Ahmed Alsohaily
Chief Technology Advisor
Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC)
Saudi Arabia

Dr. Ahmed Alsohaily is the Chief technologist and chief advisor for the Governor of CITC. In his role he oversaw the development and execution of a 5G launch strategy that provided KSA with one of the fastest and highest performing 5G networks globally. He also supported the development and execution of the 2020-2025 spectrum strategy and 2021-2023 spectrum outlook for innovative and commercial uses which led to the launch of WiFi 6E and made KSA the country with the largest amount of license-exempt spectrum globally. Prior to joining CITC, Dr. Alsohaily was a senior member of the technology strategy team at TELUS corporation where he contributed to the development and drafting of technical specifications of 5G systems at many global organizations that included the NGMN, 3GPP, ITU and IEEE. Dr. Alsohaily is also a senior member of the IEEE and has served as an Adjunct Professor and the Assistant Director of the Wireless Lab at the University of Toronto, where led cutting edge technical research, obtained three patents related to wireless technologies and published over twenty academic and industrial papers.

Mr Alexander Kühn
After a state exam of law at the University of Osnabrück, Mr Kühn has been working since 1998 in the area of legal internship (e.g. at Regional Court) of the Federal Network Agency, Germany; changing to national and international spectrum regulation on different levels in 2005. Nowadays he is the deputy head of section for international affairs and utilization concepts. His responsibilities cover strategic frequency utilization concepts and the transposition of those to the international level of CEPT, EU and ITU. Doing this and having been active in the preparation of three WRCs, at national and on CEPT CPG level, Mr Kühn participated in a number of international Groups, also as head of the German delegation. He has also chaired several groups and subgroups in the ITU and CEPT. Since 2005, he is responsible for national preparation of WRCs and served as CPG Vice-Chairman from 2010 to 2013 and as CPG chairman from 2013 to 2015. In the cycle 2016 to 2019, Mr Kühn served as Chairman of the CEPT CPG in preparation of WRC-19.

Artur Coimbra de Oliveira – Board Director
Artur Coimbra de Oliveira holds bachelor’s and master’s degree in Law from Brasilia University,
and MBA in Business Management from Fundação Getúlio Vargas. He has been a Federal Attorney since 2007.
Previously, he had been Regulation Specialist at Anatel. Worked as advisor at Anatel’s Specialized Federal Attorney
and at Republic Presidency. He was Director of Broadband at the Ministry of Communications and Secretary of Telecommunications,
from 2011 to 2022. During this period, he took part in the National Broadband Program formulating group,
chaired the Steering Committee of Strategic Communications and Defense Geostationary Satellite Project and
he was a member of Anatel's Advisory Board.

Camila Ramos
Consultant for the FCDO - Foreign and Commonwealth Office on The Digital Access Programmer. Chevening alumni, MSc in Digital Society at the University of Edinburgh.

Christopher Szymanski
Director of Product Marketing and Government Affairs for the Mobile Wireless Connectivity Division at Broadcom Inc.

Christopher Szymanski is Director of Product Marketing and Government Affairs for the Mobile Wireless Connectivity Division at Broadcom Inc., where he is responsible for leading Broadcom’s development, and regulatory affairs. Before joining Broadcom, Mr. Szymanski worked for Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) at its headquarters in Shanghai. He also served as a congressional aide focused on policies related to economic competitiveness, telecommunications, foreign relations, national security, and trade.

Chris Woolford is Ofcom’s Director of International Spectrum Policy where his responsibilities cover the UK’s international spectrum interests, especially in relation to the ITU, CEPT and EU. Chris has closely engaged for the UK on a number of key European initiatives in the field of electronic communications and has participated for many years in various European spectrum groups. Chris also leads UK engagement with the ITU and led the UK delegations to WRC-19, WRC-15 and WRC-12.

In 2019 Chris took on the role of Chairman of the Electronic Communications Committee (ECC) of CEPT and was re-elected for a second term in 2022. He is also a Board Member of the International Institute of Communications.

Chris has more than 20 years’ experience of working on spectrum and communications regulation, both at Ofcom and its predecessor (Oftel). He has a degree in mathematics and statistics from Manchester University.

