Best Startup
At Best Startup US we track over 1,000,000 US startups and over 3 million people who hold key positions in these companies. We use this directory of startups to highlight top employees, founders and board members we think deserve more appreciation than they are currently getting.
This list showcases the top United States based Director operating in the Telecommunications space. If you think a Director is missing from this list, feel free to contact our editor on editor@beststartup.us.
The individuals on this list have been included because of exceptional performance in one of the following categories:
- Innovation – Operating as a key part in an extremely innovative business or startup.
- Growth – Operating as a key figure in the growth and upscale of a market leading business or startup.
- Management – Showing exceptional management skills.
- Societal impact – Putting their business on the map for their positive societal or environmental impact.
Our Data – We source our data from OSINT (open source intelligence) and public directories such as Crunchbase, SemRush and many more. The data from these sources should be treated with a degree of caution and verified yourself.
Dev Patel
Director of Strategic Growth of Infobip
Dev Patel has been serving as Director of Strategic Growth at Infobip since January 2019.
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About Infobip: Infobip specializes in omnichannel engagement powering a range of messaging channels, tools, and solutions for advanced customer engagement.
Nikesh Arora
Member of the Board of Directors of Sprint
Nikesh Arora joined as chairman and CEO of Palo Alto Networks in June 2018. Before joining Palo Alto Networks, Nikesh served as president and chief operating officer of SoftBank Group Corp. Prior to that, he held a number of positions at Google, Inc. during a 10-year span, including senior vice president and chief business officer, president of global sales operations and business development, and president of Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Prior to joining Google, Nikesh held the role of chief marketing officer for the T-Mobile International Division of Deutsche Telekom AG. He was chief executive officer and founder of T-Motion PLC, which merged with T-Mobile International in 2002. Nikesh serves on the board of Compagnie Financière Richemont S.A., a public Switzerland-based luxury goods holding company, and Tipping Point, a non-profit organization that fights poverty in the Bay Area. Previously, he served on the boards of SoftBank Group Corp., Sprint Corp., Colgate-Palmolive Inc. and Yahoo! Japan, among others. He holds an M.S. in Business Administration from Northeastern University, an M.S. in finance from Boston College and a B. Tech. in electrical engineering from the Institute of Technology at Banaras Hindu University.
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About LightCyber: Sprint Nextel offers a comprehensive range of wireless and wireline communications services to consumers, businesses, and government users.
Will Fraley
Director Digital Marketing Technology of Sprint
Will Fraley With over 15 years’ experience spanning digital IT and digital marketing, Will Fraley leads teams that cover the marketing technology space across Sprint, Boost Mobile, and Virgin Mobile. Will is passionate about technology, meeting the needs of his customers, and building great teams that build great products. His teams oversee definition, implementation, and collection of digital data, audience management technology and strategy, A/B testing and optimization, data distribution governance, enterprise tag management, and multi-channel analytics. Always looking to innovate, Will encourages creative and scalable problem-solving and discipline from his teams. Separate from Sprint, Will began his career as a civil and environmental engineer and later was an executive manager of an offshore software development start-up.
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About Sprint, T-Mobile: Sprint Nextel offers a comprehensive range of wireless and wireline communications services to consumers, businesses, and government users.
Seth Bravin
Director of Strategic Alliances of Sprint
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About Sprint: Sprint Nextel offers a comprehensive range of wireless and wireline communications services to consumers, businesses, and government users.
Justin Kennedy
Director of Offsec & Red Team of NTT Communications
Justin Kennedy manages the Offensive Security Practice. His expertise lies in social engineering, physical security and other areas of penetration testing and offensive security. With an eye for detail and the ability to think outside of the box, Kennedy is able to identify problems which are commonly overlooked and solve those problems with innovative solutions. Kennedy’s background includes administration of Windows and UNIX systems, firewalls, intrusion detection/prevention systems, security appliances; incident response and handling for Fortune 100 companies; and high-level programming for rapid development. Kennedy is a tremendously skilled penetration tester and social engineer who has successfully penetrated several of the largest banks in the world.
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About NTT Communications: NTT Communications is a provider of network management and security services.
Christian Guirnalda
Director Verizon 5G Labs and Innovation Centers of Verizon Wireless
Christian Guirnalda joined Verizon Ventures in 2013 and currently focuses on Seed Stage Engagement and Portfolio Development. Before joining Verizon Ventures, he was part of the Innovation & Incubation team at Verizon Wireless, co-developing products with startups and running an internal VZW accelerator. Christian also worked for Patch/The Huffington Post to create hyperlocal content strategies, at American Express as a digital product consultant, and with IBM’s Strategy and Change group advising Fortune 100 publishers, broadcasters, and telecoms. He was a double major in Computing and Information Technology, and Manufacturing Management and Consulting at Carnegie Mellon and received his MBA from the University of Michigan.
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About Verizon Wireless: Verizon Wireless offers wireless telecommunications services, devices, and solutions.
Anil Guntupalli
Executive Director Technology Strategy, Architecture & Innovation at Verizon of Verizon Wireless
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About Verizon Wireless: Verizon Wireless offers wireless telecommunications services, devices, and solutions.
Alexander Khalin
Managing Director of Verizon Wireless
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About Verizon Ventures, Verizon Wireless: Verizon Wireless offers wireless telecommunications services, devices, and solutions.
Andrew Hendrickson
Director, Technology – Verizon Cloud Platform of Verizon Wireless
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About Verizon Wireless: Verizon Wireless offers wireless telecommunications services, devices, and solutions.
Dhaval Thaker
Associate Director of Verizon Wireless
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About Verizon Wireless, Verizon Wireless: Verizon Wireless offers wireless telecommunications services, devices, and solutions.
Joe Chuisano
Director of Verizon Wireless
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About Verizon Wireless: Verizon Wireless offers wireless telecommunications services, devices, and solutions.
Matthew J. Kinsey
Senior Managing Director of BV Investment Partners
Matt Kinsey is a Managing Director at BV Investment Partners.
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About BV Investment Partners: BV Investment Partners, a private equity firm, invests in the information and business services and communications industries.
Christian Jensen
Director, Developer Experience of Sinch
Christian Jensen works as the Director of Developer Experience at Sinch.
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About Sinch: Sinch is a cloud communications company that connects businesses and customers through tools that enable personal engagement.
Heidi Kimble
Director Analytics and Insight of Sinch
Heidi is passionate about teaching brands how to have conversations with their customers through the discipline of analytics. As an analytics and marketing practitioner for over two decades, Heidi has applied her expertise in analytics across hospitality, casino and console gaming, telecom, retail and technology brands, including both CRM focused and advertising programs within both digital and traditional channels.
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About Sinch: Sinch is a cloud communications company that connects businesses and customers through tools that enable personal engagement.
Tim Alessi
Director of New Products of LG Electronics
Tim Alessi is Director of New Products at LG.
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About LG Electronics: LG Electronics is a multinational company which includes LG Electronics.
Lokesh Goel
Director of Platform Engineering & Core Technologies of LG Electronics
Lokesh Kumar Goel leads the webOS platform team at LG Electronics’s Silicon Valley Lab, where he and his team are responsible for delivering webOS platform and application frameworks for LG products as well as open source versions including the browser stack and web application runtime that are the heart of webOS and make HTML5 apps look, feel, and perform like native applications.
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About LG Electronics: LG Electronics is a multinational company which includes LG Electronics.
David VanderWaal
Senior Director of Marketing of LG Electronics
David VanderWaal is Senior Director of Marketing at LG.
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About LG Electronics: LG Electronics is a multinational company which includes LG Electronics.
Art Pregler
Director, National Mobility Systems of AT&T
Art Pregler is AT&T’s UAS Program Director responsible for nationwide oversight and internal implementation of drones. He is also Director of National Mobility Systems, responsible for development of enterprise data systems. Prior to AT&T, Art served DOD, NASA, DARPA, and other technology-focused agencies as a Command & Control Officer, Air Traffic Controller, Air Weapons Controller, and Mission Control Specialist. Art is a member of the joint FAA/drone industry Unmanned Aircraft Safety Team (UAST); and RTCA Special Committee 228 (Minimum Operational Performance Standards for Unmanned Aircraft Systems); and the NATE UAS Committee; the FAA’s 2016 mUAS Aviation Rule-Making Committee (ARC) for flight over people; and the Washington Governor’s Unmanned Systems Industry Council.
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About AT&T, AT&T: AT&T is a telecommunications company that provides wireless communications, local exchange, and long-distance services.
Brian Greaves
Director – Product Development of AT&T
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About AT&T: AT&T is a telecommunications company that provides wireless communications, local exchange, and long-distance services.
