5G Things Summit

Jay leads the 5G EcoSystem for AT&T with responsibility for partnerships that differentiate our 5G and lead to new revenue streams for AT&T. Jay’s responsibilities stretch across Consumer and B2C and extend beyond 5G into all advanced connectivity. A customer-focused marketer, Jay is focused on delivering 5G use cases in year such as gaming, sports and social as well as building new revenue streams beyond the current financial year through partnerships.

Prior to leading 5G , Jay was VP Performance Marketing for AT&T’s TV, internet and wireless businesses. Jay’s primary areas of focus include acquisition digital and direct marketing, retention marketing and engagement, up-sell and cross-sell initiatives and customer loyalty.

Before AT&T, Jay was global head of digital strategy and product management for the Global Corporate Payments division of American Express responsible for differentiating Corporate Card and payments through innovative digital and mobile products.

Jay held various roles in an 18 year career at American Express. Prior to running digital, Jay was Vice President, Strategic Business Development responsible for creating start-up businesses within American Express to drive incremental, non-card revenue streams from the base. He also held the position of Vice President, Customer Experience responsible for online and offline customer experience across Corporate Card and for driving clients to use online solutions.

Outside of his day job, Jay is active in promoting leadership at AT&T helping mentor female high performers, high potential leaders and participating in Hispanic and Junior Achievement conferences and events. He has a history of building teams from scratch and enjoys seeing them getting promoted out of his team.

Jay has a Bachelor of Arts in Business, Spanish, French and Catalan from the University of Swansea and a Diploma in Marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing.  Originally from the UK, he now lives in Huntington Beach with his wife Sam and two boys, Ben and Ollie and is loving the California weather!

Chetan Sharma is CEO of Chetan Sharma Consulting and is one of the leading strategists in the mobile industry. Executives from wireless companies around the world seek his accurate predictions, independent insights, and actionable recommendations. He has served as an advisor to senior executive management of several Fortune 100 companies in the wireless space and is probably the only industry strategist who has advised each of the top 9 global mobile data operators. Chetan has served on the advisory boards of Ericsson, Telefonica, Kymeta, NextNav, Zeotap, Opanga Networks and a number of other startups.

Chetan is the author or co-author of 15 best-selling books on wireless including Mobile Advertising: Supercharge your brand in the exploding wireless market and Wireless Broadband: Conflict and Convergence. He is also the editor of the Mobile Future Forward Book Series. His books have been adopted in several corporate training programs and university courses at NYU, Stanford, and Tokyo University. His research work is widely quoted in the industry. Chetan is interviewed frequently by leading international media publications such as Time magazine, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Business Week, Japan Media Review, Mobile Communications International, and TechCrunch, and has appeared on NPR, WBBN, and CNBC as a wireless data technology expert. He is also the chief curator of the mobile thought leadership executive forums – Mobile Future Forward and Mobile Breakfast Series.

Chetan is an advisor to CEOs and CTOs of some of the leading wireless technology companies on product strategy and Intellectual Property (IP) development and serves on the advisory boards of several companies. He is also a sought-after IP strategist and expert witness in the wireless industry and has worked on and testified in some of the most landmark cases in the industry. Chetan is a senior member of IEEE, IEEE Communications Society, and IEEE Computers Society. He has Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Kansas State University and Bachelor of Science degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee.

George has more than 25 years of business-to-business technology expertise, including 20 years at Hewlett Packard. He has particularly deep experience in growth strategies for hardware, software, and service businesses within the SMB and enterprise markets. He successfully led businesses with sites located in the U.S., Europe, and Asia.

Aaron Grosky is the President & COO of Dreamscape Immersive.  Since 2016, and as a founding member of Dreamscape, Grosky has led the development, operations, and growth of the company’s businesses in the Entertainment, Education and Enterprise sectors.  In addition to managing Dreamscape’s operating businesses, Grosky also has been central to the investment activity into the company with investors including Steven Spielberg, Bold Capital Partners, Verizon, 21^st Century Fox, WarnerMedia, AMC, Viacom, and Arizona State University, among others.

Aaron has more than 25 years of experience being at the edge of transformational shifts across content creation, distribution, and new platform development.  Prior to joining Dreamscape, he served as President of Control Room, leading the company across all aspects of its live entertainment business, producing more than 100 live specials distributed globally across multiple platforms.  In 2007, Aaron was Executive Producer of Live Earth, the first global event focused on the climate crisis, which played from 7 continents across 24+ hours to an audience of more than 1 billion viewers.  Prior to Control Room, Aaron founded Shift, a media services business focused on the transition of physical to digital commerce, which he sold to Virgin Entertainment Group in 2003.