Dave Wright
President of the CBRS Alliance
and Head of Spectrum Policy & Standards at CommScope

Dave played an instrumental role in the formation of the CBRS Alliance, collaborating with other founding members to create a robust multi-stakeholder organization focused on the optimization of LTE and 5G services in the CBRS band. He served as the Alliance’s first Secretary from its launch in August 2016 and was elected as the President of the Alliance in February 2018.

For his “day job”, Dave leads CommScope’s policy and standards initiatives, ensuring the intersection of CommScope’s technology and product innovations with suitable regulatory environments and technical specifications. Dave is a spectrum champion, advocating for unlicensed, licensed, and dynamic sharing frameworks - recognizing the vital role that all spectrum management regimes play in our increasingly wireless world.

Dave began his odyssey in networking/telecom/mobile/wireless in the early ‘90s while serving in the US Marine Corps. He then transitioned to the commercial sector as a systems engineer. In the intervening years he has spent much of his time in Technical Marketing, Standards Development, and Policy Advocacy. Dave is a Cisco Certified Internetworking Expert (CCIE) Emeritus (#2062), a Certified Wireless Network Administrator (CWNA), and a CBRS Certified Professional Installer (CPI).

Director: The Gigabit Libraries Network(GLN) as an open global collaboration of tech savvy libraries cooperating as a distributed testbed and showcase environment for high performance applications and equipment in the service of educational, civic and cultural objectives. http://GigLibraries.Net

Project Director: “LEO Libraries” a global testbed of community libraries. an initiative that marries potentially game-changing low earth orbit (LEO) satellite internet access technology with the myriad public services of libraries or other community centers to provide public access to the 100’s of millions of unconnected.

Since March 2020 , Means has hosted a 63-part series as Libraries in Response in context of Covid pandemic.

Principal Investigator
“Community SecondNets”: Libraries partnering with schools, clinics, colleges and other anchor institutions, as second responders, install dual use, wide area wireless networks, creating redundant communications capability to expand inclusion and strengthen community resilience against disasters.”

Founding chairman of the Schools, Health and Libraries Broadband Coalition, founded in 2009, as a DC-based advocacy organization promoting government policies and programs to assure gigabit fiber to libraries and other community anchor institutions(CAI’s). Initiated the national “Fiber to the Library” campaign in 2007.

Gigabit Libraries Network is a project of Digital Village Associates, a Sausalito, CA, USA based consultancy.

Eleanor Sarpong
Deputy Director & Policy Lead

Eleanor is A4AI’s Deputy Director & Policy lead. She directs policy and has oversight on A4AI’s country engagements in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. She leads public policy engagements with governments and companies and has provided guidance on universal access, digital taxation, Infrastructure sharing, arbitrary regulations on the ICT sector and digital inclusion. She led the development of Liberia’s national broadband policy 2019-2024 and A4AI’s recommendations into Nigeria’s Broadband plan 2020-2025. She also oversaw the updating of the supplementary act for Universal Service for ECOWAS and currently directs A4AI’s work with a2i on a Digital Strategy for Bangladesh.

Eleanor has a rich diverse industry experience in the ICT and public policy space working in private, public and not-for-profit sectors across Europe, Africa, and the Middle East (EMEA).

Prior to joining A4AI, she consulted for the European Investment Bank (EIB), providing guidance for its policy on ICT lending to developing countries. She also consulted for the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organization (CTO), where she advised on ICT, corporate social responsibility, financial inclusion and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Before moving to the CTO, she built and led MTN Ghana’s Government and Regulatory Affairs for 5years. She also served on two public boards for 3 years.

Eleanor is passionate about connectivity, gender and development, and currently advocates for meaningful connectivity, universal access and affordability . She has championed and written on topics such as complementary connectivity solutions, 5G, universal access, consumer facing taxation, Infrastructure sharing and digital inclusion aimed particularly at advancing women in developing regions.

