Vancouver, BC, January 25, 2006 - The Wireless Innovation Network of BC (WINBC) today announces it has put together an imposing panel of judges, for its Wireless Innovation Contest 2006 (WIC’06), representing the full spectrum of device manufacturers, carriers, industry analysts, professional services, venture capital, entrepreneur and media categories.
The panel of judges includes:
Tom Nyberg, Senior Manager, Product Management, Nokia Multimedia
Chris Langdon, Director Business and Enterprise Solutions, TELUS
Ray Gilbert, AVP for IT and Enterprise Collaboration, Lucent Technologies
Michael Calyniuk, Partner, Global IT Procurement, PricewaterhouseCoopers
Oliver Starr, EIR, Angel Strategies, CMO, Foldera and blogger, Mobile Crunch and MobHappy
Bill Ray, Analyst, ARC Chart and Contributing Editor, Wireless Business & Technology
Dan Keoppel, Executive Director, Strategic Investments, Verizon
Lee Hancock, Chief Executive Officer and Founder, Go2®
Gummi Hafsteinsson, Product Manager, Google
Chris Shipley, DEMO Conferences / Founder Executive Producer / Guidewire Group
Tom Nyberg, Nokia
Senior Manager, Product Management, Nokia Multimedia
Tom Nyberg leads the Global Product Management function for music focused Multimedia devices, based in Vancouver, Canada. Mr. Nyberg joined Nokia in 1998 and has since been having various responsibilities in Product Marketing as well as customer facing Business Development. During these years he has been working and living in Germany, US and now Canada.
Mr. Nyberg is a graduate of Helsinki University of Technology, where he earned a Master's degree in Supply Chain Management.
Chris Langdon, TELUS
Director Business and Enterprise Solutions
Chris Langdon is the Director of Business and Enterprise Solutions at TELUS responsible for product development and management of wireless data services for the business and enterprise marketplaces. As part of this role, Chris has been instrumental in the launch of TELUS national wireless networks including 1X, EVDO and Wi-Fi Hotspots. Prior to assuming this role, he managed the Product Marketing team responsible for promoting TELUS wireless voice and data services.
Chris has over 15 years experience in the telecommunications industry in a number of capacities including product management, service development, business development and marketing intelligence. He is a graduate of the University of Waterloo and holds an MA in Economics from the University of British Columbia.
Ray Gilbert, Lucent Technologies
AVP for IT and Enterprise Collaboration
Ray Gilbert is the AVP for IT Enterprise Collaboration for the Lucent Corporate IT organization. He is responsible to oversee CIO-IT partnership initiatives with CIO-IT communities and associations, suppliers, customers and other CIO-IT peers in major enterprises. Through this role, Lucent shares its enterprise IT experience and aligns its strategic IT initiatives with suppliers, customers, Bell Labs, Lucent Business Units and Lucent Sales Teams.
Most recently, Ray has been concentrating his efforts on sharing Lucent’s views on the potential and business opportunities enabled by Network Centric IT strategies and services. One area of particular attention has been on the business benefits, plus technical experience of end users who have been trialing new Wireless Data technologies and infrastructures.
Over the last 18 years, Ray has held a number of senior positions with telecom vendors that have involved domestic & international assignments and responsibilities. He supports his corporate strategic role from his home location in Toronto.
Ray has a BASc, MASc and MBA from University of Toronto. He is a registered professional engineer, a member of SIM International (Society for Information Management) & member of the IEEE & other professional societies. He also volunteers time to support teaching initiatives at the University of Toronto Rotman School of Management & participates in various advisory groups for the WINMEC Consortium & Anderson Business School conferences at UCLA.
Michael Calyniuk, PricewaterhouseCoopers
Global IT Procurement Partner
Michael Calyniuk is an Assurance and Business Advisory Leader in PricewaterhouseCoopers’ (PwC) Technology and InfoComm Practice Group in Vancouver and the CIO of the Firm's National Audit and Assurance Group. Michael is also the Global IT Procurement Partner overseeing PwC's global procurement of IT and structuring, vendor governance/relationships. Michael is also President & CEO of PwC Global Licensing Services Corporation, directing a global group on the procurement and management of intellectual property and software licensing. Specializing in the areas of technology, software and infocomm, Michael provides strategic business advisory services to start-up and global technology companies; including alternative structures such as strategic partnering and co-development, raising capital and financing, transitioning R&D initiatives to market, international tax planning and strategic technology contracts. He has extensive experience with global technology procurement strategies for multinational companies, customer/vendor governance and software and intellectual property licensing.
An active member of the technology community, Michael currently a Director of the BC TIA and past Vice Chair of BC Innovation Council and former member of the Premier’s Technology Council. He also was responsible for creating the first BC Techmap profiling growth of BC's technology industry, the release of a second version in February 2003. Michael is also a member of Emily Carr Institute Foundation Board.
Oliver Starr, Angel Strategies and Foldera
Executive in Residence & CMO
Oliver Starr is an Executive in Residence with Angel Strategies, a $300 Million Venture Capital Fund, as well as the Chief Mobility Officer and Director of Business Development for Foldera, a Web2.0 Communications and Collaboration Company
A serial entrepreneur and former professional cyclist who was on the US National Team alongside Lance Armstrong, Oliver’s high energy and voracious appetite for information have been an essential component in his many and varied successes.
