Jon Arnold, Principal, J Arnold & Associates
Jon Arnold is Principal of J Arnold & Associates, an independent telecom consultancy with a focus on IP communications. Previously, he was the VoIP Program Leader at Frost & Sullivan, where he was responsible for managing their subscription service for Global VoIP Equipment Markets. Jon is a frequent speaker at VoIP and telecom conferences, and has been a regular at VON since 2001. He leads the IPCC's Working Group on industry research, and is a contributing editor to the IP Telephony Dictionary. Jon is frequently quoted in the business and trade press, and television, including BusinessWeek, Forbes, Fortune, NYT, WSJ, Financial Times, and CNET News.
Yuval Barzakay, President and CEO, Comwave Telecom
Yuval Barzakay is the President and CEO of Comwave Telecom Inc. With over 15 years in telecom, marketing and product development, Yuval has worked with leading providers such as Bell Mobility and Rogers Wireless in both distribution and marketing. Under Yuval's leadership, Comwave was one of the first VoIP provider in Canada, rolling out residential VoIP to Canadians in June 2004 with the introduction of the Comwave iPhone.
Hugh Black, Vice President, TRILLIUM Corp. Communications
Hugh Black has 15 years of business-to-business and business-to-consumer communications experience serving companies in the high technology and telecommunications industries. Since 2003, Hugh has led numerous groundbreaking projects aimed at educating the market about the power of IP communications. Hugh works with a wide range of corporations in the areas of brand building, corporate positioning, issues management, market build activities and executive outreach and visibility programs.
Hugh also has led communications teams in some of Canada's top communications firms on national and international projects.
Pierre Boucher, Director Research and Innovation, Ericsson
Pierre Boucher is Director for Research and Innovation at Ericsson's R&D center in Montreal. He is responsible for research activities on open systems and for the R&D center's collaborative research and innovation projects with universities and institutions. Areas covered by his group include fixed-mobile convergence, service architectures and advanced radio applications. His interests are in the application of next generation network technologies like IMS in sectors such as healthcare and entertainment.
Pierre is a member of the International Institute of Telecommunications scientific committee and represents Ericsson on various boards promoting research and innovation in the telecommunications sector and in the community. Prior to his 15 years at Ericsson, Pierre worked for Rogers in Network Research with a focus on OSS systems.
Robert Brown, CTO, TalkSwitch
As Chief Technology Officer at TalkSwitch, Rob fosters innovation and drives the adoption of new technologies. He provides leadership and focus for intellectual property development and represents the company as a thought leader within the industry.
Rob brings 17 years of industry experience to TalkSwitch having worked at senior levels including Co-Founder, System Architect, Director Product Management, Manager Multi-Service Switch Design, Manager PBX Networking and System Design, and Manager Global Field Support for Nortel and Sedona Networks. Rob has also operated independently within North America as an Industry Consultant. He holds a patent in voice over traffic management, and is currently active as a member of the SIP Forum Technical Working Group.
Dror Bukai, President and CEO, ActVoIP Networking
Dror Bukai is the President and CEO of ActVoIP Networking, a leading vendor of fixed-mobile convergence solutions for service providers and enterprises. Prior to founding ActVoIP, Dror had led the technology innovation and business development operations with Acceris Communications, a nationwide service provider. Prior to Acceris, Dror had built the first-to-market VoIP open-source API business unit with I-Link, a pioneer developer of Softswitch and VoIP services. Prior to I-Link, Dror led the worldwide sales engineering and business development operations with Nice Systems, a market leader in multi-media processing and computer telephony integration. Prior to Nice, Dror led technology innovation and product management with the elite communications research and development division of the Israeli DOD.
Dave Burstein, Editor, DSL Prime
Dave Burstein is Editor of DSL Prime, the industry newsletter for DSL. He is also author of the book "DSL, a Wiley Tech Brief" published by John Wiley and Sons; and Chair of Fast Net Futures, now in its third year. Mr. Burstein consults on DSL strategies, technology, and telecom policy.
Glen Campbell, First VP Telecommunications & Media, Merrill Lynch
Glen Campbell covers Canadian telecommunications services and cable stocks for Merrill Lynch. Since 2004, Glen has also served as global coordinator for telecom services equity research.
Prior to joining Merrill Lynch in 1996, Glen was the Telecommunications and Media Analyst for Bunting Warburg (the predecessor firm to UBS Warburg in Canada). He joined Bunting Warburg in 1989 as an associate for the Corporate Finance group and spent two years on secondment with S.G. Warburg in London.
Glen has an MBA from the University of British Columbia and a BA (Economics) from the University of Western Ontario.
Brian Cappellani, CTO, Sigma Systems
As Chief Technology Officer, Brian is responsible for the architectural and technology vision and deliverables for the company's award-winning Service Management Platform and Solutions Suites.
A 12-year veteran in telecommunications, Brian's extensive background in designing, architecting, and building large-scale operations and billing support systems continues to position the company well. Prior to joining Sigma, Brian worked for Accenture in numerous roles of increasing responsibility, including senior-level architecture, engineering and development management positions, held both internally and with Accenture's telecommunications practice, focusing on the wireless and satellite industries. Brian holds an Electrical Engineering degree from the University of Waterloo in Waterloo, Ontario.
Chris Celiberti, Director, Advanced Services, NeuStar
Chris Celiberti works in the strategic technologies group at NeuStar, Inc., and is a telecommunications VoIP veteran focused on the OSS\BSS space. Celiberti has worked in positions including System Engineering, Product and Program Management, and Business Development for several fortune 500 companies. Additionally, he has been an active participant in several global standards groups as well as an industry speaker.
Franco Clauser, Call Centre Specialist, BCE Elix
Franco Clauser is a member of the Professional Services team at BCE Elix. With nearly 20 years of experience in the contact center industry, he oversees the sale, design, and implementation of a portfolio of leading-edge and emerging technologies, including voice, data, IP Telephony, and structured cabling.
