TitleEtc:Head of North Asia & Global Wholesale, Telstra, Hong Kong SAR China
Bio:Paul Abfalter has been based in Hong Kong for more than a decade. He leads a sales and business development team accountable for Telstra’s largest international territory, and its wholesale business globally. This includes supporting the world’s largest cloud and content customers.
Paul has played a key leadership role in reigniting and executing Telstra’s global growth strategy through projects including leading the restructure of the Reach joint venture, re-entering India and Southeast Asia, the transformation and sale of HK mobile carrier CSL, and listing PRC portal Autohome Inc on the NYSE. He was also one of the key leaders on the Pacnet acquisition and fully responsible for integrating Pacnet into Telstra: Pacnet was Telstra’s largest acquisition since 2002.
Paul holds Bachelor degrees in Economics and Law from the University of Adelaide, and is a graduate of the Advanced Management Program at Wharton.
TitleEtc:Chief Operating Officer, AirTrunk, Australia
Bio:Dana Adams is a senior data center professional with extensive experience leading data center businesses across North America, Europe, and APAC. Specialising in operations and portfolio management, Dana is considered one of the most influential female executives in the industry, named on Data Economy’s Power Women list in 2019.
In September 2018, Dana was appointed Chief Operating Officer at AirTrunk, a leading hyperscale data center operator that is supporting the growth of cloud, content, and enterprise customers in the Asia-Pacific region.
Dana leads AirTrunk’s data center and business operations and is responsible for operational excellence and customer experience across AirTrunk’s rapidly growing data center platform.
Prior to joining AirTrunk, Dana held roles of GM of Data Centers at Iron Mountain and VP Portfolio Management at Digital Realty. In these roles, Dana played integral roles in data center acquisitions, leasing, development, operations, and customer support.
TitleEtc:Chief Executive Officer, NTT Global Data Centers, Americas, USA
Bio:Douglas Adams is Chief Executive Officer of NTT Global Data Centers, Americas (formerly RagingWire Data Centers). Mr. Adams was part of the founding executive team that started RagingWire Data Centers, in the year 2000. During his tenure at RagingWire, Doug has made significant contributions to the company by winning new customers, expanding RagingWire's data center footprint, delivering innovative colocation products, and establishing the strategic partnership with NTT Communications. Prior to RagingWire, Doug was Vice President of Sales and Marketing and General Manager, for NEC Technologies, Inc. with executive responsibility for NEC's magnetic and optical data storage products. He started his career with Mars, Inc., in sales and business development roles, ultimately rising to senior management. Mr. Adams earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration-Marketing from the University of Southern California.
TitleEtc:Chief Product Officer, Equinix, USA
Bio:Sara Baack serves as Chief Product Officer for Equinix, responsible for defining, developing, and delivering Equinix’s industry-leading portfolio of products and services. She joined Equinix in 2012 and served for six years as Chief Marketing Officer, responsible for the company’s overall global brand development, market strategy, product and service portfolio, industry analysis, communications, solutions marketing, and integrated demand generation.
Ms. Baack brings to Equinix more than 25 years of strategic corporate experience, with a strong background in building and commercializing new services. She joined the company from Level 3 Communications, Inc., where she served in a variety of senior management positions.
Ms. Baack has been named Silicon Valley Business Journal’s CMO of the Year, and as one of the Top 50 Most Powerful Women in Tech by the National Diversity Council. She holds a B.A. from Rice University and an M.B.A. from Harvard University Graduate School of Business.
TitleEtc:Director, Disruptive Analysis, United Kingdom
Bio:Dean Bubley (@disruptivedean) is Founder of Disruptive Analysis, an independent technology industry analyst and consulting firm. An analyst & futurist with over 25 years’ experience, he specialises in wireless, telecoms, and advanced technologies.
He is known as a contrarian, often with challenging opinions that go against industry consensus. His present focus is on 4G/5G/WiFi networks, the “future of voice and video”, contextual communications, blockchain, AI, and IoT. He advises on telco service creation & monetisation, ecosystems, broad futurism, and telecoms regulation/spectrum policy. His clients include many of the world’s leading telecom operators, vendors, regulators, and industry associations.
Mr. Bubley was formerly an equity analyst, covering communications stocks with investment bank Granville Baird. Prior to that, he spent eight years at UK research firm Datamonitor, where he was a director of the technology practice and managed the Internet & networking programme, with roles of Chief Analyst & Director of Consulting.
He holds a BA in Physics from Keble College, Oxford University.
TitleEtc:VP for Strategic Research, Salesforce, USA
Bio:Peter Coffee, VP for Strategic Research at Salesforce has been with the company for 13 years. He works with the company's customers and partners on CIO strategies and emerging technology opportunities. He previously spent 18 years writing for publications including eWEEK, Computer Language, and AI Expert; before that, he worked for 10 years as an AI application analyst and desktop computing manager at The Aerospace Corporation and in project management for Exxon. He has lectured on innovation strategies and AI techniques at Stanford, CalTech, UCLA, Harvard Business School, and the Sloan School of Management at MIT; he advises on curriculum in analytics and "big data" initiatives for three other U.S. universities.
