Alan Trefler, Pegasystems

Alan is a visionary leader, a technology change-agent, an innovative philanthropist, and a trusted advisor to business executives around the world. 

Alan’s unique technology vision and relentless focus on customer success is changing the way the world’s leading enterprises engage with customers. His life’s work has been to design a platform for living applications that businesspeople can evolve to manage the constant disruption and change in today’s customer-centric economy. Alan’s book, Build for Change, describes a new generation of customers with unprecedented power to make or break brands and the changes businesses must embrace to succeed. 

Alan founded Pegasystems and has built the company into a $600 million provider of strategic applications with 3,000+ employees in 30 global offices, growing over 20 percent annually.

Alan’s interest in computers originates from collegiate involvement in tournament chess, where he achieved a Master rating and was co-champion of the 1975 World Open Chess Championship. His passion and support for chess continues to this day.

Alan frequently presents to global business and technology audiences and has consulted extensively in the use of advanced technology and customer engagement. He has been featured in Global Media including Barron’s, the BBC, Les Echos, Fast Company, Forbes, Fortune, The New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal. He has spoken about and consulted extensively in the use of advanced technologies and the future of software, and is inventor of numerous patents for Pega’s distinctive architecture.

Alan holds a degree with distinction in Economics and Computer Science from Dartmouth College, where he was a winner of the John G. Kemeny prize in computing. A staunch education advocate, Alan and wife Pam established the Trefler Foundation in 1996 to improve educational outcomes. Recently, the Foundation has sponsored Union & Fifth, an innovative non-profit that turns clothing donations into money for charities.