The Vanguard Consultants
The Vanguard team has real-world experience in all aspects of the communications industry, from programming to high-tech marketing, from call center management to multimedia design. Several of our consultants contributed to key developments in the telecom and messaging industries. We are proud of the creative strength we draw from our depth and professional diversity.
Madeleine Ashe works primarily in call center and voice response assessments, process design, and documentation management, training, and re-engineering projects. She has extensive experience in process analysis, automated customer service design and best practices, and resource development. Ms. Ashe has been employed in telecommunications and customer service since 1981. She speaks French fluently and is certified by the Paris Chamber of Commerce to conduct business in the language.
Dave Bengtson is responsible for Vanguard client services in strategic customer contact planning, development, and implementation. His areas of expertise cover contact center technologies and operations, including ACD, CRM, CTI, IVR, and multimedia capabilities. Mr. Bengtson combines strong technical abilities with extensive business experience and a background in implementation and project management. He has over 11 years experience in the call center and telecommunications industries. Mr. Bengtson develops and delivers training courses and seminars on customer contact technology and operations. He holds a B.A. from Boston University and an M.B.A. from Pennsylvania State University.
Articles:
Lori Bocklund is a Vanguard Vice President. She works with clients on strategic customer contact planning, development, and implementation. Ms. Bocklund has expertise in call center operations and call center technologies, including ACD, CRM, CTI, multimedia, and other leading edge systems and capabilities. She has a strong technical background as well as extensive experience with customer-focused service from her 14 years in the call center industry. Ms. Bocklund develops and conducts seminars and workshops on customer contact and call center technologies, and writes articles on customer contact issues, technology, operations, and implementation. She holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from South Dakota State University, and an M.S. in Electrical Engineering, from George Washington University.
Articles:
- Rising to the Challenge
of Change
Looking at Metrics in a Whole New Light - Does Best-of-Breed Beat
the Suite?
Overcoming the Inertia of Uncertainty
Put Technology in its Place
Connecting the Call Center with Executive Row
Caution - Convergence Ahead! - Technology Bashin' is the Fashion
- Are You Transforming or Automating Your Contact Center?
- How to Develop a Customer Contact Technology Strategy
- A Time to Reflect
- Making the Most of What You Have
- From CSR to
Workflow Architect: A Career Path Success Story
Outsourcing eCommerce Customer Contact
Define Your Path to eCommerce Support
Technologies Enabling Customer Relationship Management - The Customer Contact Center:
Changing Times, Changing Paradigms
How Will You Respond?
Ten Things You Can Do to Improve Your Call Center Now
Customer Information Systems: Taking Your Call Center to a New Level of Sales and Service
Energizing the Call Center - Building a Business Case for CTI
- The Role of a Systems Integrator in Computer Telephone Integration
David Calvert leads Vanguard's United Kingdom practice. He works with both suppliers and end users in strategic planning, product evaluation and implementation. Mr. Calvert has 25 years of experience in information technology, and speaks frequently at conferences and seminars.
Elaine Cascio is a Vanguard Vice President. She manages a variety of Vanguard client projects in customer contact, including voice response and ecommerce. She assists clients with strategic planning, marketing, and customer research for voice response and web implementations. Ms. Cascio has extensive experience in customer contact assessment, voice response application development, user interface design, scripting, and implementation project management. She has been employed in high technology and communications since 1983. Ms. Cascio has an M.A. from the University of Virginia, and a B.A. from Dickinson College.Articles:
Sergio Caserta heads Vanguard's Rome office, and is well acquainted with the call center and telecommunications environment in Italy. His client work involves a variety of strategic planning and call center management issues. Mr. Caserta also helps North American corporations to set up Italian offices, or to take advantage of available R&D grants through joint ventures. He speaks regularly on help desks and call centers at the Italian branch of the International Institute of Research (IIR). Mr. Caserta holds a degree in Electronic Engineering from Universitą di Roma.Sue Elliott heads Vanguard's Asia Pacific office, concentrating on call centre process development, project management, and technology assessment and deployment. Ms. Elliott has been involved with innovative call centre work in the UK and New Zealand since 1990, working in Finance, Retail, and Public Sectors, including managing the selection and implementation of call centre technologies for a leading UK telephone bank. She holds an International M.B.A. from Bradford University, and a B.A. from Lancaster University, U.K.
