Speaker BIOS

Berge Ayvazian, Chief Strategy Officer, Yankee Group
As chief strategy officer, Ayvazian oversees Yankee Group’s new growth mission, providing thought leadership for the firm’s research, consulting and events in the mobile, telecom, IT, applications, media and entertainment industries worldwide. Working with the company’s diverse research groups, Ayvazian ensures Yankee Group is aligned with clients to help them visualize, navigate and generate value from current and future business opportunities. As a senior industry analyst and consultant, Ayvazian directs a wide range of research and consulting projects across a broad group of topics, including communications industry structure, broadband service provider strategy, mobile network infrastructure, enterprise networking strategy, information technology and applications. Register Now.

Michael Cai, Director, Broadband & Gaming, Parks Associates
Cai studies developments in broadband services, broadband technologies such as FTTx and broadband wireless, electronic gaming, and other value-added services. He also follows emerging digital home technologies such as networked storage and whole-home entertainment solutions. Cai has written reports on the Chinese telecom market, broadband wireless, broadband services, storage, entertainment middleware, and gaming. Cai earned his MBA with a 4.0 GPA from Baylor University in May 2002. He also holds an MA in leadership from Landegg International University, Switzerland, and a BA in economics from Shandong University, P. R. China. Register Now.

Arnab Das, Director Product Management, Wireless Technologies, Aricent
Das leads the Wireless, Broadband and Convergence product development at Aricent. Das has over 15 years of Telecom Industry experience spanning across SS7 and VoIP signalling, Wireless technologies from early generation of GSM, PACS, DECT standards to Broadband Wireless LMDS systems, UMTS and Wi-Fi. Presently Das is involved in WiMAX product evolution, ATCA based next generation Telecom Platforms and development of  "converged" application solution to provide ubiquitous and seamless services across IMS, 2G/3G access networks. Das holds a B.E in Electronics and Communications from BIT, India. Register Now.

Predrag Filipovic, PhD., Senior Analyst, Multimedia and Wireless Networks, The Diffusion Group
Dr. Filipovic is a seasoned business executive and consultant with diverse experience in networking and multimedia technologies. He has served as chief strategist, VP, and system architect and has extensive experience in the development and marketing of connected consumer electronics, multimedia and communications, and embedded networking. He has first-hand experience in the design and implementation of RTOS for embedded systems; 802.11x, HPNA, and HomePlug MAC layers and drivers; cross-layer design and optimization of TCP/IP; and real-time extensions over RTP/RTCP and cross-layer QoS. Register Now.

Arthur Giftakis, Vice President of Engineering and Operations, Towerstream
Mr. Giftakis currently serves as the Vice President of Engineering and Operations at Towerstream. Formerly Mr. Giftakis was Director of Engineering at Sockeye Networks, a BGP optimization company that was acquired by Internap. Prior to joining Sockeye, he was a Director at Navisite and Digital Broadband Communications. Mr. Giftakis spent 10 years with Bell Atlantic and has spoken in several forums on the future of telecommunications with fixed wireless. He has over 15 years of experience with advanced solutions in telecommunications. Mr. Giftakis started his career with New England Telephone. Register Now.

Sudeep Gupta, Business Development Director for Broadband Wireless Access, Alcatel-Lucent
Sudeep Gupta is Business Development Director for Broadband Wireless Access at Alcatel-Lucent. He leads business development activities for WiMAX in the U.S. Mr. Gupta has worked in several roles in the telecommunications industry, including as a wireless systems engineer, in sales, and in product marketing. Mr. Gupta started his career at Ericsson, worked at a telecommunications startup called Metawave, and came to Alcatel-Lucent via the acquisition of DSC Communications. Mr. Gupta earned his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin and his Master of Business Administration from the Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX. Mr. Gupta has telecommunications-related patents or patents pending in the U.S., Europe, and China. Register Now.

