CEE 2019 GCCM - BERLIN 14th & 15th May

Based at Lago di Como in Italy, VSC provides strategic advisory services in M&A, Business Development & Media for the telecommunication industry. Over the last 25 years, Erik developed extensive expertise and deep domain knowledge working at major telecom companies. His international career includes senior & executive level positions. Over the years, Erik has been a regular speaker & moderator at major international telecom conferences.

Isabelle is President and Founder of HOT TELECOM, one of the most innovative and creative telecom research and consulting companies in the industry. HOT TELECOM has been supporting operators, regulators and investors on a global basis for over 14 years, more particularly on the subjects of International and wholesale.

More recently, Isabelle has been working with many of the world's global wholesalers and service providers to help them define their transformation strategy. She has published a number of articles and reports on the subject and has spoken at numerous conferences to share her views on the future of the wholesale business.

Isabelle holds a Bachelor degree in Engineering, an MBA in Finance and has over 20 years working globally.

An expert in wholesale voice and SMS messaging with over 20 years’ experience in the telecom industry as former VP of Sales & Carrier Relations at tyntec, one of the largest A2P SMS service providers globally and as Regional Manager at Verizon where he headed up a team responsible for international voice services in Europe. José also previously managed operator relations in Central and Southern Europe for Netsize, a Gemalto company. José holds a degree in business administration from the Wolfgang-Goethe University in Frankfurt a. M.

Specialties:
Launch SMS services / Shift from Voice to Messaging / A2P SMS Monetization / MNO revenue assurance / SMS platforms / P2P SMS Cost optimization / Training Sales and Carrier Relations / Wholesale Voice / VoIP / Integration of Operators, Carriers, Aggregators into value chain of OTT services / Off-net connectivity for OTT services.

Mrs. Schönborn studied Computer Science at the Berlin Technical University and worked as a businesswoman since being a student. She founded and raised an IT-Consulting Company in 1994, a town-planning and smart city company in 1999 and an innovation and digital transformation consultancy in 2012. 

After working with the newest technology trends for over 25 years, now Mrs. Schönborns focus is on empowering the  digital readiness. She works as a consultant for the Management to find new Business Models and empower the employees for the change process. She leads towards a new vision, sets up the Digital Office and she is one of the few experts that train the Chief Digital Officer (CDO) in leading the digital transformation. Mrs Schoönborn loves to think different, out-of-the-box, unconventional and lateral to find new insights and solutions for processes and the way people collaborate. easily, agile and successful.

Fabian Teichmueller leads Partnerships for Communications Products & Services for DACH, Central & Eastern Europe, Russia and Italy. Since joining Google in 2010 he worked in various marketing roles as well as leading Android Partnerships for the UK.

Julia Lehmann is a pioneer of Digital Transformation and has executed more than 100 digital projects across many industries over the past ten years. She has participated in and managed projects with leading brands, including DAX 30 companies. As Founder of OnFore she is helping customers with the strategical and technical development of digital business models and products, specialised in the area of AI and Cognitive Computing.

OnFore has built the first chatbot for WhatsApp Business in Germany and expects a reduction of up to 70% of services costs through automation while improving customer experience.

Since 2019 Julia is also a lecturer for Digital Marketing & Management (MBA) at the University for Applied Sciences in Nürtingen.

Surash leads the RealNetworks business in EMEA and has over 25 years of experience in telecommunications. Prior to joining RealNetworks, Surash worked at mGage, the global mobile engagement provider, where he held roles of Chief Strategy officer as well as COO for Europe.  Surash was also previously instrumental in helping Velti through its meteoric growth and NASDAQ listing. Surash has worked for KPMG, Accenture, O2 and BT in various consulting and business development positions. Surash has an MBA from London Business School and a BEng(Hons) in Electrical & Electronic Engineering from Brunel University.

Miguel started in 1999 as a developer and in 2002 he co-founded an MSP in West Africa. In 2007 he also co-founded what would be the first Wi-Fi ISP in Cape Verde. Five years later, Miguel accepted the invitation from Ezelink Telecom in Dubai, to revolutionize the company strategy in the Intelligent Hotspot, IoT and Smart City solutions as Director of Technology.

Afterwards, since 2015, Miguel has been working in Silicon Valley and been involved in several projects to help Service Providers monetize their voice business. Currently, he is Vice President of Product Line Management for Applications at  Enghouse .

As Director Solutions Engineering, Thomas Boele is responsible for all activities covering pre-sales and solutions engineering in conjunction with the development and implementation of customer projects in the area of digital communications and customer engagement for Twilio in Europe and the Middle East and Africa. With more than 30 years of experience in technical development and digital transformation, both on the hardware and software side, Thomas Boele is a proven expert in strategic consulting for the implementation of successful IT projects and building high-performing solutions engineering teams.

