Douglas Gilstrap joined Ericsson as the chief strategist in October 2009. A 20-year veteran of the ICT industry, Gilstrap came to Ericsson after three years as strategic advisor for Cable & Wireless. In 2000, he was named CEO of Radianz, where he led a team responsible for creating, building, and managing the largest financial extranet, providing a global IP network and hosting to the financial community. Previously, as CFO then COO, he helped Equant Network Services, a public company, which became one of the world’s leading data/IP networking companies.

He holds a Bachelor in accounting from the University of Richmond and an MBA from Emory University in Atlanta.

Håkan Eriksson

Senior Vice President, Chief Technology Officer and Head of Ericsson in Silicon Valley

Håkan Eriksson has been Ericsson’s Chief Technology Officer since January 2003 and has headed up Ericsson Silicon Valley since 2010. Eriksson’s career at Ericsson started in 1986, spanning the launch of GSM development and now focusing on LTE and the convergence of wireline and wireless technologies. He has held a number of senior positions in the Research and Development for Ericsson in Sweden and internationally.

He has a personal connection with the northern California area, having studied as an exchange student at Stanford University before taking his Master’s Degree in Electrical Engineering from Linköping Institute of Technology in Sweden. He also holds an Honorary PhD from the same institution.

Paul Saffo

Managing Director, Foresight at Discern Analytics and Consulting Associate Professor at Stanford University

Paul is a forecaster with over two decades experience helping corporate and governmental clients understand and respond to the dynamics of large-scale, long-term change. He is Managing Director of Foresight at Discern Analytics and he teaches at Stanford where he is a Consulting Associate Professor in the Engineering School. A Fellow of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences, Paul served on the US National Academies Committee on Forecasting Disruptive Technologies.

His essays have appeared in a wide range of publications including The Harvard Business Review, Foreign Policy, Fortune, Wired, The Los Angeles Times, Newsweek, The New York Times and the Washington Post. Paul holds degrees from Harvard College, Cambridge University and Stanford University.

Magnus Mandersson

Senior Vice President and Head of Global Services, Ericsson

Magnus Mandersson first joined Ericsson to run the Managed Services business in 2004. Later, he was appointed head of Ericsson in Northern Europe and led global sales to operator Deutsche Telekom. In 2009 he assumed the position as Senior Vice President for CDMA Mobile Systems and one year later became head of Global Services. Prior to Ericsson, he was CEO of TELE2 Europe, where he took the company from start-up to a pan-European business, with 20 million subscribers in 26 countries. As COO for Millicom, he was responsible for implementation of marketing and sales programs and technology. He also pioneered taking the pre-paid business model to previously underserved emerging markets.

Mandersson served as the first President of Comviq Vietnam/Mobifone in 1994. He held also various management positions in Europe and Asia with IKEA.

Erik Kruse

Networked Society Lab, Ericsson

Erik Kruse holds a position at the Networked Society Lab and is the Strategic Marketing Manager at Ericsson. He specializes in future consumer, enterprise and societal demands and trends and how the ICT world will evolve in the next 10 years. Kruse conducts strategic and future consumer research in the Americas, Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa and is an expert on new communication and media products and analyses quantitative data from over 20 countries. He has also written reports on global trends, broadband consumers, consumer and business models, youth in the future and early adopters in South Korea, among other subjects.

He is the co-author of The networked home: an analysis of current developments and future trends, and author of A journey to the 3rd Place, based on research among infocom early adopters.

Lior Netzer

Vice President of Mobile Network Strategy, Akamai Technologies

Lior Netzer is the Vice President of Mobile Network Strategy at Akamai where he leads the formulation of Akamai’s edge strategy as it relates to cellular networks. Previously, Lior was AVP Corporate Development at Comverse Network Systems focusing on mergers and acquisitions in the mobile application space. Lior has also held various senior operational positions in early stage companies such as Voltaire and advisory board positions with Metacafe.

Lior holds an MBA, magna cum laude, from the Technion Israel Institute of Technology, and an Electronics Engineering degree, magna cum laude, from Tel-Aviv University, Israel.