Franco works with clients in major markets throughout Canada and the United States to develop contact center strategies specific to their requirements: needs assessment, single or multiple sites, startup or consolidation, outsourcing or overhaul. Franco also has considerable experience in site selection, hiring and training, performance measurements, career pathing, coaching, motivation, and employee development.
Ron Close, President, VoIP, Bell Canada
Ron Close is President, Bell New Ventures.Mr. Close started his career with progressively senior roles at companies such as Andersen Consulting, Motorola Canada (Codex Division), Unitel Communications and Delrina. In 1995 he was co-founder, President/CEO of Netcom Canada, one of Canada’s most successful Internet companies. In 1999 he sold Netcom became the President of Internet and e-Business for AT&T Canada. Mr. Close later joined Nextair Inc., a publicly-traded wireless software company, as Director and CEO.
Mr. Close holds an Honors Business Administration degree from the Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario. He is past-Chairman and a current Director of the Ivey Entrepreneurship Council.
Anne Coulombe, Director, Product Marketing Applications & Games, SeaChange
With over 20-years experience in high-technology spanning software, games, telecom and convergence products, Anne Coulombe heads product marketing initiatives behind SeaChange’s Middleware and Games platform. Throughout her career, Coulombe has brought 120 products to market on different continents with companies including Microsoft, Electronic Arts, Mitel and Enterasys Networks. Coulombe is a recognized industry speaker, having engaged in worldwide conferences including COMDEX, Voice on the Net (VON) and VoicEcon, in addition to garnering radio and television presence.
David Cuddy, CTO, Natural Convergence
David Cuddy brings over 20 years of telecom experience to Natural Convergence, with a proven track record in new product design, advanced technology, and new business development. As CTO, he is responsible for technology strategy, and all aspects of product design, development and delivery. Before joining Natural Convergence, Mr. Cuddy co-founded NetworkEdge Solutions, a wireless applications start-up in Ottawa. During an extensive career at Nortel Networks and Bell-Northern Research, he led the creation of market-leading wireless, desktop, and Internet products, and received the President's Award for Innovation in recognition of significant contributions to Nortel's IPR portfolio and culture.
Camilla Dahlen, President, Highdeal
Camilla Dahlen is responsible for Highdeal's strategy and operations in the Americas region. Previously, Ms. Dahlen had global account management responsibilities for EHPT, a joint venture between Ericsson and Hewlett-Packard, where she served customers throughout Europe, South America and USA. She helped build EHPT's South American operations into one of the most successful OSS/BSS software businesses in the region. Prior to EHPT, Ms. Dahlen led strategic marketing and competitive analysis initiatives at Telia, the telecommunications leader in Scandinavia and northern Europe. She holds a B.Sc. in Business Administration from Boston College and a bilingual MBA in Spanish/English from Instituto de Empresa in Madrid, Spain.
George Despinic, Contact Center Product Marketing Manager, Nortel
George Despinic is responsible for the go-to market strategy and development of Nortel's Enterprise Contact Center portfolio including a team leader on the launch of the Nortel Applications Center launch in June of 2005. George is an 18 year veteran of Nortel, his first 10 years were dedicated to the Carrier side of the business including the Product Marketing Manager for Centrex Call Centers. He has spent the last 8 years covering enterprise in various product marketing and product management roles. With over 12 years of experience in the contact center industry, he has driven the direction of the Nortel Contact Center Suite formerly known under the brand name Symposium. He received a degree in engineering-physics from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario.
Paul Drew, Director, Product Management, MetaSwitch
Paul Drew has been with Data Connection/MetaSwitch for the last 13 years, and is currently the Director of Product Management for MetaSwitch. Prior to becoming Product Manager in September 2002, Mr. Drew ran MetaSwitch's Partner Program for 18 months. Additionally, Mr. Drew has been the primary MetaSwitch contributor to standards bodies including the ATM Forum, the DSL Forum, and the OpenVoB Forum. He has been an active contributor to the MultiService Forum (MSF), writing several implementation agreements, test plans, and white papers. Mr. Drew has served as the MSF Architecture Working Group Chairperson since September 2003.
Stefan Dubowski, Editor, Decima's Telemanagement
Stefan Dubowski is the editor of Decima's Telemanagement, the pre-eminent journal of Canadian business communications technology. His expertise in the Canadian telecom landscape stems from years covering the space, first as a staff reporter at CanadaComputes.com, then as a senior writer, department editor, assistant editor and associate editor at IT World Canada's numerous publications. Two of his articles have garnered nominations for the Kenneth R. Wilson Awards for business journalism and he received an honourable mention at the Accenture business journalism awards in 2001.
Ed Dylag, IMS Segment Manager, Intel
Ed Dylag is the IMS Segment Manager with the Modular Communications Platform Division of Intel. He is responsible for defining and delivering world-class AdvancedTCA* and Rack Mount Server solutions to the many service providers now implementing IMS networks. In previous roles, Dylag worked extensively with media server products in both the enterprise and service market segments, with significant focus on SIP and IP telephony.
Dylag received a BS degree in electrical engineering from the University of Buffalo and has a patent pending for some of his work in telecommunications. He is a member of the CompTIA Convergence Section Advisory Council, which promotes growth and development in the convergent technologies (CT) industry.
Mark Evans, Senior Technology Reporter, National Post
Mark Evans is a senior technology reporter with the National Post, covering the Internet, telecom and venture capital sectors. Before joining the Post in 2001, he co-founded Blanketware Corp., which develops natural language navigation software for corporate portals. Mark has also worked for the Globe & Mail, Bloomberg News and the South China Morning Post. His blog on technology and telecom can be found at http://evans.blogware.com.
