Mitch joined VDC as it’s CEO in 2007 and brings a range of operating experience in technology companies large and small, public and private, focused on hardware, software and services. From 1994 to 1996 Mitch was a Product Manager at General Instrument (now Motorola Solutions) where he led the development of a new online gaming platform called Sega Channel, a joint venture with Time Warner and Sega of America. In 1997, as the Web was first emerging as a new medium, Mitch joined Organic, Inc., one of the first major Web consultancies as a consultant to premier consumer brands that were establishing their presence on the Web for the very first time.   The company had a successful IPO in February of 2000. Mitch subsequently went on to co-found Collabridge Technologies, an innovative venture capital backed start-up focused on the online advertising market. Mitch’s early career was as an Analyst with Merrill Lynch & Co. where he provided analytical and deal structuring support on large debt offerings, including the financing to build The Honda Center, home of the Anaheim Ducks NHL hockey team. Mitch holds an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, and a BA from Northwestern University.

Mike is VDC’s Vice President of Sales and brings to VDC nearly two decades of experience as a top performing sales professional in the fields of technology and market intelligence.  Prior to joining VDC, Mike spent four years in increasingly senior roles within the sales organization of Forrester Research, where he was responsible for new business.  As one of the first members of Forrester’s Enterprise IT sales team, Mike succeeded in bringing on new enterprise accounts greater than $1 billion in annual revenue.  And as one of the first Account Managers within Forrester’s Marketing and Strategy group, Mike managed the firm’s relationship with The Interpublic Group, one of the world’s leading ad agencies, and grew the relationship into one of Forrester’s largest accounts.  Prior to Mike’s experience at Forrester Research, he held senior sales roles with several technology leaders, including Exagrid Systems, Corporate Conversions, Quantum Shift, and Network Access Solutions.

Ellen Slaby has over 20 years of experience in marketing management. In her role at VDC, she is responsible for brand strategy, media relations, demand generation, thought leadership and web and event marketing. Her prior experience includes senior marketing roles with Harvard Business Publishing where she was responsible for creating integrated communications, lead generation and brand planning programs. She was Co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer for Portrait Challenge; Vice President of Corporate Marketing for Saba Software; and Vice President of Marketing for Centra. In 2003, Ms. Slaby was named one the Top 20 In-house Public Relations Professional by PR Week. She has been a Board Member with the Boston Ballet since 2006 and volunteers with non-profit organizations to help them use the Web for development and fundraising.

Bob Kraus is an experienced B2B and consumer market research executive with a track record of delivering impactful product research for leading global technology organizations such as Intel, Microsoft, SAP, Oracle and Adobe. Prior to his role at VDC Research, Bob was the Vice President of Research and Data Analytics for Gartner Group where he led major primary research efforts for all of the IT markets that they cover. Bob also enhanced and maintained Gartner’s IT maturity models.  He was Vice President of Quantitative Research for AMR Research and Research Director for International Planning and Research Group. Bob began his career with IBM and held senior positions at both Digital Equipment Corporation and Bay Networks. He holds an MS from the University of Rhode Island and a BS from the University of Vermont.

David has more than ten years experience covering the markets for enterprise and government mobility solutions, wireless data communication technologies and automatic data-capture research and consulting. David focuses on identifying the key drivers and enablers in the adoption of mobile and wireless solutions among mobile workers in the extended enterprise. David’s consulting and strategic advisory experience is far reaching and includes technology and market opportunity assessments, technology penetration and adoption enablers, partner profiling and development, new product development and M&A due diligence support. David has extensive primary market research management and execution experience to support market sizing and forecasting, total cost of ownership (TCO), comparative product performance evaluation, competitive benchmarking and end user requirements analysis. David is a graduate of Boston University (BSBA).

Michael is VDC's Vice President of the firm's AutoID & Data Collection research practice. Michael serves as VDC's lead analyst and consultant on all proprietary research and consulting engagements involving AutoID product, market or channel development. Michael has covered the broader automatic identification industry, including research and analysis for barcode, RFID contactless, NFC and RTLS technologies and solutions for more than a decade. Prior to VDC, Michael was employed by ABI Research as Practice Director, RFID. He also worked for Accenture (formerly Andersen Consulting) in their Organization and Human Performance practice. Michael has contributed to and has been cited in various industry trade press and national publications, including national TV appearances. Michael has also been a speaker at a number of industry-related conferences. Michael was presented the "Excellence in Journalism Award" by AIM Global in 2011. He was the first industry analyst to receive the award since its inception. Michael graduated Summa Cum Laude from Providence College (Rhode Island, USA) where he studied Political Science (major), Business, Marketing, Finance, and Economics (minors).

Chris is responsible for syndicated research and consulting engagements focused on embedded software, hardware and development solutions. He has worked with wide variety of clients supporting a range of projects including competitive analyses, strategic marketing initiative support, ecosystem development strategies, and vertical market opportunity assessments. Chris’s prior research also includes studies on multicore components and tools, operating systems, software development tools, and software/system lifecycle management tools, among others.

Chris holds a B.A. in Business Economics and a B.A. in Public and Private Sector Organization from Brown University.

As the Director of Human Resources and Finance, Michelle is responsible for reporting, planning, implementing, managing and controlling all financial-related activities for VDC Research. In addition, she is responsible for HR strategy execution and employee retention activities including: employee recruitment and new hire orientation, employee relations, benefits/401k administration and HR policy development. Michelle holds an accounting degree from Dean College.

As VDC’s Director of Primary Research, Janet plans, coordinates and executes VDC’s end-user survey research and is the company's lead survey methodologist, tasked with ensuring that the results of these projects are accurate and relevant representations of the markets we cover.  Janet brings more than two decades of quantitative primary research experience to the firm.  Prior to joining VDC, Janet spent five years with ABI Research and eight years with In-Stat as Director of Primary Research where she managed all facets of primary research data collection for all syndicated and custom research projects. Prior to joining In-Stat, Janet held several increasingly senior positions including Account Executive at Boston Research Group, a small full-service market research supplier, where she directed a number of custom research projects, not only in technology markets, but also covering other fields such as insurance, health care, and some consumer products. Other positions she has held include that of Marketing Specialist at Thinking Machines Corporation and Computer Systems Administrator at San Francisco Associates. Janet earned a BS degree in Psychology from the University of Massachusetts.

Randy Weston brings more than 20 years experience to VDC Research running its production and editorial teams. His extensive experience in the research industry spans 15 years from being an analyst at Gartner to managing strategic communications and serving as executive editor at AMR Research. Prior to that, he was a reporter for CNET and Computerworld covering the early days of ERP and the dawn of the Internet era. He has also been a daily newspaper reporter and worked in public radio. For the past 12 years, Randy has also served on the board of the Coolidge Corner Theater in a variety of executive management positions. Randy has a degree in journalism from San Francisco State University and an MBA from Boston University.