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.

Munish Chhabra, Director, Business Development, Aricent Group
Munish Chhabra is responsible for Business Development of Wireless/Wireline and Datacom Products at Aricent. He has been the key driving force behind several of Aricent's award winning pre-packaged software frameworks across various evolving wireless and datacom technologies. Munish has over 12 years of experience at Aricent in various positions across Business Development, Partnerships and Engineering. Munish has B.Tech in Computer Science from NIT Kurukshetra, India.

Kristi Crum, Executive Director, Consumer Solutions, Verizon Wireless
Kristi Crum is charged with the strategy and development of a wide range of products and services that leverage Verizon’s leading 4G LTE network.  She leads a team responsible for Verizon Wireless’ slate of safety and entertainment services including video, gaming, NFL Mobile, Izod IndyCar, X Factor and other applications related to Verizon’s sponsorship portfolio.   The team also develops and markets cloud and location based services, including  the award-winning VZ Navigator, Backup Assistant Plus for contact and content storage, Family Locator as well as the company’s, Trade-In and  Total Equipment Coverage offers.  She has a bachelor’s degree from Hendrix College and is based in New Jersey. 

Brian Dally, Senior VP & General Manager, Republic Wireless
Brian Dally co-founded republic wireless as a division of Bandwidth.com and is responsible for all aspects of planning and executing expansion of the business in 2012. He is a wireless industry veteran hailing back to the early days of mobile data when WAP browsing on 120x133 65k color screens was the new, new thing. His expertise in creating and building new services and applications at mass market scale is based on a 20-year career spanning the global wireless, broadband, entertainment and management consulting industries. Dally holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, a JD from Harvard Law School and a BA with Highest Distinction from the University of Virginia. 

Dr Michael Flanagan, Chief Technology Officer, Arieso
Michael Flanagan joined Arieso at the beginning of 2007 as CTO, responsible for advancing the company's unique vision for a new generation of optimization technologies and bringing that vision to life for Arieso's global customers. An internationally recognized expert in network optimization, Flanagan spent 12 years at Lucent Technologies' Bell Labs in New Jersey. Flanagan received a BEng in Electrical Engineering from the Stevens Institute of Technology in 1990, and MSc and PhD degrees in Electrical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology in 1991 and 1995 respectively.

George Horesta, National Wireless Sales Manager, Henkels & McCoy
A former principle of In-Building-Wireless, George Horesta 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. In-Building-Wireless was acquired by Henkels & McCoy in June of 2011.  Since forming In-Building-Wireless, 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 of experience in product management and sales development in both telecommunication and construction projects.

Pardeep Kohli, President & CEO, Mavenir Systems
Pardeep Kohli is a Wireless Industry Veteran with 18 years of experience. Pardeep, as co-founder, President & CEO, led Spatial Wireless, the Mobile Next Generation Networking market leader, to broad success across the US market. Following the acquisition by Alcatel, as Senior Vice President of the Mobile NGN business, Pardeep led the continued expansion and success of the Spatial Wireless product across the global market place. Pardeep has worked in multiple roles at NEC America, DSC, Alcatel and PacBell. While at PacBell, Pardeep participated in the technology selection and network implementation of the first large US GSM network.

Peter Jarich, Service Director, Current Analysis
As Service Director of Current Analysis’ Service Provider Infrastructure and Mobile Ecosystem practices, Peter Jarich manages the firm’s syndicated research into the network equipment and software solutions deployed at telecom network operators as well as its cross-cutting, strategic wireless research.  While leading the company’s analysis and tracking of the mobile infrastructure space (2G, 3G, 4G, service provider WiFi) this role sees Jarich directing the company’s analysts looking into the Fixed Access, Digital Media, IP Services Infrastructure, Transport and Routing, and Vendor Services markets. 

Doug Makishima, Chief Operating Officer, D2 Technologies
Doug Makishima has 20 years of marketing and engineering experience in networking, storage and communications. Prior to joining D2, he served as vice president of marketing at Intoto, a provider of network security software platforms, at Hifn, a provider of security and network processors, and at ParkerVision, a wireless communications IC company. Makishima has held senior management positions with Nortel Networks, Bay Networks, AMD, Auspex and Adaptec. He holds a B.S.E.E. from the University of California at Santa Barbara, and an M.B.A. from Santa Clara University. 

Keith Mallinson, Founder, WiseHarbor
Keith Mallinson is founder of WiseHarbor, providing expert services in wireless, mobile and telecommunications. He 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. 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
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.


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.

Chris Pearson, President, 4G Americas
In his role as the spokesperson and senior operating officer of the corporation, he is responsible for the strategic planning of the organization and providing executive management for the integration of strategy and operations in the areas of technology, marketing and public relations as well as public and regulatory affairs.  As President of 4G Americas (formerly called 3G Americas), Pearson represents 4G Americas’ Market Representation interests within the 3rd Generation Partnership Program (3GPP) organization. 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.