A visionary leader and experienced Internet entrepreneur who founded GoodTrust - a unique digital life and legacy platform that help families organize their digital lives today and prepare their online assets for the day they pass away. Previously he led Global Ads Marketing for Google as well as Google Product Marketing for EMEA. As President built the first global “Netflix of VR” subscription service at HTC VIVE. As CEO of MTGx built the leading Netflix competitor and VoD player in the Nordics. Regular keynote speaker at international conferences such as MWC, IBC, CES and invited to lecture at Harvard, Stanford and MIT. Future Astronaut with Virgin Galactic and founder of WIT Global Women In Tech network and events.

Alan Boehme is the Chief Technology Officer of H&M Group, where he is
responsible for strengthening the company’s innovation and digitalization
efforts and enhancing the shopping experience for customers to H&M
Group’s global family of brands. Alan is an experienced digital transformation
leader with nearly 30 years of experience innovating enterprise architecture,
IT strategy, and cloud technologies. Prior to H&M Group, Alan served as the
Global CTO, VP of IT Services & VP IT Innovation at Procter & Gamble, and
previously held numerous senior leadership positions in information and
innovation at Coca Cola, including his role as Global CTO.

Earlier in his career, Alan served as VP & Head of IT Strategy & Architecture
at ING and as chief information officer for several companies in the software
and energy sectors, including Juniper Networks, Sage Software and GE
Power-Systems. In these roles, Alan has transformed global businesses
through IT and technology, improving customer services and business
processes.

Alan serves as a member of the Board of Directors for the Cloud Security
Alliance. In addition, he is a corporate advisor to several enterprise cloud and
artificial intelligence companies, including Nutanix, Velo Cloud, Latent Ai, and
Vectra Ai.

Alan holds a Bachelor of Arts from California State University, Long Beach.

Axel is leader of the Operations Practice in Europe and co-convener of the practice globally. He advises technology, media, and telecommunications companies on a broad array of issues related to technology, strategy, and operations. Currently based in Stockholm, Axel previously led McKinsey’s Sweden office; McKinsey’s high tech work in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa; and the Technology, Media & Telecommunications Practice in the Asia–Pacific region. Drawing on his deep knowledge of technology-enabled operations, Axel often advises clients on issues related to digital transformations, agile organization, product development, and supply chain.

Bruno leads the Wireless Technologies group within the Facebook Reality Labs (FRL) organization. This team gathers all the expertise in wireless (RF, Antenna, Design, Verification and Test, Certification, Standards, Spectrum Policy, Firmware and Systems) and owns the definition, development and validation of every wireless interface across the whole FRL product portfolio (Oculus VR, Portal, Ray-Ban Stories).  Before joining Facebook Bruno spent most of his career in Europe, working for Motorola and pioneering on the 2G, 3G and 4G technologies and also on the IoT startup scene, creating groundbreaking device designs, ranging from NB-IoT connected garbage sensors to sub-GHz ultra low power animal trackers. Bruno earned a Masters Engineering in Telecommunications from the University of Cantabria, one of the leading RF and Networking colleges in Spain.

Patrick founded the firm based on his real-world world technology experiences with the understanding of what he wasn’t getting from analysts and consultants. Ten years later, Patrick is ranked #1 among technology industry analysts in terms of “power” (ARInsights)  in “press citations” (Apollo Research). Moorhead is a contributor at Forbes and frequently appears on CNBC. He is a broad-based analyst covering a wide variety of topics including the cloud, enterprise SaaS, collaboration, client computing, and semiconductors. He has 30 years of experience including 15 years of executive experience at high tech companies (NCR, AT&T, Compaq, now HP, and AMD) leading strategy, product management, product marketing, and corporate marketing, including three industry board appointments.

Moorhead has been recognized in publications like The Wall Street Journal, Computerworld, Recode, USA Today, Barron’s, Marketwatch, CNBC, Reuters, Bloomberg, VentureBeat, PCMag, ZDNet, CNET, PC World, EE Times, CRN, ABC, BBC, San Jose Mercury News, Austin American Statesman, and many more.

Before Patrick started the firm, he spent over 20 years as a high-tech strategy, product, and marketing executive who has addressed the datacenter, personal computer, mobility, graphics, and CPU ecosystems. Unlike other service firms, Moorhead held executive positions leading strategy, marketing, and product groups. He is grounded in reality as he has led the planning and execution and had to live with the outcomes.

Patrick departed AMD in 2011 where he served as Corporate Vice President and Corporate Fellow in the strategy group. There, he developed long-term strategies for mobile computing devices and personal computers. Moorhead also served in his 11 years at AMD leading product management, business planning, product marketing, regional marketing, channel marketing, and corporate marketing. Moorhead also worked at Compaq Computer Corp. (now HP) during their run-up to the #1 market share leader position in personal computers. Patrick also served as an executive at AltaVista E-commerce during their search leadership reign, pioneering cost-per-click e-commerce models.

Moorhead also has significant board experience. He served as an executive board member of the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), the American Electronics Association (AEA), and chaired the board of the St. David’s Medical Center for five years, designated by Thomson Reuters as one of the 100 Top Hospitals in America.

