Speaker Profiles

The Unified Communication Conference @ NXTcomm 2008 features experts, pioneers, and players leading the charge towards Unified Communications. Check back for more speaker updates.

Shirish Andhare, Vice President of Marketing, Sylantro
Shirish Andhare is Vice President of Marketing for Sylantro. He also personally drives key initiatives such as the Synapps Web Services program, which evangelizes the value of open developer ecosystems to carriers and opens up the Sylantro platform to grass-roots developers and partners. Before coming to Sylantro, Mr. Andhare was at Tellme Networks where he conceived and led the creation of advanced hosted enterprise services leveraging the Internet, speech-recognition, and the phone. His product line was the cornerstone of Tellme's growth and recognition in the Fortune 100 market. Register today!

Russell Bennett, Partner Program Manager, Office Communications Group, Microsoft Corporation
Russell Bennett's first experience of next generation communications was with dynamicsoft, where he lead the Network Infrastructure Product Group that provided SIP routing network elements for many of the early next generation networks deployed by SIP Service Providers, including Vonage, Level(3) and Sprint. After that, Mr. Bennett was the Product Manager and Leader of the SIP Infrastructure Core Team which created and brought to market the Avaya SES Server and which SIP-enabled the Avaya Communication Manager IP-PBX. He then joined Microsoft in May 2004, and is currently a Lead Program Manager in the Office Communications Partner Engineering team where he is responsible for future OCS scenarios related to federation and Service Providers. Register today!

Eric Bozich, Vice President, National Services, Qwest Communications Corporation
Eric Bozich is responsible for Qwest's product management and development. His team focuses on voice, data and IP services for enterprise, government and education markets. Since 2000, he has led the roll-out of a wide range of converged voice and data services including Qwest OneFlex VoIP, iQ Networking (MPLS WAN), IP Contact Center, Metro and Long Haul Ethernet, Managed IP Communications and other managed services. Mr. Bozich was previously executive director of the Internet product development team for !NTERPRISE at US WEST and a technical services manager at the University of Utah. He graduated with a B.S. in business from the University of Utah and received an M.B.A. from Westminster College in Salt Lake City. Register today!

Keith Bromley, Product Marketing Manager, NEC Unified Solutions
Keith Bromley is a product marketing manager for NEC Unified Solutions, Inc., with more than 16 years of telecommunications experience. Keith is responsible for marketing activities for NE's IP telephony enterprise solutions, including all applications and platforms, as well as unified communications. As a spokesperson for the industry, Mr. Bromley is a subject matter expert on unified communications, IP telephony, SIP, wireless and wireline infrastructure. He has written many industry whitepapers covering topics on IP telephony drivers, SIP, unified communications, as well as discussions around ROI and TCO for IP telephony solutions. Prior to NEC, Mr. Bromley worked for several national and international telecommunications companies including DSC, Metro-Optics, Cisco Systems and Ericsson. He holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering. Register today!

Vikas Butaney, Senior Director, Access Routing Technology Group, Cisco
Vikas Butaney is Senior Director of Product Marketing for Advanced Technologies in the Access Routing Technology Group at Cisco Systems. Mr. Butaney leads a team of product managers and engineers responsible for the design and delivery of UC technologies and solutions. A twelve year Cisco veteran, he is responsible for a broad product portfolio including Cisco's SMB products and solutions, Service Provider Customer Premise Equipment and Trunking Gateways, Video and Wireless initiatives. Mr. Butaney is a CCIE with focus in LAN/ATM Switching and Packet Voice Technologies. Before joining Cisco Systems, he worked at Verizon (Bell Atlantic), and earned his M.S. in Electrical Engineering focusing on Optical and Data Communications from Virginia Tech. Register today!

Rob Consolazio, VP of Marketing and Strategic Alliances, Cbeyond Communications
Rob Consolazio leads Cbeyond's marketing communications and business development organizations. Prior to Cbeyond, Mr. Consolazio was the CMO at Stratos Global, Senior Director at Nextel Communications, and held a variety of strategy consulting, business development, and product management positions at firms such as Ernst & Young (Telecom Group), GTE Wireless (now Verizon Wireless), General Instrument, and Scient. Mr. Consolazio has an M.B.A. from the University of Georgia and a B.S. in physics from the University of Virginia. He is certified as a New Product Development Process Professional by the Product Development Management Association. Register today!

