Fall 2008 Mentor Profiles

Judy Batenburg
Kevin Burge
Terri Cooper
Rob Lincavage
Wendi Nagy
Laurie Schrager
Scott Shippy

Judy Batenburg
Director, IT Infrastructure and Operations
Starz

Judy Batenburg has 20 years experience in all facets of Information Technology. She is currently the Director of IT Infrastructure and Operations for Starz. Judy is responsible for managing the corporate IT environment, which includes system, storage and network infrastructure, and she is also responsible for overseeing procurement. Her current focus is on developing an IT strategic plan, targeted towards moving the IT team forward to address the convergence between Broadcast and IT technologies and operations.

Prior to Starz, Judy was an IT Director at IHS, overseeing Global Operations, Help Desk, Infrastructure and Project Management. She also spent 11 years at AT&T Bell Laboratories/Lucent Technologies, overseeing the development and deployment of Lucent’s global network & system management environment, and she has given numerous industry presentations on managing global infrastructures. Judy has had experience working in startups, small business and large enterprises, and has managed teams as diverse as development, Quality Assurance, Infrastructure, Audit & Compliance and Project Management. She was interviewed on the MSNBC show “Pick of the Week” for a segment that highlighted small business success stories.

Judy has a BSEE in Electrical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University, and an MS in Computer Science from the University of Delaware.

Throughout her career, Judy has had mentors who have been invaluable in helping her move forward, both personally and professionally. She has also had the pleasure of informally mentoring others. Judy believes that as we move up in their careers, it is imperative that we help the next group of leaders, just as we were helped. She believes that mentoring is a two way street – mentees learn from the experience and outlook of the mentors, just as the mentors learn from the experiences and outlooks of the mentees.

Judy was previously a mentee in the WICT program and understands how to really make the most of the benefits of the program. Throughout her career, she has also informally mentored women both within and outside her career area. She has also been a Big Sister in the Big Brother/Big Sister program, mentoring a young woman for 3 years.

To be a good mentor, Judy believes the most important trait is to be a good listener, and through listening, observations and discussion, help the mentee uncover their true desires and potentials. She believes a good mentor is a sounding board, and can use his/her experiences and objective thoughts to help guide the mentee. A good mentor has had successes and failures along the way, and has learned from both experiences.

Judy’s leadership philosophy includes putting together a strong team, and then providing an environment for that team to do their jobs. She works to clear out obstacles, and then lets the team reach their potential. Judy gives people the authority to try their approaches, and hold people responsible and accountable for those results. She also believes that a sense of humor goes a long way towards creating a fun work environment.

Judy’s core values are integrity, work-life balance, and commitment to whatever you are doing.

Judy counts the following as her strengths: a great sense of humor, intelligence, and the ability to step back and look at the bigger picture. She is very goal oriented and focused on contributing to the business. She is a very straightforward person, and believes in focusing on the real issues.

Judy would like to work with people working in or interested in technology, but she is open to anyone who is interested in committing to the program. She is interested in working with someone with interest in the topics of , Transitioning from Being an Individual Contributor to a Manager; Acting as a Sounding Board; and Growing as a Leader.

Judy would prefer to meet in the DTC/Park Meadows area, and would prefer to meet either during business hours, or before/after work on weekdays in the DTC.

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Kevin Burge is currently the Director of Technical Operations at Comcast. Kevin has been in the Cable TV industry since 1981. Kevin started in the field as an installer and held most field related positions over the years. He spent many years in the field in supervisor/manger positions. Kevin moved to the corporate environment in 1995 and worked on a project with TCI on how to deliver multiple products into a customer’s home (the project was called the Customer Satisfaction Team). Kevin then returned to the Colorado market in 1997 and lead the launch of Digital Cable and later HSD. He became the Telephony GM for Colorado in 1999 and helped deploy circuit switched telephone technology. As the GM Kevin oversaw all aspects of the product from call center to field ops. Today he continues to oversee the telephony operations, regional field operations, and field technical support.

Kevin is interested in being a mentor because he believes a mentor has the ability to aid another person to see things differently then what they are accustomed too. There is great personal reward in helping another person achieve his/her goals.