TitleEtc:Chief Operating Officer, NEXTDC Limited, Australia
Bio:Simon joined NEXTDC as COO in 2011. Responsible for the company’s strategic development, design, construction, and operations of their data centres and related client services. His team has delivered many Australian firsts, including Tier IV DC’s and NABERS 5-star efficiency.
Starting out as a Systems Engineer working on submarine cable projects with Cable & Wireless and subsequently Level 3 Communications in Europe and the U.S., Simon next moved to Singapore to lead Tata’s investment in their global sub-sea cable platform and solutioning for their wholesale product portfolio.
By leveraging his engineering expertise and commercial experience Simon has successfully developed the operational side of the business, building a highly successful and recognised team of engineers and skilled critical infrastructure operators at NEXTDC.
Simon holds an Electrical and Electronic Engineering Degree from Nottingham University. Simon’s professional focus is strategic relationship management for the development and operation of large-scale critical infrastructure projects.
TitleEtc:Chairman & CEO, StackPath, USA
Bio:Lance Crosby’s vision to radically change cloud technology has manifested in a multi-product platform that is now leading businesses to a secure and scalable Internet. He founded StackPath in 2015 and serves as StackPath’s Chief Executive Officer and Chairman.
Prior to StackPath, Lance founded SoftLayer technologies and served as CEO and Chairman growing it into a $400 million business with more than 700 employees and 20,000 customers worldwide. He also served as General Manager of Cloud Innovation at IBM after SoftLayer was acquired by IBM in 2013.
Lance holds an Honorary Doctorate, a Master of Business Administration, a Master of Science in Finance, and a Bachelor’s in Finance and Management from Tarleton State University – a part of the Texas A&M University system.
Lance also holds a Juris Doctor from Texas Wesleyan School of Law. He is a licensed attorney in the state of Texas where is he an active member of the State Bar of Texas.
TitleEtc:Chief Executive Officer & Board Director, Megaport, Australia
Bio:Driving the success of Megaport, one of the world’s leading network as a service providers, Vincent English works at the forefront of innovation in the tech industry. His 15 years of combined international finance and operations experience in telecommunications, along with his ability to build high-performing teams, has seen Vincent become an influential figure in the connectivity space.
As the demand for interconnection to services and applications soars, Megaport is simplifying the enterprise’s cloud journey. Vincent continues to lead the global growth and expansion of the company.
Prior to joining Megaport, Vincent served as Chief Financial Officer for Digicel Group. He managed financial operations in multiple global markets and drove several major acquisitions for mobile businesses and TV operations. He is a member of ACMA, CPA Australia, and the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
TitleEtc:Chairman, Chindata Group, Peoples Republic of China
Bio:Michael Foust is the Chairman of ChinData Group with over 30 years of experience in data centre investment, development, and operations as well as institutional real estate investments including development and portfolio management.
Michael used to be the founder of Digital Realty Trust, Inc. where he led the company’s IPO and served as Chief Executive Officer and as a Director from 2004 to 2014.
He also was a founder of the private equity firm GI Partners in Menlo Park, CA where he served as a Managing Director from February 2001 to the DLR IPO in 2004.
Michael also serves as a Senior Advisor for the data centre industry to Digital Bridge Holdings, LLC of Boca Raton, Florida and is the Chairman of DataBank, Ltd. and Vantage Data Centers.
Michael received his MBA from Harvard Business School, and his Bachelor of Arts degree, magna cum laude from Harvard University.
TitleEtc:Director, U.S. Innovation, American Tower Corporation, USA
Bio:Mr. Ghirardelli is currently the Director of U.S. Innovation at American Tower Corporation, where he is responsible for identifying, evaluating, and executing new products, services, and solutions across the digital infrastructure landscape to drive incremental revenue and growth opportunities. Prior to this role, John served as the Director of Strategic Real Estate & Asset Strategy and was the inaugural participant in the American Tower Leadership Development Program.
Prior to joining ATC, John worked at Koch Equity Development, the investment and acquisition subsidiary of Koch Industries and Peterson Partners LP, an independent investment management firm with assets under management across a variety of alternative asset classes. Previously, Mr. Ghirardelli was an Associate with TowerBrook Capital Partners where he was actively involved in investment sourcing, structuring, diligence, and deal execution and monitoring of portfolio companies, as well as fundraising. Prior to joining TowerBrook, John was a member of the Investment Banking Division at Merrill Lynch & Co., executing capital markets, leveraged buyouts, and M&A transactions. John received his B.S. in Finance and Accounting from Georgetown University and his M.B.A. from the MIT Sloan School of Management.
TitleEtc:VP, OpenConnect Partner Engagement, Netflix, USA
Bio:Gina Haspilaire is Vice President of Partner Engagement at Netflix responsible for the company’s ISP partner engagement strategy. Prior to joining Netflix, Gina led human resources, facilities, and sales operations management globally at Reliance Communications (Enterprise) and Global Cloud Xchange. With more than 30 years in the technology sector, Gina has a broad range of business experience across the Americas, Europe, Middle East, and Asia. Since 2014 she has been a Director on the Board of PCTEL, Inc. where she chairs the Compensation Committee and is a member of the Nominating and Governance Committee. Gina received her MBA from Columbia University and has a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics / Computer Science from St. John’s University in New York.
