Imagine Possible Santa Clara
Leading innovators and thought leaders from technology frontrunners and enterprises met in Imagine Possible Santa Clara on October 18-19, 2022 to share their vision for the future.
From Extended Reality (XR) and the Metaverse to the future of Enterprise connectivity, Ericsson’s Imagine Possible event showcased the power of this new world through lively discussion and real-world examples.
Come listen to 30 insightful sessions and choose between different topics that matter to you!
Highlights
A mixture of panel discussions, debates, and keynotes from thought leaders within extended reality, metaverse, and connected enterprise transformation. You will hear from the creators of new modes of digital experiences, real-world use cases, and success factors.
Understand why the metaverse is happening now and why cellular connectivity is critical to the new paradigm. Meet the minds behind the next generation of devices, applications, and the connectivity technology that will bring it to life.
Learn how leaders and innovators are transforming businesses and communities today and discover the strategies, tools, insights, solutions, and partners needed to succeed at transforming your enterprise with cellular connectivity.
An exclusive session for Ericsson BSS (Business Support System) invited guests only. Latest in roadmap updates, discussions on hot topics, and challenges faced around the world with BSS/monetization solutions. If you are interested to join this track, please contact us here.
Agenda
18th October (PDT) - Physical event
Main hall
11:30 AM Registration & mingle |
Explore the demo zone, grab some snacks, get refreshed |
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12:30 - 12:40 PM Imagine Possible |
Niklas Heuveldop, President & CEO Ericsson North America |
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12:40 - 1:00 PM Renaissance 2.0 – Does Tech have a greater purpose? |
Lila Tretikov, Corporate Vice President/Deputy Chief Technology Officer, Microsoft Mischa Dohler, Sr. Advisor Advanced Technology Group, Ericsson |
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1:00 - 1:20 PM Beyond the Metaverse hype |
Pernilla Jonsson, Head of Ericsson Consumer & Industry Lab, Ericsson Ronnie Vasishta, SVP Telecom, NVIDIA Otto Berkes, Xbox Co-Founder, CEO HireRoad Mike Ray, Senior Business Development Lead, Unity |
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1:20 - 1:40 PM Exponential network developments in the next 10 years |
Erik Ekudden, SVP & CTO, Ericsson Neville Ray, President of Technology, T-Mobile Bikash Koley, VP and Head, Google Global Networking; Head, Technology and Strategy, Google Cloud for Telecommunications |
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1:40 - 2:05 PM Global Network Platform and new opportunities for Enterprise Open APIs |
Yossi Cohen, COO & Executive VP, Ericsson North America Savinay Berry, EVP Product & Engineering, Vonage Matthew Smith, VP Head of Live Marketing, Ericsson |
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2:05 - 2:30 PM Opportunities that digital transformation brings to enterprises |
Alex Kantrowitz, Founder, Big Technology Kevin Davenport, Head of Global Technology Alliances & Partners Sudhanshu Gaur,VP & Chief Architect IoT, Hitachi George Mulhern, SVP, Head of Business Area Enterprise Wireless Solutions, Ericsson / Cradlepoint |
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2:30 - 3:00 PM |
Coffee Break |
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Connected Enterprise Transformation track (Cypress room) |
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3:00 - 4:15 PM When tomorrow inspires today |
Will Townsend, Senior Analyst, Moor Insights & Strategy Elena Fersman, Head of Global AI Accelerator, Ericsson Todd Edmunds, Global CTO Smart Manufacturing, Edge Compute, and Digital Twin, Dell Robert Schmitt, Director, WZL | RWTH, Aachen and Division Director, Fraunhofer IPT N. Venkat Venkatraman, Professor of Management at Boston University Questrom School of Business |
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4:15 - 5:15 PM What's your 5G strategy |
Sudhanshu Gaur, VP & Chief Architect IoT Hitachi America, Hitachi Jan Söderström, Head of Technology Office Silicon Valley, Ericsson Justin Blair, VP, Carrier Business Development, Cradlepoint Kevin Davenport, Head of Global Technology Alliances and Partners, Rockwell Arvin Singh, Head of Global 5G Innovation, Verizon Joe Madden, Founder and President, Mobile Experts Inc. |
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5:15- 5:30 PM Closing keynote |
George Mulhern, SVP, Head of Business Area Enterprise Wireless Solutions, Ericsson / Cradlepoint |
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XR and metaverse track (Main hall) |
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3:00 - 3:10 PM Welcome & Introduction |
Pernilla Jonsson, Head of Consumer and Industry Lab, Ericsson Mischa Dohler, Sr. Advisor Advanced Technology Group, Ericsson Jan Söderström, Head of Advanced Technology and Industry U.S., Ericsson |
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3:10 - 3:30 PM The Role of 5G For Fusing Digital Interactions With Reality |
Soma Velayutham, General Manager of Telecoms & 5G vertical, Nvidia |
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3:30 - 3:50 PM Connecting the Community with AR on TikTok |
Michael Modon, Head of Global Distribution Business Development, Tiktok |
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3:50 - 4:25 PM How will the XR paradigm transform Interactive entertainment |
Mike Ray, Senior Business Development Lead, UNITY Tarren Corbett-Drummon, VP, Strategic Partners and Ecosystem, Ericsson John Tomik, Managing Director of Slalom Strategy and Founder of Slalom Element Laboratories |
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4:25 - 5:00 PM The opportunity of transforming the shopping experience and consumer relations in retail & advertisement |
Jeremy Lockhorn, VP, Head of Global Innovation, Ericsson Megan Bute, Senior Growth Product Manager, Niantic Ann-Sofie Isaksson, Consumer and Customer Insights Manager, Retail Services, IKEA |
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5:00 - 5:20 PM Magic Leap on purpose-built augmented reality |
Daniel Diez, Chief Marketing Officer, Magic Leap Pernilla Jonsson, Head of Consumer and Industry Lab, Ericsson |
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5:20 - 5:30 PM Wrap up |
Pernilla Jonsson, Head of Consumer and Industry Lab, Ericsson Mischa Dohler, Sr. Advisor Advanced Technology Group, Ericsson Jan Söderström, Head of Technology Office Silicon Valley, Ericsson |
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Evening Entertainment, Inspiration, Mingling |
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5:30 - 6:30 PM |
Drinks and light dinner |
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6:30 - 7:15 PM The most inspiring digital prophecies ever |
DAVID SHING, Futurist, speaker, creative director, strategic digital consultant, and entrepreneur |
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7:45 - 9:30 PM Music |
TRISHES, Award-winning musician |
19th October (PDT) - Physical event
Connected Enterprise Transformation track (Cypress room) |
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9:00 - 10:05 AM Private Networks: Now, Next, Nirvana |
Ed Walton, CEO, Step CG Manish Tiwari, SVP Corp. Development and Strategy, Ericsson Todd Krautkremer, Head of Marketing, Ericsson Enterprise Wireless Solutions / CMO Cradlepoint Jefferson Wang, Senior Managing Director, Cloud First, Global 5G and Networks Lead, Accenture |
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10:05 - 10:50 AM Closing the Digital Divide and Opening Young Minds |
Dr. Philip Neufeld, Executive Officer, Information Technology, Fresno Unified School District Solomon Israel, Principal Consultant, Dallas ISD Jason Eyre, Technology Department Coordinator, Murray City School District Todd Krautkremer, Head of Marketing, Ericsson Enterprise Wireless Solutions / CMO Cradlepoint |
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10:50 - 11:05 AM |
Coffee break & Networking |
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11:05 - 11:20 AM Digital Twin Demo |
Pietro Lungaro, Ph.D., ICT Architect, Ericsson |
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11:20 AM -12:05 PM Next Generation Enterprise Networks |
Shawn Hakl, VP, 5G Strategy, Microsoft Manish Tiwari, SVP Corp. Development and Strategy, Cradlepoint Tatiana Zander, Director, Disruptive Technologies, Ericsson |
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XR and metaverse track (Main hall) |
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9:00 - 9:10 AM Welcome |
Pernilla Jonsson, Head of Consumer and Industry Lab, Ericsson Mischa Dohler, Sr. Advisor Advanced Technology Group , Ericsson |
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9:10 - 9:30 AM XR now – key insights from leading developer tools & platforms |
