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.

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.

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 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.

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.

Senior Analyst, Wire & Cable,  CRU
Chenfei joined CRU in Feb 2019 as an Analyst within the Wire and Cable Team and is the current editor of CRU’s Wire and Cable Market Outlook. Prior to CRU, Chenfei spent 4 years working at Rolls-Royce in a variety of engineering leadership roles, with a focus on aeroengine technology development and process improvement. He holds an MSc in Advanced Materials Science and Engineering (Distinction) from Imperial College London, and a BEng (Hons) in Chemical and Materials Engineering (First Class and Dean’s List) from the University of Auckland.

Business Head - Europe,  STL - Sterlite Technologies Ltd

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.

Vice President, Market Strategy and Innovation,  AFL
Seán Adam is Vice President of Market Strategy and Innovation at AFL. Seán holds a master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and has over 20 years of experience in the Semiconductor and Telecom industry with a focus on system-based solutions and architectures.  Seán holds over 14 patents related to Test & Measurement and System Architecture.  Today, Seán is focused on developing and guiding AFL’s overall growth strategy.   

Optical System and Device Research Lab Leader,  Nokia Bell Labs

Dr. Theodore(Tod) Sizer is Executive Vice President of Optical Systems and Device Research in Nokia Bell Labs, leading teams innovating in all aspects of optical systems and devices for core, submarine, and data center communications.  Prior to his current role, Tod lead Wireless Research in Nokia Bell Labs for eight years driving the vision and research of 5G. Tod graduated from Amherst College, and received his Masters and Doctorate in Optics from the Institute of Optics at the University of Rochester.   In 2012 he received the Popular Science Breakthrough Innovation award for the lightRadio invention.  Tod is a Fellow of Bell Labs, WWRF, and IEEE.  He is the author of 54 US patents and a member of the IEEE and OSA.

CEO,  Cablescom - Hengtong Group
An industrial engineer and postgraduate at IESE, Veronica Iliescu has extensive experience in the telecommunications and signalling cable sector, and has led projects in different countries. She has been with Cablescom for 26 years, and as the CEO since 2014 she has driven the transformation process of the company. Veronica has also held Operations and HR management functions and has been a member of the Board of Directors since 2001.

Veronica’s international vision coupled with the strength of a great team have been key to moving forward and overcoming huge challenges. During this time, the company has been recognized with multiple awards for excellence in management, achievements in exports, drive for continuous improvement and commitment to social responsibility. 2016 was a turning point for CablesCom when it became part of the Hengtong Group, a world leader in fibre optics. Since then, the Zaragoza company has become the Group’s main growth platform in Europe. Excellence and transformation, two hallmarks that define the history of CablesCom.

Secretary General,  Europacable
Volker Wendt has been appointed Secretary-General of Europacable in January 2021. Europacable is the association of Europe´s leading wire and cable manufacturers, working to enable Europe´s decarbonisation and digitalisation. In addition, Volker is also serving as Secretary-General and Executive Director of the International Cablemakers Federation (ICF).
Volker has over 20 years of experience in European Public Affairs: As Europacable´s Director of Public Affairs, he led the association´s EU policy engagements covering energy, telecommunication, environmental and industrial issues. Before joining Europacable, he spent 10 years with Burson-Marsteller, a leading public affairs firm. As Director and Deputy Chairman of the EMEA Energy Team, he developed and led public affairs campaigns in Brussels and across Europe. On a pro-bono basis, he served as Director to the European Fire Academy, EFA, a network of senior European fire officers.
Volker holds a Ph.D. in International Relations from the University of Passau, Germany.

President,  Heraeus Comvance
Dr. Jan Vydra has been managing Heraeus Comvance, the global Telecom Fiber Business of Heraeus since 2019.

He graduated in physics from Darmstadt Technical University and focused during his PhD thesis on integrated waveguide optics at the Deutsche Telekom Research Center. He joined Heraeus in 1997 where he worked as R&D Project Manager on various fiber optic and other optical product innovations. He was then responsible in various sales, marketing and business development positions.

Product Manager,  OFS

John Kamino is a Senior Manager – Multimode Optical Fiber Product Management for OFS.   He has over 30 years of experience in the optical fiber industry, which includes Product Management, Offer Management, Sales, and Engineering.  John has published numerous articles in technical publications and presented at multiple conferences.  He participates in TIA and IEEE standards activities.  John holds a BS degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and a MBA from Mercer University. 

