Speaker Profiles

The Path to 4G will feature experts, pioneers, and players leading the charge towards 4G. Check back often as we add new names to our roster of industry experts.

Georges Antoun, Head of Product Area IP & Broadband Networks, Ericsson
Georges Antoun is Head of Product Area IP & Broadband Networks (PAIB) for Ericsson.  Before joining Ericsson, Antoun was senior vice president of World Wide Sales & Operations at Redback (which Ericsson acquired in January 2007).  After the acquisition, he was promoted to CEO of the Redback entity.  Prior to this, Antoun spent five years at Cisco Systems where he served as vice president of worldwide systems engineering and field marketing, vice president of worldwide optical operations, and also served as vice president of carrier sales. Antoun holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, and a Masters degree in Information Systems Engineering from New York Polytechnic University.

Steve Bowker, CTO, AIRCOM International
Steve joined AIRCOM in 2007 and was recently appointed CTO. He is responsible for the development and implementation of AIRCOM’s technical strategy, as well as overseeing LTE and multi-technology SON solutions. Prior to his new role as CTO, Bowker held the position of Director of Solutions and Innovation, driving the OSS side of the business. In the 1990s he worked for One2One (now T-Mobile UK) where he  pioneered (in conjunction with Metrica) the first multi -vendor network performance management tool for mobile operators. Steve is a  Chartered Engineer and holds a BSc (hons) in Electronics from the University of  Manchester, Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) .  

Mark Collins, SVP of Data and Voice Products, AT&T Mobility
In this capacity, Mark Collins oversees AT&T’s multi-billion dollar consumer products portfolio of wireless and wired services, including wireless connectivity, messaging, premium services, ancillary services and international voice and data as well as the company’s Wi-Fi, wired broadband and wired voice services. Mark has more than 20 years of leadership experience in the telecommunications industry. Prior to his current role, he had profit and loss responsibility for the company’s wireless consumer products.  He holds a bachelor’s degree from Appalachian State University and a Masters of Business Administration from Duke University.

Hope Cochran, CFO, Clearwire
Hope Cochran is responsible for the company's accounting, finance, tax, financial planning, treasury, supply chain, logistics and investor relations functions. Prior to this, Cochran was senior vice president of finance and treasurer for Clearwire. Since joining Clearwire in November 2005, Cochran has been instrumental in leading Clearwire through its IPO and raising 11.5 billion in debt and equity funding. Prior to Clearwire, Cochran served as CFO of Evant Incorporated, a Bay Area planning and logistics software developer that was subsequently sold to Manhattan Associates. While at Evant, Cochran oversaw all corporate finance, accounting, human resources, legal and facilities activities.

Mike Dano, Executive Editor, Telecom Group, FierceMarkets
Mike Dano has more than 10 years of experience in journalism and has been covering the wireless industry for more than eight years. He previously worked at RCR Wireless News, first as a reporter covering the mobile content and handset beats, and then as the publication’s online editor.



Randy Fuller, Director of Strategic Marketing, Tekelec
Randy Fuller has more than 18 years of marketing, sales and business development experience with software, networking and consulting firms, ranging from start-ups to Fortune 100 organizations.  He comes to Tekelec from the company’s acquisition of policy control leader Camiant, where he was vice president of business development.  A skilled market-assessment leader, Fuller has managed product and industry marketing efforts spanning competitive analysis, press/analyst relations, lead development, sales training and account management functions. Fuller earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Duke University.

John Giere, Senior VP, Products and Marketing, Openwave Systems, Inc.
As senior vice president of products and marketing, John Giere is responsible for growing the company’s global market position, bringing carrier-grade solutions to service providers around the world as well as developing business with new and existing accounts.  John has over 20 years of experience in management, marketing and business development. Prior to joining Openwave, John served as chief marketing officer of Alcatel Lucent (and Lucent Technologies previously), where he spearheaded global marketing initiatives and go-to-market strategies which led to the successful positioning and sales of new solutions.  He holds an MBA from the University of Maryland and a BS degree from Georgetown University.

Emmy Johnson, Founder & Principal Analyst, Sky Light Research
Emmy Johnson is the Principal Analyst and Founder of Sky Light Research, specializing in wireless last mile equipment technologies and the applications that drive them.  This includes, microwave point-to-point radios, wireless broadband point-to-multipoint technologies, such as WiMAX, and proprietary technologies; and wireless Ethernet point-to-point bridges.  She has over a decade of experience as a market analyst with firms such as Cahners In-Stat Group and Synergy Research Group where she was the lead analyst covering a wide range of wireless and data networking technologies.  This diverse background has given her a solid understanding of ATM and circuit based networks and what is required as these transition to IP.