Amitha Pulijala, Vice President of Product, Cloud Platform Services, Video API and AI, Vonage |
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9:30-10:00 AM Ecosystem collaboration for XR success |
Sheshadri Amathnadu, Sr Director – Venture Capital, SKT Jasmeet Singh Sethi, Head of Consumer Lab, Ericsson Andrew Bennett, AVP 5G Monetization, AT&T |
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10:00- 10:15 AM |
Break |
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10:15 - 10:50 AM Ericsson startup5G: Innovators shaping the XR/Metaverse Future |
Jasmeet Singh Sethi, Head of Consumer Lab, Ericsson Luis Oscar Ramirez, Founder and CEO, Mawari John Payne, CEO and Chairman, Croquet Vanessa Freudenberg, Co-founder and Chief Architect, Croquet |
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10:50 - 11:10 AM XR now – key insights from leading developer tools & platforms |
Mike Ray, Senior Business Development Lead, Unity |
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11:10 - 11:35 AM XR for all – how XR applications and interfaces can enable all |
Giselle Mota, Creator of NFTY Collective Matthew Smith, VP Head of Live Marketing, Ericsson |
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11:35 AM - 12:00 PM Roadmap of XR enablers What can XR devices do for us now and what to expect this decade |
Charlie Fink, Metaverse Consultant, Forbes Columnist, Author and Adjunct Hemanth Sampath, Sr Director engineering; 5G Lead - XR/metaverse, gaming, private networks, Qualcomm Pernilla Jonsson, Head of Consumer and Industry Lab, Ericsson |
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Reflections Panel (Main hall) |
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12.30 - 1:10 PM Leaders and experts reflections on XR / Metaverse, Enterprise and 5G |
Alex Kantrowitz, Founder Big Technology Niklas Heuveldop, President & CEO, Ericsson North America Ann-Sofie Isaksson, Consumer and Customer Insights Manager, Retail Services, IKEA Jefferson Wang, Senior Managing Director, Cloud First, Global 5G and Networks Lead, Accenture Damian McCabe, Connectivity, Amazon Devices Giselle Mota, Creator of NFTY Collective |
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1:10 - 1:15 PM The emergence of new eco-systems |
Niklas Heuveldop, President & CEO, Ericsson North America |
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Connected Enterprise Transformation – afternoon track (Cypress room) |
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1:30 - 1:55 PM Omni-Connected Retail |
Ron Koch, Principal Engineer H&R Block |
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1:55 - 2:30 PM Factories Fast Forward |
Erik Simonsson, Head of Industry 4.0, Ericsson Said Ouissal, CEO & Founder, Zededa Joe Wilke, Head of CoE Campus Solutions, Ericsson |
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2:30 - 3:10 PM Delivering Customer Delight with Connectivity |
Damian McCabe, Connectivity, Amazon Devices Jon Boeing, Business Development Lead, Connectivity, Rivian Tatiana Zander, Director, Disruptive Technologies, Ericsson |
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3:10 - 4:10 PM Advancing Public Safety with Advanced Connectivity |
Daniel Lutz, IT Director, Tulsa County Sheriff Commander Randy Goddard, Assistant Commanding Officer, IT Bureau John Chaney, IT Communications Manager, City of Irvine Amir Mahmood, Director of Technology Alliances & Partnerships at Cradlepoint Blake Bullock, Sr Director & GM Fleet Products - Axon |
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4:10 - 4:20 PM Closing |
Todd Krautkremer, Head of Marketing, Ericsson Enterprise Wireless Solutions / CMO Cradlepoint Tatiana Zander, Director, Disruptive Technologies, Ericsson |
19th October (Digital event – Highlights from the live event)
08:00 am PDT / 05:00 pm CET |
Main stage replay |
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09:00 am PDT / 06:00 pm CET |
Connected Enterprise Transformation track replay |
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10.00 am PDT / 07:00 pm CET |
XR & Metaverse track replay |
BSS Summit 2022
Tuesday, October 18 |
Plenary sessions Monetization sessions Strategy sessions Mobile Financial Services Sessions |
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Wednesday, October 19 |
Innovation sessions Strategy sessions Mobile Financial Services Sessions Cloud - Automation sessions |
If you are interested to join this track, please contact us here.
Lila Tretikov
Corporate Vice President/Deputy Chief Technology Officer, Microsoft
Bio
Lila Tretikov is a Corporate Vice President & Deputy Chief Technology Officer at Microsoft Corporation, and a leading expert on Artificial Intelligence and business transformation. In her role at Microsoft, she applies a cross-disciplinary approach to creating solutions that address some of the world's most challenging problems and empower humanity through technology. She is host of the soon to be released The Art of Science podcast.
Prior to joining Microsoft in 2018, Tretikov served as Senior Vice President of Engie SA, a multinational energy company, and Chief Executive Officer and Vice Chairman of the Terrawatt Initiative, a non-profit organization launched by Engie and other multinationals with a mission to alter the Earth's ecology through energy transition to CO2-negative systems. She was previously Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of The Wikimedia Foundation and Wikipedia Endowment, the non-profit organization that supports Wikipedia.
Tretikov attended Moscow State Lomonosov University, where she studied Mathematics, and the University of California, Berkeley, where she studied Artificial Intelligence and Visual Art.
Alex Kantrowitz
Founder, Big Technology
Bio
Alex Kantrowitz is the founder of Big Technology, an independent publication that covers the inner workings of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, and Microsoft. His email newsletter goes out to tens of thousands of Silicon Valley decision-makers each week. Big Technology Podcast is among the top 1% of shows worldwide, per Listen Notes.
Kantrowitz is also contributor at CNBC where he regularly appears to discuss the tech giants and his reporting.
Kantrowitz’s first book, Always Day One, debuted in 2020. The book is a reported deep dive on the tech giants’ work cultures, featuring more than 130 interviews with insiders from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to front line workers. Inc. named Always Day One a Business Book You Have to Read in 2020.
Prior to founding Big Technology, Kantrowitz was a Senior Technology Reporter at BuzzFeed News. He began his career buying ads and selling ad-tech software in New York.
Kantrowitz lives in New York. He is a graduate of Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations.
Ronnie Vasishta
SVP Telecom, NVIDIA
Bio
Ronnie Vasishta is responsible for NVIDA’s telecom business and strategy, and telecom go to market across all end markets. He joined NVIDIA in October 2020 from Intel, where he most recently served as the vice president and general manager of the Network and Configurable Logic Division, Data Products Group. At Intel, Ronnie’s team managed the company’s programmable business with telecom manufacturers and communication service providers. Ronnie formerly served as CEO of privately held eASIC, which focused on the Telecom and storage markets and was sold to Intel in 2018. Previously, he was vice president of technical marketing at LSI Logic, following a series of other engineering roles there.
Otto Berkes
Xbox Co-Founder, CEO HireRoad
Bio
Otto is currently CEO at HireRoad, a leading provider of talent management software solutions optimized for mid-sized organizations.
An Xbox co-founder and its first architect, he worked on the graphics technology for the first version of Windows NT, and subsequently led the Windows OpenGL and DirectX development groups during the formative years of the evolution of the modern GPU. An early champion of mobile computing, Otto led the development of touch-based technologies, user interfaces, hardware architectures, and physical designs found in today’s devices. He is co-inventor on 13 patents, many focused on mobile technologies.
In 2011, Otto moved to HBO in 2011 to build HBO’s streaming service, and as CTO, to lead the technology division and champion the company’s overall digital transformation. He subsequently joined CA Technologies as EVP to spearhead new product incubation and to direct the company’s shift to subscriptions.
Otto has a degree in physics and music performance from Middlebury College and an MS in computer science and electrical engineering from the University of Vermont. He has an Emmy Award, an Edward R. Murrow Award, and is a published author. He is currently on the board of Integral Ad Science, is a trustee at the University of Vermont, and is on the advisory board for IntelAgree.
