Sam
Baumel is assistant vice president of SME sales for
the North American division at Hughes Network Systems
LLC where he is responsible for the sales organization
including resellers and channel partners. Baumel has
more than 20 years’ technology-oriented sales and
marketing experience, with more than 13 years at
Hughes focusing on wireless and satellite broadband
products and services. Prior to Hughes, Baumel worked
in a variety of sales and marketing positions,
including merchandising manager and international
sales manager for Fujitsu America’s cellular telephone
products. He has a journalism degree from the George
Washington University.
Angelina
Beitia brings more than 22 years in sales and
marketing experience to her role as SVP, Indirect
Sales Channel at Premiere Global Services. From her
early start at marketing business-to-business and
consumer publications, she has expanded her experience
to include sales and marketing of technology products
and services through a wide variety of sales
distribution channels including direct, VARs, agents,
wholesalers. Angelina’s leadership skills have also
propelled her into key executive management positions
including general manager of ClearOne Conferencing
Services and, currently, a senior vice president with
Premiere Global. Her leadership and management
contributions have helped drive Premiere Global’s
Indirect Channel growth nearly six-fold since she
joined the company’s team four years ago.
Tiffani
Bova is vice president of research with Gartner Inc.,
where she works in the IT marketing and channel
strategies group covering the topics of IT channel
programs, sales and alliances world-wide. Bova’s area
of specialization includes the development of
comprehensive indirect channel programs, goto-market
sales coverage models and partner recruitment and
enablement. Prior to Gartner, Bova spent 13 years in
channel sales and marketing roles with software
vendors solution providers, service providers, telcos,
distributors, managed service providers and most
recently as the channel chief at Gateway Computers.
Robert
(Bob) Bye, executive vice president of nGenX, is
responsible for the overall executive and operational
leadership of the company. Bye previously served as
vice president and general counsel of Cinergy
Communications, an affiliate of nGenX. In this
position, he was recognized as a national expert on
communications regulation, VoIP and technology issues.
As a leader with more than 15 years of industry
experience, he has appeared numerous times before the
FCC and many public utility commissions in order to
promote competition and limited regulation. Bye
received his Bachelor of Arts from Texas Tech
University and graduated cum laude from Washburn
University School of Law.
Co-founder
and CEO of iTEMize Technologies, Peter Callowhill
provides strategic direction for the company and
oversees solutions partner relationships to ensure
customers are provided with the highest
telecommunications value. Callowhill’s more than 30
years of experience in the telecommunications industry
includes the establishment of five firms between 1993
and 2002, including Net2000 Communications, a
facilities-based CLEC; and N2N Communications, a
regional ISP; and InterPeer, a Web hosting service. He
also co-founded Fastraktion LLC, a regional venture
capital firm that provides seed capital to start-up
telecommunications firms in the Washington, D.C. area.
Tim Dunne leads Nextlink’s product and channel
management, marketing and service delivery initiatives
as vice president of business operations. Dunne comes
to Nextlink from RCN, where he was executive vice
president and CTOfficer. Previously, Dunne filled
several senior leadership positions at Nextel,
including vice president of digital media and business
development and vice president of e-business and
business development. Earlier in his career, he spent
more than 14 years at Verizon/Bell Atlantic, where he
helped launch new business units, joint ventures,
corporate development initiatives and products.
Neil
Ende, an A/V-rated attorney with the Technology Law
Group, is a nationally recognized expert on
telecommunications transactional, litigation and
regulatory issues. Ende has served as counsel to many
of the nation’s largest telecommunications resellers
and agents, payphone service providers and numerous
other companies involved in leading-edge technology
applications. Ende has negotiated hundreds of carrier
and agency agreements, including agreements with major
telecommunications carriers, and successfully has
litigated complex telecommunications cases against
each of the major long-distance carriers and most of
the regional bell operating companies.
Ken
Fitzpatrick is senior vice president of business
services at Time Warner Cable (TWC), responsible for
all activities related to providing voice, video and
data to business customers throughout TWC’s service
areas. In this capacity, Fitzpatrick oversees national
sales, marketing and product development for TWC’s
business solutions. A 20-year veteran of the
telecommunications industry, Fitzpatrick joined TWC in
March of 2002. Previously, he served as president of
Teligent, where he was responsible for overseeing the
company’s operations in 14 eastern states. In this
role, he was accountable for sales, customer service,
network operations, central office and technical
support. Prior to that, Fitzpatrick served as national
vice president of network deployment and was part of
the original management team that launched Teligent
Communications Inc. in 1997. Fitzpatrick also has
worked for MFS Intelenet anf Frontier Communications,
and currently serves as co-chairman of the CTAM
Business Services Council. He has received several
prestigious industry awards for his significant
contribution to the advancement of business services
in the cable industry. Fitzpatrick received his
bachelor’s degree in management from Syracuse
University.
Ed Gallagher is
vice president and general manager of business
services for Comcast’s NorthCentral Division. In this
role, he is the senior executive responsible for
developing, facilitating and implementing strategies
aimed at growing Comcast Business Services across five
New England states, New York, Western Pennsylvania,
Eastern Ohio, Northern West Virginia and the Greater
Houston area. Since joining Comcast in January 2006,
Gallagher has spearheaded the NorthCentral Division
launch of Business Class Voice, a highly reliable
voice service that gives the underserved small- and
medium-sized business community a viable alternative
to the traditional phone company. Gallagher has more
than 20 years of experience in the telecommunications
and cable industries, holding various management
positions in sales, technical support and operational
roles with such companies as Raytheon, Sprint, Winstar
Wireless, TelCove (formerly Adelphia Business
Solutions) and Level 3 Communications. Gallagher
earned a bachelor’s degree in Business Management from
the University of Massachusetts in Lowell and
certificates of Professional Achievement in
Telecommunication Technology and Data Communication
from Northeastern University.