Kevin’s prior experience with mentoring includes many opportunities to informally mentor individuals he has worked with throughout his career. Presently, Kevin is mentoring an employee out of his current division office. He has also had the opportunity to have an outside vendor as a mentor over a 6 month period. This experience was very valuable to Kevin as it aided him to see himself from another’s perspective. Kevin still refers to a quote from that experience daily – “The basis of all change is self-observation”. Kevin would like to share those experiences with others in the industry.

Kevin believes that to be a good mentor an individual must have an open mind and will have the mentee’s well being as the primary objective of the mentoring relationship. Kevin has a passion for helping others to succeed in their endeavors.

In his leadership philosophy, Kevin believes that it is very important to allow your employees to make decisions, even if they may not be the decision you would make. It is very important for leaders to not be afraid of failure.

Kevin’s core values are simply stated - honesty and integrity. The strengths that Kevin will bring to the mentoring relationship include having a broad background in the industry, which allows him to really see the full picture. His experience also helps him to understand the impact decisions have across functional groups. Kevin has the courage to let new leaders make decisions and learn from the outcome of these decisions.

Kevin is open to working with mentees from varied backgrounds. He is interested in working with someone with interest in the topics of Transitioning from Being an Individual Contributor to a Manager; Growing as a Leader; and Enhancing Career Opportunities (Networking).

Kevin can meet in the North Metro area, but during work hours he would prefer to meet in the DTC vicinity from 7-9 a.m., around lunch time, or 4-6 p.m. M-F). Tuesdays – Fridays are best for Kevin’s schedule.

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Terri currently holds the title of Vice President of Platform Operations at CSG Systems. Terri has spent 19 years in the Information Technology industry with 15 of those years focused in the Communications Industry. Terri spent the first 10 years of her career with Accenture (formerly Anderson Consulting) developing and implementing customer care and billing solutions. She then spent 3 years at Level 3 Communications implementing the company’s billing systems and managing the testing and production support organizations. Upon moving to Infocrossing (formerly iStructure, a subsidiary of Level 3) Terri changed her focus to infrastructure management. Infocrossing is an infrastructure outsourcing service provider and at that company she ran the mainframe, UNIX, Windows, LINUX, helpdesk, program management, database and disaster recovery businesses. Last year Terri joined CSG Systems and she currently has responsibility for the Platform Operations organization which includes the data center, mainframe, Windows, UNIX, database, network, business continuity, architecture, operational engineering and performance engineering functions.

Terri has had the privilege of being a formal and informal mentor to many people throughout her career. She has also had the luxury of having some outstanding mentors that were instrumental in helping shape her leadership style. She finds that she learns at least as much from someone that she is mentoring as they may learn from her. She would like to bring that experience to the WICT mentoring program.

Throughout her career, Terri has had the experience of participating in several formal mentoring programs, specifically for women, and she participated in both as a mentor and mentee. The opportunity to learn from women who had similar goals as she did while learning how to balance working with being a mother was invaluable. She has maintained a relationship with one of her first mentors for 19 years now and found that relationship to be one that she can continue to learn from as she grows in her career and life. She has had several women at CSG seek her out to be a mentor and she has enjoyed the opportunity to learn through her mentees about her new company while sharing with them her observations about how they can grow in their careers.

To be a good mentor, first and foremost Terri believes the individual must a good listener. Even two people having the same goals will have different strengths and weaknesses and therefore need a different path to achieve the same goal. A mentor needs to provide advice not necessarily on how he/she solved the same problem but to apply his/her knowledge of the mentee’s individual circumstances and strengths to how the mentee can best solve the problem. One of the things that she enjoys the most about her job is learning what each person’s strengths are so that she can help them capitalize on those strengths. She also tries to understand their areas for improvement so that she can ensure they are not put in a position to highlight those areas while she works with them on addressing them.

Terri’s leadership philosophy centers around building relationships. You build relationships by taking the time to understand each person whom you interact with (your direct reports, peers, customers both internal and external, service providers, etc.) and understanding what you can do to enable their success. Successful leaders are those that have people who want to follow them as they move through their career because as that leader is successful they ensure the success of those around them. Great leaders understand that each person they interact with has different needs, different fears, and different strengths and tailors their leadership style accordingly to enable them to be great at what they do.

Terri’s core values are the following:

• Passion – you must love what you do and have fun doing it.
• Integrity – be true to yourself and your values.
• Learning – be constantly learning and helping others learn.
• People – surround yourself with people who will challenge you.