Marc is the CEO of Polygravity, a high performance and high-security blockchain-based transaction network for enterprise use. Together with its partners, Polygravity is bringing wholesale billing to the next level of accuracy, efficiency, and trust. Marc is an entrepreneur who, previously to building startups, held several top-level positions in successful tech ventures, and led a platoon as an officer in the Swiss Army. He studied business at the University of St.Gallen.

Sam Barker is a Head of Analytics & Forecasting with Juniper Research. Sam’s focus areas lie across IoT & M2M and Telco Service Provider streams, covering key research topics including, mobile messaging, mobile voice, A2P messaging, 5G and Virtual Reality. He previously worked as project support analyst for a major online retailer, planning, forecasting, and reporting on budgets for large company projects.

Frank Fager, now the owner of Fager Consulting and working for a joint group of fiber operators in the Nordics under the brand name “Easy Fibre” joined the telecoms industry 20 years ago. Initially assisting mobile operators with equipment choices. Early 2000 Frank was appointed to build the wholesale arm of a newly founded fiber operator in Denmark and remained there for 15 years with the focus of attracting both OTT’s and traditional telecom operators to Denmark/Northern Germany and Sweden. The company was hugely successful and was in 2016 acquired by EQT, where after Frank formed his own consultancy.

Frank holds a Bachelor Degree in Exact Sciences from the University of Copenhagen and a Master Degree in Engineering from the Technical University in Copenhagen.

Supporting Telefonica's operating businesses across our global footprint. Helping to secure the networks, monetise Telefonica's share of the growing global A2P market and enrich the messaging portfolio withnew products and services such as RCS.

Bianca has been with Deutsche Telekom for the last seven years and currently works on the development and evolution of communication products and Rich Business Messaging. She is a conversational enthusiast with a broad understanding of the customer impact and business benefits that RCS can deliver. Bianca has experience in both large, multi-national and small-medium enterprises in a variety of roles including sales, marketing and product management.

Ruth Welter joined Colt in 2001 and is now Sales Director Wholesale DACH. She is responsible for managing Colt’s business with Wholesale and reselling partners in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Ruth’s team fosters the company’s relationships with national and international carriers, WAN and network providers, data centre providers, internet exchanges and Voice partners from the Unified Communications and IN business sector.

Ruth has held a number of roles at Colt, before which she worked at BT (Germany) GmbH & Co. oH and Arcor AG & Co. KG (now Vodafone).

Mark Stewart is the CEO, Director and Co-founder (2012) of Internet Mobile Communications Ltd (IMC). Mark and his team developed and delivered IMC’s Bank of Telecom® business proposition – an online automated voice and SMS trading platform with same day settlements - that has revolutionised international voice telecoms by offering a unique blend of Telco and Fintech. It is currently being used by over 1100 global carriers today with an average of 30 joining every month.

Mark started his career over 30 years ago at BT and then Cable & Wireless PLC where he held senior commercial roles before moving to Hong Kong Telecom where he was responsible for managing corporate customers.  Mark was a founding Director of Storm Telecommunications in Europe and the CEO of Advantage in Australia, which he took public. Mark then established TelAsia selling to BNS (now Daisy) where he was COO.

Mark is passionate about service innovation and in late 2018, along with his team, commercially delivered to market the world’s first regulated, Blockchain-powered international settlement service called BoTCoin® Market, which is set to be one of the most significant service introductions to date at IMC, serving not just the Telco industry, but any B2B organisation that needs to settle internationally.

Mark graduated from the University of Greenwich, London in Electronics and Communications Engineering and holds an MBA from University of Strathclyde, Scotland. Mark was a founding member of the City of London Entrepreneurs Guild and is based at the IMC’s UK headquarters.

He commenced with e-shelter in October 2011 and is responsible with his team for Carrier - Sales, Purchasing and Developments. Jens has an extensive amount of experience in International Sales having worked for euNetworks, Vanco, Sita S.C., Colt Telecom and Deutsche Telekom AG in Germany, and as Consultant in Madrid, Spain.

Jens holds a Telecommunication Engineering Degree which he obtained in Germany and has over 20 years’ experience working in the Telecommunication and Data Center Industry.

John enjoyed more than 25 years in Tech working for telecom technology and managed transport service providers in International Sales and Business Development generating new revenue streams, usually from scratch. His international experience includes acquiring business in West, Central and Eastern Europe, USA and Middle Eastern markets, also Asia. Large network of contacts in these regions. 

Fabrizio Salanitri is CEO and founder of HORISEN AG, Swiss software company with 17 years’ long experience in telecommunication software and application solutions. Fabrizio’s in depth knowledge and experience in SMS business resulted in state-of-art SMS Platform, cloud based and carrier neutral suite for A-Z SMS Wholesale business.
During his career, he’s been working with companies and industries of all sizes. Therefore, all HORISEN’s products and services are perfect for both enterprise and retail customers – and all of them have one thing in common: they are designed professionally and they are meeting the highest production quality and standards.

