Part of a Virtual Event Series by:
Annie Turner
Editor
Mobile Europe
Annie Turner has researched and written about telecoms since the late 1980s in a number of roles — as editor of business titles including for International Thomson and The Economist Group, contributor to national newspapers such as The Times and FT, and as an analyst for Market Mettle and Current Analysis.
PHILIPPE ENSARGUET
CTO
Orange Business
Awarded 2021 Trailblazer CTO of the year, Philippe is leading the network native to digital technology strategy for Orange Business Services.
Pro-software cultured, cloud minded and digital addicted, he brings expertise and leadership to technology specialists and executives in their transformations or innovations. With a unique 360° viewpoint on stacks, practices, tools, and on cultural transformations, he studies trends and works on future associated disruptions to understand their impacts, risks, shifts, and opportunities. He sets up the tech programs, like on Software Factory, Cloud Native, Edge Computing, platform ecosystem and API, and blockchain, to address the associated challenges. He ensures synergies between the entities involved to define orientations.
Heavily connected to the tech ecosystems, he shares his experiences and feedback with customers, partners or students through conferences, keynotes, or dedicated sessions. With a deep understanding of partners and the Open Source ecosystems, he is strongly implied in scouting to identify the most strategic and disruptive partners.
Philippe is board advisor for two startups in tech, Cycloid and Weaveworks, for which he acts in mentoring, roadmap orientation, market understanding and ensuring connections to the ecosystem.
Pål Grønsund
Director Cloud Strategy and Architecture
Telenor
Dr. Pål Grønsund is Director of cloud strategy and architecture in Telenor Group. He holds a PhD in Informatics from the University of Oslo (Norway) on Cognitive Radio and has been a Visiting Researcher at the Institute of Electrical Engineering at UCLA. He was the Coordinator of the EU funded Research & Innovation project 5G-VINNI. He is vice chair in the ETSI Open Source MANO (OSM) project and has wide standardization experience. Important areas of work for Pål are cloud native, multi-cloud, edge cloud, 5G and beyond, network slicing, orchestration, automation, mobile core and cloud-RAN.
Mariam Kaynia
VP Director of Massmarket
Telefonica Germany
Mariam Kaynia is Vice President of Massmarket at Telefonica, where she leads the B2C and B2P portfolio and delivery of new product and service launches for customers, application development, maintenance and operations, move to DevOps and agile ways of working, as well as execution of company wide digital transformation. Previously, she spent 8 years at McKinsey & Company, where she worked with telecom and high-tech companies on an international basis as Associate Partner. Additionally, she worked as professor, been expert reviewer for the European Commission and held various Board positions. Mariam has a PhD in in Electrical Engineering, 2 MSc degrees and an MBA from the McKinsey Alpine University.
Natali Delic
Chief Strategy & Digital Officer
Telekom Srbija
Natali is a senior leader with 20+ years of experience in the telecommunications industry. She finds inspiration in the new opportunities technologies such as AI, 5G, and IoT bring to the world. As a leader, she believes we need to build fast adaptation as a business capability in organizations to ensure resiliency and sustainability, and the way to do it is through continuous learning and pushing oneself and others to get out of comfort zones. Currently, she is Chief Strategy and Digital Officer and a member of the Executive Board at Telekom Srbija, with main responsibilities in the domains of strategic partnerships, transformation of the company and building digital ecosystems through partnerships and innovation.
Kester Mann
Director Consumer & Connectivity
CCS Insight
Kester has more than 15 years’ experience in the mobile industry and curates our research into consumer and connectivity services. He is an informed commentator on network operator strategy, European markets, telecom mergers and acquisitions, 5G networks and regulation. He is frequently quoted in industry publications and national media. Kester joined CCS Insight in 2010 from Nokia, where he held the position of market analyst. He was previously a senior research analyst with Informa Telecoms and Media.
Jukka-Pekka Salmenkaita
VP AI & Special Projects
Elisa
Dr Salmenkaita is Vice President of AI and special projects in Elisa International Digital Services. His unit develops AI/ML-enabled solutions that power Elisa Polystar, Elisa IndustrIQ, and new initiatives for sustainable future through digitalisation (e.g. virtual power plant solutions for zero-carbon energy sector transformation). Before joining Elisa in 2015, Jukka-Pekka has founded two start-up companies, and held a variety of product management and venturing roles during a decade in Nokia, including Head of Connected Home, Nokia Multimedia. He has master’s degree in Information Technology and doctorate in Systems Analysis, both from Helsinki University of Technology (Aalto). His academic interests include analysis of innovation policy instruments, and he has more than 20 granted patents. On holidays, he enjoys underwater photography with his family.
