Agenda

Strategic Marketing Director, Fixed Networks, Nokia and President,,  FTTH Council Europe

Eric became the President of the FTTH Council Europe in May 2020, after 5 years of membership in its Board of Directors.  Eric leads Fixed Networks strategic marketing in Nokia. His role is focusing on consultative and best practices sharing, helping carrier & network operators in many regions to leverage on successful business models, go to market tactics and deployment strategies, suitable for their broadband market.

Prior to his role with Nokia Eric has held various roles in networks business & strategy, business development, product solutions management & marketing, as well as in the strategic & consultative marketing when he had the privilege of working with some of the largest carrier & network operators around the world. 

Executive Vice President Telecom,  Prysmian

Philippe Vanhille has been Senior Vice President Telecom Business since May 2013. After graduating in Mechanical Engineering in Lyon (France) in 1989, he began his career as a Research Engineer for Renault Formula 1 development, and then moved to the cable industry joining Alcatel Cable in 1991. Over the past 20 years, he has held a number of positions in the Operations and General Management areas within the cable industry for Alcatel and Draka, followed by roles in the Energy, Copper Telecom and Optical Fibre sectors. At the time of the Prysmian merger, he was head of Draka’s Global Optical Fibre Business Unit and he held the same position within Prysmian Group until his appointment as Executive VP Telecom Business.

Vice President and General Manager, Optical Fiber and Cable,  Corning

Dr. Bernhard Deutsch was appointed vice president and general manager, Optical Fiber and Cable in February 2018. Deutsch joined Corning Cable Systems (Siemens Communication Cables) in 1995 as manager, application and systems engineering in Munich, Germany. Since then he has held various roles with growing leadership responsibilities in technology; marketing and market development; program and product line management. Prior to joining Corning, Dr. Deutsch was research director at Grohmann Engineering GmbH (now Tesla Grohmann Automation) in Prüm, Germany and served in the German Air Force. Dr. Deutsch holds more than 15 patents and is the co-author of four books and numerous national and international publications. He is a council member of the International Cable Makers Federation (ICF) and has served on advisory boards of Paxio Inc. and Optical Solutions Inc., the Sector Board Telecommunications of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), as chairman of the FTTH Council’s Technology Committee, and on the board of directors of the Catawba Science Center and Canine Companions for Independence. He holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Kaiserslautern, Germany.

Executive Director and President,  YOFC
Dr. Zhuang Dan obtained his Ph.D. in Accounting from Zhongnan University of Economics and Law in June 1998 and obtained the postdoctoral certificate in Business Administration from Shanghai University of Finance and Economics in April 2001. He is now the Executive Director and President of Yangtze Optical Fibre and Cable Joint Stock Limited Company and a member of People’s Congress of Hubei Province.

CEO - Connectivity Solutions,  STL
Ankit Agarwal heads the Optical Fibre, Optical Fibre cable, Fibre connectivity and Copper cable products business. Mr Agarwal is also managing Sterlite Ventures – Sterlite Tech’s strategic investments in high bandwidth applications in Healthcare, Education and IOT. He has been instrumental in expanding the global footprint of the Telecom business by successfully executing and managing Joint Ventures in China and Brazil. In addition to Joint Ventures, Mr Agarwal is also responsible for executing strategic opportunities such as Mergers & Acquisitions and Greenfield projects globally for Sterlite Tech. Prior to Sterlite Tech, he led the Corporate Strategy of Vedanta Resources and played a key role in Vedanta’s strategic transactions, Mr Agarwal holds a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Southern California and an MBA degree from London Business School.

VP Global PLM/R&D Cable and Cable Assemblies,  Commscope

Rob Wessels is vice president and leads the Network Cable Business Unit at CommScope, a global leader in infrastructure solutions for communications networks. For 30 years, Mr. Wessels has held various engineering and business unit management positions at CommScope. He has been involved in the design and development of twisted pair, coaxial and optical fiber cable for cable television, local area network and wireless applications.

He holds 12 patents in the field of telecommunications cable design. In 2012, he received the Distinguished Career Award from the Wire and Cable Manufacturers Alliance. He is a member of the  board for the International Wire and Cable Symposium and previously served as Board Chairman and Chair of the Technical Committee.

Mr. Wessels holds a bachelor’s of engineering degree from The Georgia Institute of Technology and an MBA from Georgia State University. He also serves on the Dean’s Advisory Board for the School of Engineering at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte.

President,  Superior Essex Communications

TELUS Fellow, Chief Technology Office,  TELUS

TELUS is a national wireless and wireline service provider in Canada ($14.7B CDN or about €9.5B annual revenue, 56% from wireless and 44% from wireline services).

As a TELUS Fellow Bob is responsible for the overall architecture of the TELUS’ wireline access networks, including how they underpin and interact with wireless networks. His responsibilities range from the short term tactical out to the strategic, and from the hard physical world of fiber and copper up to the virtualized realm of how these interact with the rest of the infrastructure in Software Defined Networking.