Dhiraj Kumar

Mobile Strategist, Facebook

Dhiraj leads mobile marketing, working with cross functional teams such as sales, business development and platform to help build strategic partnership with leading brands in the telecom industry. He develops social business strategy and creates marketing programs to drive transformation at the brand’s business.

APrior to Facebook, Dhiraj led Nielsen IAG’s telecom business where he built a growing advertising research practice with some of the largest mobile operators. Dhiraj has also worked in telecom industry at companies like Lucent Technology and UTStarcom, building mobile telecom system. Over his 15 year career he has worked in roles spanning marketing, sales, strategy, product management and engineering, giving him an insight into the telecom, media and technology industries. He has also filed three patent applications for his work.

Wayne L. Ward

Vice President of Emerging Solutions, Sprint Nextel

Wayne Ward is Vice President of Sprint’s Emerging Solutions Group and is responsible for developing M2M (machine-to-machine) and mobile computing solutions. The Emerging Solutions unit utilizes the network, systems and open-device expertise of Sprint and its strategic partners to deliver innovative integrated product applications to the business and consumer markets.

As part of the Sprint Business Integrated Solutions Group, Ward’s organization plays a lead role in the creation of a broad range of solutions for B-B-C, B2B and B2C customers and partners, including in-vehicle infotainment, aftermarket and commercial telematics, asset tracking, fleet management, remote monitoring/automation and control, smart grid, vending/kiosk, digital signage and telehealth.

Michael O’Hara

Chief Marketing Officer, GSMA

Michael O’Hara is responsible for the GSMA’s global marketing and communications strategy, working in close partnership with the organization’s membership to identify, prioritize and execute on strategic marketing issues for the mobile industry.

Previously, O’Hara was the general manager for marketing and industry management within the Communications Sector at Microsoft. He led initiatives to deliver software solutions to the communications industry, including telecom, hosting service providers and media & entertainment organizations.

O’Hara was also vice president, marketing at Sonus Networks, a leading provider of carrier voice over IP solutions. He held numerous managerial positions at Nortel Networks in Europe, responsible for marketing and sales operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Christoffer J. Russo

Deputy Fire Chief, Hull, Massachusetts and Executive Vice President and founder of Elerts

Chris Russo has focused on improving procedures and empowering people to help themselves in fire and emergencies since the start of his career in 1985. He was promoted to Deputy Chief in 2006, after designing and delivering the community’s first “Citizen’s Fire Academy.” He still educates the public on fire safety and emergency management, and as co-chairman of the Technology Committee for the South Shore Regional Call Center, he aims to improve the way public safety departments handle assistance to citizens.

Russo received the State of Massachusetts highest recognition, the Medal of Honor, for his efforts in the rescue and saving of several citizens’ lives. He was a member of the command teams that responded the Worcester Cold Storage Warehouse Fire and the 9/11 World Trade Center Incident.

Philip Marthinsen

Producer and partner at House of Radon

Philip Marthinsen is a producer and partner at the Swedish production company House of Radon. Among his latest work is a documentary, PressPausePlay, which explores the digital creative age where democratization has created endless possibilities and also new challenges. As the American entrepreneur and author Seth Godin puts it in the documentary: "The industry is dead. There has never been a better time to be an artist."

Before founding Radon, Marthinsen studied Marketing at the Stockholm School of Economics (SSE) where he also met the co-founders of the company.

Jan Uddenfeldt

Chief Technology Officer, Sony Ericsson

Jan Uddenfeldt is one of the inventors of GSM technology and mobile broadband 3G (HSPA) technology. In July 2010, he assumed the role of CTO at Sony Ericsson. He also heads up the Sony Ericsson Silicon Valley Redwood site. Prior to Sony Ericsson, Uddenfeldt was with Ericsson for over 30 years, holding positions as Vice President of Global R&D and in 1998 he was appointed CTO.

Uddenfeldt received his PhD from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm in 1978 and an honorary Doctor’s degree from the University of Lund in 1996. He is a member of the Board of the Royal Institute of Technology and Vice Chairman of the Board of the Swedish Royal Academy of Engineering Sciences. He was awarded the German Edward Rhein Foundation Technology Prize for the innovation of GSM in 1997 and the Swedish KTH Prize in 2000 for GSM and 3G.

