BigHook2000

Conference Coordinator:
Carolee Marano
carolee@isen.com
908-276-3428

Participant List

Participant Biographies

Greg Amadon

Amadon founded TeraBeam in 1997, and the company remained in "stealth" mode for almost three years. Today, TeraBeam has approximately 450 employees, a trial network up and running in Seattle, funding from leading investment and venture capital firms and a strategic partnership with Lucent Technologies that has pushed TeraBeam to the top of the fiberless optics space.  TeraBeam was recently named as one of Upside Magazine's 100 Hot Companies for the year 2000.

By offering IP services at gigabit speeds without the need for backhoes, digging or rooftop permits, building riser wiring and spectrum rights,Amadon has created a company that will ultimately change the way business

customers use the Internet by enabling high speed transactions, low latency video conferencing, HDTV, distance learning, and network connections immune to "Backhoe Fade" -- all delivered at gigabit speeds through the air.

An accomplished entrepreneur, Amadon invented the point to multi-point optical technology and other key technologies, hired and supervised the brilliant 148 person technical development team, architected the service business model and strategy,

established key competitive barriers, raised $125 million in venture investment over 4 rounds of financing to fund TeraBeam's development, architected the Lucent $450 million investment/relationship.  Currently, Amadon serves on TeraBeam's board of directors.  He is also on the Board of Directors for both X10 Wireless, and IPG Photonics.

As CEO and co-founder of Virtual i-O Inc., Amadon led the leading virtual reality hardware company from start-up to over $10M in revenue and widespread retail and vertical market distribution. He attracted strategic partners including TCI, Thompson CSF, Logitech, Bausch & Lomb, a leading microprocessor manufacturer, Planar Systems, and others to raise $30 million in equity. As CEO of Cellular Technical Services Company, Inc. (CTSC), Amadon garnered private investments from NYNEX and Nationwide Cellular, and led the company through a successful IPO in 1991 and a follow-on public offering. CTSC was selected as Business Week Magazine's "OTC Stock of the Year" in 1993.

In founding CTSC, Amadon developed the business concept for real-time billing and fraud prevention software for cellular telephone carriers. He also invented a real-time portable cell phone rental system designed for rental car companies, which also led to the development of a patented in-car mobile rental telephone. Amadon holds 7 US patents. As a member of the White House Press Corps and a video expert for CBS World News, Amadon invented and built the high power telescopic video camera system used extensively by CBS News to film from as far away as five miles. Amadon received his BA in Political Science from Stanford University.

Skip Andrews

Skip Andrews is the Chief Operating Officer for Sterling Insights. Though he leads the Sterling Insights’ operations activities, he also works closely with clients before and after engagements. He is active in helping to create a healthy work atmosphere for Sterling Insights’ fast-paced, highly creative design and consulting environment.

Skip has more than 20 years of business and IT management experience. His recent work experience has focused on e-Commerce site usability evaluation and re-design, but his career has included significant work in biotechnology, early HMOs, and advertising. This extensive background facilitates Skip's work with Sterling Insights as they guide clients through Design Sessions for envisioning new Information Technology (IT) systems. He has successfully managed large Internet-based Oracle database projects and large WAN client-server applications. He has an Oracle Masters Certificate in Web-based applications as well as many years of teaching database design for both businesses and community colleges.

Skip has a UCSD Community College Teaching Certificate and a UCSD Specialized Certificate in Leadership using the Peter Senge model of the Learning Organization. Additionally, he is a certified "Challenge U" Course Facilitator and has led organizations through challenging team building high ropes courses. Also, he conducts personal and professional creativity courses based on "The Artist's Way" book by Julia Cameron.

Robert J. Berger

Robert is a consultant/advisor to VCs, established and start-up manufacturers, carriers, ISPs, ASPs and e-commerce enterprises. His focus is on the intersection of technology, markets, society and the individual with Open Standards, Open Source Software, multimedia and Internet infrastructure.  Utilizers of Robert's vision include Mohr Davidow Ventures, Institutional Venture Partners, Athena Tech Ventures, Visa, Intel, Ascend, Alteon, Halcyon, Covad, AboveNet, Sandpiper Networks (Digital Island), IDG, LinuxWorld, CTO Forum, NY Times and Dow Jones.

Robert founded the high bandwidth ISP, InterNex, pioneering ISDN, QoS based pricing and internationally dispersed ServerFarms. Most recently he is the founder and Chairman and CTO of UltraDevices, Inc. a startup focused on next generation Broadband Wireless technology using unlicensed spectrum.

