PNWS 2008

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Speakers

Profiles

This year, the Summit will examine the challenges and opportunities in the industry, including government funding, private investment, education, competition, marketing, and the availability of skilled employees.

Conference sessions will focus on the hot growth areas in wireless: social networks, location-based services, mobile advertising and mobile entertainment.

Guest of Honour

Honourable Colin Hansen
Minister of Economic Development and Minister responsible for the Asia-Pacific Initiative and the Olympics


Colin Hansen was appointed Minister of Economic Development and Minister Responsible for the Asia-Pacific Initiative and the Olympics on June 16, 2005. He previously served as Minister of Finance (2004-05) and Minister of Health Services (2001-04). Minister Hansen was first elected to the provincial legislature in 1996 to serve the constituency of Vancouver – Quilchena.
During his time in the legislature, he has also served as health critic for the Official Opposition, as well employment and investment critic, and critic for labour. He currently serves on Treasury Board, Agenda Development and the Government Caucus Committee of Natural Resources and the Economy.

Before his election to the legislature, he and his wife Laura ran a small business in Vancouver. Mr. Hansen also served as vice-president of finance and administration for the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada. He has also been involved in a number of community organizations, having held such positions as director for the Vancouver-Yokohama Sister Society and chair of the Vancouver Museum board of trustees.

Born and raised on Vancouver Island, Colin has a bachelor of arts degree in political science from the University of Victoria. He and his wife have two children and live in Vancouver.

Keynote Speakers

Suhayya (Sue) Abu-Hakima
CEO, Amika Mobile


She is CEO of her second start-up Amika Mobile which focuses on mobile content, specifically, enterprise critical email alerts or Email-SMS. Her first company, AmikaNow!, was spun-off from NRC in 1998. Its compliance business was acquired by Entrust in 2004. As VP Content Technology at Entrust, she transitioned the compliance business. Sue started her career at Nortel Labs.
Sue holds a B.Eng. from McGill University and M.Eng. and Ph.D. from Carleton University. She is on the Board of Directors of Ontario's Centers of Excellence. She has given countless invited talks on technology, entrepreneurship, security and AI drawing on her 26 years in technology. She holds numerous patents in messaging and content analysis and is widely published in AI. Her companies have won many awards including the CATA WIT Leading Woman Entrepreneur & Technology Innovator Award in 2007.
 
Fred Ghahramani
Co-Founder, AirG


Frederick founded AirG in 2000, and has grown the business to being the largest mobile community in the world - with over 20 million users in over 40 countries globally. Frederick works closely with AirG's team of 100+ professionals advising on matters related to product management, business development, and operations.
AirG works with over 100 leading mobile operators and media brands to build, deploy, and maximize the value of mobile communities. Ghahramani is a passionate advocate of mobile content, and has presented and debated on countless industry panels and tradeshows across North America and Europe. Ghahramani studied engineering at Simon Fraser University.
 
Peter Howley
Chairman, Success Generation Systems


Peter A. Howley is a serial entrepreneur with unprecedented experience in building high growth disruptive service companies in the telecom sector. He has the distinction of leading his first venture backed company through IPO and acquisition into the pages of American business history as CEO of Centex Telemanagement.
It was recognized as one of the fastest growing, best managed, most profitable companies in America. It retains a cult status in the service industry. As the CEO/co-founder of IPWireless, Inc., Howley raised more than $120 million in venture capital. His leadership was instrumental in the company’s acquisition by Nextwave last year.
 
Terry Hughes
CEO, Redwood Technologies


Terry Hughes has been in the wireless industry for over 20 years, almost all of it being spent in Europe. He has been part of the full evolution of mobile communications, from radiopaging, to two-way paging, to analogue cellular, to digital cellular, to circuit-switched data, to text messaging, to packet data, to remote access, to mobile internet, and now to value-added wireless services.
Terry has worked at large organizations including 7 years at Vodafone in Europe and several years at Cable & Wireless and Motorola Paging. He has also worked at start-ups including a UK company that is still going strong 10 years later and a dot.com in San Francisco that disappeared in 2002 ! Terry has also worked at Zi Corporation, selling predictive text to handset manufacturers for 5 years, with responsibility for Europe, Americas and Asia. During that time he won a multi-million dollar deal with Nokia.
 
Joseph Verschueren
Co-Founder/CEO, Formotus Inc.


Verschueren is a leading proponent of click-and-deploy solutions for mobile business applications; his company, Formotus, is helping drive that concept into today’s mobile device marketplace. Verschueren is a serial entrepreneur and has more than 20 years of experience developing successful technology companies.
As an original member of one of the nation’s first cellular companies, US WEST NewVector Group (now part of Verizon Wireless), he is regarded as a pioneer in the wireless industry. Verschueren's entrepreneurial accomplishments include founding ImageX in 1995 with an initial venture capital investment of $3.5M. During his tenure at ImageX, the company raised more than $160M and completed its successful IPO in 1999. Verschueren has twice been recognized by Ernst & Young as an Entrepreneur of the Year Finalist.
 