TitleEtc:Co-Founder & CEO, DH Capital, LLC., USA
Bio:Peter is the Co-Founder and CEO of DH Capital, LLC and has led the firm since its founding in 2001. During the past 18 years, Peter has been central to establishing the firm as the preeminent advisory practice in the data center, cloud, and managed hosting sector where DH has advised on transactions totaling more than $24.7 billion. Peter has led many of the firm’s largest M&A transactions including advising Ascenty on its $2 billion sale to Digital Realty, advising Datapipe on its $1.3 billion sale to Rackspace, advising Telx on its $1.89 billion sale to Digital Realty, and advising Softlayer on its $450 million sale to GI Partners. In addition, Peter has managed many of the firm’s capital placements including advising StackPath on ABRY’s equity investment. Peter is a frequent speaker at important industry events including the Structure Research Conference in Toronto, 451 Group’s HCTS event in Las Vegas, CapRate’s data center events in New York and Chicago, and is a frequent panelist at various DataCenter Dynamics events. Prior to Co-Founding DH Capital, Peter served as CEO of Duro Communications, a consolidator of ISP and data center assets in the Southeastern U.S. Prior to Duro Communications, Peter served as VP of Business Development for Helicon Cable Communications, a privately held top 20 cable MSO, which was sold to Charter Communications in 1999 for $550 million. Peter is a graduate of Lehigh University where he received a BS degree in Finance.
TitleEtc:NorthStar Vice Chair, and Seraphim Space Chair Advisory Board, Serial Entrepreneur - SES, Loral Teleport Europe, Europe Online, GTWN, OWNSAT, Luxembourg
Bio:Candace Johnson, Serial Satellite Entrepreneur SES, Loral-Teleport Europe, Iridium, Europe Online, OWNSAT/Kacific, Chair Advisory Board Seraphim Space and Vice Chair NorthStar Earth and Space, Co-/founder and Founding President, GTWN - Global Telecom Women's Network.
In the last century, Candace used satellite systems to help provide universal access and freedom of choice to citizens and corporations around the world, be it for television, telecommunications, and/or Internet. In the 21st Century, Candace is using satellite systems and New Space applications such as Earth Observation/intelligence, Space Traffic Management/Space Situation Awareness, In-Orbit Servicing, IoT, and AI to help achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
TitleEtc:CEO & Founder, DigitalFilm Tree, USA
Bio:Ramy Katrib is an award-winning filmmaker and CEO / Founder of DigitalFilm Tree (DFT) https://www.digitalfilmtree.com, an 18 year old post-production and software development company. Ramy started his career in media & technology over 25 years ago, as filmmaker, negative cutter, and telecine colorist. In all the organizations and projects he has propelled, Ramy champions a multidisciplinary work culture, led by world-class creatives and technologists, working hand in hand to solve huge problems. Historically, DFT played a key role in transitioning the media and entertainment industry to digital post and file-based workflows, on projects like Cold Mountain and Scrubs. Today DFT is the leading provider of IP based production, post, story visualization services, and software solutions. DFT clients include ABC, A&E, CBS, Disney, Fox, HBO, Netflix, Turner, Warner Bros, and first-time storytellers alike.
TitleEtc:CIO & Head TMT Asia and EMENA, International Finance Corporation (IFC) - World Bank Group, Singapore
Bio:Carlos Katsuya is IFC’s Chief Investment Officer and Head of Telecom, Media, and Technology for Asia, Europe, Middle East, and North of Africa, based in Singapore. Carlos has more than 25 years of experience in project and corporate finance and capital markets in emerging markets, including 20 years in the TMT sector.
Since joining IFC in 2003, Carlos has worked extensively in Infrastructure and TMT projects, including both debt financing and equity investment. Prior to his current position, he was the Portfolio Manager for IFC’s Infrastructure Department in Latin America, where he oversaw a portfolio of US$1.5 billion in debt, equity, quasi-equity, and guarantees.
Before joining IFC, Carlos was a Senior Vice-President at ABN AMRO Bank, where he led the Telecom, Media, and Technology group in Brazil. Carlos holds an MBA from INSEAD (France) and a Bachelor’s Degree in Public Administration from Fundacao Getulio Vargas (Brazil).
TitleEtc:Chief Commercial Officer, Vantage Data Centers, USA
Bio:Chief Commercial Officer Lee Kestler is a data center industry veteran with extensive experience working with hyperscale and enterprise customers. Recent positions include DuPont Fabros Technology, which he joined in early 2007 to spearhead leasing and marketing efforts. After leaving DFT in late 2015, Lee formed Kopend Ventures, LLC where he focused on management consulting for several firms. In particular, he managed a 300MW development project in Palm Beach County, Florida where Lee led the successful effort to get a data center sales and use tax exemption approved by the Florida Legislature. Lee is an advocate of low carbon and renewable energy solutions and is an advisor to Innovation Crossroads company at Oak Ridge National Labs. Lee attended the University of Maryland, Baltimore County where he majored in Computer Science.