Woody Boyd

Been in computing since punched cards, man do I feel old.

Am philosopher by inclination, accountant by training, but my BS degree is in public speaking. Live in Tampa, but own farm in smokey mountains of TN where I really like to be. Love to think about the future, sometime even act on things.

Biggest buzz: built worlds largest IVR at Home Shopping Network in late 80's. 60 Million calls per year. Patent for that. All DSP based back in 88. Sold out, retired, yada, yada.

Played golf, did volunteer work, goofed off. Got bored.

Chairman packet telephony equipment company 97. Sold out. Yada, yada.

Now have a passion for bridging the so called digital divide, particularly bringing low cost Net to third world. Go to all the garden spots : India, El Salvador, Morrocco, Suriname, etc.

Scott Bradner

Scott Bradner has been involved in the design, operation and use of data networks at Harvard University since the early days of the ARPANET. He was involved in the design of the Harvard High-Speed Data Network (HSDN), the Longwood Medical Area network (LMAnet) and NEARNET. He was founding chair of the technical committees of LMAnet, NEARNET and CoREN.

Mr. Bradner is the codirector of the Transport Area in the IETF, is a member of the IESG, and until June 1999 was an elected trustee of the Internet Society where he still serves as the Vice President for Standards. He was also codirector of the IETF IP next generation effort and is coeditor of "IPng: Internet Protocol Next Generation" from Addison-Wesley and is member of the Wiley Network Council.

Mr. Bradner is a senior technical consultant at the Harvard Office of the Provost, where he provides technical advice and guidance on issues relating to the Harvard data networks and new technologies. He founded the Harvard Network Device Test Lab, is a frequent speaker at technical conferences, a weekly columnist for Network World, an instructor for Interop, and does a bit of independent consulting on the side.

Richard Campbell

Douglass Carmichael

Background in physics, pscyhoanalysis, consulting, scenarios. Interest is in technology and society, how to manage our species without turning it into a fascist project.  The humane use of the Internet.  Currently President Shakespeare and Tao Consulting Partner BigMindMedia President Tesuque Charitable Trust Director Institute for the Future of Community.

Anders Comstedt

Anders Comstedt, CEO of AB Stokab, a dark fibre provider in the greater area of Stockholm, Sweden. Further, as chairman of the board Nic-Se AB which is responsible for domain names in the .se domain, he is involved in the Swedish Internet development. He is also an advisor to the City in telecom issues, in particular related to deregulation and business development. Prior to that he has had several executive positions in the telecoms industry, this includes both Telia, and the Ericsson group, where he worked with networks and fibre optics. He has also been an advisor in business development. He is 50 years old and has an MSEE from Lund Institute of Technology, Sweden.

Timothy Denton

I am a lawyer by training and a political philosopher by inclination. I have never successfully reconciled the two. I have done telecom law and policy in Ottawa and more recently have been working for Tucows on domain name issues.  I read a lot of science and technology books, hate monopolies, and go hiking in the Gatineau hills near Ottawa when I am not working. I have three kids, two of whom are in university.  I enjoy my life.

John Dohm

John Dohm is the Managing Director of the Venture Planning group at Digital Coast Partners (DCP.) Prior to joining DCP, John was a consulting partner and founding member of the e-Business Strategy and Technology Infrastructure practices at Deloitte & Touche. John has applied his skills in various positions and assignments in retail, heavy manufacturing, financial services, telesales, health care, entertainment, utilities, and education. Before Deloitte, John founded a software development firm, was a high school computer science instructor, and was responsible for networking and distributed systems technology at the Quaker Oats Company, all in Chicago. He has had articles published in topics ranging from computer science to organizational design and is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and events. John received his MBA from Northwestern University (Kellogg) and has a combined Master and Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Loyola University. He is also a Certified Systems Professional (CSP) and a Certified Network Engineer (CNE.)

Jeffrey A. Feldman, Ph.D.

