Joanna Stern is an Emmy Award-winning journalist and one of the most respected voices in personal technology today. As a senior personal technology columnist for The Wall Street Journal, she blends deep reporting with creativity, producing columns and videos that make complex topics accessible and entertaining. Her upcoming book, I AM NOT A ROBOT, explores the impact of AI on daily life by chronicling a year in which she let artificial intelligence infiltrate nearly every aspect of her world. Throughout her career, Joanna has earned numerous honors, including Gerald Loeb Awards for her innovative journalism.

Allen Huotari is a Senior Principal Architect within the Wi-Fi Architecture group at Comcastwhere he investigates emerging technologies and the corresponding challenges for verifying the benefits of same. Prior to Comcast, Allen was a Technical Leader for Cisco Systems working on both wireless and “no new wires” technologies for residential networking targeted at both service providers and directly to consumers. As a result of these efforts, he was invited to join the Ciscoenterprise Wi-Fi product team where he drove incorporation of intellectual property into products, served as a wireless patent committee member, and authored numerous blogs, white papers, and other presentation media. Prior to Cisco, his career in communications spanned from military satellite (ground/air/sea) to mobile. In his roles at Comcast and Cisco, he has participated in Wi-Fi Alliance and 802.11 and has been privileged to witness and also contribute to pioneering and innovative work for WLAN.

Before joining Charter, Ayham held multiple senior positions at CommScope, formerly the ARRIS Group, where he most recently served as a Director of Business Development & Fellow. Ayham has a proven record of accomplishments in relation to innovation, architecture, research & development, strategic planning, and business development of DOCSIS, HFC networks, and emerging broadband technologies.

Ayham has 27 issued patents and has authored a book about characterizing and mitigating wireless interference in IEEE802.11 WLANs. Ayham is a senior IEEE member and has numerous publications in Wireless and Cable Communications. He received the Multi- Channel News 40 Under 40 award in 2016. He holds a Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering and an MBA.

Dr. Bahman Rashidi is the Head of Cybersecurity and Privacy Research Engineering at Comcast Cable. He holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science and an M.S. in Computer Engineering with a minor in Cybersecurity. With over a decade of experience, his work spans cybersecurity, privacy engineering, AI, and post-quantum cryptography. Dr. Rashidi has authored more than 30 peer-reviewed publications, which have been cited over 900 times. He currently serves as the Co-Chair of the CableLabs Future of Cryptography Working Group on Post-Quantum Cryptography. He also chairs the Post-Quantum Cryptography Tiger Team at the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA). He has presented at leading industry and academic conferences, including Black Hat, RSA Conference, Ai4, and NIST-hosted events.

Chris serves as a Technology Manager within the Infra organization at Meta, where he collaborates with operators globally to enhance the overall Quality of Experience (QoE) for the Meta family of applications.

In his prior role with Meta, as an Engineering Leader and Co-Chair of the Telecom Infra Project OpenWiFi Group, he delivered an open-source SDK for cloud management and device firmware for Enterprise Wi-Fi systems.

With a career spanning over 25 years in the industry, his professional background also encompasses roles as an Engineering Fellow with ARRIS and CommScope in the Network CTO organization, concentrating on DAA network virtualization, and as Chief Innovation and Chief Technology Officer of Incognito Software, where he focused on broadband service activation and device provisioning. Mr. Busch pursued his studies in Computer Science at Athabasca University.

Chris Stengrim is the Vice President of Technology Strategy at CableLabs. In this role he leads a team of innovators and business strategists who conduct strategic assessments of emerging technologies; generate impactful ideas and manage a robustinnovation pipeline; analyze business cases supporting innovation projects; and engageservice providers with techno-economic analysis of wireless, satellite, optical and HFC technologies. Chris is intensely curious about emerging network technologies and identifying growth opportunities to enhance the profitability of service providers.

Prior to joining CableLabs, Chris spent a decade at Time Warner Cable in technology strategy, corporate strategy, and product management with a primary focus on long-term technology planning related to broadband technology and networks. Chris also spent seven years as director of product development and new ventures at PanAmSat, pioneering the development of Internet services over satellite for global ISPs. Chris served five years as a satellite operations officer in the U.S. Air Force, finishing with the rank of Captain and earning two Air Force commendation medals.

Chris has a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics and economics from the University of Notre Dame; a Master of Science degree in management from Troy University; and a Master of Business Administration degree in marketing from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. Chris lives with his wife and two children in Connecticut and enjoys traveling, running, swimming, skiing, and platform tennis.

Christian Welin is the Senior Vice President of Service Reliability and Engineering at Cox Communications. He leads Cox’s network strategy, NOC evolution, and the Data Science and Reliability teams, which are focused on transformative initiatives aimed at elevating service reliability to industry-leading levels. Under his leadership, Cox has reduced impaired or degraded customer experiences by 50% in the first year, with a goal of achieving a 75% reduction by 2026.

With a robust background spanning business, technology, and AI, Christian has a proven record of building high-performance teams to tackle transformational challenges. His innovative leadership style focuses on pushing boundaries, evolving processes, and empowering tier-one talent to deliver results through innovation and optimization. His career includes significant roles at industry leaders such as Deloitte and Amdocs, where he contributed to some of the largest transformation programs in the cable and telecommunications industry.

Christian holds an MBA from Northwestern University (USA) / Bond University (Australia) and Engineering degrees from prestigious universities in Sweden, Germany, and the UK—reflecting his international expertise. He resides in Atlanta with his wife and two children.

Colin Howlett is a technology innovator and broadband industry leader with over 25 years of experience in network architecture, distributed access solutions, and video delivery systems. As Chief Technology Officer at Vecima Networks, he is responsible for defining technology strategy and product innovation, leading a team of product architects to develop next-generation virtualized broadband access, content delivery, and commercial video solutions for operators worldwide.  Colin and the Vecima CTO team are an active participant in CableLabs and SCTE standards and Colin currently sits on the SCTE Board of Directors.  