Jeff Fan, Director, Equity Research Analyst, Telecom, UBS
Jeff Fan is a telecom research analyst for UBS. He joined in 1999 and has been responsible for the research of telecommunications services and other technology companies in North America. Jeff has focused his research on the financial implications of VOIP on the Canadian residential market. Jeff is frequently quoted in the financial press including the Globe & Mail, the National Post, Reuters and Bloomberg. Jeff is CFA and a CA. UBS Investment Bank is a leading global securities and investment banking firm, providing a full spectrum of products to institutional and corporate clients, intermediaries, governments and hedge funds worldwide. Headquartered in London, UBS Investment Bank employs over 15,000 people in 31 countries globally.
Tom Flak, VP, Product Strategy, SOMA Networks
As Vice President of Product Strategy at SOMA Networks, Tom Flak oversees global product strategy, market analysis, and business development. Prior to SOMA Networks, Tom was VP of Marketing for Verilink Corporation, where he managed marketing and product management. He began his career in telecommunications with Southwestern Bell Telephone Company. Tom holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Missouri, and a Master’s degree in Information Networking from Carnegie-Mellon University.
He has written whitepapers on the subject of broadband wireless technology and wireless VoIP for publications such as: IEEE Spectrum, IEC Comprehensive Report, CommsDesign; and is a frequent speaker at events including: WCA, CTIA, Broadband Wireless World, VoIPossibilities 2005 & 2006, WiMAX World, and OPASTCO.
Carl Ford, Community Developer and VP Content, pulvermedia
At pulvermedia, Carl Ford is a Community Developer, looking to enable business development and customer contact between companies. He also develops the content for pulvermedia conferences and is a highly interactive program moderator. As a pulverite he serves as an advisor to several companies in various degrees. Ford's professional career includes 20 years at telecommunications companies such as Telcordia Technologies and Verizon. He has worked in positions including Costs, Operations, Marketing, Regulatory, and Product Management. His accomplishments include architecting and product-managing a carrier-grade billing mediation device for softswitches that was compatible for ILEC billing systems; and moderating the development of the pulver.com CDR for Internet Telephony, enabling VOIP gateways to be used with carrier billing systems.
Goren Gershon, Director, Engineering, WebDialogs
Mr. Gershon Goren joined WebDialogs in August 2000 and currently leads all WebDialogs engineering research and development activities. Under his leadership, WebDialogs has successfully developed and launched multiple releases of its WebInterpoint Web Conferencing solution. Prior to WebDialogs, Mr. Goren served as a team leader for Amdocs Ltd. At Amdocs, he conceived, designed and led the development of an Intranet based system for application servers, queues and log monitoring. In addition, Mr. Goren developed several other applications and programs for Amdocs. He has also held a programming position at Publishing Systems Ltd in Tel-Aviv, Israel. Mr. Goren received a degree in Management and Information Systems from Ben-Gurion University In The Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel.
Dustin Goodwin, Voice Architect, Cisco Systems
Dustin Goodwin is a consulting systems engineer specializing in IP Communication systems architecture for Cisco Systems. Prior to joining Cisco Systems, Dustin worked for a number of Wall Street firms that were early adopters of IP Telephony solutions. In addition, Dustin spent several years as a consultant where he focused on IP telephony systems and IP trader voice solutions. Dustin's technology expertise also extends into Wireless LANs and enterprise mobility. Dustin received his Cisco Certified Internetworking Expert (CCIE) certification in 1997.
Andrew Graydon, CTO, BorderWare
Andrew is responsible for leading the technology innovations at BorderWare, ensuring our position as a leader in the messaging security field. Bringing his technical expertise and years of working worldwide with customers and technical communities, his vision, energy and enthusiasm drive BorderWare products to being the best-of-breed in messaging security.
Prior to joining BorderWare, Andrew was the V.P. Customer Engineering at Wysdom, a privately held company which pioneered the Software Delivery Platform for wireless devices, allowing wireless telcos to enable their internal infrastructure for secure delivery of functionality to external developers. In this role he helped to internally define the technology and concepts while working with the customers and the technical community.
Ronald Gruia, Program Leader, Sr. Strategic Analyst, Emerging Communications Solutions, Frost & Sullivan
Ronald Gruia is the Program Leader, Enterprise Solutions and Senior Telecom Analyst at Frost & Sullivan, where he covers topics such as VoIP, triple play services, IMS, and carrier messaging platforms. He is a frequent speaker at conferences such as VON, IPComm, 3GSM, Supercomm, Intel Communications Summit, and IP World Canada.
Ronald also writes articles for various publications, appears on Report on Business Television (Canada), and is often quoted in publications including Business Week, Forbes, Chicago Tribune, National Post, Globe&Mail and Washington Post. He is an MIT graduate in Electrical Engineering, and has accumulated years of experience in the telecom industry (held several roles at Nortel Networks' Enterprise Division, where he earned a U.S. patent).
Bernard Gutnick, VP, Product Marketing, Sylantro Systems
Bernard brings to Sylantro more than 15 years of experience in the communications industry, and is responsible for product management and marketing. Prior to joining Sylantro, he was responsible for product management at GoBeam, a leading VoIP-based hosted service provider in California recently acquired by Covad Communications. He has held senior management positions at Aspect Communications, Nortel and Octel Communications, and account sales positions at the Manitoba Telephone System. Bernard holds an MBA degree from the University of Western Ontario in London, Canada, and undergraduate degree in business from the University of Manitoba.
Andrew Hansen, Founder/Owner, Virtual Communications
Andrew is a serial entrepreneur and is; as his blog says on or beyond the bleeding edge with upcoming and new communication technologies. As an active participant in the Skype community, and member of the Skype Developer Advisory council, he has consulted with many established hardware and web startup companies on embracing presence and VoIP communication into there overall strategy. Clients include Jyve, KhaosLabs, Skype, Multi-link Inc, Skylook and many other Fortune 500 companies based in NA and Europe.
