Keynote Speaker:
Barry West
President & Chief Architect
Clearwire

Glenn Lurie
President of Emerging Devices
AT&T

Anthony Lewis
Vice President, Open Development
Verizon





Todd Rowley
Vice President of 4G
Sprint


Scott McElroy
Vice President, Technology Realization
AT&T

David Keegstra
Director, Wireless Access Technology
TELUS

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.

Arun Bhikshesvaran, Chief Technology Officer, Ericsson, Inc.

Mr. Arun Bhikshesvaran has over 15 years of experience in the wireless communications industry.  He has been with Ericsson since 1995 and is currently CTO and Vice President of Strategy for Ericsson in North America. Mr. Bhikshesvaran is responsible for identifying Ericsson's long-term vision, defining the overall company strategy and drive business value creation for Ericsson’s customers. 

He has served in a variety of roles within the industry including Systems Solutions and Integration, Field Engineering, R&D and Global Product Marketing.

Mr. Bhikshesvaran has a Masters Degree in Electrical Engineering and has completed a Post Graduate Executive Program at Columbia Business School.

John Bruggeman, Chief Marketing Officer, Wind River
As Chief Marketing Officer of Wind River, John Bruggeman oversees Wind River's product planning and management, corporate marketing, and regional marketing. Bruggeman joined the company in February 2004.
Bruggeman brings more than 20 years of diverse marketing experience to Wind River. Prior to joining Wind River, he was Vice President of Marketing at Mercury Interactive Corporation, where he successfully revitalized the marketing organization by defining and creating a new category space. At Mercury, Bruggeman led the company's rebranding efforts and launched a new sales enablement model focused not on products, but on enterprise-wide solutions. Bruggeman has also held a variety of marketing positions at Alventive, America Online, Netscape, Lucent, and Octel Communications.
Bruggeman earned a Bachelor of Science degree in statistics and computer science from San Jose State University and a Master of Science degree in mathematics from the University of Connecticut.

John Butler, Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President, DigitalBridge Communications
Mr. Butler has responsibility for finance, accounting, strategy, and financial planning for DigitalBridge.  He spent the past four years as the Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President of Clearwire Corporation.  While at Clearwire, he supported the company’s growth from 9,000 subscribers in 2005 to over 470,000 subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2008, and assisted in the raising of over $6 billion in financing, most recently helping to facilitate the $3.2 billion investment from strategic investors including Intel, Google, Comcast, and Time Warner.

Prior to Clearwire, Butler had over 14 years of experience in the finance and telecommunications industries.  Mr. Butler served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Valor Communications Group Inc., from March 2000 to March 2005. Before joining Valor Communications Group, Butler served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Commonwealth Telephone Enterprises, Inc. from 1998 to 2000. Prior to 1998, he served as a Director of First Union Capital Markets (Wachovia) in the Media and Communications Group. Mr. Butler began his career at Arthur Andersen & Co. and is a licensed Certified Public Accountant.

Anand K. Chari, Vice President of Engineering, Aircell LLC
Mr. Anand K. Chari is Vice President of Engineering at Aircell LLC, a broadband communications service provider offering various products and service including Wi-Fi Internet Service onboard commercial airlines aircraft and business jets.  Mr. Chari has 20 years of experience in the telecommunications industry, with a great deal of pioneering experience in the deployment of digital wireless networks. Mr. Chari has been working with Aircell for the last 5+ years and was instrumental in building the company’s nationwide air-to-ground wireless network. Prior to that, Mr. Chari also served as the Vice President of Business Development and Sales, and, Vice President – Professional Services Group at ISCO International, a wireless equipment manufacturer based at Mt. Prospect, IL.   Before that, Mr. Chari was at 3Com Corporation as Director of Strategy and Business Development in the Internet Communications Division (VoIP).  Prior to 3Com, he held various engineering positions at Ameritech Corporation (1994-1999) including Director of Advanced Technology. Mr. Chari spent five years (1990 – 1994) with Telephone & Data Systems, a diversified telecommunications company, in various engineering and marketing roles.  Mr. Chari has an M.B.A. from University of Chicago and M.S. in Computer Engineering from Iowa State University.

