PostalVision 2020 Announces Final Agenda for June Conference

Expanded two-day conference will explore themes of postal platforms and answer key questions about the future of the United States Postal Service

Essex, CT (I-Newswire) April 25, 2012 - PostalVision 2020, the provocative conference that challenges policy makers and technology experts to reexamine the role of the United States Postal Service (USPS) in today’s digital age, has announced the final agenda for its second annual event on June 12-13 in Washington, D.C. The conference, which will feature speakers from the current postal establishment as well as e-commerce and digital pioneers, will endeavor to answer three critical questions about the USPS looking forward to 2020 and beyond:
• What will society need in the way of postal services?
• Who will provide them?
• What are some possible operational models?

The two-day conference will work to answer these questions through panels and discussions on postal platforms, the physical infrastructure of parcel delivery and the digital communication and business trends that have influenced the decline of first-class mail. In addition, panelists will examine the role of the USPS in modern society and together with the audience, will collectively brainstorm alternative postal delivery platforms and business models. The conference will include an update on postal congressional activity and will conclude with a panel of postal policy makers who will discuss the key conference themes and the solutions offered from a regulation perspective.

“Between the recent Senate hearings and the USPS’s new five-year business plan, it’s no secret that now is the time for serious discussions that will guide the USPS into the future,” said John Callan, Managing Director of Ursa Major Associates LLC, the creator and producer of PostalVision 2020. “While the government is focused on critically necessary short-term solutions, PostalVision 2020 is a unique opportunity to discuss what happens beyond the short-term. Our speaker roster, featuring key postal policy makers and disruptive digital thinkers, is perfectly suited to re-imagine what the USPS could and should look like in 2020 and beyond.”

At the conclusion of the conference, the organizers will ask participants to assist in the development of a workshop plan designed to identify key societal needs for postal services in 2020 and beyond, define the role of government and private sector in meeting those needs and create scenarios for satisfying these needs, along with addressing the implications of each. The plan will create recommended goals for the future of the USPS, based on the discussion at the event.

PostalVision 2020 is happy to introduce new speakers to this year’s event:
• Dr. Farah Abdallah, E-business Expert at Universal Postal Union
• Teresa Anderson, Assistant Director, U.S. Government Accountability Office

• V.A. Shiva Ayyadurai, Founder & Chairman EchoMail Inc., MIT lecturer, visionary and authority on email technology and e-marketing methods
• Jody Berenblatt, Senior Advisor at GrayHair Advisors
• Patrick R. Donahoe, U.S Postal Service Postmaster General
• Syed S. Hoda, General Manager for Cisco’s Emerging Solutions Group and a key leader of Cisco’s Smart+Connected Communities
• Daryl Jackson, Postal Segment Leader, Deloitte Services LP
• Charles Prescott, Executive Director, Global Address Data Association
• Fredric V. Rolando, President of the National Association of Letter Carriers
• Mark Schoeman, President at the Colography Group, Inc.
• Phil Simon, author of The Age of the Platform: How Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google Have Redefined Business
• Elmar Toime, Director, E Toime Consulting Ltd., and international postal industry expert
• Tom Underkoffler, Director, Corporate Logistics, Medco Health Solutions

Additionally, PostalVision 2020 welcomes back 2011 alumni:
• James Campbell Jr., independent legal consultant and author of numerous papers, books and testimony on domestic and international postal regulatory issues
• John Callan, Managing Director. Ursa Major Associates, LLC and Founder, PostalVision 2020
• Gene Del Polito, President of the Association for Postal Commerce
• Ruth Goldway, Chairman of the Postal Regulatory Commission
• Jeff Jarvis, author of Public Parts and What Would Google Do? , blogger about media and news at Buzzmachine.com, and Associate Professor at City University of New York’s Graduate School of Journalism.
• Ronald A. Stroman, U. S. Postal Service Deputy Postmaster General
• Matt Swain, Associate Director, Document Outsourcing for InfoTrends
• Marshall Van Alstyne, Associate Professor at Boston University and a Visiting Professor at MIT Center for Digital Business.
• Larry Weber, social media marketing guru, author of Everywhere: Comprehensive Digital Business Strategy for the Social Media Era and Marketing to the Social Web and Chairman of W2 Group
• David C. Williams, Inspector General (IG) for the U.S. Postal Service

To view speaker bios and the full agenda, please visit www.postalvision2020.com/agenda. PostalVision 2020 will take place on June 12-13 at the L’Enfant Plaza Hotel in Washington D.C. Information about registration and accommodations can be found online at www.postalvision2020.com/registration/.

About PostalVision 2020
PostalVision 2020 is the creation of Ursa Major Associates, LLC , a leading strategy consultancy, providing thought leadership and strategic business development services to the global postal-parcel-logistics industry. Since 2001, the firm has served leading private sector corporations and entrepreneurial start-ups as well as public institutions engaged at all levels of service along the postal and parcel delivery value chain. Ursa Major Associates, LLC is headquartered in Essex, CT. For more information visit www.postalvision2020.com.