Mike O’Rielly currently operates his own firm, MPORielly Consulting, LLC, providing strategic advice and consulting services, and serves as a Visiting Fellow at the Hudson Institute as well as a Senior Fellow at the Media Institute and a Board Advisor to MobileComm Professionals, Inc. He served as a Commissioner at the FCC from 2013 through 2020.

Before joining the FCC, Mr. O’Rielly served for nearly twenty years in leading staff positions on Capitol Hill, concluding in the Office of the Senate Republican Whip. While responsible for many substantive issues, he remained particularly focused on communications policy. Early in his career, he served as Professional Staff on the Energy and Commerce Committee in the House of Representatives.

Greg joined NEA as Venture Partner in 2010 after more than twenty years of experience in the technology industry and academia. He focuses on early-stage systems, software and deep/hard tech companies. Prior to NEA, Greg was EVP and CTO of Sun Microsystems, where he guided the company’s $2B R&D portfolio. Before Sun, Greg was an Associate Professor of EECS at MIT, where he worked on massively parallel dataflow computing architectures. He also helped found a number of companies, from video conferencing (PictureTel) to computational fluid dynamics (NASDAQ:EXA), and was an engineer with HP and Honeywell.

Greg is an active advisor for the schools of engineering at UCSD, UC Berkeley and SJSU, and is a trustee for the UCSD Foundation and the Computer History Museum. Passionate about technology and its possibilities, Greg is a relentless advocate for diversity in engineering and a supporter of open development models that stimulate communication, inclusiveness and innovation. Greg holds an undergraduate degree from UCSD and an S.M. and Ph.D. from MIT. He also a Senior Fellow of the American Leadership Forum.

Greg Jones is the director of global business development and product management for XR at NVIDIA.

His team focuses on partnerships and projects that use NVIDIA’s professional XR products to bring the benefits of real-time, immersive rendering to enterprise environments. Previously, Greg was the associate director of a 200-person academic research institute focused on scientific computing, image analysis, computer graphics and data visualization at the University of Utah and served as the science advisor to Utah Governor Jon Huntsman. Greg holds a BS in Physics and PhD in Biomedical Science from the University of New Mexico and an MBA from the University of Utah. Greg has participated in developing a number of start-up companies including RayScale which was sold to NVIDIA in 2008.

Mung Chiang is the Executive Vice President of Purdue University for strategic initiatives and innovation campus. He has also been the John A. Edwardson Dean of the College of Engineering and the Roscoe H. George Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering since 2017. Purdue Engineering’s ranking rose from #9 to #4 and became the largest engineering school ever ranked top five in the U.S. The College won 12 national research centers, constructed or renovated 18 buildings, and completed the first $1B philanthropy campaign by any college in a public university. During 2020, he served as the Science and Technology Adviser to the U.S. Secretary of State and the chief global technology office in the Department of State. In 2021, he founded the think tank, Center for Tech Diplomacy at Purdue, and started serving as the technology and innovation advisor to the State of Indiana. Prior to 2017, he was the Arthur LeGrand Doty Professor of Electrical Engineering, the inaugural Chair of Princeton Entrepreneurship Council, and Director of Keller Center for Engineering Education at Princeton University. 

His research on communication networks received the 2013 Alan T. Waterman Award, the highest honor to a scientist or engineer under the age of 40 in the U.S. each year. A recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and the IEEE Tomiyasu Technical Achievement Award, he was elected to the National Academy of Inventors and the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences. He founded the Princeton Edge Lab in 2009 and co-founded an industry consortium and several startup companies with sixty million users globally. His textbooks and online courses received the ASEE Terman Award and reached hundreds of thousands of students. 

Sajith Balraj is Director of XR and Gaming Hardware Product Management for Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. He is responsible for go-to-market, product roadmap/planning, and partnerships for Qualcomm's augmented/virtual reality and cloud gaming efforts. Sajith has held product management, business development and engineering roles across several technologies at Qualcomm. He has worked from inception to commercialization in the areas of computer vision, gaming, multi-media, robotics, automotive, cellular, WI-FI and more. He holds a of Master of Science in Computer Engineering from the State University of New York at Buffalo and a Master of Business Administration from University of California Los Angeles. He has been granted several patents in mobile, wireless andautomotive.

Dr. John E. Smee  Vice President of Engineering at Qualcomm Technologies Inc., where he is the Global Head of Wireless Research. He is responsible for overseeing all 5G/6G and WiFi research projects including end-end systems design, standards contributions, advanced prototype implementations for industry trials, and helping incubate and drive new use cases and applications. John joined Qualcomm in 2000, holds over 150U.S. Patents, and has been involved in the design, innovation, standardization, and productization of wireless communications systems such as 5G NR, 4G LTE, 3G CDMA, and IEEE 802.11.  He also leads Qualcomm’s companywide academic collaboration program across technologies including wireless, semiconductor, multimedia, auto, security, and machine learning.  John was chosen to participate in the National Academy of Engineering Frontiers of Engineering program and received his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Princeton University and also holds an M.A. from Princeton and an M.Sc. and B.Sc. from Queen's University.