Bikash Koley
VP, Global Networking and Head Technology and Strategy Google Cloud for Telecommunications
Bio
Bikash is currently the Vice President and Head of Google Global Networking (GGN) and Head of Technology and Strategy, Google Cloud for Telecommunications.
Bikash’s GGN team is responsible for design, development, build and operation of Google’s massive global network that every Google service and the Google Cloud Platform relies upon. The GGN team develops the cutting edge intent driven networking technologies that allow Google's global WAN to be zero touch, builds out some of the largest scale SDN infrastructures ever deployed (B4, Espresso), scales Google's global CDN that fuels Youtube and all other Google services and expands the reach of Google's network by building the highest capacity submarine cables and the most programmable terrestrial optical networks. This infra is also the core network that underpins all Google cloud services.
In his role as the Head of Technology and Strategy, Google Cloud for Telecom, Bikash oversees the technology, architecture and strategy to empower and enable global telecommunication providers to develop and roll out mobile edge cloud, network cloud, AI/ML driven analytics/automation and cloud-powered customer experiences.
Prior to this, Bikash was the Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of Juniper Networks. In this role, Bikash charted Juniper’s technology strategy and led the execution of the company’s critical technology innovations. Specifically, Bikash was responsible for Juniper’s telco cloud and virtualization, multicloud enterprise datacenter and software defined enterprise networking products and technologies.
Prior to Juniper, Bikash spent close to ten years at Google, where he was a Distinguished Engineer and the Head of Network Architecture, Engineering and Planning.
Prior to Google, Bikash was the CTO of Qstreams Networks, a company he co-founded. He also spent several years at Ciena Corporation in various technical roles developing DWDM and Ethernet technologies.
He is an industry-leading expert on network function virtualization, intent driven networking (IDN), multicloud networking, warehouse-scale computing, and hyperscale network infrastructures.
Bikash received a BTech from IIT, India; and MS and PhD degrees from the University of Maryland at College Park, all in Electrical Engineering.
Savinay Berry
EVP Product & Engineering, Vonage
Bio
As EVP, Product and Engineering, Savinay Berry is responsible for global leadership of Vonage’s engineering, product management, IT, and security teams, focused on driving the Company’s technology strategy and innovation of the Vonage Communications Platform (VCP) and its portfolio of solutions. Overseeing both product and engineering, Berry is committed to driving growth at Vonage by delivering communications solutions that empower customers to advance their business objectives by changing the way they work, connect and engage.
A seasoned technology executive, Berry has more than 20 years of experience in technology and software, with extensive cloud expertise, and a track record of developing highly innovative products and spearheading results-driven transformational change. Prior to joining Vonage, he was Senior Vice President, Cloud Services at OpenText, responsible for all cloud services and strategy, including infrastructure, service delivery, managed services, and developer services. Before that, he also served as OpenText Vice President, Engineering and Products leading cloud applications, design, performance and security.
Prior to OpenText, Berry was Vice President, Product Management at Dell EMC, where he was responsible for the content management product portfolio. He led all SaaS, mobile, web and on-premises products, including Documentum, Captiva and other enterprise productivity applications. He also led partnerships and business development to drive inorganic growth, developing products to accelerate the digital enterprise journey.
Before Dell, Berry served in product and engineering leadership roles at Intuit where he led the development of advanced products, such as wearables, mobile and intelligent systems. Earlier, he was Vice President of Product Management at Empowered Inc., acquired by Qualcomm, where he defined the vision and direction for the industry’s first mobile-only social learning platform on the iPad, through a partnership with UCLA.
Berry holds both a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering and an M.B.A. from Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
Justin Blair
VP, Carrier Business Development, Cradlepoint
Bio
Justin Blair is a Vice President of Carrier Business Development at Cradlepoint. Specifically, he leads a team dedicated to driving joint sales success with Verizon, building the Wireless WAN for Commercial and Public Sector customers.
Prior to joining Cradlepoint, Justin spent 17 years at Verizon, most recently as a Product Management leader responsible for 5G, Private Cellular Networks, and Wireless Business products. In that capacity, he launched key products and programs including the Response Ready portfolio for First Responders, that offers priority and preemption services with purpose-built products, and a SaaS sell-through program offering best-in-class solutions for endpoint management, secure mobility, and productivity. Previously, Justin held roles of increasing responsibility within the Verizon Wireless Network Operations organization on the Network Repair Bureau team, responsible for delivering global inter-standard roaming services, establishing data roaming services, and creating programs for enterprise customers’ pre and post-sales support.
Justin received his Masters of Science degree in Telecommunications Management from Stevens Institute of Technology, and his Bachelors of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Rutgers University, College of Engineering, both in the honors program.
Todd Krautkremer
Head of Marketing, Ericsson Enterprise Wireless Solutions / CMO Cradlepoint
Bio
Todd has more than 30 years of tech executive experience within startup, early-stage, and growth-stage companies focused on wired and wireless networking, security, and cloud technologies. Prior to Cradlepoint, he was CMO at Pertino (acquired by Cradlepoint in 2015), a pioneer in software-defined cloud networking.
Jason Eyre
Technology Department Coordinator, Murray City School District
Bio
Jason Eyre, a pioneer in CBRS for K12 Education, has worked in IT for 30 years. Industry experiences include healthcare, government, agriculture, aerospace, information technology, software development, private corrections, and now education all with a focus on data and networking. Being active in implementing the latest wired, wireless, and mobility networks has given him a unique view and perspective on both security and functionality of these tools in our world today.
Solomon Israel
Principal Consultant, Dallas ISD
Bio
Solomon Israel is a consultant for Dallas Independent School District providing strategic guidance and program management skills for their private cellular program to provide broadband connectivity to under served students in the district.
Solomon is also the CTO of SkyMax Network, a greenfield network operator deploying 5G telecom networks in Sub-Saharan Africa focused on closing the digital divide. His work is focused on strategic product roadmaps and business plans to secure revenues and enhance enterprise valuation; collaborating and negotiating with key telecom equipment and IT service providers.
Solomon currently serves on the Board of Directors for Ann & Nate Levine Academy, as Board President Emeritus. Over his 8 -year tenure on the board he oversaw the development and execution of the strategic plan, including a multi-year technology plan, financial sustainability, and inclusivity initiatives.
Solomon holds patents in:
- Quality of Service Enablement for OTT Applications;
- Providing Identity Correlation for Over The Top Services; and
- Methods of Emergency Media Alert Preemption (EMAP).
Solomon holds a M.S. degree in the Management of Technology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management, a B.S.E. degree in Systems Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania Moore School of Engineering.
Sheshadri Amathnadu
Sr Director – Venture Capital, SKT
Bio
Shesh is responsible for Venture investments at SK Telecom Americas a corporate venture arm of SK Telecom (leading Telecom company in South Korea). He has worked with leading Telecom companies in the past. He leads deep tech investment activities in the areas of AI, XR, Infrastructure & Communications. He is also an Advisor and Mentor to many startup companies. Over 20+ years of experience in ICT sector with background in Engineering and 12+ years of experience in the venture business. Shesh is passionate about Innovative technologies disrupting and bringing positive changes in our daily lives. Shesh has graduate degree from MIT Manipal and part time MBA from UC Berkeley. Shesh hold patents in the technology areas of ICT, AI and more.
Kevin Davenport
Head of Global Technology Alliances & Partners, Rockwell
Bio
Kevin Davenport is a Senior Business Executive with 25 years of proven success delivering measurable and transformative growth for top 10 technology companies and startups by manically focusing on customer business outcomes. Currently, he is Head of Technology Partnerships at Rockwell Automation.
He has held executive leadership positions at Cisco, Intel, AWS and Beckhoff Automation where he pioneered, drove and executed innovative IoT software and hardware solutions; and SaaS based cloud strategies for multiple vertical segments.
Kevin strongly believes that true transformation comes from an environment where team members are motivated, encouraged and supported to bring their authentic self to work every day. His leadership style and ethos are rooted in creating this type of environment. A safe place where innovation, fun, and growth occur at an accelerated scale.