President and Chief Executive Officer
Jeffrey Feldman has been instrumental in driving the formation and operation of Everest Broadband Networks since inception. He launched the company from Pequot Capital Management where he was a Senior Vice President of the firm and a member of the General Partner in Pequot's venture fund. Dr. Feldman joined the Pequot family of funds in 1998 coming from Digital Media Capital, LLC where he led investments in Critical Path and Sandpiper Networks. He has been active in early-stage investments in the communications sector, specifically those that target ISPs, telecommunications carriers and other broadband service providers. He has been involved in several of Pequot's private equity investments including Alidian Networks, Arrowpoint Communications, Elastic Networks, Ennovate Networks, Millennium Optical Networks, Sycamore Networks and Tellium. Dr. Feldman received his B.S. degree and Ph. D. from the University of Connecticut and his M.B.A. from the Yale School of Management.

Thomas A. Freeburg

Tom currently heads the Technology Outlook Laboratory within Motorola Labs.  Most of his 36-year career at Motorola has been focused on wireless data in one form or another.  He has over 45 patents that span many of the basics for cellular-like data transmission (Ardis and CDPD), techniques for achieving RF data transmission rates at 15+Mbps, a new technique for achieving reliable radio coverage at microwave frequencies, and a way to take advantage of directional antennas in portable equipment.  Most recently he has championed development of technologies and global standards aimed at wireless ATM communications and development of wireless technologies for Internet access.

Tom is a Corporate Vice President and Director, a Dan Noble Fellow and recipient of the Master Innovators award.

Stockton Gaines

CEO of Acorn Technologies. Inc.  Acorn is a new enabler of the transition from conception to use for technology ideas. All technology involves risk: the risk of the technology working, the risk the market will accept it, and the risk TO society, that it will be disruptive.  Nothing is more risky that the rapid evolution of communications technology today. Acorn takes risks that others won't, or shouldn't.

My background includes stints at IDA/CRD, the RAND Corporation, USC/ISI, and a VC firm.

Roxane I. Googin

Roxane operates a private consultancy for portfolio managers covering high technology investment strategy.  Because her clients manage billions of dollars, her interest is in keeping them ahead of large, structural, changes in technology.  Current issues impacting the linkage between technology adoption and value creation include:

Who really profits from the Internet? Do infrastructure investments (including cable, wireless and optical) really pay off?  What will those investments "look" like (optical vs electrical, standards).  Given the $35B surprise auction for UMTS spectrum in the UK, how valuable is spectrum?  Which spectrum?  How long will this Web-led semiconductor cycle last?  How important is copper, or SiGe, in this semi cycle?  What will the servers "look" like (clustering, Linux, appliances) that power next-generation Internet software?  Who will own these servers?  What will that software "look" like (Java, CORBA, MSFT, Linux, messaging)?  Who will own it?  Will it be open, licensed or rented?  How will resulting productivity gains be measured?  When will the Fed allow these gains to be passed through the economy without trying to stop them via interest rate hikes?  What does this do to the US dollar?  Trade balances?  Who gets disintermediated first? (and much more).

Charles W. K. Gritton

I am the CTO for the NETS division of Tellabs.  I focus primarily on the services aspect of the telecommunications business.  My prior work history includes a stint at Bell Labs, now Lucent and Coherent Communications (merged with Tellabs 2 years ago).  Some significant past projects include AT&T's TrueVoice(tm), the beginnings of Lucent's PacketStar Voice Gateway, CallPort(tm)- a conference system that was used in the space shuttle (among other places), and several new voice processing systems and custom DSPs that support them.

Daniel B. Grossman

I've been involved in the lower layers of the network for about 20 years.  In addition to some interesting (and sometimes disasterous) projects at GTE Telenet and Motorola (the former Codex), most of my career has been played in the standards arena.  Among other things, I've had a lot to do with X.25, the OSI network layer, ISDN, Frame Relay, ATM, DSL, CATV, and some of the most recent evolutions of IP.  Much of my current thinking concerns issues of network service guarantees -- what they mean, how to achieve them and how to manage the complex tradeoffs that they imply.  I also have an interest in the problems of regulation and competition in equipment and services in a rapidly changing technology environment.

Steve M. Guich

Background in Neuroscience (with continued involvement in brain research at UC Irvine).

 - Currently general partner of Renaissance Capital - a telecom and technology based hedge fund.

 - Technophile and dabbler in things of cultural and philosophical interest.

Bijan Halavi

Bijan Halavi is president of PPI Capital, a firm that specializes in Telecommunication Infrastructure sector and invests in publicly traded equities as well as private placement capital for early-stage development companies. On the private side, TeraBeam Networks is an example of the type of company that PPI has been involved with since its early stages of  development. 