Terri will bring the following strengths to the mentoring relationship: Building relationships, creating order out of chaos, building processes, building team which are highly effective, communicating (presentations, verbal, written).

Terri enjoys mentoring people with a wide variety of backgrounds and goals. She would prefer to be assigned to mentees from companies that are not direct competitors with CSG. Terri is interested in working with someone with interest in the topics of Interpersonal Effectiveness; Managing and Motivating Teams; and Growing as a Leader.

Terri can meet either in the DTC area or in the North Metro area. She can meet during business hours M-F (when she is not traveling which is about every other week), and prior to work or after work.

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Rob Lincavage
Sr Director, Business Services Operations
Comcast Business Services

Currently Rob Lincavage holds the title of Sr Director, Business Services Operations at Comcast Business Services. Rob has over 17 years in leadership roles within high tech organizations. The majority of Rob’s experience has been within the Aviation and Aerospace industry and over the last two years as a senior director within Comcast Business Services. Rob has lead teams that have deployed the first electronic charting system to the cockpit of the next generation aircraft as well as had global experience with managing over 400 people, through various cultures and countries world wide.

Rob has participated in various mentorship programs in the Boeing company and has had the opportunity to mentor over 17 different up and coming managers throughout his 17 years of leadership experience.

Rob is interested in being a mentor in this program because he loves to work with people. He has a basic knack for helping others see their own strengths and helping them to capitalize through perspective. Rob loves to lead and feels that though mentoring, he also learns from those he mentors. It helps him with his leadership style and perspective as well. It is great “exercise”!

Rob has experience with both formal mentoring programs as well as informal mentoring relationships. He has been a part of the Boeing and the Jeppesen company Mentoring Program for many years. He also participated both as a mentor of rising managers, as well as a mentee as a Director. He is also involved in mentoring youth athletes in the school system he is currently a part of.

Rob believes that to be a good mentor, an individual must be someone that can listen, provide situational leadership, and interpret accurately the feelings and needs of others. A good mentor should be able to handle all different levels of guidance and needs of mentees. Flexibility around scheduling is also important to accommodate those depending on your time. One that mentors needs to be able to share experiences that they have been through, with those without that same experience, and deliver it in a way that makes sense. The knowledge needs to be transferrable and easily understood by the mentee, as well as communicated clearly by the mentor. Of course, the mentor needs to be able to learn. You never know it all! Rob believes that through his many years of experience mentoring, he can easily perform the above as well as learn more through the experiences he will gain with this program.

Rob’s leadership philosophy can be compared to that of an upside down pyramid. His organization lives above him hierarchically. He is there to support them, although not alone as they are the strength. He just removes roadblocks, finds out how to leverage the teams individual strengths to achieve the common goal, and be supportive through situational leadership.

Rob’s core values include commitment, engagement, and compassion. He believes it is important to be fair, but to also hold people accountable.

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Currently Wendi Nagy holds the title of Director, Program Management at GuideWorks, LLC. Wendi has over 22 years of experience in technology focused companies with increasing levels of responsibility. She started her career with Hughes Aircraft Company (now Raytheon) as a computer operator while attending college full-time. Wendi was then was promoted to software engineer and continued to further her career over the next nine years while also completing her Masters Degree in Computer Science. Wendi left Hughes but continued to expand her technical knowledge and business experience by consulting to a number of defense-related companies. In 1997 Wendi founded her own systems engineering firm specializing in ground-station infrastructure services for the Air Force.

In 1999, Wendi left the defense industry to pursue consulting opportunities in the commercial technology industry by providing program management expertise for large projects. In March of 2003, she joined TVGuide Interactive, now the Comcast joint venture called GuideWorks, as a Sr. Program Manager. Over the last five years she has been responsible for managing several very large strategic Interactive Program Guide (IPG) initiatives. In addition, she has researched and implemented a substantial change in the company’s engineering processes, moving the company from a waterfall methodology of software development to a more Agile approach. This major shift has allowed GuideWorks to become much more adept at reacting to a frequently changing business environment and to delivering quality products to market in a much shorter period of time. Wendi was recently promoted to Director and is considered the subject matter expert and program management mentor in the organization.

Wendi is interested in becoming a mentor because she believes that her diverse background, both personally and professionally, will bring value to a mentoring relationship. She feels she has a unique set of experiences that she can share with others. As a working mother, she has experienced the challenges of balancing work, education and home. Wendi feels that she has developed some skills that would be helpful to others. Working in the very male dominated work environment of the defense industry has also posed some unique challenges. Wendi was able to succeed in this environment due to the help and wisdom of other women in this field. She would now like to “pay it forward” and perhaps inspire others to overcome their challenges.

