)
 
Speaker Bios

Anthony Mitchell heads InternationalStaff.net, a project management firm that represents U.S. clients seeking to have IT work done in South Asia.  This is the third IT firm he has co-founded with a South Asian focus.  He began his involvement in the South Asian IT industry in 1987 as a client-side project manager for large turnkey database projects.  To familiarize the U.S. client community with IT outsourcing opportunities--and to help IT entrepreneurs overseas understand how to do business in the U.S.--he writes a column for the EcommerceTimes.com Spotlight Features section.  He grew up in Hong Kong and received both his Masters and Bachelors degrees from Rutgers University.   His hobbies include sport climbing, sea kayaking, and chess.


Imran Aftab is a Director at America Online, heading strategy and planning for AOL's Member Services outsourcing group. In his role, Imran manages the outsourced network of call center providers spread over 4 continents. Prior to this, Imran worked at MicroStrategy, a business intelligence software company, where he was a product manager and authority on data-driven business applications.  Imran started his career as an investment banker for J.P. Morgan and Chase.  He has an MS from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and a BA from Bard College, New York.



Gary K. Blasiar has over 25 years of telecommunications experience and has been active in all areas of his company's growth and development.  His leadership and dedication have placed his company at the forefront of the outsourced Call Center Industry and positioned the company to take full advantage of the e-Commerce customer care and support phenomenon.


Ali Bokhari has been in the consulting industry for 15 years. Currently as a Director in Accenture's Outsourcing & BPO Businesses, he has managed the transition of large offshore applications outsourcing deals for a major telecom and a leading electronics retailer, utilizing delivery centers in India and the Philippines. He has served as the Managing Director of Itim Associates, a subsidiary of Itim Group Plc of the UK, a business consultancy with a 100 person software development facility in Karachi. He worked there for 9 years and built a 50 person organization with clients such as Burger King, Cable & Wireless and Georgia-Pacific. His earlier experience was with George S. May, where he specialized in operational turnarounds for small and mid-sized companies. Ali holds a Bachelor's degree in Economics from the College of William and Mary, and a MBA in Finance from Syracuse University.


Najeeb U. Ghauri is a well rounded business executive with over 20 years of Corporate, Marketing, Sales and Management experience in the US and international markets. He is the founder of NetSol Technologies, Inc. (USA). NetSol is the first US based Pakistani Software Company listed on NASDAQ. Netsol was founded in 1996 in Pakistan and in 1997 in the US and went public in 1998 through an IPO in the U.S.


Arshad Masood started his career as a sales rep at IBM's downtown NYC branch in 1987. In 1994 he joined Satyam Computer Services and helped them establish their insurance practice and landed the first insurance client of the company.  In 1996 he started Visionet Systems Inc. The company grew rapidly and was later acquired by Systems (pvt) Ltd. Visionet specializes in the mortgage servicing technology services and BPO. Arshad also co-founded Aereon Solutions (a field services wireless application company) in 1999. Aereon is funded by Intel.


Imran Qidwai is a founding charter member of OPEN, and has significant computer and telecommunications industry experience in the US and Pakistan. He is experienced in managing distributed development teams between US & offshore locations, and is knowledgeable in the current market and trends in offshoring, outsourcing and BPO. Over the past year he has been evangelizing Pakistan as a destination for offshore outsourcing and BPO.

He has worked at large and small, public and private companies. As an entrepreneur himself, in 1999 Mr. Qidwai co-founded and was VP of Engineering at MessageMachines, Inc., a Boston-based startup acquired by NMS Communications in April 2002. Previously, he was VP of Engineering at SoftLinx, focused on Internet-based fax messaging products for the enterprise. Work experience also includes NMS Communications, Lotus (IBM), Digital Equipment (HP/Compaq), Philips Electronics, and International Computers Limited (Fujitsu).

Mr. Qidwai holds a Master's degree in Computer, Information and Control Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; a post-graduate diploma in Digital Electronics from Philips International Institute of Technological Studies, Eindhoven, the Netherlands; and, a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Peshawar.


Rana Saad is the founder and CEO of Pi Sigma Group (PSG) - a leading Information Technology solutions and outsourcing services provider based in USA, Pakistan, and Denmark, with more than 120 employees worldwide.  PSG boasts a state of the art ISO 9001:2000 certified development center in the Software Technology Park in Islamabad, and a new development facility in Lahore.   PSG differentiates itself by offering its Optimal Sourcing (TM) global delivery methodology blended with expert onsite Requirement Analysis and Architecture to best meet the customer needs.   PSG's growing list of customers include: The World Bank, IBM, PricewaterhouseCoopers, IFC, GN Netcom, Pepsi, and Merrill Lynch.

Prior to starting PSG, Rana Saad held senior technical positions at IBM, Lotus Development Corporation, and PricewaterhouseCoopers.   He has over 12 years of technology leadership experience.


 
 
     
     
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