As Red Hat chief architect for service providers, Azhar Sayeed is responsible for shaping service provider architectures and solutions with Red Hat OpenStack Platform, SDN, NFV data center orchestration, Red Hat OpenShift and other cloud-native technologies. Prior to joining Red Hat, Azhar spent 17 years at Cisco Systems, Inc., most recently as a Sr. Director of Solutions Engineering. In that role, Azhar developed system architectures  and cloud-based solutions, bringing them to market as whole offers for telecommunications companies. He is an active participant and contributor to industry forums and open source communities.

Alan McIntyre is the Engineering Director for Southern Linc and began his career with Southern Company and Southern Linc in 1995. He participated in the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standards organization for seven years and has led Southern’s LTE network deployment for the last five years. He received a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering and a Master of Business Administration from Auburn University and currently serves on the Auburn University Wireless Advisory Board.

As Vice President of Advanced Technologies & Innovation for T-Mobile, Dr. Marquardt is responsible for the exploration of new and enabling technologies, partnerships with business leaders in new categories of products and services, and the related industry relationships and investments enabling T-Mobile’s technology, innovation and ecosystem development goals.  He also represents T-Mobile at speaking engagements, in press and analyst interviews, and as needed with regulatory bodies and other industry stakeholders.  Previously, he held a similar role at Sprint before the companies merged.

Prior to Sprint, Dr. Marquardt was VP of Technology Development at Clearwire Corporation, responsible for that company’s technology strategy as well as the architecture, design, testing, and implementation of its mobile broadband 4G network, devices, and services.  He also was CTO at Covad Communications where he led teams responsible for the engineering and network planning of VoIP, wireless, and broadband services across the United States. Prior to that role, he was in various positions at network equipment manufacturers, and was a Program Manager in the Advanced Technology Program at NIST.

Outside of the office, Ron is the Chair of the Board of Advisors for the Institute for Data Intensive Research in Astrophysics & Cosmology (DiRAC) at the University of Washington, and additionally sits on the Board of Advisors of Nok Nok Labs.  He is a novice beekeeper, avid photographer and enjoys hiking the Pacific Northwest with his wife and three children.

Dr. Marquardt has an S.B. in Physics from MIT, an M.S. and Ph.D. in Applied Physics from Caltech, and is an alumnus of the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Ion Stoica is a Professor in the EECS Department at the University of California at Berkeley, and the Director of RISELab (https://rise.cs.berkeley.edu/). He is currently doing research on cloud computing and AI systems. Past work includes Apache Spark, Apache Mesos, Tachyon, Chord DHT, and Dynamic Packet State (DPS). He is an ACM Fellow and has received numerous awards, including the Mark Weiser Award (2019), SIGOPS Hall of Fame Award (2015), the SIGCOMM Test of Time Award (2011), and the ACM doctoral dissertation award (2001). He also co-founded three companies, Anyscale (2019), Databricks (2013) and Conviva (2006).

Brian Mecum is currently a Vice President for Verizon, the largest wireless company in the United States.  Brian oversees the Device Technology organization, driving the LTE-M, NB-IoT, CBRS, 4G and 5G device ecosystems for future network evolution while optimizing existing device performance and architecture. Brian is responsible for tracking Verizon and industry network technology plans and ensuring that the connected objects roadmap across business channels is enabled to support the technical and business needs of the corporation. In this role, he works in collaboration with the Verizon Radio Network Planning group to ensure the device and connected objects alignment with network future-state infrastructure and capabilities.  This is done in collaboration with OEMs and device manufacturing stakeholders to identify and address new-device network requirements in conjunction with standards bodies (3GPP, GSMA, etc.) to lead the development of industry standards for new products and device technology.

Mecum is passionate about ushering in future technologies and cultivating new talent via leadership conferences for women and high potentials, and takes an active role in STEM outreach programs.

Prior to his current position, Brian held the position of West Territory Network Vice President  for Verizon Wireless where he had responsibilities for industry-leading voice and data networks for 28 states including 9 of the largest, most dense cities in the United States.  

Brian holds a Bachelor's degree in Business Management from the University of Arizona with a minor in Chemical Engineering. 

Additionally, Brian is responsible for leading Verizon’s sports analytic’s technology development.  With his passion for athletics, technical foresight and strong relationships with top professional and collegiate programs, Brian has developed a vision to take sports science, sports broadcasting, and fan experience to its next level with 5G, MEC  (Multi-access Edge Computing) and data analytics.  Brian cemented the world’s 1st “5G performance lab” with the NBA’s Phoenix Suns in October 2020 after a year-and-a-half’s amalgamation of tech/partner research, design and installation.  These efforts enabled real-time shot analysis, player tracking and performance evaluation in the cloud, leveraging low-latency 5G speeds for game-time decision making and targeted player training/load management. 