Neville Ray
President of Technology, T-Mobile
Bio
Neville Ray is T-Mobile’s president of technology, responsible for the management and development of T-Mobile’s wireless network, the company’s information technology services, and technology operations. Previously serving as chief technology officer at T-Mobile, he takes pride in the fact that his team of more than 8,000 is “always on” for customers. Bad weather, natural disasters, and temporary usage spikes can hit at any time, but customers can always count on one thing—Neville and his team will work to save the day. Neville is also proud of the work his team did in positioning T-Mobile as a leader in 5G by launching the first nationwide 5G network in the U.S. in 2019.
Before joining T-Mobile in 2000, he was the vice president of network at Pacific Bell Mobile Services, where he helped build out the network T-Mobile users rely on in California and Nevada.
Will Townsend
Moor Insights & Strategy
Bio
Will is a senior analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy focused on carrier equipment equipment providers, carrier services and enterprise networking. He brings over 25 years of technology industry experience in a variety of product, marketing, channel, business development and sales roles.
Most recently, Will served as a management consultant for an early 4G marketing services company as well as Dell EMC and BigCommerce, focusing on sales enablement activities supporting both direct and partner sales functions.
He also serves as a traveling mentor for the nonprofit Bpeace and has assisted numerous entrepreneurs with sales and marketing consultation in Guatemala. Will earned a BA in Economics from The University of Texas at Austin and an MBA from Texas State University.
N. Venkat Venkatraman
Professor of Management at Boston University Questrom School of Business
Bio
N. VENKAT VENKATRAMAN is widely regarded as leading authority on digital strategy. He is the David J. McGrath Jr. Professor of Management at Boston University Questrom School of Business. He has previously taught strategy at MIT Sloan School of Management and the London Business School. His recent book, The Digital Matrix: New Rules for Business Transformation through Technology, was published in 2017 by LifeTree Media for global distribution and Portfolio Penguin for the Indian subcontinent. This book was endorsed by CEOs of IBM, Verizon and WPP and by several CIOs and Chief Digital Officers.
Over the last three decades, his research and teaching have focused on how companies win in the post-industrial, digital age—where products, processes, and services are shaped and supported by digital technologies. He writes papers for a managerial audience and academic publications. His papers for managers have been published in the Sloan Management Review and California Management Review, Harvard Business Review, and Financial Times over the last three decades. His academic research has been published in Management Science, Strategic Management Journal, Information Systems Review, Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, and others.
He has consulted and/or delivered senior executive presentations and workshops globally including IBM, Ericsson, GE, BP, Merck, GM, AWS, FedEx, Microsoft, McKinsey & Co., WPP, Sony, Tesco, Transnet in South Africa, Swire Group and others. He has served as a member of the Digital Technology Advisory Group at Canal+, Paris for six years.
He can be reached via LinkedIn and Twitter @NVenkatraman
Sudhanshu Gaur
VP & Chief Architect IoT Hitachi America, Hitachi
Bio
Sudhanshu is Vice President at Hitachi America and heads the industrial Edge computing R&D program for incubating innovative solutions across multiple industry segments. Additionally, he also serves as Chief Architect, Smart Manufacturing at Astemo and is responsible for driving Industry 4.0 initiative across 140+ manufacturing sites spread over 25+ countries. Sudhanshu was named among the top 25 leaders transforming manufacturing by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) in 2020. Prior to joining Hitachi, he received his Ph.D. degree in Electrical & Computer Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology, Master and Bachelor of science degrees from Virginia Tech and the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, respectively.
Mike Ray
Senior Business Development Lead, Unity
Bio
Mike Ray is a creative thought leader, with over 30 years of experience in cutting edge technology. He has had a broad range of career experiences from the Studio through to the Shopfloor and the C-Suites as a consultant, technical fellow and executive. Mike has had the pleasure to work with of Automotive, A&D, CPG, HW, SW, Energy and Motorsports organizations around the world.
He is currently helping organizations embrace and take advantage of this rapidly growing next wave. Whether called the Real-time economy, Web 3.0 or the Metaverse, there are opportunities for all.
He holds a BSME and a Master’s in Systems Engineering from Dalhousie University, Halifax Canada.
Joe Madden
Founder and President, Mobile Experts Inc.
Bio
Joe Madden founded Mobile Experts and serves as the lead analyst. Over the past 30 years, Mr. Madden has accurately predicted Digital Predistortion, Remote Radio Heads, Small Cells, 5G Fixed Wireless, and the true size of the IoT market. He has worked as an RF engineer and managed product lines in mobile infrastructure and in handset components. He has parachuted in as an interim CEO, and returned a dying company to profits.
Joe leads the Mobile Experts team in analysis of wireless communications and Edge Computing. Education: UCLA and Stanford for Physics and Business. He can’t jump so high anymore but he still loves to spike a volleyball!
Michael Modon
Global Head of Distribution Business Development, TikTok
Bio
Michael Modon is the Global Head of Distribution Business Development for TikTok, a destination for short-form mobile videos whose mission is to capture and present the world’s creativity, knowledge, and moments that matter directly from the mobile phone. Modon focuses on advancing key stakeholder relationships amongst Telecom, OEM, Product, and Connected Entertainment strategic partners for the platform across North America, Latin America, EMEA, and APAC. He and his team have closed hundreds of deals impacting growth, retention, brand, and innovation at TikTok.
Prior to TikTok, Modon's experience includes strategy and business development for various leading consumer tech firms such as musical.ly, Google, and YouTube. He holds an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and resides in Los Angeles, California.
Amitha Pulijala
Vice President of Product, Cloud Platform Services, Video API and AI, Vonage
Bio
Amitha is the Vice President of Product at Vonage where she is driving the strategy and vision for Video API, AI and Platform Services. Amitha is also responsible for orchestrating innovative solutions for immersive customer engagement using real-time communications and extended reality (XR). Amitha is a co-author of 4 patents and holds a masters degree in Computer Science.
Megan Bute
Senior Growth Product Manager, Niantic
Bio
Megan Bute is a Senior Growth Product Manager on the 8th Wall team at Niantic, focusing on driving value for our WebAR & WebVR developers, production partners, and the end users. Megan has worked at Niantic and 8th Wall since 2020 focused on growing developer web-based augmented reality tools and experiences. She previously came from Growth Product in the EdTech space at Coursera and prior to that marketing roles at startups of various sizes. She continues to be excited about the intersection of augmented reality, education and the metaverse.
John Tomik
Managing Director of Slalom Strategy and Founder of Slalom Element Laboratories
Bio
John is the Managing Director of Slalom Strategy and Founder of Slalom Element laboratories where he helps companies understand what’s possible, imagine a better future, and build a better tomorrow for all. He has been pivotal in bringing some of the biggest consumer mobility, telecommunications and entertainment products to market and has transformed customer experiences in profound ways. John is a futurist and brings a wealth of experience, creativity and inspiration to technology, product and strategy development.
John is also the Owner and Founder of Árvore De Luz –a startup corporation that is bringing a fresh perspective to organic and sustainable farming.
Ann-Sofie Isaksson
Consumer and Customer Insights Manager, Retail Services, IKEA
Bio
Leading a team with the role to drive insights to inform strategies, plans & decisions, globally and locally, that are rooted in an understanding of customers, consumers, the market, and IKEA brand performance. Ann-Sofie has extensive experience working with brand and marketing , always with focus on consumer behavior. Passion and drive for retail innovation, future of technology and its implication on brand and marketing.
Arvin Singh
Head of Global 5G Innovation, Verizon
Bio
Arvin Singh is the Head of Global 5G Innovation for Verizon Business Group. He leads a team of architects, engineers and thought leaders working to accelerate the adoption of emerging product/solutions such as private networks and multi-access edge compute (MEC) capabilities. Arvin's team is responsible for delivering Verizon's technology strategy and vision; leading innovation workshops, solution design and driving business outcomes by leveraging Verizon’s broad portfolio of assets. Over 25 years of experience working with information and communications technologies (ICT) and wireless across various industry segments.
Arvin holds an executive certificate for The Innovative Technology Leader from Stanford University (GSB) and an Executive MBA in Global Business Administration & Management from Pepperdine University.
David Shing
Futurist, speaker, creative director, strategic digital consultant, and entrepreneur
Bio
David “Shingy” Shing, is an Australian futurist, speaker, creative director, strategic digital consultant, and entrepreneur.
