Richard S. Gallagher
President, Point of Contact Group

Rich Gallagher is a leading national authority on communications skills and workplace culture. His seven nationally-published books include Great Customer Connections (AMACOM, 2006), a worldwide classic on the psychology of customer interaction. His latest book What to Say to a Porcupine (AMACOM, 2008), a business fable collection that brings the fun back into creating excellent customer service, reached the top 20 on Amazon.com’s business humor chart in both the US and Europe.

Rich's other books include The Soul of an Organization and Smile Training Isn't Enough, both of which were book club selections that reached the Amazon.com top 3000, and his forthcoming book How to Tell Anyone Anything: Breakthrough Techniques for Handling Difficult Conversations at Work is scheduled for release in early 2009. He is also the subject matter expert for the American Management Association's Communication Bootcamp training program.

His lengthy management career includes helping to lead a West Coast software startup to become a major NASDAQ firm as its director of customer services, as well as leading another major software call center to near-perfect customer satisfaction ratings and near-zero turnover. Rich’s materials have been excerpted in Dale Carnegie training and elsewhere, and he is a veteran of numerous speaking engagements, media appearances and corporate workshops.

Erik K. Linask - Moderator
Group Managing Editor, Technology Marketing Corporation

Erik oversees the daily operation of TMCnet, which delivers news, information, videos, white papers, podcasts, and more to three million visitors each month. He is also a contributor to TMCnet as well as TMC’s IP Communications publications. Prior to joining the TMC team, several years ago, he was Managing Editor at Global Custodian, a global securities services publication, where he also managed the magazine’s survey research. Erik began his professional career at management consulting firm Leadership Research Institute.