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Michael Thelander, CEO and Founder, Signals Research Group Michael Thelander is the CEO and Founder of Signals Research Group, LLC (SRG), a US-based research consultancy that offers thought-leading field research and consulting services on the wireless telecommunications industry. Its flagship research product is a research product entitled “Signals Ahead,” which has attracted a strong following across the entire wireless ecosystem with corporate subscribers on five continents. The consultancy also published the first independent study of next-generation wireless economics, which many industry followers consider to be the preeminent study of its kind. In his current endeavor, Mr. Thelander is the lead analyst for Signals Ahead and he guides a team of industry experts that provide consulting services for the wireless industry, including some of the largest mobile operators, the top equipment OEMs, trade associations, and financial institutions.Prior to founding SRG, Mr. Thelander was an analyst with Deutsche Bank Equity Research where he followed the wireless industry. Prior to joining Deutsche Bank, Mr. Thelander was a consultant with KPMG (now known as BearingPoint) and a communications officer with the United States Army. Mr. Thelander has also published numerous articles for leading trade publications and engineering journals throughout his career. He has been an invited speaker at industry conferences around the world, including Mobile World Congress, CTIA, the global series of Informa LTE summits, and 4G World. He is also frequently quoted by major news sources and industry newsletters, including The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, Business Week, The New York Times, Financial Times, Reuters, Bloomberg News, RCR Wireless News, Fierce Wireless and Wireless Week. Mr. Thelander earned a Masters of Science in Solid State Physics from North Carolina State University and a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Chicago, Graduate School of Business. |
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Iain Gillott, President and Founder, iGR Iain Gillott, the founder and president of iGR, is an acknowledged wireless and mobile industry authority and an accomplished presenter. Mr. Gillott has been involved in the wireless industry, as both a vendor and analyst, for more than thirteen years. He is a frequent speaker on industry issues and trends and has addressed audiences around the world and at many of the leading industry trade shows, including CES, SuperComm, WiMAX World, BREW, 3G Americas, and CTIA. He has also been a guest lecturer on the wireless industry at the University of Texas and at Thunderbird. In addition, he is frequently quoted in various publications, including Investors Business Daily, the Wall Street Journal, Telephony, RCR, Newsweek International, Wireless Week, and Business Week and has appeared on CNN, CNBC, and TechTV. |
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Kevin Kunkel, Vice President, Western Region, Sprint-Nextel Based in the Los Angeles area, Kunkel is responsible for all sales, operations, and management of Sprint Nextel’s industry leading share of business and public sector customers in the western half of the U.S. Prior to his current position, Kunkel held various executive positions for Sprint’s business, consumer, and indirect organizations. |
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Amir Makleff, President and CEO, BridgeWave Communications Amir Makleff co-founded BridgeWave Communications in 1999. Previously, he served as COO and Senior VP of Engineering at Netro for three years. Prior to Netro, he was General Manager and VP of Engineering at Telco Systems and Nortel. Makleff’s proven ability to conceive and manage new, interdisciplinary products is complemented by his leadership and market vision. |
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Khurram P. Sheikh, CTO & President, Powerwave Technologies Khurram P. Sheikh is presently Chief Technology Officer of Powerwave Technologies. Mr. Sheikh joined the company in August 2007 in his current capacity and is also the Chairman of the Powerwave Technical Advisory Board. In this role he leads the global product/business units for the company as well the global teams for research and development.Mr. Sheikh was employed by Time Warner Cable from August 2005 through 2007, as Vice President, Wireless Strategy and Development where he was responsible for the cable and media company’s entry into the wireless space. Between 2000 and 2005, Mr. Sheikh was Chief Technology Advisor for various divisions within Sprint where he led the next generation advanced technology efforts for the company. Mr. Sheikh is widely recognized in the industry for his pioneering efforts in the development of mobile wireless broadband or “4G” wireless technology including WiMAX and LTE. Mr. Sheikh received advanced graduate degrees in Electrical Engineering with specialization in Wireless Communications from Stanford University. He also completed an executive development course in Product Development from the Harvard Business School. |