Vikram Taneja
Senior Director, M&A / Equity Investments of AT&T
Vikram is a Senior Director of Corporate Development at AT&T, where he focuses on mergers & acquisitions and equity investments across media, adtech, IOT and sports. Previously, Vikram worked at ORIX Ventures and focused on equity and debt investments across digital media, big data and consumer internet companies. He also has prior experience as an investment banker at J.P. Morgan in its Consumer/Retail coverage group and in business strategy at the New York-based digital media startup, CreativeHub. Vikram received his bachelor of business administration in information systems from Texas A&M University and hisMBA in finance and entrepreneurship from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
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About AT&T: AT&T is a telecommunications company that provides wireless communications, local exchange, and long-distance services.
Ganeshkumar Natarajan
Director Member of Technical Staff of AT&T
Ganeshkumar Natarajan (ganeshkumar.natarajan@att.com) works at AT&T Inc. USA, as Director – Software Design and Development. He is one of the lead Cloud solution architect currently working on ATT Integrated Cloud (AIC). AIC is AT&T’s largest enterprise cloud built on Openstack that serves all AT&T traffic for mobility, IT workloads and Network Functions. His broad experience includes solution architecture, design, and development of the product all the way to production deployment. Before AIC work, he was lead developer for ATT CDN Cache and Streaming platforms and has also successfully developed and deployed many Enterprise Android Mobile Cloud based application products for AT&T.
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About AT&T, AT&T: AT&T is a telecommunications company that provides wireless communications, local exchange, and long-distance services.
Samuel DiPiazza
Member of the Board of Directors of AT&T
Samuel served as Global Chief Executive Officer of PricewaterhouseCoopers International Limited from 2002 until his retirement in 2009. Di Piazza began his 36-year career with PricewaterhouseCoopers (then Coopers & Lybrand) in 1973 and was named Partner in 1979. From 1979 to 2002, Di Piazza held various regional leadership positions with PricewaterhouseCoopers (and its predecessor firm). After his retirement from PricewaterhouseCoopers, Di Piazza joined Citigroup where he served as Vice Chairman of the Global Corporate and Investment Bank from 2011 until 2014. Since 2010, Di Piazza has served as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of The Mayo Clinic. He received his B.S. in accounting from the University of Alabama and earned his M.S. in tax accounting from the University of Houston. Di Piazza was elected a Director of AT&T in July 2015. He served as a Director of DIRECTV from 2010 until the company was acquired by AT&T Inc. in July 2015. He is a member of the Audit Committee. Di Piazza is a Director of ProAssurance Corporation and Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated. He previously served as a Director of DIRECTV (2010-2015) and Apollo Group, Inc. (2009-2011).
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About : AT&T is a telecommunications company that provides wireless communications, local exchange, and long-distance services.
Jason Inskeep
Director | 5G Center of Excellence of AT&T
Jason Inskeep is on AT&T’s Emerging Network Strategy team based out of AT&T’s Plano Foundry. In this role he works across enterprise product and technology partners as well as external customers to plot AT&T’s network evolution impacts on enterprise solutions. In 2016 his role was focused on creating synergy between AT&T solutions and for his efforts was recognized with a Visionary Award for his Innovation through Integration initiative. This balance between technical and business acumen made him a natural fit within the Emerging Network Strategy Team. Jason has served in multiple roles at AT&T including sales management, mobile application consulting, IoT business development, product marketing and innovation. In each of these roles Jason has been a proven leader by being selected to and participating in Executive Regional and National Advisory Committees ideating and executing on ways to improve the organization in key functional areas. As a result of his diligence and work, Jason was recognized as an AT&T Diamond Club member in 2013. Further he was one 5 leaders across AT&T selected for the inaugural Technology Leadership Development Program (TLDP) – a rotational experience designed to develop high potential employees who have leadership aspiration and technical competence to advance emerging technologies.Jason obtained his BBA in Computer Information Systems from James Madison University where he was also 2-time All-Conference and Co-Captain of the football team.
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About AT&T: AT&T is a telecommunications company that provides wireless communications, local exchange, and long-distance services.
Sinan Akkaya
Director of RAN Engineering of AT&T
Sinan Akkaya is a technology leader specialized in Telecommunications and Wireless Industry. He has +15 years of engineering and management experience at various levels in the global telecom space with significant practice on operations and strategic issues. He is an expert in wireless network operations, capital investment and operational budget planning as well as organizational transformation. He is currently living in the Bay Area. He has a MSc. degree in Electrical Engineering. Sinan is presently the Director of RAN Engineering in AT&T.
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About AT&T: AT&T is a telecommunications company that provides wireless communications, local exchange, and long-distance services.
Rodney Brandenburgh
Director User Experience – Concept Development and Innovation (CDI) of AT&T
Lead user experience strategist for Concept Development and Implementation (CDI) at ATT. Rod runs the user experience arm of an agency model, multi-disciplinary innovation practice within AT&T. His team is responsible for developing game-changing innovations across the enterprise. Focus includes redesign and enhancement of existing platforms as well as new application development and innovation. Rod uses a holistic and organic perspective to determine how new and emerging technologies can best serve end users. He has been involved with nearly every customer touch point including: Web, Mobile, IVR, tablet interfaces, as well as the design of physical space.
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About AT&T: AT&T is a telecommunications company that provides wireless communications, local exchange, and long-distance services.
Lisl Brunner
Director of Global Public Policy of AT&T
Lisl Brunner is a Director of Global Public Policy at AT&T Services, Inc., where she supports the development and coordination of AT&T’s policy positions on privacy, online safety, and Internet issues. Lisl previously served as Policy Director and facilitator for the Telecommunications Industry Dialogue at the Global Network Initiative, an international multistakeholder initiative that seeks to protect and advance freedom of expression and privacy in the ICT sector. She also held several positions at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, where she worked on cases dealing with counterterrorism and the protection of journalists, as well as projects to define Inter-American standards on freedom of expression and the Internet. Lisl has taught a Human Rights Practicum at Georgetown University Law Center and has published several articles on human rights issues. She recently contributed a chapter on the right to privacy to the forthcoming publication, New Technologies for Human Rights Law and Practice, from Cambridge University Press. Lisl holds a law degree from the University of Pittsburgh and a Bachelor’s degree from the College of William & Mary.
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About AT&T: AT&T is a telecommunications company that provides wireless communications, local exchange, and long-distance services.
David Orloff
Director, RAN Product Introduction of AT&T
David Orloff is currently the Director of AT&T’s RAN Product Introduction group with responsibility for delivery of RAN Infrastructure products and functionality including Macrocells, Consumer Femtocells, Outdoor and Indoor Metrocells, and Mutli-Standard Metrocells. He supports the strategic direction for new technology and novel network implementations managing the vendor relationships for product introduction into the AT&T network. David is Chair of the Small Cell Forum having represented AT&T on the Small Cell Forum Board since September, 2013. David has over 20 years if experience in the communications industry with leadership roles including Indoor RF Systems, Macrosystem RAN delivery, Small Cells delivery, and RAN optimization. David has a BS, Electrical Engineering from the University of California, Davis and joined AT&T in 1996.
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About AT&T: AT&T is a telecommunications company that provides wireless communications, local exchange, and long-distance services.
Lisa Riachi
Director, Strategy & Innovation of AT&T
Lisa Riachi is a Director of Strategy & Innovation at AT&T, Lisa Riachi is responsible for bringing advanced mobile and emerging technology solutions including cloud, big data, IoT and Security to AT&T’s top tier accounts in the Midwest. She is also responsible for bringing AT&T’s world of Innovation to her clients such as AT&T Foundry and AT&T Labs to help clients solve business transformation challenges. Lisa brings more than 19 years of technical sales and solutions experience developing innovative and custom solutions for Fortune 500 Enterprise clients across multiple industries including retail, financial and manufacturing.
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About AT&T: AT&T is a telecommunications company that provides wireless communications, local exchange, and long-distance services.
Geoffrey Yang
Board Of Directors of AT&T
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About : AT&T is a telecommunications company that provides wireless communications, local exchange, and long-distance services.
Ruben Quinonez
Associate Director, Advanced Analytics of AT&T
Ruben Quinonez is the Associate Director, Advanced Analytics at AT&T
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About AT&T, Claremont Graduate University: AT&T is a telecommunications company that provides wireless communications, local exchange, and long-distance services.
Ed Hope
Director – New Technology Product Development Engineering of AT&T
Ed Hope is a Lead Security Technology Engineer with AT&T’s Chief Security Office, chartered with protecting one of the largest networks and enterprises in the world. In his role, Ed provides thought leadership in cloud and virtual technology security supporting AT&T’s strategic migration to a virtualized network infrastructure. He is currently focused on security considerations of OpenStack and public cloud.
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About AT&T: AT&T is a telecommunications company that provides wireless communications, local exchange, and long-distance services.
Andrei Soroker
Director of Product Strategy of 8×8
Andrei has a degree in computer science from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. He lives in Oakland with his wife and three kids. He wishes he could use his pilot’s license more often.
