telecommunications
(29)
Leslie Berland
From American Express's first tweets to Verizon's glowing V, Leslie Berland has built a career by making giant systems feel human - and by treating attention as something a brand must earn.
Geoff Hollingworth
From accelerator controls at CERN to the economics of mobile networks, Geoff Hollingworth has spent three decades asking telecom to stop confusing new technology with a new business.
Michael Wei
Michael Wei is the CEO of Accelight Technologies, a Pleasanton, California ODM that designs and manufactures optical transceivers, EDFA amplifiers, and passive fiber components for telecom carriers and AI data centers. He is an electrical engineer with three decades in the trenches of optical networking hardware, with earlier stops at Mitel, ADVA Optical Networking, Adaptix, Navini Networks, Schlumberger, and Invocon.
Jeff Gower
Jeff Gower is the CEO of MarketSpark, the Bannockburn, Illinois company betting that the millions of copper phone lines humming inside American buildings are on borrowed time. Since 2020 he has led the enterprise POTS-replacement business, swapping static, costly analog lines for managed 4G/5G-ready wireless that keeps elevators, fire alarms and fax machines talking after the copper is gone. An engineer by training with an MIT Sloan MBA, Gower spent two decades scaling mobility and B2B services businesses across the globe - Siemens Mobile, Brightstar, Samsung Electronics and Trux - before turning the unglamorous plumbing of enterprise telecom into a growth story backed by a $7M Series B.
Maria Popo
Maria Popo is the president and CEO of SCTE, a subsidiary of CableLabs, and the first woman to hold the top job at the cable industry's standards and training body. A self-described lifelong learner who started as a customer service rep and trained at a trade school, she rose through technical and executive roles at 3M, 3Com, Ambit Microsystems, Foxconn and Ubee Interactive - where she helped bring the first generations of cable modems to market - before earning a master's in Learning Design and Technology at Stanford. She now runs SCTE's global network of 60-plus chapters, retooling how the broadband industry trains and certifies its workforce for the AI era.
Tomer Aharoni
Tomer Aharoni is the co-founder and CEO of Nagish, a New York startup using AI to caption phone calls in real time so Deaf and hard-of-hearing people can place and receive calls by typing and reading, with no human operator in the loop. The idea began with a phone ringing during a class at Columbia and a question he couldn't shake: how do you take a call if you can't hear or speak? Nagish (Hebrew for 'accessible') is now FCC-certified, offered free to users through federal subsidies, and has raised $16 million. Aharoni builds the product hand-in-hand with the Deaf community and is now pushing into AI sign-language translation.
Nicholas Kontopoulos
Nicholas Kontopoulos is the Vice President of Marketing for Asia Pacific & Japan at Twilio, the cloud communications platform. Based in Singapore, he brings over 30 years of marketing and business leadership experience across APAC, with prior senior roles at Adobe (DX), SAP, Magento, and Capita. A recognized thought leader in customer experience and AI-driven marketing, he is a frequent speaker, published author, and LinkedIn Power Profile holder known for challenging marketing orthodoxy across the region.
Sath Sivasothy
Sath Sivasothy is VP of Sales and Marketing at Vyrian Inc., a Houston-based electronic components distributor and government defense contractor he co-founded in 2011. With a background in electrical engineering and over two decades in the semiconductor and electronics industry - including a stint as a Product Development Engineer at Texas Instruments and a run as VP of Sales at Silicon Valley burn-in testing firm CEIBIS Inc. where he doubled gross sales to $7M in 24 months - Sivasothy has built Vyrian into an Inc. 5000 multi-year honoree with 130+ employees across 12 global offices.
Alfonso Villanueva
Alfonso Villanueva is the EVP, Chief Transformation Officer and Interim CEO of Verizon Consumer Group - the largest consumer wireless carrier in the United States. A former McKinsey Senior Partner and PayPal EVP, he joined Verizon in November 2025 at the invitation of new CEO Dan Schulman, his former PayPal colleague, to lead a sweeping $5B+ operational transformation. With roots in strategy consulting across Asia-Pacific and two decades of experience in telecom, media, and technology, Villanueva brings a rare blend of corporate venture expertise, AI-driven data strategy, and global transformation leadership to one of America's biggest companies.
Alvin Nicolas
Alvin Nicolas is a technology professional at Webex, Cisco's enterprise collaboration platform headquartered in San Jose, California. With a career spanning telecommunications giants including MCI WorldCom, Microsoft, and Yipes Enterprise Services, Nicolas brings deep networking expertise to one of the world's leading collaboration and video conferencing platforms. He is associated with the AI Titans initiative at Webex, reflecting the company's aggressive push into AI-powered communications and collaboration tools.
Keith Southard
Keith Southard runs Allied Telesis, the San Jose-headquartered networking company building switches, routers and software-defined infrastructure used everywhere from US military bases overseas to smart-city deployments. He took over as CEO of Allied Telesis Capital Corporation in 2008 and has stayed at the controls ever since, quietly steering a 1,900-person company through the awkward transition from hardware vendor to network-automation outfit.