Siniša Arsić
Director of Data, Analytics & Intelligent Automation of Business Processes
Telekom Srbija
Sinisa Arsic is a professional with a PhD in Information systems and Quantitative management, with over 9 years of professional experience in Telekom Serbia, a major telecommunications operator in Serbia and West Balkans region. Sinisa executed a significant number of projects in section for products and services development in mobile telephony for residential segment, and for last three years he is part of Digital transformation projects – within domain of intelligent automation of internal business processes.
Sinisa is focused on AI, data science, machine learning projects, as well as contextual marketing automation projects, and its applicability on overall improvement of internal business processes. he coordinated multiple projects with the purpose of technologically enabling data driven customer value management activities within company’s long-term business strategy. From 2024, he is the Director of department for data, analytics, and intelligent automation of business processes, leading a team of expert data analysts, data engineers, data scientists and machine learning engineers.
For the last 10 years, from a scientific perspective, Sinisa was researching quantitative management, data science, as well as decision support systems for SME&Soho segment in Serbia and Europe. Sinisa has published over 70 research and conference papers (10 research papers were published in international journals).
Adaora Okeleke
Principal Analyst
Analysys Mason
Adaora leads Analysys Mason’s Data, AI and Development Platforms research programme. Her research focuses on service providers’ adoption and use of data management, artificial intelligence, analytics and development tools to support the digital transformation of network, customer and other business operations.
Adaora tracks vendor strategies for the telecoms industry to understand how they are evolving their product portfolios to include data, AI and development capabilities. She also provides key industry insights to operators and vendors on strategies for adopting these technologies.
Goran Klepac
Director of Big Data Analytics
Hrvatski Telekom
Goran Klepac, , Ph.D., Asst. Prof, senior research associate, works as a Director of Big data Analytics in Hrvatski telekom, Croatia. Previously, he worked as a director of Strategic development in Raiffeisen Bank, Croatia, as well as consultant and manager in different companies in Croatia. He has great experience as data science lead in different business areas as manager and problem solver in different domains like retail, finance, insurance, hospitality, telecommunications, and productions. He lectures subjects in domain of data mining, predictive analytics, AI, decision support system, banking risk, risk evaluation models, expert system, database marketing and business intelligence in different Universities in Croatia. He is an author/coauthor of more than 60 scientific works, mainly books and book chapters in domain of data science with publishers like: Springer, IGI-Global, Elsevier, CRC press.
Henry Tam
Principal Solutions Manager
Redis
Henry Tam is the Principal Solutions Manager at Redis where he drives AI/ML strategy and vertical-focused solutions. Henry works with the solution architect and customer success teams to drive solutions and product roadmap enhancements for solving the data management needs of Telcos and Communication Service Providers on their digital transformation journey. With over 20 years of experience in cloud, network infrastructure, servers, traffic management, security, and application development at previous companies including F5 Networks, Dell, and HPE, Henry is passionate about being the Voice of the Customer and evangelizing solutions that drive successful business outcomes across global enterprises.
Michelle Hastings
Head of Digital
Vodafone Business
Michelle is a seasoned change professional with a remarkable track record of building and leading teams to successfully deliver change in a variety of business environments, ranging from start-ups to FTSE 100 firms. With her extensive experience across Australasia, the Middle East and Europe, Michelle has earned a reputation as a trusted leader who can drive meaningful transformation on a global scale.
Throughout her career, Michelle has worked for world-class companies, where she has been entrusted with shaping and delivering multi-year transformation programs, often overseeing budgets exceeding £50 million and realising benefits surpassing £100 million. Her ability to orchestrate large, multi-functional teams and implement change frameworks has consistently yielded results.
Michelle’s passion for leadership, digital transformation and product management is evident in her work. She excels in establishing and driving business transformation initiatives and has a proven track record of significantly reducing operating costs through digital transformation, enhancing operational efficiencies, and driving self-service excellence.