Prior to starting Virtual Communications in 2003, Andrew had a storied career in IVR and CTI development and deployment internationally, working with companies such as Nortel, Lucent and Excendia developing emerging sales channels for VoIP and unified messaging solutions worldwide.
Matt Holdrege, Director of Business Development, Strix Systems
Matt Holdrege is the Director of Business Development for EMEA at Strix Systems. He has 20 years of network and systems Business Development and Engineering experience at companies such as Sonus, ipVerse, Lucent, Ascend and GTE. Mr. Holdrege has been actively involved with VoIP and VON since 1997 with focus on standards and architecture, and has chaired or led committees in the IETF, ETSI, ITU-T and chairs the Legal Intercept group at the International Packet Communications Consortium.
Jean Huppe, Director, Access Network Technology Development, Bell Canada
Jean Huppe got his Electrical Engineering degree at Montréal’s Ecole Polytechnique in 1984. He was employed by Bell Canada and started to work on toll planning and provisioning. He then moved to Technology Development in 1989 to work on Fiber-to-the-Curb and HDSL then to the Stentor alliance in 1993 and worked on Cross-Connects and PCS. Jean then came back to Bell Canada in 1995 to be responsible for the ADSL technology group. He became responsible in 1998 of the ATM and Frame Relay Network Architecture group (under Bell Nexxia between January 1999 to February 2000). Jean then took the responsibility of Director Access Network Technology Development in July 2000 to work on ADSL, VDSL, FTTH/C, xDSL, new NGDLC and outside plant technology development
Andrew Hurrell, Director, Atreus Systems
Andrew is champion of emerging opportunities and disruptive technologies at Atreus Systems. An accomplished motivator of technical and professional staff, Andrew leverages over twenty years of experience with the development and deployment of advanced IP services. Andrew has been instrumental in helping carriers enable true multi-service communications networks. Andrew maintains a high-level of technology experience where he has held a series of senior management roles with Vibrant Solutions, Acterna, CrossKeys Systems, iSTAR and Bell Canada.
Rob Hyndman, Founder, Hyndman | Law
Rob Hyndman is a Toronto business lawyer who serves technology companies and their customers, including telecoms. He has practised in Toronto, New York and Europe with two of the largest law firms in Canada, and as a VP and General Counsel of Hotline Communications, one of the original P2P networking companies. More recently he has launched Hyndman | Law, a boutique business law practice that provides legal counsel on a wide variety of business law needs from formation to exit; including on financing, operations and mergers and acquisitions; the creation, structuring, negotiation and implementation of technology transactions, and with general e-commerce, internet, technology and other business law matters.
Kan Inaba, Director - Broadband, Mobile & Communications Services, Bell Canada
Kan Inaba has over 16 years experience in the engineering and telecom industry. He joined Bell Canada as Director – VoIP, Voice & Messaging in April 2004 to develop and launch their Consumer VoIP services named Bell Digital Voice and Bell Digital Voice Lite.
In his current position, Kan is responsible for all aspects of product strategy, business and portal development, product / application / device development, business planning and market expansion related to Consumer broadband, mobile and communications services including VoIP at Bell Canada.
Previously, Kan held several Vice-President, Director and management positions in telecom for Roadpost Inc, Perimeter Zone, Sprint Canada Inc. and ACC TelEnterprises Ltd.
Mathew Ingram, Business and Technology Writer, globeandmail.com, Globe and Mail
Mathew has been a print journalist with the Globe and Mail, a national newspaper based in Toronto, since 1994 and has written about the stock market -- including the rise (or rise and fall) of Netscape, Amazon, JDS Uniphase, 360networks, Nortel, Google and others -- as well as the oil and gas industry. In 2000, he joined the newly-launched globeandmail.com as its online business and technology columnist and has been writing stories, columns, blogs and reviews ever since. He also has a personal blog where he writes about various Web 2.0-related subjects. He lives in Toronto with his wife and three daughters, and has therefore gotten used to the fact that he will never have a bathroom to himself.
Steven Johnson, President, Ingate Systems
Johnson most recently served as CEO of Abrena, Inc., a business development consulting firm that assists European and North American firms to expand in the United States. Prior to that, Johnson was President and CEO of Transcept, Inc., a telecommunications infrastructure company that develops products to economically enhance wireless network coverage and capacity. Johnson also served as Division General Manager for Lockheed Martin, and held a number of senior management positions at Lockheed Martin, Lockheed Corporation and Sanders Associates, Inc. Johnson was also Treasurer at Telco Systems, Inc., a supplier of Information and Communication Technology equipment for the Regional Bell Operating Companies. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in economics and a Master’s in Business Administration from Boston University.
Alan Johnston, Chief Network Architect, FWD Networks
Alan is a co-author of the SIP specification and editor of a number of other IETF documents relating to SIP. He is the design team lead of the SIPPING conferencing design team. He has co-authored two books on SIP. Alan has a Bachelor of Engineering from the University of Melbourne, Australia and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA.
Helene Joncas, Principal , Inside Edge
Hélène Joncas is a Principal at Inside Edge, an organization bent on helping companies create sustainable competitive advantage through strategic planning, strategic vision, and portfolio management for both business-units and corporate-wide. With more than 15 years’ experience in software and telecommunications, her specific areas of expertise have provided her with first hand knowledge of what it is like to be in the trenches—and win. She has co-founded several companies including imGenie and SIPquest where she was VP Marketing and Business Development. At Nortel Networks she led Strategic Marketing for the Wireless Internet business-unit. She has done work for Cap Gemini, Mitel and Enfotec Technical services. Ms. Joncas has co-authored several papers on successful strategic alliances and she holds a BA (Honours) in Psychology and an MBA, both from the University of Ottawa.