Since joining Verizon, he has served in a variety of roles including operations, planning, technology development, engineering, and finance. In these roles he has had an opportunity to shape Verizon’s network architecture and technical aspirations. 

James Gowen is Sr. Vice President, Global Supply Chain and Chief Sustainability Officer for Verizon. Since taking on these complementary roles in 2009, his team has enlisted more than 58,000 Verizon employees in 53 countries around the globe in helping to reduce the company’s environmental footprint while increasing the efficiency of a growing enterprise.

Gowen has been deeply involved in the advancement of innovative and sustainable technologies and spearheaded the launch of Verizon’s first ever green bond in the first quarter of 2019. This $1B bond highlights Verizon’s commitments to renewable energy, energy efficiency, water conservation and reforestation. Gowen launched Verizon’s flagship $137M green energy initiative which enabled Verizon to deploy more than 20MW of renewable energy at key company locations. Gowen also oversees other green initiatives throughout the company including setting Verizon’s first approved science based emissions reduction targets, committing to operational net zero emissions, expanding recycling and waste reduction, and management of end-of-life-cycle material recovery.

In his supply chain role, Gowen leads all inventory planning and logistics operations globally. Gowen is responsible for the planning of over $35B of inventory across all Verizon’s lines of business. Additionally, Gowen has responsibility for procurement, warehousing, transportation, quality, returns and end-of-life monetization.

In 2015, Gowen spearheaded the start-up of Verizon Services Ireland Limited in Dublin, Ireland. He was responsible for transitioning $15B in annual spend for strategic sourcing of Verizon’s Network and IT operations. Over 85 industry professionals were hired and a state-of-the-art center of excellence was built under Gowen’s leadership in less than 7 months.

Having held several positions of increasing levels of responsibility at Verizon, Gowen was the lead architect of the company's supply chain strategy and led the strategic shift from a fixed to a variable inventory business model. While in corporate sourcing, he led the implementation of Verizon's eProcurement effort, and the standardization of Verizon's supply chain systems.

Gowen earned his master's degree in business administration from Long Island University and his bachelor's degree from Manhattanville College. He is a member of Penn State University’s Smeal Sustainability Advisory Board. He is also the current Chairman of GeSI (Global eSustainability based out of Brussels), and a board member of the MIT Climate and Sustainability Consortium. Gowen is located at Verizon Center in Basking Ridge, New Jersey.

Anousheh is currently the CEO of the XPRIZE Foundation, the world’s leader in designing and operating large incentive competitions to solve humanity’s grand challenges. Ansari, along with her family, sponsored the organization’s first competition, the Ansari XPRIZE, a $10 million competition that ignited a new era for commercial spaceflight.  Since then, she has served on XPRIZE’s Board of Directors.

Prior to being named CEO of XPRIZE, Ansari Co-founded and served as the CEO of Prodea Systems, a leading Internet of Things (IoT) technology firm. In 2006, she captured headlines around the world when she embarked upon an 11-day space expedition, accomplishing her childhood dream of flying to space.  As a result of her mission, she became the first female private space explorer, first astronaut of Iranian descent, first Muslim woman in space, and fourth private explorer to visit space.

Ansari serves on the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Future Council and has received numerous honors, including the WEF Young Global Leader, Ellis Island Medal of Honor, and STEM Leadership Hall of Fame, among others. She is a UNESCO Good Will Ambassador and serves on the board of Jabil (NYSE: JBL) and Peace First, as well as several other not-for-profit organizations focused on STEM education, youth empowerment and social entrepreneurship.

She published her memoir, My Dream of Stars, to share her life story as inspiration for young women around the world.

Ansari holds a BS in electronics and computer engineering from George Mason University, an MS in electrical engineering from George Washington University; and honorary doctorates from George Mason University, Utah Valley University, and International Space University.

Åsa Tamsons is Senior Vice President and Head of Business Area Technologies and New Businesses and member of Ericsson’s Executive Team. With focus on technology and innovation, Tamsons team is responsible to drive growth in new areas for Ericsson. They do this by identifying, developing and scaling new businesses that support Ericsson’s customers to capture the full potential of 5G, IoT and future technologies.

Tamsons team drives the Ericsson IPR and licensing, Cradlepoint – the US-based market leader in Wireless WAN Edge 4G and 5G solutions for the enterprise market, Ericsson´s global IoT platform business, Global Dedicated Networks business and Small- Medium Business Solutions (SMB Solutions), and a number of other emerging businesses in incubation stage through the innovation hub Ericsson ONE.

Previous experience as partner at McKinsey & Company, where Tamsons has been serving tech, telecom and industrial companies around the world. Her expertise was focused on growth strategy and B2B sales and marketing.

Åsa Tamsons holds a Master of Science in Business Administration from Stockholm School of Economics.