Craig has worked with Shaw Communications and now Rogers Communications for over 28 years.  During the majority of this time his primary focus has been the Access Network.  He has been involved in all aspects of the physical layer from signal reception through outside plant to home networking, including architecture, standards, product selection and optimization for everything in between.  His last role was leading the Access Architecture and Technology team; developing and advancing the HFC and FTTP physical layer Access Networks. 

Now, working with Rogers his current role is Principal Architect within the Strategy Organization and Industry Standards group.  Tasked with providing technical guidance on industry standards and technology trends by working with industry partners; MSO’s, Manufacturers, Vendors/Suppliers, industry associations and other technology standards and R&D organizations.

As the Senior Vice President of Wireline Networks & PMO, Damian Poltz is responsible for leading Rogers wireline network and technology teams and national program management office. This includes consumer/business technologies, broadband, video, communication, customer equipment, core network and access technologies, as well as wireless, wireline and build programs. His responsibilities include driving cross-functional collaboration around technology strategy, and the modernization and growth of Canada’s largest cable and wireless footprint.

Throughout his 27-year career at Rogers and Shaw, Damian has served in strategic leadership roles including: SVP Wireline Technology & Strategy, VP Technology Strategy & Networks, Director of Network Technology, Sr. Director Communication Systems, Director IP Application Services, and Sr. Manager Video Application Development. Damian is currently serving as secretary on the Board of Directors for the SCTE, as well as secretary of the Cablelabs Technology Committee.

Damian holds an MBA with distinction from Cornell University and Queen’s University, and a B.Sc. in Computer Science from the University of Calgary.

Dave Smith is a senior director at Rogers Communication. In his role, Dave leads the strategy and architecture direction of teams that work to set the vision and direction of our internal data centres, public cloud solutions as well as operational support systems.

Dave has been working in the industry for 20+ years, working in various roles throughout IT and network. He joined Rogers through the acquisition of Shaw in 2023. In both organizations he has been driving to build and standardize on the operational tools that will help the company be more efficient and support new technologies that will be key to success in the future.

Dawit has over 20+ years of experience in building networks and leading teams to achieve the ultimate goal of satisfying customers in a cost-effective manner. As a strong strategic thinker using a data driven approach using he is able to synthetizing a holistic strategy.

Diana Linton is a Director of Engineering in Technology and Strategy Wireline focused on the future of broadband and access network evolution. With a background in RF engineering, she works at the intersection of deep technical analysis and strategic decision-making, helping assess emerging technologies and define practical paths forward.

In addition to her professional role, Diana is an active contributor to industry standards through SCTE, where she helps drive the modernization of technical specifications and test methods. She is passionate about bringing clarity to complex technology decisions and advancing innovative, reliable solutions for the networks of tomorrow.

Don Annett is a Principal Strategist in Rogers Wireline Strategy and Architecture team. He is responsible for evaluation of future wireline technologies with a focus on wireline and wireless convergence. He also participates in leading the Wireline organization through a DevOps transformation and is leading the creation of an innovation in lab Calgary with close collaboration with CableLabs.

Don has 30 years of telecom industry experience across wireless and wireline in manufacturing, R&D, operations, field support, and in the last 12 years with Rogers in technology strategy.

Dr. Alberto Campos joined CableLabs in 2002 and holds the title of Fellow. He has been responsible for the DRFI, DOCSIS 3.0 and 3.1 PHY specifications, and he has conducted seminal work in the areas of Proactive Network Maintenance (PNM), DOCSIS 3.1, coherent optics, dense wireless networks and HFC evolution. Dr. Campos has worked on broadband access networks, covering cable, DSL, wireless and optical transport technologies for 30+ years. A pioneer in his field and the first to earn the title of Fellow at CableLabs, He is recognized for his commitment to inventing the future. He has written numerous publications and is regarded as a “Founding Father of PNM.” He holds over 240 patents granted in the areas of HFC, wireless and optical networks. He was named CableLabs’ “Inventor of the Year” in 2013 and 2016 and received CableLabs’ 2022 Inventor Hall of Fame Award. In 2019 he published the book “Coherent Optics for Access Networks” through the CRC press, year in which he also received CableFax’s “Engineer of the Year” Award.

Dr. Campos holds a Bachelor of Science, a Master of Science and a Ph D. in Electrical Engineering from Northeastern University in Massachusetts.

Elad Nafshi serves as Executive Vice President, Chief Network Officer for Comcast Connectivity and Platforms. In this role, he leads the unified core and access network teams that drive innovation, reliability, scalability, and development across our network capabilities. Elad drives strategy for the nation’s largest gigabit Internet network and is a global leader in 10G technology, which will allow Comcast to deliver multigigabit upload and download speeds to tens of millions of Americans.

Elad joined Comcast in 2005 and has held several network, product development and management roles at Comcast since that time. He has led a number of high-profile initiatives around Next Generation Access Network, Cloud TV, Cloud DVR Interactive Television, Addressable Advertising, Digital Set-Top-Boxes, On-Screen Guides and other key programs.

Prior to joining Comcast, Elad led the product management and development group of RCN Corporation, a regional high speed internet service, digital cable TV, and home phone service provider, where he enabled the then-startup to capture share and consumer awareness against much larger competitors.

Elad currently serves as the Chair of the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers Board of Directors. He graduated from The Buchmann School of Law at Tel Aviv University in Israel with a focus on corporate and international law and also holds a master’s in business from the William E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of Rochester in New York, where he specialized in electronic commerce and finance.

Eric Nachtigall is a Principal Architect in CableLabs’ Advanced Technology Group, where he leads research and prototyping efforts at the intersection of RF and optical systems, wired and wireless networking, and next-generation access technologies.

With over a decade of experience across satellite systems, consumer wearables, and telecommunications infrastructure, Eric brings a rare combination of deep hardware intuition and software engineering fluency to complex systems challenges. His career includes RF and communications systems roles at Lockheed Martin, General Atomics EMS, and Snap Inc., where he led multi-disciplinary teams through design, integration, and productization of advanced, high-reliability RF and wireless platforms.