Pat Kiely, Director, Business Operations and Development, Mountain Cablevision
Pat Kiely is Director, Business Operations and Development at Mountain Cablevision in Hamilton, Ontario. Mountain is a family-owned, independent cable television operator that is known for its introduction of services usually introduced “early-on” by much bigger cable operators. Mountain describes itself as a fast-follower. Most recently, Pat has worked on his company’s IP residential voice deployment. Since the late 90’s Mountain has rolled out an award-winning Internet Service, was the first operator in Canada to launch a 100% digital television lineup, and now offers a successful residential local telephone service. A Chartered Accountant, Pat has 29 years of broadcast experience in radio, television and cable television, including a three year stint in South America.
Mahshad Koohgoli, VP, Peer-to-Peer Business, Avaya
Mahshad Koohgoli, Vice President, Peer-to-Peer Business, has spent most of his career in the telecommunications field. Starting with a lecturing stint in the University of Exeter, England, Mahshad joined Bell Northern Research in Ottawa in 1982. In what later became Nortel Networks, Mahshad held various technical, marketing and executive posts for fourteen years, initially in carrier networks group, and later in enterprise and wireless groups. Mahshad joined Newbridge Networks (later Alcatel) as AVP of business development in 1996, co-founded and led SpaceBridge Networks, a satellite communications company, in 1997. In 2002, Mahshad co-founded Nimcat Networks, an enterprise communications company that pioneered peer-to-peer VoIP Call Processing solutions for the enterprise market.
Erik Lagerway, CTO, Shift Networks
Erik Lagerway is a serial VoIP entrepreneur. Erik's history in VoIP software and IP Communications goes back more than 11 years. As the Co-founder, President and COO at Counterpath - (formerly Xten), Erik was responsible for Product Strategies, Marketing, Sales and Engineering. Erik designed the first softphone products and go-to-market strategies for Xten. He was instrumental in growing the company from 3 to 40+ people and bringing the company from conception/zero revenue to more than 3 Million in sales. Before Xten, Erik was the CEO and founder of Vocalscape, a Canadian VoIP and eCRM start-up. Vocalscape went from 3 people in Erik's basement to 30 people in 2 years winning several technology awards and obtaining many technology research grants from the Canadian government.
John Lazar, CEO, MetaSwitch
As CEO, John Lazar is responsible for the strategy and management of the MetaSwitch organization, and sits on the Board of parent Data Connection (DCL). Since joining the company in 1987, John has combined vision and pragmatism to drive several of the company’s technologies, including audio/video collaboration and converged networking, from early innovations to commercial success.
This vision was instrumental in driving Data Connection’s focus on next generation networks and the establishment in the late-1990s of MetaSwitch, which he has steered to a leadership position in North America.
John holds an MSc and a D.Phil from the University of Oxford (UK). His interests include tennis, soccer, music, art - and spending time with his family.
Angelo Liberatore, Analyst, Credit Suisse
Angelo Liberatore is an equity research analyst that has been actively covering publicly traded telecommunications infrastructure suppliers for the past seven years, most recently at Credit Suisse First Boston. Prior to joining CSFB, Angelo held similar positions at Goldman Sachs and Banc of America Securities. As an equity research analyst, Angelo's responsibilities include product cycle analysis, financial modeling and research publication, among others. Angelo graduated from Georgetown University with a major in finance and minor in theology. He is based in New York City.
Ben Lilienthal, CEO, VAPPS
Ben is an experienced entreprenuer who spots technology trends and build business around those distruptive innovations. His primary focus is collaborative communications applications and value-added services around those applications. Vapps provides hosted Voip APPlicationS specifically audio conferencing, call recording and call playback through a number of partners including Skype. The HIGH SPEED CONFERENCING service was created by Vapps as part of the Skype Voice Services program in collaboration with Skype.
Gary Lund, CTO, Aliant
Gary Lund is Chief Technology Officer of Aliant. He is responsible for Aliant’s network engineering requirements, and manages Aliant’s technology relationship with Bell Canada.
With over 25 years of industry experience, Mr. Lund has held increasingly senior positions with Aliant and NBTel. Born in Sackville, NB, Gary is a Professional Engineer and an active contributor to many community organizations including Board of Directors for CADMI Electronics, UNB Engineering Advisory Board, Sun Microsystems of Canada Executive Network and TARA Board of Directors.
From its home base in Atlantic Canada, Aliant delivers a wide variety of innovative and traditional communications services, including local and long distance telephony, wireless, Internet, e-commerce, interactive multimedia, data and managed network services.
Les Lyall, Senior Vice President, Growth Works Capital
Les Lyall joined GrowthWorks in September 2000 bringing over 20 years of strategic planning experience.
Prior to joining the company Les assisted small and mid-sized businesses in driving their helping in turn-arounds and re-positionings. Previously he was President and CEO of BCS Technology, a computer telephony integration company where he executed a "dead start" turnaround.
Les also founded and built a consulting practice, Pacific Strategies Group, specializing in strategic planning, marketing strategies and organization effectiveness which focused on industrial, professional, and
business-to-business service, and technology based companies.
David Mandelstam, CEO and President, Sangoma Technologies
As a pioneer in the connectivity hardware and software products for telephony, Wide Area Network (WAN) and the Internet, Founder/President/CEO of Sangoma Technologies, David Mandelstam, is responsible for overall management of the Company and its future strategic direction.
David and his research and development team focuses on Sangoma’s family of AFT (Advanced Flexible Telecommunication) T1/E1/J1 voice/data cards that are engineered for today’s demanding soft PBX, IVR and VoIP applications, such as Asterisk™, Yate™, and others. They offer a new price/performance standard unparalleled in the industry that its competitors are now following.
Before starting Sangoma in 1984, David ran an engineering company and was engineering VP of an energy conservation company.