Having been involved with computers as early as 1976 Oliver has long been a user and proponent of wired and wireless technology. From using infrared binoculars and radio-telemetry for biological research, to in-ear radios during international cycling competitions to his current work with Hello managing Fortune 1000 company pay phones, Oliver has uniquely broad perspective on mobile technology along with the desire to support its further advancement.
Bill Ray, ARC Chart
Industry Analyst
Bill Ray has been developing mobile applications for over 20 years, on the majority of available platforms; a regular contributor to Wireless Business & Technology Magazine, which he edited for 2 years, and author of 2 books on wireless development, Bill now works as an industry analyst for ARC Chart in the UK and is based in the Highlands of Scotland.
Dan Keoppel, Verizon Communications
Executive Director, Strategic Investments
Dan Keoppel is Executive Director, Strategic Investments for Verizon Communications. In this capacity he evaluates startup companies and is point person for contacting the venture capital community, keeping abreast of major technology and business trends in search of relevant venture prospects for the wireline, wireless, and directory business units. Once ventures are identified, Dan will then liaison between a startup and the appropriate Verizon business unit in order to establish a mutually beneficial commercial relationship. If the business dealings between Verizon and the venture company are significant, Mr. Keoppel will then consider a potential strategic investment in the startup. In addition to venture investing, Mr. Keoppel also evaluates other merger and acquisition and joint venturing opportunities within the Corporate Strategy, Development and Planning organization of Verizon.
Mr Keoppel has been with Verizon and its predecessor companies, Bell Atlantic and Nynex, for 9 years where he has held a variety of corporate development and merger & acquisition positions. Prior to Verizon, Mr. Keoppel worked in AT&T in their mergers and acquisitions department, was controller to AT&T Ventures Corporation, and held various finance positions with Lucent (nee AT&T) Consumer Products.
Born in St. Louis, Missouri and raised in New Jersey, Mr. Keoppel has an undergraduate degree in psychology from Rutgers University and a MBA from Fairleigh Dickinson University.
Although currently based in New York, Mr. Keoppel will move into the Verizon Center in Basking Ridge, NJ, as Verizon moves to that facility towards the end of this year.
Lee Hancock, Go2®
Chief Executive Officer and Founder
Lee Hancock is one of the early pioneers in the Location-Based Services industry, having started go2’s technology development and patent efforts in 1995. He left a successful legal career as a corporate attorney with Allen Matkins Leck Gamble and Mallory, where he was the partner in charge of the firm’s corporate department. In 1998, he co-founded inBuilding Systems Corp., a provider of high-speed internet access for multi-tenant office buildings which was successfully sold in 2000. In 2000, Mr. Hancock received the Orange County California Entrepreneur of the Year award, sponsored by Ernst & Young, CNN and USA Today. Mr. Hancock, who is also a CPA, received a B.S. in Accounting summa cum laude from Southwest Missouri State University and a J.D. cum laude from Southern Methodist University.
Gummi Hafsteinsson, Google
Product Manager
Gummi Hafsteinsson is a product manager in the mobile group at Google. Prior to joining Google, Mr. Hafsteinsson founded and ran a company called Dimon Software. Dimon was a mobile software company focused on mobile enterprise connectivity software, enabling enterprises to access corporate IT systems from any mobile device.
Mr. Hafsteinsson has an MBA degree from MIT Sloan School of Management, and an Electrical and Computer Engineering degree from the University of Iceland.
Chris Shipley, DEMO Conferences
Founder Executive Producer / Guidewire Group
Chris Shipley, executive producer of the DEMO conferences, has covered the personal technology business since 1984 and is one of the top analysts covering the technology industry today. Shipley has worked as a writer and editor for a variety of technology consumer magazines including PC Week, PC Magazine, InfoWorld, Working Woman and US Magazine. She has written two books on communications and Internet technology , has won numerous awards for journalistic excellence, was recently named Host of the Year by Conferenza, and was assigned to Fortune Small Business Magazine's 'most perfect board of directors. Shipley is the co-founder and editorial director of Guidewire Group, LLC, a social media company advancing innovative products into emerging markets.
About WINBC
WINBC (Wireless Innovation Network Society of BC) is the producer of WIC’06. WINBC is the focal point for wireless in BC and a leading association in Canada. British Columbia has a 25-year history of successful wireless design and innovation and has grown to over 225 wireless companies in all areas of the wireless value chain from infrastructure and devices to enabling software, enterprise applications, games and peer-to-peer solutions. Companies include Sierra Wireless, Nokia, Digital Dispatch, Colligo, Air Games and others. To find your wireless partner go to: www.winbc.org. To see if you are eligible for the contest go to www.winbc.org/contest.
For further information please contact:
Asa Zanatta
Public relations, WINBC
tel: 604 408 1389
azanatta@spiritcommunications.ca
www.winbc.org
©2007 winbc. all rights reserved