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About 8×8: 8×8 offers secure and reliable cloud-based, enterprise-class business phone systems, unified communications, and contact center solutions.
Steve Hull
Sr. Director, Product & Technology of T-Mobile
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About T-Mobile: T-Mobile is redefining the way consumers and businesses buy wireless services.
Erin Raney
Sr Director Network Technology Services and Innovation of T-Mobile
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About T-Mobile: T-Mobile is redefining the way consumers and businesses buy wireless services.
Donald Brewer
Director Acquisition Marketing of T-Mobile
Donald Brewer is Founder & President at Prelaunch Labs.
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About Prelaunch Labs, T-Mobile: T-Mobile is redefining the way consumers and businesses buy wireless services.
Mesut Guven
Senior Director, Leading IoT Technology of T-Mobile
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About T-Mobile: T-Mobile is redefining the way consumers and businesses buy wireless services.
Mercedes Johnson
Member of the Board of Directors of Intersil
Mercedes Johnson was the Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Avago Technologies Limited, a supplier of analog interface components for communications, industrial and consumer applications, from December 2005 to August 2008. She also served as the Senior Vice President, Finance, of Lam Research Corporation (“Lam”) from June 2004 to January 2005 and as Lam’s Chief Financial Officer from May 1997 to May 2004. Ms. Johnson holds a degree in Accounting from the University of Buenos Aires and currently serves on the Board of Directors for Intersil Corporation, Juniper Networks, Inc., and Teradyne, Inc. Ms. Johnson is the Chairman of the Board’s Audit Committee and has served on our Board of Directors since 2005.
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About : Intersil Corporation engages in the design, manufacture, and marketing of analog integrated circuits (ICs).
Abdullah Sheikh
Associate Director of Singtel
Abdullah Sheikh heads a team of Network Architects based in Singtel USA. He is with Singtel for past 17 years and has gone thru all aspects of network evolution from early adaption of Internet, MPLS and now newer emerging technologies such as SDWAN & NFV. Over past years he has worked on over 600 corporate networks and proposed network design and strategy to many of the fortune 1000 companies. He has been instrumental in design, implementation and management of various core networks within Singtel.
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About Singtel: Singtel is a telecommunications company that provides ISP, IPTV, mobile phone, and fixed line telephony services.
Alex Kassirer
Director of Physical Security and Counterterrorism of Flashpoint
Alex is Flashpoint’s counterterrorism team lead and on-air analyst for NBC. She has assisted law enforcement and intelligence agencies in terrorism investigations and prosecutions, and consults private sector organizations on both physical and cyber security. Ms. Kassirer has presented to various audiences, including law enforcement, on monitoring and addressing the threat that stems from jihadists. Ms. Kassirer holds an MS in Global Affairs with a concentration in Transnational Security from New York University and BA in International Affairs with a concentration in Conflict & Security and a minor in Religion from the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University, where she also studied Arabic.
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About Flashpoint, Flashpoint: Flashpoint is the globally trusted leader in actionable threat intelligence.
Nick Hayes
Director of Content Marketing and Communications of Flashpoint
More than 12 years in the cybersecurity technology industry holding senior positions in product, strategy, and marketing.
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About Flashpoint: Flashpoint is the globally trusted leader in actionable threat intelligence.
Ed Hintz
Director of Cloud Services Development of Bandwidth
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About Bandwidth: Bandwidth is a telecom company helping wholesale customers and enterprises leverage communications as a tool for innovation.
Paul Sturm
Board of Directors of Morningstar
Paul Sturm served as a member of Morningstar’s advisory board beginning in 1998 and was elected to the board of directors in 1999. He is a private investor who wrote a monthly column on investing for SmartMoney between 1992 and 2006. From 1985 to 1989, he was assistant managing editor for BusinessWeek. From 1980 until 1985 he held a similar position at Forbes. Prior to that, Sturm worked as a business writer for a variety of publications based in New York, Washington, and London. Sturm holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Oberlin College and a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University. He received a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center.
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About : Morningstar provides independent investment research to investors worldwide.
Don Phillips
Managing Director of Morningstar
Don Phillips is a managing director for Morningstar. He joined the company in 1986 as its first mutual fund analyst and soon became editor of its flagship print publication, Morningstar® Mutual Funds™, establishing the editorial voice for which the company is best known. He helped to develop the Morningstar Style Box™, the Morningstar Rating™, and other distinctive, proprietary Morningstar innovations that have become industry standards. Phillips has served in a variety of leadership roles at Morningstar, most recently head of global Research, before paring back his schedule to take on a part-time, non-management role. He has served on Morningstar’s board of directors since 1999, and he also serves on the board of directors for Morningstar Japan. Phillips holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas and a master’s degree from the University of Chicago.
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About Morningstar: Morningstar provides independent investment research to investors worldwide.
Jason Shih
Director of Cinven
Jason Shih is a member of the Capital Markets team at Cinven and is based in New York. Prior to joining Cinven, Jason worked at Credit Suisse, where he was a Vice President within the Financial Sponsors Group in New York. Before this he worked at Berkeley Research Group in California as a Senior Associate. Jason holds an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management and a B.A. Economics plus a B.S. Environmental Economics & Policy from the University of California, Berkeley. He joined Cinven in 2019.
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About Cinven: Cinven is an international private equity firm focused on building world-class global companies.
Raymond Dittamore
Member of the Board of Directors of Qualcomm
Raymond V. Dittamore is a Member of the Board of Directors at QUALCOMM Incorporated since December 2002. Ray retired in June 2001 as a Partner of Ernst & Young LLP, an international public accounting firm, after 35 years of service. Ray previously served as a Member of the Board of Directors at Life Technologies Corporation from July 2001 to February 2014, Gen-Probe Incorporated from August 2002 to September 2009 and Digirad Corporation from March 2004 to March 2008. Ray holds a B.S. degree in Accounting from San Diego State University.
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About : Qualcomm designs, manufactures, and markets digital wireless telecommunications products and services.
Brian Vogelsang
Sr. Director, Product Management – XR Strategy & Partnerships of Qualcomm
Brian Vogelsang is Senior Director of Product Management for Qualcomm’s XR business group, where he is responsible for strategy and partnerships globally. Brian is a 20-year veteran of the wireless industry who believes that XR is the next evolution in mobile computing and is passionate about making it happen. Prior to his current role in XR he spent 5 years developing hardware and software connectivity products for industrial and consumer IoT. At Qualcomm Brian has held senior management and product strategy roles in engineering, Information Technology, product management and business development. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in business and management from the University of Redlands and has been granted several patents at the intersection of mobile and IoT. In his spare time, he enjoys photography and serving on multiple non-profit boards.
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About Qualcomm: Qualcomm designs, manufactures, and markets digital wireless telecommunications products and services.
Hiren Bhinde
Director Product Management (VR / AR) of Qualcomm
Hiren Bhinde is a staff product manager for Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. where he leads the expansion of Qualcomm’s virtual reality and augmented reality programs, driving multifunctional teams across three continents. In his more than 13 years at Qualcomm, Hiren was a critical member of the Qualcomm Android team collaborating with Google launching the first Android and Nexus devices, helped commercialize hundreds of unique Android devices in China, India and Southeast Asia, and developed on-device video playback and streaming tools. Hiren is driven by the fact that the technology he helps to create will be in the hands of hundreds of millions of people across the world, shaping their lives in how they work, play and communicate. Hiren holds a Master of Science in computer science from State University of New York and a Master of Business Administration from U.C. Berkley
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About Qualcomm: Qualcomm designs, manufactures, and markets digital wireless telecommunications products and services.
Thomas Horton
Member of the Board of Directors of Qualcomm
Tom served as chairman of American Airlines Group, Inc. from 2013 to 2014. He was chairman, president, and chief executive officer of American Airlines, Inc. and AMR Corporation from 2011 to 2013, after being named president of American in 2010. During that time, he led American through a successful restructuring and turnaround which culminated in the merger with US Airways, creating the world’s largest airline. Previously, he served as executive vice president and chief financial officer of AMR and American from 2006 to 2010, and vice chairman and chief financial officer of AT&T Corporation from 2002 to 2006. Prior to joining AT&T, he was senior vice president and chief financial officer of AMR from 2000 to 2002 and served in numerous management positions with AMR since 1985. He joined American Airlines from international accounting partnership firm Peat Marwick & Company, which is now known as KPMG. Tom earned a master of business administration from the Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University and a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Baylor University, where he graduated magna cum laude. He serves on the board of directors of Qualcomm, Inc. and the executive board of the Cox School of Business at SMU.
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About : Qualcomm designs, manufactures, and markets digital wireless telecommunications products and services.
Tim McCarthy
Senior Director of Qualcomm
He is the Senior Director at Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.
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About Qualcomm: Qualcomm designs, manufactures, and markets digital wireless telecommunications products and services.
