Members Only:
Learn about the Forum
LinkedIn

Join

Join

Forge tech specs, share best practices & drive the broadband market. Join the Broadband Forum now. Join

Forum Directory

Biographies

Tom Starr, Chairman & President, Broadband Forum Board of Directors; AT&T, Lead Member of Technical Staff

Tom Starr serves as Broadband Forum's Chairman & President, and has served as a member of the Broadband Forum Board of Directors from the inception of the Broadband Forum in 1994 to the present. Tom Starr is a Lead Member of Technical Staff in SBC Laboratories in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. Tom is responsible for the development and standardization of new local access technologies for SBC's network. These technologies include ADSL, HDSL, and VDSL. From 1988 to 2000, Tom has served as Chairperson of ANSI accredited standards working group T1E1.4 which develops xDSL standards for the United States, received the Committee T1 Outstanding Leadership Award in 2001, and now serves at ATIS-NAI Vice-chair. Tom participates in the ITU SG15 Q4 group on xDSL international standards. Tom is a co-author of the books "DSL Advances" published by Prentice Hall in 2003, and "Understanding Digital Subscriber Line Technology" published by Prentice Hall in 1999. Tom previously worked 12 years at AT&T Bell Laboratories on ISDN and local telephone switching systems. Twelve US patents in the field to telecommunications have been issued to Tom. Tom holds a MS degree in Computer Science and a BS degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Illinois in Urbana, IL.

Marcin Drzymala, Vice President, Broadband Forum Board of Directors; Telekomunikacja Polska

Marcin Drzymala holds a Master of Science degree in Telecommunications from the Warsaw University of Technology. He has worked for Telekomunikacja Polska since the beginning of his professional career in 2003. Working in the TP R&D Centre, Access Systems Division, he has been focused on DSL access systems from the beginning. Starting from the position of lab engineer, through the role of test software developer, he has become the manager in charge of DSL systems evaluation and deployment.

In these years Marcin assisted TP business units in deployment of first ADSL2+ services, as well as assured technical expertise in DSL layer for first IPTV roll-outs. He currently oversees equipment evaluation and qualification on the corporate level, participating in several transversal and international projects.

Since 2004 his work has been closely related to the Broadband Forum activities, especially the Testing & Interoperability Working Group, to which he currently contributes.

Marcin is the winner of the 2007 year edition of the TP Innovation Contest "Telekreator".

Andrew G. Malis, Vice President, Broadband Forum Board of Directors; Verizon Wireless

Andrew G. Malis holds the position of Director, Packet Network Architecture at Verizon Communications. He has been active in wide-area data networking and telecommunications for over 30 years, beginning with the ARPANET, the foundation of today's Internet. He has also held senior engineering positions at Bolt, Beranek, and Newman; Ascom Nexion; Cascade Communications; Ascend Communications; Lucent Technologies; Vivace Networks; and Tellabs. His current responsibilities include Verizon's packet network architecture and evolution, standards participation, and vendor consultation.

He served as President and Chairman of the Board of the IP/MPLS Forum, and as the MPLS Forum's founding Technical Committee Chair, has chaired a number of working groups in the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and the ATM Forum, and is a veteran participant and award recipient in other standards bodies and industry consortia. He has written, edited, and otherwise contributed to many standards documents in these organizations, including 30 IETF RFCs. He has also chaired and spoken at numerous industry conferences and events. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science and Applied Mathematics at Brown University, and his Master of Science degree, also in Computer Science and Applied Mathematics, at Harvard University.

Frank Van der Putten, Treasurer, Broadband Forum Board of Directors; Alcatel-Lucent, Standards Manager

Frank Van der Putten was born in Aalst, Belgium in 1963. He obtained an Electronic Engineering Degree in Communication Techniques from the Ghent University in 1986 and a Business Management Degree from the Leuven University in 1991. In 1986, he joined the Ghent University Communications and Information Transmission Laboratories to work on image processing.

In 1988, he joined the Alcatel-Lucent Research Center to continue image processing and evolved into home networking and DSL access technologies. From 1994, he was involved in the DAVIC standardization activities, where he chaired the physical layer working group until end 1996. Since then, he has been involved in DSL standardization within the ANSI (T1.413-1998 editor), ETSI, ITU-T and the Broadband Forum. He is currently serving as Alcatel-Lucent Standards Manager for wired access networks, as ITU-T ADSL recommendations editor, and as Treasurer and member of the Broadband Forum Board of Directors.

David Sinicrope, Secretary, Broadband Forum Board of Directors; Ericsson

David Sinicrope is currently a Senior Manager leading wireline standards activity at Ericsson's IP and Broadband Division. His current focus is standardization and strategic product management in the areas of IP, MPLS, PWE3 and Carrier Ethernet and their use in current and evolving networks. His career includes over 20 years of data and telecommunications experience in standardization, product management, architecture and system design.