She is an alum of the Harvard Kennedy School Executive Education Program, has a certificate in Public Policy Analysis from London School of Economics and holds an MBA from the Warwick Business School as well as a Bachelor in Science from the University of Ghana . She speaks 4 languages.

Eng. Glenn Fallas Fallas
General Director - Quality of Service and Spectrum Department

Glenn Fallas Fallas is an Electronic Engineer, with a degree on Telematics and Telecommunications Project Management.

Mr. Fallas has more than 18 years of experience in the regulation of the telecommunications sector, including the areas of quality of service, end-user rights protection and spectrum management.

He has been involved in the quality-of-service regulation and measurement, including mobile, wireless, and fixed services. He is in charge of the team that proposed and established the current telecommunications regulations in Costa Rica, as the end user rights protection, quality of service (including KPIs, thresholds and measuring methodologies establishment), among others. His team also executes the nationwide quality of service measurements enforcing the QoS regulations and resolves end-user complaints

In the spectrum area, he has extensive experience in spectrum planning, administration and monitoring, bidding process formulation and auctions, and also was the leader of the interdisciplinary group in charge of the design and implementation of the National Frequency Monitoring System and its administrative database.

He headed Costa Rica’s number portability project, which involved the technical requirements, the management of the operator’s positions and requests, as well as the direction and coordination of the number portability committee among other requirements for its implementation.”

Gilles BREGANT
CEO
French spectrum agency (ANFR)

Gilles Brégant graduated from Ecole Polytechnique (1986) and from Telecom ParisTech (1988). Following a 8-year-career at France Telecom research center, Gilles Brégant was appointed technical adviser to the Minister in charge of Research (1996-1997). He had to coordinate international projects and themes in relation with information technology. He then worked for the department of trade and industry in charge of the Prospective department in the ICT service. He was appointed secretary general of the ministerial task force “Digital Economy” (2001-2005) within the French Ministry for Economy. He was then appointed “Director of Technologies” of Conseil supérieur de l’audiovisuel (the French Media Regulator) in 2005. Gilles Brégant is the CEO of the French spectrum agency (ANFR) since 2011. He chaired the European Radio Spectrum Policy Group (2012-2015).

Guillaume Lebrun (Dr)
Global Connectivity Policy Manager, Meta
Dr Guillaume Lebrun has been an active member of the spectrum community for more than 15 years, working for Orange, Qualcomm, Airbus and now Meta. Dr Lebrun contributed to key international spectrum projects such the opening of the 6 GHz band to Wi-Fi 6E and the 3.6 GHz for 5G.
Dr Lebrun is a member of the Global Connectivity Policy team at Meta where he is working on several spectrum initiatives to improve connectivity. Raising spectrum efficiency and availability is at the core of Guillaume’s mission.
Dr Lebrun holds an Engineering degree from ENST, Paris, France and a PhD in telecommunications from Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia.

Dr. Heikki Kokkinen is CEO and founder of Fairspectrum. He holds a doctoral degree in Computer Science, an academic entrepreneur degree from Aalto School of Business, licentiate degree in telecommunications and industrial economics, and Master’s degree in electronics. Fairspectrum provides a world leading range of dynamic spectrum access tools, CBRS SAS, LSA, TVWS geolocation databases, automated frequency coordination, co-existence management, spectrum club use systems, and customized dynamic spectrum management systems.

Ira Keltz

Ira Keltz is Deputy Chief of the FCC’s Office of Engineering and Technology.
OET is the Commission’s primary resource for engineering expertise and provides technical support to the Chairperson, Commissioners and FCC Bureaus and Offices. Mr. Keltz is responsible for developing national spectrum policies for the United States telecommunications industry. This includes allocating spectrum for licensed services, setting technical rules for unlicensed devices, and implementing procedures for equipment certification.

Mr. Keltz has totaled over 27 years at the FCC spanning two separate stints. In addition to positions in OET, he has held various positions in the Commission’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau. Mr. Keltz has also worked for the law firm DLA Piper as well as Loral Advanced Projects and LSA, Inc. He earned a Master’s Degree in Electrical Engineering from the George Washington University and a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan.

