Welcome to GTRA

About Me

Agency/Company/Association:

GTRA

Title:

Co-Founder & Director of Research

Sector:

Private Sector

Presentations:

IT Consolidation & Cyber Security: Friend or Foe?

About Me:

Parham Eftekhari is Co-Founder of the Government Technology Research Alliance (GTRA), where he currently serves as GTRA’s Director of Research and Curriculum Development. Parham is responsible for overseeing all GTRA research conducted with Government and Industry technology, business and executive leaders. In this role, Parham is well versed in both technology and general leadership issues including Transparency/Open Government, Enterprise Architecture, Security, Information Sharing, Social Networking/Web 2.0, Knowledge Management, Green IT , Health IT, Change Management, Leadership, Performance based management, the Generation Gap, and Telework.

In the capacity of Director of Research and Curriculum Development, Parham’s responsibilities includg development of strategic research initiatives, identification of key research target groups, forming of executive Councils, conducting research interviews, analyzing research findings, and the design and development of executive-level educational curriculum. He specializes in both in-person/telephone interviews as well as the use of social networking tools to gather research and solicit involvement in GTRA. Parham is also heavily involved in designing the GTRA Members Portal, with particular focus on knowledge & research management and dissemination, as well as the use of forums, blogs and other Web 2.0 tools to share information with interested parties and help further build GTRA’s community of Practices. As Co-Founder of GTRA, Parham also plays a key role in managing the day to day operational & financial activities of the organization as well as driving the overall strategic direction of GTRA with Co-Founder and CEO, Kelly Yocum.

Prior to founding GTRA, Parham worked for four years at Proactive Worldwide Inc, a boutique market research and consulting firm in Chicago, IL, where he was the Director of the Technology research division. Under his direction, the Technology division exceeded revenue goals in 2006 by over 150 percent while achieving 100 percent retention of clients and staff. Prior to Proactive Worldwide, Parham founded CollegeButler LLC, a concierge service exclusively targeting the needs of college students at Northwestern Univeristy.

Parham holds a Bachelors of Business Administration in Marketing and a Minor in International Business and French from the University of Wisconsin- Madison. He also spent two years as a masters student at the acclaimed Ecole Superiuere de Commerce de Paris (ESCP-EAP) in Paris, France, where in addition to his studies he was the first exchange-student elected to the school’s Student Government (Bureau des Eleves). Parham is fluent in Farsi and French, and is an avid fan of gastronomy, music, and the outdoors.

Areas of Expertise

Security
Enterprise Architecture
Leadership
Green IT
Mobility/Networks
Workforce
Health IT