Speakers/Panelists

Vishal Aggarwal
Product Development Manager, TELUS


Vishal Aggarwal currently serves as a product development manager within the network services division at TELUS, where he aligns strategic business objectives with the technology trends of the market.
Prior to this role, Vishal worked as a professional services consultant, where he was responsible for deploying value added services, enhanced messaging gateways, and converged billing solutions at several large carriers with varying network topologies including Digicel Jamaica, TSTT, Rogers Wireless, Vodafone UK, and T-Mobile USA. Vishal holds a Bachelors Degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Calgary, as well as Diploma from Simon Fraser University in MSAT (Management Skills in Advanced Technology).
 
Indranil Chatterjee
Director, Wireless Marketing, Alcatel-Lucent


Indranil Chatterjee leads a team responsible for development and marketing of Alcatel-Lucent's wireless solutions. In this role, Indranil has had extensive interactions with customers around the globe in Europe, Asia and North America and has played a significant role in establishing Alcatel-Lucent as a leader in wireless solutions.
Prior to joining Alcatel-Lucent in June 2003, Mr. Chatterjee worked 5 years in the IT industry for Infosys Technologies Ltd, spending majority of the time in global project management, client management and business development activities. Mr. Chatterjee holds a B. Tech degree from Institute of Technology - BHU, India and a MBA from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business.
 
Anik Chawla
Advisory Board, IE Market Research


Anik Chawla is a Member of the Advisory Board at Vancouver-based IE Market Research Corp. where he leads the Strategic Business and Brand Development efforts of IEMR. He holds a Masters Degree in Economics from Queens' University and has an investment and telecoms background having worked as an analyst with Sceptre Investment Counsel Ltd., and as Wireless Multimedia program manager with Ericsson Communications.
While at Ericsson, Anik’s responsibilities included Management of MMS Systems Development. Anik has led market programs for software upgrades and continues to work in strategic sales within Converged Multimedia Messaging and IMS.
 
David Dai
Chairman & CEO, Cellon


Mr. Dave Dai is now Chairman and CEO of Cellon, one of the world's most capable mobile phone design houses. The company designs and develops complete solution for mobile phones and wireless modules. The company has its major operational center in Shenzhen, China.
Mr. Dave Dai has more than 10 years experiences in wireless industry, both in infrastructure side and terminal side, and worked with multiple standards(GSM, GPRS, UMTS, CDMA200 etc). Before Cellon, Dave worked with several companies like Nokia and Huawei Technologies. Mr. Dave Dai has Master’s degree in Electrical & Communications systems, graduated from Beijing University of Posts & Communications.
 
Trevor Doerksen
Co-Founder, MoboVivo


Trevor has been at the intersection of media and technology for nearly 20 years. He has investigated and developed large-scale implementations of streaming video and Internet TV for government and industry. His graduate research into flexible e-content and content repurposing has lead to a multi-million dollar research project, a chapter in the 2002 "Handbook on Information Technologies for Education and Training", and the co-founding of MoboVivo.
MoboVivo is the first company in Canada to sell television programming online and for iPhones and other mobile phones. Trevor is an experienced director and producer. He produced one of the first snowboarding films in 1989 and more recently was the executive producer of the science television series, SciQ: Science Revealed. Trevor has been innovating with online video, kiosk development, educational multimedia, user-generated content, new media, and bringing media and technology together since 1989. A co-founder of MoboVivo, Trevor has B.Ed. and M.Sc. from the University of Calgary.
 
Gary Hartwig
President, AppLocation Systems


Gary Hartwig is a well-known wireless and LBS industry specialist on the west coast of Canada and has been a speaker at LBS World Forum and WINBC’s Mobile Monday series. A fixture in the Canadian telematics industry, Hartwig has led AppLocation Systems as President for the past 4 years. Hartwig continues to speak and write on asset tracking, GPS/LBS and operation management issues and trends.
Gary has over 20 years of management experience in the emergency management and software industries including SignalSoft Corp. Prior to SignalSoft, Gary was Director of the Forest Protection for the British Columbia Forest Service, one of the largest fire suppression and emergency response organizations in North America. As one of the key members of a re-engineering team, Gary helped to streamline the operations of this agency through organizational re-focusing and the implementation of technology. Gary has a unique perspective in the area of converging technologies and their implementation as he has spent significant time as both a user and provider of operational and control systems.
 
