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James L. Roche, Practice Director, Aerospace & Defense, CIMdata

Jim Roche has over 30 years of experience in transformation and IT enablement of product development and manufacturing processes. He has been strategic advisor and program manager for PLM programs across the United States, Europe, and Asia.

Mr. Roche was PLM Practice Manager at CSC Consulting and at A.T. Kearney. During that period, he led development and delivery of PLM offerings and consulting services for international clients in the aero, auto, consumer products, high-tech, and medical devices industries.

Previously with EDS, Mr. Roche served as chief architect for General Motors' worldwide engineering systems and as head technical negotiator for strategic supplier contracts. He went on to manage EDS' business development and delivery resources for PLM, with a team of over 100 professionals providing PLM solutions to General Motors and other large manufacturers. Earlier, Mr. Roche was a Project Manager at the GM Technical Center for advanced manufacturing-engineering programs in Computer-Integrated Manufacturing, Automotive Composites, and Metal Casting.

Mr. Roche holds a BS in Physics from Worcester Polytechnic Institute; as a post-graduate he studied Mechanical Engineering and Materials Engineering at Wayne State University and the University of Rochester.


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Ken Versprille, Ph.D., Executive Consultant and Practice Manager, Social Product Development & Collaboration

Dr. Ken Versprille has over 35 years of experience in the application of computer-based solutions for engineering and manufacturing. He joined CIMdata after 16 years heading the Design Creation and Validation service at CPDA. His research spans geometric design, design collaboration and automation, PLM standards and openness, and the integration of CAD across PLM applications.

During 15 years at Computervision, Dr. Versprille became the equivalent of CTO, and was R&D Vice President of core applications. He was a lead architect of the CADDS 4 product, with responsibility for the initial design of Computervision’s 3D graphics system. As General Manager of CV-Doors, he led the group that introduced and managed the CAD industry’s first geometric kernel business.

Dr. Versprille received a BS in Mathematics from the University of New Hampshire. His MS and Ph.D. in Computer Science are from Syracuse University. Dr. Versprille is recognized for publishing the first description of NURBS, the mathematical curve-and-surface formulation, now an international standard in CAD and Computer Graphics. In 2005 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award by The CAD Society.