Dr. Gavin Manes is a nationally recognized expert in eDiscovery and digital forensics and is the CEO of Avansic. Dr. Manes founded Avansic in 2004 after completing his Doctorate in Computer Science from the University of Tulsa. At Avansic, Dr. Manes is committed to high-technology innovation, research, and mentorship, and currently has several patents pending. Avansic’s scientific approach to eDiscovery and digital forensics stems from his academic experience.

Amy is the Lead Senior Counsel and Head of Legal Operations for CBRE, a global leader in commercial real estate. Amy has held in-house positions as Legal Chief of Staff at SunPower, Associate General Counsel and Director of Cardinal Health’s Discovery Center of Excellence, Director of Walmart’s Discovery Operations Group, and eDiscovery Counsel for the Williams Cos. Before going in-house, Amy was an associate at the firm of Crowe & Dunlevy. Amy has taught eDiscovery and Legal Operations at multiple law schools and is currently an adjunct professor at the Ohio State University Moritz School of Law. Amy is a proud former member of the Steering Committee for The Sedona Conference’s Working Group 1 on Electronic Document Retention and Production, is ACEDS certified, and serves on the Global ACEDS Advisory Board and the Georgetown Advanced eDiscovery Institute Planning Committee. Before becoming an attorney, Amy worked as a theater stage manager and producer, a teacher, and a database designer and administrator for an ed-tech start up.

Chris Bedner, CRM, IGP, is the Director of Records Management at ThermoFisher. He has 20 plus years of experience creating and managing the records management program (policies, retention/disposition plan, technology, auditing and systems) for a large international firm. He manages eDiscovery processes and continuous improvement of most facets around information governance: records retention and destruction, legal holds, security, privacy, effective business use of information, etc. He has lead or co-lead information management projects such as firmwide contract management, conflict management, including the training and awareness-building required to make them successful.