Nitin Dhiman
Director, 5G Product Marketing of Qualcomm
Nitin Dhiman is Senior Manager of Product Marketing in Qualcomm Technologies, with a focus on RF front-end technologies and how these come together to impact the broader mobile ecosystem. He has over 15 years of prior experience in pre-sales consulting, chip design and verification. Prior to Qualcomm, Nitin managed operations and design methodology at Black Sand Technologies (now Qualcomm), and key accounts at Cadence Design Systems. He earned his MBA at UCLA Anderson School of Management and his Master of Electrical Engineering from Illinois Institute of Technology.
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About Qualcomm: Qualcomm designs, manufactures, and markets digital wireless telecommunications products and services.
Patrick Ribardiere
Senior Director of Product Management of Qualcomm
Patrick Ribardiere is a senior director of product management for the Connectivity Business Unit of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. In this role, he oversees product management and leads the Wi-Fi and network processor adoption for the company’s Enterprise Carrier Solutions for the EMEA region. Ribardiere has played a key role in the 11ac wave 2 adoption among service providers within Europe, and is a key influencer on all carrier connectivity and network processors aspects of the strategy within Qualcomm. Under Ribardiere’s leadership, Qualcomm Technologies significantly expanded its European market share and secured key designs from both tier one OEMs and European service providers. Ribardiere joined Qualcomm Technologies through the Atheros acquisition in 2011. At Atheros, Ribardiere led product management for the carrier business, and oversaw the worldwide outbound carrier marketing activities. Prior to Atheros and over the previous 12 years, he held several increasingly important product management and product marketing leadership roles, where he built his expertise in the wireless and mobile phone industry and defined system solutions for 2G and 3G cellular phones for companies like Philips, Skyworks, Silicon labs, NXP and ST microelectronics. Ribardiere started his career in power electronics, he holds a patent introducing a novel power distribution architecture in large aircrafts and has contributed to several research papers on AC to DC and DC to DC power conversion in systems of several kilowatts. Ribardiere earned a master’s degree in science from The Grenoble Institute of Technology in Grenoble, Rhône-Alpes, France.
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About Qualcomm: Qualcomm designs, manufactures, and markets digital wireless telecommunications products and services.
Miguel Nunes
Senior Director of Product Management of Qualcomm
Miguel Nunes is senior director of product management for Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. where he leads Qualcomm Technologies’ Windows strategy and products, driving multifunctional teams around the world. Miguel has 20 years of experience working in the semiconductor industry including Intel and Qualcomm. In his 8 years at Qualcomm, Miguel has been a critical member of the product management team collaborating with Microsoft on various technologies and products including mobile devices, mixed reality and now Windows on Snapdragon. Miguel’s experience from traditional PCs at Intel and mobile at Qualcomm is helping drive the transformation of the PC into a true mobile computing device with all the benefits of the mobile phone.
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About Qualcomm, Qualcomm: Qualcomm designs, manufactures, and markets digital wireless telecommunications products and services.
James Misener
Senior Director, Product Management of Global V2X Ecosystem Lead of Qualcomm
Jim Misener is Senior Director, Product Management and the Global C-V2X Ecosystem Lead for Qualcomm. He develops and executes Qualcomm’s C-V2X deployment strategy across all global regions and works with roadside and automotive stakeholders and enabling software/hardware stack suppliers and internal teams to accomplish broad C-V2X deployment. Previously at Qualcomm, Jim led the automotive standards team and C-V2X was a major emphasis as well. In addition to his roles at Qualcomm, Jim serves as a 5GAA board member, ITS California board member, the SAE C-V2X Technical Committee Chair and is active in TRB, which involves serving as an ITS Committee member, Vehicle-Highway Automation committee member and Automated Vehicle Symposium Enabling Technologies session organizer. Jim also serves as an Advisory Council member to the Carnegie Melon University/University of Pennsylvania/Ohio State National University Transportation Center, Mobility 21. Jim was an early pioneer in vehicle-highway automation and vehicle safety communication at the California Partners for Advanced Transit and Highways (PATH) at UC Berkeley, starting in the mid-90s. He has served as the PATH Executive Director, Executive Advisor to Booz Allen Hamilton, and an independent consultant with clients ranging from Silicon Valley startups, the automotive industry and Federal and State government agencies. Jim holds BS and MS degrees from UCLA and USC.
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About Qualcomm: Qualcomm designs, manufactures, and markets digital wireless telecommunications products and services.
Neil Jablon
Senior Director, Product Management of Qualcomm
Neil Jablon is senior director, product management at Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. (QTI), in San Diego, California, within the Qualcomm CDMA Technologies division. He leads product management for the Snapdragon™ chipset third-party hardware component ecosystem, Snapdragon™-based product development platforms, and is a core member of the product management team building the QTI third-party software (ISV) ecosystem. Since 2011, Neil and his extended hardware team verified over a thousand third-party hardware components for inclusion in a preferred vendor list targeted to Android smartphone and other OEMs. Neil has held leadership roles in telecommunications with top global companies since 1986, including AT&T Bell Labs, AirTouch Communications, Vodafone Group, J-Phone Group (Tokyo), IBM Global Services (Beijing), and from 2006, QTI. He holds a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Stanford University, an MBA in general management from the UCLA Anderson School, and is an IEEE Senior Member. Neil is fluent in Chinese (Mandarin dialect) and achieved intermediate-to-advanced proficiency in Japanese.
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About Qualcomm: Qualcomm designs, manufactures, and markets digital wireless telecommunications products and services.
Patrick Costello
Director of Business Development of Qualcomm
Patrick Costello, Senior Director of Business Development at Qualcomm Technologies Inc., is responsible for building partnerships with strategic multimedia partners in the sports and entertainment verticals. In support of Qualcomm’s XR business, Patrick leads engagements with film studios, sports leagues, and ISV’s to drive both content partnerships and traction for Qualcomm’s broader technology portfolio. Prior to joining Qualcomm, Patrick led business development for Kyocera Wireless in emerging markets like India, Indonesia, Thailand, and other markets in MEA and SEA. Following completion of his International Relations degree from the University of San Diego in 1995, Patrick obtained his MBA from San Diego State University.
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About Qualcomm: Qualcomm designs, manufactures, and markets digital wireless telecommunications products and services.
Kapil Kamra
Director of Product Management – Sensors of Qualcomm
Kapil Kamra is the Director of Product Management for Qualcomm’s sensor subsystem. He is responsible for specifying the HW on Qualcomm SOC’s required for background sensor processing, the sensor subsystem’s software framework and the high level sensor algorithms for the mobile, IOT and other markets. He also manages the partnerships with sensor hardware and software partners and Qualcomm’s customers for the Qualcomm sensor solution. Prior to joining Qualcomm, Kapil worked at InvenSense Inc., Telegent Systems Inc. and Analog Devices Inc. Kapil has a BSc.Eng from the University of New Brunswick and M.A.Sc. from the University of Toronto.
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About Qualcomm: Qualcomm designs, manufactures, and markets digital wireless telecommunications products and services.
Felix Baum
Director Product Management of Qualcomm
Felix has spent over 20 years in the embedded industry, both as an embedded developer and as a manager. He currently works at Qualcomm responsible for the Hexagon Software Platform. In his previous position at Mentor Graphics, he was overseeing the virtualization and Multi-OS and Multi-Core technologies. Felix worked for 13 years at Wind River (Intel Subsidiary), where during the last few years he led product marketing and product management efforts for VxWorks and Zephyr (formerly known as Rocket) RTOS-es on various silicon architectures. Felix started his career at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology, designing flight software for various spacecraft and managing a launch campaign for the GRACE mission. He holds a Master’s degree in Computer Science and a Master of Business Administration from the University of California at Los Angeles.
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About Qualcomm: Qualcomm designs, manufactures, and markets digital wireless telecommunications products and services.
Larry Wikelius
Director – Ecosystem Enablement of Qualcomm
Larry Wikelius is Co-Founder of Calxeda and serves as VP of Software Engineering. He brings over 20 years of operational and leadership experience in the high-technology industry. As a technology executive, he has been responsible for product strategy, design, development, delivery and support in product areas, such as enterprise systems management, scalable computing systems, storage systems, system security, network administration, data mining and business intelligence. Larry has also played key roles in a number of startup companies leading to successful liquidity events. Prior to joining Calxeda, he was at Newisys, where he was Vice President for Server and Storage Strategic Alliances. During his tenure there, Newisys grew from no revenue to an annual run rate of over $450 million in just two years. Larry also played a key role in the acquisition of Newisys by Sanmina-SCI (SANM) in 2003. Prior to Newisys, he served in executive level roles at Voyence, Net Perceptions and Hewlett Packard. Larry began his high-tech career as a software engineer at Data General Corporation (now EMC) in Westborough, MA. He holds an MBA from Northeastern University in Boston and has a BS degree in Computer Science from the University of Minnesota. He has also completed executive business courses at the University of Michigan Business School.
