SPEAKERS
Tom Anderson is a Principal Engineer responsible for Mobility Standards, Architecture and Evolution in the Mobility CTO at Cisco. In this position, he manages wireless network technology evolution, strategy, standards and architecture. As a 30+ year veteran of the mobility / telecommunications industry, Tom has been active in mobile telecommunications standards activities and has held numerous positions in the areas of architecture, product development, systems engineering, and product management. His most recent work has focused on Network Function Virtualization (NFV), end-to-end SON and network optimization, and standards strategy. He currently co-chairs the ATIS NFV Forum looking at inter-administrative domain NFV based service chaining applications.
Sanjeev Athalye leads the Product Management and technical marketing activities for cellular technologies at Qualcomm Research including 5G, LTE, 3G, small cells and RF innovations. His career spans systems test, systems engineering, standards engineering and product management of cellular wireless systems and chipsets. Sanjeev has an MSEE from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles.
Gabriel covers the mobile network system architecture, including evolution of the RAN, the mobile core, and service-layer platforms. Key technologies in his coverage area include LTE Advanced, Evolved Packet Core, and software-centric networking technologies such as NFV, SDN and service chaining.
Gabriel has covered mobile networking since 1998 through published research, live events, operator surveys and custom consulting. Prior to joining Heavy Reading, Gabriel was Chieaf Analyst for Light Reading’s Insider research service; before that, he was editor of IP Wireline and Wireless Week at London's Euromoney Institutional Investor. He is based in London.
Brian Daly manages the strategic standards engineering team focusing on 4G LTE evolved packet and IP multimedia subsystem, NFV/SDN, cybersecurity, small cells, machine-to-machine, regulatory topics including wireless emergency alerts, SMS to 9-1-1 and NG9-1-1, stolen handsets, public safety broadband, and the PSTN transition. Brian is leading AT&T’s research into 5G use cases, requirements, and technologies. Brian co-led the 4G Americas project developing an America’s view on 5G requirements.
Brian holds several industry leadership positions, including co-chair of the FCC’s Technological Advisory Council Advanced Sharing and Enabling Technologies working group and the Mobile Device Theft Prevention working group. Brian also co-leads a working group under the FCC’s Communication Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council investigating Wireless Emergency Alert enhancements. Brian is Chair of the North American Fraud Forum and Security Group under the GSM Association’s North American Regional Interest Group which developed guidelines for Stolen Handsets and the use of the GSM Association’s Global IMEI Database, and is on the CTIA’s Cybersecurity Working Group.
Brian holds a Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Arizona State University with an emphasis in electromagnetic engineering (antennas and microwaves) and communication systems. Brian holds over 100 patents in the telecommunications field.
Gerry Flynn is Director of Corporate Technology at Verizon Communications leading Verizon’s Wireless Standardization work in Industry Forums and Partnership Projects and a key part of Verizon’s Advanced Technology Strategy team. He is the primary GSMA contact for Verizon’s participation in Programs and Working Group Projects and a member of the GSMA Product and Services Management Committee.
He and his team are currently focused on the future evolution of LTE Network architecture and 5G for IP based services and applications.
During his 30 plus years of Wireless Industry experience, Gerry has managed a combination of Technical, Business, Regulatory and Operations positions of increasing responsibility. Gerry has a Bachelor and Masters degree from Fordham University and a senior member of the IEEE.
Dr. Arun Ghosh is the Director of the Advanced Wireless Technologies in AT&T Labs. He leads a team of researchers in AT&T Labs and is responsible for development of new technology and concepts related to wireless communications. Amongst other his responsibility includes researching new technology related 5G such as massive MIMO, self-backhauling ultra-dense network, mmWave technology. Currently he is also involved in building several mmWave testbed in AT&T Labs intended for the purposes of developing and testing the essential building blocks of 5G. His background is in digital communication and signal processing and in the past he has also worked extensively on various subjects such as MIMO, interference cancellation, cloud RAN, advanced system architecture in the context of 3G and 4G. Dr. Ghosh also represents AT&T in various standards organization such as 3GPP, IEEE, and WiMAX. He has also authored several bestselling books on LTE and WiMAX. He received his PhD from University Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and his undergraduate from Indian Institute of Technology.