Jane Coffin is responsible for the Internet Society’s Internet Growth project teams. The Internet Growth project teams are focused on Community Networks, Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) & interconnection, peering, and community development, and a new critical project on measuring the health of the Internet. Her work also focuses on access and development strategy, where she and other ISOC colleagues and partners focus on coordination of collaborative strategies for expanding Internet infrastructure, access, and related capacities in emerging economies with partners.

Prior to joining ISOC, Jane worked on Internet and telecommunications policy issues for the Office of International Affairs at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration – U.S. Department of Commerce. She was an activeparticipant in Internet discussions in the ITU, OAS-CITEL, and OECD, working closely with the five regional Internet registries (RIRs) and other Internet technical community stakeholders. She was very involved in policy discussions on open Internet standards and issues related to BGP, IPv4, IPv6, and MPLS. While at NTIA, Jane was an advocate for the deployment of Internet exchange points (IXPs) to increase international Internet connectivity (IIC), and was an ITU-T SG-3 IIC co-Rapporteur and an IIC coordinator in CITEL’s PCC.I. She was Vice-Chair of the Federal IPv6 Task Force, and a Vice-Chair of the ITU Council Child Online Protection Working Group.

From 2002-2006, she served as Chief of Party, and Deputy Chief of Party on two separate USAID projects in Moldova and Armenia. Jane worked closely with regulators, policy-makers, senior officials and parliamentarians, Internet service providers, and stakeholders on regulatory strengthening, market access and competition, and liberalization and privatization activities in Moldova and Armenia.

Jane worked for AT&T as a Director of International Affairs/Government Affairs, where she worked on international telecommunications issues, including VOIP, ENUM, and ICAIS, and was a Rapporteur in ITU-D Study Group 1 for universal access/universal service in rural and remote areas.

She holds a BA in Classics from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, attended the College Year in Athens program in Athens, Greece, and was an American Field Service (AFS) exchange student in Falun, Sweden (1985-86).

Jane is based in Reston, United States.

Jennifer McCarthy
VP, Legal Advocacy, Federated Wireless

Jennifer McCarthy is responsible for the Federated Wireless regulatory and government affairs agenda. Jennifer is a telecommunications regulatory attorney with over 25 years of experience in the wireless sector having held a variety of government affairs, business development, and operations positions for several of the industry’s leading technology innovators.

Most recently, Jennifer was with MVP Capital, working with wireless spectrum license holders, TV and radio station owners, and other online content service providers on a variety of M&A projects. Prior to that, Jennifer was Senior Vice President of Regulatory Affairs and Operations for NextWave Wireless Inc. and part of the executive management team of MediaFLO USA Inc., a subsidiary of QUALCOMM Incorporated, where she identified, purchased, and cleared the TV Channel 55 spectrum used to deploy the nation’s first network dedicated to the reception of mobile television programming and other multimedia services.

She was also the head of QUALCOMM’s international government affairs team responsible for regulatory and international trade strategy at the International Telecommunications Union and related organizations. Early in her career, she worked with Freedom Technologies, Inc., a boutique Washington, D.C.-based telecommunications consulting firm and its associated law firm.
Ms. McCarthy has a B.A. in political science from Yale University and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center. She is a member of both the California and Washington, DC Bars.

Jonas Wessel
Director, Spectrum Department, The Swedish Post and Telecom Authority (PTS)

Jonas Wessel is Director of the Resource Management Department at the Swedish Post and Telecom Agency (PTS), responsible for spectrum and numbers. He was also Chair of the Radio Spectrum Policy Group (RSPG) for the 2018-2019 period. The RSPG is a high-level advisory group that assists the European Commission in the development of radio spectrum policy. Jonas holds a MSC from the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Industrial Engineering and Management. Jonas started his professional career as a strategy consultant, working mainly with business development in the telecoms and IT-sector.
In 2003, he joined the PTS as advisor on radio spectrum policy issues. After several positions within the Agency, including responsibility for auctions, he was assigned Director of the Spectrum Department in 2014. Jonas has been one of the driving forces behind the transformation of spectrum management in Sweden and has also been working with these issues internationally, mainly through the RSPG where he has been an active delegate since 2004.