TitleEtc:Strategy Officer - Digital Infrastructure and Technology, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, Peoples Republic of China
Bio:Paul Lam is an international investment and digital technology specialist, who has worked in UBS AG (London), World Bank Group (Washington, D.C.), and CDC (London, UK government owned private equity firm). He is currently leading the development of the first digital infrastructure strategy for AIIB. Paul Lam graduated from the University of Cambridge and is a Chartered Financial Analyst and a Fellow of Royal Society of Arts.
TitleEtc:Chief Commercial Officer, EStruxture, Canada
Bio:Jaime Leverton is responsible for eStruxture’s global sales, distribution, and marketing and brings over 15 years of industry experience and a strong background in building and scaling high-performing sales organizations.
Jaime is an accomplished data center and telecom professional, a highly sought-after industry speaker, and valued thought leader. She is joining eStruxture from her previous role at Cogeco Peer 1 where she served as General Manager and Vice President of Sales for Canada and APAC and had direct responsibility for creating and driving revenue programs. Her telecom career also includes tenure in various executive roles with National Bank, BlackBerry, Bell Canada, and IBM Canada. She also proudly sits on the boards of the Stratford Festival, ITAC, and the Merry Go Round children’s foundation.
TitleEtc:Group CEO & Director, ST Telemedia Global Data Centres, Singapore
Bio:Bruno Lopez is Group Chief Executive Officer and Board Director of ST Telemedia Global Data Centres (STT GDC), and he is responsible for the overall leadership, direction, growth, and development of the STT GDC group since its inception in 2014.
Under his leadership, STT GDC has built a large portfolio of integrated data centres across a global platform with more than 90 data centres and growing across Singapore, China, India, Thailand, and the United Kingdom. Bruno sits on the Board and chairs the Executive Committees in all these companies.
An industry veteran in the telecommunications and data centre sector with more than 25 years of experience, Bruno was Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of Keppel Data Centres where he was instrumental in leading the company’s growth and business expansion in Asia and Europe.
TitleEtc:President, OneWeb Enterprise Solutions, United Kingdom
Bio:Campbell leads OW’s enterprise team and is responsible for delivering market leading connectivity solutions for commercial organisations around the world within the consumer packaged goods, banking and finance, energy, and industrial sectors. Campbell has worked with enterprise leaders for more than 20 years and is particularly insightful in understanding how to take communication solutions to Tier 1 global telcos. Having held senior roles at BT and Orange Business Services, he is a specialist in bringing connectivity propositions to market and successfully selling through large global distributors. Combining his deep knowledge and OW’s transformational service, Campbell enables the speed and reliability of OW’s network for large and small enterprises everywhere.
TitleEtc:Head of Industrialized Construction Strategy & Evangelism, Autodesk, USA
TitleEtc:Chief Executive Officer, DataBank, USA
Bio:Raul Martynek joined DataBank in June 2017 as the Chief Executive Officer. In this role, he provides overall strategic direction of the company and its operations. Raul is a 20+ year veteran in the telecom and Internet Infrastructure sector. He most recently served as a Senior Advisor for Digital Bridge Holdings LLC. Prior to Digital Bridge, he served as Chief Executive Officer for New Jersey-based data center and managed services operator Net Access, LLC. Prior to Net Access, he was the CEO of Voxel dot Net, Inc., a global managed hosting and cloud company. Mr. Martynek also served as the Chief Restructuring Officer of Smart Telecom, a Dublin, Ireland-based fiber carrier. Before that he evaluated investment opportunities in the telecommunications and Internet sector as a Senior Advisor at Plainfield Asset Management, a $4B hedge fund. Prior to Plainfield, Mr. Martynek spent 13 years with telecom and Internet provider InfoHighway Communications Corp; first as a Chief Operating Officer of Eureka Networks and then as President and Chief Executive Officer of InfoHighway. Mr. Martynek earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Binghamton University and received a Master Degree in International Affairs from Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs.
TitleEtc:Senior Executive Vice President, ICT Infrastructure Services, NTT Ltd., Japan
Bio:Masaaki Moribayashi is Senior Executive Vice President, ICT Infrastructure Services of NTT Ltd., as well as a Member of the Board of Directors. He is responsible for driving growth and delivery of the IT infrastructure services portfolio, including data center, cloud, voice and video, and network.
Previously, Mr. Moribayashi was the Senior Executive Vice President of NTT Communications. He was responsible for technology, services, operations, information security, and global business.
Prior to that, he was Managing Director of NTT Europe Limited and President and CEO of both NTT Com Asia Limited and HK Net Company Limited.
Mr. Moribayashi joined NTT Public Corporation in 1984, after earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Electronic Engineering from Hokkaido University. He also earned a Master of Science degree in Industrial Engineering from Alfred University in New York.