George Daddis, President, Allworx
Prior to founding Allworx, George Daddis served as an Engineering Manager in the software and systems division of Xerox Engineering Systems. There he established and managed a multi-functional platform engineering team to create and develop the ground breaking AccXES client/server architecture for the XES family of printers and scanners, setting benchmarks within Xerox in time-to-market, cost, and performance. Previously, Mr. Daddis worked at Eastman Kodak where he managed and rapidly expanded a PostScript and raster printer controller platform that powered award-winning Kodak desktop color printers. Mr. Daddis received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees from Cornell University in Computer Engineering. Register today!

Tom Flanagan, Director of Technical Strategy, Digital Signal Processing Systems, Texas Instruments
Tom Flanagan is the Director of Technical Strategy for Texas Instruments' Digital Signal Processing Systems group. Prior to his current role, he served as the director of broadband strategy for TI's Broadband Communications Group, where he identified market trends and provided the vision and strategic direction for TI's extensive broadband portfolio. Prior to this position, Mr. Flanagan was the director of business development for Telogy Networks, and VP of sales and marketing for ADC Skyline, and held various marketing, sales and business development positions with Dynatech Communications. Mr. Flanagan received his B.S. from James Madison University. Register today!

Carl Ford, Strategic Advisor & Community Developer, FierceTelecom Digital Media Group
Carl Ford serves as Strategic Advisor & Community Developer to the FierceTelecom Digital Media group. In addition to developing Webinars, he contributes a bio-monthly column to FierceVoIP. Mr. Ford brings more than 20 years of telecom industry experience to the FierceMarkets team. Most recently he worked at Pulvermedia as a community developer and producer of event content. Mr. Ford's professional career also includes time at numerous telecommunications companies including Telcordia Technologies and Verizon. Register today!

Ibrahim Gedeon, CTO, TELUS Communications
As CTO, Ibrahim Gedeonis is responsible for technology strategy, network and services architecture and network support systems for TELUS Communications. Mr. Gedeon began his career in telecommunications engineering and research at Bell Northern Research, then Nortel Networks. Mr. Gedeon has held numerous leadership roles in the IEEE and has received several professional awards, including IEEE Canada's Outstanding Canadian Engineer Award. Mr. Gedeon holds a B.S. in electrical engineering from the American University of Beirut and a Master's in Electronics Engineering from Carleton University. Register today!

Carl Geppert, Partner and Industry Leader, Americas Communications & Media Practice, KPMG
Carl Geppert leads KPMG's Communications & Media group for the Americas and has assisted Global communications companies with significant financial, regulatory, information technology and business decisions for more than 28 years. He is a member of KPMG's Global Communications & Media steering committee tasked with finding real solutions for Convergence, Consolidation, Competition and Compliance needs within Fortune 1000 environments. Mr. Geppert's significant experience includes leading the global Margin Enhancement practice, providing expertise in revenue related business risks including internal controls review and SOX 404 assistance as well as providing attestation services in the US and abroad. Register today!

Thomas Hobika, Vice President, Sales Engineering, Enterprise Services Organization, Global Crossing
Thomas Hobika is responsible for leading all of Global Crossing's network architecture, design, engineering and service-related aspects of customer technical sales engagements with a primary focus on consultative selling to achieve stronger revenue realization. Mr. Hobika has more than 14 years of experience in the Telecom and IT industry including various senior technology positions at Nortel Networks and Eastman Kodak, as well as smaller services environments. Mr. Hobika holds a B.S. in computer science from The State University of New York at Buffalo and attended the Rochester Institute of Technology while pursuing an M.S. in I.T. Register today!

Hélène Joncas, Director, Carrier Hosted Unified Communications, Nortel
Hélène Joncas is Director, Global Services for Nortel and is part of the Innovative Communication Alliance team which is devoted to the partnership between Nortel and Microsoft and is accelerating the deployment of UC. In this role, Ms. Joncas drives Nortel's Global Services for Carrier Hosted UC Solutions. She has held various management roles within Nortel spanning different technologies including Wireless, Optical and OA&M. She co-founded several companies including imGenie and Firsthand Technologies. Prior to this, she was a Principal at Inside Edge and worked 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 M.B.A., both from the University of Ottawa. Register today!

Vivek Khuller, President & CEO, DiVitas Networks
Prior to co-founding DiVitas, Vivek Khuller held the position of Venture Partner at Clearstone Venture Partners, where he incubated DiVitas. Mr. Khuller also was Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Matrix Partners. Before Matrix, he worked at Sycamore Networks in business development, leading strategic sales for the tier-1 carrier market and managing software business development worth several million dollars. Mr. Khuller worked at Verizon Communications in various roles, including Manager of the Internet Center of Excellence as well as in Network Systems Engineering. Register today!