Praduman Jain, Director, 4G WiMAX, Sprint-Nextel
Jain (PJ) brings unique perspectives in Technology, Media and Telecom through his leadership roles at Sprint, Nextel, AOL Time Warner and VTech. Jain drove significant growth, developed strategy and launched emerging products and services resulting in revenues of over $1 Billion. Currently, Jain is a Director of WiMAX Devices Development at Sprint. In this role Jain plays a key role in partner development, global vendor strategies, broad eco-system development and WiMAX embedded devices development. Prior to this, he shaped executive decisions by uncovering and pursuing emerging global trends in 4G, WiMAX, Satellite, Cable, Media and Content. Register Now.

Tom Jasny, VP, Wireless & Broadband Network Systems, Samsung Telecommunications
Jasny, VP, Wireless & Broadband Network Systems joined Samsung Telecommunications in April 2005. Jasny has 20 years of technology experience, much of which has been focused specifically within the wireless infrastructure business. Most recently, Jasny has led the Mobile WiMAX efforts resulting in Samsung’s selection as primary supplier for Sprint’s 4G network and the upgrade of Samsung’s CDMA markets to EVDO. He has held various positions within Nortel Networks, Siemens, and VocalData, a Tekelec company. Jasny came to Samsung from VocalData, a provider of hosted Internet protocol (IP) telephony applications that enable the delivery of advanced telecom services and applications to business and residential customers. Register Now.

Kay Johansson, CTO, MobiTV
Johansson serves as the Chief Technology Officer at MobiTV driving the creation, development and deployment of mobile television technologies on mobile devices and personal computers over the broad array of networks. Prior to joining MobiTV in 2006, Johansson served as the CTO of Popwire, a former Ericsson company, where he led development and product strategy.  He has extensive experience building media delivery solutions from server to handset. While at Popwire, Johansson and his team were instrumental in designing an end-to-end media streaming infrastructure that is the core of Ericsson's media delivery system. In 2000 Popwire, together with Ericsson, launched the first official television broadcast over a 3G network. Register Now.

Lars Johnsson, VP Business Development, Beceem
Johnsson is Vice President of Business Development for Beceem Communications, Inc. Prior to Beceem, Johnsson co-founded Flarion Technologies, the pioneer of OFDMA-based mobile broadband technology. At Flarion, where he helped spin off Lucent Bell Labs, he was responsible for technology marketing, the product roadmap and the business model until the company was acquired by Qualcomm. Previously, he worked in Lucent’s New Ventures Group driving wireless startup activities. Johnsson received his B.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of Hannover, Germany, his M.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Karlsruhe, Germany and his M.B.A. in technology management from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Register Now.

Richard Keith, Global Director of Strategy, Wireless Broadband Group, Networks & Enterprise, Motorola, Inc.  
In his current role of Global Director of Strategy of WiMAX for Motorola's Wireless Broadband Group, Keith is responsible for launching the company's MOTOwi4 WiMAX solutions. Keith has more than 25 years of industry experience in multiple roles including Global Alliance Manager for the Motorola/Schlumberger Joint Venture; Global Alliance Director for the Motorola/ Cisco Alliance; Manager of Mergers and Acquisitions for Motorola Networks; as well as roles in electrical systems design, industry autotmation and software development. Prior to joining Motorola,Keith was president and owner of Advanced Control Systems.  Keith is a graduate of Roosevelt University where he earned a bachelor of science in finance and marketing. Register Now.

Mark Kelley, General Manger, Chief Division Officer, Advanced Technology Group, NextWave Broadband, Inc.
Kelley is the Chief Division Officer of NextWave Broadband's Advanced Technology Group. Mr. Kelley has more than 25 years experience in engineering, communication systems planning and analysis. Prior to joining NextWave in 2005, Mr. Kelley was Chief Technical Officer of Leap Wireless. Formerly, he served as Vice President of Wireless System Design for QUALCOMM, where he was responsible for wireless system design activities. As a Director of Planning for Wireless Design Firm LCC, Mr. Kelley helped lead the design of the world’s first GSM system in Germany. Mr. Kelley spent six years developing custom ASICs at Hughes Microelectronics. Register Now.