Andy
Goethals, channel sales manager (agents) for InterCall,
is responsible for the growth and long-term success of
the Business Partner Program. He is charged with
ensuring InterCall’s partners and customers have
optimal meeting solutions on a global basis, and more
effective and integrated business communications.
Jack
Gordon is the national manager of alternate channels
for Charter Communications’ commercial unit, Charter
Business, and has been in information technology and
telecommunications for 15 years. Eight of those years
were spent at AT&T in data networking sales and
leadership positions and is where Gordon was exposed
to the channel. He brought that experience with him to
Charter Communications in 2003 and piloted Charter’s
entry into the alternate channel space in Wisconsin.
Since then, Gordon moved to Charter Communications’
corporate team in his current position, where he
oversees both the agent and wholesale channels.
Kenny Govier, Vice President of US Sales with Ring2,
has more than 17 years of experience in the
telecommunications, enhanced messaging and wireless
industries. Govier spent 12 years with Cable &
Wireless, where he had several managerial positions;
his final position within the organization was vice
president of sales in the United States. After Cable &
Wireless, he spent time at Premiere Global Services
working in the enhanced messaging space. Before coming
to Ring2, Govier was with Cingular Wireless, where he
was director of global markets for the southeast
region, where he was responsible for more than $60
million in annual revenue.
Steve
Hilton is the vice president of Yankee Group’s
Enterprise Research group with an expertise in
converged solutions for SMBs. Hilton manages a team of
analysts delivering consulting, research and programs
to help vendors and service providers better serve
SMBs, mid-market enterprises and large enterprises
globally. Hilton’s SMB-focused research concentrates
specifically on helping clients make decisions
regarding the use of technology or services, including
applications, IT infrastructure and communications
services, to improve time-to-market, cash flow,
loyalty, sales channels and to reduce churn.
Zeus
Kerravala manages Yankee Group's infrastructure
research and consulting. His areas of expertise
involve working with customers to solve their business
issues through the deployment of infrastructure
technology solutions, including switching, routing,
network management, voice solutions and VPNs. Before
joining Yankee Group, Kerravala was a senior engineer
and technical project manager for Greenwich Technology
Partners, a leading network infrastructure and
engineering consulting firm. Prior to that, he was a
vice president of IT for Ferris, Baker Watts (FBW), a
mid-Atlantic based brokerage firm, acting as both a
lead engineer and project manager deploying
corporate-wide technical solutions to support the
firm’s business units. Kerravala's first task at FBW
was to roll out a new frame relay infrastructure with
connections to branch offices, service providers,
vendors and the stock exchange. Kerravala was also an
engineer and technical project manager for Alex, Brown
& Sons, responsible for the technology related to the
equity trading desks. Kerravala obtained a B.S. degree
in physics and mathematics from the University of
Victoria (Canada). He is also certified by Citrix and
NetScout.
Larry
Kesslin is the president of 4-Profit, an advisory
services company working exclusively within the IT and
telecommunications channel. Over the past 20 years,
Kesslin has worked with solution providers, and
numerous vendors and distributors in the industry and
has given several keynotes for companies including
Hewlett-Packard, Gartner Inc., IBM, Cisco Systems,
Motorola and others. Previously, he worked for
Westinghouse and GE, where he was responsible for
distribution management in the technology arena in the
Northeast. Kelsslin has a Bachelor of Science in
electrical engineering.
Jonathan
Khorsandi is CEO of Podference Technologies Inc.,
which automatically time-shifts conference calls into
convenient and portable podcasts in a secure, private
and easy-to-navigate format. Khorsandi pioneered his
patented communication alignment technology in 2005.
Khorsandi has more than 14 years’ experience in
operations and systems integration in the
manufacturing, software and executive coaching
industry. He graduated from California State
University, Northridge with a degree in business with
emphasis in marketing.
As vice
president, sales and business development, for
Intermedia, Bob Leibholz oversees sales and business
development activities as well as key partnerships.
Long a technology-focused business executive,
Leibholz has been the chief driver for numerous
technology projects, including an industry-wide
digital rights management system, Inquiry Management
System, and many Web-based client-facing applications.
He also served as editor of the courseware for the
American Management Associate course, The Art and
Discipline of Managing Software Projects. Before
entering the business world, Bob had a successful
career as a concert violinist, serving as
concertmaster of several major orchestras
As vice
president and director of product development and
revenue assurance for TMC Communications, Sarah Graham
Linares drives the development of new products and
pricing structures for the company’s more than 300
agent partners. A seasoned professional with more than
15 years of telecom experience, she also leads the
team that is responsible for TMC’s customer bill
analysis and 99 percent invoice accuracy. Her product
development and technical background gives her a
unique insight into opportunities in the rapidly
emerging new age of telecom.
Brett
Lindsey is executive vice president of global sales at
Ring2 with responsibility for leading the company’s
sales teams in the United States and United Kingdom,
and the company’s efforts to expand its services
worldwide. Lindsey has more than 15 years of
telecommunications experience in sales and operations
management, business development and network expansion
efforts. Before joining Ring2, Lindsey was senior vice
president of sales with ProfitLine. His prior work
with both Fortune 500 and smaller, high-growth telecom
companies also includes Elantic Telecom Inc., City
Signal Communications, Qwest Communications
Internationial Inc., XO Communications and Williams
Communication Systems.