Eric holds both a B.S. and M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Drexel University, with concentrations in RF hardware design, telecommunications systems, and digital signal processing. He has presented at IEEE conferences and currently holds a patent in wearable device sensing, as well as numerous filed applications in the realms of HFC technology and converged networks. At the 2026 Tech Summit, he continues to push the boundaries of what’s possible in broadband access networks with his contributions to 6 GHz HFC technology.

Gary Koerper has over 25 years’ experience in developing technology and businesses in the wireless communications, semiconductor and media industries. He presently runs Charter Communication’s Emerging Technology and Strategic Development group, a business and technology incubator with broad purview to differentiate and innovate in Charter’s core connectivity business while finding alternate revenue streams. Since joining Charter in 2018, he previously served as Group Vice President, WiFi and Connected Home, developing Spectrum’s Advanced WiFi technology and deploying that service to over 10M customers and $1B in revenue.

Prior to Charter, he was SVP of Video Product Development at Comcast where his team received a Technical Emmy for integrated video and mobile experiences. Prior to coming to network operators, he served as CTO of Motorola Mobility, where he was responsible for the development and commercialization of 3G technology with Verizon, Sprint and carriers around the world. In between senior roles at Fortune 100 companies, he has been a founder and CxO at multiple technology start-ups in wireless, media and semiconductor companies and has served on both private and public company boards.

Koerper holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University and a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from MIT and an MBA from MIT’s Sloan School of Management as an LGO (Leaders for Global Operations) Fellow.

Jacob Malone is a principal strategist and senior director of the Network Demand Strategy team at CableLabs, where he drives strategic insights at the intersection of consumer behavior, technology adoption, and market economics. A recognized authority in broadband demand analysis, he leverages data-driven methodologies to shape the future of connectivity.

With over a decade of specialized expertise, Jacob pioneers research that transforms how industry leaders understand and respond to evolving subscriber patterns. His multidisciplinary approach spans:

• Advanced demand forecasting and trend analysis
• Quantitative valuation of broadband technologies
• Network evolution strategy and implementation
• Data-driven business strategy development
• Consumer behavior modeling and predictive analytics

His forward-thinking research directly influences product development, marketing strategies, and technology roadmaps across the broadband industry. By translating complex behavioral economics into actionable business intelligence, Jacob helps organizations anticipate market shifts and create sustainable competitive advantages.

Jacob holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Georgia, with specialized focus in applied microeconomics and industrial organization. His groundbreaking research has been featured in prestigious academic publications including the Review of Economics and Statistics, Review of Industrial Organization, and Telecommunications Policy.

Jan Neumann is Vice President of AI Technologies at Comcast where he is focusing on a unified AI & data technology strategy across Comcast Cable. He also leads the AI Technology Center of Excellence for Comcast Cable where he is working closely with teams across technology, legal and security to make it easy and frictionless for everyone to develop, deploy and operate safe, secure, and scalable AI/ML solutions that create value for the business.

Before joining Comcast in 2009, he worked for Siemens Corporate Research on computer vision related projects such as driver assistance systems and video surveillance. He has published over 20 paper in scientific conferences and journals, and is a frequent speaker on AI and machine learning. He holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Maryland, College Park.

Jason Page is a Principal Architect at CableLabs, where he focuses on wireless communications, IoT standards, and network API innovation. His current work spans context-aware networking, open-source API development through initiatives like CAMARA, and advancing smart home interoperability through Matter and next-generation wireless technologies. A named inventor on two U.S. patents and published researcher through SCTE, Jason brings nearly a decade of cable industry experience to his role, with deep expertise in cross-functional technology strategy, standards development, and bridging complex systems with business value. He holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from George Mason University.

Jayasheel Shetty is currently serving as Head of Solutions, Mobile Networks, Nokia for US Major customers is responsible for leading RAN wireless solutions catering to a diverse range of operators across various segments in the US with primary objective to ensure connectivity across different landscapes and customer bases including MSO players on 5G RAN solutions.

Jayasheel has over 20 years of global experience in the field of Cellular & Wireless Broadband networks primarily working on the cellular RAN solutions.

You can connect with Jayasheel at:

[email protected]

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayasheel-shetty-45718214/ 

Jeannie Mondrus has been with Charter for six years. She began in Mobile Product and, four years ago, stepped into the role of Director of Self-Install within the Digital Self-Service organization.

With over 20 years of experience in the telecom industry, Jeannie’s career includes roles at AT&T, Cricket, CSG, and Lumen Technology both as a direct employee and as a consultant with Accenture and Slalom. She has held a variety of positions across the customer journey, including eCommerce, Supply Chain, Provisioning, Billing, Agent Desktop, IVR, Call Centers, and Portfolio Management and Delivery.

As Product Lead for SSPP Self-Install, Jeannie oversaw the re-platforming of the Self-Install feature, consolidating legacy systems into a unified platform. She’s championed initiatives to reduce customer calls related to Self-Install, saving millions in operational costs. She’s evolved the Self-Install team to be a data-driven organization, building easy-to-use dashboards that provide insights into activation metrics for modems, routers, receivers, voice, streaming devices and mesh networks. In 2025, she led a company-wide effort to accelerate the set-up process, ensuring Charter remains competitive with products like T-Mobile’s Cellular Provided Internet. Those projects delivered twice their committed benefits.

Outside of work, Jeannie enjoys an active life with her husband, Nathan, and their three teenage sons. She is an avid skier and a passionate runner.

Jeff Leget is Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at CableLabs and President and CEO at Kyrio, and wholly owned subsidiary of CableLabs. CableLabs is a non-profit research & development and innovation lab funded by the global cable industry. Since joining CableLabs in 2015, Jeff’s responsibilities have expanded to include IT, facility, laboratory, data center operations, accounting, finance, and marketing. Jeff’s role also oversees the administration of the CableLabs’ public key infrastructure (PKI). For several years Jeff managed the mid-tier operator relationships prior to taking over as EVP and COO for CableLabs. As the President & CEO of Kyrio, Jeff leads the organization as a growing provider of services for the connectivity industry, including broadband device testing, security analysis and online services.

