Telecoms Europe

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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.

Enrique Blanco

Group CTIO

Telefónica

Enrique Blanco Nadales, born in Madrid in 1959, studied Physics at Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Master PDG at IESE.

After a period of three years in Standard Eléctrica (a company associated to the multinational ITT) as a Software Designer in System 12, he joined the National Telefónica Company of Spain in 1985 in the Direction of Technology, assuming different responsibilities in the area of Digital Switching.

In 2000 he started his activity in the Operations of Telefónica de España, assuming different roles and holding several positions such as Director of Madrid, Director of Local Operations, Director of Operations and Director of Network Operations and Engineering.

In 2011 he is appointed Global CTO of Telefónica SA and in 2017 Global Chief Technology & Information Officer (GCTIO) and he is currently the Chief Technology & Information Officer (CTIO).

Member of the Executive Committee of Telefónica since November 2019.

He has received several international awards, such as CTO of the year in 2014 by Mobile Europe, CTO of the year in the World Communications Awards 2019 and CTO of the year in 2021 by Mobile Europe. He is also decorated with the Military Merit Medal with a white badge in December 2016.

Patrik Rokyta

CTO

Titan.ium

Patrik has been with Titan.ium Platform, LLC (formerly NetNumber, Inc) since 2013. His focus is on developing the technology strategy and roadmap that helps the communications service providers to build efficient core networks and transform to a techco. Prior to joining NetNumber, Patrik was with Nokia Siemens. Patrik holds a PhD in electrical engineering and is based in Munich, Germany.

Jen Hawes-Hewitt

Head of Strategic Programs and Partner-Led Solutions, Global Telco Industry Solutions

Google

Jen is Head of Strategic Programs and Partner-led Solutions for Google Cloud’s Global Telecom Industry, responsible for architecting and delivering a range of strategic programs to accelerate the growth of Google Cloud’s CSP business; spanning 5G, Edge, network cloud, AI/analytics, customer experience and IT modernization.

Jen designs Telecom Industry Solutions that leverage Google Cloud’s leading AI/ML capabilities, combined with a partner-led approach, to enable CSP executives to realize greater business agility, faster time-to-market and hyper personalized marketing and customer care. She also collaborates with the product and engineering teams to build industry specific roadmaps, working with Google Cloud’s C-suite customers to help them digitally transform their businesses with the breadth of Google’s capabilities. 

Prior to joining Google Cloud, Jen was Managing Director at Accenture, and served as Industry lead for Smart Cities and Infrastructure, as well as leading Accenture’s 5G Ecosystem development for UK/I. She brings considerable international industry experience, having led digital transformation engagements in South East Asia, Middle East, US and South Africa. 

Jen has published thought leadership and is a regular keynote speaker for GSMA, Mobile World Congress and World Economic Forum. She holds a Honors degree from Oxford University.

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.

José Pedro Nascimento

CTO

Altice Portugal

With a career of more than 30 years in the telecommunications industry, José Pedro Nascimento was Director of Engineering and Network Operations at Altice Portugal; He’s recently became the CTO of the company.

He has worked for several operators in Portugal – among them Marconi, Vodafone, TVCabo and Portugal Telecom – and also in Brazil, where he was VP of Engineering at Vivo and responsible for Network Planning at Oi. He was also Global CTO of TIMWE.TECH.

José Pedro Nascimento has a degree in Engineering from IST and an MBA from AESE/IESE.

Colin Bannon

CTO

BT Business

I am the CTO Business, heading up the team responsible for helping to shape BT’s customer solution architecture and strategy. Part of my responsibility is to predict technology trends and future customer technology roadmaps. I act as a trusted advisor for many CIO’s.

I am a veteran in the industry with expertise in designing, deploying and running some of the world’s largest next generation networks.  I have a holistic philosophy to network design, working back from business outcomes, user experience and applications dev strategy to inform the intuitive network, architecture, systems and service wrap design.

As well as sitting on several technology advisory boards, I lecture at Warwick University on Disruptive Innovation. I was also named as one of the 50 CTOs to watch by Global Telecoms magazine.