Peter Jarich, Research Director, Current Analysis
Mr. Peter Jarich, Research Director (Wireless Infrastructure and Carrier Core) at Current Analysis, spends most of his day tracking, analyzing, and consulting on developments impacting mobile infrastructure and mobile networking: 2G and 3G RAN and packet core along with mobile TV, metro-scale WiFi and WiMAX.  Additionally, as Research Director, Peter oversees Current Analysis’s coverage of Optical Networking, Carrier Infrastructure (core, edge and service routing) and Telecom Infrastructure Services. Register Today!

David Keegstra, Director, Wireless Access Technology, TELUS
Dave is the Director of Wireless Access Technology with the Technology Strategy team at TELUS.  He is responsible for the development of wireless access technologies at TELUS, the largest telecommunications company in Western Canada and the second largest in the country. TELUS provides a wide range of communications products and services including data, Internet protocol (IP), voice and entertainment, and supports over 11.4 million customer connections.

David has more that 19 years of experience in the telecommunications industry. He started in wireless with Nortel Networks in 1990 working on AMPS and TDMA deployments for Canadian services providers, and by the mid 90's moved to a senior manager role for RF Services for Canada assisting with the first CDMA and GSM deployments. Dave joined Technology Strategy at TELUS in 2001 and participated with the 1XRTT and EVDO rollouts.

Since 2006, in his position of Director of Wireless Access at TELUS, Dave has provided the leadership to change from the 3GPP2 CDMA/EVDO path to 3GPP UMTS/HSPA+ path. TELUS' new UMTS/HSPA+ network is in deployment and will launch in 2010 with 100Mbps ethernet transport to an all IP transport core network.

Dave has a degree in engineering physics from the McMaster University. He is a registered Professional Engineer.

Samir Khazaka, Senior Director, Technical Marketing, Qualcomm
As Senior Director of Technical Marketing at QUALCOMM, Samir Khazaka leads the company’s corporate technical marketing efforts and plays a key role in the development and communication of the company’s technology messaging. Samir Khazaka joined QUALCOMM’s engineering team in 1997 and has since held positions in engineering, product management and technical marketing. As an inventor, he holds ten patents, and has several patents in pending status covering a range of telecommunications related designs. Samir Khazaka holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and a Master’s in Engineering Management from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. Prior to joining QUALCOMM, he held various engineering positions at Schlumberger and ABB.

Perry LaForge, Executive Director, CDMA Development Group
Perry LaForge is currently responsible for overseeing the expansion of CDMA technology throughout the world and for leading the evolution of the technology through the CDG’s subcommittees. He was instrumental in the introduction of CDMA as a second digital standard around the world and in its evolution to next generation digital technology. Mr. LaForge has over 24 years of experience working with high-technology companies, including Pittiglio Rabin Todd and McGrath. He earned a Bachelor of Engineering degree (magna cum laude) and was awarded an MBA from the Amos Tuck School at Dartmouth College. 

Anthony Lewis, Vice President, Open Development, Verizon
Anthony A. Lewis is Vice President of Open Development for Verizon Wireless, a position he has held since January 15, 2008.  Lewis is responsible for executing the open development initiative, including directing the pricing, activation, billing, distribution, device specification, testing, communications planning and financial matters for the project. Verizon’s “Open Development” will give customers the option to use wireless devices, software and applications that are not provided by Verizon Wireless on its nationwide wireless network. 

Prior to this promotion, Mr. Lewis was the President of Verizon - Washington DC where he had oversight for all of Verizon's operations, including regulatory and financial matters in the nation's capital.   

Mr. Lewis joined The Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company of Virginia, now Verizon Virginia in 1986 as a group manager in the operator services department. He has held a succession of positions with increasing responsibilities in product line management, traffic engineering and planning, sales, regulatory and public policy. 

Mark Lowenstein, Vice President of Strategy, Verizon Wireless
Mark Lowenstein is a prominent wireless industry executive, consultant, analyst, and commentator.  Most recently, Lowenstein was Vice President of Strategy at Verizon Wireless, where he led the company’s efforts in market segmentation, business planning, national pricing, and market intelligence for the consumer and enterprise markets. 