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About Qualcomm: Qualcomm designs, manufactures, and markets digital wireless telecommunications products and services.
George Paparrizos
Director of Product Management of Qualcomm
George Paparrizos, Senior Director, Product Management at Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. runs product management for the stand-alone power management products and Qualcomm Quick Charge technology. Mr. Paparrizos has co-authored several patents and numerous articles for industry publications. He holds an MSEE degree from the Technical University of Aachen, Germany (RWTH) and an MBA from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley.
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About Qualcomm: Qualcomm designs, manufactures, and markets digital wireless telecommunications products and services.
Mazen Chmaytelli
Senior Director, Business Development of Qualcomm
Mazen Chmaytelli serves as LTE in unlicensed spectrum business development lead for Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. In this role, Mazen oversees the global strategy, continued evolution and adoption of LTE-based technology for unlicensed and shared spectrum.Mazen is also appointed as the MulteFire Alliance President. In this role, Mazen is the general manager and chief executive officer of this industry organization. Responsible for the overall functions and management of the global ecosystem and operations to support development of MulteFire technical specifications, certification programs, and coordination with related industry groups and regulators.Mazen has over 22 years’ experience across all major wireless telecommunications technologies and a broad range of expertise in areas including business development, business negotiations, product management, new product development and technical marketing.Mazen is a registered professional engineer in the State of California, a Senior IEEE member, a registered attorney with the California Bar, and a registered patent attorney with the USPTO. As an inventor, he holds 40 USPTO granted patents covering a range of telecommunications and software inventions.Mazen has a B.S. and an M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of California – Los Angeles (UCLA) and holds a Juris Doctor degree from the University of San Diego School of Law.Mazen Chmaytelli serves as LTE in unlicensed spectrum business development lead for Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. In this role, Mazen oversees the global strategy, continued evolution and adoption of LTE-based technology for unlicensed and shared spectrum.Mazen is also appointed as the MulteFire Alliance President. In this role, Mazen is the general manager and chief executive officer of this industry organization. Responsible for the overall functions and management of the global ecosystem and operations to support development of MulteFire technical specifications, certification programs, and coordination with related industry groups and regulators.Mazen has over 22 years’ experience across all major wireless telecommunications technologies and a broad range of expertise in areas including business development, business negotiations, product management, new product development and technical marketing.Mazen is a registered professional engineer in the State of California, a Senior IEEE member, a registered attorney with the California Bar, and a registered patent attorney with the USPTO. As an inventor, he holds 40 USPTO granted patents covering a range of telecommunications and software inventions.Mazen has a B.S. and an M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of California – Los Angeles (UCLA) and holds a Juris Doctor degree from the University of San Diego School of Law.
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About MulteFire Alliance, Qualcomm: Qualcomm designs, manufactures, and markets digital wireless telecommunications products and services.
Hung Vuong
Director of Standard Lead of Qualcomm
Hung Vuong is the Director, Standard Lead at Qualcomm.
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About Qualcomm: Qualcomm designs, manufactures, and markets digital wireless telecommunications products and services.
Eddy Brown
International Sales Director of Altec Industries
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About Altec Industries: Altec is a leading provider of products and services to the electric utility, telecommunications, tree care, lights and signs.
Gabriel Ionita
Director, Group Partnering and Business Development, US of Deutsche Telekom
Director, Group Partnering and Business Development at Deutsche Telekom Inc.
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About Deutsche Telekom: Deutsche Telekom is a telecommunications company that offers a range of fixed-network services.
Hannah Gamiel
Development Director of Cyan
Hannah is a programmer and lead audio engineer on ‘Obduction’ at Cyan, Inc., which was recently named best adventure game of 2016 by PCWorld. She is currently working on PSVR development and fan localization efforts for ‘Obduction’ and is looking forward to making the game more accessible to people (and platforms) around the world.
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About Cyan: Cyan offers software-defined networks and packet-optical solutions for service providers, data center operators and private networks.
Ed Boon
Vice President, Creative Director of Warner Bros.
Vice President, Creative Director at NetherRealm / Warner Bros. Entertainment.
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About Warner Bros.: Warner Bros. is a media company that creates, produces, distributes, licenses, and markets of several forms of entertainment.
Clement Bruneau
Director, Business Development and Strategic Partnerships of Aircall
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About Aircall: Aircall is a cloud-based call center software that integrates with CRM, productivity, and helpdesk tools.
Josh Ellis
Director, Marketing and Customer Development of FluentStream
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About FluentStream: Your business phone system, service, and support in the cloud.
Peter Watridge
Senior Director Analytics & Decision Science of Calix
VP, Strategic Alliances & Platform Peter’s role is to identify and develop relationships with key partners in the cloud software and hardware infrastructure ecosystem. The relationships support Joyent’s sales of SmartDataCenter cloud enabling software to telco’s and service providers globally. Focus of effort is in two main areas: 1) Relationships with hardware vendors in the compute, networking, and storage areas upon which the Joyent software runs; And 2) ISV’s that enable richer support for the Joyent software as the premier platform for providers to profitably sell IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS products. Prior to taking on his current role Peter served as CFO during Joyent’s formative early stage start-up growth years. In his role as CFO, Peter help grow Joyent from a revenue funded company with an annualized revenue run rate in the hundreds of thousands per year to a venture backed company with a run rate in the tens of millions of dollars per year. Managed company growth from 14 employees to over 90 employees. Developed financial model that enabled Joyent to raise a round of funding led by Intel Capital. Continued to run Operations, Support, HR, IT and back office support teams until Joyent hired up. Expanded operations into Europe and Asia-Pacific regions. via: [Joyent](http://www.joyent.com)
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About Calix: Calix provides the cloud, software, systems and services for service providers to simplify business, excite subscribers and grow value
Karen Harris
Managing Director, Macro Trends Group of Bain & Company
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About Bain & Company: Bain & Company is a management consulting firm that provides solutions on change in management, strategies, and technology.
Chad Crank
Managing Director, Private Equity of Grain Management
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About Grain Management: Grain Management is a private equity firm focused on investments in the communications sector.
Mark Palmer
Director, Strategic Development of Granite Telecommunications
Mark Palmer is Senior Director of Relationship Development at Granite Telecommunications. Mark currently works with the Granite Channels team promoting non-POTS service to partners nationwide.
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About Granite Telecommunications, Granite Telecommunications, Granite Telecommunications: Granite is a leading communications services provider for businesses with multiple locations.
Larraine Segil
Board Of Director of Frontier Communications
Larraine D. Segil is CEO of Larraine Segil Inc., consulting with companies on global strategy, management and alliances. Since 1991, she has been a senior research fellow at the IC2 Institute at the University of Texas, Austin. She is a 25-year member of the Board of Advisors of the Price Center for Entrepreneurship at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management and an Adjunct Professor of the Southwestern School of Law and a member of its Board of Trustees. Ms. Segil presented a two-day Executive Education program on Strategic Alliances at Caltech for 24 years. She is partner emeritus at Vantage Partners, LLC., a strategic alliances and conflict resolution firm, where she was a partner and member of the Board. Ms. Segil was a partner/co-founder of The Lared Group, a consulting firm on strategic alliances, until its acquisition by Vantage Partners in 2003. She serves on the International Advisory Board of APCO Worldwide, the Advisory Board of Kandela Inc., and the Board of the National Association of Corporate Directors, Southern California. Ms. Segil served on the World Health Organization Tropical Diseases SAAG in Geneva. Ms. Segil is a member of The Committee of 200, an organization of the world’s most successful women CEOs, past Chair of the C200 Foundation, and past Vice Chair of the C200 Governing Board. She has published six books. She received B.A. & B.A. Honors (master’s equivalent) from The University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, a J.D. from Southwestern School of Law, and an M.B.A. from the PKE Program of Pepperdine University, Los Angeles.
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About : Frontier Communications Corporation is an independent provider of telecommunications services that offers voice, data, and video services.
Peter Bynoe
Board Of Director of Frontier Communications
Peter C.B. Bynoe is a Managing Director of Equity Group Investments, a private investment fund. Before this, he served as Chief Executive Officer of Rewards Network, Inc., a merchant cash advance and marketing services company, and in multiple capacities, including as a partner, with Loop Capital Markets LLP, an investment bank. Mr. Bynoe has been associated with the international law firm DLA Piper US LLP since March 1995, most recently as Senior Counsel. He is also Chairman of Telemat Ltd., a business consulting firm he founded in 1982. Mr. Bynoe received a bachelor’s degree from Harvard College, a master’s from Harvard Business School, and a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School. Mr. Bynoe is a Director of the Covanta Holding Corporation and Real Industry, Inc.
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About Equity Group Investments: Frontier Communications Corporation is an independent provider of telecommunications services that offers voice, data, and video services.