Aaron T.
Loehr, who has more than 11 years’ experience in the
telecommunications industry, founded Bandwidth
Advisors Inc. in 2003, and serves as the company’s CEO
and president. Loehr helps Fortune 1,000 companies buy
and sell complex telecommunication and
Internet-related services. He works as the official
Bandwidth Advisor for many of the West Coast’s largest
software developers, real estate companies and
Internet Service Providers. Previously, Loehr held
director and global account manager positions at
ColoCenters, SAVVIS Communications and Sprint. He
earned his Bachelor of Arts from Whitman College.
Sal
LoSchiavo, director of North American wireless
broadband channels for Motorola, leads the sales,
development and recruitment efforts for channel
partners for Motorola’s wireless broadband product
portfolio. Motorola has more than 30 years of
experience with channel programs for radio solutions.
With the addition of new products and solutions,
Motorola has created a broad portfolio of value-adds
to help its partners make customized solutions sales.
Tim
McKinley, vice president field operations and
alternate channels for Cox Business, is responsible
for field operations for several Midwest, Mid-Atlantic
and Southern markets. He also is responsible for
defining and implementing alternate channel strategies
for Cox Business. Previously, McKinley was COO for The
Evermore Group where he was responsible for the
day-to-day operations. He was executive vice president
of operations for Lynk Systems Inc. where he oversaw
service delivery, customer care, training, and IT
development. Prior to Lynk Systems, he spent 21 years
with Sprint. He has a bachelor’s degree in political
science from the University of West Florida.
Ken
Mercer is senior vice president at Telecom Brokerage
Inc. (TBI) where he has focused on CLEC and local
service support for TBI’s agents. Mercer began his
career in technology in 1993 with V-tech industries
where he was a VAR/VAD manager providing
private-branded personal computers by Leading Edge,
Leading Technology and Laser. Later, Mercer was
promoted to vice president of the company’s
subsidiary, MBX. Mercer also has served as a senior
account executive at LCI/ Qwest Communications
International Inc., a national account manager with
Fujitsu Networks, a senior account executive for
Sprint, and a senior account manager at McLeodUSA Inc.
Brad
Miehl is founder and CEO of MicroCorp Inc, one of the
nation’s leading telecom master agencies. Under
Miehl’s direction, MicroCorp supports and manages more
than 1,000 employees, agents and VARs nationwide.
MicroCorp maintains carrier agreements with more than
30 vendors. Miehl is a Graduate Member of the Advanced
Technology Development Center at Georgia Tech and
serves on the advisory board of several
telecommunications carriers.
Bob
Miller, senior solutions specialist for NetWolves, has
been in telecommunications for the past 13 years.
Currently, Miller is responsible for developing an
agnostic approach to solutions to ensure that
NetWolves’ products and services meet end users’
requirements. This approach helps agents develop a
“stickier” relationship with their customers, giving
them the ability to sell more services. Miller also is
tasked with helping agents learn about newer
technologies and the company’s managed services
offering. Previously, Miller was with Blue Ridge
Networks where he was responsible for direct and
indirect sales to Fortune 300 customers, and he also
worked at MCI as a data global account representative
supporting sales throughout the Northeast. Miller is
currently a Cisco Certified Network Associate and
Cisco Certified Design Associate.
Michael
Murphy is president of NEF Inc., a master agency
representing more than 60 underlying fiber providers
and more than 1,000 data center properties nationwide.
Murphy founded NEF in 2004 to provide end-to-end
custom optical and dark fiber networks to enterprise
and carrier customers. Murphy has more than 15 year’s
experience in the telecommunications industry,
including 10 years with RCN Metro. He is a member of
the Level 3 Business Partner Advisory Council and a
member of the Colo Consortium.
John J. Muscarella is the director for the Enterprise
Sales. In his position, John is responsible for the
overall enterprise strategy for the business sales
channels. His team has the primary responsibility to
develop, implement and launch solutions utilizing the
WiMax network. The business sales channels deliver
these solutions to the Enterprise and Public Sector
clients. Prior to assuming his current role, John was
director of the Business Solutions Partner Channel.
This included a diverse set of system integrators that
were authorized to sell Sprint Nextel products and
services integrated into their portfolio of solutions.
He was director for the direct sales teams in various
markets from 2001 through 2006. John began his career
at Sprint in November 1992 in what was Sprint’s Local
Telecommunications Division. During his 15 years with
Sprint Nextel, he has held key leadership positions in
both the direct and indirect sales organizations. John
has more than 20 years of experience in IT and
telecommunications, which includes sales and IT
positions with companies such as EDS and Toshiba. He
has been a recipient of numerous sales, sales
management, and leadership awards throughout his
career and holds a master’s degree in business
administration from Pennsylvania State University.
MaryBeth
Nance is executive director of business development
and regional marketing for AboveNet Inc. She has been
with the company since 2005 and is a
telecommunications industry veteran. While at AboveNet,
Nance has developed and brought to fruition several
key initiatives resulting in an increase in WDM sales
as well as launching an agent program. Prior to
joining AboveNet, Nance held management positions in
sales and business development at several startups
within the telecommunications industry.