Dr. Muzibul Khan, Vice President of Product Management and Engineering, Wireless Terminals Division, Samsung
Dr. Khan is vice president of product management and engineering for the wireless terminals division of Samsung Telecommunications America. As Samsung's lead engineer and product planner, Dr. Khan works closely with carriers and technology partners to define and develop innovative handsets with intuitive features that complement carriers' service offerings and are easy for consumers to use. Register Now.

Gary Koerper, Vice President, Global CDMA & Portfolio Marketing &North America Product Operations Mobile Devices Business, Motorola, Inc. 

Rakesh Kumar, Principal, Deloitte Consulting LP
Kumar is a principal and one of the leaders in Deloitte Consulting's Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) industry practice. Kumar has played an instrumental role in leading the recent mergers efforts between some of the largest US carriers and driving their future technology and operations directions. Kumar speaks regularly at the leading industry conferences on contemporary technology challenges and strategies in the convergent TMT world. His experience spans over 14 years of the TMT management consulting experience with the leading Wireline, wireless, satellite and cable providers throughout the world. Register Now.

Lynnette Luna, Editor, FierceWiFi, & Executive Editor, FierceWireless
Luna is editor of FierceWiFi and executive editor of FierceWireless. She has more than 11 years of experience covering the wireless telecom industry. Previously, she covered the the wireless beat for Telephony Magazine, served as Denver Bureau Chief of RCR Wireless News, and consulted to several wireless-focused publications and analyst companies. Register Now.

Thomas Magg, Chief Technical Officer, Wireless Products Division, DAX Technologies
In his current role as Chief Technical Officer, Mr. Magg oversees the wireless product division including the development of service assurance technology for the WiMAX industry. Mr. Magg has over 20 years experience in the telecommunication industry and has held a wide range of technical management positions at Bell Laboratories, AT&T, and most recently Lucent Technologies where he was technical director for Lucent's Software Product Division for North America. He has extensive publications in the area of software development and technology.  As with any communications technology, the ability to continually monitor, manage, and improve service quality is key to a positive customer experience with WiMAX technology. Register Now.

Charlie Martin, Wireless Chief Technology Officer, Huawei Technologies
Martin has over twenty years of experience in wireless communications, and has spent the past nine years in product management, business development, and technology development. Charlie previously held positions at Nortel as Director of WiMAX Network and Systems Product Line Management and previous to that, as Director of Wireless Technology and Product Strategy in the office of the CTO. Prior to joining Nortel, Charlie worked at two service providers. At GTE Business Data Products, Charlie was a member of a five person product management team responsible for rolling out a nationwide ADSL service in over 330 central offices in 1998. At Sprint PCS, Charlie served as the Manager of RF Design for the Dallas/Fort Worth Engineering and Operations team, which rolled out CDMA service in 1996. Charlie holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics from the University of Maryland. Register Now.

Regina Moldovan, Leader, WiMAX & Mesh Product Marketing, Carrier Networks, Nortel
In her current role as Director for WiMAX and Mesh Product Marketing for Nortel’s Carrier Networks, Regina Moldovan is responsible for launching the company’s WiMAX and Mesh solutions. She brings over 15 years of experience in sales, business development, marketing and operations, 8 of which have been with Nortel. Her current focus includes strategic planning, industry/market analysis, and product value marketing for these portfolios.Prior to product marketing, Regina held various positions at Nortel in business operations, channel marketing and strategy and eCommerce marketing working with both Carrier and Enterprise businesses. Before joining Nortel, she led the Sales and Marketing teams for DTS Language Services, a translation services company in North Carolina. Register Now.

Joe Nardone, GM, WiMAX Solutions Division, WiMAX Program Office, Intel Corporation
Nardone is the general manager for WiMAX Solutions Division within Intel’s WiMAX Program Office. His division is responsible for all WiMAX business development activities worldwide. Most recently, Nardone was instrumental in negotiating agreements between Intel and telecom service providers Sprint and Clearwire. Previously, Nardone was the Marketing Director for Intel’s Handheld Networking Division that was responsible for the development of low power 802.11/WiFi and Bluetooth components for handheld devices. Since joining Intel in 1986 as a systems engineer in Intel’s OEM modules group, Nardone’s other key roles at Intel have included managing platform planning in Intel’s Enterprise Platform Group, managing Product Marketing and Planning within Intel’s Communications Products Group, and managing the Broadband Technology Development group within Intel’s Architecture Lab. Register Now.