Howard Schrott
Board Of Director of Frontier Communications
Howard L. Schrott is a Principal in Schrott Consulting, a management consulting firm servicing broadcasting, telecommunications and technology companies. Prior to founding Schrott Consulting in 2006, he was Chief Financial Officer of the Liberty Corporation, a television broadcaster (2001-February 2006). Prior to joining Liberty, he was Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Wink Communications (now a subsidiary of OpenTV Corp.), an interactive television company. For eight years he was the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Emmis Communications Corp., an owner and operator of radio and television stations and magazines. Previously, Mr. Schrott was a Vice President in the media-lending group at First Union National Bank (now Wells Fargo). He practiced law in Washington, D.C., and Indianapolis, Indiana, specializing in matters before the Federal Communications Commission and media-related business issues. He holds a B.S. from Butler University and a J.D. from the Indiana University School of Law. Mr. Schrott also serves as a Trustee of Butler University and the Indiana Historical Society.
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About : Frontier Communications Corporation is an independent provider of telecommunications services that offers voice, data, and video services.
Ross Scott
Director, Enterprise Software Services (DevSecOps) of Raytheon
Ross Scott is the IT Director of the PDM Solution Center for Raytheon Global Business Services (GBS). Raytheon Company, with 2016 sales of $24 billion and 63,000 employees, is a technology and innovation leader specializing in defense, civil government and cybersecurity solutions. With a history of innovation spanning 95 years, Raytheon provides state-of-the-art electronics, mission systems integration, C5ITM products and services, sensing, effects, and mission support for customers in more than 80 countries. Raytheon is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts. Ross began his career at Raytheon in 1999 as a software engineer, performing engineering automation for Raytheon’s hardware engineering directorates. In 2002, Ross joined the newly formed Common Product Data Management (PDM) initiative – a company-wide initiative to create a single instance engineering data management system with common processes that enables a “design anywhere” capability for Raytheon’s 30,000 engineers. Over the next 6 years, Ross held various positions of increasing technical and management responsibility on the Common PDM program including Development IPT Lead and Chief Engineer as he architected and implemented one of the largest single PDM deployments in the world. In 2009, Ross took over as the program manager for the Common PDM program where he was responsible for the successful implementation of Common PDM at Raytheon’s Integrated Defense Systems (IDS). Ross and his team were recognized with the Raytheon IDS President’s award for their success in this strategic initiative. In 2010, Ross was chosen to stand up and lead a new enterprise wide PDM Solution Center. In this position, Ross provides guidance, direction, and leadership to over 80 geographically diverse employees and contractors. Ross is responsible for overseeing the proposal development, project planning, development, deployment, and support of all of Raytheon’s foundational engineering systems, including Common PDM. Ross continues to team with his peers and industry partners to optimize business processes and inserts innovative technology to increase efficiency across Raytheon’s entire product development lifecycle value stream. Ross earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer Science from WPI in 1999. Ross went on to earn his Master of Science in Computer Science from WPI in 2004. He is a graduate of Raytheon’s Leadership Development Program (LDP) and Leadership Excellence Program (LEP).
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About Raytheon: Raytheon Technologies is an aerospace and defense company that provides advanced systems and services.
Carol Wooden
Director, Supplier Diversity of Raytheon
Carol L. Wooden is the Director of Supplier Diversity for Raytheon Company. Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN), with 2017 sales of $25.3 billion, is a technology and innovation leader specializing in defense, homeland security and other government markets throughout the world. With headquarters in Waltham, Mass., Raytheon employs 64,000 people worldwide. Currently, Carol is the Corporate Liaison Officer to the US Department of Defense and leads the execution of Raytheon’s strategic engagement, development and utilization of small diverse businesses in alignment with federal socioeconomic policies. Previously, she served as a Manager in Supply Chain responsible for an $85M backlog of major subcontracts. As a graduate of the Raytheon Engineering Leadership Development Program, Carol has led technical projects in three divisions across the country and abroad including Integrated Defense Systems (IDS) in Massachusetts, Space and Airborne Systems (SAS) in both California and Texas and Raytheon Systems Limited (RSL) in the United Kingdom. She has a broad and unique background in Electrical & Systems Engineering, Project Management and Supply Chain. Since joining Raytheon in 2004, Carol has supported several major DoD programs including the Zumwalt Combatant Ship program as a Software Requirements Systems Engineer, the ATFLIR program in a Strategic Operations role supporting the geographic relocation of a major product manufacturing line, and the Electronic Border Patrol Program for the United Kingdom Ministry of Defense as a Systems Engineering Cost Account Manager and Process Deployment Lead. In 2011, Carol served as Staff Executive to the SAS Vice President of the $2B Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Systems (ISRS) mission area. In her voluntary service to Raytheon and her community, Carol sits on the Board of Directors for the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) and Diversity Information Resources (DIR). She has also held several leadership positions within Raytheon Employee Resource Groups and led the implementation and execution of the SAS Engineering Rotation Program in the North Texas Region to aid in the development of early career engineers. She conducts speaking engagements with high school and college students across the US to encourage the pursuit of careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Carol has been named the 2007 Modern Day Technology Leader by the U.S. Black Engineer of the Year Award Committee; the 2013 Top Contract Management Professionals Under 40 Award by the National Contract Management Association and recently named the 2017 Champion of Supplier Diversity by Minority Business News USA. She also holds nationally recognized certifications in Engineering and Contract Management as well as Raytheon certifications in Program Management and Subcontract Management. Carol earned a bachelor of science degree in Electrical Engineering from Tennessee State University and a master of science degree in Electrical & Computer Engineering from Purdue University. She has also completed executive education courses at Tuck School of Business and Duke CE.
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About Raytheon: Raytheon Technologies is an aerospace and defense company that provides advanced systems and services.
Brian Rodriguez
Retired Director of Business Development and Strategy at Raytheon of Raytheon
Brian Rodriguez is Director of Business Development & Strategy at Raytheon Co.
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About Raytheon: Raytheon Technologies is an aerospace and defense company that provides advanced systems and services.
Danny Poisson
Common PLM Technical Director and IT Architect of Raytheon
Danny Poisson is the Technical Director for Raytheon’s PDM program and Chief IT Architect supporting the PDM Solution Center for Raytheon Global Business Services (GBS). He began his career in the defense industry in 1989 as a marine piping designer at Bath Iron Works. In 1997, Danny made the formal shift in his career from Mechanical Engineering Design to Information Technology (IT) as Business Analyst /Application Developer at Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC). At CSC, Danny was responsible for developing automations for CAD and other engineering related processes. Danny went on to lead several high profile programming projects and in 2004 received the CSC Award for Technical Excellence. In 2005, Danny began to focus on the Product Data Management aspect of IT as a Global Services Consultant at PTC. While at PTC, Danny rose to the level of Solution Master Architect and was responsible for creating Windchill based solutions and data migrations for various PTC clients. In 2008, Danny joined Raytheon and their newly formed Common Product Data Management (PDM) initiative with the goal to create a single PDM instance with common processes that enables a “design anywhere” capability for Raytheon’s 30,000 engineers. Since joining Raytheon, Danny has held various positions of increasing technical and management responsibility including Chief Engineer as he architected and implemented one of the largest single PDM deployments in the world. Danny has received numerous awards including the Raytheon IDS President’s award in 2009 and GBS CIO Awards for Excellence in In Information Technology in 2012 and 2013. Danny earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Information Technology from Kaplan University in 2015 (Summa Cum Laude). He is a graduate of Raytheon Certified Architecture Program (RCAP) 2016, and also holds Associate Degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Vermont Technical College (1989) and Ship Design from Maine Maritime Academy (1994).
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About Raytheon: Raytheon Technologies is an aerospace and defense company that provides advanced systems and services.
Danny Poisson
Common PLM Technical Director and IT Architect of Raytheon
Danny Poisson is the Technical Director for Raytheon’s PDM program and Chief IT Architect supporting the PDM Solution Center for Raytheon Global Business Services (GBS). He began his career in the defense industry in 1989 as a marine piping designer at Bath Iron Works. In 1997, Danny made the formal shift in his career from Mechanical Engineering Design to Information Technology (IT) as Business Analyst /Application Developer at Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC). At CSC, Danny was responsible for developing automations for CAD and other engineering related processes. Danny went on to lead several high profile programming projects and in 2004 received the CSC Award for Technical Excellence. In 2005, Danny began to focus on the Product Data Management aspect of IT as a Global Services Consultant at PTC. While at PTC, Danny rose to the level of Solution Master Architect and was responsible for creating Windchill based solutions and data migrations for various PTC clients. In 2008, Danny joined Raytheon and their newly formed Common Product Data Management (PDM) initiative with the goal to create a single PDM instance with common processes that enables a “design anywhere” capability for Raytheon’s 30,000 engineers. Since joining Raytheon, Danny has held various positions of increasing technical and management responsibility including Chief Engineer as he architected and implemented one of the largest single PDM deployments in the world. Danny has received numerous awards including the Raytheon IDS President’s award in 2009 and GBS CIO Awards for Excellence in In Information Technology in 2012 and 2013. Danny earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Information Technology from Kaplan University in 2015 (Summa Cum Laude). He is a graduate of Raytheon Certified Architecture Program (RCAP) 2016, and also holds Associate Degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Vermont Technical College (1989) and Ship Design from Maine Maritime Academy (1994).