PPI's technology investments focus specifically on the Optical Components, Switching and Networking space. The firm also provides the companies in which PPI has a vested interest, with strategic relationships that pave the way for advancement. 

Mr. Halavi also serves as a consultant to venture capital firms investing in telecommunication companies in their initial phase of development.  Due to his experience in this field, he has > significant exposure to many new ideas in the telecom arena.

Dewayne L. Hendricks

Dewayne Hendricks is CEO, of Dandin Group, Inc., a Fremont, California based company which does research and product development in the area of broadband wired and wireless data devices and services. He is also a member of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Technological Advisory Council (TAC http://www.fcc.gov/oet/tac). Prior to that he was General Manager, Wireless Business Unit, for Com21, Inc. Before Com21, he was Co-Principal Investigator on the National Science Foundation Wireless Field Tests for Education project.  He was formerly the CEO and co-founder of Tetherless Access Ltd., which was one of the first companies to develop and deploy Part 15 unlicensed wireless metropolitan area data networks which used the TCP/IP protocols. He has participated in the installation of these networks in other parts of the world such as Kenya, Tonga, Mexico, Canada and Mongolia.  He has been involved with radio since his teens when he received his amateur radio operator's license. He holds official positions for several non-profit national amateur radio organizations and is a director of the Wireless Communications Alliance, an industry group which represents manufacturers in the unlicensed radio industry.  Back in 1986 he ported the popular KA9Q Internet Protcol package to the Macintosh, which allows the Macintosh to be used in packet radio networks. Today, thousands of amateur radio operators worldwide use NET/Mac to participate in the global packet radio Internet which has been developed and deployed by the amateur radio service.  More information on Dewayne is available at http://www.dandin.com/ and you can email him at dewayne@dandin.com.

Robert Henrick

Current Title: Partner, Pervasive Applications

Share a past tainted history of employment with David and a belief in the revolution erasing the old order and creating a new one driven by enabling innovation.  We define pervasive applications as both expanding the internet from a place of information gathering and commerce to one that also includes emotional engagement and collaborative relationship building and one that will be accessible in the appropriate manner at any time.   Also maintain that the layering and platforms of the wired, fibered and mobile internet allow the innovative applications to be built in benign ignorance of these networks and share in an ecosystem of extraordinary intellectual and financial rewards.  OgilvyInteractive is the Agency branch of Ogilvy & Mather, which is owned by WPP, the largest ad group in the world.   Happy to say I am the only person in the agency who knows one does not get green money from an ATM network and believes one may get no money from a future ATM network.

Past engagements were running a internal service venture in Lucent called MyNetWorks, consulting in emerging services, building and running the shortest lived global internet fax service for AT&T, designing next generation consumer wired and wireless appliances, hiding US submarines, conducting physical oceanography and applying mathematics. 

Timothy K. Horan, CFA

Telecommunications Services

Tim joined CIBC Oppenheimer as an Executive Director nearly one year ago, heading the Telecommunications Research effort, and was recently named a Managing Director.  Prior to joining the company, Tim was Senior Equity Analyst at BancAmerica ROBERTSON STEPHENS where he oversaw the telecommunications wireline services team. At ROBERTSON, Tim researched a broad range of wireline communication companies, including incumbent local exchange carriers, long-distance carriers and emerging companies operating in the local exchange, long-distance and international segments of the telecommunications industry.

Before joining BancAmerica ROBERTSON STEPHENS in 1997, Tim was a research analyst in the Telecommunications Services Group at Smith Barney, a group that was ranked number two among wireline services teams in the 1997 Greenwich Associates Institutional Survey.  Tim has also worked as a civil engineer on various projects in New York.  Tim received a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from Rutgers University and an MBA degree in Finance, with Beta Gamma Sigma Honors, from Columbia Business School.

Christian Huitema

Christian Huitema recently joined Microsoft, as architect for Windows Networking and Communications. Until January 2000, he was chief scientist, and Telcordia Fellow, in the Internet Architecture Research laboratory of Telcordia, working on Internet Quality of Service and Internet Telephony. From 1986 to 1996, he led the research project RODEO at INRIA in Sophia-Antipolis, France, working there on the definition and the experimentation of innovative communication protocols, software and compilers. Christian Huitema studied at the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris from 1972 to 1974, and obtained in 1985 a Doctorat ès Sciences from the Université Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris 6). He was a member of the Internet Architecture Board (IAB) from 1991 to 1996, its chair between April 1993 and July 1995. He was elected a trustee of the Internet Society in May 1995. Christian is the author of "Routing in the Internet" (Prentice-Hall PTR, 1995, 1999), "IPv6, the new Internet Protocol" !  (Prentice-Hall PTR, 1996, 1998) and "Et Dieu créa l'Internet" (Eyrolles, 1995).

