Janet Crane
Vice president, eBay and chief executive officer, Billpoint, a wholly owned subsidiary of eBay
Janet Crane brings more than 20 years of payment and banking experience both with large financial corporations and small entrepreneurial companies. Prior to joining Billpoint, she was president and CEO of Mondex USA and vice chairman of Mondex International, the smart card companies owned by many of the world’s leading financial institutions.
Before Mondex, Crane held executive positions at Wells Fargo, MasterCard, Transaction Processing Inc., Mellon Bank and the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. She has managed businesses responsible for debit, credit and smart cards, as well as corporate cash management.
Crane has served on the Cirrus and Star boards of directors and is a frequent industry speaker and thought leader. She is a graduate of Bucknell University.
Billpoint facilitates efficient person-to-person payment services over the Internet. Focusing on online trading communities such as auction sites, Billpoint allows buyers and sellers to use credit cards to conduct convenient, safe, and reliable transactions online. Billpoint, founded in 1998, is located in San Jose, Calif.
The company was acquired by eBay in early 1999 and operates as a wholly owned subsidiary.
Jennifer Alexander
Vice president of marketing
STORM, LLC
As vice president of marketing, Jennifer Alexander leads STORM’s branding and communications efforts. Before joining STORM, Alexander was a senior vice president at Young & Rubicam in New York.
Her agency experience in establishing large, national advertising and branding programs will be key as STORM aggressively penetrates the Web performance market. During her tenure at Young & Rubicam, Alexander led strategy and campaign development for the Citibank Citi f/i business, the bank’s new Internet product.
In addition, she specialized in business planning and development for Young & Rubicam’s Key Corporate Accounts, including Citibank, Ford and AT&T. Alexander managed the development and global implementation of TeamSpace, a groundbreaking Internet/extranet, workflow tool that enabled Young & Rubicam to share work with client teams globally and across lines of business.
Alexander led the agency’s Detroit office in establishing the brand team structure in place for Lincoln-Mercury. Prior to joining Young & Rubicam, she spent two years with the Agency Management Group in Pittsburgh as senior consultant, then as vice president.
Alexander attended Colby College in Maine and graduated from Carnegie Mellon University’s Graduate School of Industrial Administration.
Linda S. Werner, Esquire
Vice president and estate planning officer
PNC Advisors
Linda S. Werner is a vice president and estate planning officer of PNC Advisors. Her primary areas of practice include estate planning, wealth succession planning and estate and gift tax planning.
She was formerly an associate of the Pittsburgh law firm of Reich, Werner & Alexander, and earlier, an associate counsel in the Trust and Investment Section of Mellon Bank, N.A.’s legal department. Werner is a member of the Allegheny County Bar Association and the Estate Planning Council of Pittsburgh.
She received her B.A. from the University of Pittsburgh and her J.D. from the University of Akron School of Law, Akron, Ohio. She is a native of Pittsburgh.
Michael J. Campbell
Founder and CEO
Michael James & Co.
As a founder and CEO of Michael James & Co., Michael J. Campbell is responsible for managing client services and strategic marketing programs. His focus includes helping clients understand the multitude of channels in the marketplace, specifically business partners and trade groups, and creative ways of leveraging those organizations to establish market leadership.
Previously, Campbell was managing director of public affairs and program development at the Pittsburgh Technology Council, where he managed outside agency relationships, a team of sales managers, account executives and meeting planners. He built from scratch a highly successful million-dollar special-events program including industry conferences and expositions.
Before the Technology Council, Campbell worked for a number of business and industrial organizations, including the Pittsburgh World Trade Association and the Greater Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce.
While with the World Trade Association, the United Nations Development Program tapped him to serve on a consulting team working in Beijing. He subsequently participated in other U.N. initiatives in Europe and served on foreign trade missions in Asia.
Campbell earned his bachelor’s degree in philosophy and political science at Gannon University. He did his master’s work in international policy and finance at the University of Pittsburgh.