Jeff oversees operations at CableLabs which include accounting and finance. Jeff’s department is responsible for day-to-day operations and the accurate non-profit financial audits and reporting. The marketing and events team also function in the operations department under Jeff and manage all the strategic outbound messaging and distribution of research and technology materials to both the public and to CableLabs’s members.

CableLabs research is often developed at CableLabs headquarters in Louisville, CO. Jeff is responsible for the laboratories, network, and data centers which provide the foundation upon which CableLabs engineers develop the next generation technologies that broadly support and enable and expand the capabilities for the global hybrid-fiber coax industry. CableLabs laboratories and test facilities certify cable network devices against published specifications and supply the PKI certificates used to ensure the secure transmission of data for all cable modems throughout the world.

Jennifer Froment is a leader in customer intelligence and digital transformation with more than 20 years of experience in the telecommunications industry. She has held leadership roles acrossoperations, giving her a strong understanding of how the business runs end to end. As a SeniorProgram Manager in the enterprise program management office for over a decade, she was responsible for executing the company’s top priorities and strategic initiatives, coordinating high-impact work across all functions of the business.

Today, she serves as Director over Customer Intelligence and Digital Transformation at Sparklight (Cable One). Her work focuses on applying digital innovation to the company’s mostimportant products and experiences, with an emphasis on delivering real, measurable value. She leads with a three-pronged approach: resolving key pain points, building the foundation to scale, and continuously optimizing and transforming the experience.

A core focus area for Jennifer is Customer Self Install. With a background in operations, she has seen the experience evolve firsthand—from a basic fulfillment model, where a technician would drop off equipment, to a more intentional, product-driven, digital experience. Today, customers select self-install as part of their purchase journey, receive curated kits with guided instructions, and are supported through web and mobile experiences designed specifically for them. Her work focuses on treating self-install as a product—using data to understand adoption, identify where customers struggle, and continuously improve the experience by stabilizing what works, building what’s next, and scaling what consistently delivers a better customer outcome.

Outside of work, Jennifer is a mom of six who enjoys traveling with her family, going to concerts, playing piano, and reading.

Joe Keller is a technology executive with more than 29 years of experience in the cable industry. Throughout his career, Joe has led large-scale, transformational initiatives spanning operations, technology, analytics, and AI. Over the past 12 years, Joe has served in multiple leadership positions at Cox Communications, culminating in ownership of Network Analytics and Reliability Enablement. His team’s Service Health framework has enabled rapid implementation of Agentic AI to automate network health profiling, premise profiling, ticket decisioning, and troubleshooting automation.

Joe Madden founded Mobile Experts and has gradually become the industry’s most respected analyst. Over the past 30 years, Mr. Madden has accurately predicted Digital Predistortion, Remote Radio Heads, Small Cells, and 5G Fixed Wireless. He accurately forecasted the failure of femtocells and the slow growth of IoT, vRAN, and Open RAN. He is currently investigating the collision of AI with Mobile Telecom, and he’s making new predictons about the likely outcome.

Joe leads the Mobile Experts team in analysis of wireless communications, AI, and Edge Computing. Education: UCLA and Stanford for Physics and Business. He says that, despite years on the business side of Silicon Valley, he still obeys the laws of physics.

Jon Schnoor is a Principal Architect for CableLabs’ Wired Technologies team, focused on FTTP solutions and the Distributed CCAP Architecture (DCA) Program, including Remote PHY (R-PHY) and Flexible MAC Architecture (FMA) technologies. He leads the FTTP working group and the R-PHYproject developing specifications, solutions and championing the cable industry toward next generation access networks. Jon works closely with cable operators and technology partners to develop and deliver new innovative concepts, designs and strategic initiatives for the cable industry.

Prior to joining CableLabs, Jon was Director of Advanced Solutions Engineering for UbeeInteractive’s Advanced Wireless Gateway Organization. In his role he provided high-level engineering support for customers, direction for the Advanced Solutions Engineering team, facilitated new business development initiatives and supported product management in defining requirements for new cable technologies with customers.

Previous to Ubee Interactive, he was Director of Technical Marketing at Hitachi Communications helping lead the cable industry’s effort with EPON and the DPoE specification. He was a contributing engineer with the DPoE group at CableLabs helping to develop the industry’s first fiber homerun requirements.

With more than 32 years of experience in the cable and telecommunications industry, Jon spent his career in the operator and vendor space with various engineering groups. Jon holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Information Systems from Iowa State University and a Master of Science degree in Telecommunications from the University of Colorado.

John Bevilacqua is a Principal Architect at CableLabs focused on access network technologies including fiber-to-the-premises. John is currently working on several projects aimed at removing the interoperability pain points that CableLabs member operators experience while deploying ITU-T PON-based technologies.

John is a 31 year cable industry veteran who began his career testing proprietary cable modem systems in the pre-DOCSIS days. Since then, John has been involved in the spec development, testing, and deployment of every version of DOCSIS. Prior to working at CableLabs, John spent much of his career working for or consulting to various cable operators with a focus on access network architecture, OSS architecture, and broadband CPE development.

John earned his BS in Aerospace Engineering Sciences and his MS in Telecommunications from the University of Colorado, Boulder. John is a member of the SCTE, IEEE, and the Broadband Forum. He holds numerous patents in the areas of access network technology, traffic engineering, and device provisioning & management.

Josh Redmore is Principal Architect, Wireless Access Technologies at CableLabs (Louisville, CO), where he focuses on inventing the future of Wi-Fi customer experience.

He holds leadership positions in the Wi-Fi Alliance, Wireless Broadband Alliance, and contributes to numerous other standards organizations.

Prior to CableLabs, Josh spent eight years leading a global support organization for Voice over Wi-Fi products, and a further decade in wired networking.

He holds an Engineering Master’s degree from the University of Colorado, has multiple patents in wireless signal identification and optimization, serves on the Board of Directors for the Colorado Science and Engineering Fair, and is CWNE #376.