Articles:
Areg Gharakhanian provides expertise in call center technology design and implementation, including developing operational and functional specifications and performance modeling. His background includes project managing implementation of multiple technologies, including ACD, CTI, IVR, quality monitoring systems, and workforce management systems. Mr. Gharakhanian has worked in the communications industry for over a decade. He has an M.S. in Operations Research from George Washington University, and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Virginia Polytechnical Institute. Jeff Hiatt specializes in business process design and strategic planning. He helps clients with major process reengineering, technology investments, and strategic planning. Mr. Hiatt combines a strong technical education with in-depth business experience. This background gives him a balanced perspective encompassing applied technology, business processes, and customer focus. Mr. Hiatt holds a M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Rutgers University and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Colorado State University. Publications:
Winning with Quality (Addison-Wesley Longman)
David Powis provides expertise in contact center technology planning and implementation, including day to day project management and troubleshooting. His experience includes business case development, ROI modeling and analysis, workflow and callflow mapping and analysis, process improvement and application design. Mr. Powis has been employed in call center technology and telecommunications for twenty years. He is a graduate of East Anglia University, UK.
Articles:
Truman Reynolds focuses on designing and implementing multimedia contact centers. He has over 25 years of experience in technology research and development, system integration, and project management. During the past ten years, Mr. Reynolds has functioned as a system architect and project manager for large, complex channel delivery and contact center projects. He holds a B.S. from Rice University.
Gail Sprague works extensively in voice response assessment design and implementation, usability and acceptance testing, call center assessments, and multimedia contact strategy and tactics. She also performs research and analysis for a broad range of projects, including trend analysis and market and benchmarking studies. Ms. Sprague’s expertise includes analysis, research, and project planning and coordination skills. Her background includes work in the insurance industry and in customer service positions in retail and insurance. Ms. Sprague holds M.A. and B.A. degrees from the University at Albany, State University of New York.Articles:
Lisa Stockberger, Vice President at Vanguard, oversees a variety of call center assignments including strategic plan development, tactical planning, operations and technology assessments, reengineering and process improvements, and technology specifications and implementations. She frequently works with clients as project manager for long term, complex call center implementations, coordinating internal and external resources, ensuring project plan compliance, and acting as a liaison to senior management. Ms. Stockberger has held senior management positions in the communications industry since 1980. She speaks at conferences and has authored many articles on customer contact issues. Ms. Stockberger has a B.A. from Indiana University.
Articles:
Maren Symonds is responsible for a variety of client services in the areas of multimedia communications, client-server computing applications, computer-telephony integration, and contact center management. Her 20 years in the industry includes work with manufacturers and communications suppliers in market analysis, product positioning, product design, and channel development. Ms. Symonds also works with end users on process re-engineering and the strategic deployment of technology enterprise-wide. She holds an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a B.A. from the University of California at San Diego.
Don Van Doren founded Vanguard in 1980, and as president provides overall corporate direction. He also works on client assignments in the effective design and use of new processes and technology for customer contact and managing customer relationships. He concentrates on the interworking of call center and evolving electronic commerce capabilities. Mr. Van Doren is a board member for the CTI Division of MMTA (Multimedia Telecommunications Association), serves on the Marketing Awareness and Education Committee of ECTF (Electronic Computer Telephony Forum), and serves on the editorial boards of a number of communications publications. He is recognized internationally as a leading authority on communications and is a featured speaker at conferences, user organization meetings, and other public forums. Mr. Van Doren holds a B.A. from Yale University and a M.B.A. from the University of Michigan.Articles:
Call Centers on the Edge: Emerging Trends in the Call Center
A Survey of Voice and Fax Processing Capabilities
Data Mining: Powerful Tools for Information Extraction
CTI--Moving Beyond Screen Pops
Are You Ready for CTI? Ten Steps to Finding Out
Collaboration in the Information Age
Linda Van Doren performs voice response assessments, and assists with contact center design, including staffing profiles and career pathing, project and task coordination. She has written internal and external marketing materials and performs usability and acceptance testing at Vanguard. Ms. Van Doren also conducts research and analysis, and monitors industry trends. Her background includes program and project management, development of multimedia training programs, curriculum development and training in many disciplines. She holds M.A. and B.A. degrees from New York University.
Maryann Walsh concentrates primarily on call center technology and
management assessments and customer contact industry consulting. During her eighteen years
in the telecommunications industry, including five years as President of Aurora Systems,
Inc., Ms. Walsh has developed a widespread reputation for technology leadership and
innovation. She regularly conducts seminars and workshops on call center technologies. Ms.
Walsh holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Brown University and a M.S. in
Electrical Engineering from Purdue University.
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