Sana Ben Jemaa

AI Empowered Networks Program Lead

Orange

Alexandra Foster

Director Division X

BT

Yuvraj Tandon

Head of UK Ops and Europe NOCs

Vodafone

Yuvraj Tandon is Head of UK Network Ops and VNO NOCs for Europe at Vodafone UK. A telecom professional with extensive experience in Network Operations, Digital Transformation of Operations, and ITSM & Network Deployment. He has also worked for major operators and vendors such as Vodafone, Nokia, Nortel, Lucent in UK, and India.

Mr. Tandon has also track record of transforming Operations with Digital & Machine Learning Ops; As well as proven ability in handing Complex Projects & Operations.

Yuvraj is experienced in handling large multi-cultural teams.

Matthew Twomey

Head of Marketing

Anritsu

Matthew Twomey is Head of Marketing at Anritsu Service Assurance and a seasoned professional in this field, with over 25 years’ experience in the industry. He has a diverse background, having worked for companies such as Ericsson, Arantech, Tekcomms, The Now Factory, IBM and Mobileum, where he held various roles. They ranged from business consultant, to product management, product marketing and marketing. With a wealth of knowledge and experience in the telecom industry, he is passionate about understanding customers’ needs while driving success and growth.

Kirsty Bright

Mobile Network Core Strategy Director

Liberty Global

Francesca Serravalle

Head of Infrastructure and Energy

Vodafone

Timothy Creswick

Founder & CEO

Vorboss

Timothy Creswick is the founder and CEO of Vorboss Limited, the only dedicated fibre network and internet service purpose-built for the needs of London’s most demanding businesses.

He realised his entrepreneurial spirit when he started mowing neighbours’ lawns in his school days to earn pocket money. He soon became interested in software when he designed a billing system which he used to invoice his customers. Following this he taught himself to code and started building websites, which helped pay his bills in university.

Vorboss started as a software consultancy 17 years ago but Tim pivoted the business when he spotted a gap in the market for top quality connectivity for businesses. Vorboss has grown 440% over the last 18 months, with over 300 people hired in just two years.

Vorboss has installed over 500 km of fibre optic cables in London since 2020. The business is taking on legacy networks by investing over £250 million to build the city’s only full-coverage fibre network dedicated to business, with a commitment to cover all commercial buildings in Central London.

Vorboss delivers 10Gbps as the new minimum standard, which is where most providers top out, with services at 100Gbps already live with customers, including 22 Bishopsgate – the UK’s largest office building. Vorboss owns its network end to end and operates entirely in-house, removing the need for brokers, wholesalers and resellers who use confusing pricing structures. Vorboss work directly with customers to offer a simple, transparent and competitively priced product.

Tim has built the company by putting its people first and is committed to gender equality across his team. Vorboss applies refreshed thinking to how it hires and built the Vorboss academy, an accredited in-house programme designed to provide skills to kickstart a career in telecommunications – an industry first.

Malik Saadi

VP Strategic Technologies

ABI Research

Malik Kamal-Saadi is head of the Strategic Technology Group at ABI Research focussing on transformative technologies and Innovation across various industries, including Consumer and Industrial Telecommunications, Enterprise IT and OT Technologies, Consumer Electronics, IoT, and other Adjacent Markets. In his role, Malik is leading a number of ABI Research activities, including thought leadership, consultancy services, syndicated services, strategic positioning services, market forecasts and market intelligence, competitive assessments, and market analysis.

Before Joining ABI Research, Malik was a Principal Analyst at Informa Telecoms and Media, covering a wide range of topics, including Devices, Networks & Infrastructure, and Multimedia Services. He has planned, authored, and co-authored many studies in various areas, including Artificial Intelligence, 5G Technologies, and Use Cases, Sensor Networks, IoT Technologies, Future Mobile Handsets, Mobile Application Platforms and Operating Systems, Mobile Broadband Networks, and Devices, Mobile Web Applications Development, Converged Networks and Devices, Mobile VoIP, Mobile Access at Home.

Camille Mendler

Chief Analyst, Enterprise Services

Omdia

Camille Mendler has more than 25 years’ multi-disciplinary experience in the digital economy and a global remit to anticipate key shifts in B2B demand patterns with a current focus on how 5G is disrupting enterprise ecosystems.