John M. Jordan

I direct electronic commerce research at the Cap Gemini Ernst & Young Center for Business Innovation in Cambridge, Massachusetts. My primary interests lie at the intersection of technology, strategy, and economics:

I study network effects, emergent properties of technology adoption, and business models for a connected economy. Academically, I earned a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in the intellectual history of technology.

Peter Kaminski 

VP/Internet Guru at Yipes, architect of NETCOM's NetCruiser and publisher of the Public Dialup Internet Access List (1993).

Stephen Kamman

Steve Kamman is a Director in the Telecom Equity Research group. Before joining CIBC, Steve was in Corporate Development at MCI Telecommunications Corp. where he worked on acquisitions and new ventures in addition to general business and technology strategy. Steve also managed wireless business strategy, lobbying, and spectrum auctions at Avantel, an MCI Joint Venture in Mexico.  Prior to MCI, Steve worked in Andersen Consulting's strategy consulting arm for four years in the New York and Melbourne, Australia offices.  He holds an MBA from the University of Chicago and a BA Cum Laude in both Economics and History from Yale University.

Takuhito Kojima

Engaged in the switching systems business at Fujitsu.  Now responsible for Fujitsu Business Communication Systems in Anaheim as president and CEO.  Worked at IDO, a cellular phone company in Tokyo, for 6 years.

Robert Kostelak

Bob is currently working in AT&T Network Services where he is responsible for business planning and major initiative management.  He has worked for AT&T for 16 years in a variety of roles, including working in the infamous Opportunity Discovery Department.  Bob has received his MBA from Columbia University and a Masters of Engineering from Priceton University.

Lawrence Lessig

I am a law professor interested in the architecture of the net, and the values that architecture embeds. I have written a book which is a first cut at that question -- Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace -- and I am presently working on a second.

Adina Levin

Product Strategist, Vignette Corporation

Adina Levin defines new product directions for Vignette, the leading supplier of e-business applications. Before joining Vignette as Product Strategist, Adina served for a decade as an industry analyst and consultant, identifying trends and advising executives in emerging high-tech markets.

Adina was a principal at Fastwater, a start-up e-commerce consulting firm, and before that an analyst at CAP Ventures, a consulting firm specializing in publishing and document technologies.

Robert W. Lucky

Corporate Vice President, Applied Research, Telcordia formerly with Bell Labs.

Carolee Marano

On board with isen.com since March 2000, I'm the Conference Coordinator for BigHook2000.  I'm also program director for The Center for Women and Families, and run my own business, The Write Stuff,  (writing and promotional services).  Previously, I was AVP at The Israel Discount Bank of New York, supporting end-user international banking departments.  I have a BA from Hunter College of the City University of New York in English and Communications, summa cum laude, with some graduate studies at the New York University School of Business.

Jerry Michalski

My activities:

Help tech companies design where they're going

• Speack, consutl, write, invest
• Publish my Brain online
• Write some more

History:

• 1992-1998, managing editor, Release 1.0
• 1997-1992, research editor, New Science Associates

Wharton MBS, UCI MA in Economics
Grew up in South America

Dave Nadig

Portfolio Manager with MetaMarkets.com, an online mutual fund company focused on New Economy investing.

Michael D. O’Dell

Mike O'Dell currently serves as senior vice president, chief scientist for UUNET, a WorldCom company. Mr. O'Dell is responsible for overall network architecture and technical strategic direction for UUNET.

Prior to joining UUNET, Mr. O'Dell was a senior technical staff member at Bellcore where he was chief engineer for the "RBOC of the Future" project. Before joining Bellcore, Mr. O'Dell was chief computer scientist and director of operating systems development for Prisma Computers, a gallium-arsenide SPARC-compatible supercomputer company. 

Previously, Mr. O'Dell was chief architect of several complex systems engineering projects for US government customers. Mr. O'Dell also served for four years on the Internet Engineering Steering Group as an area director for the IETF's operations and management area. 

He sits on the technical advisory board of a number of network technology companies and regularly speaks at various international conferences. He served eight years as founding editor-in-chief of Computing Systems, an international refereed scholarly journal devoted to the pragmatics of computer systems implementation experience. 