Bogdan Materna, CTO and VP of Engineering, VoIPshield Systems
Bogdan Materna has over fifteen years experience in product development and building carrier grade management and security product. An active member of the VoIP Security Alliance (VoIPSA), he has authored a number of visionary articles for trade publications such as VoIP Magazine and TMCNet.
Additionally, he has presented at industry forums and conferences including VON and Internet Telephony and holds a number of patents. Prior to VoIPshield, he was a founder of Linmor Technologies, where he designed and built performance management products for large carriers including AT&T and MCI. Bogdan has also held various engineering and research positions at Nortel Networks, Microtel Pacific Research (MPR) and the University of Ottawa.
David Mc Carthy, Managing Director, BCE Capital
David McCarthy joined BCE Capital in 1995. He is currently Managing Director, based in the Ottawa office. David has played a key role in the financing and growth of dozens of companies in Ottawa, Silicon Valley, and elsewhere. He has an extensive background in technology and business management. Prior to BCE Capital, he spent 15 years at Nortel in a variety of management roles in strategic planning, business development, product development and operations. BCE Capital is the venture capital investment arm of BCE Inc., a world-leading communications company. BCE Capital invests in early-stage telecommunications technology companies in Canada and the US, through its offices in Toronto, Ottawa, and Boston.
Francois Menard, Project Manager, Xit telecom
Francois Menard is a project manager with Xit telecom inc., an ISO 9001 Canadian consulting engineering firm specialized in telecommunications. Since 2000, he managed more than 50 projects and/or studies related to the deployment of open access advanced fibre networks and broadband wireless networks, all of which resulted in the deployment of VoIP.
He has published more than 10 papers in the Cook Report on Internet and in other publications. He also is the inventor of Canadian patent 2303392. He consults with several governments, school boards, municipalities, equipment manufacturers and Internet Service Providers on topics ranging from; outside plant network engineering, equipment performance specifications, network architectures to telecommunications policy developments.
Stephan Ouaknine, President & CEO, Blueslice Networks
As President and CEO of Blueslice Networks, Stephan Ouaknine brings extensive International Marketing, Finance and Telecom experience, as well an ability to act as a bridge between Marketing and Development. Prior to founding Blueslice, Stephan was Founder and CEO of Airslide Systems, a world leader in SS7/IP and SMS Offload Smart Signaling Solutions for mobile carriers. Previously, Stephan was a member of the founding team at Emblaze (BLZ: LSE) and held the positions of Executive Manager in charge of Business Development as well as Marketing and Sales Director. Stephan helped take the company public on the London Stock Exchange. Born in Montreal, Canada, Stephan graduated from McGill University with a Bachelor degree in International Relations.
Jeff Paine, President, Area 51 Networks
Jeff has over 20 years of marketing, BD and management experience in the communications infrastructure industry. Currently running a boutique telecom consultancy called Area 51 Networks, Jeff has spent the last eight years in the next-gen IP services market. Most recently he served as VP of strategic marketing at UTStarcom, a multi-billion dollar IPTV, WiFi and 3G telecom equipment company based in California with manufacturing and R&D in China.
Jeff also spent 6 years at Cisco, where, as one of the first 100 employees, he helped to popularize then-arcane router technology.
Jeff holds a BA in communications from Brown University and an MA in communications from the University of Texas.
Don Price, CTO, Technical Director, Avaya
As Technical Director for the Avaya Service Provider Division, Don is responsible for setting the technical vision and executing on the requirements to enable ‘carrier grade’ applications to be deployed through the service provider network to the end user customer.
Don has held various technology based leadership roles with Graves Truckline, FarmarCo, American Airlines, Getty/Texaco, Bankers Trust, and Lotus/IBM. Some of the areas worked: Development of real-time Credit Union Account Systems, Travel Agent booking and messaging, Refinery and Mines business systems, Global electronic messaging and office systems. One of the most notable career highlights was the strategic development, introduction, deployment, and operations of electronic messages systems solutions for Texaco worldwide operations.
Jeff Pulver, Founder and Chairman, pulvermedia
Jeff Pulver is the Chairman and Founder of pulver.com, and one of the true pioneers of the Internet telephony/VoIP industry. Leveraging well over a decade of hands-on experience in Internet/IP communications and innovation, Mr. Pulver is a globally renowned thought leader, author and entrepreneur. He is the publisher of The Pulver Report and VON magazine, and creator of the industry standard Voice on the Net (VON) conferences, where all sectors of IP communications come together to discuss, debate, and advance the industry. Additionally, Mr. Pulver is the founder of Free World Dialup (FWD), the VON Coalition, Global IP Alliance, Vivox, pulverinnovations, and is the co-founder of VoIP provider, Vonage.
Eric Ritter, Director, WLAN Solutions, Research In Motion
Eric Ritter is the Director, WLAN Solutions for Research In Motion. Eric has held a variety of technical positions at RIM including being a founding member of the BlackBerry Solutions Group and technical lead on RIM’s BlackBerry Enterprise Server for IBM Lotus Domino. A frequent speaker at wireless technology conferences and customer sessions, in his current position he is the technical lead for all WLAN focused customer and partner activities.
Prior to joining RIM, Eric had extensive experience managing Microsoft focused infrastructures including large Exchange environments, as well as a background in the Telecom world.
Ali Rohani, Technical Lead, Unified Communications Group, Microsoft
As technical lead for Unified Communications Group, Ali is responsible for ensuring an excellent customer and partner experience with UCG products.
Previous to his current role, Ali was team lead in IBM’s worldwide Document Management and Publishing competency team. He worked closely with a wide range of IBM’s field teams to design, develop and execute various technical sales enablement programs. He grew this team to the largest competency team in the IBM ECM organization.
Ali has also served on Canada General Standards Board (CGSB) committee researching the admissibility of electronic records and was recently asked to serve on ISO/TC171 committee focus on standardization of quality control and integrity maintenance in the field of document management.