Richard Killmar
Senior Sales Director, Mobile Complete


Rich has over 14 years of wireless experience from an engineering as well as product management role and is responsible for Mobile Complete's enterprise solutions. Prior to joining Mobile Complete, Rich was a Sr. Product Manager at AT&T Wireless and Cingular where he was responsible for launching consumer and business data solutions.
Prior to AT&T Wireless and Cingular Rich was responsible for the global sales engineering team at Tornado Development delivering messaging solutions to wireless and wireline carriers. He holds a BS in Biology as well as Education credentials from the University of Idaho.
 
Bill Lee
Developer Relations, ACCESS


Bill Lee has 20+ years of software architecture and development experience. In his Developer Relations role at ACCESS, he acts as a liaison between the company and global, third party mobile developers.
Bill's responsibilities include; designing and delivering developer training sessions for ACCESS at industry and partner events, disclosing technical information about ACCESS’s technologies and collecting and conveying developer feedback to influence ACCESS product development and developer support.
 
Caroline Lewko
Founder & CEO, WIP Connector


Caroline Lewko is Founder and CEO of the Wireless Industry Partnership (WIP), a global organization created to foster the growth and innovation of emerging wireless companies, by making it easy for them to connect to information, resources and networks. Caroline was also a Founder of WINBC and the Wireless Innovation Contest.
Caroline’s career in the wireless industry spans more than ten years during which time she advised and funded over 200 companies in wireless, IT and the new media sector, providing due diligence for funding, identifying business models, strategic alliances and competitive intelligence. She is sought out by investors and C level executives for insights and advice. Caroline has also worked for a Hong Kong consultancy marketing an industrial park in China and was in the Telecommunications Industry Group of Anderson Consulting (Accenture). She received her MBA from Dalhousie University and BA from the University of Manitoba.
 
Tom Nyberg
Director, Product Marketing, Nseries Players, Nokia Multimedia


Manager for in-car telematics products in Germany. In 2000 he moved to Irving, Texas, and worked on various business development activities around local connectivity and was responsible for regional product management of music and gaming focused devices. Since 2004 he has been leading Product Marketing teams in Nokia Multimedia.
Mr. Nyberg joined Nokia in 1998 as a Product Manager for in-car telematics products in Germany. In 2000 he moved to Irving, Texas, and worked on various business development activities around local connectivity and was responsible for regional product management of music and gaming focused devices. Since 2004 he has been leading Product Marketing teams in Nokia Multimedia with global responsibility of products, such as N91, N95 and N81. Mr. Nyberg is a graduate of Helsinki University of Technology, where he earned a Master’s degree in Supply Chain Management.
 
Davin Peterson
Founder, Base Technology


Base Technology was founded in 2001 by Davin Peterson who graduated from Princeton University in 1996 with a BSE in Mechanical Engineering and continuing studies in digital signal processing, human computer interface design and multi-threaded network applications.
Base Technology builds wireless networks -- from a single link between two buildings to a wireless mesh network that now serves thousands of subscribers each year in the Whistler area on our 100Mbs fiber backbone, Base Technology builds commercial broadband wireless networks for local and remote Internet access.
 
Chetan Sharma
President, Chetan Sharma Consulting


Chetan is a recognized industry expert in strategy and implementation of wireless data and pervasive computing solutions. He has a strong background in developing and launching technologies, products, and solutions for the wireless Industry, including extensive experience in managing and delivering all phases of the product development cycle.
Executives from leading wireless companies around the world seek his accurate predictions, independent insights, and actionable recommendations. He has served as an advisor to senior executive management of several Fortune 100 companies in the wireless space. Some of his clients include NTT DoCoMo, Disney, KTF, Sony, Samsung, Virgin Mobile, Sprint Nextel, AT&T Wireless, Cincinnati Bell, Reuters, Qualcomm, Reliance Infocomm, SAP, Merrill Lynch, American Express, Infospace, BEA, and HP. Chetan has written 5 books. Two of his upcoming books are: Mobile Advertising and In Tesla's Shadow: The Broadband Internet beyond the wires. Chetan's blog "Always On Real-Time Access (AORTA)" is widely read and was voted amongst the top 20 mobile blogs worldwide.
 
Lisa Shields
Co-founder & CTO, hyperWALLET Systems Inc


Lisa is responsible for guiding the company's evolution from technology start-up to respected payments industry participant. In this regard, Lisa brings over 15 years of experience in an array of operationally sensitive international projects to bear. Prior to founding hyperWALLET, she served as e-commerce Development Manager for an Internet start-up specializing in high availability, real-time credit card processing.
Earlier assignments included commercialization of a prototype criminal geographic targeting application to assist police investigators in pursuit of serious violent and serial offenders, management of an elite team on a project in noise and vibration prediction and control, and design and implementation of embedded real-time hydrodynamic submarine training software. Lisa was a founding director of the Wireless Innovation Society of British Columbia, and speaks frequently on payment and technology issues. She holds Bachelors and Masters of Science degrees in Engineering, both from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
 