Professional Summary

José Alberto Domínguez holds an Electrical Engineer degree and has an extensive international background in telecommunications projects for the private and public sectors. Mr. Domínguez has worked since 2000 for the Instituto Dominicano de las Telecomunicaciones (INDOTEL), the regulatory agency in the Dominican Republic.

At INDOTEL, Mr. Domínguez, has held several positions within the Universal Access Development Fund (FDT), leading and managing multiple efforts to help bridge the digital divide in Dominican Republic. He has recently transferred to work with INDOTEL’s Regulatory Policies and Competition Defense Directorate.

Juan Peirano
Senior Policy Advisor

I work as Senior Policy Advisor at the Internet Society, focusing on policy issues related to interconnection infrastructure, innovative access solutions, and sustainable connectivity models. I aspire to help connect as many people as possible to the great resource that it is the Internet.

I've been an active participant in the Internet ecosystem and telecommunications industry, working for LACNIC, the Latin-American Regional Internet Registry, as policy officer and resource analyst, and holding engineering roles at Telefonica Moviles, back in my home town in Uruguay.

I'm a Telecommunications Engineer from ORT University in Montevideo, Uruguay, and have a Master’s degree in Public Policy from the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom, where I currently and happily live.

Kalpak S. Gude
Head of Domestic Regulatory Affairs, Project Kuiper,
AMAZON KUIPER MANUFACTURING ENTERPRISES LLC

Biography:
He was the President of the Dynamic Spectrum Alliance from November 2016 until December 2018. Before joining the DSA, Mr. Gude was the Vice President Legal Regulatory at OneWeb, a low-earth-orbit satellite broadband provider seeking to bring internet connectivity to unserved and underserved regions of the world. Prior to this, Mr. Gude served in several senior positions at the Federal Communications Commission in Washington, D.C., overseeing complex regulatory issues in the Media and Wireline Competition Bureaus. Mr. Gude also served as Vice President and Deputy General Counsel at Intelsat, held various board positions in the satellite and telecommunications industry and was named a co-Satellite Executive of the Year 2007. He holds a J.D. from the Indiana University School of Law – Bloomington, and a B.S. Electrical Engineering from the Rochester Institute of Technology.

Leonard Mabele is a Research Fellow at Strathmore University. He is also the current Manager of the Internet of Things (IoT) Research Group at the iLabAfrica Research Centre of Strathmore University. He holds a B.Eng. degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering and a MSc. in Telecommunications and Innovation. He is currently pursuing his PhD in Computer Science within the umbrella of Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS) with a focus of Interoperability and Efficiency of Cognitive Radios for DSS. Under his research studies, Leonard has led the collaboration between Strathmore University (SU) and the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) on contextual studies of Radio Frequency Spectrum Innovation and Policy. In 2019/2020, he was part of the core team from Strathmore University that worked with CA to develop and validate the regulatory framework for TV White Spaces, which was published in 2021. Leonard has also led the ITU-funded Research Competition on Connect2Recover which has been a project to map the infrastructure needs and connectivity technology options for two rural counties of Kenya while defining models of connectivity for pandemic recovery. Presently, he is at the forefront of executing the Dynamic Spectrum Alliance study track for Kenya on Enhancing Affordable Broadband Connectivity through Spectrum Sharing and Facilitating Inclusive Growth of Local Digital Ecosystem. His oversees engagements has involved presentations on TVWS studies at the University of Strathclyde, Scotland, UK and his early PhD research exchange at Brno University in Czech Republic.

Lester Garcia

Head of Connectivity and Access Polic, for Latam and Caribbean in Meta

With more than 20 years of experience in telecommunications regulation and public policies in Latam, he has been a consultant and member of the public policy team for different companies and institutions. He served as Head of Regulatory Policy at COFETEL (the former Mexican telecommunications regulator). He has been a researcher and professor of economics and public policy in different schools and universities in Mexico.

Lester holds a PhD in Public Policy (Universidad Anahuac), a Masters in Public Policy (University of Chicago) and a B.A. in Economics (ITESM).