As Group CTO, Erik Ekudden is responsible for setting the direction of technology leadership for the Ericsson Group. In 2017 he was re-located to Kista, Sweden, after nearly seven years at Ericsson in Santa Clara, California.

His experience from working with technology leadership globally will influence the strategic decisions and investments in mobility, distributed cloud, artificial intelligence and Internet of Things. This builds on his decades-long career in technology strategies and industry activities.

Ekudden first joined Ericsson in 1993 working on mobile systems research. He has served as research area director and vice president of standardization. During his career, his team created technology and multimedia functionality that are now used in today’s smartphones worldwide. This team also conducted some of the first work on virtual and augmented reality for mobile systems. He has worked to create global mobile systems for 3G, 4G and 5G in close collaboration with customers.

He holds a Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden.

Jan Karlsson is Senior Vice President and Head of Business Area Digital Services (since February 1, 2018). Ericsson Digital Services provides solutions that realize our customers’ digital transformation including software and services in the areas of monetization and management systems (OSS/BSS), telecom core (packet core and communication services), and cloud & NFV (Network Functions Virtualization) infrastructure. 

Before taking on his current role, Karlsson was Head of Solution Area Business Support Solutions at Ericsson. He also led the sales and delivery of multiple Full Stack OSS/BSS projects for Ericsson in Latin America which were among of the first of their kind to go live in the region. 

Before joining Ericsson, Karlsson was CEO of DigitalRoute, an independent software vendor focusing on data collection and pre-processing across telco and non-telco verticals. Karlsson holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from ESSEC Business School in France. 

Niklas Heuveldop is the President and CEO of Ericsson North America, serving Ericsson’s customers in the United States and Canada with industry-leading technology and services.

Heuveldop most recently served as Chief Strategy Officer and Head of Group Function Technology & Emerging Business, a new position which combined the Corporate Strategy and Technology functions, Ericsson Research, Business Innovation, Mergers & Acquisitions, Emerging Business and focused on the Internet of Things, as well as Information Technology and Ericsson’s Digital Transformation.

Prior to that role, Heuveldop was Chief Customer Officer and Head of Group Function Sales. He started at Ericsson in 1993 and has served in various international assignments across the Americas and Europe, including as Head of Global Customer Unit AT&T and Head of Market Unit Central America & Caribbean.

From 2001 to 2005, Heuveldop led venture capital-backed technology start-ups, first as COO at WaterCove Networks, which was acquired by Alcatel in 2003, and then as CEO at ServiceFactory, a management buyout from Swedish operator Telia.

Heuveldop holds a Master of Science in Industrial Engineering & Management from the Institute of Technology, Linköping University, Sweden.

Cecilia Atterwall is Head of Marketing and Communications for Networks at Ericsson since July 1, 2016, leading a team that spearheads the Ericsson narrative on the future of networks. She is part of key messaging decisions on how the company’s industry-leading network products and services can make an impact on customers and influencers.

Prior to her current role she headed up Strategy, Marketing and Communications at Business Unit Global Services where she also tackled strategy development and customer-driven innovation.

From 2009 to 2014 she led Ericsson ConsumerLab, a global research arm that has been providing unique insights on market and consumer trends over the past 20 years. That reputation has made Atterwall a sought-after speaker on the topics of consumer trends, customer experience, innovation, and network evolution.

Her more recent public appearances included speaking engagements in China, the UK and in the US on the topic of 5G.  She talked about 5G at the annual summit of Nordic prime ministers and at the Service Innovation at Almedalen, Sweden’s largest annual gathering of politicians and influencers.

Atterwall joined Ericsson in 1999 and has since held many executive positions in the company. She has studied and worked in the US, UK, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, and Chile.

Atterwall holds an M.Sc. in Industrial Engineering and Management from Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden. She also studied Financial Economics at the School of Economics, Business, and Law at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

During his career, Eric has held various leadership positions in research and design, standardization and product management. At Ericsson, Parsons held the position of Head of Product Line 4G and RAN Mobile Broadband, having led the launch of VoLTE, LAA, and LTE-M/NB-IOT.

During this time, Parsons also enabled the launch of a uniquely structured R&D organization within Ericsson focused on virtual/cloud RAN, which now forms the foundation for PDU Cloud RAN. 

Eric has recently re-joined Ericsson from his role in the Government of Canada, where he was responsible for national wireless regulatory policy and operational functions.

Eric holds a M.Math degree in Computer Science, University of Waterloo, and Ph.D., Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto, Canada. Eric is based in Ottawa, Canada.

Erik Simonsson is Head of Industry 4.0 for Ericsson’s production landscape . Simonsson is a data-driven leader who is energized by diversity and challenges, sustainable change and adapting reality to new situations – both from a personal and professional perspective. He has more than 21 years of experience within Ericsson in various positions, primarily in manufacturing and R&D, located in Sweden (Stockholm), the United States (Dallas) and Estonia (Tallinn).