Pete Smyth
President, CEO & Founder, Iamota Corporation


Over the past 13 years, Pete has held key management roles in the development and growth of 4 BC-based technology companies - Iamota, Columbus Group Communications (now TELUS Web Solutions), MyMix.com and Absolute Software (ABT.TO).
As Vice President of Business Development and Client Services with Columbus Group, Pete and the executive team grew the company to 100 people with offices in Vancouver, Toronto and Seattle to service Fortune 500 clients on an international scale prior to positioning the company for a CDN$12 million acquisition by TELUS Corporation. Pete holds an MBA, specializing in Digital Technologies Management, from Royal Roads University where he earned the Chancellor's Award for achieving the highest academic performance in his graduating program stream.
 
Matthew Snyder
President & CEO, Analog.Digital.Objects Inc.


Matthew is a seasoned technology and business leader with a 20 year plus track record in mobile and consumer products. He has been a pioneer in the new emerging areas of mobile search, mobile advertising, and can be quoted to be one of the individuals that brought the meaning of "mobile" to search globally.
He recently formed ADObjects Inc to bridge the gap between the traditional (analog) media buying world to the interactive new media (digital) world linking mobile as a core component. Just prior, he was the Head of Strategy and Biz Dev in Nokia's Multimedia Group, launching a new form of mobile advertising exchange called the "Nokia Ad Connector". He has been the main Nokia representative to organizations such as the MMA (Mobile Marketing Association), IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau) and AAAA (American Association of Advertising Agencies)to support new standards and processes in mobile advertising globally.
 
Alfredo Tan
Senior Director, Mobile and Broadband Partnerships, Yahoo!


Alfredo is responsible for managing strategic mobile initiatives and partnerships with leading mobile companies such as Rogers Wireless, Telus and Research in Motion. Alfredo also simultaneously leads the management of the overall strategic partnership between Rogers and Yahoo!
Prior to Yahoo!, Alfredo successfully acted as Strategic Alliances Director at Sympatico MSN, the largest internet portal in Canada responsible for Media Sales, Business Development and Strategic Partnerships. In his role Alfredo had the opportunity to collaborate with leading brands in e-Commerce and Entertainment such as Dell Computers, e-Bay, World Wrestling Entertainment, Labatt’s, and the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Before entering the exciting world of Digital Media, Mobile and the Internet, he worked in Enterprise Marketing and Strategy at Bell Canada where he played a key role in finalizing the multi-hundred million dollar partnership between Cisco Systems and Bell Canada. He started his career in High Tech as a Systems Engineer at Bell Nexxia consulting for Canada’s largest financial institutions.
 
Asokan Thiyagarajan
Technology Evangelist, Motorola Inc.


Asokan Thiyagarajan serves as a technology evangelist within the Ecosystem & Market Development team at Motorola. In this role, he is responsible for recommending strategies to address market and technology trends as well as partnerships with key developers.
Asokan has over 18 years of international experience in high technology sectors, developing software and communication systems. Prior to Motorola, Asokan held a variety of senior development, operations and strategic management positions at companies such as Nokia, Ericsson and Compaq (HP). He also has entrepreneurial experience, having co-founded a technology company. Asokan holds a Bachelors Degree in Computer Science, From Madurai University, India.
 
Olivier Vincent
President & CEO, Canpages Inc.


Mr. Vincent has spent 17 years as an executive in the print and online phone directories industry in North America, Europe, Asia and Latin America. He was appointed president and CEO of Canadian Phone Directories (now Canpages) in 2006. Olivier was instrumental in the company’s sale in January of 2006 to HM Capital Partners of Dallas, Texas and was the architect behind Canpages’ current market expansion strategy.
From 2001 to 2006, Mr. Vincent was Vice President of international operations for Verizon Yellow Pages of Dallas, Texas. At Verizon Yellow Pages, he was responsible for launching several advanced wireless and internet services within the U.S. and managed businesses in all continents, including serving as General Manager of Verizon Yellow Pages’ Canadian operations.
 
Karl Weaver
Newport Technologies


Karl earned his B.S. Degree in Business Management from Salve Regina University, in 1982, and studied Mandarin Chinese language under scholarship from Taiwan’s Ministry of Education from 1982 until 1985 at the prestigious National Taiwan Normal University, in the Mandarin Training Center facility, Taipei, Taiwan. Karl J. Weaver is a Washington State based International business executive with Chinese cultural and multilingual skills.
He has geared his entire professional career around developing business opportunities through employment as a marketing and sales specialist promoting the export of high-tech communications products to Asia-Pacific and Greater China markets in the emerging Pacific Century. Karl is also a member of the Washington State China Relations Council and the Washington Software Alliance.
 
 
PNWS 2008