Justin Colwell oversees Spectrum’s Technology Strategy & Innovation organization, focused on the long-term strategy for the Company’s network, including emerging technologies and incubating new ideas that will drive the business forward. He leads the design for Spectrum’s network architecture, including wired, WiFi and mobile networks, to deliver Spectrum’s seamless connectivity vision.

Justin’s team is responsible for the vision behind Spectrum’s multi-year network evolution project announced in 2022. This once-in-a-generation opportunity to leverage the power of Spectrum’s network will deliver symmetrical and multi-gigabit speeds to customers across the country by 2027, in addition to improved reliability, greater capacity and advanced technology to enhance the overall customer experience.

Originally named Executive Vice President in 2022 to lead Spectrum’s Connectivity Technology organization, Justin previously served as Senior Vice President, Wireless Products, overseeing the Company’s mobile product and device strategy, and developing its converged customer experience between its internet, WiFi and mobile products. He joined Spectrum in 2015 as one of the Company’s earliest mobile-focused employees, helping launch Spectrum Mobile – now the nation’s fastest-growing mobile provider – and leading WiFi product development.

Kathryn Neugent is a Lead Data Scientist on CableLabs’ Network Demand Strategy team, where she focuses on understanding and forecasting network demand and performance. Her work translates large-scale measurement data into practical insights that inform network planning, Quality of Experience strategy, and technology investment.

Karthik Sundaresan, Distinguished Technologist and Director of HFC solutions at CableLabs, is responsible for the development and architecture of cable access network technologies. He is the technical lead and long-time contributor to the family of DOCSIS technologies (D4.0, D3.1, D3.0, RPHY, eDOCSIS, L2VPN, PCMM).  He has pioneered work on Profile management applications (PMA) helping operators optimize their networks. He is focused on MAC and IP layer protocols, with recent research in areas around Latency Measurement, Low Latency DOCSIS, PON technologies, implications of virtualization, wireless convergence, and machine learning on data from cable networks.

Kerry Baker leads Ookla’s research and content efforts in North America. He has over 20 years experience in the telecom industry, primarily at T-Mobile studying network performance benchmarking and customer experience. Kerry also has founder’s experience with four technology-related startups. Kerry holds masters degrees from the University of Washington in Business and International Political Economics.

Kevin Kraus recently retired from Fortune Brands Innovations, Inc. to do business development work for both the CSA Alliance and Thread Group. Kevin was also on the CSA Alliance, Z-Wave Alliance, and Thread Board of Directors for many years before retiring from full-time employment. 

Kevin was the Vice President of Technology Alliances and IoT Business Development for Fortune Brands. Prior to moving to Fortune Brands as part of the Yale and August North American Business Divestiture, Kevin was Vice President of Technology Alliances and IoT Business Development for ASSA ABLOY Smart Residential Group.

In his previous position Kevin was Director of Technology and Partner Integration and was responsible for defining key product technologies and developing partner integration strategies and tools to support seamless lock integration. Kevin also served as the Director of product development for Yale Residential Locks, responsible for product strategy, product development, and technology. 

Prior to joining ASSA ABLOY/Yale in 2009, Kevin spent 11 years as Director of product management electronic locks for the Schlage Residential Business, and 7 years with Honeywell’s Security Group as product manager for Honeywell Residential Security Products. 

Kevin has extensive experience in the IOT, Residential Security, and Home Automation Business and is regarded as a subject matter expert in residential electronic locks, residential security and home automation systems and residential systems communication technologies. Kevin has majors in both Electrical Engineering and Business Administration.

Kevin Noll is Principal Architect at CableLabs, where he collaborates with industry experts to advance global FTTP architectures and strategies. A strong advocate for expanding broadband access in underserved communities, he brings 30 years of experience across both the operator and vendor sides of telecommunications. He holds an MSEE from Villanova University, patents in multimedia distribution, fiber optics, and network protocols, and contributes to standards development in IEEE, ITU-T, CableLabs, and the Broadband Forum.

Mark Bridges is the Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at CableLabs, a non-profit research & development and innovation lab funded by the global cable industry. He leads CableLabs’ long-term vision by driving the development of technologies critical to the industry’s evolution including wired, wireless, network convergence and security. His areas of expertise include research and development of software-defined networks, network as a service/platform and cloud native architectures.

Mark previously served as the Vice President of the Future Infrastructure Group as part of the Office of the CTO at CableLabs, where he spearheaded strategic planning for the future of access network technologies and software platforms. With nearly 30 years of experience in communications and software development, Mark is a seasoned industry professional with a deep understanding of the communications and technology industries. His tenure at CableLabs began in 2010, and over the years, he has made significant contributions to the company’s technological advancements and strategic direction.

Prior to joining CableLabs, Mark was Director and Chief Architect at Avaya where he was instrumental in defining the technology strategy and architecture for Avaya Global Services’ next-generation service delivery platforms. Before joining Avaya, Mark was the founder and CEO of VCS, Inc., a systems integrator, and platform development company focused on creating business operations and service delivery support systems for various industries, with a particular emphasis on OSS/BSS platforms for the telecommunications industry. He led VCS to a successful merger in 2001.

Mark studied Information Systems at the University of Georgia where he met and married his wife of over 30 years. During his leisure time in the fall season, Mark can be spotted on Saturdays at his favorite breweries in his hometown, Longmont, Colorado – always cheering for his Dawgs!

Mark Poletti is the Sr Director of Mobile Networks and Principal Architect at CableLabs; a non-profit R&D organization that is dedicated to creating and driving technologies and innovations critical to the cable industry’s technology roadmap, including 5G, 6G, Wi-Fi 7,Wi-Fi 8 and spectrum policy. In this role, Mark is responsible for wireless R&D activities across fixed, mobile, and emerging wireless technologies for the secure delivery of high-speed data, video, voice, and next-generation services.

Prior to CableLabs, Mark built, managed, and operated 2G, 3G and 4G networks for US WEST, T-Mobile, and Clearwire. He has also been addressing mobile operator design, operations, and performance issues of 2G, 3G, 4G, and satellite networks for over 30 years with companies such as ViaSat, Clearwire, ATECS/Centerline, U S WEST/Qwest, and General Electric.