Known for his performative persona and bold and polarizing moniker, “the digital prophet”, Shingy is a multidimensional creative who specializes in advising clients about inventive and effective approaches to optimizing brand value within the digital landscape.
He is passionate about educating big brands about the unique opportunities afforded by emerging digital, social and mobile technologies.
As digital prophet for AOL and then Verizon Media, David Shing worked across both North American and international territories to identify new opportunities for the business, actively change brand perception and assist in building the external profile of the company across the globe. He left the company in 2019 to pursue his own projects.
Trishes
Award-winning musician
Bio
Trish Hosein embraces a multitude of passions as a visual artist, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. She has been nominated for Best Music Video at the South Asian Film Festival two years in a row. Trish has offered to create a bespoke spoken word and musical piece for Imagine Possible.
Said Ouissal
CEO & Founder, Zededa
Bio
Said Ouissal is the CEO and Founder of ZEDEDA. Prior to ZEDEDA, Said held executive product management and (technical) sales roles at various infrastructure companies like Ericsson, Juniper Networks, Redback Networks and Violin Memory. Next to his customer engagement experience, Said has worked in engineering and development roles as well for companies such as Lucent, Versatel and Conxion. Said has extensive experience in IP networking (routing, switching and security), telecommunications, cloud, mobile broadband and is inventor of 2 issued patents. Said holds a Bachelor degree in Computer Science, is originally from the Netherlands and speaks 5 languages.
Ed Walton
CEO, Step CG
Bio
Passionate about innovative solutions and technologies, Ed is an entrepreneurial leader with a proven track record of success in startups and large organizations. He enjoys building successful winning teams and fun cultures.
Ed joined STEP CG in September 2019 as CEO. Prior to joining STEP CG, he was Vice President of Sales and Channel Partners at Cradlepoint. He also held several Sr. Executive roles at Avaya, including Global Strategic Accounts and Vertical Strategy Leader for Networking Solutions, U.S. Sales Leader-Networking, Government, Education and Medical (GEM) Sales Leader. Prior to Avaya, he held executive sales positions at Nortel, Bay Networks, Intelliseek, Quantum Bridge and Wellfleet Communications.
Nominated for Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2021.
Ed has an undergraduate degree in Journalism from the University of Wisconsin – Madison, and an M.B.A. from the University of Notre Dame. He and his family reside in Montgomery, Ohio.
Jefferson Wang
Senior Managing Director, Cloud First, Global 5G and Networks Lead, Accenture
Bio
Jefferson is the lead author of the best-selling book, “The Future Home in the 5G Era.” He is Accenture's 5G and Cloud First Networks Lead (Accenture is a 710,000-person global professional services company with leading capabilities in digital, cloud and security. Combining unmatched experience and specialized skills across more than 40 industries, offering Strategy and Consulting, Interactive, Technology and Operations services — all powered by the world’s largest network of Advanced Technology and Intelligent Operations centers). For over two decades, Jefferson has been at the intersection of business and technology. He has focused on new network technologies and architectures, such as 5G, Private LTE, Edge Networks, Software Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) and Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) that will unlock the cloud continuum to reshape the world.
Jefferson builds businesses on his belief that success comes from big picture thinking mixed with detail-oriented execution. His ability to identify new technology patterns helps his clients navigate constant change. He works with global leaders to break down complex problems into compelling stories, define a roadmap of use cases based on technology capabilities, create innovative business models and create new addressable markets. He then rolls-up his sleeves to mobilize teams and deliver through launch.
Jefferson is a regular speaker at Mobile World Congress (MWC) and Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and has appeared on CNN, CBS, NBC, ABC and Mobile World Live TV. His perspectives are featured in publications that include The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Forbes, Fortune, New York Times and Washington Post.
Jefferson holds a Bachelor Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park.
Philip Neufeld
Executive Officer, Information Technology, Fresno Unified School District
Bio
Philip Neufeld is Executive Officer, Technology Services at Fresno Unified School District. He has served in technology and board leadership roles in healthcare, agriculture, and economic development. Philip transitioned from IT leadership in private industry to work for Fresno State with 25,000+ students, and then Fresno Unified School District with 70,000 students. His leadership roles in education include core infrastructure, enterprise services, co-leading a personalized learning initiative with 1,000+ teachers, co-leading a global learning analytics collaborative facilitated by Microsoft Education, and co-leading the Fresno Coalition for Digital Inclusion. To support modern learning in-and-beyond the classroom, Philip rolled out dark fiber rings for the wide area network (WAN) and private LTE to support learning from home. Philip shapes educational ecosystems to better prepare and empower students with knowledge, skills, dispositions, and agency to choose their #AsYetImagined futures. Philip received a Master of Business Administration and Doctor of Education from California State University, Fresno. His publications and presentations can be found here.
Robert Schmitt
Director, WZL | RWTH, Aachen and Division Director, Fraunhofer IPT
Bio
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Robert Schmitt, born in 1961, completed his studies of Electrical Engineering with the specialisation on Communications Engineering at the Technical University of Aachen and became research associate at the Chair for Metrology and Quality Management. His work there focused on production-related Metrology and Communications Engineering in an automated environment.
In 1997 Professor Schmitt moved on to MAN Nutzfahrzeuge AG (commercial vehicles) in Munich where he took on leading positions in the fields of Quality and Production. In 2002 he assumed responsibility for the commercial vehicle production in Steyr, Austria.
On July 1st, 2004 he was appointed as professor at the Technical University of Aachen. As head of the Chair for Metrology and Quality Management and Information Management in Mechanical Engineering at the Laboratory for Machine he serves as a member of the Board of Directors at the Laboratory for Machine Tools and Production Engineering (WZL) and the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT.
His current research involves the use of 5G and 6G in manufacturing and assembly.
Blake Bullock
Sr Director & GM Fleet Products - Axon
Bio
Mr. Bullock is a product leader and evangelist in mobile, automotive, Telematics and location fields with more than 20 years of experience in various product management, business development and engineering roles. He leads Axon's Fleet in-car video product line, and his team recently launched the revolutionary Fleet 3 camera system with AI-based license plate reading (LPR) technology. Previously, he launched consumer, automotive and semiconductor products and has built and owned multiple product management teams at large and small firms. With distinguished technical achievements, including authoring and holding 11 patents, he is a sought after thought leader in industry publications and forums.
Daniel Lutz
IT Director, Tulsa County Sheriff
Bio
Daniel Lutz is the IT Director for the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office in Tulsa, Oklahoma. After stepping into this role in 2017, Daniel believed in seeking out new innovative technologies to provide better officer safety and services to the citizens of Tulsa County. In his relatively short time in this role, he successfully transitioned to a new CAD/RMS/JMS system in under 10 months, designed, architected and installed a 200+ car LTE network to provide AVL and in-car network capabilities.
Daniel co-led a small team of people to launch new technology initiatives like Rave Mobile Safety, Rapid SOS, Prepared Live (video and text 911). These new public safety technology platforms have been a force multiplier in a world where short staffing is critical and common. Tulsa County Sheriff Vic Regalado credits Daniel Lutz with transforming his agency when it comes to technology. “Daniel has elevated the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office to entirely different level. He has implemented systems that have made us more efficient and well as increased officer safety and accountability. He has implanted systems that allow us to protect and serve the citizens of Tulsa County in ways that we didn’t know were possible. Under Lutz’s leadership, TCSO has become one of the most technologically advanced law enforcement agencies in the country.”
Social Media:
LinkedIn
Shawn Hakl
VP, 5G Strategy, Microsoft
Bio
Shawn is responsible for building and executing the product strategy and partnerships for Microsoft’s Azure for Operators portfolio. His team works across product, engineering, and sales to help operators execute on the digital transformation of the core and edge networks. Prior to Microsoft, Shawn served at Verizon as the Senior Vice President of Business Product, responsible for a $29B portfolio covering services such as enterprise networking, 4G/5G, cyber security, collaboration and IoT.
Damian McCabe
Amazon Devices - Connectivity, Amazon
Bio
Damian is responsible for building the Amazon eSIM infrastructure and driving eSIM adoption pan-Amazon, maximizing cellular data connectivity for our business units and bringing cellular enabled devices to market that delight customers.