Chris
Palermo is the founder of Global Communication
Networks Inc. He has been in the telecommunications
field for 17 years. Palermo’s career began in 1991 at
Allnet Communications, a long-distance resale company
headquartered in Michigan. In 1992, Palermo joined
AT&T Inc. as a commercial markets sales
representative, and later was promoted to AT&T’s
Global Markets. In 1995, he was named sales manager
for Cable and Wireless’ sales division in South
Florida. Palermo has a Bachelor of Arts from the
University of Florida.
Sandra
Palumbo is the director of Yankee Group’s Enterprise
Research group with expertise in managed services
—specifically network, security and enterprise
mobility. Previously at Yankee Group, Palumbo was
responsible for the execution of research and
consulting pertaining to managed network services,
legacy data services, managed security services and
the global telecommunications market, and worked as
global program manager for Yankee Group’s
marketing/events team. Previously, she was with AT&T
Solutions as a sales associate in the business
development and strategic selling organizations.
Palumbo has a Bachelor of Arts in computer science
with a concentration in engineering from Lafayette
College.
As CTO
of Aptela, Mahesh Paolini-Subramanya is responsible
for the company’s technical vision, development, and
implementation. Drawing upon 15 years of
accomplishments in the telecommunications industry,
Paolini-Subramanya is a top executive in the VoIP
space. In 2007, he was named one of the most
influential leaders in VoIP by VoIP News. A true
Internet pioneer, he developed the technological
foundation for the ecommerce revolution by helping to
create the world's first online commerce system.
Chris Peck, senior manager sales engineer support,
indirect channel at XO Communications, has been in the
telecommunications industry for 14 years. Peck began
his career at MCI as a LAN/WAN administrator writing
databases for provisioning, and then moved to the
switching elements and wrote programs to report port
errors for MCI’s newly created proactive maintenance
department. Then, after serving as operations
applications specialist for all local service products
in MCI’s local group, Peck joined Winstar in 1998 as a
sales engineer, where he learned about local service
install issues. In 2003, Peck joined XO as a direct
sales engineer and joined the partner channel side of
sales in 2005. Peck has a computer information systems
degree from the University of Houston.
Greg
Plum is the channel manager for the Conference Group.
Since joining the company in 2000, his primary
responsibility has been to establish and develop the
company’s wholesale program, which includes an agent
channel as well as private-label reseller programs.
Prior to joining the Conference Group, Plum was a vice
president with MBNA America Bank (now Bank of
America), and was with Crusader Mortgage, where he
developed its wholesale channel.
Michael Polmar is vice president of sales for SkyPort
Global Communications. Before joining SkyPort, Polmar
was business development and marketing director for
SAIC's intelligence and information solutions
business. At SAIC he closed over $500 million in new
business, led department reorganizations and expanded
the business development team from two employees to
19. From 2002 until 2006, Polmar was the sales center
vice president for AT&T Government Solutions. At AT&T,
he directed all network and managed services sales
activity for the intelligence community, federal law
enforcement and department of homeland security.
Jeff
Ponts is executive vice president and co-founder of
Datatel Solutions Inc., a national master agency and
integrator. Ponts started Datatel Solutions Inc. with
business partner Daniel Langton in 2003, and is
responsible for financial planning, systems
development, sales and marketing management, and
development. Ponts has more than two decades of
industry experience with the majority spent in channel
sales and management. His last corporate stint was
with TelePacific Communications as a channel vice
president and general manager. Ponts has a bachelor’s
degree in business administration from Chico State
University.
Janet
Schijns, president and CEO, founded the JS Group on
the belief that high-growth channel technology
companies wanted assistance propelling their
organizations ahead of customer investment decisions.
Over the last 15 years, she has been a celebrated
business growth specialist serving thousands of
high-tech clients worldwide, including Fortune 100
manufacturers to sole proprietor resellers — every
level of the channel. She is the author of a variety
of industry-wide impact-based programs.
Bojan
Simic performs fact-based research in the networking
research practice, with a specific focus on network
and application performance management. Through
benchmarking and the use of AberdeenGroup’s fact-based
research methodology, Simic provides insights on how
organizations can leverage network and application
performance management technologies and solutions to
streamline business processes and achieve operational
efficiencies. His coverage area includes WAN
optimization, application acceleration, network
monitoring and analytics, application performance
management, VoIP management, network transformations,
and branch office networks optimization.
Bill
Taylor, president of Corporate Ladders, is a
pioneering technology executive, industry consultant
and advisor to CEOs. His experience as director of
national accounts for AT&T Wireless, as well as
high-level executive positions with IBM, Prodigy
Internet and Election Inc., has provided him with a
broad, knowledge-based approach to the technology and
telecommunications industries. His success as an IT
marketing and channel development strategist has
enabled him to develop an extensive client list that
includes BroadSoft, InfoHighway, Eureka Networks and
Mellon Bank.
Brett
Theiss is director of product management for New Edge
Networks. He oversees development, pricing and
management of all products and services. Prior to
joining New Edge, Theiss was the director of product
management for AT&T. He also has held product and
marketing leadership positions with SBC, Qwest
Communications International Inc. and MCI WorldCom.
Doug
Turpin is owner and CEO of Venture Group Enterprises
Inc. (VGE), a 16-year-old Charlotte-based marketing
and sales operations organization specializing in the
sale of telecommunication services and SaaS products.
In his position, he is responsible for development of
overall business strategy and overseeing its
implementation within the sales, IT and commission
reconciliation departments in his organization. Prior
to founding VGE in 1992, Turpin worked in several
sales and marketing positions and spent three years in
the mergers and acquisitions industry. Turpin received
a Bachelor of Arts from the University of North
Carolina.