Stephen Hayes is the Director of Standards for Ericsson in North America. He is responsible for Ericsson involvement in all standards within North America, however his primary focus in on ATIS and 3GPP. Within both ATIS and 3GPP he has held various leadership positions such as chair of the CT and SA groups and is currently involved in efforts to define 5G.
He has written various articles for IEEE communications and holds numerous patents in the area of telecommunications. Mr. Hayes resides in Flower Mound, Texas.
Jim McEachern is an accomplished communications expert, with a strong track record of technology innovation. At ATIS, McEachern leads strategic initiatives involving communications and infrastructure providers, and focuses heavily on the convergence of hardware and software technologies to enable improved time to market and cost reductions, advanced cybersecurity frameworks for hardening networks and systems, mobile application expansion, and integration of end-user applications and analytics within national and international networks.
McEachern has 30 years of network and product planning experience covering VoIP, Service Management, SONET/SDH, high-speed access (DSL, cable, and fiber), wireless networks, fixed wireless access, operations, and data networking. He has extensive experience working with North American and international Service Providers, and played a leadership role in several key standards, including H.248, OSS through Java, and SONET. McEachern served as the MultiService Forum (MSF) President and was elected an MSF Senior Fellow in 2010.
McEachern joined ATIS in 2012, and previously worked for GENBAND and Nortel.
McEachern graduated with an Honors BSc. from the Royal Military College, in Kingston Ontario, Canada.
Susan is President and Chief Executive Officer of ATIS and has been in this role since 1999. She is credited with bringing an innovative, market-driven approach to the development of solutions and standards for the ICT industry and as a result, continues to expand ATIS' reach and activities. Under her leadership, ATIS redefined the manner in which ICT business priorities are identified, and technical and operational solutions and standards are subsequently developed. Connecting the industry's direction and ATIS members' business priorities with needed solutions and standards has attracted a blue-ribbon Board of Chief Technology Officers, Chief Information Officers and senior executives.
Prior to her appointment as President, she served as the Association's Vice President and General Counsel. In that capacity, she played an integral role in setting the direction and ultimate evolution as to where the organization is today. Before joining ATIS, Susan practiced telecommunications law at Weil, Gotshal and Manges.
In addition to her role at ATIS, Susan has served in a number of other roles including the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Board of Directors; the International Engineering Consortium Advisory Council; member of the FCC's Communications Security, Reliability, and Interoperability Council (CSRIC); and the Institute for Teaching and Learning Excellence at Oklahoma State University. She also led ATIS' delegation to the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) and ATIS' delegation to the Global Standards Collaboration. Susan is a graduate of Dickinson College and Catholic University's Columbus School of Law.
In 2011, Susan made Billing and OSS World's List of the 25 Most Influential. Previously, she was recognized by FierceTelecom as one of the "2010 Top Women in Wireline."
Hans-Juergen Schmidtke is part of a team that is Engineering Facebook's network infrastructure. In previous roles at Juniper Networks, he was VP of Product Management in the CTO office, VP of Advanced Technologies and Chief Architect for Converged Core. In these roles, he was responsible for the architecture of SDN, data center, access, core, edge solution and WLAN. Before joining Juniper he was Head of the Fixed Network Operator Business in North America for Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) that is now part of Nokia. Over the years at NSN and Siemens Communications, he has held positions in product management and general management in both Germany and the US. He worked on various aspects of optical physics and communications technology from advanced research to product development to real-world large-scale deployments.
Heidi Wilson is a market strategist with over 15 years in all aspects of commercialization, from partnerships and channel management to sales engagement and marketing. At TELUS she is responsible for Strategic Alliances and Partner Strategy for machine-to-machine; she has also previously championed for TELUS the introduction of mHealth, mobile applications and managed mobility. Prior to her time in the wireless industry, she opened new lending markets in Oil & Gas at GE Capital while developing innovative new financing products for their customers, and served as product manager for a variety of start-up technology companies.
Passionate about market-centric strategies, translating market need into profitable growth, and cooperative go-to-market models, she most often finds herself in emerging business-to-business markets where confusion is rampant and a clear commercial strategy is essential.
Heidi received her MBA from McGill University in 1999, and holds a Bachelor of Arts from DePauw University in her home state of Indiana.