Bob is a veteran of the telecommunications industry, with a degree in electrical engineering (U of Alberta 1986) and experience in many engineering, technology leadership and sales support roles.

Head of Wire and Cable,  CRU

Michael is Head of CRU’s Wire and Cable team and works across the full portfolio of products analyzing key trends and developments in both the metallic wire and cable, and optical fibre industries. Michael is the editor of CRU’s Optical Fibre and Cable Monitor and Telecom Cables Market Outlook.

Before joining CRU, Mike gained experience as an exploration geologist focusing on precious and base metal mineralization in North Africa. Michael completed his undergraduate studies at Cardiff University where he attained a First Class degree with Honours in Geology. He also holds an MSc in Mining Geology (Distinction) from Camborne School of Mines, University of Exeter.

Fiber R&D Director,  Prysmian Group
PRYSMIAN GROUP, Optical Fiber– Douvrin, France Fiber R&D Director (Since May 2013) Managing a group of more than 40 engineers and scientists, located in five different countries. Working in high Technology environment (Optical Fibers and Telecom)
 Initiation and definition of projects (budget, capacity plan, organization)
 Management of groups located in different countries (Italy, The Netherlands, France, Brazil and US)
 Develop new Processes and implement them in the factories.  Feasibility and development of new Products are evaluated, industrialized & handed over into production.
 Definition of the annual budget of the Optical Fiber Business Unit, which is designed by the management team. Keywords : Optical Fibers, Technology, Project & team Management, Process Improvements, Product development, Best practices analyses, budget definition Fiber Process R&D Director (2011 to 2013)
I held this function in Draka, Optical Fiber Organization and then, in Prysmian group organization.. DRAKA, Optical Fiber– Douvrin, France Fiber Process R&D Director (2005 to 2011)
 Management of groups located in different countries (Netherlands, France and US)  Develop new Processes and implement them in the factories.
 In charge of Process control in the different factories of the division (China, Europe and US). Draw & Measurement Process R&D Manager (2004 to 2005) Managing a group of 10 people involved in improving optical fiber performance and quality.
 The team was devoted to Draw process improvement and measurement techniques development.  Best practices from the different factories of the division (China, US, Netherlands and France) were analysed and then harmonized.
 Travel to Europe, US and Asia (China) Keywords : Draw process improvement, Measurement techniques, Technology transfer, Best practices analyses. ALCATEL, Optical Fiber Division – Douvrin, France Draw & Measurement Process R&D Manager (2001 to 2004) I held this function in Alcatel, Optical Fiber Organization and then, in Draka Comteq organization (see above).
 At that time, I was in charge of supporting the production facilities, located in China (Shenzhen), US (NC), Switzerland, Germany and France. Draw Group Leader (2000 to 2001) Managing a group of 6 people in charge of Draw Process definition and development Draw Engineer (1998 to 2000) Defining and realizing experiments to improve process.
 Analyse the routes of process improvement.  Build the Physical models.  Define and realize the experiments.
 Analyze the results.
 Define the key indicators to follow the improvements of the process. Keywords : key indicator definition, physical models.
Education 2018 : Global Executive MBA et SDA Bocconi, school of Management (Milan) 1997 : DEA in “Optics & Photonics in Paris XI (pre-doctorate degree) 1997 : Engineering Degree. Ecole Supérieure d’Optique (SupOptique), Orsay, France. 1991 : Baccalauréat Maths and Technology

Skills Management : Proven management skills in an international environment Inter personal communication model & cross cultural awareness Records of successful project execution, project management methods Budget definition, monitoring and control (human and non-human resources)

Telecommunication and Optical Fiber: Proven experience in Optical Fiber Technology, a high tech environment in a perpetual evolution.

Languages French : Primary language English : Fluent

Others Running, hiking Skiing, Chess Playing

Commercial Manager for Germanium Products in Europe and Asia,  Umicore

Marketing Director,  ACOME Group
Since 2019 as Marketing Director of the Telecom Business Unit at ACOME, Xavier brings 15 year experience in Marketing. During 8 years at Schneider-Electric, through global and complex organization, he rationalized portfolios, opened new businesses in new countries, provided and executed strategic vision to strengthen a smart Building story. Within his 11 years at Nexans, he had various Marketing positions, and contributed to develop new FTTH product ranges, with commercial success in tenders and launched a new brand. Passionate by science and people, he continuously upgrades his engineering degree in optics by regular degrees on Management and Digital Marketing.

CEO,  INCAB
1997-2002 - Perm State University, faculty of economics.

2002-2011 – Bit-Telecom (telecom operator, VOIP, www.bit-telecom.ru), founder and CEO.

2006-2008 – ER-Telecom (telecom operator, broadband – www.ertelecom.ru), innovation director.

2006 - pres.time – Incab (optical cable producer, www.incab.co) - founder and CEO.

2012 - pres. time - International Association "Elektrokabel" (www.elektrokabel.ru), member of telecom cables sector.