Prior to his role at Verizon Wireless, Lowenstein spent fifteen years as a highly regarded industry analyst and commentator. As Managing Director of Mobile Ecosystem, Lowenstein advises C-level executives on corporate, product, market, and industry strategy across the value chain of the wireless industry. 

Lowenstein’s consulting career began at the Yankee Group, where he founded and led the company’s top-ranked global wireless practices. 

Mr. Lowenstein holds a B.A. from Tufts University and an M.A. in International Communications and Technology Policy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

Glenn Lurie, President of Emerging Devices, AT&T

Glenn Lurie is president of Emerging Devices, National Distribution and Resale for AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets. Lurie leads AT&T’s strategic initiative to drive innovation in bringing wireless connectivity to a host of new consumer electronics devices and applications — including personal computers, internet devices, in-car entertainment and navigation systems, cameras, and machine-to-machine communications solutions.

In addition, Lurie has responsibility for National Retail Operations, National Resale relationships as well as responsibilities for AT&T Prepaid Sales through all distribution channels. He is responsible for growing the business inside of national channels with a focus on acquiring quality customers and developing quality business partners.

Lurie also led negotiations with Apple Inc. in bringing the iPhone to AT&T and continues to have responsibilities for the Apple operations.

Glenn joined the former AT&T Wireless in 1990, and held several sales, marketing and operation positions throughout his tenure. As senior vice president-West Region, he was responsible for the market operations in ten western states, representing more than 40 percent of the company's overall business. Prior to leading the company’s market operations in the west, Lurie held senior executive positions including Regional Vice President for the California/Hawaii region and Vice President and General Manager for Los Angeles after advancing from a similar position for Arizona.

Prior to coming to the wireless industry, Lurie was a professional soccer player for teams representing Cleveland, Atlanta and Portland.

Lurie holds a Bachelor of Arts in Business/Marketing from Seattle Pacific University.

Keith Mallinson, Founder, WiseHarbor

Keith Mallinson is founder of WiseHarbor (www.wiseharbor.com), providing expert commercial advisory services in wireless, mobile and telecommunications. He continues to support Yankee Group, his former employer, in the position of Senior Research Fellow.

Mallinson led Yankee Group's global Wireless/Mobile research and consulting team as Executive Vice President, based in Boston, from 2000 to 2006. Until then, he had overall responsibility for the firm's European division, based in London, as Managing Director from 1995 until 2000. He was the European Research Director prior to 1995.

Mallinson has more than 20 years experience in the telecommunications industry, as research analyst, consultant and as a testifying expert witness.

Mallinson has an undergraduate electronic engineering degree from London University's Imperial College and an MBA from the London Business School, including an academic exchange with Northwestern University's Kellogg Graduate School of Management in Illinois.

Sue Marek, Editor-In-Chief, FierceWireless
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 FierceDeveloper, FierceWiFi, FierceWireless:Europe, and FierceMobileContent. Marek is the Chairman of The Path to 4G.



Scott McElroy, Vice President, Technology Realization, AT&T
As Vice President of Technology Realization at AT&T, Scott McElroy leads AT&T’s technical roadmap and certification for mobile devices, including handhelds, data cards, modules and other wireless devices.  McElroy also leads the integration and certification of core and service enabling technologies for AT&T’s mobile network, including circuit, packet, messaging and IMS core technologies and platforms. In addition, McElroy is responsible for AT&T’s mobility labs, where he is responsible for activities spanning from technology incubation through lab and field validation.  

Scott has more than 27 years of experience in the communications industry, having held a variety of wireline and wireless positions in the areas of Operations, Sales, Engineering and Technology. 

McElroy holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Louisiana Tech University.


Miguel Myhrer, Senior Executive, Accenture
Miguel is a senior executive in Accenture’s Communications and High Tech group, were he leads the North America Wireless Network practice, and the North America New Product Development and Innovation practice, which encompasses the wireless, wireline, and cable communications industry segments.   Miguel has the responsibility for all of Accenture’s offers focused on the wireless industry.

Miguel’s responsibilities include enabling start-ups and existing operators to enter the wireless space, providing expertise regarding product strategy, partnership models, and the infrastructure required to accelerate product deployments.  Miguel’s recent areas of focus include 4G and connected devices.