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Jim Johnston, CTO, Mindspeed Technologies Jim Johnston is the chief technical officer (CTO) of the communications convergence processing (CCP) business unit at Mindspeed Technologies, Inc. where he oversees Mindspeed’s media (VoIP) and wireless (4G/LTE) technology initiatives.Mr. Johnston has been in the semiconductor and systems sector for over 25 years and has held a number of technical and executive level positions including vice president of engineering in the multiservice access business at Mindspeed and executive director of the Media Signal Processing Center of Excellence in the personal computing division at Conexant Systems. He previously served as a Rockwell Engineering Fellow in the digital communications division of Rockwell International.Mr. Johnston received a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of California, Irvine and a master’s degree in international business administration from California State University, Fullerton. |
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George Horesta, Vice President and Principal, In-Building-Wireless George Horesta is Vice President and Principal at In-Building-Wireless. He has been a pioneer in the in-building industry, founding In-Building-Wireless in 1999 and turning it into a multi-million dollar enterprise and doubling revenue for 6 straight years. Since founding In-Building-Wireless, Mr. Horesta has established key partnerships and supplier relationships with the 4 major U.S. wireless carriers and OEM equipment manufacturers allowing him to provide complex, end-to-end wireless solutions. He has over 20 years experience in product management and sales development in both telecommunication and construction projects. He has managed high-visibility, multi-year, multi-million dollar projects. Mr. Horesta’s areas of expertise include cutting edge technologies such as wireless voice & data applications, in-building systems, convergence, 2G, 3G, and 4G (WiMAX/LTE). |
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Michael Finegan, West Area Manager, Solutions Engineering, Emerging Solutions Group, Sprint-Nextel Michael is a member of Sprint’s Emerging Solutions Group (ESG) and leads the West Area M2M Solution Engineering team. Sprint’s ESG charter is to identify and seek out high value retail and wholesale machine-to-machine and embedded systems solutions across all channels and all markets. He is on Sprint’s M2M Collaboration Center Advisory Council created to develop new ecosystem partners to support “Rapid Solution Development” that leverage CDMA (1xRTT advanced and 3G), and 4G technologies including WiMAX and LTE.Michael has been in the telecommunications industry for 14 years and started his tenure at Sprint in 1997. Michael specializes in designing Wireless and Wire Line WAN topologies, implementing Machine-to-Machine and Telemetry solutions as well as MPLS, Dedicated IP, IP Telephony, SIP Trunking. He previously provided technical sales support for a systems integration company, selling client server applications and consulting services. |
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Dan Leaf, Director of DAS, Tempest Telecom Solutions As the Director DAS Operations at Tempest Telecom Solutions, Dan Leaf has over 15 years of experience spanning both the wireless and telecommunications industries. Dan is responsible for coordinating all activities as they relate to major carrier support including client business plans, site strategies, technology options and design, implementation, and long-term platform support. Dan manages all facets of strategy as it pertains to creating and managing manufacture alliances, addressing the dynamic requirements of large customers, and aligning Tempest DAS Division resources to provide accurate, timely, and affordable system installations. Dan was the President and CEO of Leaf Communication Services, acquired by Tempest Telecom Solutions in July 2011. |
| Loni Le Van-Etter, Application Engineer, 3M Company Loni Le Van-Etter, a native Texan, is an Electrical Engineer (BSEE UT San Antonio 1999) with 13 years experience with Telecommunications and broadband networking. She is currently specialized in wireless and in building networks infrastructure development at 3M Company, including support for indoor distributed antenna systems, iDAS, and other emerging in building network technologies such as passive optical LAN systems. She is also a member of various industry association groups including the DAS Forum and the IWPC. In her various roles, she has been instrumental and successful in developing technical product strategy and in helping lead the way to market for newly developed technology products. Ms. Le Van-Etter is currently serving as an Applications Engineer responsible for developing and promoting the commercialization of products for the 3M Communications Markets Division Wireless Business Unit. |