Dan Watson's experience in the telecom industry ranges
from RBOC operations and network support to critical
sales and marketing roles for multiple CLECs
nationwide. His primary area of expertise is data
communications, with an emphasis on edge technologies
and complex multi-site network implementations from
MPLS and ATM to wireless solutions. Dan is currently a
channel manager for Telarus, helping to build and ramp
one of the most successful master agencies in the
United States.
Robert
Weiss, vice president equipment division and director
of sales for StructuredWeb, has been with the company
for more than six years in a sales/marketing and
business development role. Weiss has spearheaded
StructuredWeb’s activity and growth in the office
equipment and voice and data marketplace. Prior to
joining StructuredWeb, Weiss worked for an Internet
consulting agency that focused on delivering
customized Web-based solutions to Fortune 1,000
companies where his clients included Siemens, Toshiba,
Verizon Wireless and SIAC. Weiss previously was
associate director of sports marketer International
Management Group’s licensing division. He holds a
Bachelor of Science in business administration from
Bryant College.
Channel Partners and PHONE+ are pleased to bring you video programming from the recent Channel Partners Conference & Expo in Secaucus, N.J., Sept. 26-28.
Sam
Baumel is assistant vice president of SME sales for
the North American division at Hughes Network Systems
LLC where he is responsible for the sales organization
including resellers and channel partners. Baumel has
more than 20 years’ technology-oriented sales and
marketing experience, with more than 13 years at
Hughes focusing on wireless and satellite broadband
products and services. Prior to Hughes, Baumel worked
in a variety of sales and marketing positions,
including merchandising manager and international
sales manager for Fujitsu America’s cellular telephone
products. He has a journalism degree from the George
Washington University.
Angelina
Beitia brings more than 22 years in sales and
marketing experience to her role as SVP, Indirect
Sales Channel at Premiere Global Services. From her
early start at marketing business-to-business and
consumer publications, she has expanded her experience
to include sales and marketing of technology products
and services through a wide variety of sales
distribution channels including direct, VARs, agents,
wholesalers. Angelina’s leadership skills have also
propelled her into key executive management positions
including general manager of ClearOne Conferencing
Services and, currently, a senior vice president with
Premiere Global. Her leadership and management
contributions have helped drive Premiere Global’s
Indirect Channel growth nearly six-fold since she
joined the company’s team four years ago.
Tiffani
Bova is vice president of research with Gartner Inc.,
where she works in the IT marketing and channel
strategies group covering the topics of IT channel
programs, sales and alliances world-wide. Bova’s area
of specialization includes the development of
comprehensive indirect channel programs, goto-market
sales coverage models and partner recruitment and
enablement. Prior to Gartner, Bova spent 13 years in
channel sales and marketing roles with software
vendors solution providers, service providers, telcos,
distributors, managed service providers and most
recently as the channel chief at Gateway Computers.
Robert
(Bob) Bye, executive vice president of nGenX, is
responsible for the overall executive and operational
leadership of the company. Bye previously served as
vice president and general counsel of Cinergy
Communications, an affiliate of nGenX. In this
position, he was recognized as a national expert on
communications regulation, VoIP and technology issues.
As a leader with more than 15 years of industry
experience, he has appeared numerous times before the
FCC and many public utility commissions in order to
promote competition and limited regulation. Bye
received his Bachelor of Arts from Texas Tech
University and graduated cum laude from Washburn
University School of Law.
Co-founder
and CEO of iTEMize Technologies, Peter Callowhill
provides strategic direction for the company and
oversees solutions partner relationships to ensure
customers are provided with the highest
telecommunications value. Callowhill’s more than 30
years of experience in the telecommunications industry
includes the establishment of five firms between 1993
and 2002, including Net2000 Communications, a
facilities-based CLEC; and N2N Communications, a
regional ISP; and InterPeer, a Web hosting service. He
also co-founded Fastraktion LLC, a regional venture
capital firm that provides seed capital to start-up
telecommunications firms in the Washington, D.C. area.
Neil
Ende, an A/V-rated attorney with the Technology Law
Group, is a nationally recognized expert on
telecommunications transactional, litigation and
regulatory issues. Ende has served as counsel to many
of the nation’s largest telecommunications resellers
and agents, payphone service providers and numerous
other companies involved in leading-edge technology
applications. Ende has negotiated hundreds of carrier
and agency agreements, including agreements with major
telecommunications carriers, and successfully has
litigated complex telecommunications cases against
each of the major long-distance carriers and most of
the regional bell operating companies.
Ken
Fitzpatrick is senior vice president of business
services at Time Warner Cable (TWC), responsible for
all activities related to providing voice, video and
data to business customers throughout TWC’s service
areas. In this capacity, Fitzpatrick oversees national
sales, marketing and product development for TWC’s
business solutions. A 20-year veteran of the
telecommunications industry, Fitzpatrick joined TWC in
March of 2002. Previously, he served as president of
Teligent, where he was responsible for overseeing the
company’s operations in 14 eastern states. In this
role, he was accountable for sales, customer service,
network operations, central office and technical
support. Prior to that, Fitzpatrick served as national
vice president of network deployment and was part of
the original management team that launched Teligent
Communications Inc. in 1997. Fitzpatrick also has
worked for MFS Intelenet anf Frontier Communications,
and currently serves as co-chairman of the CTAM
Business Services Council. He has received several
prestigious industry awards for his significant
contribution to the advancement of business services
in the cable industry. Fitzpatrick received his
bachelor’s degree in management from Syracuse
University.