Damian is a business transformation leader specializing in Telecom + Cloud convergence, IoT, 5G, edge computing, AI/ML, go-to-market (GTM) models, helping operators to move beyond connectivity and up the stack. He delivers game-changing results by anticipating the future, obsessing over customers, building and managing cross-functional teams.
Throughout his career Damian has built global businesses, lead transformational initiatives & successful teams at Amazon, AWS, T-Mobile, airtel and others.
Damian lives in Austin, TX with his 16 year old twins.
Giselle Mota
Creator of NFTY Collective
Bio
Giselle Mota is a futurist and thought leader focused on enabling inclusion as it relates to product design, the future of work, and all things emerging tech including web3 and metaverse.
She serves as the Chief of Product Inclusion at ADP where she leads DE&I throughout the 200+ product portfolio, defining strategy and supporting product capabilities to ensure the organization designs with an inclusive mindset. Giselle helps drive adoption of DE&I capabilities within our product offerings, ensuring a seamless end-to-end experience for clients and users.
Giselle has been named Top 100 Future of Work Thought Leader and served as Principal Consultant on the Future of Work at ADP. She provided strategy and guidance on the evolving world of work and emerging technologies to executives and practitioners, while strengthening ADP’s value proposition.
Giselle is the creator of NFTY Collective, which focuses on bringing disability inclusion into web3 and metaverse. She is founder of Versd, an inclusive innovation and strategic ventures group. Giselle is also a visiting Inclusive People Analytics and AI instructor for UFM, and serves on various boards and councils on inclusion and emerging tech.
She is a global speaker and has been featured on TED Talks, Forbes, Yahoo News, Cheddar News, Chief Learning Officer Magazine among others.
Elena Fersman
Head of Global AI Accelerator, Ericsson
Bio
Elena Fersman is a Vice President and Head of Global AI Accelerator at Ericsson. She is responsible for a distributed team based in USA, Sweden, India and Canada. Elena is a docent and an adjunct professor in Cyber-Physical Systems specialized in Automation at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. She holds a PhD in Computer Science from Uppsala University, an MBA from St. Petersburg Polytechnic University and did a postdoc at the University Paris-Saclay. At Ericsson, she had various positions ranging from product management to research leadership. Elena served on the Board of Directors of RISE Research Institutes of Sweden 2019-2022 and is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences. Elena has co-authored over 50 patent families.
Todd Edmunds
Global CTO Smart Manufacturing, Edge Compute, and Digital Twin, Dell
Bio
Todd Edmunds is the Global Industries CTO of Smart Manufacturing, Edge Compute and Digital Twins at Dell Technologies. A strategic innovation and technology leader, Todd initiated and heads up the digital manufacturing/smart factory business creating innovative IIoT solutions and international partner alliances as well as heading up the company's Digital Twin innovation and strategy team.
Todd is an industry expert with over 30 years' experience in Smart Manufacturing, Industry 4.0, industrial automation, Digital Twins, 5G and Edge Computing, having previously held leadership positions at Cisco Systems, Rockwell Automation/Allen-Bradley and at an IoT solution integrator and industrial OEM.
Outside of Dell, Todd leads the Manufacturing Workgroup for the Digital Twin Consortium and also chairs the Edge Computing task group for the Industry IoT Consortium (IIC)
Yossi Cohen
COO & Executive VP, Ericsson North America
Bio
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.
John Chaney
IT Communications Manager, City of Irving
Bio
Mr Chaney spent 6 years in the United States Marine Corps. He has worked in Public Safety Communications for 28 years since. 4 years with Motorola in Houston before going to work for the Harris County Information Technology Center. He retired from Harris County October 2017 as a LTE Design Engineer where he was working on their private LTE broadband deployment. He supported the County, Regional and state public safety partners and co-chaired the Texas Radio Coalition that met in Austin TX. Following 9/11, Mr. Chaney also worked with the Department of Homeland Security in a volunteer capacity for a Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) involving multiple urban area communication capabilities assessments. Mr. Chaney went to work for the City of Irving in October of 2017 as the Information Technology Communications Manager where is today.
Brian O`Connor
Director, Strategic Business Development, Extreme Networks
Bio
Brian O’Connor is an innovative IT Industry executive who has spent most of his career addressing and implementing technology solutions focused on Digital Transformation within the Public Sector. He has served in Executive Marketing, Sales and Government Relations positions with several top technology firms. He also served on a Bipartisan, Presidential commission for Election Reform which was the basis for the Help America Vote Act and stimulus funding of 2004. Additionally, he was the Co-founder, SME and Managing Director of a strategic consulting/lobbying firm focusing on developing and implementing multiple large scale, State, City and County-wide Citizen engagement strategies and initiatives. Currently, Brian works with a cross functional team at Extreme Networks developing ecosystem alliances and strategic GTM strategies for emerging markets.
Commander Randy Goddard
Assistant Commanding Officer, IT Bureau, Los Angeles Police Department
Bio
Commander Randy Goddard was born in Huntington Beach, California. Starting as a patrol officer, Commander Goddard has worked a variety of assignments, including field training officer and vice investigator. As a supervisor, his assignments included Field Sergeant, Lieutenant Watch Commander, Detective Commanding Officer, and Patrol Captain. Notable, during his tenure as Patrol Captain, he was awarded the 2019 Excellence in Leadership Award for Crime Reduction for West Los Angeles -- finishing No. 1 in the Department for overall Part I crime reduction. More recently, Commander Goddard was selected to lead Innovation Management Division and ultimately rose to the rank of Commander and was assigned to Information Technology Bureau (ITB). At ITB, Commander Goddard leads a multidisciplinary cadre of blended sworn and civilian teams to identify, develop and deploy 21st Century innovations to the Los Angeles Police Department. Commander Goddard earned his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from California State University, Long Beach, and completed his Master's Degree in Leadership, and a Graduate Certificate in Public Management, from the University of Southern California (USC). Commander Goddard attended the California Peace Officer Standards and Training Supervisory Leadership Institute, LAPD's Leadership Program, and is a graduate of the Federal Bureau of Investigation National Academy in Quantico, Virginia. Commander Goddard currently serves as the 2nd Vice President for the FBI National Academy Associates California Chapter representing the Los Angeles Division
Andrew Bennett
AVP 5G Monetization, AT&T
Bio
Andrew leads AT&T’s Mass Market 5G Monetization team responsible for identifying opportunities to harness the power of 5G to bring new experiences to life for AT&T’s customers.
Most recently, Andrew lead AT&T’s Postpaid Network Product team tasked with matching network solutions with the current and future demands of AT&T’s wireless customers. His team of technical and product experts have a front row seat to the full lifecycle of AT&T’s wireless services: from the network infrastructure build, all the way to the products and services that sit on the top of it.
Prior to his roles in Customer Product, Andrew help various planning and engineering roles within AT&T’s Network Engineering and Operations team. Andrew obtained his BA in Computer Science from Washington and Lee University and recently received his MBA from UCLA.
Andrew and his wife Madeline live in Dallas, TX with their daughter Hazel and two dogs, Mabel and Chilli.
Luis Oscar Ramirez
Founder and CEO, Mawari
Bio
Luis is the Founder and CEO of Mawari. In this role, his mission is to enable Synthetic Reality for everyone. He is committed to experimenting and developing with emerging technologies such as 5G, cloud rendering and streaming, in order to build a patent pending 3D Streaming CODEC for Mawari 3DXR Content Streaming Platform, a next-generation XR distribution technology for the metaverse.
Mawari’s proprietary CODEC enables the highest visual quality to be streamed to mobile XR Devices by substantially lowering the heavy processing requirements of rich interactive and ultra-realistic 3D content like real-time digital humans, reducing cost, data size and battery consumption while unlocking scalability.
Prior to Mawari, he spearheaded and co-founded the Japanese version of MUTEK, a world-renowned festival dedicated to the dissemination and development of digital creativity in sound, music, and audio-visual art. He also served as a Global Head of Marketing at MUSIC Tribe, one of the world’s largest holding companies for pro audio and music instruments.