TitleEtc:Professor, Faculty of Environment and Information Studies, Keio University, Japan
Bio:Jun Murai received his Ph.D. in Computer Science, Keio University in 1987, majored in Computer Science, Computer Network, and Computer Communication. He developed the Japan University UNIX Network (JUNET) in 1984, established WIDE Project in 1988, aiming to research and develop computer networks. He is a member of the Strategic Headquarters for the Promotion of an Advanced Information and Telecommunications Network Society (IT Strategic Headquarters), a member of the Cyber Security Policy Council, National Center of Incident Readiness and Strategy for Cybersecurity (NISC), Cabinet Secretariat, chairs and serves on many other governmental committees, and is active in numerous international scientific associations. He is known as the "Internet samurai", and has also been called "the father of the Internet in Japan.” He was a Member of Internet Architecture Board (IAB) from 1993-1995, Board of Trustee of Internet Society (ISOC) from 1997-2000, and Board of Director of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) from 1998-2000. He was inducted into the 2013 Internet Hall of Fame (Pioneer) / 2011 IEEE Internet Award / 2005 Jonathan B. Postel Service Award / 2019 the Knight of the Legion of Honor by the French Government.
TitleEtc:James R. Shepley Professor of Public Policy, Duke University, USA
Bio:Philip M. Napoli is the James R. Shepley Professor of Public Policy in the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University, where he is also a Professor of International Comparative Studies and a Faculty Affiliate with the DeWitt Wallace Center for Media and Democracy. He is the author of the new book, Social Media and the Public Interest: Media Regulation in the Disinformation Age (Columbia University Press). Professor Napoli has provided expert testimony to government bodies such as the U.S. Senate, the Federal Communications Commission, and the U.S. Government Accountability Office. His research has been supported by organizations such as the Democracy Fund, the Ford Foundation, the Benton Foundation, and the Knight Foundation. He has been interviewed in media outlets such as the New York Times, NPR, NBC Nightly News, Rolling Stone, and Bloomberg.
TitleEtc:Deputy Director-General for ICT R&D and Cybersecurity Policy, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC), Japan
Bio:Mr. Seiji Ninomiya joined the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC), Japan in 1988. He has been in charge of ICT policy for roughly thirty years. During his career, he obtained a master’s degree in International and Development Economics at Yale University. He also has working experience as Director of the National Institute of Information and Communications (NICT) North-America Center in Washington D.C., and Counsellor of the National Strategy Office of Information and Communications Technology, Cabinet Secretariat. After serving as Deputy Director-General for Cybersecurity and Information Technology Management, Minister's Secretariat, MIC, Mr. Ninomiya was appointed as Deputy Director-General for ICT R&D and Cybersecurity Policy in July 2019.
TitleEtc:Senior Vice President, GIC Real Estate, USA
Bio:Kristin is a Senior Vice President on the investment team at GIC Real Estate. She is responsible for both private and public equity investments in the U.S. real estate sector overseeing direct and fund private equity investments, the listed real estate equity platform, and leading GIC Real Estate’s global data center investments. Kristin joined GIC in 2008 and is based in San Francisco.
Prior to working at GIC, Ms. Leung served as Vice President at Morgan Stanley where she covered U.S. REITs. Prior to Morgan Stanley, Kristin worked in the consulting practices of PricewaterhouseCoopers and FTI Consulting focused on restructuring troubled companies. Kristin received her Bachelor of Science in Finance, magna cum laude, from Boston College.
TitleEtc:Partner, Harris, Wiltshire & Grannis LLP, USA
Bio:Tricia Paoletta is a partner with the law firm of Harris, Wiltshire & Grannis LLP, where she specializes in telecommunications, trade, and technology policy. Recently recognized as a “Best Lawyer”, Ms. Paoletta provides advice on regulatory and market access policy to clients before the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the U.S. Administration, and the United Nations’ International Telecommunication Union. Her clients include providers of mobile broadband, autonomous vehicles, and international telecom services.
Ms. Paoletta has accrued considerable experience with telecommunications trade and policy in the public sector. She was Director of Telecommunications Trade Policy in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, Executive Office of the President, where she worked on a number of trade agreements covering ICT, after which she moved to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce. Prior to those roles, Ms. Paoletta was senior advisor to the International Bureau Chief and Office Director at the FCC.
TitleEtc:Founder & CEO, Kacific Broadband Satellites Ltd., Singapore
Bio:Christian Patouraux has over two decades’ experience in the satellite industry. Prior to founding Kacific in 2013, he developed satellite offerings for new markets in Asia Pacific as head of special projects for MEASAT. Before that he was Executive Vice President and Chief Development Officer at O3b Networks, where his work contributed to raise US$1.2 Billion. He developed a global pricing and demand model and initiated the company’s cruise-line broadband service. Prior to that he spent 15 years with SES, initially as a satellite engineer, procuring, launching, testing, and operating 12 spacecraft, then as an independent business development consultant, playing key roles in launching its broadband businesses, implementing large teleports, deploying airline and maritime broadband, and developing satellite multi-play and IPTV businesses.
Christian holds a Master of Engineering from the Polytechnic School at the University of Brussels, a Master of Aeronautics / Turbomachinery from the Von Karman Institute, Belgium, and an MBA from Insead.
TitleEtc:Managing Director, GPX India Pvt Ltd, India
Bio:Manoj Paul is the Managing Director of the India region for GPX Global Systems. GPX is a tier 4 data center service provider in India which is a hub for carriers, content, and cloud; hosting several marquee international customers including the world's major cloud service providers (like AWS and Google); OTTs and Internet exchanges.
