Speaker Profiles

Gil Biran, Founder, President and Chief Strategy Officer, Axerra Networks
Gil Biran, Founder, President, and CSO (Chief Strategy Officer) of Axerra Networks, was the original CEO who guided Axerra to the forefront of the Pseudo-Wire market. Gil is also a member of Axerra's Board of Directors. Prior to leading Axerra Networks, Gil was Vice President, Engineering at RAD Data Communications. Gil has more than 20 years of experience in the research and development of telecommunications and data communications systems. Gil holds a degree in electronic engineering from Tel Aviv University. He is the author of several papers on telecommunications and is a member of key standards bodies in the area of data communications. Register today.

Gary Bolton, Vice President, Marketing and PLM, Hatteras Networks
Bolton joined Hatteras from Ciena Corporation where he served as VP of Broadband Access Marketing. Prior to Ciena, he was VP of Product Marketing for Catena Networks. Catena Networks was acquired by Ciena in May 2004 for US$486M. Over 5 years, Bolton grew Catena from an early stage Start-up to a profitable Broadband Access company with a $100M run-rate and volume deployment with all four RBOCs. Prior to Catena, Bolton spent 15 years at Nortel in various Marketing, PLM and Engineering roles. Bolton holds an MBA from Duke University and a BS in Electrical Engineering from NC State University. Register today.

Craig Easley, Vice President and Director, Metro Ethernet Forum and Associate Vice President, Actelis Networks
Easley has 17 years of experience in the information technology and telecommunications industries. As the Associate Vice President of Marketing at Actelis Networks, he manages the development and execution of the strategic marketing plan to support the company's business with telecommunication service providers. As visible evidence of his leadership in the service provider market, Easley has served for three years as a member of the Metro Ethernet Forum's Board of Directors. He is also contributing to the development of standards for Metro Ethernet in the IEEE 802.1 Task Force. Prior to joining Actelis Networks, Easley has held executive positions with some of the industry's most successful companies including Extreme Networks, Nortel Networks, Bay Networks, and Network General Corporation. This experience has given him expertise in both the technical and business aspects of the data networking and information technology industries. Register today.

Robert Fitzgerald, CEO, Proxim Wireless
Fitzgerald has been Chief Executive Officer and a director of Proxim since April 2003. He was Chief Executive Officer and a director of Young Design, Inc. from March 1999 to April 2003. From July 1998 to February 1999, Fitzgerald was an attorney with the law firm of Greenberg Traurig. Prior to that, he was an attorney with the law firm of Ginsburg, Feldman & Bress. He holds a B.A. in economics from the University of California - Los Angeles and a J.D. from the University of California — Los Angeles School of Law. Register today.

Jim Freeze, Senior Vice President, Marketing and Alliances, BelAir Networks
Freeze is Senior Vice President, Marketing and Alliances, BelAir Networks. He was previously Chief Marketing Officer at 3Com Corporation, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for Centra Software and Global Vice President, Marketing at Level (3). Freeze became a recognized Internet authority as Senior Telecom Analyst at Forrester Research. He earned a JD from Capital University Law School, an MA in Mathematics and a BS in Education, from Ohio State University. Register today.

Saar Gillai, Vice President of Engineering and Product Management, Tropos Networks
Gillai brings more than 20 years of engineering and management experience to Tropos Networks. Most recently, he was Vice President of Engineering for the Wireless Networking Business Unit of Cisco Systems, where over the past four years he played a key role in building Cisco's enterprise WLAN product line to the number one position in the market, having developed and shipped more than $1.5 billion in products during his tenure. In addition, Mr. Gillai was instrumental in the company's WLAN acquisition and integration strategy, most recently playing a key role in the acquisition, and integration of WLAN equipment provider Airespace. During his tenure with Cisco, Gillai also held key management positions in product development for the Desktop Switching Business Unit and the Multi Service Switching Business Unit, where he worked closely with major service providers on next generation network architectures. Prior to Cisco, Gillai held management positions at Newbridge Networks, where he played a significant role in the development of their ATMnet systems, as well as Rohde & Schwartz Canada and Wasserman Advisors. Register today.

John Hammond, Director of WiMAX Network Architecture, Intel Corp.
Hammond has been employed with Intel Corporation since 1992 and is presently the Director of Network Architecture for Intel's Mobile WiMAX Field Trial. The mobile trial is being done in conjunction with Clearwire Corporation and Motorola, Inc. in the greater Portland area. During his 14 years at Intel, Hammond has held a variety of engineering, marketing and management positions. Prior to Intel, he was employed by Tektronix, Inc. in their communication test product group. He holds several patents and received his BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Portland. Register today.