Chris Koopmans, Founding Engineer, VP, Product Development, Bytemobile
Chris Koopmans, a founding engineer at Bytemobile in 2000, is responsible for engineering, product management and information technology (IT). He has over 10 years of industry experience in hardware and software engineering and architecture. In the past ten years at Bytemobile, he has held a wide range of technical leadership positions. Most recently, he served as chief architect, with direct responsibility for the Unison Smart Capacity Platform and suite of mobile data, web, multimedia, and advertising services. Previous management assignments included director of Engineering for Optimization Services Node (OSN) handset solutions. He earned a B.S. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering with Highest Honors from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Grant Lenahan, Vice President and Strategist, Service Delivery; Chief Strategy Office, Telcordia
Grant Lenahan leads the market direction and evolution of Telcordia’s service delivery suite, especially those related to charging, policy, content and personalization for SDP, IMS and converged network environments.  His focus is on networks that enable a broad value chain to deliver a wide range of highly personalized, relevant multimedia services. Lenahan is a columnist and author of numerous papers in the areas of IMS, NGN, convergent services, and wireless services.

Sunil Marolia, VP, Product Management, Smith Micro Software
Sunil Marolia is in charge of product strategy and roadmap for wireless and mobility products. Prior to his work with Smith Micro Software, Marolia lead the product management and marketing functions at Hewlett-Packard in the Mobility Solutions Group. He also held the position of vice president of product marketing and pre-sales at Bitfone Corporation, where he pioneered the market definition and technology strategy for over-the-air (OTA) device management solutions, including firmware updates and remote diagnostics. Marolia holds a BSEE from the University of California, Los Angeles, and an MBA from the University of California, Irvine.

Sue Marek, Editor-In-Chief, FierceWireless
Sue 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' Wireless Telecom Group of publications, including FierceBroadbandWireless, FierceDeveloper, FierceMobileContent, and FierceWireless:Europe. Marek is the Chairman of The Path to 4G.

Philip Marshall, Ph.D., Chief Research Officer, Tolaga Research
Phil Marshall is the Chief Research Officer of Tolaga, where he leads its software architecture and development, and directs Tolaga's thought leadership for the mobile industry. Before founding Tolaga, Dr Marshall was an Executive at Yankee Group for nine years, and most recently led its global service provider technology research globally, spanning wireless, wireline, and broadband technologies and telecommunication regulation. Marshall has 20 years experience in the wireless communications industry. He has a PhD degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering and is a Senior Member of the IEEE.

Paul Obsitnik, SVP of Business Development, BridgeWave Communications
Paul Obsitnik has more than 17 years experience in sales, marketing and business development positions and a proven track record in technology companies. His areas of focus & expertise include strategic planning, market development, product management and product marketing. Prior to BridgeWave, Obsitnik served in executive and senior management marketing and business development positions at Venturi Wireless, TeleCommunication Systems, ONI Systems and NorthPoint Communications. Paul holds a BSEE degree from the United States Naval Academy and MBA from the Harvard Graduate School of Business.

Nicola Palmer, VP - Network , Verizon Wireless
Nicola Palmer is responsible for Verizon Wireless’ network support, including overall systems performance and quality assurance.  In addition, she is responsible for implementation of new products and services within the network, along with transport interconnect, supplier management and ensuring regulatory compliance.Previously, Nicola served as Vice President of Video Services, where she was responsible for broadcast and on-demand content operations, ad insertion and franchising negotiation, and overall video program management and performance assurance.Nicola graduated from Penn State University with a BS Degree in Industrial Engineering and from The Wharton School with a Masters in Business Administration.

Chris Pearson, President, 4G Americas
Chris Pearson, President of 4G Americas, is responsible for the strategic planning of the organization and providing executive management in the areas of technology, marketing, public relations, and regulatory affairs. Pearson has more than 23 years of experience in the telecommunications industry. Pearson earned a Master of Business Administration degree from The Albers School of Business and Economics at Seattle University and a Bachelor of Arts degree with emphasis in Marketing and Finance from the University of Washington.

