Chief Executive Officer
Ed Ogonek
Ed Ogonek is a well-respected and successful senior executive and entrepreneur with a 28-year track record of building high-growth businesses in fast-paced global technology markets. His leadership experience includes President / CEO roles at innovative, early-stage companies and General Manager positions for large multi-national divisions at technology leaders including Alcatel, Newbridge Networks and British Telecom. In his most-recent role as President and CEO of Bridgewater Systems, he lead the companys transformation into a global market-leader for mobile-data software solutions and established Bridgewater as a Canadian top-25 public company. Ed has been a Board Director in various public and private technology companies with an emphasis on company strategy, business planning and business development. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for Canadas National Ballet School.
Executive Vice President
Ron Gavillet
Ron Gavillet, was a co-founder of Neutral Tandem (Nasdaq: TNDM), the first independent, neutral telecom exchange company; he served as its Executive Vice President, External Affairs, and General Counsel. Mr. Gavillet created the concept for Neutral Tandem, developed its unique regulatory strategy, and helped lead its successful IPO in 2007. Mr. Gavillet has over 20 years of diversified telecommunications experience. In addition to five years in private practice with the law firms of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and Hopkins & Sutter, Mr. Gavillet held senior positions with several competitive carriers, including MCI, ClearTel Communications, USN Communications and Universal Access. Mr. Gavillet holds B.S. and B.A. degrees from Southern Illinois University, a J.D. from Catholic University of America, and a Masters in Management from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. He received the 2007 Earnst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award (Lake Michigan region).
Director
Daniel Keoppel
Keoppel has been with Verizon and its predecessor companies, Bell Atlantic and NYNEX, for 14 years. For the last 10 years, he has been leading Verizon’s venture investment program.
Previously, he worked at AT&T in its mergers and acquisitions department, was controller to AT&T Ventures Corporation, and held various finance positions with Lucent (then AT&T) Consumer Products.
He received his B.S. degree from Rutgers University and his MBA from Fairleigh Dickinson University. He is based in Basking Ridge, N.J.
Nan Chen
Nan Chen is known in the telecom/networking industry as the founding President of the MEF, which has been materially shaping the telecom industry, establishing Carrier Ethernet as the predominant technology and service for businesses, internet applications and mobile infrastructure.
Mr. Chens drive to unite standardization and certification with dynamic, global campaigns and strategic initiatives, has helped make Carrier Ethernet one of the fastest growing areas in telecoms ($25bn in 2012). He served as VP of Marketing at Atrica (acquired by Nokia Siemens Networks); VP of Marketing at Strix Systems (acquired by Private Equity); Director of Technology at Bay Networks/SynOptics (acquired by Nortel); Founding Board of Director of 10 Gigabit Ethernet Alliance.
Mr. Chen has received 30+ industry awards/accolades and 10,000+ citations in worldwide media, and has been named as one of the Top 100 Most Influential People in Telecom/Internet Industry and achieved 2 MS & 1 BS degrees.