Darius Vaskelis: technology and product executive

Darius was previously Senior Vice President and Managing Director of CRM (customer relationship management) at Tectonic, a leading technology and business services company that acquired Sakonent, a CRM consulting firm where was co-founder and CEO. Sakonent was recognized by industry analysts such as Gartner as one of top firms in its field, particularly for work with the latest technology platforms like Salesforce.com. Under his leadership the firm grew to over 170 employees globally and delivered sales, marketing and customer service technology solutions for commercial and nonprofit clients in Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America.Darius’ previous background at Cognizant, Hambra Consulting and Inforte has included managing and developing the leadership, delivery and sales capabilities of technology consulting business units, and as part of Inforte's executive leadership team, integrating a major acquisition after helping drive the firm towards a successful IPO. While leading a team of various industry experts at Inforte, he collaborated with Harvard Business School Professor Michael Porter and was a contributor to Porter’s Harvard Business Review article, “Strategy and the Internet”, which won the 2001 McKinsey Award. Additionally, under his leadership, Inforte’s e-commerce practice was a finalist in 1999 for Microsoft’s Best Electronic Commerce Solution of the Year for its work with Platinum Healthcare.

Darius was previously the CEO of Safepole, an innovative durable medical equipment firm committed to making patients' hospital experiences as comfortable and risk-free as possible. In this role, he was responsible for all aspects of bringing a new patient care device successfully to market, from manufacturing to sales including establishing its initial distributor network and a donation program.

Darius previously served as Director of Information Systems at Hospitality Resources Incorporated (HRI), where he was responsible for strategic planning and operations management technology implementations. He started his career at IBM and worked at the University of Illinois Hospital and Health Sciences System; he has also worked with other leading companies in various management and consulting positions.

Darius is frequently cited as an expert in technology and business strategy and has been published and quoted in various business and trade publications. He is also a frequent speaker at industry and nonprofit conferences and trade shows.

Darius holds a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Illinois. He resides in Chicago, where he enjoys baseball games and the opera.

• Best Electronic Commerce Solution of the Year (Microsoft, 1999.06), finalist (Platinum Healthcare)

• Strategic Operations Management. The Engine of eBusiness (eStrategy.com, 1999.12), author

• Workplace eCommerce White Paper (for Microsoft, 2000.01), author

• Driving Operational Efficiencies Through Workplace eCommerce: Enterprise Resource Planning in the Era of eBusiness (eStrategy.com, 2000.02), author

• The Emergence of Digital Marketplaces (eStrategy.com, 2000.04), author

• The Evolution of B2B Commerce (Ariba Magazine, 2001.02), author

• Strategy and the Internet (Harvard Business Review, 2001.04)(full article), contributor

• B2B: The Real World (Intelligent Enterprise, 2001.08), author

• Demand Chain Management (DCM): Philosophy and Practice (Inforte, 2001.12), author

• The DCM Index (Inforte, 2002.01): A Step-By-Step Guide (Inforte, 2002.02) and Dow 30 DCM Indices (Inforte, 2001.11), co-author

• Forecasting and the Enterprise. Best Practices for Operating an Effective Forecasting Function (Inforte, 2002.05), co-author

• Experts on Call (destinationCRM.com, 2002.03-2003.02), contributor

• Taking The Frenzy Out Of Forecasting (Optimize, 2003.03), co-author

• CRM Unplugged: Releasing CRM's Strategic Value (Wiley, 2004.04), contributor

• IT as a Strategic Weapon (presented at Avery Dennison's Global CIO Meeting, 2004.05), contributor

• CRM 2.0: Trends in CRM for 2010 (for Sakonent, 2009.09), author