Gary Kim, Editor-in-Chief, IP Business and ChannelVision
Gary Kim is a founder and COO of Dagda Mor Media, and is Editor in Chief of IP Business and ChannelVision. He has been a journalist, industry analyst and commentator since 1983. He was SVP with Probe Research, a telecommunications market research firm where he anchored Probe's cable TV and competitive carrier practice. He also has worked in the ISP and system integrator industry, where he was director, strategic research, for Convergent Communications, a Denver-based system integrator, and strategy vice president for CacheStream, an Atlanta-based streaming media company. Mr. Kim has graduate and undergraduate degrees from University of Oregon. Register today!

Michael Lauricella, Director of BroadSoft Xtended, BroadSoft
As director of Xtended, Michael Lauricella is responsible for defining and executing BroadSoft's Web 2.0 strategy where his responsibilities include evangelizing the BroadSoft solution, creating a community of third-party developers, and guiding the development of mashups between web-based applications and BroadSoft's VoIP platform. This endeavor includes overseeing the creation of an online marketplace for the distribution of mashup applications. Prior to joining BroadSoft, he was VP of Telecommunications Research at AMI Partners and spearheaded Yankee Group's research on the SMB market. He holds a master's degree in International Economics and Finance from Brandeis University. Register today!

John Lazar, President and COO, MetaSwitch
John Lazar was a key member of the founding team that established MetaSwitch, and he led the organization from 2003 to 2007, overseeing the organization's growth from initial market entry to a market leadership position with $50M+ revenue and over 250 customers worldwide. In his role as President and COO, Mr. Lazar's focus is on shaping a sustainable long-term strategy for technology and product evolution; building products and solutions that meet MetaSwitch's customers' needs while exceeding their already high expectations for world-class quality; operational growth; and marketing — where he will continue to work closely with MetaSwitch customers and the industry. Register today!

Jim Machi, Vice President, Marketing, Dialogic Corporation
Jim Machi is responsible for product planning, product management and marketing for all Dialogic products. Dialogic develops open systems based telephony voice, video and signaling products targeted for both the enterprise and service provider market segments. Mr. Machi has been with Dialogic Corporation since 1998 while it was part of Intel, before being spun out in September 2006. He holds an M.B.A. from the Stern School of Business at NYU and a B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Pennsylvania. Register today!

Bill Miller, VP of Product Management and Marketing, Digium
Bill Miller brings over 20 years of telecommunication experience to his role as Vice President, Product Management and Marketing. Prior to joining Digium, Mr. Miller led 3Com's voice product management team where he led voice product line revenue growth while re-positioning the enterprise voice products and driving new strategies for the future. He also held senior positions in Product Management, Marketing, Strategic Alliances and Business Development for Andes Networks, Fujitsu Business Communications Systems, General DataComm, Rockwell International and Prime Computer. Mr. Miller holds a BS in Computer Engineering Technology from Northeastern University. Register today!

Doug Mohney, Editor-in-Chief, FierceMarkets Telecom and Digital Media Group, Event Chair
Doug Mohney has over 21 years of experience in ICT. He also contributes to The Inquirer website and Mobile Radio Technology magazine on a regular basis. With over a decade of experience in Internet and telecommunications reporting, Mr. Mohney was previously Editor-in-Chief at VON Magazine and a long-time contributor to Boardwatch magazine. During the dawn of the dot.com era, he was involved with two Internet start-ups (DIGEX, SkyCache/Cidera), watching one grow big and one go bust. Register today!

Dan O'Shea, Editor-in-Chief, FierceTelecom
Dan O'Shea is Editor of FierceTelecom and FierceIPTV. He has covered every segment of the telecom industry in more than 15 years as a trade publication editor and writer. Before coming to FierceMarkets, he was editor-in-chief of Telephony magazine. In addition to editing and writing, he has moderated panels at industry events, hosted webinars and conducted video and audion webcast interviews. He has been known to alter his facial hair styles on an extremely frequent basis. Register today!

Brian Partridge, Director, Enabling Technologies, Yankee Group
At Yankee Group, Brian Partridge focuses on the challenges that vendors, carriers and large enterprises face as voice and video services migrate to packet-based networks. Specifically, he examines market drivers, vendor/operator strategies, economic justification and critical technologies used for deploying and marketing next-generation VoIP and video infrastructure solutions. Prior to joining Yankee Group, Mr. Partridge served as senior director of marketing and business development at ReefEdge Networks, and was the worldwide director of industry analyst relations at 3Com Corporation. Mr. Partridge holds a B.S. degree in business administration from the University of New Hampshire and an M.B.A. from Plymouth State University. Register today!