Maggie was born in the States, brought up in the UK, but very much chose Kenya as her home. Arriving in 1993, the last 25 years have been spent enjoying helping start businesses in Kenya’s vibrant economy. Starting with websites and TV commercials in the early 90s, Maggie then built flower farming business Tambuzi with her husband in her beloved hometown of Nanyuki. Since then other business interests include a County newspaper, an online flower retail business in the UK and Kenya’s first TV White Space Internet business, Mawingu Networks. Maggie joined the team at WTS early on and now serves as a Non-Executive Director in both Kenya and Tanzania. Her passion is to realise the ability for business to be an agent for development and social change.

Dr Maria Myers-Hamilton has been a pioneer in the Telecommunications field for over 30 years
improve coverage and connectivity for the digitally under-served
citizens of Jamaica
and is on a mission to
. From her current position
as Managing Director at the Spectrum Management Authority (SMA), she maintains a birds-eye view of the country’s ever-expanding
canopy of communication technology and spearheads initiatives that
broaden and bolster digital accessibility where it matters most.

Mr. Mario Maniewicz was elected Director of the ITU Radiocommunication Bureau at the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference 2018 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. He took office on 1 January 2019.

Mario Maniewicz is an electronic engineer specialized in telecommunications. He has been with the ITU for over 30 years, where he has served in high-level management positions in the Radiocommunication and Development Sectors as well as in ITU Regional Offices.

As Director, Mr. Maniewicz is responsible for the management of the Radiocommunication Bureau, which organizes and co-ordinates the work of the Radiocommunication Sector whose aim is to ensure the rational, equitable, efficient and economical use of the radio-frequency spectrum and satellite orbits.

Michael A. Calabrese directs the Wireless Future Program at New America’s Open Technology Institute, a non-profit think tank based in Washington, D.C. He develops and advocates policies to promote ubiquitous, fast and affordable wireless broadband connectivity, including the reallocation of prime spectrum for unlicensed access, next generation Wi-Fi, and dynamic spectrum sharing.

Calabrese has served on the U.S. Department of Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee (CSMAC) since 2009 and as an Invited Expert on President Obama’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) spectrum reform working group during 2011-2012.

Calabrese has previously served as Vice President of New America (2003-2010), General Counsel of the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee, director of domestic policy at the Center for National Policy, and as a counsel at the national AFL-CIO. He is a graduate of Stanford Law and Business Schools (JD/MBA) and of Harvard College.

Mr. Haji holds a Bachelor of Technology Degree from Moi University, Kenya and Masters of Science Degree in Telecommunications and Information Systems from the University of Essex, UK.

Mr. Haji is currently the Acting Director in charge of Frequency Spectrum Management at Communications Authority of Kenya. He has worked in frequency spectrum management field for the last 10 years, steering WRC preparations. He also worked in the telecommunications area for more than twelve years where he participated in the ITU-T sector. He was in charge of new technologies, type approval, standards and research functions for many years.

Mr. Haji has had a distinguished career spanning over 22 years in public service with extensive knowledge and experience in ICT regulations. In addition, he has vast technical knowledge in telecommunications, spectrum planning, licensing and monitoring.

Mohammed Alotaibi
He is the Deputy Governor of Radio Spectrum, Communication and Information Technology Commission, Saudi Arabia. Mohammed has over 15 years of experience in the field of spectrum policy. He has been involved in many national and international spectrum management activities including overseeing 4G and 5G spectrum auctions, reviewing spectrum policies for a number of countries in collaboration with ITU BDT and drafting Saudi Arabia’s National Spectrum Strategy 2020-2025.
He has academic and applied background in the area of quantitative policy analysis, technology and decision making, where he authored a number of papers and reports, taught courses, conducted workshops and provided consultancy and advisory services for several organizations. Mohammed holds a MSc and a PhD, in Engineering and Public Policy, from Carnegie Mellon University. He also holds a MSc from University of Pennsylvania and a BSc from King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, both in Electrical Engineering.

