HPL Staff
Howard S. Lichtman
President and Founder
Howard S. Lichtman (HSL) is a productivity-focused technologist with specialties in Telepresence and Visual Collaboration and Organizational and Personal Productivity. He is the founder and
President of the Human Productivity Lab, an independent consultancy that helps organizations deploy and future-proof telepresence conferencing solutions. Mr. Lichtman is also the Publisher of Telepresence Options, the #1 website on the Internet covering telepresence technologies and the telepresence industry.
Mr. Lichtman is the editor of the Telepresence Options Telegraph, the most widely read newsletter following telepresence technologies and the telepresence industry. He is also the author of Telepresence, Effective Visual Collaboration and the Future of Global Business at the Speed of Light (2006) on the emerging telepresence industry and was a contributing author to Emerging Technologies for Teleconferencing and Telepresence (2005). He is currently working on Telepresence Options 2009 and The Inter-company Telepresence and Videoconferencing Handbook.
Mr. Lichtman is a frequent commentator on telepresence, videoconferencing and effective visual collaboration and his writings on and analysis of the industry have been featured by US News and World Report, Telephony Magazine, CXO Magazine, The Chicago Tribune, Reuters, Pro AV Magazine, Killer App Magazine, ABA Banking Journal, Bank Systems and Technology Magazine and CFO Magazine among others.
Prior to founding Human Productivity Lab in 2005, Mr. Lichtman was the Vice President of Business Development at TeleSuite, the world's first commercially successful telepresence provider and an innovator in visual collaboration. Prior to TeleSuite, Mr. Lichtman was a founder, President, and Chief Product Officer at Powwow Networks a visual collaboration start up looking to improve the human factors, effectiveness, reliability, and cost of both visual and data collaboration. Before he developed his interest in telepresence and visual collaboration, Mr. Lichtman started and ran the financial vertical sales organization at Savvis Communications which specialized in managed networking and managed service solutions for trading floor technology and market data applications for Wall Street.
Howard can be reached at:
hsl (at) humanproductivitylab (dot) com
Chris Payatagool
Operations Manager
Chris Payatagool is the Director of Operations at the HPL, overseeing day-to-day operations at the Lab. Detailed short and long term management plans for projects of all sizes pass through Chris' hands daily. He executes and revises the decision making process to meet the requirements of the organization. Prior to the HPL, Chris worked as a Market Research Manager for memoryBlue, Inc. where he conducted industry-specific research and designed corporate dashboards that organized information for performance analyses.
Chris can be reached at:
chris (dot) payatagool (at) humanproductivitylab (dot) com
John Serrao
Analyst and Project Manager
John Serrao is an analyst and project manager for the Human Productivity Lab. During his years at the Lab, John has overseen a wide-variety of projects including a redesign of the Human Productivity Lab's website and numerous consulting engagements. John has extensive experience in analyzing the one-time and recurring costs of major telepresence and videoconferencing implementations along with comparing various telepresence, managed services and inter-networking proposals for clients.
In addition to his managerial work, John provides detailed analysis on new developments in the telepresence space. His in-depth coverage of the industry has included stories about major telepresence manufacturers, multi-national networking firms and technological advancements in the world of 3D technology. John's work has propelled the Lab's telepresence network into becoming the most read publication that follows the nascent industry.
In his spare time, John is an avid swimmer and cyclist, world traveler and has a penchant for politics. John is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin with degrees in Economics, Humanities and Communication Studies and now resides in the District of Columbia.
John can be reached at:
john (dot) serrao (at) humanproductivitylab (dot) com
President and Founder
Howard S. Lichtman (HSL) is a productivity-focused technologist with specialties in Telepresence and Visual Collaboration and Organizational and Personal Productivity. He is the founder and
President of the Human Productivity Lab, an independent consultancy that helps organizations deploy and future-proof telepresence conferencing solutions. Mr. Lichtman is also the Publisher of Telepresence Options, the #1 website on the Internet covering telepresence technologies and the telepresence industry. Mr. Lichtman is the editor of the Telepresence Options Telegraph, the most widely read newsletter following telepresence technologies and the telepresence industry. He is also the author of Telepresence, Effective Visual Collaboration and the Future of Global Business at the Speed of Light (2006) on the emerging telepresence industry and was a contributing author to Emerging Technologies for Teleconferencing and Telepresence (2005). He is currently working on Telepresence Options 2009 and The Inter-company Telepresence and Videoconferencing Handbook.
Mr. Lichtman is a frequent commentator on telepresence, videoconferencing and effective visual collaboration and his writings on and analysis of the industry have been featured by US News and World Report, Telephony Magazine, CXO Magazine, The Chicago Tribune, Reuters, Pro AV Magazine, Killer App Magazine, ABA Banking Journal, Bank Systems and Technology Magazine and CFO Magazine among others.
Prior to founding Human Productivity Lab in 2005, Mr. Lichtman was the Vice President of Business Development at TeleSuite, the world's first commercially successful telepresence provider and an innovator in visual collaboration. Prior to TeleSuite, Mr. Lichtman was a founder, President, and Chief Product Officer at Powwow Networks a visual collaboration start up looking to improve the human factors, effectiveness, reliability, and cost of both visual and data collaboration. Before he developed his interest in telepresence and visual collaboration, Mr. Lichtman started and ran the financial vertical sales organization at Savvis Communications which specialized in managed networking and managed service solutions for trading floor technology and market data applications for Wall Street.
Howard can be reached at:
hsl (at) humanproductivitylab (dot) com
Chris Payatagool
Operations Manager
Chris Payatagool is the Director of Operations at the HPL, overseeing day-to-day operations at the Lab. Detailed short and long term management plans for projects of all sizes pass through Chris' hands daily. He executes and revises the decision making process to meet the requirements of the organization. Prior to the HPL, Chris worked as a Market Research Manager for memoryBlue, Inc. where he conducted industry-specific research and designed corporate dashboards that organized information for performance analyses.
Chris can be reached at:
chris (dot) payatagool (at) humanproductivitylab (dot) com
John Serrao
Analyst and Project Manager
John Serrao is an analyst and project manager for the Human Productivity Lab. During his years at the Lab, John has overseen a wide-variety of projects including a redesign of the Human Productivity Lab's website and numerous consulting engagements. John has extensive experience in analyzing the one-time and recurring costs of major telepresence and videoconferencing implementations along with comparing various telepresence, managed services and inter-networking proposals for clients.
In addition to his managerial work, John provides detailed analysis on new developments in the telepresence space. His in-depth coverage of the industry has included stories about major telepresence manufacturers, multi-national networking firms and technological advancements in the world of 3D technology. John's work has propelled the Lab's telepresence network into becoming the most read publication that follows the nascent industry.
In his spare time, John is an avid swimmer and cyclist, world traveler and has a penchant for politics. John is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin with degrees in Economics, Humanities and Communication Studies and now resides in the District of Columbia.
John can be reached at:
john (dot) serrao (at) humanproductivitylab (dot) com