During his career at Accenture, Miguel has held leadership roles in heading technology and strategy programs related to both enterprise and wireless carrier-based networks.  He has led work for wireless carriers in the United States, Asia, the United Kingdom, and Latin America.

Before joining Accenture, Miguel held positions at several satellite providers, including Lockheed Martin and TRW, where he designed defense and commercial satellite systems.  Miguel has been quoted in industry publications that include Wireless Business Review, Wireless Week, Fiercewireless, and Mobile Europe.

Miguel received B.S. (with highest honors) and M.S. degrees from the Georgia Institute of Technology.  He is based in Atlanta, Georgia.

Jim Orr, Principal Network Architect, Fujitsu Network Communications
Orr has worked in the telecommunications industry for more than 18 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.”

Chris Pearson, President, 3G Americas, LLC
In his role as the president and senior operating officer, Chris Pearson is responsible for strategic planning and provides executive management for the integration of strategy and operations in the areas of marketing, public relations, finance as well as public and regulatory affairs. Previously, he was Executive Vice President at Universal Wireless Communications Consortium and Strategic Alliance Manager at AT&T Wireless Services in Kirkland, WA. Mr. Pearson holds an MBA from Seattle University and a BA in Marketing and Finance from the school of Business at the University of Washington.

Dr. Mohammad Shakouri, Alvarion Corporate Vice President, Innovation and Marketing and Vice President, WiMAX Forum
Dr. Shakouri serves in the executive management team of Alvarion Ltd in the position of Corporate Vice President, Innovation and Marketing. In addition, Dr. Shakouri serves in a prominent industry role as a Vice President of WiMAX Forum and is also a member of WiMAX Forum board of directors.  Dr. Shakouri is regarded as a visionary in WiMAX industry where he has been instrumental in growing WiMAX into a multi billion dollar industry. Considered to be the leading voice for the WiMAX industry, Dr. Shakouri’s diligent efforts have created a global reach for WiMAX Forum with regional presence in many countries.  Prior to joining Alvarion, Dr. Shakouri was with Lucent Technologies where he was responsible for managing, building and developing network solutions for European and South American broadband wireless markets. Before joining Lucent, Dr. Shakouri spent fourteen years in technical and management positions with Hewlett Packard developing microwave and fiber optic communication components and systems. He co-founded the wireless systems division, where he was responsible for the engineering team developing low-cost residential digital wireless systems for U.S. and Asian markets.  Dr. Shakouri earned his doctorate in electrical engineering from Stanford University on Subpicosecond GaAs Wafer Probe Systems. In addition to his industry leadership position with the WiMAX Forum, Dr. Shakouri is also on the advisory board for the Wireless Communication Alliance and is an IEEE MTT-SVC 2004 chairman.

David Sprosty, Senior Vice President, Connectivity Solutions, Best Buy Co.
As Senior Vice President, Connectivity Solutions for Best Buy Co., David Sprosty leads the connectivity strategy as well as the connect business team in their work to better enable a “connected life” for the company’s customers, including his role as Chairman of Speakeasy, a wholly owned telecom subsidiary.  His team is working with industry leaders to provide customers with more open access to their networks and devices and to eliminate the inevitable techno-stress associated with connected CE devises.  Specifically, his team is transforming the business to build deeper, recurring relationships with the company’s increasingly connected customers in a relevant way, improving the customer interaction model from transaction-based to relationship-based.

Before taking on his current role, Sprosty was chief executive officer (CEO) of the Best Buy Mobile Joint Venture with Carphone Warehouse, and led the creation, partnership, and initiation of the U.S. Scale of the Best Buy Mobile Standalone and Store within a Stores.  His previous roles include Senior VP/COO of Customer Centricity, Best Buy’s core strategy and SVP in merchandising.  Prior to Best Buy, Sprosty was CEO of MobilWorks, a premier retailer and reseller of wireless and paging products in Southern California. 

Ajay Virginkar, Business Development Director, IP Infusion Inc.
Ajay Virginkar is business development manager for IP Infusion Inc., an ACCESS company and provider of intelligent software for Next Generation Network (NGN) equipment manufacturers and converged IP service providers. In this role he is responsible for IP Infusion’s mobile backhaul and Carrier Ethernet business for the Western region of the United States.