Soma Velayutham
General Manager of Telecoms & 5G vertical, Nvidia
Bio
Soma evangelizes AI adoption into telecoms and 5G wireless communications. He is a successful serial Intrapreneur and product leader with more than 20 years in software and high-tech industry. He has incubated and launched multiple software products globally for large corporations. He is also a mentor to early stage start-ups and Stanford incubation program (iFarm).
Soma is an original thinker with the full product-lifecycle experience from product strategy to R&D. He has worked with customers across the Americas, Asia and Europe, traveled to more than 40 countries and speaks 4 languages, giving him a truly global perspective.
Soma is swift in deciphering complex technologies and customer business needs to set a compelling product vision. Through collaborative engagements, he can rally internal and external stakeholders towards the product strategy and passionately drive roadmaps. He has spearheaded and launched multiple successful products globally, including a few that have received 5 global industry awards. He also owns 11 patents.
John Payne
CEO and Chairman, Croquet
Bio
John Payne is CEO and Chairman of Croquet. He also serves as Chairman of GIGXR, Inc., an XR medical training company serving medical and nursing schools, hospitals and the U.S. Department of Defense. He is the former CEO of two public Internet software companies, Stamps.com (STMP) and Day Software (SW: DAYN), and is a three-time founder in fintech, mobile and consumer internet. He is an inventor and patent owner who has been awarded more than 25 patents in Internet, cybersecurity and mobile messaging technologies. He holds a B.A. in Economics from University of California, Irvine.
Vanessa Freudenberg
Co-founder and Chief Architect, Croquet
Bio
Vanessa designed and implemented CroquetOS and its global Edge Reflector infrastructure. For Microverse she developed the Metashell for world isolation and secure portal traversal. A former member of Alan Kay’s research group, she has been developing interactive systems for more than 20 years with a focus on live, self-supporting architectures.
Niklas Heuveldop
President & CEO, Ericsson North America
Bio
Niklas Heuveldop is the President and CEO of Ericsson North America, supporting Ericsson’s customers and partners in the United States and Canada in building out the 5G innovation platform, leading a new wave of innovation that will radically improve lives, redefine business and pioneer a more sustainable future.
Heuveldop previously served as Chief Strategy Officer and Head of Group Function Technology & Emerging Business, leading the establishment of a new business area dedicated to emerging business.
Prior to that role, Heuveldop was Chief Customer Officer and Head of Group Function Sales. He first joined 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.
Erik Ekudden
SVP & CTO, Ericsson
Bio
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.
Jon Boeing
Business Development Lead, Connectivity, Rivian
Bio
Jon Boeing, is the commercial leader for connectivity partnerships at Rivian. Combining overall mobility strategy with cross-collaboration amongst various product and engineering teams, has been his passion in the automotive and IoT space for fifteen-plus years. He spends his time working with various chipset and module vendors, mobile network operators and driving new technology across various hardware and software solutions. As an evangelist of emergency services in automotive, he also has a personal mission to connect all types of people and things across the world, forever. Mr. Boeing joined Rivian from RapidSOS, who provides an emergency data platform between multiple technology products and first responders.
Tatiana Zander
Director, Disruptive Technologies, Ericsson
Bio
Tatiana Zander is a Director Disruptive Technologies, responsible for innovation and thought leadership across Ericsson North America. She drives and streamlines innovation and lab strategy across all operator and enterprise customers, while always looking for the next disruption.
Tatiana began her career as a software developer and has worked with all Ericsson business areas since. Originally from Germany, she has had assignments in four continents, and is now based in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Tatiana earned a BSC in Scientific Programming from University of Applied Sciences Aachen, MSC in Operations Research and an Executive MBA from Maastricht University.
She currently serves on the Advisory Council of California State University East Bay. Outside of work, Tatiana is a former competitive gymnast and currently trains to complete a full Ironman triathlon.
Joe Wilke
Head of CoE Campus Solutions, Ericsson
Bio
Joe Wilke started his career at Ericsson as a manager for system engineers in 1994 and is now Head of the Center of Excellence for industrial solutions. The Center of Excellence bundles products, services, experience and expertise to address opportunities in the context of 5G and industry digitalization. The center supports industry and enterprise customers through an integrated approach to networking solutions, such as standalone or hybrid private networks, dedicated networks, mobile broadband and IoT solutions, aiming at capturing emerging business opportunities. Innovations in cellular connectivity, artificial intelligence, automation are explored to constantly increase efficiency and quality.
Wilke has held positions in Germany, US (Silicon Valley) and Sweden. Joe studied economics at FernUniversität Hagen and electrical engineering at RWTH Aachen University.
Hemanth Sampath
Sr Director engineering; 5G Lead - XR/metaverse, gaming, private networks, Qualcomm
Bio
Hemanth Sampath is the Sr. Director of engineering and head of 5G R&D for emerging applications at Qualcomm, including XR/metaverse, cloud gaming and private networks. Prior to this role, he was the Wi-Fi R&D systems engineering lead for a decade, shaping 802.11 standards and core technologies like MU-MIMO and Mesh. From 2004-2008, he held engineering leadership roles on 4G (UMB) modem and standards. He received the 2013 Qualcomm IP Excellence Award and holds more than 290 patents. Prior to Qualcomm, he worked at Iospan Wireless and Marvell Semiconductors. Hemanth received the PhD degree in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University in 2001.
George Mulhern
SVP, Head of Business Area Enterprise Wireless Solutions, Ericsson / Cradlepoint
Bio
George Mulhern has been Senior Vice President and Head of Business Area Enterprise Wireless Solutions at Ericsson since June 2022. Business Area Enterprise Wireless Solutions, comprising the current Cradlepoint business and Dedicated Networks, includes a go-to-market organization for enterprise customers.
In 2011 Mulhern was appointed CEO and Chairman of the board at Cradlepoint, which Ericsson acquired in November 2020. He led the company’s transformation from a consumer hardware company to a global leader in cloud-delivered 4G and 5G wireless network edge solutions for businesses and government agencies worldwide.
Prior to joining Cradlepoint, Mulhern was a general partner at Highway 12 Ventures, a venture capital firm making investments in early-stage technology companies in the western U.S. He began his career in technology with Hewlett Packard Company, where he was responsible for hardware, software, and services businesses. Mulhern eventually became a Senior Vice President at HP, leading the LaserJet Global Business Unit.
Mulhern currently serves on the board of directors for Regence Blue Shield of Idaho and Cambia Health Solutions. He has also served on the Idaho Governor’s Science and Technology Advisory Board and the Idaho Cybersecurity Task Force.
Mulhern earned bachelor of science and master of business administration degrees from San Jose State University, where he attended on a tennis scholarship.
Erik Simonsson
Head of Industry 4.0, Ericsson
Bio
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 23 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 the 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
Head of Advanced Technology and Industry U.S., Ericsson
Bio
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.
Mischa Dohler
Sr. Advisor, Advanced Technology Group, Ericsson Inc.
Bio
Mischa Dohler is now Sr. Advisor, Advanced Technology Group at Ericsson Inc. in Silicon Valley, working on cutting-edge topics of 6G, Metaverse, XR, Quantum, and Blockchain. He serves on the Technical Advisory Committee of the FCC and on the Spectrum Advisory Board of Ofcom.
He is a Fellow of the IEEE, the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Royal Society of Arts (RSA), the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET); and a Distinguished Member of Harvard Square Leaders Excellence. He is a serial entrepreneur with 5 companies; composer & pianist with 5 albums on Spotify/iTunes; and fluent in several languages. He has had ample coverage by national and international press and media, and is featured on Amazon Prime
Additional info: https://mischadohler.com/about/#BIO
Charlie Fink
Metaverse Consultant, Forbes Columnist, Author and Adjunct
Bio
Charlie Fink writes the weekly Forbes column "This Week in XR" and its companion podcast. He is the author of the upcoming Dissecting the Metaverse (Fall 2022), Remote Collaboration, Virtual Conferences and the Future of Work (2020), and the critically acclaimed AR-enabled books Charlie Fink’s Metaverse (2017), and Convergence, How The World Will Be Painted With Data (2019). He teaches XR at Chapman University Film School in Orange, CA, and does consulting work for both tech giants and start ups trying to find their place in the rapidly evolving metaverse ecosystem.
