TAKING THE REINS: Greg O'Connell

Director of public-sector operations, Tellme Networks Inc., Bethesda, Md. June 1 32 Louisville, Ky. "Home of Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Derby." Bethesda Wife, Erin (goes by "Erni"); no children yet. "Influence: Science and Practice" by Robert Cialdini - Paul McCartney - John Grisham - Kevin Spacey - Mountain biking, ultimate Frisbee, spinning, bass guitar and injuring myself on the first three. - "Abbey Road," the Beatles - Geppetto Restaurant, Bethesda - Pizza, risotto, sausage of any kind - "Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake." ? Napoleon Bonaparte - "'The West Wing' and anything on the History Channel." - Edgartown on Martha's VineyardFrom my dad, Larry O'Connell: "You'll miss 100 percent of the shots you never take," and "Listen." Bachelor of arts, marketing, minor in psychology, University of Kentucky, Lexington.Marketing representative for IBM Corp. in Lexington, Ky. Focused on higher education accounts and state agencies.Sales representative for AT&T computer division in Cleveland. Focused on local government and manufacturing business.Major account manager for Sybase federal division in Boston and Bethesda. Worked primarily with Defense Department agencies.Senior account manager and regional sales manager for Netscape federal division, responsible for civilian government agencies and aerospace and defense contractors."My top priority is to help government executives understand how Tellme can assist in bridging the digital divide by offering the telephone as an alternative method of access to government services. Many of us take Internet access for granted, but for a variety of reasons a large number of U.S. citizens still aren't online. Tellme can enable access to virtually any Web accessible government service over any telephone, using speech instead of a keyboard and the Internet instead of IVR and call centers. In addition to more ubiquitous access for citizens by combining voice recognition with existing Web infrastructure, Tellme can dramatically reduce operating expenses around government services.""Proving the value of this leading-edge technology. I've helped customers solve problems with products that were well-recognized, such as relational database management systems at Sybase or Web application servers at Netscape. Although most of the technology Tellme leverages dates back many years (the telephone network, voice recognition systems, etc.), only recently have these products come together to deliver new solutions to old problems."