Ed Gallagher is
vice president and general manager of business
services for Comcast’s NorthCentral Division. In this
role, he is the senior executive responsible for
developing, facilitating and implementing strategies
aimed at growing Comcast Business Services across five
New England states, New York, Western Pennsylvania,
Eastern Ohio, Northern West Virginia and the Greater
Houston area. Since joining Comcast in January 2006,
Gallagher has spearheaded the NorthCentral Division
launch of Business Class Voice, a highly reliable
voice service that gives the underserved small- and
medium-sized business community a viable alternative
to the traditional phone company. Gallagher has more
than 20 years of experience in the telecommunications
and cable industries, holding various management
positions in sales, technical support and operational
roles with such companies as Raytheon, Sprint, Winstar
Wireless, TelCove (formerly Adelphia Business
Solutions) and Level 3 Communications. Gallagher
earned a bachelor’s degree in Business Management from
the University of Massachusetts in Lowell and
certificates of Professional Achievement in
Telecommunication Technology and Data Communication
from Northeastern University. 
Andy
Goethals, channel sales manager (agents) for InterCall,
is responsible for the growth and long-term success of
the Business Partner Program. He is charged with
ensuring InterCall’s partners and customers have
optimal meeting solutions on a global basis, and more
effective and integrated business communications.
Jack
Gordon is the national manager of alternate channels
for Charter Communications’ commercial unit, Charter
Business, and has been in information technology and
telecommunications for 15 years. Eight of those years
were spent at AT&T in data networking sales and
leadership positions and is where Gordon was exposed
to the channel. He brought that experience with him to
Charter Communications in 2003 and piloted Charter’s
entry into the alternate channel space in Wisconsin.
Since then, Gordon moved to Charter Communications’
corporate team in his current position, where he
oversees both the agent and wholesale channels. 
Kenny Govier, Vice President of US Sales with Ring2,
has more than 17 years of experience in the
telecommunications, enhanced messaging and wireless
industries. Govier spent 12 years with Cable &
Wireless, where he had several managerial positions;
his final position within the organization was vice
president of sales in the United States. After Cable &
Wireless, he spent time at Premiere Global Services
working in the enhanced messaging space. Before coming
to Ring2, Govier was with Cingular Wireless, where he
was director of global markets for the southeast
region, where he was responsible for more than $60
million in annual revenue.
Steve
Hilton is the vice president of Yankee Group’s
Enterprise Research group with an expertise in
converged solutions for SMBs. Hilton manages a team of
analysts delivering consulting, research and programs
to help vendors and service providers better serve
SMBs, mid-market enterprises and large enterprises
globally. Hilton’s SMB-focused research concentrates
specifically on helping clients make decisions
regarding the use of technology or services, including
applications, IT infrastructure and communications
services, to improve time-to-market, cash flow,
loyalty, sales channels and to reduce churn.
Zeus
Kerravala manages Yankee Group's infrastructure
research and consulting. His areas of expertise
involve working with customers to solve their business
issues through the deployment of infrastructure
technology solutions, including switching, routing,
network management, voice solutions and VPNs. Before
joining Yankee Group, Kerravala was a senior engineer
and technical project manager for Greenwich Technology
Partners, a leading network infrastructure and
engineering consulting firm. Prior to that, he was a
vice president of IT for Ferris, Baker Watts (FBW), a
mid-Atlantic based brokerage firm, acting as both a
lead engineer and project manager deploying
corporate-wide technical solutions to support the
firm’s business units. Kerravala's first task at FBW
was to roll out a new frame relay infrastructure with
connections to branch offices, service providers,
vendors and the stock exchange. Kerravala was also an
engineer and technical project manager for Alex, Brown
& Sons, responsible for the technology related to the
equity trading desks. Kerravala obtained a B.S. degree
in physics and mathematics from the University of
Victoria (Canada). He is also certified by Citrix and
NetScout.
Larry
Kesslin is the president of 4-Profit, an advisory
services company working exclusively within the IT and
telecommunications channel. Over the past 20 years,
Kesslin has worked with solution providers, and
numerous vendors and distributors in the industry and
has given several keynotes for companies including
Hewlett-Packard, Gartner Inc., IBM, Cisco Systems,
Motorola and others. Previously, he worked for
Westinghouse and GE, where he was responsible for
distribution management in the technology arena in the
Northeast. Kelsslin has a Bachelor of Science in
electrical engineering.
Jonathan
Khorsandi is CEO of Podference Technologies Inc.,
which automatically time-shifts conference calls into
convenient and portable podcasts in a secure, private
and easy-to-navigate format. Khorsandi pioneered his
patented communication alignment technology in 2005.
Khorsandi has more than 14 years’ experience in
operations and systems integration in the
manufacturing, software and executive coaching
industry. He graduated from California State
University, Northridge with a degree in business with
emphasis in marketing.
As vice
president, sales and business development, for
Intermedia, Bob Leibholz oversees sales and business
development activities as well as key partnerships.
Long a technology-focused business executive,
Leibholz has been the chief driver for numerous
technology projects, including an industry-wide
digital rights management system, Inquiry Management
System, and many Web-based client-facing applications.