Carlton O'Neal, VP, Marketing & Business Development, Proximetry
O'Neal comes to Proximetry with over 20 years experience in telecom marketing and operations. As a WiMax pioneer and leading spokesman for broadband wireless issues worldwide, he currently holds the position of vice president of marketing and business development for Proximetry, Inc. Prior to joining Proximetry, O'Neal was vice president marketing for Alvarion and before that vice president of marketing and sales for Ensemble Communications, where he helped build the WiMAX market from its very beginnings going back to 1995 starting with Texas Instruments and Bosch Telecom. He began his career with Southwestern Bell and Octel. O'Neal holds JD and MBA (Summa Cum Laude) degrees from Southern Methodist University and a BSEE from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. Register Now.

Jim Orr, Principal Network Architect, Wireless Market Development Group, Fujitsu
Orr is a principal network architect in the wireless market development group at Fujitsu. Orr has worked in the telecommunications industry for 15 years, serving in various engineering, network planning, network architecture and marketing roles in both the vendor and the carrier community. Before joining Fujitsu in November 2001, Orr increased his industry experience through progressively expanding responsibilities in network architecture and implementation with Latus Lightworks, McLeod Communications, Caprock Communications, GST Telecom and Electric Lightwave. He began his career with Northern Telecom in systems and sales engineering roles. Orr holds a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering from Texas A&M University and a master’s degree in business administration from Washington State University. Register Now.

Ken Rehbehn, Industry Analyst, Rehbehn Research
As a former Research Director for Current Analysis’ Telecom Infrastructure practice, Rehbehn is responsible for guiding research that addresses the equipment market targeting network service providers – fixed and mobile.  The analysts in his practice examine the equipment that makes the networks work.  His team tracks competitors in broadband, routing, switching, optical, and wireless infrastructure markets.  Prior to joining Current Analysis, Rehbehn served as Director of Product Management at Megisto Systems - a startup equipment vendor producing next generation data gateway solutions for GSM and UMTS networks.  Rehbehn started his career as a software developer at Sprint, working on X.25 network management products. Register Now.

Scott Richardson, Chief Strategy Officer, Clearwire
Richardson , a WiMAX innovator instrumental in the creation and development of the WiMAX standard, joined Clearwire Corporation earlier this year to drive the company’s global mobile wireless broadband efforts. Previously Richardson was with Intel for 20 years, last serving as vice president of the company’s Service Provider Business Group. During his tenure at Intel, Richardson worked with industry leaders to define and shape the global WiMAX standard. Clearwire, founded in October 2003 by Craig O. McCaw, is a provider of reliable, wireless high-speed Internet service. Based in Kirkland, Washington, Clearwire (Nasdaq:CLWR) offers service in 37 metro markets covering approximately 8.9 million people in more than 350 municipalities. Register Now.

Bob Sellinger, Telecom Architect, Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Sellinger is a Senior Architect at Sun Microsystems with over 30 years of experience in the telecommunications industry. He currently is the lead architect for the Network Equipment Providers (NEPs) market. In this role, Bob is responsible for the integration of Sun's technologies in the next generation network elements under development by NEPs and acts as an evangelist to promote Sun's visibility in the OEM market. Prior to joining Sun, Sellinger was the Director of Wireless Architecture for Lucent Technologies where he was responsible for the design of Lucent's overall wireless portfolio and was a pioneer in developing network elements based on open computing technologies. He holds 6 patents for this work. He also was the VP of Lucent's PCS business where he lead the organization that successfully introduced and marketed Lucent's first PCS CDMA systems. This work positioned Lucent as the dominant worldwide provider of CDMA networks. He started his career as an MTS at Bell Labs. Register Now.