Ivar Plahte, CEO & Co-Founder, OnRelay
Ivar Plahte is an experienced and visionary executive who sets the direction for OnRelay and actively contributes to its commercial and technical results. Mr. Plahte has established himself as a key thought leader in the Fixed Mobile Convergence space, and was in 2007 honored as one of the World Communications Awards’ 26 Most Influential Persons in Telecom. Prio to OnRelay, Mr. Plahte was Director of IP Telephony at Telenor and Global Product Manager for IP Services for Ericsson. Mr. Plahte holds a BS in Electrical Engineering and an MS in Computer Engineering and Computer Science from the University of California at Santa Barbara. Register today!

Clarke Ryan, VP of Wireless Business Unit, Sonus Networks
Clarke Ryan is responsible for the strategy and direction of Sonus's wireless division, including marketing, business planning and development. Specializing in wireless and wireline networks for public operators, Mr. Ryan is an industry veteran with over 31 years in the telecommunications industry. During his two years at Sonus, Mr. Ryan has been instrumental in successfully launching the company's wireless solutions into the global market. In February 2008, he launched mobileEdgeTM as the first dedicated solution to address wireless operator needs — the technology for which was integrated from Zynetix, whom Sonus acquired in 2007. Mr. Ryan holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering (BSEE) and an M.S. in Electrical Engineering (MSEE) from Columbia University's School of Engineering. Register today!

Scott Scharf, UCC Product Manager, Emerging Technology Office, BT Professional Services
Scott Scharf is responsible for the US UCC (Unified Collaboration and Communications) Professional Services, Managed Services and Conferencing Services portfolios. He is a driving force behind BT's UCC initiatives that provide business value and comprehensive solutions to meet the increasing needs of customers. Mr. Scharf has provided strategic planning guidance for global companies headquartered in the US, focused on developing UCC roadmaps and presence integration strategies for their business processes. He is currently focused on developing a comprehensive set of industry focused UCC business cases and ROI models for enterprises. Mr. Scharf has been consulting and implementing customer solutions for the last 25 years with a focus on communications, infrastructure, telephony solutions, and security solutions, along with managing projects and teams to deliver value that exceeds customer expectations. Register today!

Rob Scheible, Senior Marketing Manager, Carrier IP Voice and Multimedia Networks, Nortel
Robert Scheible has 24 years of experience in telecommunications including hardware, software and systems design, customer services, and product and strategic marketing. Mr. Scheible holds a Bachelors Degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and a Masters in Business Administration from the Fuqua Business School at Duke University. Register today!

Stephen Schilling, President and CEO, Cypress Communications
Stephen Schilling has over 20 years of experience in the telecom and data communications industry where he has specialized in turnarounds, start-ups and managing high-growth firms. Prior to Cypress, Mr. Schilling was the founder and President of Netifice Communications, a company he created in 1998 and led until its merger with MegaPath Networks. Prior to Netifice, Mr. Schilling was President and COO of Charter Communications International, and earlier he held executive positions at GE Capital-ResCom, MFS and RealCom Office Communications. He earned a B.S. in Administrative Management from Clemson University and an M.B.A. in International Business from Georgia State University. Register today!

Ann Swenson, Sr. Manager, Solutions Marketing, Unified Communications, Cisco
Ann Swenson is a Senior Manager of marketing for Unified Communications at Cisco. Ms. Swenson's current responsibilities include product marketing for end-to-end Unified Communications solutions, including market introductions and positioning. She currently leads a marketing team focused on media and call processing solutions for enterprise, mid-market and branch office communications and related applications. Ms. Swenson has over 20 years of experience in the industry, focused on product marketing of telephony and unified communications products. Prior to joining Cisco, she managed voice marketing efforts at Nortel, including market management of their hybrid and server-based enterprise solutions. Register today!

Moe Tanabian, Senior Principal, IBB Consulting Group
Moe Tanabian is a senior wireless management consultant with extensive international experience in helping mobile operators address their technical and business issues. Mr. Tanabian has been a key lead in recent deployments of FMC services for North American carriers in Canada and the US. Prior to joining IBB, Mr. Tanabian was with the wireless division of Nortel and assisted telecom clients for Arthur D. Little, a global management consulting firm. Mr. Tanabian holds a B.E. and M.S. in Systems and Computer Engineering from Carleton University, and an M.B.A. from Queen's University School of Business. He holds several patents in mobile applications and is a senior member of the IEEE. Register today!

Joan Vandermate, Vice President of Marketing, Video Solutions Group, Polycom Inc.
At Polycom, Joan Vandermate is responsible for the marketing of Polycom's video products and solutions worldwide, including product positioning, message development and managing global product launches. Ms. Vandermate joined Polycom in 2006 after spending over 10 years in product marketing and product management at Siemens Communications where, most recently, she was the VP of Product Line Management for North America. Prior to joining Siemens, she worked for more than a decade in the personal computing and internetworking industries where she gained extensive marketing, business development and sales management experience at companies such as Cabletron and Wall Data. Register today!