Manoj brings 25 years of rich experience in working with IT and telecom companies with varying responsibilities ranging from heading business unit to product management with interest in data center and cloud services, data networks, mobile networks, broadband, and Wi-Fi.
Before joining GPX, Manoj worked with Bharti Airtel Ltd for around 12 years, his last role being COO (B2B) for the west region.
Manoj received his MBA from IIM Ahmedabad and Bachelor of Engineering (BE) in Electronics and Telecommunication.
TitleEtc:Head of Global Connectivity Policy and Planning, Facebook, USA
Bio:Dr. Robert Pepper helps lead Facebook’s connectivity and technology policy activities focusing on new technology development, deployment, and adoption. Pepper previously was Cisco’s Vice President for Global Technology Policy for more than a decade working with governments globally helping them develop digital strategies including ICT and development, broadband plans, wireless and spectrum policy, the Internet of Things, security, privacy, and Internet governance.
Pepper was Chief of the Office of Plans and Policy and Chief of Policy Development at the FCC for 16 years beginning in 1989 where he led teams designing and implementing the first U.S. spectrum auctions, developing policies promoting the development of the Internet, implementing telecommunications legislation, and planning for the transition to digital television.
His academic appointments included faculty positions at the Universities of Iowa, Indiana, and Pennsylvania, and as a research affiliate at Harvard University.
He currently is a Board Trustee of the Internet Society.
Pepper received his B.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
TitleEtc:Founder & President, Silicon Valley Artificial Intelligence Research Institute, USA
Bio:Piero Scaruffi studied mathematics and physics before becoming (in 1985) the Founding Director of the Artificial Intelligence Center at Olivetti, based in Cupertino, California, and later joined IntelliCorp, one of the earliest companies specializing in Artificial Intelligence. He has been a visiting scholar at Harvard University and Stanford University conducting research on Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Science, has lectured on A.I. in three continents (for many years at U.C. Berkeley), and has published a number of books such as "History of Silicon Valley" (2012), "Thinking About Thought" (2003), and "Intelligence is not Artificial" (2015), several of them translated into Chinese. In 2008 he founded in San Francisco the Leonardo Art Science Evenings (LASERs) http://www.leonardo.info/laser-talks, a series that, under the aegis of Leonardo ISAST, has spread to more than 30 universities worldwide. In 2014 he founded in Silicon Valley the LAST (Life Art Science Tech) festival www.lastfestival.org.
TitleEtc:Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director, NEXTDC Limited, Australia
Bio:Craig Scroggie is the Chief Executive Officer of NEXTDC, responsible for driving the business to become one of the world’s fastest growing technology companies. Craig is well respected for his superior leadership experience within the IT and telecommunications industries globally.
Under Craig’s leadership, NEXTDC has grown from a start-up tech company operating only a single data centre to being recognised as one of the leading Data Centre-as-a-Service providers and fastest growing technology company in Australia. With a nationwide footprint of eight data centres plus an additional three facilities currently in progress, Craig’s strategic direction for NEXTDC has led the company to achieve a number of globally recognised awards in the technology, business, and engineering industries. This includes being the first data centre provider in Australia to achieve Tier IV Certification of Design Documents and Constructed Facility from the Uptime Institute and Tier IV Gold for excellence in data centre Operations and Sustainability.
TitleEtc:Founder & CEO, RBDC Pte Ltd, India
Bio:Narendra Sen is the Founder and CEO of RackBank Datacenters Ltd.
He is the brain behind India’s first Data Centre Park, a 100-acre project of Madhya Pradesh State Electronics Development Corporation (MPSEDC) of the Government of Madhya Pradesh.
He’s been closely involved in policy formation for data center with the government, being an active team member for “Data Center Task Force” by CII and “Data Center and Cloud Forum India” by Nasscom.
He frequently delivers keynotes and participates in panel discussions at data center industry conferences around the globe, promoting India's digital infrastructure and has also been nominated twice for the business delegation led by the President of India to Sweden and Greece.
As the Founder and CEO of RackBank, he is focusing to solve the digital infrastructure challenges of the global tech-giants and hyperscale cloud operators by bringing together industry leaders to build Asia’s biggest Hyperscale Data Center Platform in India, starting with Chennai, Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, and Noida. He envisions RackBank to enable a sustainable, reliable, and innovative digital infrastructure for Digital India.
TitleEtc:Executive Director, and Chair, Ostrom Workshop, and Indiana University-Bloomington Cybersecurity Program, USA
Bio:Professor Scott J. Shackelford serves on the faculty of Indiana University where he is Cybersecurity Program Chair along with being the Director of the Ostrom Workshop Program on Cybersecurity and Internet Governance. He is also an Affiliated Scholar at both the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and Stanford’s Center for Internet and Society, as well as a Senior Fellow at the Center for Applied Cybersecurity Research. Professor Shackelford has written more than 100 articles, book chapters, essays, and op-eds for diverse outlets ranging from the University of Illinois Law Review to the Christian Science Monitor, Huffington Post, Slate, the Conversation, and the San Francisco Chronicle. Similarly, Professor Shackelford’s research has been covered by diverse outlets, including Politico, NPR, Marketplace, Forbes, Time, Associated Press, Forensics Magazine, Law360, Indy Star, Washington Post, and the LA Times. Both Professor Shackelford’s academic work and teaching have been recognized with numerous awards, including a Harvard University Research Fellowship, a Stanford University Hoover Institution National Fellowship, a Notre Dame Institute for Advanced Study Distinguished Fellowship, the 2014 Indiana University Outstanding Junior Faculty Award, and the 2015 Elinor Ostrom Award.
