Management Team
Turgut Aykin, Ph.D., President
Elizabeth Beardsley Turner, Director, Professional Services
Al Cuccinelli, Vice President, Sales and Marketing
John S. McKenna, Vice President, Product Development
Ernie Pizio, Vice President, Market Development
Turgut Aykin, Ph.D., President
Dr. Turgut Aykin is the president of ac2 Solutions. Applying the breakthroughs led by Dr. Aykin and his peers in forecasting and optimization, ac2 Solutions is providing innovative and practical applications of advanced statistical and optimization models for Contact Center Workforce Management, and Supply Chain Management. He has published numerous scientific articles in refereed professional journals on contact center scheduling, and supply chain optimization, and he has routinely been invited to contribute at national conferences. He has served as an Area Editor and Member of the Editorial Board for the, International Journal of Information Systems in the Service Sector (IJISSS), and International Journal of Operations and Quantitative Management, scientific peer-refereed journals publishing the latest research results and technology development for the service sector, including contact centers. Prior to founding ac2 Solutions, Dr. Aykin was a Member of Technical Staff at Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies, and IBM Global Services. He assisted many Fortune 500 companies including Bank of America, Caterpillar, Celestica, Charter Communications, Convergys, Delta Air Lines, IBM, Lucent Technologies, Motorola, Phillips, and Siemens (Munich, Germany) in improving their processes and performance. He also served as an Associate Professor of Management Science at the Graduate School of Management, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey from 1989 to 1997. Dr. Aykin holds BS, MS, and Ph.D. degrees in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research.
Elizabeth Beardsley Turner, Director, Professional Services
Liz Beardsley Turner joined ac2 Solutions in 2008 as Director of Professional Services. Prior to joining ac2 Solutions, Liz served as Manager of Forecasting & Schedule development for Delta Air Lines, Inc. In her 31 years of service, she obtained a wealth of knowledge and experience as she led a dedicated team of analysts in meeting the resource management needs for Delta’s global operations, both internal and outsourced call centers. Her efforts and achievements have been recognized in the call center industry, especially with her involvement in SWPP, where she was a finalist for Workforce Management Professional of the year in 2008.
Al Cuccinelli, Vice President, Sales and Marketing
Al Cuccinelli joined ac2 Solutions in 2006 as the Vice President of Sales and Marketing. He is responsible for driving ac2’s global sales, alliances, and marketing efforts. Al’s twenty-year career in the call center technology arena has included key sales positions in several well-known and highly successful companies. Prior to joining ac2 Solutions, he held senior sales and sales leadership roles with several outsourcing companies. Additionally, he has worked with several other leading vendors in the workforce management software field such as Aspect, TCS and Cybernetics Systems. Early on in his career, Al worked in the industry and managed call centers. He has a Bachelor’s degree from St. John’s University and has done graduate studies there as well.
John S. McKenna, Vice President, Product Development
John S. McKenna is Vice President of Product Development at ac2 Solutions. In addition to software architecture and development, he is responsible for identifying product features, planning and managing development team tasks, and monitoring team progress. Prior to joining ac2 Solutions, John was a software engineer at Netbind, Inc., where he designed and developed an internet-based digital security and multimedia distribution system. Previously, he was a Vice-President of Systems Architecture at TD Waterhouse, where he helped design and develop their multi-tier, international stock trading platform. Before that, he worked for a number of years in the structural engineering field. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering from Villanova University (Villanova, PA), a Master’s Degree in Architecture from the New Jersey Institute of Technology (Newark, NJ), and a Master’s Degree in Computer Science from Monmouth University (Long Branch, NJ).
Ernie Pizio, Vice President, Market Development
Ernie Pizio is the Vice President of Market Development. He is responsible for developing brand name awareness for ac2 Solutions globally. Ernie has over 28 years of sales, consulting, marketing and management experience in the call center and back office processing industry working for on-shore, near shore and off-shore companies. During his career, he has held key senior level positions including Executive Vice President of Sales, General Manager and President for Affina, HTMT Global Solutions and Vendor Referral Services. Ernie continues to gain industry knowledge and maintain relationships with industry contacts via professional memberships and affiliations in organizations such as the Society of Workforce Planning Professionals (SWPP), the Society of Consumer Affairs Professionals (SOCAP), and the American Teleservices Association (ATA). Ernie earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Business from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.