Her consultancy projects solve go-to-market challenges: identifying buyer segments, creating effective value propositions, and determining sales channel mix. Areas of expertise include managed and professional services, cloud and SaaS, and private networks.

During her tenure at Omdia, Camille has launched SoHo and SME and Enterprise Verticals intelligence services. She serves as a judge for the GSMA’s GLOMO Awards and TM Forum’s Excellence Awards.

Camille has advised organizations including the International Telecommunications Union, Open Society Foundations and World Bank. She has also worked as a telecom contract negotiator, expert witness in dark fiber matters, and technology journalist.

Camille won a research fellowship in Russian Area Studies from Georgetown University and holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism and Russian from Northwestern University.

Tilly Gilbert

Director - Consulting, Edge Practice Lead

STL Partners

As a Director in STL’s consulting business Tilly has more than five years of experience leading growth projects for technology and telecoms firms. She heads up our research and consulting practice focused on edge and cloud computing and was nominated for Edge Computing Woman of the Year in 2022. Tilly has a BA from Oxford University and an MA from the University of Pennsylvania.

Fredric Sundin

Head of Network Deployment & Connectivity UK

Vodafone

Robert Curran

Consulting Analyst

Appledore Research

Robert has over 25 years’ experience in telecom and software, including CEO and CMO roles. He brings experience of corporate and product marketing and communications from a range of contexts from start-up and scale-up to blue-chip telecom, and across vendors and operators. His career spans a variety of roles at Orange, Cramer Systems, Amdocs, Telcordia, Ericsson, and most recently as CEO at network planning software vendor Aria Networks.

Robert has a BEng in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from Queen’s University, Belfast.

Beatriz Ortega

EMEA Telco Business Development Manager

Red Hat

With extensive experience in Telco industry Beatriz has developed several positions, local and globally, in leading Telecommunication and IT Companies, such as Telefonica, Ericsson, Vodafone, Huawei and Ricoh IT Services.Bea currently works as Telco EMEA BDM, developing RedHat value propositions around OSS/BSS, AI Ops, ML/AI and Automation areas, key drivers for the next Digital Transformation era.

Carla Penedo

Director of Offer Development & Innovation

Celfocus

Carla Penedo is the Offer Development & Innovation Director at Celfocus, a European high-tech system integrator company, committed to creating business value through analytics and cognitive. Carla focuses on providing data-driven technological solutions to accelerate digital network transformation, uplift and monetise business services, and provide highly personalised customer experiences. 

Carla has spent +20 years delivering high-value transformative data solutions with a track record in Telco, Financial Services, Energy and Utilities. She has in-depth knowledge and experience in Analytics, Big Data, AI & Machine Learning technologies. With an MBA and Computer Science (Artificial Intelligence) degree, Carla balances consulting with university teaching. 

João Antunes

Head of Autonomous Networks Offer

Celfocus

João Antunes leads Autonomous Networks offer at Celfocus, a company that empowers innovation in telecoms worldwide. Committed to the creation of data-driven solutions, Celfocus collaborates with CSPs to deliver the maximum benefits in Network, IT and Service Operations. João focuses on developing autonomous networks solutions, making synergies between advanced analytics and orchestration & automation to boost digital network transformation towards zero-touch. 

João has spent over 19 years designing and delivering solutions for the Telco industry, tackling different business challenges and gathering comprehensive Telco business know-how mainly in CRM and OSS stacks. 

Neil McRAE

Chief Network Strategist

Juniper Networks

Neil, named after the first man to walk upon the moon, has more than twenty years experience in networking, systems, security and technology. Neil’s purpose is to get people connected and engaged with technology.

Carla Penedo

Director of Offer Development & Innovation

Celfocus

Carla Penedo is the Offer Development & Innovation Director at Celfocus, a European high-tech system integrator company, committed to creating business value through analytics and cognitive. Carla focuses on providing data-driven technological solutions to accelerate digital network transformation, uplift and monetise business services, and provide highly personalised customer experiences. 

Carla has spent +20 years delivering high-value transformative data solutions with a track record in Telco, Financial Services, Energy and Utilities. She has in-depth knowledge and experience in Analytics, Big Data, AI & Machine Learning technologies. With an MBA and Computer Science (Artificial Intelligence) degree, Carla balances consulting with university teaching. 

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.