Wendi was previously a mentee in the WICT program in 2001. At the time she had just been laid-off for the very first time in her career and was really devastated. Her mentor provided her tremendous support and encouragement as she had experienced the same in her career. Wendi has also had the opportunity to mentor others in her company, both project managers and engineers wanting to expand their skills. In addition, she frequently meets with other working women to share stories and gain insight and ideas.

Wendi believes a good mentor must be a great listener and very creative. She feels it’s important to consider the unique situation for each individual and what drives him/her – a specific passion or interest. Wendi also thinks it’s important that a good mentor not jump to providing solutions or answers but to help the mentee drive to their own answers. She has a broad range of experiences both personally and professionally that she feels provides a great platform for mentoring. She also has a very large network of contacts to draw from. She loves meeting new people and learning new things from them. Wendi very much considers mentoring as a two-way street – the mentor should get as much from the relationship as the mentee.

Wendi’s leadership philosophy espouses that we all have special gifts to contribute to this world. The job of a leader is to figure out how to make the best use of everyone’s talents and passions to move the organization forward. Wendi believes that we are all adults and deserve to be treated as such which means being accountable for all that we say and do. For some this is a difficult task - as leaders we must deal with these challenges. Wendi firmly believes in the adage “trust but verify”. She thinks a leader must be honest and transparent in all actions. As a leader she also believes it is up to her to take ownership of all that is done within her organization; to make the tough decisions and to be held accountable for those decisions.

Wendi’s core values include the following:
1. Family first always!
2. Truth and Transparency- anything else is a waste of time
3. Accountability – when you’re wrong, apologize, try to fix the problem and learn something from the experience.
4. Perfection isn’t achievable, excellence is
5. Optimism – it’s easy to be a pessimist, it takes guts to find the bright-side of a situation
5. Humor is a requirement for a good life – learn to laugh at yourself!
6. Have fun – life’s short!

Wendi is open to mentoring individuals with varied backgrounds, goals and aspirations. She believes she has a lot to offer to women in a technical field, those in project management and those who are working mothers. She would like to mentor an individual who is committed to doing the hard work necessary to achieve his/her goals and who is interested in helping others.

Wendi is interested in working with someone with interest in the topics of Growing as a Leader; Balancing Work and Life; Acting as a Sounding Board; Entrepreneurship; and Project/Program Management. However, Wendi will work with mentees on varied topics of interest.

Wendi can meet in the DTC/downtown area during lunch, and 3-6PM most weekdays. Her schedule is very flexible with enough notice.

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Currently Laurie Schrager holds the title of Director, CDN Strategy & Finance, at Level 3 Communications. After Laurie graduated from college, she worked in New York and San Francisco in banking and consulting. As a consultant, she was primarily focused in the telecom industry, working with many of the landline and wireless providers as the broadband access companies became an increasingly larger portion of their portfolio.

In 2003, Laurie went to The Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth for her MBA. While in business school, she spent some time working for Level 3 in marketing and finance roles. She re-joined Level 3 in 2007 in the CDN product organization.

In her current position, Laurie is responsible for many aspects of the CDN business that continue to drive the success of the product. Her responsibilities include:

• Cost Economics: Understand our business and the impacts of pricing
• Market / Product Strategy: Continue to learn about the market, and drive Level 3’s strategy to be best positioned to be successful
• International Growth: Expand the business into Asia, while managing costs and relationships

Laurie is interested in becoming a mentor because she believes new generations in an organization or industry are critical to growth and new ideas. In order to keep the momentum within a space, it is critical to pass on knowledge, while also learning new things from younger members. Many times younger generations will question why things are a certain way, and these conversations generate good ideas rather than relying on “that’s the way it has always been done”.

In Laurie’s past position, she had a mentor, who was very instrumental in helping her identify strengths and weaknesses, and work through situation to help grow her career.

Laurie believes that to be a good mentor it takes a willingness to listen, to ask questions, and to coach when appropriate. It is critical to understand that your mentee is just beginning his/her career, and you can provide guidance that helps him/her be successful.