David currently serves as a member of the Broadband Forum Board and as a Vice-Chair of the IP/MPLS & Core WG. David served as the Vice Chairman of the IP/MPLS Forum Board, and was also Chair of the Applications and Deployment Working Group, a post held since 2002. Prior to PA IP and Broadband (formerly Redback Networks), Mr. Sinicrope was with Ericsson IP Infrastructure Inc. (formerly Torrent Networks) as a systems architect leading MPLS development. Before joining Ericsson, he was with Virata Inc. as a Product Manager and was also a Principal Engineer at Lucent Technologies/Ascend/Cascade Communications where his focus was on ATM and Frame Relay core switching architecture and development. From 1988, he was with IBM Networking Systems where he was responsible for ATM, Frame Relay and ISDN architecture and development for IBM's SNA and routing products.

Peter Adams, Broadband Forum Board of Directors; Adtran

Bio coming soon.

Kevin Foster, Broadband Forum Board of Directors; BT Head of Standards

Kevin is currently responsible BT’s multi-million pound technical standards development programme which directly influences the work of over 80 technical specialists and standards development experts in across BT.

Kevin has over 24 years experience in the design and development of wireline digital transmission in BT’s metallic access network and international telecommunication standards. He is recognised internationally for his contributions to wireline DSL standardisation and has published many technical papers and contributed to several books on aspects of DSL engineering. During his career he has been active in DSL standardisation in ETSI (TM6), ETSI/CENELEC JWG , FSAN, ITU-T (SG15/Q4), ATIS NIPP NAI and the UK NICC.

After 6 years in the UK defence industry, Kevin joined BT in 1984 and initially worked on the design of BT’s ISDN U interface transceiver with Mitel. Subsequently he was involved in the design, development and international standardisation of wireline DSL transceivers (HDSL, ADSL and VDSL).

Kevin was responsible for the introduction of HDSL and ADSL technology into BT's access network in and has played a leading role in the evolution, standardisation and regulation of broadband access technologies for BT's 21st Century Next Generation Network. He was instrumental in aligning the North American and European requirements for the standardisation of the next generation of Very high-speed DSL technology.

Latterly he has been responsible for the innovation behind the launch of BT’s DSL Max product, which has brought much higher broadband speeds and improved quality of service to wholesale and retail customers in the UK. He was part of the team that was awarded the BT Best Innovative Commercial Idea in 2005. He has an active role in helping BT to reduce its carbon footprint and firmly believes ICT standards have a significant role to play in combating the effects of climate change.

Kevin is a Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of the Institute of Engineering and Technology (formally the IEE). He holds an MSc in Telecommunications Engineering (with distinction) from the University of London, a BSc (Hons) in Electrical and Electronic Engineering (2:1), and a Diploma in Industrial Studies from Loughborough University. He is also a member the IEEE and a member of the Broadband Forum Board of Directors.

Sultan Dawood, Broadband Forum Board of Directors; Cisco Systems

Sultan Dawood is a Sr. Marketing Manager at Cisco Systems focused on IP/MPLS and Packet Transport technologies and solutions. Sultan has accumulated over 15 years experience in the telecom and data networking industry and has held various senior level positions in product management, product marketing, engineering and business development. Prior to Cisco Systems, Sultan held various senior positions at Hammerhead Systems, Motorola, 3COM, ADC Telecommunications and Litton Systems. Sultan has worked very closely with service providers and enterprise customers helping them build their network infrastructures while introducing new technologies to them. Sultan has worked with various Layer 2/3 technologies like ATM, Frame Relay, Ethernet and IP/MPLS.

Sultan earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia.

Christophe Alter, Broadband Forum Board of Directors; France Telecom, Fixed Broadband Networks Standardization Manager

Within the Strategic Marketing department of France Telecom, Christophe Alter is member of a division dedicated to international standards and industry relationships. He is responsible for France Telecom Group' strategy regarding fixed broadband networks standards.

Since he first joined the Broadband Forum in December 2004, Christophe Alter has been an active contributor in the Architecture & Transport Working Group. He currently serves as a co-editor of the Working Text 145 "Multi-service broadband network functional modules and architecture", and as a member of the Board of Directors.

Christophe Alter worked at Orange Labs from 2000 until 2007, where he was responsible for network architecture designs in a number of projects, including WIFI hotspots and France Telecom’s first pilot deployment offering triple play services to residential customers over ADSL access and Ethernet based aggregation. He also served as member of the board and chair of the architecture Task Force of the European collaborative research project "MUSE" - MUlti Service Everywhere.

Christophe Alter is an engineer of Ecole Centrale de Lyon, graduated in 2000.

George Dobriwski, Broadband Forum Board of Directors; Huawei Technologies, Inc., Senior Analyst

George is involved in Broadband Networking corporate standards activities, product planning, and providing industry leadership in the Broadband Forum. In addition to standards, activities include keeping a pulse on technology trends and service provider/operator needs associated with fixed wireline and wireless networking, home networking CPE needs, and evolution towards broadband convergence. Leveraging Huawei's worldwide position in broadband wireline access (DSL, fiber), wireless, and core network technology deployments enables complementary business unit requirements and understanding of convergence constraints for Telco's.

