# Fahri Diner

> Fahri Diner is a telecommunications entrepreneur and investor, the co-founder and former CEO of Plume, founder of Qtera, and executive chairman of Aliro. Based in Zurich, he also serves as a managing director at Sigma Partners and is a proprietor of Skipstone with Constance Diner. His work spans optical networking, cloud-managed home connectivity, quantum networking and education fundraising through PlumeStrong.

- **Role:** Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors at Aliro
- **Organizations:** Aliro, Plume, Qtera, Sigma Partners, Skipstone, Sagemcom, Kateeva, Tula Technology, PlumeStrong
- **Nationality:** American and Cypriot (dual citizen)
- **Education:** Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering, Florida Institute of Technology
- **Known for:** Founded Qtera, acquired by Nortel in January 2000 in a stock transaction valued at up to $3.25 billion., Co-founded Plume and led it through its October 2021 financing at a $2.6 billion valuation., Named to Cablefax 100 lists in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024.

## Career timeline

- **1989** — Graduated from Florida Institute of Technology with a BS in electrical engineering, after attending on an academic scholarship.
- **1990s** — Worked in optical components and telecommunications, including roles at Pirelli and Siemens.
- **1998** — Founded Qtera, developing ultra-long-haul optical networking technology.
- **2000** — Nortel completed the acquisition of Qtera for up to $3.25 billion in stock; Diner continued as Qtera president.
- **2001** — Founded Skipstone in California’s Alexander Valley; left the Qtera presidency in May.
- **2006** — Became a managing director at Sigma Partners, according to his public career listings.
- **2014** — Co-founded Plume with Adam Hotchkiss, Aman Singla and Sri Nathan.
- **2016** — Plume introduced its Adaptive Wi-Fi offering publicly.
- **2018** — Plume’s OpenSync framework was renamed and open-sourced under the BSD 3 Clause licence.
- **2021** — Plume announced a $300 million investment led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 at a $2.6 billion valuation; the first PlumeStrong Cycling Challenge took place.
- **2024** — Participated in PlumeStrong’s Zurich-to-Venice school-fundraising ride; tenure as Plume CEO ended in November.
- **2025** — Sagemcom announced his appointment to its supervisory board in December.
- **2026** — Aliro appointed him executive chairman of its board on June 2.

## Achievements

- Founded Qtera, acquired by Nortel in January 2000 in a stock transaction valued at up to $3.25 billion.
- Co-founded Plume and led it through its October 2021 financing at a $2.6 billion valuation.
- Named to Cablefax 100 lists in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024.
- Public patent listings cover optical connectors, wavelength stability, dispersion compensation and connectivity sharing.
- Helped build PlumeStrong’s education fundraising, including support for school projects with Street Child.

## Latest updates

- **2026-06** — Appointed executive chairman of Aliro’s board of directors.
- **2025-12** — Sagemcom announced that he would join its supervisory board.
- **2025-04** — Daniel Herscovici became Plume CEO after interim CEO Adam Hotchkiss, confirming the company’s leadership transition following Diner’s departure.
- **2024-11** — His tenure as Plume CEO ended on November 21, according to a publicly released Delaware court opinion.

## Links

- Website: https://medium.com/@fdiner
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fahridiner/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/fahri-diner
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-11