Glen Hunt, Principal Analyst, Carrier Infrastructure, Current Analysis
As Principal Analyst of Carrier Infrastructure, Glen analyzes the technology, product innovations, and partnership initiatives of vendors who supply carrier infrastructure equipment. Specifically, focusing on vendors that produce IP Core and Edge Routers, Carrier Ethernet Routers, Ethernet Access Switches, Mobile Backhaul solutions, and Network Management and Operational Support systems. Glen brings more than 20 years of experience to Current Analysis in the key areas of analysis, product development, product management, marketing and business development. Glen has held various senior marketing and product management roles at companies such as Advanced Switching Communications, Netrix Corporation, Sprint International, Dynatech Communications, and Tesdata Systems Corporation. At Advanced Switching Communications and Netrix, he has held senior and executive level management positions in engineering, marketing and business development. Register today.

Tony Kent, Senior Vice President, Engineering and Network Operations, Cellular South
Kent has been with Cellular South for over 12 years, with responsibilities including engineering, building and operating the wireless network, switches and cell sites. He led the implementation and upgrade of the Company's next generation CDMA 1X network, as well as the installment of an advanced network management system that provides real time data to improve network call quality and operating efficiency. In addition, he led the restoration of Cellular South's network to 100% capacity in record time following Hurricane Katrina. Prior to joining Cellular South, Kent was with BellSouth for 14 years. He retired from the U.S. Army/Mississippi National Guard in 1994 at the rank of Major after 23 years of service. Kent holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Mississippi. Register today.

Michael Lanza, Vice President of National Account Sales, Nextlink Wireless
Lanza has spent 35 years in the telecommunications industry working for various blue-chip companies. Prior to joining Nextlink, he worked with First Avenue Networks (FAN) as the sales VP responsible for mobile backhaul sales to the cellular companies. Lanza has also worked with multiple carriers, including, AT&T, Teleport Communications Group (TCG), Metropolitan Fiber Systems (MFS), Level 3 and Con Edison Communications in a variety of sales, operations, engineering and general management positions. Lanza received a Bachelor of Science degree from Iona College and an MBA from Pace University. Register today.

Bo Larsson, CEO, Firetide
Larsson is a veteran business executive and has over 20 years of engineering, marketing, international channel development and management experience. He has worked in the PC, mobile, and telecommunication businesses at market-leading companies including Emuzed, Fujitsu, Sony, and Ericsson. Before joining Firetide, Larsson was President of Emuzed where he managed sales, marketing, engineering operations and QA both in the U.S. and in India. Prior to Emuzed, he was Corporate VP and General Manager of Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications, Inc. and served as Sr. Vice President and General Manager of Ericsson North America and Japan. Prior to Ericsson he was President of TouchWave, a startup delivering voice and data service and solutions using Voice over IP. Earlier in his career, Larsson held management positions at Fujitsu and Sony. He holds an MBA from the University of Goteborg, Sweden and a Masters in applied physics, from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden. Register today.

Dan Lewallen, Wireless Technology Specialist, Tellabs
Lewallen is a wireless technology specialist and is responsible for end-to-end architecture and pseudowire solutions. Prior to joining Tellabs in January 2006, he worked at Nortel Networks in various roles within CDMA hardware development, product field performance, and product line management. While at Nortel, he was the product manager responsible for backhaul evolution and 1xEV-DO release 0/Revision A access solution. He spent 6 years in the Navy as a Nuclear Trained Electronic Technician. Lewallen has a patent for an HDLC routing FPGA design. He is also a member of 3GPP2 and the Metro Ethernet Forum under Tellabs. He has a Bachelor of Science in Electronic Engineering from University of Texas Dallas and Master of Science from SMU. Register today.

Stuart Little, Product Marketing Director, Harris Stratex Networks
Little is responsible for worldwide Product Marketing and Marketing Communications for Harris Stratex, based in San Jose California. With 20 years of experience in the wireless industry on three continents, Little joined Harris Stratex (then Digital Microwave Corporation) in 1996, and has held positions in Product Management, Marketing, Technical Sales, focused on PTP microwave backhaul solutions for mobile and fixed network applications. Prior to Harris Stratex, Little held positions with Nera AS, a Norwegian supplier of high capacity microwave systems, Amalgamated Wireless Australasia (AWA) and the Royal Australian Air Force. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of New South Wales, Sydney Australia. Register today.