Mark holds a M.S. in Telecommunications from University of Colorado, B.S. Physics from SUNY Buffalo and has multiple issued and pending patents.

Mark Walker is Vice President, Technology Policy at CableLabs. He joined CableLabs in 2015 and leads the Technology Policy team which focuses on spectrum policy, broadband policy, cybersecurity and supply chain security policy, privacy, artificial intelligence, and energy efficiency and sustainability policy. Prior to joining CableLabs, Mark was the Deputy Chief in the Telecommunications Access Policy Division of the Federal Communications Commission that led the policy team for the E-rate Program (more formally known as the “Schools and Libraries Universal Service Mechanism”). While at the FCC, Mark also served as a Legal Advisor to the Chief of the Wireline Competition Bureau as well as an Attorney Advisor on the E-rate and Rural Health Care teams. Prior to joining the FCC, he worked in private practice representing clients in telecommunications and other closely regulated industries. Mark holds a Bachelors degree in Engineering Science and Mechanics from Penn State University, an MBA from Lehigh University, and a JD from the University of Colorado.

Maryam Niknamfar is a Distinguished Engineer at Charter Communications, specializing in optical transport architecture and nextgeneration access networks. She holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering/Telecommunications and has over 18 years of experience across research, industry, and academia.

Maryam has designed and scaled national backbone, regional, and metro DWDM transport networks and led C+L spectrum expansion initiatives that doubled usable fiber capacity. She has defined coherent transport evolution for 400G ZR+, 800G, and nextgeneration 1.6T platforms. Maryam leads Charter’s nextgeneration PON strategy and associated PoCs, has published more than fifteen papers, including journal articles, and has presented at conferences such as OFC.

Matt Petersen serves as GVP of Technology Strategy and Innovation Wireline. Matt is responsible for architecture, standards and strategy of the wireline network. Over the last 19 years at Charter, Matt has been one of the key contributing individuals for the development of the National Backbone, DOCSIS technologies, Commercial Solutions, and New Product offerings.

Prior to Joining Charter, Matt has held numerous positions at Adelphia, Patriot Media and Comcast where he made significant contributions to the engineering and deployments of DOCSIS technologies and regional transport networks.

Matt holds a Bachelor’s in Management Information Systems from the University of Buffalo. He is a graduated from SCTE Tuck Executive Leadership Program. In 2021 Matt was awarded by Cablefax Engineer of the year for his work on DOCSIS 4.0, Distributed Access Architectures and Generic Access Platform Enclosure (SCTE 273).

Prior to NCTA, Love co-chaired Invariant’s Technology and Competition government relations practice. Love previously served as a senior policy advisor to then-Senator Cory Gardner and managed the Senator’s work on the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee. He also worked for Senator Gardner in the House of Representatives. Love received a Bachelor of Arts from Bowdoin College in Maine.

Moutaz Elkaissi is a Vice President of Internet Product at Spectrum where he leads a group data professionals and product managers focused on Connectivity Reliability, Speed test platforms, Marketing leadership and claims, Network Intelligence, Network Evolution and Government affairs compliance. During his time at Spectrum, Moutaz spearheaded many large programs,most notably the Network Intelligence program which established many firsts and curated many data sources widely used at Spectrum today.

Moutaz has been working in the industry for 21 years. Before joining Charter, Moutaz was with Echostar for 12 years, where he led the first data analytics team providing an emphasis on data driven decisions and assisting the software development team with insights into customer impacting issues. He created the inventory RMA system tracking insights from Dish’s returns and launched the Field Install testing program identifying many production level software issues before their release into the field.

A graduate of the University of Colorado, Moutaz earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science and holds a Minor in Mathematics. He completed his master’s in organizational change and Project management and Leadership at Regis University.

Nader is a Distinguished Engineer at Comcast, where he is leads artificial intelligence, edge compute and automation.

Prior to joining Comcast, Nader was the Chief Technology Officer of Americas at Technetix, responsible for technology strategy and AI. His career also includes significant contributions at ShawCommunications, where he was responsible for access architecture and technology in conjunctionwith data sciences, making key advancements in proactive network maintenance, profilemanagement application, and DOCSIS 4.0 development.

Nader has a background in mathematics, engineering and systems architecture, with numerous papers andpatents spanning from DOCSIS 4.0 to applications of deep reinforcement learning and queueing theory intelecommunications.

He is responsible for the modeling, planning and execution of largescale network upgrades. With an extensive background in operations, Nathan brings a unique perspective to understanding Midco’s network.

Nathan began his career at Midco in 2005 as a retention and acquisition manager and has since progressed through a variety of operations and analytics leadership roles. He holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from Northern State University.

Paul Henkelman is an AI architect focused on building large-scale AI systems for practical, real-world use. His work spans AI operations, forecasting, network optimization, recommendation engines, and agentic systems. With more than 25 years of experience across communications, media, and technology, he helps turn AI concepts into reliable production systems.

Pawel Sowinski is a highly accomplished technology leader with over three decades of experience advancing wireline technologies. Since joining Charter Communications in 2022, Pawel has served as a Principal Architect, steering the evolution of cable systems, services, and ongoing wireline technology development. His expertise is widely recognized across the industry.

Prior to Charter, Pawel was a System Architect at Cisco Systems, where he played a pivotal role in the development of CableLabs DOCSIS specifications. He also contributed significantly to Remote PHY technology and the architecture of Cisco’s flagship cable industry products. Earlier, Pawel made his mark as Principal Engineer at Broadband Access Systems, architecting the industry’s first carrier-grade CMTS.

His commitment to innovation is further demonstrated by his portfolio of 12 issued and pending patents. Pawel holds an MSc in Electrical Engineering and an MSc in Computer Science from the Technical University of Gdansk in Poland.