Mr. O'Dell received his bachelor's degree and master's degree in computer science from the University of Oklahoma.

Matthew Oristano

Matt Oristano has spent his career in building communications and technology systems for consumer use.

Most recently, he sold his high speed wireless internet venture called SpeedChoice to Sprint Corporation.  SpeedChoice was the first broadband fixed wireless operator to provide mass residential service.  Prior to a decade's work developing the wireless technology that became SpeedChoice, Oristano built the first American owned cable TV system in Great Britain. 

In the early eighties, Oristano owned and operated cable systems in the United States, and tried to create a wide area broadband data communications system in 1984, before it was cool (or even economical).  Creative interpretation by the competing telephone company of their own tariff stifled the economics, and Oristano was forced to wait for the Internet to create the economic infrastructure for such a network to be successful.

Oristano has a degree in physics from Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute, and lives in Connecticut. 

Thomas Petzinger

I spent 22 years as a reporter and editor with the WSJ writing about everything from organized crime to commodity trading. Actually, those things weren't all that dissimilar. I also spent years covering technology trajectories and entrepreurism until I was infected with the very diseases I was covering. So quite recently I bagged the WSJ to launch a startup called LaunchCyte, an incubator fostering convergence between life sciences and information sciences. I'm a complexity geek (though a layman) and share Isenberg's love of music, though his tastes are sometimes a little soft for me. :-) I've also written three business books, though at this point in business history they're starting to look like distant anachronims. Maybe it's time for another.

Richard Prytula

TechnoCap - massively scalable technologies for the Net.  Hyperchip - petabit routing.  VIPswitch - terabit optical MANs.  YottaYotta - yottabyte netstorage.  netPCS - eCommunications Network. 

Eric S. Raymond

Eric S. Raymond is an observer-participant anthropologist in the Internet hacker culture. His research has helped explain the decentralized open-source model of software development that has proven so effective in the evolution of the Internet. His own software projects include one of the Internet's most widely-used email transport programs. Mr. Raymond is also a science fiction fan, a musician, an activist for the First and Second Amendments, and a martial artist with a Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do.

David P. Reed

Dr. Reed is, by inclination, a designer of large-scale systems structures and concepts - algorithms, protocols, architectures, business models, and processes.  His career includes 15 years as a student and professor of computer science and engineering at MIT, 10 years leading advanced commercial personal computer software innovation as v.p. R&D/chief scientist at Software Arts and Lotus Development Corp., 4 years as a senior scientist at Interval Research Corp., and 4 years as an independent technology strategy advisor and consultant to industry in areas related to computing and communications infrastructure and applications.  He is known for key early contributions to the architecture of the Internet in the '70's.  He has made major contributions to the design, implementation, and technology strategy of a variety of very successful commercial software and systems products.

Ernest Robson

Mr. Robson is the Chief Executive Officer of Vidya.net, Inc., a small telecommunications and computer networking Research and Business Development Company. The firm has developed products, based on newer and more cost effective technologies, to replace existing high cost telecommunications, Internetworking and video technologies. The firm’s major areas of focus are:
· Large Scale Global Networks
· Fiber Optic Based All Digital Multimedia Local Networks
· Highly Secure World Wide Web based information services

Mr. Robson founded the firm in 1997 with Fred Gratzon. Mr. Gratzon was the Chairman and cofounder of Telegroup, Inc., an international Long Distance Company.

In 1992, Mr. Robson was a founding partner of the EOP Group.  This Washington D.C. based regulatory affairs and business strategy consulting firm has as clients a number of Fortune 100 firms and their Trade Associations.  While at the EOP Group, Mr. Robson and one of his partners developed a strategic analysis of the lessons learned from telecommunications deregulation as applied to the deregulation of the electric utility industry.  The analysis was performed for the Edison Electric Institute; a Washington based trade organization of investor Owned Utilities.

In 1996, Mr. Robson developed an initial strategic approach for the Nation’s largest wireless local high-speed communications service provider to gain more spectrum licenses from the FCC. It was not necessary to implement the strategy due to a change in the FCC’s policies. In 1995, he formed and led a team that analyzed Rural Electrical Coops as potential acquisition targets for a leading US independent power producer.