John Ruffolo, Partner, Deloitte & Touche LLP
John is a Taxation partner and is the Technology, Media and Telecommunications Global Tax Leader. John is also the Technology, Media and Telecommunications industry practice leader for the Greater Toronto Area and is a member of the Firm’s Technology, Media and Telecommunications Leadership Team. John graduated from the Schulich School of Business at York University in 1988 with a Bachelor of Business Administration. In 1990, John obtained his designation as a Chartered Accountant. John spent 14 years with another professional services firm before joining Deloitte as a Partner in 2002.
Tony Rybczynski, Director, Strategic Technologies, Nortel
Tony Rybczynski is Director, Strategic Enterprise Technologies, in Nortel Networks, reporting to the enterprise CTO. Tony has over 32 years experience in packet switching for all forms of media. He now works with large enterprises assessing the value proposition of new networking technologies. He has written over 100 articles including an on-going column in Internet Telephony magazine, on topics ranging from VoIP and security, to 10 Gigabit Ethernet and optical DWDM storage, to collaboration and ebusiness applications. He is a graduate of McGill and University of Alberta, a Senior Member of IEEE, and a co-author of a protocol reference book and a contributor to the 'ATM for Dummies' book.
Alec Saunders, CEO, iotum
Alec Saunders is a visionary technology evangelist with 15 years of leadership in technology marketing and product management. During nine years at Microsoft Corporation Alec launched Internet Explorer, and the Microsoft Plus! Windows companion. As Microsoft’s Director of Marketing for Home Networks, Alec also launched Universal Plug and Play and recruited more than 300 vendors to the UPnP industry working group. Before Iotum, Alec was Marketing VP for Versatel Networks, the developer of intelligent, easy-to-operate media gateways, and voice applications. Alec was also Marketing VP at QNX Software Systems where he spearheaded the creation and launch of the critically acclaimed QNX Momentics development suite. Alec is a graduate of the University of Waterloo Mathematics Faculty.
Rick Segal, Partner, JLA Ventures
Prior to joining J. L. Albright Venture Partners, Mr. Segal was President and Chief Executive Officer of Microforum (TSE:MCF). Mr. Segal joined Microforum in July 2000 from Chapters Online Inc. (TSE:COL), a leading Canadian e-commerce company, where he held the position of President and Chief Operating Officer (1997-2000). Mr. Segal began working with Chapters Inc. in 1997, as a consultant on the technical development of the Chapters e-commerce venture. Based on this successful collaboration, he was named the President of Chapters Online in August 1998.
Prior to joining Chapters Online, Mr. Segal worked at Microsoft Corporation in Redmond, Washington from 1992 until 1996. His most recent position at the company was the Director of technical services for the Internet Customer Unit, managing a group of 40 technical specialists. As the Director of Educational Initiatives for Microsoft, Mr. Segal created regional and national educational software and web site programs.
Kelvin Shepherd, President, Consumer Markets, MTS Allstream Inc.
Mr. Shepherd joined MTS Communications in December 2000, following twenty years with SaskTel, where he held numerous senior management positions. Most recently, Kelvin serves as Senior Vice-President and Chief Technology Officer of SaskTel. Mr. Shepherd was Chairman of the Executive Board for LCL Cable Communications Ltd. (Leicester, England) prior to its sale by SaskTel in 1995, and has participated in a number of international telecommunications projects through SaskTel International. From 1996 to 2000, Mr. Shepherd was the Chairman of the Board of TR Labs, a leading Western Canadian based telecommunications research and development organization.
Mr. Shepherd is a registered Professional Engineer, and holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Saskatchewan, and Certificate in Administration from the University of Regina. He is a member of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Manitoba.
Todd Simons, VP, Business Development, Mitel
As the senior executive responsible for business development, Todd Simons is dedicated to using his extensive experience and relationships in the telecommunications and software industries to drive new business opportunities for Mitel.
Having spent the past 27 years in a variety of sales, marketing and operations positions in the telecommunications industry – the past six of them with Mitel where he has served as Director of Strategic Marketing.
Todd joined Mitel from Stentor Resource Center Inc. where he was a Senior Consultant for their Call Center Solutions group. In this position, he gained extensive experience in the evaluation and process re-engineering of Call Center operations in a diverse range of industries.
Don Smith, Chief Executive Officer, Mitel
Don Smith brings 30 years of international business experience in identifying new technology markets and coupling vision with execution to his position as Chief Executive Officer of Mitel. Since assuming this role in 2001, Don has led Mitel’s highly successful venture of bringing next generation IP solutions to the global marketplace.
As CEO, Don is responsible for upholding and advancing Mitel’s leadership in the IP Telephony market, devising and executing forward-thinking business strategies and corporate policies, and overseeing Mitel’s global operations. His in-depth insight and understanding of the evolution of IP Telephony within enterprise and carrier networks has guided Mitel’s successful transition from a traditional PBX provider into an international, market-leading IP Telephony solutions vendor.
Jeff Smith, Sr. Product Manager, Consumer VoIP and Video Services, Microsoft
Jeff Smith is a senior product manager on Microsoft Corp.’s Consumer VoIP and Video Services team. Smith’s responsibilities have included increasing MSN® Messenger voice and video usage and spearheading the Teleo Inc. acquisition.
Smith has been at Microsoft for three years and previously worked on Microsoft® Office Live. Before joining Microsoft, Smith spent three years at Juno Online Services Inc. as senior director of Strategic Development. He also spent five years at Kaiser Associates, with senior manager stints at Kaiser’s offices in Brazil and the U.K.
Smith graduated with an MBA from the Columbia Business School with dean’s list honors, and earned a bachelor of science in economics Magna Cum Laude from Colgate University.