Amir Makleff, President and CEO, Bridgewave
Makleff co-founded BridgeWave Communications in 1999. He previously served as COO and Senior VP of Engineering at Netro for three years. Prior to Netro, he was General Manager of Engineering and Marketing at Telco Systems and Nortel. Makleff's proven ability to conceive and manage new, interdisciplinary products is complemented by his leadership and market vision. Register today.

Nadine Manjaro, Senior Analyst, Wireless Infrastructure, ABI Research
As part of ABI Research's wireless research group, Manjaro focuses on wireless infrastructure markets, including 2G and 3G radio access and core networks as well as emerging mobile broadband technologies. Prior to joining ABI Research, she worked at Sprint for six years in a number of network planning and technology development positions, including customer equipment development for Sprint's WiMAX business unit and management of Sprint's broadband wireless trials for WiMAX and other technologies. She was also the company's lead network evolution planner for fixed broadband wireless initiatives. Nadine was also co-chair of the DSL Forum Service Provider Council. Prior to her time at Sprint, she held various network engineering positions including high speed data network engineer for Bell Atlantic/Verizon in New York. Manjaro holds a B.A. in Economics/Statistics and a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Rutgers University, and is working towards an M.S. in Engineering Management at the University of Kansas. Register today.

Sue Marek, Editor-in-Chief, FierceWireless, (Event Chair)
Marek, previously executive editor at Wireless Week, serves as Editor-in-Chief of FierceWireless, the flagship publication of parent company, FierceMarkets. Marek also heads FierceMarkets' Telecom & Digital Media Group of publications, including FierceDeveloper, FierceWiFi, FierceVoIP, FierceIPTV, FierceGameBiz and FierceMobileContent. Register today.

Steve Morrow, Director, Verisign Global Consulting
Morrow has over twenty five years of telecommunications industry experience in a wide range of roles including Network Implementation, Network Panning and Design, Technology Strategy, Operations Management, Finance, Corporate Strategy, Business Development, Senior Management, Executive leadership and Leadership Development. He holds a BA - Honors in Economics from the University of Calgary, an MBA with an emphasis in Finance from Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada and a Telecommunications Technology Diploma from the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, Calgary. Register today.

Phil Olivero, Vice President, Strategy and Business Development, FiberTower
Olivero is currently Vice President of Business Development at FiberTower and previously served as the Vice President and General Manager, Northeast Region and Vice President of Engineering. Prior to joining FiberTower, Olivero worked for XO Communications as their VP of Network Planning where he oversaw the development and implementation of their national and metro long haul DWDM network, soft switch network and DSL infrastructure. Before that, he was the CTO and Senior Vice President of Engineering and Operations for C1 Communications, and CTO and Vice President of Engineering and Operations at Fundy Communications. Prior to that, Olivero held increasingly senior management positions at MCI and Bell Canada in the engineering and technology development areas. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Waterloo (Canada). Register today.

Jim Orr, Principal Network Architect, Fujitsu Network Communications
Orr has worked in the telecommunications industry for more than 16 years, serving in various engineering, network planning, network architecture and marketing roles in both the vendor and the carrier community. Before joining Fujitsu, he increased his industry experience in network architecture and implementation with Latus Lightworks, McLeod Communications, Caprock Communications, GST Telecom, Electric Lightwave and Northern Telecom. Orr holds a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Texas A&M University and an MBA from Washington State University. Register today.

Nikhil Shah, Mobility/Convergence Solutions and Partnerships, Juniper Networks and Vice President, International Development, MFA Forum
Shah is responsible for developing wireless and convergence solutions, go-to-market strategies, and supporting partnership initiatives. He serves on the board of a leading telecom standard body- MFA Forum, where he is also a VP of International Development. His current focus includes positioning Juniper's infrastructure and security portfolio in Quality of service-aware, multi-service IP/MPLS transport, mobile backhaul, packet core, and IMS-FMC networks. His prior experience includes Alcatel-Lucent, Zeitnet (acquired by Cabletron), Tata Group, and ISRO, India. Shah received his Bachelors and Masters degrees in Computer Science from Gujarat/Mumbai universities in India. He holds a diploma in Business-Management from Mumbai and has completed the Greater Boston Executive Program through the MIT Sloan School in Cambridge, MA. Register today.