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Deep Grewal, Director of Business Development LTE Solutions-Public Safety Communication, Motorola Deep Grewal currently serves as a key member of the LTE Sales and Business Development Team at Motorola Solutions that is responsible for sales, business development, and overall strategy for the next generation of Public Safety Networks. Deep Grewal currently leads the broadband initiatives within the Federal Government sector and the Utilities Markets by developing beneficial and viable public and private partnerships. Deep Grewal brings many valuable years of key experience that is comprised of international telecommunications, technology development, business development, sales, and a variety of senior management roles. Prior to his current assignment, Deep served in a technical sales and business development role with Cisco Systems in the Federal Civilian Market. During his tenure at Cisco, he was able to rapidly build strong customer relationships as well as internally within Cisco as a direct result of his highly motivated solution selling approach which incorporated customer’s fiscal limitations without compromising technical or business requirements. |
| Michael T. N. Fitch, President & CEO, PCIA Michael Fitch is President and CEO of PCIA – the Wireless Infrastructure Association. Prior to PCIA, Fitch held senior positions in industry and government. He began his career at the Federal Communications Commission as an attorney and advanced through management positions to Bureau Chief and Senior Legal and International Advisor to the Chairman. Fitch moved from the FCC to the U.S. Department of State, where he was an Office Director and Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Communications and Information Policy. He headed U.S. delegations to International Telecommunication Union and Inmarsat conferences as well as bilateral negotiations with other countries. From the State Department, Fitch moved to Hughes Communications as Vice President for Spectrum Management. After the acquisition of Hughes Space and Communications by Boeing, he continued in that responsibility for Boeing Satellite Systems and was also responsible for new Homeland Security programs. Fitch received a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University and a Juris Doctor degree from Columbia University. |
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Osmo Hautanen, CEO & Board Member, Magnolia Broadband Osmo Hautanen, CEO of Magnolia Broadband Inc. is a wireless communications industry veteran with over 25 years experience leading global leading companies and pioneering start-up operations. Prior to joining Magnolia Broadband, Mr. Hautanen served as the CEO of Fenix LLC, the holding company for Union Pacific Corporation non railroad business, managing a multi-billion dollar portfolio of technology assets. He also had served as CEO of Denver-based Formus Communications, an international wireless communications company prior to Fenix. Mr. Hautanen was President of Americas for Philips Consumer Communications group, a joint venture between Philips Electronics and Lucent. As an 18-year veteran of Nokia, he started and built a new division for Personal Communications Services in 1994, which lead Nokia’s dominance in the North American handset market. Mr. Hautanen also served in multi-discipline roles within Nokia and was a member of their Management Board. |
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John Celentano, Marketing Manager, TESSCO John Celentano works in Carrier Strategic Marketing at TESSCO Technologies, the big wireless equipment distributor. He has over 25 years experience in telecom. He has worked in engineering and operations for a major service provider, in sales and marketing with several equipment manufacturers, and as an independent marketing consultant. He writes and speaks often on subjects related to wireline and wireless broadband network infrastructure. |
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Ronny A. Haraldsvik, Senior Vice-President/Chief Marketing Officer, BelAir Networks Ronny joined BelAir Networks as the company’s first Senior Vice President/Chief Marketing Officer. A Silicon Valley veteran, Ronny has more than 22 years of global strategic marketing and industry experience from a range of technology segments including Radio Access Networks, Small Cells, Wi-Fi, web and video optimization, wireline networking and IP services, RFID, personal computing, wafer fabrication, software, and consumer devices.Most recently, Ronny was the VP of Global Marketing at Bytemobile, Inc., a company now recognized as a leader in video optimization. At Bytemobile, he led the launch of the