BlackBerry Jam Americas Speakers

Take a look at the speakers lined up for the BlackBerry® Jam Americas.

Keynote Speakers

On Tuesday, May 14 in the BlackBerry Jam Americas General Session, attendees heard about the latest on BlackBerry® 10 app development.

If you were unable to attend, you can watch a replay of the Keynote Address here.

Keynote Speakers included:

Alec Saunders

Alec Saunders

Vice President, Developer Relations & Ecosystem Development, BlackBerry

As Vice President of developer relations, Alec is responsible for building an ecosystem of software applications for BlackBerry® OS handhelds, the BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet, and future BlackBerry products built upon the QNX operating system. Prior to BlackBerry, Alec co-founded Iotum, an award-winning communications startup; served as vice president of marketing at Versatel Networks; and headed up the marketing efforts for several key initiatives at Microsoft, including the launch of Internet Explorer in 1995.

Alec was an early adopter of social media as a branding, awareness, and SEO strategy. His award-winning blog (2002-present) is recognized on most of the Top 10/Top 100 lists for telecommunications and VoIP blogs.

Christopher Smith

Christopher Smith

Vice President, Application Platform & Tools, BlackBerry

Christopher Smith is Vice President, Application Platform and Tools at BlackBerry. Responsible for driving development and product focus, Chris inspires a diverse group of developers and product managers to deliver leading edge technologies in the areas of Security, Gaming, NFC, and Visual Keyboard, in addition to the many developer tools and platforms that he has helped evolve during his career at BlackBerry.

Chris joined BlackBerry in 2001 and has held senior technical leadership roles in BlackBerry Retail Software, BlackBerry Infrastructure and the Advanced Technologies Group when he turned his focus to the Development Platform in 2005.

Chris has spent the last fourteen years building groundbreaking mobile solutions and has developed a deep and broad understanding of the mobile landscape across device, server and infrastructure components. Prior to joining BlackBerry, Chris led development of the emobility Access Server (e*Touch) at Nortel Networks. He was also a member of the first Internet/Java practice at IBM Global Services in Stockholm, Sweden. Chris has studied at the University of Western Ontario and the University of Waterloo in his native Canada.

Chris is a very experienced and lively speaker with keynote appearances at major events such as the Mobile World Congress, Le Web, Java One, Open World, BlackBerry Live™ and the BlackBerry Developer Conference.

Martyn Mallick

Martyn Mallick

Vice President, Global Alliances & Business Development, BlackBerry

Martyn leads the Global Alliances organization for BlackBerry. In this role, he engages with application partners and content providers to aid their efforts in providing top quality applications and services to BlackBerry devices. Martyn and his team manage BlackBerry's partner relationships in the multimedia, gaming, social networking, print media and business markets with as well as play an active role in the management of BlackBerry World™, BlackBerry's application storefront.

Prior to BlackBerry, Martyn worked at iAnywhere Solutions (a Sybase subsidiary) as Director of Mobile Solutions where he worked on various new technology offerings in areas such as RFID and intelligent sensor networks. He is also the author of Mobile and Wireless Design Essentials.