Pernilla Jonsson
Head of Ericsson Consumer & Industry Lab, Ericsson
Bio
Dr. Pernilla Jonsson is Head of Consumer & Industrylab, delivering world-class market and consumer insights, as well as bold opinions on where the telecom and smartphone consumer market is headed. Joining Ericsson in 2015, Jonsson is an appreciated speaker and thought leader on the state of ICT in our lives, and has work with innovation, business development, and brand and market strategy for multinational companies for over 10 years.
Jeremy Lockhorn
VP, Head of Global Innovation, Ericsson Emodo
Bio
Jeremy leads innovation and strategic partnerships for Ericsson Emodo, supporting Emodo’s most important relationships with mobile network operators around the world. In addition, he orchestrates cross-functional initiatives aimed at developing new Emodo products and services that help advertisers achieve their business objectives.
Prior to Emodo, Jeremy spent more than 20 years at Razorfish in a variety of roles held together by a common thread -- a relentless focus on what’s next; understanding how technology is changing consumer behavior and what those changes mean to brands and advertisers.
Throughout his career, Jeremy is proud to have been a trusted advisor to innovative companies large and small, including Nordstrom, Expedia, Nike, Best Buy, Citi, MillerCoors, Microsoft and more.
Jasmeet Singh Sethi
Head of Consumer Lab, Ericsson
Bio
Jasmeet Sethi is the Head of Ericsson ConsumerLab based in Sweden. Jasmeet oversees a team of senior researchers and analysts at Ericsson Research that assist functions like technology research, product development groups, marketing, and sales to gather signals, uncover consumer insights and evaluate key trends that impact Ericsson and its customers future direction and strategy. Jasmeet has been responsible for building the consumer narrative around 5G technology and its impact on consumer business. He has also been responsible for conceptualizing the Ericsson Startup5G program, a 5G innovation ecosystem accelerator involving 50+ global startups and over 10 communication service providers. Jasmeet has over 16 years of experience in insights and analytics domain providing businesses actionable insights to inform and shape business decisions that help them achieve their key performance goals and inspire forward looking innovation.
He has authored many consumer trends and insight reports focused on the tech and telecom sector including studies on 5G, consumer IoT, customer experience, future wearables, loyalty and pricing innovation. Jasmeet has a decade of experience across wide variety of industries including telecom, technology, media and financial services where he has worked on a very wide range of consumer insight, strategy and brand development projects. He has travelled extensively in pursuit to study consumer culture and behavior and is a frequent speaker at international industry conferences. Prior to Ericsson, Jasmeet worked as a Consulting Manager at Analysys Mason managing custom projects for telecoms operators and vendors, which include providing strategic advisory and undertaking market assessment work. Jasmeet holds a MBA and a Bachelors of Engineering degree from India.
Tarren Corbett-Drummon
VP, Strategic Partners and Ecosystem, Ericsson
Bio
Tarren leads Partnership and Ecosystem development for Ericsson Digital Human Platform. With over 10 years of experience in telecommunications, with the majority of that time focused on innovation, her focus is on immersive, tip of the spear technology that unlocks new end-user experiences. After joining Ericsson in 2018 as a product innovation lead, she lead the team working alongside AT&T in their joint innovation centers where Digital Humans was born. Before joining Ericsson she was part of AT&T’s leadership development program where she lead network services teams, managed retail stores, streamlined retail operations, and created thought leadership programs. Tarren completed her MBA from UC Davis after a three year commitment to teaching in Los Angeles with Teach for America. Tarren resides in Northern California with her husband and two children.
Matthew Smith
VP Head of Live Marketing, Ericsson
Bio
Matthew is a 22-year Telecoms sector Marketing veteran, with Ericsson and originally Marconi, working across product, presales, strategic and tactical marketing. Since 2017 he has led Live Marketing for Ericsson, with responsibility for their broad Events & Experiences, related content portfolio, and dramatic digitalization journey through the pandemic. Matthew has led teams since his mid-twenties across the entire globe, and has relocated internationally a total of 7 times, 3 continents. In his spare time he enjoys running (looks more like walking, to be fair) stupidly long distances.
Alysha Parker
Content Creator and Event Professional
Bio
Alysha Parker is a content creator and event professional. She began her career in the event industry at Incisive Media and later lead events (and customer experiences) at Bizzabo. After the rollercoaster of 2020 and demand for all things virtual, she pivoted her career as a creative producer at Lively Worldwide AND became a regular content contributor at Vimeo. As if that wasn't enough to keep her busy, she launched a podcast, House Momentum, where she champions the authentic self. As a kickoff to 2022, she joined RollWorks, a division of Nextroll as a content marketing manager. After all, content is queen.
Daniel Diez
Chief Marketing Officer for Magic Leap
Bio
Daniel Diez is the Chief Marketing Officer for Magic Leap, the leader in enterprise Augmented Reality technology. At Magic Leap he leads strategy and execution of the company's corporate, brand, and product marketing in addition to PR, and government relations programs – all designed to build the company's corporate reputation, grow awareness of the company's enterprise AR offering, and create understanding of the platform's ROI. Daniel reports to Magic Leap's CEO Peggy Johnson, with whom he works on corporate strategy and positioning.
Previously, Daniel served as the CMO and Head of Product Management and Development at Transform Brands, the owner of the iconic Kenmore appliance brand and licensee of the DieHard brand. Prior to joining Transform Brands, Daniel served in his first term as Chief Marketing Officer of Magic Leap and was the Global Chief Marketing Officer for R/GA, a global marketing and innovation agency.
Daniel has focused his career on building global marketing and communications organizations that leverage data-driven insights to create awareness, elevate reputation, and drive demand among consumer and enterprise audiences in technology, innovation, start-up, VC, design, creative, and strategy/consulting.
Throughout his career, Daniel has been an advocate for corporate citizenship and his passion for creating positive change extends beyond the world of business. He serves on the Board of the LGBT Community Center in New York and has previously served as a pro bono marketing and communications consultant for non-profit organizations including the Ad Council and the Human Rights Campaign.
Manish Tiwari
SVP Corp. Development and Strategy, Cradlepoint
Bio
Manish Tiwari leads global strategy and M&A function for Ericsson’s Enterprise Networking and Security business unit, with responsibility to evolve the business from a leader in Wireless-WAN to a leader in Secure Enterprise 5G. He also oversees Ericsson’s expansion efforts into AI-driven Enterprise Private Cellular Networks.
In his previous role with Hewlett Packard Enterprise, he served as head of corporate development & strategic partnerships for HPE’s Aruba business comprising of enterprise campus switching, wireless-LAN, cloud software and edge-security products. Manish was responsible for helping drive Aruba’s expansion into access security and SD-WAN as part of HPE.
Prior to acquisition into HPE, Manish served as head of corporate development for Aruba Networks and helped grow the company into a leader in campus networking via expansion into Network Access Control, Indoor location solutions, Mobile Device Management, and several other high-growth markets.
Earlier in his career, Manish held diverse roles as a venture investor at JK&B Capital, as a research scientist in Nokia’s research labs, as a product & engineering leader at Juniper Networks and as a founding engineer at early-stage venture backed companies in enterprise networking.
Manish holds a master's degree in business administration from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, a master’s degree in Computer Science from Purdue University and a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India.
Amir Mahmood
Director of Technology Alliances & Partnerships at Cradlepoint
Bio
Amir is Director of Technology Alliances & Partnerships at Cradlepoint, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ericsson. In his current role, Amir leads sell-with and sell-through partnerships with strategic Cloud, ISV and GSI partners focusing on Enterprise Networking and Private 5G Networks targeting all major industry verticals. Prior to Cradlepoint, Amir held leadership roles in strategic partnerships, product management, and product marketing at various companies including AT&T, Accenture, Mavenir, Blackberry, Sprint and EY. He received his bachelor of science degree in Electrical & Computer Engineering from Rutgers University, and earned his MBA from The University of Kansas.