company’s new Adaptive Traffic Management initiative.Previously, Ronny was vice president of marketing with SpiderCloud Wireless, a company he joined right after its Series A funding. While at Qualcomm, Inc., Ronny was the vice president of strategy and market development and vice president of marketing for mobile broadband. Ronny was also the vice president of marketing at Flarion Technologies, a company acquired by Qualcomm. At Flarion, Mr. Haraldsvik led all marketing efforts in support of industry awareness for Flarion and the introduction of its FLASH-OFDM technology. Before joining Flarion, he was the vice president of marketing with Nortel Networks’ Shasta IP Services business unit. Former positions include director of North America’s field marketing organization while with Bay Networks (acquired by Nortel Networks) and senior manager positions with Silicon Graphics as well as several leading advertising agencies in San Francisco and Silicon Valley. Mr. Haraldsvik holds a BA from the University of San Francisco. |
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Anthony Martwick, Public Safety/Government Solutions Architect, Verizon Wireless Anthony Martwick is a Vertical Solutions Architect Public Safety/Government for Verizon Wireless Western United States Areas. Anthony is a graduate of Sacramento State Business School and honorably service 8 years with US Navy Reserve. He has more than 23years of experience in the wireless industry and has been with Verizon Wireless since 2005. His Wireless background includes extensive experience while at USWest, MCI & WorldCom in developing wireless communications protocols surrounding disaster planning, mitigation, & continuity of operations (COOP) for Federal and State/Local Agencies, establishing unified interoperability and situational awareness solutions, mobilizing enterprise applications, along with strategic application integration & consulting. His responsibilities today with Verizon include National Public Safety 700mhz PSST/D-Block solution modeling, Architecting Public Safety solutions for EOCs/MCCs/911 CAD, and Solutions & Technologies for 1stResponder Public Safety Agencies. |
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Pedro Miraz, Director DAS Project Development & Land Use, Crown CastleMr. Miraz has over 22 years of wireless experience. He spent 17 years with Verizon Wireless in Southern California where he held several positions including Equipment Engineer, Manager of Network Implementation, and Director of Network Engineering. He has successfully led both small and large teams in the attainment of aggressive deployment goals in the challenging Southern California market. In addition, under his leadership, his teams have successfully deployed hundreds of fiber-fed DAS nodes to provide coverage and capacity relief in Southern California. He has been with Crown Castle since 2008 and has successfully deployed multiple DAS system across the country. Through his guidance and leadership, Crown has successfully expanded its DAS staff as well as its national presence. |
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Dr. Kenneth Stewart, Chief Technology Officer Wireless, TE ConnectivityDr. Stewart joined TE Connectivity in June 2011, and is responsible for the research and development of TE Connectivity’s Distributed Antenna System (DAS) and related technology for small cell wireless solutions.Most recently, Dr. Stewart was Vice President, Standards and Research at Motorola Mobile Devices, Motorola’s sector sourcing consumer mobile devices. He led Motorola Mobile Devices’ Standards and Research Laboratory, and was responsible for international standards and research efforts in areas ranging from radio access networks, through multimedia systems to mobile applications and services. He served as advisor to Motorola Mobile Devices senior leadership on fundamental technical and strategic issues regarding the performance and evolution of radio access networks, multimedia technology, and applications systems.Dr. Stewart has engineered, reduced to practice, and delivered advanced receiver designs and implementations in Motorola base stations and mobile devices for CDMA, GSM and WCDMA, and has also been closely involved in the development of multiple international wireless interface standards. Advanced research in 3GPP and IEEE air interface technology generation remains a particular interest of Dr. Stewart, including realization of 3GPP High Speed Packet Access (HSDPA and HSUPA), 3GPP LTE and LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), and new cell topologies including small cells.Dr. Stewart has held the position of Motorola Dan Noble Fellow (awarded to Motorola’s 100 top engineers) and Motorola Science Advisory Associate. He holds more than 35 issued patents, with multiple patents pending. He is a graduate of the Institute for Communications and Signal Processing at the University of Strathclyde. |