He also served as editor of the courseware for the
American Management Associate course, The Art and
Discipline of Managing Software Projects. Before
entering the business world, Bob had a successful
career as a concert violinist, serving as
concertmaster of several major orchestras
As vice
president and director of product development and
revenue assurance for TMC Communications, Sarah Graham
Linares drives the development of new products and
pricing structures for the company’s more than 300
agent partners. A seasoned professional with more than
15 years of telecom experience, she also leads the
team that is responsible for TMC’s customer bill
analysis and 99 percent invoice accuracy. Her product
development and technical background gives her a
unique insight into opportunities in the rapidly
emerging new age of telecom.
Brett
Lindsey is executive vice president of global sales at
Ring2 with responsibility for leading the company’s
sales teams in the United States and United Kingdom,
and the company’s efforts to expand its services
worldwide. Lindsey has more than 15 years of
telecommunications experience in sales and operations
management, business development and network expansion
efforts. Before joining Ring2, Lindsey was senior vice
president of sales with ProfitLine. His prior work
with both Fortune 500 and smaller, high-growth telecom
companies also includes Elantic Telecom Inc., City
Signal Communications, Qwest Communications
Internationial Inc., XO Communications and Williams
Communication Systems.
Aaron T.
Loehr, who has more than 11 years’ experience in the
telecommunications industry, founded Bandwidth
Advisors Inc. in 2003, and serves as the company’s CEO
and president. Loehr helps Fortune 1,000 companies buy
and sell complex telecommunication and
Internet-related services. He works as the official
Bandwidth Advisor for many of the West Coast’s largest
software developers, real estate companies and
Internet Service Providers. Previously, Loehr held
director and global account manager positions at
ColoCenters, SAVVIS Communications and Sprint. He
earned his Bachelor of Arts from Whitman College.
Sal
LoSchiavo, director of North American wireless
broadband channels for Motorola, leads the sales,
development and recruitment efforts for channel
partners for Motorola’s wireless broadband product
portfolio. Motorola has more than 30 years of
experience with channel programs for radio solutions.
With the addition of new products and solutions,
Motorola has created a broad portfolio of value-adds
to help its partners make customized solutions sales.
Tim
McKinley, vice president field operations and
alternate channels for Cox Business, is responsible
for field operations for several Midwest, Mid-Atlantic
and Southern markets. He also is responsible for
defining and implementing alternate channel strategies
for Cox Business. Previously, McKinley was COO for The
Evermore Group where he was responsible for the
day-to-day operations. He was executive vice president
of operations for Lynk Systems Inc. where he oversaw
service delivery, customer care, training, and IT
development. Prior to Lynk Systems, he spent 21 years
with Sprint. He has a bachelor’s degree in political
science from the University of West Florida.
Ken
Mercer is senior vice president at Telecom Brokerage
Inc. (TBI) where he has focused on CLEC and local
service support for TBI’s agents. Mercer began his
career in technology in 1993 with V-tech industries
where he was a VAR/VAD manager providing
private-branded personal computers by Leading Edge,
Leading Technology and Laser. Later, Mercer was
promoted to vice president of the company’s
subsidiary, MBX. Mercer also has served as a senior
account executive at LCI/ Qwest Communications
International Inc., a national account manager with
Fujitsu Networks, a senior account executive for
Sprint, and a senior account manager at McLeodUSA Inc.
Brad
Miehl is founder and CEO of MicroCorp Inc, one of the
nation’s leading telecom master agencies. Under
Miehl’s direction, MicroCorp supports and manages more
than 1,000 employees, agents and VARs nationwide.
MicroCorp maintains carrier agreements with more than
30 vendors. Miehl is a Graduate Member of the Advanced
Technology Development Center at Georgia Tech and
serves on the advisory board of several
telecommunications carriers.
Bob
Miller, senior solutions specialist for NetWolves, has
been in telecommunications for the past 13 years.
Currently, Miller is responsible for developing an
agnostic approach to solutions to ensure that
NetWolves’ products and services meet end users’
requirements. This approach helps agents develop a
“stickier” relationship with their customers, giving
them the ability to sell more services. Miller also is
tasked with helping agents learn about newer
technologies and the company’s managed services
offering. Previously, Miller was with Blue Ridge
Networks where he was responsible for direct and
indirect sales to Fortune 300 customers, and he also
worked at MCI as a data global account representative
supporting sales throughout the Northeast. Miller is
currently a Cisco Certified Network Associate and
Cisco Certified Design Associate.
Michael
Murphy is president of NEF Inc., a master agency
representing more than 60 underlying fiber providers
and more than 1,000 data center properties nationwide.
Murphy founded NEF in 2004 to provide end-to-end
custom optical and dark fiber networks to enterprise
and carrier customers. Murphy has more than 15 year’s
experience in the telecommunications industry,
including 10 years with RCN Metro. He is a member of
the Level 3 Business Partner Advisory Council and a
member of the Colo Consortium.
MaryBeth
Nance is executive director of business development
and regional marketing for AboveNet Inc. She has been
with the company since 2005 and is a
telecommunications industry veteran. While at AboveNet,
Nance has developed and brought to fruition several
key initiatives resulting in an increase in WDM sales
as well as launching an agent program. Prior to
joining AboveNet, Nance held management positions in
sales and business development at several startups
within the telecommunications industry.
Chris
Palermo is the founder of Global Communication
Networks Inc. He has been in the telecommunications
field for 17 years. Palermo’s career began in 1991 at
Allnet Communications, a long-distance resale company
headquartered in Michigan. In 1992, Palermo joined
AT&T Inc. as a commercial markets sales
representative, and later was promoted to AT&T’s
Global Markets. In 1995, he was named sales manager
for Cable and Wireless’ sales division in South
Florida. Palermo has a Bachelor of Arts from the
University of Florida.