Yuxing Li
Yuxing Li is listed as an Interim CEO connected with Huawei, the Shenzhen-headquartered telecommunications and consumer electronics giant. Based in Redwood City, California, Yuxing sits at the intersection of two of the most scrutinized technology ecosystems in the world: Silicon Valley and Shenzhen.
Ryan McLinko
Ryan McLinko is the co-founder and CTO of Astranis Space Technologies, a San Francisco-based company building compact, software-defined geostationary satellites to bring affordable broadband to underserved regions worldwide. An MIT-trained aerospace engineer who cut his teeth on cubesats at Planet Labs and the Dream Chaser spaceplane at Sierra Nevada, McLinko co-founded Astranis in 2015 with CEO John Gedmark. The company has since launched five satellites, secured over $1.2 billion in funding including a $450M Series E in May 2026, and been named Prime Contractor for multiple U.S. Space Force programs — all while being valued at $2.8 billion.
Bobby Bahl
Bobby Bahl is the founder and CEO of teleSys Software, Inc., a San Mateo-based telecommunications software company he established in 1997. With over 40 years of industry experience, he led the deployment of the first SS7 signaling network in the United States at Sprint and managed the creation of Equal Access, the nation's first long-distance network. Under his leadership, teleSys has grown into a global provider of carrier-grade multi-generation signaling solutions, with 400+ installations serving 100+ operators across 80+ countries supporting more than 1 billion active subscribers.
David Marks
David Marks is the founder, President, and CEO of TEECOM, a California-based technology design and engineering firm he built from a one-man operation into a 200+ person global consultancy over nearly three decades. Starting at the Moscone Convention Center expansion in San Francisco, he has since shaped the technology infrastructure of hospitals, Fortune 500 offices, universities, and civic institutions across the U.S., EMEA, and APAC. A licensed Professional Engineer with credentials in communications distribution, design technology, and LEED, Marks is known for his belief that buildings should work as hard as the people inside them - and that the best technology is the kind you never notice.
Derek Ting
Derek Ting is the co-founder and CEO of TextNow, the Waterloo-based company he started in 2009 at age 19 with classmate Jon Lerner while studying computer engineering at the University of Waterloo. What began as a scrappy solution to outrageous carrier text messaging fees has grown into the only U.S. mobile provider offering unlimited talk, text, and free essential data on a nationwide 5G network. The TextNow app has been downloaded more than 200 million times worldwide, making Derek one of the most consequential quiet disruptors in American telecommunications - building a profitable, venture-light company that serves millions of users who can't afford traditional phone service.
Dmitri Lepikhov
Dmitri Lepikhov is the CEO of MightyCall, a San Francisco-based cloud call center and VoIP platform built for small and mid-sized businesses. Since taking the helm in 2015, he has grown the company by over 500%, landed it on the Inc. 5000, and earned recognition from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce as one of America's most innovative small businesses. A CPA by training with roots in auditing and corporate finance at firms like Deloitte and Severstal, Lepikhov has positioned MightyCall as a G2 Leader in Contact Center Solutions and expanded its engineering footprint to Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
Gagan Palrecha
Gagan Palrecha is a seasoned technology entrepreneur, executive, and investor with over two decades of experience spanning early internet infrastructure, consumer tech, blockchain, and fiber optic networking. Currently CEO of Stealth, a Los Angeles-based fiber internet provider that has raised $22.8M in funding, Gagan has held senior roles at Dapper Labs (NBA Top Shot), Getaround, and NFTSTAR, while also serving as COO at RLY Network Association. A Y Combinator alumnus (2010) and General Partner at Palrecha Capital with 36+ portfolio companies, he brings an engineering foundation from Loudcloud - the legendary cloud infrastructure startup co-founded by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz - to every venture he touches.
James Graham
James Graham is the founder and CEO of Community Phone, a San Francisco-based telecommunications company that replaces traditional landlines with a cell-tower-connected device requiring no internet. Backed by Y Combinator, recognized in Forbes 30 Under 30, and a Thiel Fellow, Graham built Community Phone after watching his grandmother get sold a $1,000 phone she didn't need by a major carrier. The company now serves 25,000+ customers across all 50 U.S. states with no contracts, no hidden fees, and a 3-year price lock - principles that mirror Graham's belief that technology should serve people, not exploit them.
Nathan Patrick
Nathan Patrick is the Chief Executive Officer of Sonic, a California-based fiber internet provider that has been challenging the telecom duopoly since 1994. A career network engineer turned executive, Patrick rose through the ranks to CTO before taking the helm as CEO in 2024. He won the 2016 FTTXcellence Award for his technical leadership and has spearheaded Sonic's aggressive expansion beyond its Bay Area roots into Oakland, Los Angeles, and Dallas - backed by the belief that fast, honest internet shouldn't be a luxury.