TitleEtc:Chief Technology Officer, Digital Realty, USA
Bio:Chris Sharp has over 20 years of experience in the technology industry, with an extensive background in developing technology strategies in global markets. He has a deep knowledge of the data center sector and is well positioned to expand technical innovation at Digital Realty. Most recently, he was responsible for cloud innovation at Equinix, where he led the development of innovative cloud services solutions and developed new capabilities enabling next-generation, high-performance exchange, and interconnection solutions, facilitating broad commercial adoption of cloud computing on a global basis. Previously, Mr. Sharp held leadership positions at top network and colocation providers, including Qwest Communications, MCI/Verizon Business, and Reliance Globalcom.
TitleEtc:President & CEO, NTT Communications, Japan
Bio:Tetsuya Shoji is President and CEO of NTT Communications, one of the world’s largest telecommunications carriers and an ICT service provider.
Before becoming President and CEO, he was a Senior Executive Vice President responsible for group sales and corporate management of NTT Communications from 2012. Prior to this, he was with NTT Corporation, the parent company of NTT Communications, where he served as Senior Vice President, Director of the General Affairs Department and Director of the Internal Control Office from 2009. Among other things, he established the NTT Deutschland GmbH soon after the fall of the Berlin wall in 1991. He has a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Tokyo and master’s degree in Business Administration from New York University in the United States.
TitleEtc:Managing Director, GI Partners, USA
Bio:Stephen M. Smith is a Managing Director of GI Partners. Mr. Smith has a deep background in managing market leading technology businesses with expertise in the data center industry. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Flexential, a GI Partners portfolio company, and NEXTDC, a publicly traded data center company in Australia.
Prior to joining GI Partners, Mr. Smith served as Chief Executive Officer and President of Equinix, which grew from $2 billion to $34 billion in market value under his leadership. Mr. Smith has over 30 years of technology experience including senior executive positions with Hewlett-Packard, Lucent Technologies, and Electronic Data Systems Corporation. Mr. Smith also had a successful eight-year career in the U.S. Army where, among other roles, he was aide-de-camp to the office of the Commander in Chief of the U.S. Armed Forces in the Pacific.
TitleEtc:VP & Principal Analyst - C-Suite, Forrester Research, USA
Bio:James helps C-suite executives position themselves as innovation leaders and helps to drive their company’s digital business initiatives and transformation leveraging cloud platforms and emerging technologies. James returned to Forrester in 2018 after serving as the global head of market development at Equinix, the global leader in cloud-neutral connectivity and hosting. Prior to that, he served as the GM and chief strategist for Microsoft Azure, helping guide Microsoft's Cloud & Enterprise division to drive innovations that empower enterprise digital business initiatives, including blockchain as well as API and platform enablement. In his previous role at Forrester, he led the cloud computing playbook and pioneered Forrester's research on infrastructure-as-a-service. James works out of Silicon Valley and has led marketing for two startups and strategy for Sun Microsystems as well.
TitleEtc:Chief Advisor, Internet New Zealand, Christchurch Call Advisory Network, New Zealand
Bio:Ellen leads the coordination of international work at Internet New Zealand: a non-profit organisation dedicated to keeping the Internet open, secure and for all New Zealanders, and the home and guardian of .nz top level domain. She provides strategic advice on international matters and engages in Internet governance processes for InternetNZ. Ellen holds a Ph.D. from the University of Queensland, as well as a Master of Arts in International Development from the University of Manchester and Master of Communication from Victoria University. She has worked for governments, with intergovernmental bodies, in academia, and with civil society and the technical community on Internet issues since the early 2000s.
TitleEtc:Managing Director, Digital Infrastructure, KKR, USA
Bio:Waldemar Szlezak (New York) joined KKR in 2019 and is a Managing Director on the Infrastructure team. Mr. Szlezak leads KKR’s communications infrastructure investments in the Americas, among other sectors. Prior to joining KKR, he was a senior managing director with Soros Fund Management LLC (SFM) where he was responsible for originating, structuring, and monitoring the firm’s communications infrastructure and real estate investments. Prior to SFM, Mr. Szlezak served as an associate at Soros Private Equity Investors / TowerBrook Capital Partners and prior to that, in the mergers & acquisition investment banking group at Credit Suisse First Boston where he was involved with a number of mergers, acquisitions, restructurings, and general corporate advisory transactions. Mr. Szlezak holds a B.S. in Operations Research from Columbia University in New York and a B.A. in Mathematics from Knox College in Galesburg.