Sandra
Palumbo is the director of Yankee Group’s Enterprise
Research group with expertise in managed services
—specifically network, security and enterprise
mobility. Previously at Yankee Group, Palumbo was
responsible for the execution of research and
consulting pertaining to managed network services,
legacy data services, managed security services and
the global telecommunications market, and worked as
global program manager for Yankee Group’s
marketing/events team. Previously, she was with AT&T
Solutions as a sales associate in the business
development and strategic selling organizations.
Palumbo has a Bachelor of Arts in computer science
with a concentration in engineering from Lafayette
College.
As CTO
of Aptela, Mahesh Paolini-Subramanya is responsible
for the company’s technical vision, development, and
implementation. Drawing upon 15 years of
accomplishments in the telecommunications industry,
Paolini-Subramanya is a top executive in the VoIP
space. In 2007, he was named one of the most
influential leaders in VoIP by VoIP News. A true
Internet pioneer, he developed the technological
foundation for the ecommerce revolution by helping to
create the world's first online commerce system.
Chris Peck, senior manager sales engineer support,
indirect channel at XO Communications, has been in the
telecommunications industry for 14 years. Peck began
his career at MCI as a LAN/WAN administrator writing
databases for provisioning, and then moved to the
switching elements and wrote programs to report port
errors for MCI’s newly created proactive maintenance
department. Then, after serving as operations
applications specialist for all local service products
in MCI’s local group, Peck joined Winstar in 1998 as a
sales engineer, where he learned about local service
install issues. In 2003, Peck joined XO as a direct
sales engineer and joined the partner channel side of
sales in 2005. Peck has a computer information systems
degree from the University of Houston. 
Greg
Plum is the channel manager for the Conference Group.
Since joining the company in 2000, his primary
responsibility has been to establish and develop the
company’s wholesale program, which includes an agent
channel as well as private-label reseller programs.
Prior to joining the Conference Group, Plum was a vice
president with MBNA America Bank (now Bank of
America), and was with Crusader Mortgage, where he
developed its wholesale channel.
Jeff
Ponts is executive vice president and co-founder of
Datatel Solutions Inc., a national master agency and
integrator. Ponts started Datatel Solutions Inc. with
business partner Daniel Langton in 2003, and is
responsible for financial planning, systems
development, sales and marketing management, and
development. Ponts has more than two decades of
industry experience with the majority spent in channel
sales and management. His last corporate stint was
with TelePacific Communications as a channel vice
president and general manager. Ponts has a bachelor’s
degree in business administration from Chico State
University.
Janet
Schijns, president and CEO, founded the JS Group on
the belief that high-growth channel technology
companies wanted assistance propelling their
organizations ahead of customer investment decisions.
Over the last 15 years, she has been a celebrated
business growth specialist serving thousands of
high-tech clients worldwide, including Fortune 100
manufacturers to sole proprietor resellers — every
level of the channel. She is the author of a variety
of industry-wide impact-based programs.
Bojan
Simic performs fact-based research in the networking
research practice, with a specific focus on network
and application performance management. Through
benchmarking and the use of AberdeenGroup’s fact-based
research methodology, Simic provides insights on how
organizations can leverage network and application
performance management technologies and solutions to
streamline business processes and achieve operational
efficiencies. His coverage area includes WAN
optimization, application acceleration, network
monitoring and analytics, application performance
management, VoIP management, network transformations,
and branch office networks optimization. 
Bill
Taylor, president of Corporate Ladders, is a
pioneering technology executive, industry consultant
and advisor to CEOs. His experience as director of
national accounts for AT&T Wireless, as well as
high-level executive positions with IBM, Prodigy
Internet and Election Inc., has provided him with a
broad, knowledge-based approach to the technology and
telecommunications industries. His success as an IT
marketing and channel development strategist has
enabled him to develop an extensive client list that
includes BroadSoft, InfoHighway, Eureka Networks and
Mellon Bank.
Brett
Theiss is director of product management for New Edge
Networks. He oversees development, pricing and
management of all products and services. Prior to
joining New Edge, Theiss was the director of product
management for AT&T. He also has held product and
marketing leadership positions with SBC, Qwest
Communications International Inc. and MCI WorldCom.
Doug
Turpin is owner and CEO of Venture Group Enterprises
Inc. (VGE), a 16-year-old Charlotte-based marketing
and sales operations organization specializing in the
sale of telecommunication services and SaaS products.
In his position, he is responsible for development of
overall business strategy and overseeing its
implementation within the sales, IT and commission
reconciliation departments in his organization. Prior
to founding VGE in 1992, Turpin worked in several
sales and marketing positions and spent three years in
the mergers and acquisitions industry. Turpin received
a Bachelor of Arts from the University of North
Carolina. 
Robert
Weiss, vice president equipment division and director
of sales for StructuredWeb, has been with the company
for more than six years in a sales/marketing and
business development role. Weiss has spearheaded
StructuredWeb’s activity and growth in the office
equipment and voice and data marketplace. Prior to
joining StructuredWeb, Weiss worked for an Internet
consulting agency that focused on delivering
customized Web-based solutions to Fortune 1,000
companies where his clients included Siemens, Toshiba,
Verizon Wireless and SIAC. Weiss previously was
associate director of sports marketer International
Management Group’s licensing division. He holds a
Bachelor of Science in business administration from
Bryant College.