Laurie’s leadership philosophy includes the following: a leader is someone whom people want to follow – not out of fear, but out of respect and admiration. These are things a leader earns, by taking the right actions, asking the right questions, and sharing good ideals. Laurie’s most significant learning recently is that strong leaders can show vulnerability, and they are not expected to have all the answers, but need the ability and resources to get them.

Laurie’s core values include being open to new ideas, and building principles to guide you through challenges. Strong organizational cultures are essential to success.

Laurie brings many strengths to the mentoring relationship from her past experiences including strong intellectual capacity and problem solving.

Laurie is most interested in mentoring an individual on the business side of telecom or interested in moving into a role of that nature. However, she is open to mentoring individuals of varied backgrounds and interests.

Laurie is interested in working with someone with interest in the topics of Acting as a Sounding Board; Growing as a Leader; and Interpersonal Effectiveness. However, Laurie will work with mentees on varied topics of interest.
Laurie can meet in the evenings or weekends in Denver, or lunch time around the Broomfield area.

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Scott Shippy
Global Director of Cable Deployments
Convergys

Currently Scott Shippy holds the title of Global Director of Cable Deployments, at Convergys. Over the course of 2 decades Scott’s career has taken him down a variety of roads. Scott began his career as a radio broadcaster and he progressed through several other positions including IT software consultant, International Aid manager, and global IT infrastructure architect for manufacturing. Currently he is a leading SME in the areas of cable billing system project management and software deployments. Two common themes have tracked throughout his career:

1.) Project Management – From this side of Scott’s career he has been involved in the smallest of software implementations to a Global ERP rollout for a major semiconductor support business. He has helped companies like AT&T Broadband and Convergys develop and implement sustained project methodologies and has partnered with global Cable and Satellite operators to implement best PM practices and implementations.

2.) International Business – Scott has also been fortunate enough to perform business practices, implementations, and projects in every corner of the world (with the exception of the Antarctic). Currently he manages a global team of 100+ people in the US, South America, Australia, New Zealand, India, & UK / Greater Europe. What he finds the most challenging and enlightening is that he is exposed to various cultural practices that help him see beyond the United States way of life. These experiences have given him a greater appreciation of the global community overall.

Scott is interested in being a mentor because throughout the course of his career he has been fortunate to have a series of excellent and life changing mentors. Some have been professional in nature and others personal. He attributes his success in life, family, and career in large part to both mentoring he has received and opportunities he has had to be a mentor. Scott finds that while being a mentor is satisfying from the perspective of “giving back” it is also rewarding in that he learns so much from others as they grow their lives and careers.

Scott has been a mentor formally off and on for various employers since the mid-90’s. Currently he is mentoring an Australian manager in the aspects of project management in the Cable /Satellite industry. The current program ends in November of this year. Scott is also working with an International VP of sales to better understand cultural differences in the sales cycle.

Scott believes that a good mentor does not sit down and teach. They do not lecture. They do not advise. They primarily listen. A good listening mentor will speak when the time is appropriate.

Scott believes that he would be a good mentor because he is a good listener, plus he has a great deal of real world experience (both his experiences and observations of others) and believes that he can provide a wealth of examples of how challenges have been met. Whether the person takes from his experiences and applies it or not, Scott feels he can give more then advice. He can give them a library of experiences they can pull from when the time is appropriate.

Scott’s leadership philosophy espouses that loyalty can no longer be expected from a company, but rather is earned by individual leaders. He believes that his success today is from building loyalty to himself first. This comes through trust, support, attention, listening, and seeing the world in a vast array of grays, not just black and white.

Scott’s core values center around integrity. People can trust that he will be, at his core, honest and consistent. This does not mean that he will not be flexible if needed, but in the end, people know they can come to him and depend on him.

Scott brings many strengths to the mentoring relationship including organization, diversity, and seeing the world through a global community vision, not just what we are use to in the USA.

Scott is open to mentoring individuals of varied backgrounds and interests. He tends to find he mentors people who are open to growing their careers and trying new things. He works well with individuals of diverse backgrounds and feels that he can provide a more international viewpoint in a mentoring relationship.

Scott would prefer not to mentor someone who works for CSG, Oracle Portal, or Amdocs due to competition with Convergys.

Scott lives in Castle Rock and would prefer to meet in South Denver. He is available mostly after 3PM. Early mornings are difficult for Scott since he does calls with Europe from 6AM to noon.

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