Previous to Huawei, George has worked for chipset vendors (Ikanos/Conexant), was CTO of startup (Ficon Technology) which was acquired, conducted work for Telco's via Bellcore, and as a systems vendor at Bell Labs involved in research and development of advanced communications systems technologies and their deployment in large scale Telco networks. These experiences provide a broad perspective of the technical and economic challenges faced by different communication industry segments.

In parallel with corporate responsibilities, George has been an industry technology advocate holding leadership positions in standards development organizations. This has included previous Chairman of the Board and President of the Broadband Forum, President of The ATM Forum and a Board of Director, and was Chairman of the ATM Forum Worldwide Technical Committee during the 1993-1998 timeframe. George has also had leadership positions in the development of national and international broadband networking standards involving North American T1S1.5 and ITU-T respectively.

Co-author of two books: "ATM and SONET Basics," and "Principles of Signaling for Cell Relay and Frame Relay". George is a member of the IEEE and has authored numerous articles and conference papers. George holds an M.S.E.E degree from Northwestern University and a B.S.E.E. degreee from Illinois Institute of Technology, and Assoc. Engineering Technology from New Hampshire Technical Institute.

Les Brown, Broadband Forum Board of Directors; Lantiq

Bio coming soon.

Greg Bathrick, Broadband Forum Board of Directors; PMC Sierra, Strategic Marketing Activities

Greg Bathrick has been involved with the Broadband Forum since March 1997 and has served on the Board of Directors for 9 years. In this time, he has also served as Co-chair of the Forum's BroadbandHome and Operations and Network Management Technical working group since 1998.

For PMC Sierra, Bathrick is involved in strategic marketing activities. He has extensive product experience in the networking and broadband market segments with a solid record of delivering network technology to broadband system vendors and network carriers. He has worked with several access and home network technologies including DSL, PON, WiFi, Ethernet and fixed mobile. He has also held product management and engineering roles with Texas Instruments, Nokia, Alcatel, Lucent and GTE; as well as earned a patent for improved techniques for video deployment.

In parallel with corporate responsibilities, he has had leadership positions in the development of broadband networking standards with IETF and OpenView Forum. He holds an Bachelors Degree of Engineering from UNM and Masters of Business Administration from Cornell University.

Mauro Tilocca, Broadband Forum Board of Directors; Telecom Italia, Project Manager, Wireline Access Innovation

Mauro Tilocca graduated in electronic engineering at the Politecnico of Turin in 1994. He joined CSELT, former Telecom Italia’s R&D center, the same year dealing with transport network aspects. He has been also an ETSI technical editor.

Since 1998 Mauro began working in the access network department with a main focus on xDSL. He has been involved in the specification and implementation of Telecom Italia’s DSL validation framework, lab facilities and in the scouting and qualification of DSL technologies and commercial products. He collaborated with chipset vendors within framework projects and was in charge of Telecom Italia’s Independent Test Lab third-party service. He currently manages a project supporting the engineering of Telecom Italia’s broadband network and the NGN2 platform. Mauro is responsible for the interoperability and assessment of DSL products, for the engineering of evolutionary infrastructural components for FTTB deployment, and participates in the definition of standardization strategies.

Gavin Young, Broadband Forum Technical Committee Chair; Cable & Wireless Worldwide

Gavin Young was a founding director of the Broadband Forum and served on the board of the Forum for six years. Gavin has previously led the Network Migration and VDSL working groups within the Forum and is currently overall technical chairman of the Broadband Forum.

Gavin is originally from the Isle of Wight. He received the B.Sc. degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University College of Swansea, Wales, in 1985, and the M.Sc. degree in Communications Engineering from the Imperial College of Science and Technology, London University in 1986.

From 1986-2000 he worked at BT, first in the Laboratories then named Technical Area Leader for BT's Copper Access team covering all DSL technologies before taking over leadership of a new Access Architecture & Design team within BT. This team covered IP and ATM aspects of access systems (copper, radio & fibre) together with local loop unbundling issues.

Gavin joined AdEvia in 2000, and subsequently was promoted to CTO where he led the design of pan-European broadband networks. He then moved to Bulldog Communications (now acquired by Cable & Wireless) where he has held a variety of responsibilities from heading product development through to network operations and CTO. Gavin is currently heading the engineering team focusing on the design and architecture of the national broadband network and associated network products.

Yue Chen, Broadband Forum Marketing Committee Chair; Juniper Networks

Yue Chen was a founding engineer of two successful startup companies, Arris Communications, and Redstone Communications. Redstone Communications was acquired by Siemens in 2000 to form its U.S. subsidiary, Unisphere Networks, which was later acquired by Juniper Networks. Prior to Redstone, Yue developed networking equipment for Nortel/BNR, Motorola Codex, Wellfleet / Bay Networks, and Cascade Communications.

Yue holds Master of Science in E.E. from Polytechnic University, Brooklyn, New York, and Bachelor of Science in E.E. from Zhejiang University, Hanzhou, China. With over 16 years of industry experience, he actively participates and contributes to Broadband Forum Architecture and Transport working group.