Board of Directors
Helene Eichler
As Director of Communications, Helene is responsible for developing and implementing Communications Strategies for SVPMA. An accomplished project/program manager, she currently runs HRE Technical Marketing focused on CRM and Partner Marketing Consulting. She has recently collaborated with Marketing Operations Partners on research data for their 2010 Marketing Operations Benchmark Study as well as identifying content for an SVPMA Marketing Operations Workshops. She was previously Sr. Channel Marketing Manager at Narus, an IP Traffic Management Security company. Ms. Eichler has also held both Channel and Product Marketing roles at telecom networking equipment companies like Ditech Networks; and the semiconductor space for LSI Logic. Earlier in his career, Ms. Eichler has held positions as Marketing Communications Manager at Fairchild and Product Marketing Manager for a division of HP. Helene has an M.B.A. in Marketing from Santa Clara University as well as Network Engineering Certificate from U.C.S.C.-Extension.
Jamie O’Halloran
As Director of Workshops, Jamie is responsible for developing and managing SVPMA’s workshop series. Jamie is a Sr. Solutions Consultant at GXS, the worlds largest B2B e-commerce network provider. He previously helped managed B2B offerings at Cisco Systems and has 12 years of eCommerce and SCM experience. Prior to Cisco, he held various product management, marketing and operations management positions at QRS Corporation - helping to develop numerous collaborative commerce, product catalog and channel management solutions for the retail industry. Jamie Graduated Cum Laude from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst with a B.S. in Psychology.
Jennifer Berkley Jackson
As Director of Special Events, Jennifer is the lead contact for the annual Silicon Valley Product Camp (formally P-Camp). As founder of The Insight Advantage, Jen Berkley Jackson works with a wide assortment of organizations, from high tech to no-tech, using research to help her clients understand their customers better than their competition does. Prior to launching her consulting business in 2000, she held positions in product management and managed a customer support group. With her varied experience, she has the expertise to be able to take any research challenge and quickly diagnose the right methodology(s) to use to quickly and cost-effectively achieve her clients’ objectives. Jen teaches The Power of Market Research class at UC Santa Cruz Extension and is Vice President of Women in Consulting as well as a member of Qualitative Research Consultants Association (QRCA). She also contributed to the book "42 Rules of Product Management".
Michael Austin
As Co-chair of Monthly Events and Speakers, Michael is responsible for identifying topics and speakers. He has lead product management in enterprise (SaaS) companies and robotics, from startups to Fortune 100. He has a diverse background from programming to executive leadership roles – and claims to have taken out the garbage on more than one occasion. He thrives in that intersection of technology and business. Michael has a B.S. in Computer Science and an MBA, with a focus in technology management.
Mike Freier
As President, Mike is responsible for the vision, long term strategy and growth of SVPMA. Prior to this role, Mike ran the monthly event series for 5+ years and secured guest speakers from hot start-ups to Fortune 1000 companies. Professionally, Mike is Founder and President of the Product Management Consulting Group, a senior consultant with the Product Realization Group and served 2 years on the MIT-Stanford (VLAB) executive committee. Mike has deep knowledge of the product lifecycle and the functions of product management and product marketing, including product/market requirements, positioning, pricing, roadmaps, vision and end-of-life planning. Over his 20+ year career, Mike has helped dozens of companies that design and manufacture electronic high-tech products, which include product design, software/ operating systems and systems integration. Mike graduated from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst with a B.S. in Engineering with an emphasis on product design and development.
Nupur Thakur
As Director of Monthly Events and Speakers, Nupur is responsible for identifying topics and speakers for the monthly events. Nupur is a product mangement veteran with experience bringing new products to market to managing established products. In her current role, Nupur is responsible for marketing and strategy in the services and support organization at Juniper Networks. Prior to Juniper Nupur has held PM/Marketing roles at Brocade and Tellabs. Earlier in her career, Nupur held engineering roles at Tellabs, Venkani Info Systems and C-DOT, India. Nupur has a B.S in Computer Science and Business Management.
Sam Lee
Sam is a Finance and Accounting Professional with over 25 years experience working
with Start-ups to Public international companies. He has also co own and operates
his own consulting and marketing business. Sam has served as Controller, Director
of Finance, Chief Administration Officer / Business Manager, and CFO in different
industries. Sam’s wide industry experiences include professional services – law,
engineering, mass communications, environmental services, construction, real estate,
internet technology, non-profits and government / defense contractors. Sam graduated
with a BS in Finance and an MBA in international Finance from Saint John’s University.
Shyla Klinder
As Director of Social Networking Events, Shyla is responsible for managing SVPMA’s social networking events. Shyla is a product management professional with over 16 years of experience in enterprise software technology, product management, consulting, and development. As Product Manager at SAP labs, she was responsible for product definition, product planning for SAP’s first ever internet offering and marketplace exchanges. Shyla currently provides her expertise in strategic consulting, managing software products from concept to launch for early stage startups, and non-profits. Shyla holds a Master’s degree in Computer Science from Central Michigan University and a Master’s degree in Mathematics from Bangalore University, India.
Sree Kamala
As a Director of Website and IT, Sree is responsible for handles our website and other IT Initiatives. Sree is a Sr Software Engineer working for Cisco Systems. He has over 8 years of software experience in the field of network and security. Prior to Cisco systems Sree worked for Citrix and various startups in the valley.
Victor Chong
As Director of Sponsorships, Victor plays a key role by reaching out to successfully secure sponsorships and associated revenues from technology vendors, educational institutions, and other organizations whose interests and goals are relevant to the product management and product marketing communities. Victor is a product manager at eBay focused on global advertising and buyer experience. He has a special interest in consumer-facing web and mobile products. Prior to eBay he was product manager and co-founder at a mobile advertising startup. He started his career in Hewlett-Packard’s enterprise computing group and is a graduate of Purdue and University of Chicago.