Mr. Robson has been involved in the telecommunications industry since 1983. As a Principal at Multinational Business Services, a regulatory consulting firm, he was one of the main outside contributors to AT&T’s successful deregulation efforts. In that role he managed telecommunications industry market analysis and helped develop AT&T’s overall strategic plan of capping residential service prices while allowing business service competition. He and one of his partners were key participants in background work with the FCC, Justice Department, Commerce Department, the President’s Executive Office, and the Congress to implement AT&T’s strategic plan.

In addition, Mr. Robson helped AT&T to win the 60% share of FTS 2000, the multi-billion dollar contract to build the U.S. Government’s telecommunications networks for the 21st Century. Due in part to his firm’s strategy and assistance in its implementation, AT&T became the winner of the major share of the largest non-defense contract ever awarded by the U.S. Government.

During the late 1980’s, AT&T used Mr. Robson’s telecommunications market analysis in place of AT&T’s own analysis, to develop AT&T’s five-year strategic business plan. In 1990, Mr. Robson published “Competition in the Telecommunication’s Marketplace”. The book was an analysis of cost structure, profitability, and market share of US long distance carriers.

Mr. Robson has personally participated in various cellular and wireless spectrum lotteries held by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission.

From 1979 to 1982, Mr. Robson was the Chief Financial Officer and Vice president for Strategic Planning of The Newcomb Financial Group, a boutique investment banking firm. In 1983 he became Chief Operating Officer. The Company was a dealer and arbitrage trader in U.S. Government Securities and major foreign currencies such as Swiss Francs and Deutsche Marks. Newcomb was, during his tenure, the largest non-bank trading partner of Citibank and other major money center banks in the U.S. and Europe. During his employment at Newcomb, Mr. Robson owned a seat on the International Monetary Market of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

Mr. Robson took over as Newcomb’s Chief Operating Officer at a time when the firm had lost several million dollars in the previous year. In his first year as COO, the firm turned a profit of nearly $4 million. The firm had several hundred employees at offices in New York, Chicago and Fort Collins, Colorado.

Before joining Newcomb, from 1974 to 1979, Mr. Robson worked in The Environment Branch of the Office of Management and Budget in the Executive Office of The President of the United States. He was a budget examiner and then Acting Branch Chief. He was responsible for a budget of nearly $5 billion dollars, and coordinated, on behalf of the President, the federal government’s Environmental Regulatory and Legislative initiatives including the Clean Air Act of 1977.

Mr. Robson was raised in Palo Alto, California; Pelham, New York; and St. Louis, Missouri. He received a BS Degree from Yale University in 1971 and a Masters Degree from The Sloan School of Management at The Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1974. He can read and speak French and Russian. He has some knowledge of Japanese, Italian, Ancient Greek and Sanskrit.

Rajpal Sandhu

Raj is an experienced venture capital investor, senior executive, entrepreneur, investment banker and communications specialist. He has over 16 years of experience in the “life-cycle” of investing in and operating technology, communications and Internet companies in the U.S. and Western Europe. Prior to founding NewSpeed, a communications company, he was Managing Director and Partner in the venture capital group of The Chatterjee Group, an investment manager for Soros Fund Management and George Soros. Previously, Raj was a Director and a Partner at Cowen & Company, now SG Cowen, a communications and technology investment bank. He was a product marketing manager, engineering manager and software developer at Metaphor Computer Systems and also worked briefly at Xerox Palo Alto. He received an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BS from Yale University for a double-major in computer science and economics.

Bill St. Arnaud

Bill St. Arnaud is Senior Director of Network Projects for CANARIE Inc., Canada's advanced Internet development organization and has led the development, coordination and implementation of the world's first national optical R&D Internet network - CA*net 3.

Prior to his appointment at CANARIE, Mr. St. Arnaud was a consultant and chief engineer at Switzer Engineering where he developed and patented encryption devices for transmitting  high quality video for TV broadcasts, Project Manager at  Motorola where he was involved in the nationwide deployment of a Police wireless communications system, President and founder of TSA Proforma - software and LAN company that developed networked trading systems for brokers and traders which was sold to Eastern Datacomm and ABC Communications (Hong Kong) in 1988, consultant for a number of high tech start ups, and Project Director for Vision 2000.

Mr. St. Arnaud is a member of the editorial board of Optical Networking Magazine, is a member of the STAR TAP advisory committee, a Glocom Fellow of the Center for Global Communications, Steering Committee for the SPIE Technical Group on Optical Networks and has served as a member of the Board of Directors of Onet 1994-1996, and is Chair of the C3  Tech applications committee. He is a frequent guest speaker at conferences on the Internet and optical networking and a regular contributor to several networking magazines.