Martin Körling

Head of Services and Software Research, Ericsson

Martin Körling is Head of Services and Software Research at Ericsson. He joined the company in 1997 and over the years has been involved in the evolution of wireless data technologies, driving standards in the standardization forum IETF and also working in the venture capital industry. Körling has held numerous managerial positions, where he has been driving the build up of services and software activities in Ericsson. He led the creation of labs.ericsson.com, a successful platform for showing Ericsson technology development and concept development in areas of web-TV and user-experience solutions for machine-to-machine and connected devices.

Körling has a PhD from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm.

Arun Bhikeshevaran

Vice President, Strategy and Chief Technical Officer, Ericsson North America

Arun Bhikshesvaran has more than 15 years of experience in the wireless communications industry. He has been with Ericsson since 1995 and is currently responsible for identifying Ericsson’s long-term vision, defining the overall company strategy and driving business value creation for Ericsson’s customers.

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

Bhikshesvaran holds a Masters Degree in Electrical Engineering and has completed a Post Graduate Executive Program at Columbia Business School. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) and the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex Technology and Business Council.

Brian Higgins

Executive Director for LTE Ecosystem Development, Verizon Wireless

Brian is responsible for the Verizon LTE Innovation Center in Waltham, Mass. and Verizon’s soon-to-open Application Innovation Center in San Francisco. The Centers foster collaboration among the participants and help developers, manufacturers, entrepreneurs and others unlock the next generation of LTE-enabled devices and applications. Brian also has responsibility for the growth of Verizon’s network API platform and the ongoing operational management of V CAST Apps, Verizon Wireless’ mobile application storefront.

During his career, Brian has focused on driving innovation for the company and its customers through a wide range of collaborative projects.

Brian holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Rutgers University. He has also earned an additional master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

Michael Björn

Head of Research, Ericsson ConsumerLab

Michael Björn is head of research at Ericsson ConsumerLab, studying the propagation of influence between groups of consumers and between markets, as well as the process of assimilation of ICT into everyday consumer life. ConsumerLab focuses on consumer research, which involves studying people’s values and behaviors, including the way they act and think about telecom products and services. A global research program is based on annual interviews with 80,000 individuals in more than 40 countries, using both qualitative and quantitative methodology.

Between 2000 and 2002, Björn was responsible for mobile internet applications at Ericsson in Japan. Björn joined Ericsson in 1997 as an analyst, after he completed his PhD in data modeling at University of Tsukuba in Japan. Michael is also a novelist with two published works of fiction.

Mario Morales

Program Vice President, Enabling Technologies Group, IDC

Mario Morales is the Program Vice President, Enabling Technologies Group, IDC. Mr. Morales’ expertise includes international business development and driving strategic relationships with semiconductor and Information Communications and Technology (ICT) companies for IDC. He has over 20 years of semiconductor expertise, including management consulting, market assessment, valuation of leading companies, creation of industry leading market models and competitive analysis.

Over his career, Mr. Morales has authored over a 200 reports in the area of semiconductors and ICT. He is a trusted advisor to leading executives and financial community on market direction, targeting strategic customers, market segmentation, product positioning, competition, M&A due diligence, and technology branding. His career includes past positions with NEC Electronics and Dataquest.

Brian Wilcove

General Partner, Sofinnova Ventures

Brian Wilcove joined Sofinnova Ventures in 2006 as a Partner on the Technology investment team. Brian focuses on communications & networking, big data and energy technologies. His current investments include ConteXtream, KXEN, Guavus and Enovix. Prior to joining Sofinnova, he spent five years with TeleSoft Partners, where he was responsible for a number of investments, including BayPackets (GENBAND), Calix (NYSE:CALX), Internet Photonics (Ciena), LogLogic, OnFiber (Qwest), Tele Atlas (TomTom).

Earlier in his career, Brian co-founded Virtela Communications, a managed services company, where he served as Vice President of Marketing and Business Development. Previously, Brian created, launched and managed Qwest’s IP product portfolio and he began his career at America Online. He graduated from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.

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