As expected, Mobile Cloud and its implications was a hot topic at Mobile World Congress last month. If you didn’t make it to Barcelona this year, here is my summary of the event. Well, we are getting ready to discuss cloud in our own backyard and have assembled a terrific panel with experts from across the ecosystem.
Mobile Cloud, SDN, and the art of mobile computing
Shankar Chandran, Vice President, Samsung Catalyst Fund,
Mitch Lewis, Vice President, Juniper Networks
Biju Nair, EVP and Chief Corporate Strategy Officer of Synchronoss
Randy Wagner, Executive Director, B2B Sales and Marketing, Verizon Wireless
Location: Columbia Tower Club, Seattle
Date: March 21st
Program: Cloud, SDN, and the art of Mobile Computing
07:30 – 08:30 – Breakfast and Networking
08:30 – 10:00 – Panel Discussion
10:00 – 11:00 – Networking
Registration is open now. First come, first served.
Shankar Chandran is vice president, Samsung Catalyst Fund, at the Samsung Strategy and Innovation Center (SSIC), Samsung Electronics. He is responsible for venture capital investments in cloud infrastructure, core technology and mobile technology. Previously, he was part of the founding team at Panorama Capital and has been an active venture investor for 11 years at Panorama Capital and at JP Morgan Partners. Shankar has held various engineering, business development and management roles at Applied Materials, Inc., and has been granted eight patents as the primary inventor. He also serves on the Advisory Board at the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Santa Clara University. Shankar holds a Bachelor of Technology degree in Metallurgical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, BHU, India, an MS in Materials Science from Arizona State University, and an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Biju Nair has over 18 years’ experience as an entrepreneur and technology industry leader. In March 2011, Mr. Nair joined Synchronoss and serves as the Executive Vice President and Chief Corporate Strategy Officer. In this role, Mr. Nair is responsible for leading the strategic vision of the connected devices and cloud computing for profitable growth of the company’s product portfolio. Prior to joining Synchronoss, Mr. Nair was the Chairman & CEO of Sapience Knowledge Systems, Inc., a venture backed wireless software company (acquired by Synchronoss Technologies in 2011). Previously, Mr. Nair held the position of Senior Vice President & GM of the Connectivity and Security Group at Smith Micro Software (NASDAQ: SMSI) and Corporate Vice President & GM and founder of Mobility Solutions Group at PCTEL, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCTI) which was acquired by Smith Micro in 2008). Mr. Nair also held senior executive positions at SAFCO Technologies and Agilent Technologies.
Mitch A. Lewis is Vice President, WW Partners and Alliances for Ericsson at Juniper Networks, since June 2010. He has over 25 years of experience in the telecommunications industry as a service provider, partner and infrastructure solutions provider. His career started with AT&T and developed with Ericsson, Dilithium Networks and Microsoft including a wealth of experience and expertise acquired while based at various positions in Europe, Asia and the United States. Mitch has served in technical, marketing, sales, engineering and general management positions. His background has been centered in telecommunications broadband, IP and mobile networks; voice, data and multimedia; infrastructure, service layer, cloud and applications development solutions. He has been at the forefront of analog to digital, circuit to packet, copper to fiber and network to cloud based evolutions. He holds an MBA and Bachelor’s degrees from Pepperdine University and Executive Management Program certificates from Harvard and Stanford Universities.
Randy Wagner is executive director, B2B Sales & Marketing-West Area for Verizon Wireless, responsible for area-wide marketing, operations and loyalty for the business sales channel. Randy’s team drives growth in emerging areas including Machine to Machine connections, private networks, cloud and security services. Wagner previously served as vice president, Marketing & Sales Operations-West Area for Verizon Wireless, responsible for area-wide marketing strategy, product management, marketing communications, sales operations, training and telesales. Prior to that, he served as executive director-Indirect Distribution and Area Operations Center for Verizon Wireless. He joined Verizon Wireless in 1994 as manager of Finance in Irvine, Calif. Later he held a variety of finance management roles, including director-Financial Operations and Facilities; director-Compliance; and director-Financial Planning and Analysis. Wagner holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with emphasis in Finance from San Diego State University and a Master of Business Administration from Pepperdine University, in California.