I am a graduate engineer in telecommunications from Higher School of Communications of TUNIS (SUP’COM) . I have 19 years’ experience in the field of ICT. I held several positions related to the regulation of the telecommunications market (infrastructure sharing, fiber optic market, cloud integration ...) And radiocommunications (4G license, IoT market, amateur radio ..). I currently hold the position of of Director General at the National Agency of Frequencies(ANF), which I have a main missions are the integration of new frequency allocation procedures and the determination of a national strategy to prepare the digital infrastructure. I have also taken responsibility to define management strategy of frequencies spectrum and analyze the economic, regulation and technical spectrum’s aspects, in order to integrate a new procedures and tools in frequency allocation. I enjoy the challenge to persuade the government of the new procedures for innovation.

PAVEL ŠÍSTEK
Head of Policy and Strategy Unit at the Czech Telecommunication Office

Pavel Šístek is head of the Policy and Strategy Unit of the Czech Telecommunication Authority. His role also includes strategic planning of radio frequencies and technological and regulatory innovations.
He represents the Czechia in several organisations, including the European Commission’s Radio Spectrum Policy Group and the Radio Spectrum Committee. He participates in the preparations of the ITU-R World Radio Conferences.
Pavel is also the author and co-author of several professional articles in the field of electromagnetic engineering and computational electromagnetics.

Philippe Defraigne is a founding director of Cullen International, a company monitoring regulatory developments in telecommunications, digital economy, media, postal, competition law and sustainability. He is an economist by training and has spent the last 30 years analysing telecommunications regulation and market developments. He is a regular fixture on the conference circuit, frequently speaking at and chairing events in Europe, Latin America and MENA.

Rob McDowell is co-chair of Cooley's global communications practice group and he advises telecommunications, media and technology clients on their most significant regulatory, legal and business matters. As a former commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission and a highly regarded industry leader, Rob has been at the forefront of the most complex and groundbreaking issues facing telecommunications.
Rob was first appointed to the FCC by President George W. Bush in 2006 and again by President Obama in 2009. He was unanimously confirmed both times by the US Senate. During his tenure, Rob led efforts to expand consumer access to spectrum through his work on the two largest wireless auctions in US history at the time, played a key role in the 2009 digital television transition and led efforts to establish the first federal civil rights rule in a generation by creating a ban on racially discriminatory practices in broadcast advertising.
While at the FCC, Rob also worked extensively on several large and complex mergers, including: Sirius/XM; Comcast/NBC-Universal; Verizon/AllTel; AT&T/Dobson; Sprint/Clearwire; Verizon/SpectrumCO and AT&T/T-Mobile. At Cooley, he represents clients on transformative deals before the FCC, Congress, the White House and other regulatory bodies.

Scott Blue has been involved in the introduction of new telecom and internet technology since helping to create Canada’s largest internet service provider 25 years ago. He was pulled into the world spectrum sharing at the IEEE in 2004 when he proposed a real-time geolocation-based method that allowed mobile devices to use what is now called TV whitespace. Since 2013 he has represented Microsoft in spectrum policy discussions with regulators as well as at organizations including the ITU, CEPT, ETSI, IEEE, 3GPP, GSMA and Wi-Fi Alliance. In 2018 Scott moved from Seattle to Oulu, Finland, a major center for wireless innovation, where 6G research is already underway.

Tiago Rodrigues is the CEO of the Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA). Tiago is responsible for leading the overall strategy, together with the WBA Board, and the operational planning for the WBA. As well as overseeing the day to day management, Tiago takes a leadership role in understanding industry challenges and working with membership to agree the key focus areas and programs that need to be developed to ensure the wireless industry optimises market opportunities for Wi-Fi and works to resolve any business issues that impede the success of the industry overall.
Before he joined the WBA, Tiago spent 15 years at the Portugal Telecom Group. In his previous role as Head of Business Innovation, he collaborated with various departments within the company to identify and develop new business opportunities. Prior to this, he managed the Public Wi-Fi sector of Portugal Telecom Group where he was responsible for service management, development, strategy and internationalisation of the Wi-Fi service. He was also involved in strategic marketing, regulatory affairs, pricing, product development and roaming.
Tiago holds an M.Sc. in Economics and Management of Science and Technology, and a degree in Business Administration from the Higher Institute of Economics and Management at The Technical University of Lisbon He also has a BA. Honors Degree in Business Administration from Humberside University, UK.