Joe Sterling

Joe Sterling, a principal of Sterling Insights, Inc., leads the Design Session engagements and Graphic Facilitation/Visual Synthesis projects for Sterling Insights. He has over 10 years experience facilitating groups to accelerate their progress toward individual and organizational goals. His work is a synthesis of tools emerging from systems theory, accelerated learning, continuous improvement, and collaborative strategic modeling practices. Joe serves clients both at client sites and from the Sterling Insights collaborative design facility in San Diego. Design Session clients include Toyota Motor Corp. (US and Japan), Peregrine Systems, Ernst & Young, Solar Turbines and others.

In addition to group facilitation, Joe has a special ability to visually synthesize group dialogues, as they happen, into lively and evocative images that amplify participant engagement, understanding, and inquiry. This skill has been utilized by leaders of business and military organizations including Credit Suisse First Boston, Mainspring.com, Ernst & Young Center for Business Innovation, and members of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff. For these clients graphic facilitation and visual synthesis clarified vision, strategies, helped build consensus, and enhanced group creativity.

When graphic facilitation is used in concert with the collaborative planning tools (Sterling Insights Design Session and Strategic Modeling processes), and a collaborative design environment, months of productivity are achieved in a few days. Sterling Insights engages a national network of facilitators, OD consultants, artists and other knowledge workers to bring these benefits to a wide array of clients in the US and abroad. To create true organizational transformation, Sterling Insights organization development services may precede or follow Graphic Facilitation events or Design Sessions.

Rita Sterling

Rita L. Sterling, MBA, a principal of Sterling Insights, Inc., leads a wide range of Organization Development (OD) consulting services which may precede or follow the Design Sessions and Graphic Facilitation work done by Sterling Insights. Her OD offers include organization fitness assessments, focused consulting in change management, leadership and team development, performance management program development, conflict management, process improvement, and communication skills. Rita brings to her clients the benefits of over 15 years of OD experience in the financial services, manufacturing, and technology industries. Prior to joining Sterling Insights, Rita was the global leader for Change Management for Solar Turbines (with headquarters in San Diego and plants in the US, Europe, and Asia) and represented the organization development vantage-point for that firm's Enterprise Resource Planning implementation process.

Rita also brings with her a group of professional OD consulting associates with a long history of collaborative efforts for many San Diego firms. This group has been organizing a vast body of OD methodologies and tools by their applicability depending on and organization’s maturity in its life cycle. Targeting the application of each OD method or tool according to the client's position along a life-cycle continuum is optimizing the relevance, effectiveness, and value of each intervention. For fast growing hi-tech firms this approach promises to be highly effective.

Rob Tannor

Rob Tannor is Chairman of LightSpeed Fiber Network.  Rob is a graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with a degree in Electric Power Engineering.  He was President and CEO of S.N. Tannor, Inc. a New York City based electrical engineering and construction firm providing engineering and construction services in the New York City metropolitan area.  Rob founded LightSpeed with a vision to build fiber optic networks in Metropolitan areas to provide connectivity to long distance companies, interexchange carriers, CLECs, ILECs, wireless providers, Internet Service Providers, Application Service Providers, and cable television companies.

Mark Vange

Mark Vange has established his reputation as a trailblazer for strategically fostering emerging innovations through his direction of a number of highly successful technology companies. In 1994, he founded Gemsoft Corporation, an electronic game development company. Gemsoft was acquired by VR-1 and Mr. Vange stayed-on as chief technology officer to pioneer the development and publishing of massive multi-user online entertainment technologies. More recently, VR-1 has been renamed Circadence Corporation, broadening its scope to provide solutions for bandwidth-constrained services over the Internet.

Mr. Vange has been on the advisory boards of several companies as well as a number of investment funds. He is currently a member of the board of directors of Telum Inc, a speech recognitino and broadband infrastructure company as well as on the advisory committee of ActFit.com, a provider of interactive technology products and services for the Active Lifestyle marketplace. He advises Forefront Capital Management, a private equity/capital management firm concentrating on establishing funds and placing investments in the Internet economy and technology industries. He is also co-founder and a board member of Global Vision Venture, a California based venture capital and consulting organization which specializes in Japanese-USA cross border transactions.

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 Date page last modified: October 16, 2001