Kris Rinne, Senior VP—Architecture & Planning, AT&T
Kris Rinne is responsible for wireless industry standards development, long range technology planning, and the network and device planning for new products and services for wireless at AT&T. She also has broader network architecture responsibility for the corporation as a whole. Prior to this position, Rinne served as Cingular’s chief technology officer with similar responsibilities. She earlier served as vice president—Technology and Product Realization, responsible for new product development from a technology standpoint, handset certification, and infrastructure vendor coordination. Prior to joining Cingular, she was vice president—Technology Strategy for SBC Wireless, responsible for new product development and network operations support. She has worked for Southwestern Bell Mobile Systems as managing director—Operations.

Todd Rowley, VP of 4G, Sprint
Todd Rowley has responsibilities for leading Sprint’s strategic relationships and partnering efforts with 4G.  He has helped lead the 4G business unit - developing, implementing and driving execution of Sprint’s go-to-market plans with 4G, in conjunction with the Sprint/Clearwire venture. Rowley has over 20 years in the wireless and cable industries and has been with Sprint for the past ten years.  Prior to his recent position, he was vice president of corporate development, but has held various positions at Sprint, including responsibility for Corporate Development, Strategy, Roaming, Spectrum Management and Fixed Wireless Broadband operations. Rowley played an instrumental role in developing Sprint's 4G business plan and, most recently, in the Sprint/Clearwire transaction.

Manish Singh, VP, Product Line Management, Continuous Computing
Manish Singh was named vice president of product line management in January 2008. Most recently he served as Continuous Computing’s vice president of field engineering and formerly as vice president of engineering. Singh is an experienced leader who brings over 15 years of experience in telecommunications product design and development. Prior to Continuous Computing, Singh held various engineering management and architect positions at Intel Corporation, Trillium Digital Systems, and C-DOT (Center for Development of Telematics). Singh has an M.S. degree in computer science from India Institute of Science, Bangalore and a B.S. degree in electronics and telecommunication from Shri G.S. Institute of Technology & Science, Indore.

David Small, Senior VP and CTO, Verizon Wireless
In his current role, David Small is responsible for planning, engineering, building and operating Verizon Wireless’ industry-leading voice and data networks, including its growing 4G LTE, the nation’s fastest and the world’s most advanced data network. Previously, Small was president of the company’s Northeast Area, responsible for the company's operations in the New England, New York Metro, Philadelphia Tri-State, Upstate New York, and Washington/Baltimore/Virginia regions. Small has held a number of leadership positions within Verizon Communications. He has served as president of Verizon’s wholesale business unit with responsibility for strategic planning, sales and marketing, and operations of local and long-distance services. He has also served as vice president of Verizon Access Services and managed ordering, design, provisioning and maintenance of wholesale network services in 19 states and the District of Columbia. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Purdue University and an M.B.A. from Ball State University.

Jay Stewart, Director of Ethernet Solutions, JDSU
Jay Stewart is an industry expert in the data/IP and services testing field with over 18 years of experience. Stewart’s contributions in areas of Ethernet, IMP and fixed-mobile convergence strategy are behind some of JDSU’s top service assurance solutions deployed by providers today.

Iyad Tarazi, VP Network Development & Engineering, Sprint
Iyad Tarazi is responsible for the development and integration of new products and technologies within Sprint’s wireless and wire line networks and for the engineering of the RF and core networks.  He is also responsible for managing Sprint Nextel’s technology Integration labs. Tarazi oversees an operating budget of $500M and a capital budget of approximately $1.5B.  Iyad has been with Sprint Nextel since 1998. Prior to the Sprint Nextel merger, Tarazi provided leadership to Nextel’s Network Engineering department.  Tarazi received his BSEE from the University of Maryland and holds a Master’s of Science in Engineering Management from Southern Methodist University.

Andy Walker, Director of Portfolio Solutions, Ciena
Andy Walker is charged with leading Ciena's strategy in mobility and wireless backhaul and managing the portfolio solutions in this space. Andy has worked for several telecommunications equipment manufacturers, holding various management positions in product management, product marketing, and sales engineering. Most of his professional career has converged around data networking architectures and opportunities for service providers with a global geographical focus. Andy holds Bachelor's and Master's Degrees in Engineering from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.


Dan Warren, Senior Director of Technology, GSMA
Dan Warren is senior director of technology at the GSMA and joined the organization in 2007. He currently leads the GSMA’s Voice over LTE (VoLTE) initiative and is responsible for driving forward and promoting the global adoption of Mobile Broadband technologies such as High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) and Long-Term Evolution (LTE). He also acts as a technology subject matter expert across all of the GSMA’s initiatives and working groups.  Prior to joining the GSMA, Warren held senior technical positions at Vodafone and Nortel.  Warren has a degree in Mathematics and a PhD in Applied Mathematics.

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