Simonsson currently heads up Ericsson’s global Industry 4.0 organization, including Industry 4.0 implementations, data strategies and 5G adoption in manufacturing processes. With more than 20 years of experience in manufacturing, his focus is to continuously ensure that new technology and production practices are transforming manufacturing to stay on the cutting edge. Simonsson’s focus is on increasing productivity and enabling business value through new technology implementations with key elements of Industry 4.0.

Simonsson was educated in business and economics from Stockholm University.

Jan Söderström is Vice President and Head of Advanced Technology and Industry U.S. based in Silicon Valley California and reporting to Ericsson Group CTO.  In this capacity he drives the technology leadership work in 5G, Cloud and IOT including co-creation with ecosystem partners. He has built up the Ericsson D-fifteen Lab network platform for use case innovation and testing.  Jan is also engaged in the quest for American leadership in 5G and 6G – he serves as the Vice chair of the NextG Alliance and as a board member of ATIS.

From 2013 to 2017 Jan was driving the NFV and cloud transformation program at Ericsson. Prior to this Jan had a decade long engagement at Ericsson Research heading the research in IP and Cloud, including three years in San Jose building up the Ericsson lab there. Jan has a PhD in Applied Physics from Chalmers University of Technology and spent his early career working with optoelectronic devices and optical networking.  

Koustuv is Vice President and the Head of Ericsson North America’s Utilities, Energy & Industrial verticals. He brings over 30 years of experience in the utilities, telecom and mission critical industry verticals. His domains of expertise, and areas of focus have been driving digital transformation strategies via private networks in industry verticals such as utilities, manufacturing, public safety, and municipalities. He has been increasingly engaged in the evolving confluence between electric power, telecommunications and electrification of transportation.

Marie Hogan leads the strategic product management team responsible for the Mobile Broadband and IoT areas of 4G and 5G radio access networks at Ericsson.

Her main responsibilities include driving key functionality for the ongoing 5G RAN deployments including peak rate evolution and multi-standard RAN, optimization of 5G radio access solutions and securing the enabling technologies that 5G will bring.  She is also responsible for driving the new use cases supported by Cellular IoT both in 4G and 5G, including Massive IoT, URLLC and Time Critical Communication for both consumers and enterprise use cases. Additionally, Marie focuses on the evolution of 4G radio access solutions both to meet the growing demands on existing LTE networks and to facilitate the co-existence with and migration to 5G.

She has worked in many areas within Ericsson from product development to product management spanning 3G, 4G and 5G technologies. Marie has worked with both radio and core network solutions as well as with transport, synchronization and security solutions.

She holds a Master of Science in Technology Management and a degree in Electronic Engineering. Some recent publications and media events include:

Cellular IoT in the 5G era

5G Master Classes | Qualcomm - 5G Boundless XR Bringing a Wave of Innovation

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Paul Challoner, vice president, Network Product Solutions for Ericsson North America, based in Plano, Texas is responsible for radio products including 4G, 5G, IoT & Open RAN. Prior to his current role, Challoner worked as Head of Product Line Wi-Fi and Head of Ericsson’s CDMA Product Line. 

Challoner currently serves as Vice Chair, Board of directors of the CBRS Alliance , Large Company representative ,for the Board  of the Wireless Innovation Forum and on the Board of Governors for 5G Americas.  He joined Ericsson in 2010 from Nortel where he held executive roles leading the GSM product line, Intelligent Networks and Broadband Wireless businesses. He has global experience working in the US, Canada, France, India and the UK. With 25 years in the telecom industry he possesses extensive industry experience and has innovated bringing numerous radio products to market specializing in the field of wireless communication.  

Challoner holds a bachelor’s degree in Electrical & Electronic Engineering from Brunel University, London, UK. 

Dr. Pernilla Jonsson is Head of Ericsson Consumer & Industry Lab. Through cutting edge research Consumer & IndustryLab drive Ericsson thought leadership of what connected intelligence means to people, different industries and society. Pernilla has worked with innovation, market strategy, business development for multinational companies for over 15 years. Pernilla is a board member of WASP HS, the  Wallenberg foundation of AI research in the humanitarian and society context.

Pernilla is an appreciated international key note speaker for large audiences as well as in boardrooms and executive committees. Further, international media frequently interviews her on areas relating to her expertise. In 2015 she launched a book on the digitalization of the purchasing process, “The one-click revolution” which earned the honorary prize as Sweden’s “Marketing Book of the Year 2016.”

Rodrigo is a R&D leader with focus on RAN Automation and extensive experience in RAN Planning, Deployment and Optimization.

At Ericsson, Rodrigo has contributed to the development of Self-Organizing Networks and Network Management products, delivering solutions that enable increased network performance and operational efficiency.

Prior to Ericsson, Rodrigo has supported CSPs to evolve their networks proving strategic consultancy, leading Planning and Optimization projects, and delivering training.

