Pipeline Strategies Consulting

Allan Hackney is a businessman with a significant record of achievement in the financial services industry having held senior positions with three of the world’s largest corporations. Professionally and experientially he brings considerable knowledge and in-depth experience to the Information Systems, Operations and Finance functions. He has knowledge of a broad range of broad range of global and consumer and commercial financial services with particular depth in credit card operations, distribution finance, and banking products.

Due diligence assessment and integration of more than fifty international merger and acquisition transactions contributed to building GE’s most profitable business. Mr. Hackney developed and executed on the vision that positioned AIG's disparate consumer finance and banking back office, call center and technical infrastructure into a global expansion platform capable of supporting an exponentially higher growth rate. He has also identified and accelerated consolidation opportunities at Bank of America through practical application of extensive GE technical and Six Sigma quality training.

Most recently, Mr. Hackney was Operations & Technology Executive, and CIO of AIG Consumer Finance Group, Inc. Prior to this role he served as SVP – Information Technology for Bank of America Commercial Finance. He started his career at GE where he held a number of technical, finance and quality positions including Six Sigma Quality Leader for GE Capital Corporate Technology and CIO – GE Capital Japan. He graduated from Colgate University with a BA in Computer and Information Science, and resides in New Canaan, CT.

Thomas Gilley - CTO & Co-Founder of Vidavee, Inc. is a technologist and entrepreneur with a broad range of experience in systems architecture. In the past 20 years he has invented, patented and successfully brought to market advanced technologies for new markets. Gilley founded and managed the Apple Technology Groups Concept Integration Lab, which was responsible for IP development and rapid transition of technology to product. The lab's efforts included early networked video, peer to peer computing, QuickTime architecture and QuickTime VR systems; along with the handheld computer that started General Magic (Crystal); the handheld CD-ROM device that started Kaleida (Sweetpea); the many digital camera designs that began the Kodak relationship; and, finally, the controversial pen-based Macintosh program (Scribe, Penlight, Rosetta). Gilley's last endeavor at Apple was the management to manufacturing of the first high volume laptop computer with a track pad and pc-cards.

Martha Heller is Managing Director, IT Leadership Practice, ZRG and a Contributing Editor, CIO magazine. At ZRG, Martha recruits IT executives for senior level positions across all industries and geographies. Prior to joining ZRG, Martha was co-founder and managing director of CIO magazine's CIO Executive Council, a professional organization for CIOs.

At the Council, Martha developed programs that allow CIOs to share leadership development ideas and hiring and retention best practices. She led advocacy programs to improve the IT workforce and better the standing of the CIO in the executive suite, and she ran research projects on IT staffing trends. Prior to this, Martha developed and directed the CIO Best Practice Exchange, a members-only network of CIOs from top-tier organizations, as well as CIO Select, a peer-to-peer program for IT executives. During her seven-year tenure at CIO magazine, Martha wrote a weekly column on IT leadership and led a series of executive events on IT staffing, career development, and leadership. Before joining CIO magazine, Martha was an acquisitions editor at Rutgers University Press.

Martha continues to write for and speak to CIO audiences. She contributes a monthly column on IT executive careers for CIO magazine and has been a featured speaker at the CIO Executive Summit, the United Nations, CIO Decisions, SIM, and numerous executive education events.