Stephen Sifferman, President, Arraycomm
As President, Sifferman is responsible for setting the company's strategic direction and overseeing its rapid growth as the leader in antenna processing for wireless systems. Prior to becoming President, Sifferman led ArrayComm's engineering efforts, overseeing all hardware and software development, system integration, testing, field engineering and program management. He has also been responsible for all financial and administrative functions of the company. Among his accomplishments at ArrayComm, Sifferman led the end-to-end system development of the first truly mobile broadband system, with successful operator trials in Korea and Australia. Sifferman has more than a decade of experience in the wireless industry. Prior to joining ArrayComm, he worked at Northrop Grumman. He holds a B.S.E.E. and M.S.C.E. from Santa Clara University. Register Now.

Mark Slater, Vice President, Nokia Siemens Networks
Slater supports the business units and sales organizations in the execution of the total Nokia Siemens Networks’ product and services solution offering for North American customers. Slater played a key role in the recent agreements with Tier 1 operators for deployment of Nokia Siemens Networks WiMAX solutions in North America. Slater has more than 18 years of international experience in terminals and network infrastructure. His previous role was VP, for Nokia Networks, where he was responsible for sales and marketing activities for radio and core networks and network services across the region. Other roles have included VP of sales and marketing for Broadband Systems in North America and GM for Network Systems for North and West Europe. Register Now.

Phil Solis, Principal Analyst, Mobile Wireless, ABI Research
As part of ABI Research’s Networking research group, Solis focuses on market analysis of embedded Wi-Fi, mobile WiMAX, VoWi-Fi, cellular modems, and Wi-Fi semiconductors. Solis’ combination of educational background, industry experience and familiarity with a broad range of research fields allows him to deliver research that reflects the increasingly interdisciplinary nature of mobile communications. Prior to joining ABI Research, Solis worked as a Sales Engineer in the Enterprise Solutions Group of Verizon Communications, a role in which he provided technical sales support for ISP partners and also designed, recommended and implemented telecommunications network solutions. Earlier, he held positions as Engineering Specialist in the Network Engineering Center, and Manager in the Telesector Resource Group at Verizon. Register Now.

Chris Staley, Vice President, Nokia 
Staley is veteran in the mobile communications industry with more than 16 years experience currently serves as Vice President of Sales. Staley is responsible for the over all account management of Sprint /Nextel for Nokia. Currently he is leading the business development and strategic planning for Nokia’s entry in to Wimax devices and services for sprint. Staley joined Nokia in 1995 and held various positions including Director of Sales on the ATT Wireless account responsible for strategy, collaborative planning, field sales and portfolio management that included the launch and success of the Nokia 6160, 5160 and Mmode services on the 3650 in the late 90’s at ATT Wireless and Affiliates channels. Register Now.

Karl Weaver, Greater China/India Wireless & Mobile Device Market Specialist, Newport Technologies
Weaver is a Washington state-based and globally trained international wireless industry executive with bilingual Mandarin Chinese language and Asian business expertise. He has navigated the past 20 years selling and marketing convergent PC-Telecom-Wireless technologies into Greater Chinese, Indian and Asian-Pacific markets on both sides of the Pacific Rim in the emerging Pacific Century.  He is also a specialist on Smart Phones and Asian OEM/ODM handset manufacturers and is currently promoting “The Global Smart Phone Revolution - China/India” and “The Global Mobile WiMax Revolution : Greater China Mobile Digital Dragon”.  Register Now.

Barry West, CTO & President of 4G Mobile Broadband, Sprint Nextel
West is chief technology officer and president of 4G mobile broadband for Sprint Nextel. He previously served as executive vice president and chief technology officer for Nextel Communications Inc. West joined Nextel in 1996 and is the chief architect in creating the iDEN wireless technology platform with partner Motorola. Prior to joining Nextel, West led many successful engineering and marketing initiatives during more than 35 years for British Telecom including overseeing the rollout of a GSM digital cellular network that covered more than 90 percent of the United Kingdom population in only nine months. West also served as director of value-added services and corporate marketing at Cellnet, the pioneer of cellular communications in the United Kingdom. Register Now.