Manlio Allegra
Manlio Allegra is the co-founder, President, and CEO of Polaris Wireless, a Silicon Valley company he built from the ground up in 1999 to become the global leader in high-accuracy, software-based 3D mobile location solutions. With over 30 years of international business experience spanning video games, Sega Enterprises' European expansion, and wireless technology, Allegra has guided Polaris Wireless to secure 90+ patents, earn multiple Frost & Sullivan awards, and sign landmark E911 Z-axis agreements with major U.S. carriers - helping emergency dispatchers locate people not just on a map, but on the right floor of a building.
Mauro Bonomi
Mauro Bonomi is the Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Minerva Networks, a San Jose-based company he built from the ground up into a global IPTV and OTT software platform serving over 300 operators across 6 continents. A Stanford-trained electrical engineer with deep roots in digital video compression, Bonomi spent decades at the intersection of television and the internet before that intersection became a cliche. His platform powers pay-TV services from linear broadcast to AI-driven content discovery, helping carriers modernize without tearing everything down.
Michael Reid
Michael Reid is the CEO and Executive Director of Megaport, a global Network-as-a-Service platform operating across roughly 1,000 data centers in 26 countries. A Brisbane-born aerospace engineer turned tech sales leader, Reid spent 15 years at Cisco - most recently as CRO of ThousandEyes, where he grew ARR by 2.4x and scaled the team from 150 to nearly 400 people. Since taking Megaport's helm in May 2023, he has led the company to its first-ever profit after tax (FY24), grown Customer Lifetime Value 50% year-on-year to $2.1 billion, and repositioned Megaport as the backbone for AI-era enterprise connectivity.
Quentin Gallivan
Quentin Gallivan is a Silicon Valley serial technology CEO with over 25 years of experience scaling enterprise software and cloud companies from startup to acquisition. He led BlueJeans Network through its $400-500M acquisition by Verizon in 2020, and previously sold Postini to Google, Aster Data to Teradata, and Pentaho to Hitachi Vantara. Known for taking companies through rapid growth phases and successful exits, he has served as CEO of at least six technology companies across cloud security, SaaS BI, big data, video conferencing, and enterprise architecture.
Remko Vos
Remko Vos is the CEO of CUJO AI, a cybersecurity and network intelligence platform protecting over 60 million homes globally by monitoring more than 3 billion connected devices. A Dutch-born engineer turned MIT Sloan MBA, Vos spent five years at Comcast before stepping into the CEO chair in April 2022, bringing rare firsthand experience as a CUJO AI customer to a company that blocks over 17,000 threats per minute. Under his leadership, CUJO AI has landed Tier-1 wins including T-Mobile USA and EE, earned recognition as a Cybersecurity Visionary at RSAC 2025, and become a voice at forums from the World Economic Forum to MWC.
Sheng Liu
Sheng Liu is the CEO of TeraHop and co-founder of InnoLight Technology (now Zhongji Innolight), a company that commands over half the global market share in 800G optical transceivers. A PhD from Georgia Tech, he returned to China in 2008 to fill a domestic gap in high-end optical modules, built InnoLight into a global leader across 400G, 800G, and 1.6T products, and now leads TeraHop - backed by Temasek and ADIA - to power the optical backbone of AI infrastructure worldwide.
Steve Smith
Steve Smith is the Chief Executive Officer of Zayo Group, one of the world's largest independent fiber network and infrastructure companies. A West Point engineering graduate and former eight-year U.S. Army officer, Smith built his reputation scaling Equinix from a $2 billion company to a $34 billion global data center giant over 11 years as CEO. Appointed to lead Zayo in October 2020 after the company went private under EQT and Digital Colony, he is now steering the company through a massive AI-driven infrastructure buildout - securing over $1 billion in AI-related deals in 2024 alone, with a pipeline exceeding $3 billion. Under his leadership, Zayo operates 240,000+ route miles globally and 34 million fiber miles, serving customers across healthcare, finance, media, and enterprise sectors.
Thomas C. Holst
Thomas C. Holst is a Norwegian-American business architect, investor, and entrepreneur who built Huddly - a Norwegian deep tech computer vision company - from a four-person startup into a publicly listed global enterprise with offices in Oslo, Palo Alto, London, Austin, Washington, and Bangalore. With a career spanning management consulting (A.T. Kearney), private equity (Reiten & Co, Orkla Finance), and deep tech venture building, he has collaborated with Amazon, Intel, Microsoft, Google, and Zoom. After departing Huddly, he co-founded Northscaler - a B2B tech venture firm connecting Nordic startups with global corporations - and became a Partner at ICON Asset Management AG in 2024.
Wei Liu
Wei Liu is the founder and CEO of DTEN Inc., a San Jose-based company he started in 2015 that has become a recognized leader in video conferencing hardware and collaboration technology. Drawing on his earlier experience scaling multi-touch hardware at PQ Labs, Liu built DTEN from a single 65-inch touchscreen device into a full portfolio of AI-powered, plug-and-play collaboration systems deployed across enterprise, education, and healthcare environments globally. DTEN's close partnership with Zoom - which made a strategic investment in the company in 2021 - and its expanding support for Microsoft Teams Rooms and other platforms reflects Liu's belief that seamless, equitable collaboration should be available to every participant, in every room.