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About Raytheon: Raytheon Technologies is an aerospace and defense company that provides advanced systems and services.
Stephen Patrick
Member of the Board of Directors of Arrow Electronics
Stephen Patrick IS A Member of the Board of Directors at Arrow Electronics since July 2003. Steve retired as Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors from the Colgate-Palmolive Company in March 2011. Steve joined Colgate-Palmolive in 1982 as Manager, Financial Reporting after having been a Manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers. In 1984, Steve was promoted to Controller for Colgate’s International Business Development Group. Two years later, he became Vice President, Finance for Colgate’s operations in Canada. In 1988, Steve returned to New York as Vice President of Finance for Colgate’s Latin American operations. In 1990, Steve assumed the position of General Manager of Euro Export and North Africa, with responsibility for directing the significant and rapid business growth opportunities in these regions. Three months later, Steve was promoted to Vice President and Corporate Controller. In 1996, Steve was appointed Chief Financial Officer. Steve holds a Bachelor’s degree from the City University of New York and a Master’s degree from the University of Rhode Island. Steve is a CPA in the state of Connecticut and a Member of the Financial Executives Institute, the Financial Women’s Association, and is a Director of Arrow Electronics, Inc. Steve served for six years as Vice President of the Financial Accounting Foundation which oversees the Financial Accounting Standards Board.
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About : Arrow Electronics designs, manufactures and distributes electronic components for industrial and commercial sectors.
Barry Perry
Member of the Board of Directors of Arrow Electronics
Barry Perry is a Member of the Board of Directors at Arrow Electronics. Previously, Barry was Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors at Engelhard Corporation, a surface and materials science company, for more than five years prior to his retirement in June 2006. Barry is also a Member of the Board of Directors at Albemarle Corp. and Ashland Inc. Barry previously served as a Member of the Board of Directors at the Cookson Group plc.
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About : Arrow Electronics designs, manufactures and distributes electronic components for industrial and commercial sectors.
Gail Hamilton
Member of the Board of Directors of Arrow Electronics
Gail Hamilton is a Member of the Board of Directors at Arrow Electronics. Previously, Gail was Executive Vice President of Symantec, an infrastructure software, services and security provider, for five years prior to January 2005. Previously, Gail served as the General Manager of the Communications Division of Compaq Computers and as the General Manager of the Telecom Platform Division for Hewlett-Packard Company. Gail is also a Member of the Board of Directors at OpenText Corp., Ixia, and Westmoreland.
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About : Arrow Electronics designs, manufactures and distributes electronic components for industrial and commercial sectors.
Gregory Rossmann
Member of the Board of Directors of NETGEAR
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About : Netgear designs, develops, and markets networking products for home users and small businesses worldwide.
Thomas Waechter
Member of the Board of Directors of NETGEAR
Thomas Waechter has served as one of our directors since December 2014. From January 2009 to August 2015,Waechter served as President, Chief Executive Officer and a member of the board of directors of JDS Uniphase Corp. (now Viavi Solutions Inc.), a leading provider of communications test and measurement solutions and optical products. He previously served as Executive Vice President and President of the Communications Test & Measurement Group of JDS Uniphase Corp. From 2007 until becoming Chief Executive Officer. Prior to that,Waechter held a wide variety of executive positions, including Chief Operating Officer at Harris Stratex Networks (now Aviat Networks, Inc.), President and Chief Executive Officer at Stratex Networks, President and Chief Executive Officer at REMEC Corporation and President and Chief Executive Officer of Spectrian Corporation. Additionally, he held a number of global executive-level positions during his 14-year career with Schlumberger Ltd. He holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from The College of William and Mary.
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About : Netgear designs, develops, and markets networking products for home users and small businesses worldwide.
Grady Summers
Member of the Board of Directors of NETGEAR
Grady Summers has served as one of our directors since January 2016.Summers is Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of FireEye, Inc., a leading provider of comprehensive cybersecurity solutions for detecting, preventing and resolving advanced cyber-attacks, where he oversees the global CTO team that supports R&D and product engineering. He joined FireEye through its acquisition of Mandiant in 2014. At Mandiant,Summers served as the Vice President of Strategic Solutions and led the company’s strategic consulting and customer success divisions. Prior to Mandiant, from 2010 to 2012,Summers was a principal at Ernst & Young, responsible for the firm’s information security program management practice. Before E&Y, from 1999 to 2010, he held various roles at General Electric, most recently as the Chief Information Security Officer overseeing a large global information security organization. Summers holds an MBA from Columbia University and a B.S. in computer systems from Grove City College in Pennsylvania.
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About : Netgear designs, develops, and markets networking products for home users and small businesses worldwide.
Ralph Faison
Member of the Board of Directors of NETGEAR
Ralph Faison has served as one of our directors since August 2003.Faison currently is a private investor.Faison served as the President and Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board of Directors of Pulse Electronics Corporation, a public company and manufacturer of electronic components, from January 2011 to July 2014, including Chairman of the Board Directors from March 2011 to July 2014. From February 2003 to December 2007,Faison served as Chief Executive Officer of Andrew Corporation, a public company and a manufacturer of communications equipment and systems, and from June 2002 to December 2007,Faison also served as President and a director of Andrew Corporation. From June 2002 to February 2003,Faison served as Chief Operating Officer of Andrew Corporation. From June 2001 to June 2002, Faison served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Celiant Corporation, a manufacturer of power amplifiers and wireless radio frequency systems, which was acquired by Andrew Corporation in June 2002. From October 1997 to June 2001,Faison was Vice President of the New Ventures Group at Lucent Technologies, a communications service provider, and from 1995 to 1997, he was Vice President of advertising and brand management at Lucent Technologies. Prior to joining Lucent,Faison held various positions at AT&T, a voice and data communications company, including as Vice President and General Manager of AT&T’s wireless business unit and manufacturing Vice President for its consumer products unit in Bangkok, Thailand. Faison received a B.A. degree in Marketing from Georgia State University and an M.S. degree in Management as a Sloan Fellow from Stanford University.
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About : Netgear designs, develops, and markets networking products for home users and small businesses worldwide.
Barbara Scherer
Member of the Board of Directors of NETGEAR
Barbara Scherer has served as one of our directors since August 2011.Scherer currently is a private investor.Scherer was Senior Vice President, finance and administration and chief financial officer of Plantronics, Inc., a global leader in audio communication devices for businesses and consumers, from 1998 to 2012. In this position, she was responsible for all aspects of the company’s financial management, as well as information technology, legal and investor relations. She was Vice President, finance and administration and chief financial officer of Plantronics from 1997 to 1998. Prior to Plantronics, Scherer held various executive management positions spanning eleven years in the disk drive industry, was an associate with The Boston Consulting Group, and was a member of the corporate finance team at ARCO in Los Angeles. From 2004 through 2010,She served as a director of Keithley Instruments, Inc., a publicly traded test and measurement company, until its acquisition by Danaher Corporation. Effective April 2013,Scherer was appointed to the Board of Directors of ANSYS, Inc., a publicly traded engineering simulation software and services company. She also has experience serving on the boards of non-profit organizations.Scherer received B.A. degrees from the University of California at Santa Barbara and her M.B.A. from the School of Management at Yale University.
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About : Netgear designs, develops, and markets networking products for home users and small businesses worldwide.
Julie Shimer
Member of the Board of Directors of NETGEAR
Julie Shimer, Ph.D. has served as one of our directors since March 2007.Shimer currently is a private investor.Shimer was the immediate past president and Chief Executive Officer of Welch Allyn, a leading manufacturer of frontline medical products and solutions, from March 2007 to April 2012. Prior to Welch Allyn,Shimer served as president and Chief Executive Officer of Vocera Communications, a provider of wireless communications systems enabling instant voice communication among mobile workers for companies, from September 2001 through February 2007.Shimer also previously held executive positions at 3Com Corporation from January 2000 through August 2001, most recently serving as vice president and general manager of its networking products. Before joining 3Com, she held executive positions at Motorola, Inc., a wireless and broadband communications company, from 1993 through 1999, where she was vice president and general manager for the paging division, and prior to that post, vice president of its semiconductor products section.Shimer worked for AT&T Bell Laboratories and Bethlehem Steel Company before joining Motorola. Shimer is Chairman of the Board of Directors of EarthLink Holdings Corp. and a member of the Board of Directors of Halyard Health, Inc.Shimer is also a member of the Society of Women Engineers and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.Shimer holds a B.S. degree in Physics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Master’s and Doctorate degrees in Electrical Engineering from Lehigh University.