Managing Partner,  New Street Research

Jonathan Chaplin is Managing Partner of New Street Research, a boutique equity research firm focused on the Communications Services industries with offices in New York, London and Singapore. Prior to New Street he led the Telecom Research team at Credit Suisse and the Telecom & Cable Research teams at JPMorgan. Jonathan started his career in finance in the M&A group at JPMorgan, focused on the Telecommunications Sector. Jonathan has repeatedly been recognized as among the "Best on The Street" among Telecom analysts by the Wall Street Journal, Forbes Magazine, and Institutional Investor Magazine. Jonathan is an avid alpinist, climbing technical peaks all over the world whenever he can tear himself away from the worlds of finance and communications.

Senior Manager, Optical Fibre and Cable Engineering,  Furukawa Electric

Hiroshi Nakamura is a Senior Manager of Optical Fiber & Cable Engineering for Furukawa Electric. He has 20 years of experience in the optical fiber and cable sales engineering. Prior to this period, he worked 5 years as an optical fiber measurement expert after 4-year R&D activities about optical fibers and amplifiers since he joined Furukawa Electric in 1992. He participates in IEC standards activities since 2005. He holds a BE degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Tokyo.

R&D Engineer,  ZTT

Dr. Zelin Zhang is the MD-PhD student obtained the doctor degree in optical engineering from the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics. In 2019, he was the visiting scholar in the Department of Electrical & Electronics at the National Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology in Japan. He was the member of Chinese Optical Society. He currently joined in Zhongtian Technology (ZTT) group and his research interests were special optical fiber design, optical testing technology and distributed fiber sensing based on Brillouin scattering. He has published more than 10 SCI and other academic papers and obtained three Chinese patents, such as Optics Letters, Optics Express and so on.

Professor Level Senior Engineer,  China Mobile Research Institute

Mr. LI Yunbo received Master Degree from China Academy of Telecommunication Technologies in 2000. He is a senior engineer(Professor) of China Mobile Research Institute. He is acting as an expert charging of the research of Optical Transport Network (OTN) technology applications, setting specifications, promoting the deployment of 100G and 400G OTN/WDM technology, and new type optical fiber and network intelligence. He has written 3 books, more than 20 authorized patents, submitted 20 standard manuscripts, and published more than 40 papers. 

Professor Level Senior Engineer,  China Unicom Research Institute

Mr. SHEN Shikui, PhD, Research Institute of China Unicom, Senior engineer, received bachelor's degree from Wuhan University in 2006, and doctor's degree from Beijing Institute of Technology(BIT) in 2011. he is focusing on research, standardization and application of optical fibre/cable, optical module and transport network techniques in China Unicom since 2011, had developed several ITU-T Recommendations and CCSA standards.

Chairman for Technology & Industry,  APNATEL (Indonesian Telecommunications Association)

Commercial Manager for Germanium Products in Europe and Asia,  Umicore

Global Market Manager,  Teijin Aramid

Enrique is a Senior Global Market Manager in Teijin Aramid. In his role he is responsible for the strategy and marketing of a number of markets, including the Telecom (Optical Fiber and Cable) market. Before joining Teijin, Enrique had been working setting up new ventures in different industries. Enrique has a MSc in Applied Physics (Seville, Spain), a PhD in Electrical Engineering (Photonics) by Heriot-Watt University (Edinburgh, UK) and holds an MBA degree from Rotterdam School of Management (Netherlands). During his career Enrique has worked in the UK, Spain and Netherlands, where he is now based. He is married and have two little children.   

Managing Director (SEA, MEA, India),  Inno Instrument
Scott SangGeun Yoo is the Managing Director (SEA, India, MEA) at Inno Instrument, He brings more than 7 years in-the-field experience in FTTx access solutions in Inno Instrument, predominantly from the India market. 

Chief Optical Fibre Scientist,  YOFC

Division Vice President, Product Line Management & Marketing, Optical Fiber & Cable,  Corning

Sharon Bois is the division vice president, Product Line Management and Marketing, Corning Optical Fiber and Cable.

Prior to her current role, Bois served as Heavy-Duty business director, Corning Environmental Technologies; general manager, China, Corning Environmental Technologies; commercial and marketing lead, Corning Pharmaceutical Technologies; and product line manager, Corning Optical Fiber.

Before joining Corning, Bois worked for several manufacturing companies in a variety of different roles including engineering, operations, inventory management, and procurement.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical and aerospace engineering from Princeton University and a master’s degree in technology management from the University of Pennsylvania.

Global Technical Sales Support Manager,  Prysmian Group
Adrian Amezcua Correa Global Technical Sales Support,  Telecom Solutions at Prysmian Group. He received a B.S in Telecommunications Engineering from the National University of Mexico and holds a PhD in Optical Fibres from the Optoelectronics Research Centre at the University of Southampton. He holds various patents in optical fibres and more than 50 publications in the field. In 2008, he joined Prysmian Group Optical Fibre R&D where he worked on the development of optical fibres for telecom and specialty applications. He has had various roles in optical systems product management.