Prior to IP Infusion, Ajay spent four years at Tellabs, Inc., which provides solutions that enable service providers to deliver high-quality voice, video and data services over wireline and wireless networks around the world. As systems sales manager for Tellabs, Ajay specialized in Carrier Ethernet and mobile backhaul and converged Ethernet and Optical transport systems.

Before joining Tellabs, Ajay was a systems engineer for Vivace Networks, a leading provider of flexible, high-performance Multi-Service IP(TM) networking products that integrate Layer 2 switching and QoS with Layer 3 routing intelligence and flexibility. Vivace Networks was acquired by Tellabs in 2003.

Ajay is a native of Mumbai, India, and holds an MS in computer science from Pune University in Maharashtra, India.

David Waite, Director, Altman Vilandrie & Company
David brings nearly 20 years of experience in consulting, investment banking, and industry to AV&Co., where he works extensively with wireless and wireline carriers, equipment providers, and investors. He assists executives with business and marketing strategy, including growth strategy, market segmentation, channel optimization, portfolio strategy, pricing, and performance improvement.

Prior to joining AV&Co. in 2006, David was a principal at ADVENTIS, a pure-play telecommunications strategy consulting firm. He has also held senior positions with A.T. Kearney, as well as a boutique European investment bank, where he managed private equity transactions for emerging technology companies. He began his career in finance and strategy at Computervision, an enterprise software company.

David holds an M.B.A. from the M.I.T. Sloan School of Management, a Masters degree in Engineering from Dartmouth College, and a Bachelors degree from the University of New Hampshire, where he studied electrical and mechanical engineering.

Susan Welsh de Grimaldo, Senior Analyst - Wireless Network Strategies, Strategy Analytics
Susan Welsh de Grimaldo joined Strategy Analytics in 2008 as Senior Analyst, Wireless Network Strategies, Global Wireless Practice. She brings over a decade of experience developing strategy and analyzing trends in the wireless industry. Her recommendations are invaluable to clients across the mobile value chain as they tackle critical issues such as 3G/4G plans, cost savings and revenue growth opportunities, backhaul, and voice/data business models. Previous positions include Strategic Business Manager, General Dynamics Wireless Services and Director, Wireless Consulting, The Strategis Group.

Barry West, President & Chief Architect, Clearwire

Barry West joins Clearwire as president and chief architect. Prior to joining Clearwire, Mr. West was president of the Xohm Business Unit for Sprint Nextel. He previously served as Sprint Nextel's chief technology officer and president of 4G mobile broadband, as well as executive vice president and chief technology officer for Nextel Communications Inc.

Mr. West joined Nextel in 1996 and was the chief architect in creating the iDEN wireless technology platform with partner Motorola. Prior to joining Nextel, Mr. West led many successful engineering and marketing initiatives during more than 35 years for British Telecom including overseeing the rollout of a GSM digital cellular network that covered more than 90 percent of the United Kingdom population in only nine months. Mr. West also served as director of value-added services and corporate marketing at Cellnet, the pioneer of cellular communications in the United Kingdom.

Fred Wright, Senior Vice President, Wireless Network Products and North America Sales Operations, Home & Networks Mobility, Motorola, Inc.
Fred Wright is Senior Vice President responsible for all wireless infrastructure products including CDMA, LTE, WiMAX, GSM/UMTS and iDEN; plus the North America Region for sales and operations support.   Responsibilities include worldwide product and business ownership for CDMA, LTE, WiMAX, GSM/UMTS, IDEN plus switching and messaging products.  His organization’s responsibilities include sales, product management, system planning and engineering, software and hardware development engineering, system integration and operations support, and system/call center and outage restoration support for the aforementioned technologies.

Fred joined Motorola in 1993 after a 25-year career at Centel Corporation. While at Centel, he built and managed a major US cellular telephone company between 1984 and 1991, and in the early 1980's built the first all digital wireline metropolitan network linked by fiber optics in the United States.

Fred has 40 years of wire line and wireless telecommunications engineering, planning, operations and general management experience. He holds a bachelor's of science degree in math from the University of Nevada, a master's degree from the University of Chicago, and has attended Harvard University's Advanced Management Program.

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