Jon Pelson, Wireless Segment Leader, JDSU CommTest
Jon Pelson is the Wireless Segment Leader for JDSU CommTest, where he is responsible for the success of the company’s overall wireless business, including the product portfolio, market strategy, and supporting the mobility sales force.  He works across the product and services divisions and drives the company’s global mobility efforts. Prior to joining JDSU, Pelson worked for a range of service providers and equipment manufacturers.  He started his career in telecom at Lucent Technologies, where he held roles including Vice President of Marketing and Strategy for the Switching Solutions Group and general manager of one of the company’s early wireless data businesses. 

Neville Ray, Chief Technology Officer, T-Mobile USA
Appointed Chief Technology Officer in November 2010, Neville Ray is responsible for the national management and development of the T-Mobile USA wireless network, as well as the company’s IT services and operations. Ray held the position of Senior Vice President of Engineering for the prior 5 years.Originally from the United Kingdom, his career in the U.S. began in 1995 at Pacific Bell Mobile Services in California. He joined T-Mobile in 2000 as Vice President of Network Engineering and Operations, Northeast Region. Ray is an honors graduate of City University of London.

Rob Reagan, Founder, Public Wireless, Inc.
Rob Reagan is recognized as a strategic thought leader in regard to the disruptive infrastructure paradigm shift within the wireless industry trending away from "macrocell" and towards "small cell" network topologies enabling economically viable spectrum re-use via shared/common infrastructure and services. Reagan is currently focused on the strategic blueprint required to optimize the long term cost sensitive aspects of dedicated and shared small cell networks. He is a graduate of Pepperdine University and is a Board Member of Small Cell Forum.

Kris Rinne, Senior VP, Network Technologies, AT&T Labs
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.

Simon Saunders, Chairman, Small Cell Forum
Professor Simon Saunders is one of the world’s leading authorities on small cells and is currently chairman of the Small Cell Forum.  As chairman Simon works to drive the uptake of small cell technologies through open standards, market education and ecosystem development. He is an independent wireless communications specialist with more than 20 years industry experience. Simon has consulted for a range of companies including O2, Ofcom, NTL, BT, Motorola, BBC and many others. He is the author of numerous books and articles and is a regular speaker at industry conferences including MWC, International CES & CTIA Wireless. In May 2007 Simon was appointed to Ofcom's Spectrum Advisory Board.  

Eitan Schwartz, VP, Ethernet Access, RAD Data Communications, Inc.
Eitan Schwartz has been instrumental in developing RAD’s carrier Ethernet strategy and in particular mobile backhaul over Packet Switched Networks. Eitan joined RAD Israel in 1991 as manager of technical support and later relocated to the United States where he served in such capacities as Director of Technical Services and Vice President of Engineering. He holds degrees in electrical engineering and computer science.Over the past 15 years, Schwartz has provided technical training in the areas of IP, Ethernet, Frame Relay, ATM, Voice and TDM technologies. 

Steven Sesar, COO, FreedomPOP
Steven Sesar currently serves as Chief Marketing Officer for FreedomPop, the highly publicized Zennstrom backed start-up disrupting the broadband market. As CMO, Sesar is responsible for all customer acquisition channels, site conversion and customer retention. Sesar was one of the original team members along with Niklas Zennstrom from Skype. Prior to FreedomPop, he was VP Marketing & Revenue Optimization for Woo Media, Inc., an online interactive video platform with multiple consumer properties across web, Facebook and mobile platforms. holds an MBA from UC Berkeley and a BS from UCLA.

Manish Singh, Chief Technical Officer, Radisys
Prior to Continuous Computing, Manish Sing held various engineering management and architect positions at Intel Corporation, Trillium Digital Systems, and C-DOT (Center for Development of Telematics). He holds the patent as a sole inventor of “Configurable Cache” memory system. In addition, Sing has a 2nd patent assigned for “Method to collect address trace of executed instructions”. Heis an experienced leader who brings over 17 years of experience in telecommunications product design and development. Sing 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.

Richard Webb, Directing Analyst, Microwave, Mobile Offload & Mobile Broadband Devices, Infonetics Research
Richard Webb joined Infonetics Research in 2001 and covers microwave, millimeter wave & mobile backhaul, carrier WiFi, WiMAX, femtocells and mobile broadband devices from a worldwide perspective. He authors quarterly market share and forecast reports, and annual studies on the buying plans of wireless service providers and end-users. Webb has been covering telecoms markets for 15 years, previously with PBI Media, where he developed the program content for a series of telecom and networking conferences in Europe, Asia Pacific, and Latin America.

Susan Welsh de Grimaldo, Director, Mobile Broadband Opportunities, Strategy Analytics
Susan Welsh de Grimaldo joined Strategy Analytics in 2008, bringing over a decade of experience developing strategy and analyzing trends in the global wireless and broadband industries. Welsh de Grimaldo thrives on discussing both the business and technical angles of mobile broadband and regularly speaks at conferences and client events. Her recommendations are invaluable to clients across the mobile value chain as they tackle critical issues such as 3G/4G plans and pricing evolution, cost savings and revenue growth opportunities, and voice/data business models for traditional and emerging devices. She holds an MA from The Monterey Institute of International Studies (Monterey, California).

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