Tim Genders is the CEO the Commercial Director of Project Isizwe. He is passionate about bring the next billion online in Africa.
He has been with Isizwe for the last 7 years taking responsibility for the management of one of the largest free Wi-Fi projects in Africa.
Tim graduated from Oxford University (St Peter’s College) in 1989 with a 1st class honours degree in Engineering Science. Tim came to South Africa in 1994 and developed his career in ICT He was one of the founders of BCX in 2000.
In 2006 Tim set up a Airband, wireless ISP business in Durban and sold to HeroTel in 2015.
Tim was the chair of WAPA (Wireless Access Providers Association) South Africa between
2016 and 2021 and is still an active member of the WAPA management committee responsible for Spectrum.

Tim Prewitt is an international executive, CEO and board member with more than 20 years of experience leading global teams to deliver impact at scale, through agricultural development, social enterprises, gender empowerment, impact investment, community-led development, and policy reform. He joined The Hunger Project as President and CEO on February 1, 2021.
From 2012 to 2019 Tim served as CEO of International Development Enterprises (iDE). With the belief that individuals and communities can li themselves out of poverty, iDE provides market-based solutions for millions of people living in extreme poverty, in areas of gender, climate, nutrition, agriculture, water, sanitation and finance. As CEO, Tim developed and led iDEʼs strategy to reach 20 million people. Under his leadership, iDE redesigned institutional learning systems, expanded global staff, and increased diversity of iDEʼs board and staff. As a leader, he launched new initiatives in gender equity and finance and localized global leadership positions. iDE achieved levels of impact never seen previously in the organization, including more than $13 of impact for every dollar invested by donors. Aer he transitioned leadership to iDEʼs former COO Lizz Ellis, Tim continued to serve as Senior Advisor and as a consultant on global development financing, digital agricultural solutions and agricultural development until he accepted the position of CEO at The Hunger Project. He continues to serve as a board member to Pyxera Global, iDE UK and Keshif.

Virginia Lam Abrams is a seasoned communications and public affairs executive with two decades of experience working in technology, media and politics. She is currently Executive Vice President of Government Affairs and Strategic Advancement for Starry Group Holdings, Inc., a next generation licensed fixed wireless technology developer and internet service provider focused on building competitive, affordable, high-quality broadband across United States. In her role at the company, Virginia is responsible for leading Starry Connect, the company’s digital equity program focused on developing partnerships with public and affordable housing owners to deliver ultra-low-cost internet solutions to their residents. She also advocates for and represents Starry in front of governmental agencies at the local, state and federal level and engages with policymakers and the public interest community in advancing pro-consumer policies that protect privacy and competition in the broadband marketplace. Virginia also leads corporate communications for the company and certain business development functions.

Ms. Yolisa Kedama has a vast experience in the ICT regulatory environment specifically spectrum management. Her career commenced at SATRA (now ICASA) in the frequency planning department, researching new technologies and new developments in the satellite environment. She later joined Transtel as a Spectrum Manager; managing spectrum for Transnet. Whilst at Transtel, she participated in the regulatory groups during the formation of the second network operator (SNO) which later became Neotel. She moved from Transtel to join ICASA as the Manager: Spectrum Licensing, managing the processing and approval of frequency spectrum applications.
Upon leaving ICASA, she served as a Telecoms Regulatory Manager at Transnet after which she became a Director at Ziko Business Solutions. She later moved to Telkom as the Executive: Technical Regulations where her role included strategy formulation, strategic advisory on policy and regulatory matters related to, among others, network facilities and number resource management. She later served as a Director at TFR Training Institute where she was responsible for projects aimed at empowering rural communities, school going youth, training the unemployed and research. Ms. Kedama holds a Bachelor of Science degree, National Diploma in Electrical Engineering, Certificate in Project Management, Financial Management and a Masters of Management in ICT Policy and Regulation.