Rafael Celedon is a Senior Principal Engineer at AOI, specializing in the design of Quantum Bandwidth Amplifiers, Nodes, and R-PHY devices, with a focus on the extended spectrum standard, DOCSIS 4.0. His extensive expertise covers a wide range of RF design, hardware, and software engineering, spanning from frequencies as low as KHz to as high as GHz, as well as Fiber Optics. He has a track record in various RF components, including RF filter design, RF Power Amplifiers, Low Noise Amplifiers (LNAs), Analog and Digital transceivers, and FPGA design.

Rafael’s 30 year career includes 11 years at Ericsson Research Canada and Ericsson Inc. in the USA, where he contributed to the design of telecommunications equipment for cellular networks, including Radio Base Stations and Antenna systems. In 2007, he joined Scientific Atlanta, which later became a part of Cisco, where he worked on cable distribution systems, including amplifiers, nodes, CMTS (Cable Modem Termination Systems), and R-PHY devices. In 2015 he joined AOI, leading the design of the Quantum Bandwidth products.

Randy Levensalor is a technologist at CableLabs, a non-profit research and development laboratory supported by the global cable industry. As a principal member of the Future Infrastructure Group (FIG), he engages in various disciplines. His responsibilities include developing edge computing, wireless-wireline convergence, and Network Function Virtualization (NFV) architectures. Additionally, he focuses on the evolution strategy of Hybrid Fiber-Coaxial (HFC) networks to ensure that the industry can meet its customers’ future needs. Randy was recognized in Fierce Telecom’s “The top 25 movers and shakers in the telecom industry.”

Prior to joining CableLabs, Randy gained extensive experience leading R&D, DevOps, and product management across several Hewlett-Packard divisions focusing on successfully delivering its public cloud, Linux and converged management solutions.

Randy is a long-time supporter and contributor to open source communities. Currently, his open source activities focus on CAMARA, where he is helping to lead multiple APIs and contribute to several others. He has also worked with the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF), Linux Foundation Networking, OpenStack, and OpenDaylight, contributing to important industry standardization initiatives, including ETSI NFV. As a subject matter expert, Randy has spoken on a wide range of topics at numerous conferences, such as the Open Networking Summit, OpenStack Summit, OPNFV Summit, Big Communications, SCTE Cable Tech Expo, NFV World Congress, SDN World Congress, and Linux Conference Australia, among others. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from Virginia Tech.

Rich Aleong serves as Vice President, Global Reliability Experience at Comcast. He leads an organization spanning strategy, data science and analytics, and product innovation and development — utilizing telemetry to identify and diagnose reliability issues, driving close collaboration with product and engineering teams to improve built-in product reliability, and designing and developing products that proactively communicate the right solutions to customers.

Rich joined Comcast in 2015 and has led operational improvement programs and new product launches, including the first cross-service product, Universal Caller ID. Prior to joining Comcast, Rich spent over a decade at Accenture — a majority of that embedded at Comcast — helping the organization deploy the Xfinity WiFi hotspot network, driving nationwide broadband product launches including Comcast’s first Wireless Gateways, and coordinating large-scale network migrations.

Rich holds a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from Penn State University and a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from Swarthmore College.

Rich Compton is a Distinguished Engineer at Comcast, where he leads the architecture and engineering of DDoS mitigation solutions for the largest network in North America. He has worked in the cable industry since 2002, building and securing large-scale networks through multiple generations of Internet growth and threat evolution.

Rich has deep expertise across DDoS defense, routing security, and network security architecture. He holds multiple patents and has authored numerous technical papers contributing directly to the evolution of Internet standards and operational best practices.

Throughout his career, Rich has focused on protecting high-capacity, globally distributed networks against advanced adversaries at Internet scale. His work spans both theoretical protocol design and practical, production-hardened security systems operating in some of the most demanding environments in the industry.

Dr. Howald has over 35 years of technology and executive experience in commercial and military communications systems.  He is currently a Comcast Fellow, focused on the evolution of cable systems and services, future network architectures, and emerging broadband technologies.  Rob has held similar roles in technology, management, and strategy at ARRIS, Motorola, and General Instrument.  Outside of the cable industry, Rob was Vice President of Engineering at Xytrans, specializing in millimeter wave technologies for cellular backhaul and people screening for commercial asset protection and homeland security applications.

Dr. Howald has taught graduate courses in communications and wireless systems engineering, and has published and presented hundreds of technical papers related to cable technology and communications systems in industry and academic conferences and journals. He has a BSEE and MSEE from Villanova University, a Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering from Drexel University, and a Master’s of Business Administration (MBA) from DeSales University.

Ryan is an accomplished technology leader with more than 25 years of experience in the telecommunications industry across Europe and North America. His deep expertise in both business and residential network solutions enables him to deliver strategic insights and drive business growth while maintaining an unwavering focus on customer experience.

Originally from the UK, Ryan now calls Evergreen, Colorado home, where he lives with his wife and their two daughters. A natural fit for the Colorado lifestyle, he spends his free time mountain biking, snowboarding, and hiking throughout the Rocky Mountains.

Prior to NCTA, Love co-chaired Invariant’s Technology and Competition government relations practice. Love previously served as a senior policy advisor to then-Senator Cory Gardner and managed the Senator’s work on the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee. He also worked for Senator Gardner in the House of Representatives. Love received a Bachelor of Arts from Bowdoin College in Maine.

As a senior member of the Strategy team, Sanjay partners with the organization’s and member’s innovation and R&D groups on technical, competitive and economic analyses. His areas of focus include Wireless (Wi-Fi, 5G, Fixed Wireless Access) and Wired-Wireless Convergencewhere he leads CableLabs Convergence Program as GM, working closely with members, vendors and CableLabs subject matter experts.

Before joining CableLabs in 2014, Sanjay led product and strategy for Comcast’s wholesale services business unit. Prior to that, he held several roles in finance, product, strategy and corporate development for Level 3 Communications. In addition, Sanjay has worked as a Certified Public Accountant, holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance and a Master of Business Administration from the Kellogg School at Northwestern University.