Her career journey at Vodafone began in Auckland, New Zealand, where she managed a high-value product portfolio, generating substantial incremental revenue through strategic initiatives. This was followed with roles in Product & Communications in Doha, Qatar where she played a pivotal role in establishing the new op-co and in Global Projects in London as part of Vodafone Group. In her current role at Vodafone UK, Michelle leads the Digital team in Vodafone Business.
James Crawshaw
Practice Leader
Omdia
James leads Omdia’s service provider transformation team, which covers telco IT (operations support systems, business support systems, and analytics) and telco cloud & automation (software-defined networking, network function virtualization, etc.). James’ own research focuses on operations support systems, including service assurance, orchestration, order management, inventory management, network security, self-organizing networks, and radio access network intelligent control.
Before joining Omdia, James led Heavy Reading’s communications service provider IT & automation research service. James holds a Bachelor of Science and Master of Engineering in electrical and mechanical engineering from the University of Manchester, England. Earlier in his career, while working as a financial analyst, James passed the three exams required to obtain the Chartered Financial Analyst qualification. In addition, James has a Master of Science in electronic engineering from the University of Surrey, England.
Stuart Walsh
Field Product Director
SS8 Networks
Stuart Walsh is a consultative technical sales leader with over 30 years of experience helping customers deliver solutions for success. As a technical leader in the Location division of SS8 Networks, Stuart is passionate about introducing next generation solutions and services to network operators and enterprises and driving business growth. Stuart also has a depth of experience in voice and data applications for both Enterprise and Service Provider customers.
Lasha Tabidze
Group Chief Digital Operations
Veon
Lasha Tabidze has over 15 years of senior management position
experience and a strong track record in delivering digital products and digital transformation especially in the telecommunications sector. His
previous roles include CEO of Beeline Georgia, which was part of VEON Group until 2022. During his tenure at Veon Georgia Lasha and his team have introduced a number of innovations in the sector, including offering services as a package; full self-service both in-store and from any device; innovative digital products, including one of the most popular mobile applications in Georgia to date, MyBeeline, and others. Lasha has a strong entrepreneurial streak having created and led successful startups.
Brian Klafstad
Global Account Manager
Red Hat
Ahmed Soliman
Senior Director - Telecom & Media
Intellias
With over two decades of experience in the technology industry, Ahmed has developed a multifaceted skill set that spans engineering services, product management, management consulting, and business development. He has assisted customers across various industries worldwide, particularly in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, in achieving technological innovation and fulfilling digital transformation mandates. Ahmed holds a bachelor’s degree in electronics and communications engineering and an MBA from Alliance Manchester Business School. Currently, he leads the TMT vertical in Europe for Intellias.
João Barata
Data & Analytics Offer Lead
Celfocus
Graduated in Telecommunications and Software Engineering, João is an expert in the Business Intelligence and Analytics areas. For the last decade, he has been delivering projects for different verticals such as Telecommunications, Financial Services, and Utilities, being engaged in development, team leading, and data architecture. Today João is responsible for the Data & Analytics Offer at Celfocus.
Siniša Arsić
Director of Data, Analytics & Intelligent Automation of Business Processes
Telekom Srbija
João Barata
Data & Analytics Offer Lead
Celfocus
Graduated in Telecommunications and Software Engineering, João is an expert in the Business Intelligence and Analytics areas. For the last decade, he has been delivering projects for different verticals such as Telecommunications, Financial Services, and Utilities, being engaged in development, team leading, and data architecture. Today João is responsible for the Data & Analytics Offer at Celfocus.In his session, João will delve into the strategic imperatives of cloud adoption, robust data governance and the implementation of Data Ops to optimize the entire data lifecycle for Generative AI.
Annie Turner
Editor
Mobile Europe
Annie Turner has researched and written about telecoms since the late 1980s in a number of roles — as editor of business titles including for International Thomson and The Economist Group, contributor to national newspapers such as The Times and FT, and as an analyst for Market Mettle and Current Analysis.
Andrea Donà
Network & Development Director
Vodafone
Andrea was appointed as Network and Development Director for Vodafone UK in April 2021, as part of a group-wide restructuring that saw one integrated European network. He has since managed the roll-out of Vodafone UK’s 5G and fibre networks, our converged network strategy, as well as delivery of the company’s network transformation and digital agenda.