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About : Netgear designs, develops, and markets networking products for home users and small businesses worldwide.
Timothy Godwin
Member of the Board of Directors of NETGEAR
Timothy Godwin has served as one of our directors since August 2003.Godwin currently is a private investor. From July 1989 to January 1997,Godwin worked at Tech Data Corporation, an information technology products distributor, in various capacities including serving as a member of its Board of Directors, Vice Chairman, focusing on worldwide finance and administration, President and Chief Operating Officer, Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President of Finance. From 1974 to June 1989,Godwin was employed by Price Waterhouse (now part of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP), most recently as an audit partner from July 1987 to June 1989. Godwin is a Certified Public Accountant and received a B.S. degree in Accounting from the University of West Florida.
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About : Netgear designs, develops, and markets networking products for home users and small businesses worldwide.
Moshe Kravitz
Director of Finance of IDT Corporation
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About IDT Corporation: IDT Corporation enriches lives, providing communication, entertainment and financial services.
Rae Stafford
HR Director of DMC Atlanta
Rae Stafford is HR Director at DMC, Atlanta. She joined the organization in Nov 2012. Her roles at DMC Atlanta include Oversee sales, promotions and marketing, Support managers, admins, and coworkers, Build and maintain client relationships.
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About DMC Atlanta: DMC Atlanta is a people-first, humanity-positive company focused on the growth, experience, and contribution of our team members.
Marcus Schmidt
Senior Director of Product Management of West Corporation
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About West Corporation: West Corp is a provider of technology-driven, voice-oriented solutions.
Evangelos Simoudis
Founder and Managing Director of Synapse Partners
Evangelos Simoudis is the Board Director of eXelate.He joined Trident Capital in 2005 as a Venture Partner and has been a Managing Director since 2007. Evangelos focuses on investments in Internet and Enterprise Software businesses. Prior to Trident, Evangelos spent 5 years as a partner at Apax Partners, a private equity and venture capital firm where he invested and served on the boards of early and mid-stage IT companies. At Apax he also chaired the firmâs IT advisory board. Prior to entering venture capital, Evangelos had more than 20 years experience in high-technology industries, in executive roles spanning operations, marketing, sales and engineering. His experience as a technology executive includes serving as President and CEO of Customer Analytics, a Trident-backed, eCRM company acquired by Xchange, Inc. (NASDAQ: EXAP), and as Vice President of Business Intelligence Solutions at IBM. Evangelos’ current directorships include,DesiHits,Hip Digital,Host Analytics,PivotLink Software. Prior Directorships include,Bristol Technology (acquired by Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ)), Composite Software, Confluent Software (acquired by Oracle Corporation (Nasdaq: ORCL)), Doppelganger (acquired by Hip Digital), Princeton Softech (acquired by IBM),Vidavee (acquired by Vignette (NASDAQ: VIGN) .Evangelos earned a PhD in Computer Science from Brandeis University.BS in Electrical Engineering from Caltech.
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About Synapse Partners: Synapse Partners invests in early-stage startups developing horizontal or vertical enterprise software AI applications.
Curt Frankenfeld
Director Access Strategy and Development of CenturyLink
Curt Frankenfeld has more than 20 years of communications experience and has been instrumental in the deployment of high-bandwidth technologies at US West, Qwest and CenturyLink. As the director of Access Strategy and Development at CenturyLink, he leads an organization that is responsible for the selection and certification of access electronics, while also defining architectures and processes for deploying new technology. Curt’s team is responsible for deploying technologies that provide higher bandwidth services to residential and business customers, and support CenturyLink’s voice, data, and video products, including VDSL2, G.fast, GPON and 10G PON. Prior to joining CenturyLink, he was employed in the defense industry.
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About CenturyLink: CenturyLink is a telecommunications company providing broadband, voice and wireless services to consumers and businesses.
Bill Walker
Director of Network Architecture of CenturyLink
Bill Walker’s technical expertise is in capacity management; service level management; and systems, network and infrastructure architecture. He also has a strong background in Solaris- and Unix-based systems, as well as cloud systems architecture, virtualization and server systems architecture. He has extensive experience in multiple industries, including telecom, energy, retail, banking and finance, government and public sector and healthcare. His past customers include much of the Fortune Global 500, including diverse names such as eBay, Vodafone, Amazon and Intercontinental Hotel Group. Prior to CenturyLink, Bill was with Huawei, based in Shenzhen, China. At Huawei, he led the IoT, Smart City and Carrier IT initiatives, and was an early supporter of SDN and NFV efforts. Before Huawei, he was a Principal Engineer and Technical Director at Oracle and Sun Microsystems.
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About CenturyLink: CenturyLink is a telecommunications company providing broadband, voice and wireless services to consumers and businesses.
Michael Robles
Senior Director of Product Management of CenturyLink
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About CenturyLink: CenturyLink is a telecommunications company providing broadband, voice and wireless services to consumers and businesses.
Chip Swisher
Smart Solutions Practice Director of CenturyLink
Swisher is the Global Practice Lead at CenturyLink for Smart Solutions services. In this capacity, he drives pre-sales through delivery activities for CenturyLink’s Smart City, Smart Building and Smart Venue projects. Mr. Swisher has extensive knowledge of the technology market for these solutions and consults with customers on topics such as vendor selection, solution architecture and implementation road maps. Prior to joining CenturyLink, Mr. Swisher held several consulting industry leadership positions serving public and private sector clients. The most notable of these positions is was a 17 year tenure with Accenture in their Federal/State Government and Communications practices.
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About CenturyLink: CenturyLink is a telecommunications company providing broadband, voice and wireless services to consumers and businesses.
Jamie Lin
Director, Cloud Infrastructure & AI of CenturyLink
Jamie Lin, Manager of Infrastructure & Technology Operations at CenturyLink, drives Big Data execution strategy for CenturyLink’s Digital Transformation within the IT space while delivering Mobility strategy and Workspace Virtualization, Mobile Device Management services, and managing the life cycle for all business units. He also represents approximately 55,000 employees and contractors globally ensuring CenturyLink’s business continuity. In 2013, Jamie’s leadership abilities led him to the CTS IT Engineering team who designed and implemented IT services that spanned across client/server technology, network topology, network security, unified communication in a Service Oriented Architecture and globalized environment. Under his direction, CTS improved AD authentication service with GSLB, enterprise printing service extended to BYOD users, and many other simplified IT services. After joining CTS (CenturyLink Technology Services) in August 2011 as the Workspace Virtualization SME of the internal IT services team, Jamie executed the virtual application/desktop strategy, delivered XenApp and XenDesktop VDIs, and designed end-to-end life cycle management to meet the needs of all business units. Prior to joining CenturyLink, Jamie’s work experience included 10 years in a University/hospital environment, and 3 years in the healthcare insurance industry. Jamie has also orchestrated many speeches in user groups and conferences, and is one of the few industry SMEs to create Citrix certification program exam questions since 2008. Jamie holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Saint Louis University and a Master degree in Electrical Engineering from Washington University in Saint Louis. He is also the recipient of various certifications from Microsoft, Citrix and VMware. Jamie is based in Monroe, Louisiana
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About CenturyLink: CenturyLink is a telecommunications company providing broadband, voice and wireless services to consumers and businesses.
Gabe Akisanmi
Sr. Account Director of CenturyLink
Gabe is a technology business strategist who for several years had driven the business side of technology to its business equation coupled with economic analysis. He has substantial experience leading and coordinating IT advisory engagements across several industries focusing on cyber security, modern IT, digital transformation, cloud, networks, Storage, hosting, disaster recovery and business continuity.
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About CenturyLink: CenturyLink is a telecommunications company providing broadband, voice and wireless services to consumers and businesses.
Scott Brindamour
Director, Advanced Technology Solutions Architect Team of CenturyLink
Scott is a business and technology leader with extensive experience in professional services, cloud and IT infrastructure services to enterprise accounts within the technology, healthcare, financial and business services markets. Scott has been with CenturyLink for over ten years. He has an in-depth understanding of major emerging trends in the evolving IT technology marketplace as well as the challenges, procedures and dependencies that enterprises face today in using technology to meet their business goals.
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About CenturyLink: CenturyLink is a telecommunications company providing broadband, voice and wireless services to consumers and businesses.
Gabe Akisanmi
Sr. Account Director of CenturyLink
Gabe is a technology business strategist who for several years had driven the business side of technology to its business equation coupled with economic analysis. He has substantial experience leading and coordinating IT advisory engagements across several industries focusing on cyber security, modern IT, digital transformation, cloud, networks, Storage, hosting, disaster recovery and business continuity.
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About CenturyLink: CenturyLink is a telecommunications company providing broadband, voice and wireless services to consumers and businesses.