Dr. Sheryl Genco is a Senior Advisor with the Advanced Technology Group at Ericsson in Santa Clara, CA.

She has over 30 years of experience in engineering leading teams in industry and the Federal government. Her career has heralded the development of new technologies and moving research into development such as quantum computing and telecommunications applied research.   She is a subject matter expert in wireless communication and high-performance computing systems. Previously, Dr. Genco led the National Advanced Spectrum and Communications Test Network (NASCTN) at NIST.  While at NASCTN, she managed programs in the areas of LTE - 3.5GHz, GPS, AWS-3, Fifth Generation Advanced Training Waveform (5GATW). Dr. Genco and her team were awarded the Gold Medal for LTE and GPS program.  

Dr. Genco is a staunch supporter of STEM education and careers. She advocates for the pursuit of STEM careers.  She founded a STEM focused K-8 public school that has won multiple awards including the prestigious John Irwin School of Excellence award multiple times and was ranked #1 Middle School by Colorado School Grades.  This science and math focus school has educated more than 13,000 students in its decade and a half of continuous operation.  She holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Colorado, M.S. from Syracuse University and a B.S. from Northeastern University.

Thomas Noren is Head of Dedicated Networks business at Ericsson. Dedicated Networks leverages Ericsson’s product and service portfolios to modernize private communication systems or drive enterprise digitalization with 4G and 5G. Dedicated Networks support Operators and their channel partners to serve enterprises in Manufacturing, Mining, Oil & Gas, Transport, Utilities and other industries.

Throughout his career Thomas has worked with leading-edge technologies. Most recently he led Global 5G Commercialization for Ericsson. He is credited for leading Ericsson’s global success with 4G/LTE and for initiating and introducing the Ericsson Radio System — Ericsson’s modular and highly efficient hardware platform for radio networks that was designed to be 5G prepared from start. Thomas also introduced NB-IoT and the DOT.  

Thomas joined Ericsson in 1997 and has held executive positions in product management, R&D, and sales. Prior to joining Ericsson, he was a consultant at McKinsey & Company.

Thomas has an M.Sc. in Engineering Physics from the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Sweden and an MBA from INSEAD in France. He has lived and worked in France, Japan, and the US.

Yossi Cohen is the Executive Vice President of Strategy, Technology, Marketing & Business Development for Ericsson North America. In this role, he is responsible for overseeing critical functions essential to leading the company’s strategic evolution in the market, while firming up the ability to capture key new growth opportunities in the United States and Canada.

Cohen most recently served as Head of Customer Unit Verizon for Ericsson, where he was responsible for all sales and delivery related to Verizon. He held this role for almost four years, overseeing Ericsson’s work to roll out large portions of the Verizon 4G LTE network and the launch of its 5G network.

Previously, Cohen was the Global Head of Sales for Business Unit Radio at Ericsson in Stockholm, Sweden. He also has served as the President & Representative Director of Ericsson Japan and the Head of SoftBank Business Division from 2009. In addition, Cohen was Head of the SoftBank Global Business Division, established in 2013.  

He also was the Head of Ericsson Israel, serving as Head of Technology and later Head of the Business Division of Pelephone. 

While working at Ericsson, Cohen has gained a wide range of international experience and has been involved in various activities for Ericsson offices in Japan, Sweden, Australia, Turkey and the United States.

During his more than 20 years in the telecommunication industry, he has worked at Israel’s first mobile operator, as well as being part of the Israeli telecommunication technology-centric startup Geotek, while residing in Seoul, South Korea. 

Cohen was born in Israel. He holds degrees in electronic engineering and business administration.

As Head of 5G Marketing, North America for Ericsson, Peter aspires to help enterprise, industry, and service provider stakeholders to understand and realize the full potential of 5G technology and mobile G forces. In 2020 Onalytica ranked him as the #1 expert technology influencer on LinkedIn. This recognition comes from three decades as a broadband networker in the fixed and mobile domain, two decades as a professional speaker, and one decade exploring digital marketing. After hours he is passionate about formula one racing, photography, travel, and time with friends and family.

Teresa Wolke is the Head of Communications for Ericsson North America. In this role, she leads media relations, social media and employee communications for Ericsson’s business in the United States and Canada.

Since joining Ericsson in 2012, Teresa has held a number of roles in communications, including Head of Internal Communication for North America and Director of External Communications. She also created a change communications team for Ericsson globally, leading acquisitions, divestitures and managed services deals for the company. 

Prior to joining Ericsson, Teresa led employee and executive communications for Nokia Siemens Networks’ North American operations. Prior to that, she worked in the public affairs practice at Burson-Marsteller, a global public relations firm, and in corporate communications for Tenet Healthcare, a Fortune 500 health care company.

Teresa started her career as a broadcast journalist, working in front of the camera and behind the scenes in large and small U.S. markets. She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from California State University, Northridge and a master’s degree in strategic public relations from the George Washington University.