Arun Sobti, Chairman and CEO, IP Unity
Dr. Arun Sobti is Chairman and CEO of IP Unity, whose HMS6000 is a carrier grade, highly scalable media/applications server deployed in leading wireline, wireless and cable carriers around the world. Arun leads the company's vision and success in enhanced services, and established the company's defining 'many services, one platform' approach. A well-respected veteran among ILECs, cable operators and wireless service providers, he has 30 years of leadership with IP Unity, ADC's Broadband Access and Transport Group, Motorola's global businesses and third generation wireless. He is on the boards of Onotologent Networks, Airespace and ManyStreams Networks.
Matt Stein, Vice President, New Technology and Services, Primus Telecommunications
Matt Stein joined Primus in early 2003 with the mandate to define and build new and innovative products for both the Commercial and Residential markets. At Primus, he is responsible for product development as well as technology and services strategy. Matt served as both Chief Architect and overall prime for the TalkBroadband residential VoIP product launch. He brings a wealth of experience in information technology and management experience in the areas of Internet infrastructure, security, networking, and enterprise applications. Prior to his role with Primus, Mr. Stein was Chief Technology Officer at Sprint Canada's Application Service Provider Division, where he spearheaded the organization's delivery of technology.
Jeffrey Stern, Vice President, Business Development, KoolSpan
Jeff Stern has led new business growth for multiple startups as well as the strategic imperatives for major public policy organizations. Most recently, as President of Urban HotSpots, he established WiFi hotspot location partnerships at New York City landmarks including Grand Central Terminal, Sony Plaza, and Penn Station, resulting in a high profile WiFi network with quarterly revenue growth in excess of 300%. At Air Media, Mr. Stern raised over $10M in funding, developed multiple partnerships, and signed over 25 major customer contracts with content providers and carriers including Nextel, Sprint PCS and Verizon. As a strategic consultant, he developed NYC Health and Hospital Corporation's executive strategy for the effective and safe deployment of mobile and wireless technology.
Bill Tam, CEO, EQO Communications
Bill Tam has been a driving force in new telecom and wireless ventures over the past 17 years as an investor, as an executive, and as an entrepreneur. Prior to joining EQO Communications, Bill was a Partner with SpringBank TechVentures and served on the boards of several technology startups. Bill was a founding executive and Chief Marketing Officer at MetroNet Communications, Canada's largest CLEC, which was acquired by AT&T Canada in 1999. Bill has also held senior executive positions at AT&T Canada, Rogers Communications, Jones Cable, Infowave Software and Bell Canada . Bill holds an MBA from Ivey School of Business, and earned his degree in Electrical Engineering at McGill University.
Patrick Tan, AVP, Applications, Ubiquity Software
As Assistant Vice President, Applications, Patrick Tan brings more than 17 years of telecommunication industry experience to Ubiquity. Prior to joining Ubiquity, he has held various positions from product management, marketing, business development to engineering. He also participated actively at different industry forum, such as the Frame Relay Forum where he served as the Asia Marketing and Development and Education Committee chair until 1999. He has a Master of Business Administration degree from University of Ottawa, and a B.S. Math degree from University of Waterloo.
Howard Thaw, COO, iotum
Dr. Howard H. Thaw is a widely respected and noted Business Information Technology Authority, investment banker, business evolutionist, and serial entrepreneur. Over the past 25 years, he has built, financed, mentored and rescued numerous companies including TCT-Centre for Computer Security; ThunderBYTE, DataSafe and M-Venture Inc. His multi-disciplinary technology and knowledge-based industry expertise in developing anti-virus, encryption, backup and other enterprise software have been applied to building successful companies and meeting the major challenges for businesses in keeping up with rapid changes in technology. Howard is currently COO of Iotum Corporation, a promising startup company that is building innovative new applications that leverage the opportunities created by VoIP.
Aisha Umar, Sr. Director, Unified Communications Group, Microsoft
As Director of the Unified Communications Group for Microsoft Canada and Latin America, Aisha Umar is responsible for business operations and market development for Collaboration products including web conferencing and enterprise instant messaging.
Prior to this, Aisha held senior sales and marketing management positions at IBM Canada, including Business Unit Executive for the Database and Content Management division.
Aisha is a graduate of the University of Calgary and the Queen's University MBA Program.
Ray Vilis, VP, Product Management, Versatel Networks
Mr. Vilis brings over 25 years of telecommunications industry experience in Product Management, Product Development, and System Engineering to Versatel. Mr. Vilis developed his expertise at Bell Northern Research and Nortel, where he established a proven track record in the delivery of large, profitable, multi-year product development projects including traditional PSTN voice and turnkey IP solutions (Magellan Passport), Automated Speech Recognition technology and data network solutions. Managing teams from 20 to 250 individuals, spread over three continents provided Mr. Vilis the opportunity to gain a global perspective and to manage complex projects, which included several joint venture activities between Nortel Networks and key technology organizations.
Douglas Wadkins, CTO, Edgewater Networks
Douglas has over 17 years of experience with leading high technology teams. Douglas joined Edgewater from Cisco where he held a number of positions including business development, engineering and marketing roles in the voice technology area. Prior to Cisco Douglas was a member of the founding team of Vovida, a provider of call control software for IP networks. Prior to Vovida Douglas was with Aspect Communications and Nortel Networks, where he focused on leading technical teams responsible for the company’s information technology and leading the Enterprise Networks Software Business Unit. Prior to Nortel Douglas served with the United States Navy Submarine Command as an Operations Officer. He holds an MS and BS in Mechanical Engineering.
Robert Winder, VP of Business Development, Genesys
Robert Winder is Vice President, Business Development for Genesys. He is responsible for Genesys' IP initiatives, business development, corporate growth strategy and relationship development. Prior to joining Genesys nine years ago, Mr. Winder served in a number of contact center end user environments including FirstDirect in the United Kingdom.
Mr. Winder has served as a spokesperson for numerous IP related venues including most recently SUPERCOMM, ICCM, IP4IT and Internet Telephony.