Shea currently serves as Director of Connectivity Products at GCI, where she leads the product team responsible for internet, WiFi, and wireless product offerings across residential and smalltomedium business. She owns product strategy, roadmap, and lifecycle management, with a particular focus on customer experience and the metrics that drive loyalty and reduce churn.

Previously, Shea held various leadership roles at Charter Communications, including Director of Product, where she led the development and commercialization of Charter’s 5G data network. Shea holds a bachelor’s degree in Finance from the University of Denver and is originally from Austin, Texas.

Steve Arendt has worked as a software leader, architect, and developer and as a research scientist for 34 years across multiple industries. Currently he is a Distinguished Technologist and the Vice President of the Advanced Technology Group (ATG) at CableLabs, He spearheads ATG’s innovation efforts in Wi-Fi, AI/ML, User Experience, and next-gen broadband delivery. Steve is particularly interested in the application of AI/ML to Wi-Fi networks.

Prior to joining CableLabs, Steve founded and ran Sunrise Software LLC, a systems integrator and custom software development firm with clients across multiple diverse industries including cable broadband, geophysical exploration, and manufacturing. He also served as a research scientist for NCAR, the University of Colorado, and Colorado Research Associates.

Steve Arendt holds a PhD in Physics from the University of Chicago as well as an MSEE/BSEE from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Dr. Zhensheng(Steve) Jia is a Fellow and Director of Advanced Optical Technologies at CableLabs, where he leads strategic research and innovation in optical communication systems and broadband networking. With over 20 years of experience, his expertise encompasses coherent optics, digital signal processing, optical access networks, fiber sensing, radio-over-fiber, and converged wired and wireless broadband technologies. In recent years, he has taken a leading role in advancing coherent optics standards and enabling interoperability for access networks.

Dr. Jia is a Technical Editor for IEEE Network. He previously served as Subcommittee Chair for OFC and currently serves on the technical committees for ICC 2026, OECC 2026, ACP 2026, and OFC 2027. He is also a member of the IEEE Photonics Society Fellow Evaluation Committee.

Dr. Jia has authored or co-authored over 220 peer-reviewed journal and conference papers, one book, and eleven book chapters, and is a frequent invited speaker at international conferences, webinars, and workshops. He holds more than 200 U.S. patents and international patents, and is a Fellow of both Optica and IEEE.

Steve Sigman is a 28 year cable industry veteran who has held positions that cover the entire breadth of the access network. He is currently the Director of Product & Business Development at Harmonic working with customers on innovative tools that help them operate their networks. Prior to Harmonic Steve spent 27 years at Comcast.

Tapan Dandnaik has 26 years of experience in the cable industry and has served as our Senior Vice President, Operations, Product Strategy and Consumer Experience since May 2023. In this role, Dandnaik has senior responsibility for managing Mediacom’s day-to-day operations and guiding the company’s strategic direction for future growth, product and service offerings and customer experiences with an unwavering commitment to the customer. In addition, Tapan will also be responsible for strategy, product development, and driving growth for Mediacom’s mobile business. Prior to that time, he was our Senior Vice President, Customer & Financial Operations since July 2008, our Group Vice President, Financial Operations since July 2007 and our Vice President, Financial Operations since May 2005. Before joining MCC, Mr. Dandnaik served as Director of Corporate Initiatives, Manager of Corporate Finance and as a Financial Analyst for RCN from July 2000 April 2005. Prior to that time, Mr. Dandnaik served as a Product Engineer for Ingersoll-Rand in India. Mr. Dandnaik was the recipient of the National Cable & Telecommunication Association’s Vanguard Award for Young Leadership in 2012 and serves on The Cable Center Customer Care Committee.

Todd Bryan has 25+ years experience as a strategy consultant and executive, focusing on Software and SaaS, Digital Media, Networking Hardware, Consumer Electronics and Durables, and Telecommunications. As a Principal Strategist on the CableLabs Technology Strategy team, Todd develops techno-economic insights for CableLabs members, focused on wired network technologies.

Previously, Todd was Managing Partner of Velotech Strategy, a boutique consultancy based in Hong Kong, and has held global leadership positions on corporate strategy teams at Philips, Adobe Systems, and Cisco Systems. Todd has also worked as a Project Leader with Boston Consulting Group in San Francisco and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, as an Equity Research Analyst at Morgan Stanley in Singapore, and as a telecommunications strategy consultant in Beijing, China.

Todd holds a BS from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a MS from the University of California at Berkeley, where he was a National Science Foundation scholar, and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University.

As Vice President – WiFi Product Management, Tommy oversees the Product team for Spectrum Mobile WiFi Network (residential homes, SMB locations, commercial venues, and aerial). His team also has Product responsibility for Speed Boost, Smart Home (including Thread, Matter and anything IoT related) and privacy/security as it relates to residential and SMB customers, including Spectrum Security Shield.

Previously at Comcast, Fad served as Vice President and General Manager of Connected Home IoT, where he led IoT product strategy. He also held roles as Vice President of Multifamily Product Management, launching successful WiFi and IoT products, and as Vice President of Business Integration, where he contributed to significant revenue growth and optimized performance. 

In addition to his work in the cable industry, Tommy co-founded and sold an Austin-based fitness software startup to Under Armour in 2015. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Business, and a minor in Computer Science from the University of Texas at Austin.

Venk Mutalik is a Comcast Fellow working on optical technology and strategy. In Comcast, Venk has pioneered continuous and pervasive monitoring of all optical assets, developed bi-directional Coherent optical links and introduced innovative optical fiber technologies and construction techniques across FFTH,  access and metro networks.

In his career, Venk has pioneered research into Multi Wavelength Networks, Optical non-linearities, OBI mitigation in FTTH networks and introduced several key innovations into Cable Networks over the last 2 decades. Venk holds 30 patents and has published more than 30 papers at various industry forums and peer-reviewed journals.

Previously, Venk worked as Engineering Fellow and VP of Technology and Strategy at ARRIS. Venk has worked as Chief Technologist at C-COR and as Technical Director at Philips Broadband.

Venk has a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Connecticut and an MBA from Syracuse University.