Raj Shanmugaraj, Vice President, Marketing and Business Development, Alcatel-Lucent
Shanmugaraj is a Vice President at Alcatel-Lucent's Optical Division in North America, focusing on the Mobile Carrier Segment. He has over 25 years experience in the Telecommunications industry. At Alcatel-Lucent, Raj is responsible for all Business Development and Program activities for all Optical Products in the Mobile Carrier Segment. Prior to Alcate-Lucentl, Raj was President and CEO of Astral Point Communications and one of the company's Founders. Astral Point was one of the early pioneers developing products targeting the Metropolitan Optical Area Network. At Astral Point, as President and CEO he was responsible for all aspects of day to day corporate management of the company. Prior to Astral Point he has held management positions at Picturetel and at Motorola. Raj holds an M.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Iowa and a B.S.(HONS) in Electronics and Communications from the University of Madras. Register today.

Hilik Shivek, VP, Sales & Marketing, NGN, Ceragon Networks
Shivek has been with Ceragon Networks since 1999, and currently serves as VP, Sales & Marketing, NGN. He previously served as Vice President of Major US Accounts, Senior Director of Strategic Accounts, Product Manager and Technical Director at Ceragon Networks, Inc. Prior to joining the company, Shivek served in the Elite Electronic Research and Development Department of the Israeli Ministry of Defense (IMOD) for 5 years as a project manager as well as a research and development team leader of RF and digital circuits of cutting-edge wireless communications systems. He has a bachelor's of science degree in electrical engineering from the Technion (Israel Institute of Technology), and an MBA from the Zicklin School of Business in New York. Register now.

Dr. Alan Solheim, VP Product Management, DragonWave
Solheim holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering from University of Waterloo with more than 21 years of industry experience in Telecommunications. Prior to joining DragonWave, Solheim was Chief Technology Officer at Innovance Networks, a reconfigurable optical networking start-up. Prior to Innovance, he was a Vice President at Nortel Networks responsible for market strategy in the metro transport group. Solheim has extensive experience, notably working on 6 generations of fiber optic transmission systems, and the system design authority for Nortel’s OC-192 program. Solheim also has over 50 patents that he has been principal or co-author of, numerous papers in industry journals and has acted on a variety of industry and conference committees. Register now.

Jason Suplita, Senior Account Manager, Mentum
Suplita has gained invaluable experience through serving in various roles and responsibilities with the integration of Mentum products into wireless providers and backhaul networks. Prior to joining Mentum, he held various roles within Ericsson and Marconi in operations, project management and most recently sales where he served as a Director of Services Sales within North American Key Account team. His responsibilities included working with clients on strategy development, and process re-engineering associated to backhaul solutions through the use of the Mentum Solutions. Register now.

Roger Williams, Director, Product Management, Comcast Business Services
Williams has over 23 years of experience in the Telecommunication Industry. He is currently the Director of Product and Strategy for Cellular Backhaul, Comcast Business Services. He previously served as Director of National Business Development and Director of Network Engineering and Implementation where he designed, sold and deployed Comcast first Wireless Backhaul Network with PON Technology in the Philly Metro Market. Before Comcast, he was the VP of Complex Networks AT&T Local Services responsible for the planning, engineering and program management of SONET and Switched Services supporting AT&T Broadband HFC Networks. Other assignments; Manager, System Technology Program Management, AT&T Wireless responsible for deploying capital projects for network platform augments and build-out and Motorola C&E, Sr. Account Manager, Area Program Management among others in the Eastern Division. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering and Masters of Technology Management from Stevens Institute of Technology. Register now.

Mel Yarbrough, Vice President of Sales, Towerstream
As VP of Sales for Towerstream, Yarbrough is responsible for expanding the company’s reach in existing and future markets. Yarbrough spearheads the overall Sales strategy in an effort to further grow Towerstream's sales force. In addition, he is charged with all customer acquisition, channel and revenue growth initiatives. Yarbrough comes to Towerstream from Hoovers (D&B; Dun and Bradstreet), where he served as VP of Business Development and VP of Subscription Sales. Prior to joining D&B, Yarbrough spent nearly a decade in several executive sales positions, including roles at StarCite and Handango. During this time, he spearheaded efforts to achieve new sales and revenue growth as well as foster business development activities. Yarbrough holds a BA in Economics and Business from Southern Methodist University and a Juris Doctorate from Vanderbilt University School of Law. Register now.