Nancy Evans
Co-founder, editor-in-chief
iVillage.com
Nancy Evans is co-founder of iVillage.com: The Women’s Network, and has served as editor-in-chief since the company’s inception in June 1995. The mission of the company is to provide effective solutions to everyday challenges facing women in their many roles as professionals, parents, friends and partners.
iVillage.com utilizes the power of personalized services and peer advice made possible by the Internet.
As co-chairperson and editor-in-chief of iVillage.com, the nation’s largest Web site for women, Evans has created a cyberspace community for more than 7.3 million women per month who get and share information on subjects ranging from current events, parenting and financial and career planning to health care issues that can be life saving as well as life enhancing.
Evans has introduced an environment in which women from all walks of life have access to each other. Full-time career women who spend a lot of time on the road, as well as full-time homemakers and stay-at-home moms, not only have access to previously unavailable expert advice, but also can communicate directly with each other through the Web site’s live, online chats and message boards.
Prior to founding iVillage, Evans founded the magazine Family Life to create a “national kitchen table” for parents of children ages 3 to 12. She published it in a joint-venture with Jann Wenner. Along with overseeing the business, she served as editor-in-chief.
Family Life was nominated for the National Magazine Award in General Excellence in its first year of publication. Subsequently sold to Hachette, Family Life now is owned by TimeWarner.
Robert Albertelli
E-commerce specialist
Concurrent Technologies Corp. (CTC)
Robert Albertelli primarily supports the CTC’s Electronic Commerce Resource Center (ECRC) program. He is responsible for managing the outreach and technical support activities, with an emphasis on communicating the message of the ECRC program to prospective clients.
He conducts information technology consultations and training for enterprises throughout New York, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. Albertelli has more than seven years of experience working with e-commerce technologies and assisting organizations in implementing e-commerce into their own operations.
The mission of the ECRC program is to identify and assist industrial enterprises in making the transfer from a paper-intensive environment to one that provides for the generation, exchange, management and use of digital data, both technical and business.
Robert C. Buzzelli
Investment Officer
PNC Advisors
Robert C. Buzzelli is an investment officer with PNC Advisors, specializing in providing expert advice to investment management and trust clients.
Buzzelli’s prior experience includes serving as treasurer for USX Corp. and working as part of the Institutional Trading & Investments group at Mellon Bank. A Pittsburgh native, he received his B.S. in accounting and marketing from Robert Morris College and his M.B.A. from Carnegie Mellon University.
Sandie Akerman
Owner
Akerman Consulting & Training, Inc.
Sandie Akerman’s training and consulting business focuses on effectiveness and productivity of individuals and organizations by improving relationships.
She believes that people are at the heart of the bottom line and that behind every issue is how we relate to ourselves and others. Akerman has more than 22 years of progressive management, training and sales experience. Before starting Akerman Consulting & Training, Inc., she was the director of training and development for PPG Industries, Inc. – Architectural Finishes, where she was responsible for providing training and development for 890 employees and the customers of this division.
Prior to that, Akerman was employed by Dictaphone Corp. in Stratford, Conn., where she was responsible for the development and implementation of extensive training materials for each product for corporate trainers and customers. She was responsible for managing the hiring, training, and evaluation process for more than 50 training professionals.
She received her bachelor’s degree from Butler University in Indianapolis, Ind., where she studied broadcast journalism and political science.
Sharon L. Kuczynski
financial consultant
Hilliard Lyons
Sharon Kuczynski is a financial consultant with Hilliard Lyons, the Sewickley, Pa. brokerage firm acquired by PNC Advisors in 1998. Kuczynski provides investment and financial planning services to clients in various stages of wealth accumulation. Prior to joining Hilliard Lyons, she held related positions with PNC Brokerage Corp., Legg Mason Wood Walker and Parker/Hunter Inc.
She received her bachelor’s degree in business administration from Slippery Rock University and holds Series 7, 63, and 65 licenses.