Peter Vicars, President and CEO, NewStep Networks
Peter Vicars has a highly successful global track record and over 30 years of experience in the networking and telecommunications industry. Mr. Vicars joined the founding team at Chantry Networks, a company in the competitive Wireless LAN (WLAN) space, which he subsequently sold to Siemens AG. Prior to that, he served as President and CEO of Cayman Systems, Inc, President and CEO of Teloquent Communications Corporation and President and CEO of Tekelec. A native of South Africa, Mr. Vicars has had both domestic and international management experience with such companies as Perkin Elmer, ITT (Qume) and Micropolis. He started his career as a software developer with Sperry Univac in the United Kingdom. Additionally, Mr. Vicars is a member of the boards of venture startups Circadiant Systems and Rivulet Communications. Register today!

David Waite, Director, Altman, Vilandrie & Co.
David Waite joined AV&Co. in 2006. With 16 years of experience in consulting, investment banking, and industry, Mr. Waite previously served as a Principal at ADVENTIS, a telecommunications strategy consulting firm. He works extensively with carriers, equipment providers, and investors, taking an analytical and quantitative approach to solving business issues related to market strategy, financial due diligence, product innovation and portfolio optimization, and operations improvement. Mr. Waite has also held senior positions at A.T. Kearney and a boutique European investment bank, where he managed financing and M&A transactions for emerging technology companies. Register today!

Ernie Wallerstein Jr., President Americas, Zeacom Communications Center
Ernie Wallerstein joined Zeacom with more than 15 years of sales and telecommunications management experience. Previously, he was Senior Vice-President of Sales for NextiraOne (now BlackBox Network Services) where he managed a sales organization of over 400 professionals providing enterprise solutions on Nortel, Alcatel, NEC and Cisco platforms. Prior to NextiraOne, Mr. Wallerstein was Director of Mid-Market Sales in the Americas for Genesys Laboratories Inc., a global leader in software solutions for contact centers. Mr. Wallerstein studied Electrical Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic University and Business Administration at St. Peter's College. Register today!

Charles White, Senior Vice President, Telecoms Segment Head, TNS Telecoms
In his role as SVP, Telecom Segment Leader for TNS, Charles White is responsible leading the telecom research group for TNS North America. Mr. White has held multiple positions at TNS, including SVP of Syndicated Solutions, Managing Director of Internet Business Development, and Product Manager of Telecommunications. Mr. White holds a B.S. in Marketing and Management of Information Systems and an M.B.A. in Finance from La Salle University in Philadelphia, PA, where he also serves as an Adjunct Professor of Marketing. Register today!

Eric Winsborrow, Chief Marketing Officer, Sipera Systems
Eric Winsborrow joined Sipera with 20 years of experience in both security and unified communications. Prior to Sipera, Mr. Winsborrow was the VP of Product Marketing for McAfee, where he conceived and executed the most successful launch in company history, Total Protection solutions, repositioning the company from anti-virus to security risk management. He also held executive positions at security companies, including Symantec, Sygate, and Cloudmark, and unified communications vendors Cisco, Lucent and Nortel. Mr. Winsborrow conducted his undergraduate studies in Engineering Physics and Economics at McMaster University in Canada, and completed his M.B.A. in International Business and Marketing in Japan. Register today!

Jonathan Zarkower, Director of Product Marketing, Acme Packet
Jonathan Zarkower brings more than twenty years of experience in computer technology and data/telecommunications in sales, sales engineering, product management and product marketing roles at many of the industry's leading equipment manufacturers including Wellfleet/Bay Networks, Nortel Networks and Lucent Technologies as well as a number of successful startups. In his role at Acme Packet, Mr. Zarkower is responsible for communicating the roles of products in wireline and wireless service provider, enterprise and contact center networks, as well as the benefits and advantages of Acme Packet’s family of industry-leading session border controllers (SBC), multi-service gateways (MSG) and session routing proxies (SRP). Register today!

David Zibelman, Area Vice President Channels Development, CosmoCom
David Zibelman, Area Vice President Channels Development, CosmoCom, Inc. has over two decades of call center industry experience, both as a call center operations manager and as a technology supplier. He has spent over 10 years working in product management and in business development for developers of call center recording and quality monitoring solutions for call center. At CosmoCom he is responsible for developing new channels as well as managing the relationship with strategic partners. Register today!

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