Christian Backe joined Digital Realty in November 2018 as an Account Director for Sales, looking after German customers in the Telecom sector. Prior to joining Digital Realty, Christian worked with the European Fibre Networks Provider euNetworks for almost four years as a Sales Intern, Account Manager, and Account Director.

The earlier part of his career was spent with Magneti Marelli in their Working Student Powertrain Division of Sales and as a Project Assistant for the German-Mexican Chamber of Industry and Commerce in Mexico City.

He holds a Bachelor of Applied Science degree in International Industrial Engineering from Fachhochschule Wiesbaden.

After joining Expereo 11 years ago and setting up the first international Expereo office in Singapore back in 2008, Sander now works out of the HQ in Amsterdam as the Chief Commercial Officer. His team is spread out globally across 5 offices. Before joining Expereo Sander worked out of Australia for BT Global Services and Infonet Services Corp. His telecom career started in 1997 with Unisource Business Services and AT&T Unisource in Europe. Nice to know fact: before Sander went into telecom he was a helicopter pilot.

Nic is a technology entrepreneur and CEO with proven experience in building strategic and long-lasting business relationships in international markets throughout Europe, Middle East and Asia. Relationships he still has today.

He founded, and grew, SLA Digital to an award-winning business that generated significant services revenues whilst attracting some of the best technologists in the mobile industry. His team subsequently decided to pivot the business to one that was focussed on delivering digital services - specifically carrier billing.

After securing significant service agreements with one of the largest mobile operators in the industry, he went on to secure carrier billing contracts with MNOs in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. With a strong team in place and the foundations that enable the carrier billing business to scale he decided to exit SLA at the end of 2018 to focus on forming a 'new technology centric business'.

With real-life experience in what’s needed to scale a business, he has led and contributed in all business disciplines; including sales, marketing, finance, operations & technology. He recognises the value of a strong brand and the contribution Image, Identity & Reputation brings.

With a good understanding of AI, ML, IoT, 5G, Blockchain & DLT he recognises the disruptive potential that these new technologies will bring.

Bernhard Pusch is Head of Global Internet Strategy at Telstra.

Based in Paris, Bernhard is responsible for developing and driving Telstra’s Internet business and peering activities globally. He joined Telstra in 2005, and prior to his current role was responsible for developing the wholesale business in Continental Europe, the Middle East and Africa as well as with European OTTs.

Bernhard has more than two decades of experience in IT and telecoms in Europe and Asia, spanning roles in sales, product management and marketing. Before joining Telstra, Bernhard was Sales Director for Global Accounts at Nortel, based in Hong Kong.

In November 2019 Bernhard was elected to serve on the supervisory board of AMS-IX (Amsterdam Internet Exchange) for 3 years.  He is currently a member of the finance committee there supervising reporting and forecasting processes.

Experienced Managing Director with a demonstrated history of working in the information technology and services industry. Strong business development professional skilled in Data Center, Management, Solution Selling, Pre-sales, and Software as a Service (SaaS). Previously worked as Chief Sales and Marketing Officer (CSMO) for CPU 24/7 GmbH between 2016 – 2018 And Director Corporate Sales - Country Manager Germany & Austria - VP ECS at Interoute Germany GmbH between 2004 – 2016.

Ulf likes tying things together, creating synergies between departments or companies, developing new opportunities, and keeping an eye on the big picture. Specialties: peering; strategic network and capacity planning, implementation, and migration; project management; traffic engineering; Juniper, Cisco, and UNIX system administration; keen interest in sales, marketing, and finances.

Bruno Coindre is the Vice President, Messaging Solutions for iBASIS and responsible for the development of the messaging solutions portfolio for the company worldwide.

Bruno has a wealth of experience in telecom, fintech, and entrepreneurial tech ventures. Efficiently identifying high growth opportunities and fast-changing environments, Bruno joined iBasis post its acquisition by Tofane Global and set the strategic path and commercial strategy to broaden and enhance iBASIS’ messaging suite.

Prior to joining iBasis, Bruno was an early investor and Chief Operating Officer for TransferTo in Singapore, now known as Thunes and DTone. In this role, Bruno oversaw day-to-day business functions while managing cross-functional business units. He contributed to TransferTo's journey from 2009 to 2018, from a small organization out of a single location with USD10 million annual revenue, to a profitable and solid business of more than 120 people, with 3-digit millions in revenue, and a global presence across all continents. He co-sold the company to Ingenico (ING:PA) in 2010 and co-led an MBO in 2013, keeping the company operating under the public standard.

Prior to TransferTo, Bruno co-founded Mobile 365 in 1999, later acquired by Sybase in 2006 and by SAP in 2010, and now known as SAP Digital Interconnect.

Bruno holds an Engineering degree with honors from Ecole Centrale d’Electronique in Paris, France.

As a sourcing manager, Othman is exploring the world of Telecoms to find new partners for Legos. Graduated from Audencia, his career has led him from Morocco to France and, now, Spain. As a former analyst and consultant, Othman is always curious about new market trends and constantly looking for buying and selling opportunities.