TitleEtc:VP, Infrastructure, Netflix, USA
Bio:Dave Temkin is the Vice President of Global Networks for Netflix, where he and his team built the Open Connect Network infrastructure to serve streaming video to nearly 150 million customers. Prior to Netflix, he worked on building the Yahoo! and Right Media delivery networks. Located in New York City, he is active in several non-profit and charity groups including NANOG, Community IX, and Children of Bellevue.
TitleEtc:Chief Executive Officer, DC BLOX, USA
Bio:Jeff Uphues is responsible for DC BLOX’s business strategy, mission, and goals guiding the company’s vision of designing, building, and operating a network of innovative data centers that bring best-in-class business services to the Edge.
A tireless tech-savvy executive, strategist, and cloud services entrepreneur, Jeff has held C-suite leadership positions in organizations ranging in size from Fortune 50 companies to start-ups including Liquid Web, Cbeyond, and Bandwidth.com. He is an active board member for several privately held technology software companies and is co-chair of the New Venture Competition for the Harvard Business School Club of Atlanta.
TitleEtc:Deputy Director, National Communications & Coordination Branch (NCC), CISA Integrated Operations Coordination Center, DHS, USA
Bio:Mr. Villyard brings more than 40 years’ of telecommunications experience from the military, private, and federal sectors. He is currently the Deputy Director overseeing the day-to-day branch administration and planning. His team is engaged in the preparation and support to all hazards restoration to Federal, State, and local governments and the COMM-ISAC under authorities in the National Response Framework Emergency Support Function (ESF) #2.
Prior to joining the Department of Homeland Security in 2010, Mr. Villyard built his expertise in the telecommunications industry for 12 years. As a regional manager, he controlled the engineering, installation, and operations of network equipment for Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia. He oversaw a team that managed and completed multiple concurrent equipment installations in central offices in all commodities from packet/voice switches, IP/VOIP switches, SONET, and cellular infrastructure.
TitleEtc:Head of Products, euNetworks, United Kingdom
Bio:Toby Williams is Head of Products at euNetworks. He is responsible for product management, growth, and development for the business. Toby has been at euNetworks for eight years, holding a number of product roles. In addition he has been instrumental in the rapid expansion of euNetworks’ long haul and metro footprints since 2015 and the ongoing development of euNetworks’ market leading ultra-low latency network platform. Toby’s 22 years in the telecoms industry has been spent in product and pre-sales roles, spanning both big and small companies including Cable & Wireless, Easynet, and Level 3 Communications.
TitleEtc:Co-Director, and Professor, School of Information Science and Technology, SHIFT, and ShanghaiTech University, Peoples Republic of China
Bio:Dr. Yang Yang is currently a full professor at ShanghaiTech University, China, serving as the Executive Dean of School of Creativity and Art and the Co-Director of Shanghai Institute of Fog Computing Technology (SHIFT). Before joining ShanghaiTech University, he has held faculty positions at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Brunel University (UK), University College London (UCL, UK), and SIMIT, CAS (China).
Yang’s current research interests include fog computing networks, service-oriented collaborative intelligence, wireless sensor networks, IoT applications, and advanced testbeds and experiments. He has published more than 200 papers and filed more than 80 technical patents in these research areas. He is the Chair of the Steering Committee of Asia-Pacific Conference on Communications (APCC) since January 2019. In addition, he is a General Co-Chair of the IEEE DSP 2018 conference and a TPC Vice-Chair of the IEEE ICC 2019 conference. Yang is a Fellow of the IEEE.
TitleEtc:Division Vice President of Voice, Wireless, and Platforms, Verizon Partner Solutions, USA
Bio:Dawane is the Division Vice President of Voice, Wireless, and Platforms for Verizon’s Partner Solutions organization. He is a 20+ year telecommunications and IT veteran with strategy, sales, marketing, and operations experience.
In Dawane’s current role, he leads a global organization responsible for product line management and sales of voice, mobility, cybersecurity, data center colocation, and application services. He also drives the integration programs designed to help drive account traction of the next generation product portfolio offerings from Internet of Things (IoT), Machine-to-Machine (M2M), Over-the-Top (OTT), digital advertising, and machine learning. Dawane’s team helps to identify emerging sales strategies, technology shifts, and also develops new models to address the rapidly growing ‘as a service’ market.
Dawane was a member of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Cloud Carrier Working Group and Board Member of the Cloud Exchange Forum. He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mass Communications from James Madison University and lives in Ashburn, VA, with his wife and two children.
TitleEtc:President, Network Dynamics Associates, LLC, USA
Bio:Ken Zita is a seasoned executive and management consultant who specializes in public policy, corporate strategy, and investment design. He has led projects in over 50 countries for government, corporate, and financial clients and is widely regarded as a visionary on the strategic impacts of information infrastructure for national economic transformation. He currently advises the Government of Jordan on telecom taxation, spectrum planning, and the National Broadband Plan, and specified a smart city digital roadmap for the capital city of Amman. For the Philippines, Mr. Zita recently defined U.S. technical assistance for major infrastructure projects and export opportunities related to broadband, cloud computing, data centers, and advanced applications. He also advises commercial clients on emerging service models for 5G and digital strategies for the built world. He is a former member of the PTC Board of Governors and three-time conference chairman.