2017 – pres.time – Incab America (optical cable producer, www.incabamerica.com), President.

2019 – pres.time – Wires&Bytes (specialty cable solution provider, www.wiresnbytes.com), President.

Owner & CEO,  NBG Technologies
Karl Bauer founded NBG 25 years ago. As a visionary, he established multiple subsidiary companies in the NBG Group like customized fiber in metal tubes manufacturing, preform and optical fiber fabrication, fiber optic sensing solutions, connectivity production and an fttx installation service. He was awarded multiple prices like “Austria´s High Tech Company Number One” or “Austria´s Leading Company”. The title “Kommerzialrat” was rewarded by the Prime Minister of Austria in 2016 for his merits in the field of fiber optics. Karl Bauer is currently owner and CEO of the NBG Holding.

Managing Director,  j-fiber
Ulrich has served for more than 10 years as CEO and Managing Director of J-Fiber Group in Jena (j-fiber GmbH, j-plasma GmbH, j-fiber Hengtong GmbH). Since 2010 he has successfully increased the companies’ business and has built up a global network in fiber optics industry. The 4 years before, he worked for LEONI headquarters as Senior Project Manager Corporate Development being responsible for M&A activities and other strategic projects worldwide. Ulrich gathered his first professional experience with Siemens AG and McKinsey & Company. Ulrich holds a Diploma in Business Administration (Dipl.-Kfm. ) and earned his PhD in Business & Economics from the Ludwig-Maximilian-University of Munich and MIT Boston. Ulrich is married and has one child.

Manager of Product Line Management,  Corning Incorporated
Duane Robbins, manager of Product Line Management for Corning’s high-data-rate fibers, has 20 years of experience in the optical fiber and cable industry. In this role, Robbins is responsible for driving global business strategy, advanced fiber product development & sales, and delivering key business objectives. Since joining Corning, Robbins has held a variety of management positions in worldwide Commercial Operations, Applications Engineering, and Product Line Management. Prior to joining Corning, Robbins was a nuclear engineer for the US Department of Defense. Robbins holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Penn State University along with a B.S. in Physics and a minor in Mathematics.

Sales Director, Nextrom and Managing Director,  Rosendahl Nextrom SA
Alain Giraud is the director of sales & marketing for Nextrom’s Fiber and Optical Cable business. He is a board member of the group subsidiaries in USA, China, India and Switzerland. Alain held several management positions in the group and has accumulated 30 years of business experience in the Fiber, Cable, Photonics industries. He holds a masters degree in IT & Telecommunications from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL).

CTO, Connectivity Solutions,  STL

Dr. Jitendra Balakrishnan is a technology executive with nearly two decades of experience in research & development, manufacturing, business development, and leadership of technology organizations.

Currently, Jitendra is the Chief Technology Officer - Connectivity Solutions at Sterlite Technologies Limited. Jitendra is driving an expansion of Sterlite's R&D in telecom products, is developing a long-term vision and roadmap for the technology unit, and is integrating it with other functions within the company. Previously, Jitendra was Research Director - Innovation & Technology - Emerging Markets at Corning Incorporated.

Jitendra is a Doctorate in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Cornell University.

Head of Wire and Cable,  CRU

Michael is Head of CRU’s Wire and Cable team and works across the full portfolio of products analyzing key trends and developments in both the metallic wire and cable, and optical fibre industries. Michael is the editor of CRU’s Optical Fibre and Cable Monitor and Telecom Cables Market Outlook.

Before joining CRU, Mike gained experience as an exploration geologist focusing on precious and base metal mineralization in North Africa. Michael completed his undergraduate studies at Cardiff University where he attained a First Class degree with Honours in Geology. He also holds an MSc in Mining Geology (Distinction) from Camborne School of Mines, University of Exeter.

CEO,  RVA
Michael Render is CEO and Principal Analyst at RVA LLC Market Research and Consulting. He is generally known as North America’s premier market research expert in tracking fiber optic broadband deployment and consumer attitudes to advanced broadband. Since 2002, RVA has provided market research to the Fiber Broadband Association, (formerly FTTH Council Americas). RVA also produces annual North American Fiber Broadband forecast reports and provides custom market research to both vendors and service providers. Render has received numerous industry awards for his work in this arena, and for RVA’s market research influence on telecom public policy.

Business Development Director, Broadband & FTTx Principal Analyst,  IDATE DigiWorld
Roland Montagne joined IDATE in 1998. In his position of Principle Analyst, he is responsible of IDATE Consulting and Research activities covering FTTx fields. He played a leading role in previous IDATE International studies in particular for the European Commission as well for FTTH Councils Europe, MENA, LATAM, APAC & Africa regions. Roland in his position of Director Business Development is also responsible for IDATE DigiWorld commercial strategy. Roland Montagne is a Telecommunications Engineer (ENST Paris, 1994). He also worked for AT&T Bell laboratories (USA) and France Telecom labs working on optical communications.