Speaker Biographies

Speakers

Moderators

Mignon Clyburn

Commissioner, FCC

Mignon L. Clyburn was nominated as a member of the Federal Communications Commission on June 25, 2009, and sworn in August 3, 2009. Her term runs until June 30, 2012.

Commissioner Clyburn has a long history of public service and dedication to the public interest. Prior to her swearing in as Commissioner, Ms. Clyburn served for 11 years as the representative of South Carolina's sixth district on the Public Service Commission of South Carolina (PSC). She was sworn in for her first term in July 1998, and was subsequently reelected in 2002 and 2006. She served as chair of the PSC from July 2002 through June 2004.

During her tenure at the PSC, Commissioner Clyburn actively participated in numerous national and regional state-based utility organizations. Most recently, Ms. Clyburn served as the chair of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners' (NARUC) Washington Action Committee and as a member of both the association's Audit Committee and Utilities Market Access Partnership Board. Commissioner Clyburn is also a former chair of the Southeastern Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (SEARUC).

Commissioner Clyburn was elected to the South Carolina PSC following 14 years as the publisher and general manager of The Coastal Times, a Charleston-based weekly newspaper that focused primarily on issues affecting the African American community. She owned and operated the family-founded newspaper following her graduation from the University of South Carolina, where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Banking, Finance & Economics.

For well over two decades, Commissioner Clyburn has been actively involved in myriad community organizations. Prior to her appointment at the FCC, Commissioner Clyburn served on the South Carolina State Energy Advisory Council, the Trident Technical College Foundation, the South Carolina Cancer Center Board, the Columbia College Board of Visitors, the Palmetto Project Board (as secretary/treasurer) and has enjoyed previous service as chair of the YWCA of Greater Charleston and on the boards of Reid House of Christian Service, Edventure Children's Museum, Trident Urban League and the Trident United Way. In addition, Commissioner Clyburn was previously appointed to the South Carolina Education Oversight Committee's Common Ground School Improvement Committee and the Edventure Museum's South Carolina Great Friend to Kids Committee. She also is a Life Member of the NAACP, a member of The Links, Inc. and the SC Advisory Council of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, and was past president of the Charleston County Democratic Women and Black Women Entrepreneurs.

Commissioner Clyburn has received a number of honors and awards, including being selected as the 2006 James C. Bonbright Honoree (awarded by the Southeastern Energy Conference, Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia) and receiving the 2007 Lincoln C. Jenkins Award for business and community contributions presented by the Columbia (SC) Urban League.

Helen McDonald

Senior Assistant Deputy Minister, Spectrum, Information Technologies and Telecommunications, Industry Canada

Helen McDonald is Senior Assistant Deputy Minister, Spectrum, Information Technologies and Telecommunications at Industry Canada. She oversees Canada’s transition to a networked economy by promoting the development and use of world class information and communications technologies for the economic, social and cultural benefit of all Canadians. Responsibilities include the Communications Research Centre, spectrum management, advocacy and support to the ICT industry, the rural broadband program, and policies in support of electronic commerce. She is also responsible for preparing Canada’s digital economy strategy.

Maximiliano Salvadori Martinhão

Telecommunications Secretary, Ministry of Communication, Brazil

Maximiliano Salvadori Martinhão, Secretary of Telecommunications for the Ministry of Communications since June 2011, was born in 1971 in Campinas/SP, Brazil.

He is a Telecommunications Engineer by the National Institute of Telecommunications – INATEL and Master in Telecommunications Management by the University of Strathclyde, United Kingdom. He is also a Law graduate from the Institute of Superior Education of Brasília – IESB.

Before working at the Ministry, he was the General Manager of Certification and Spectrum Engineering at Anatel – the Brazilian Telecom regulating body – having also acted in other management and advisory roles in the Agency since 2005. He began his career as a Systems Planning Engineer in TELEBRÁS. Maximiliano has also acted as the representative for the Brazilian Administration in several national and international telecommunications forums.

Francois Rancy

Director, Radiocommunication Bureau, International Telecommunication Union

Mr. Rancy was elected by the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference in 2010 to the post of Director of the Radiocommunication Bureau (BR) of the International Telecommunication Union.

As Director, Mr. Rancy is responsible for the management of the Radiocommunication Bureau which organises and co-ordinates the work of the Radiocommunication Sector whose aim is to ensure the rational, equitable, efficient and economical use of the radio-frequency spectrum and the geostationary satellite orbit.

Previous to taking up his duties at the ITU in January, 2011, he was Director General of the French Agence nationale des fréquences. Since 1995, Mr. Rancy has served as the head or deputy head for national delegations at many ITU conferences and meetings.

Mr. Rancy graduated from Ecole Polytechnique in 1977 and from Ecole nationale supérieure des télécommunications in 1979.

Gary Epstein

Chair of Incentive Auction Taskforce, FCC

On April 17, 2012, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski welcomed Gary Epstein back to the FCC as Senior Advisor and Chair of the Commission’s Incentive Auction Task Force.

Chairman Genachowski said, “I’m very pleased to welcome Gary back to the Commission. Gary is one of the country’s top experts on media and communications law and policy, with deep experience in the key areas needed for incentive auctions to succeed. I look forward to putting his management experience and substantive expertise to work as the Incentive Auction Task Force carries out its vital responsibilities to unleash more spectrum for mobile broadband and help address the looming spectrum crunch.”

Before rejoining the FCC, Epstein was the Managing Director and General Counsel of the Aspen Institute International Digital Economy Accords (IDEA) Project, a year-long project designed to identify ways to promote innovation, market access opportunities and promote the free flow of communications across borders on an open Internet.

Epstein was the founder and Global Chair of the Communications Practice Group of Latham & Watkins, a national and international law firm. For 25 years, he was the Global Chair of the Communications Practice Group. He founded and led the firm's Telecommunications Law Practice. His practice focused primarily on advising companies on United States regulations of telecommunications, satellite and broadcast providers. He also advised non-US governments and investors on privatizations and restructurings of telecom sectors. Epstein advised companies on such policies as US ownership restrictions and authorizations for international services.

Epstein also was team leader of the Economics and International Trade Team of President Barack Obama's Transition Team and as Executive Vice President of SkyTerra Communications, an advanced satellite company developing an integrated satellite-terrestrial communications network. Epstein also served as the Digital Television Coordinator and as Chief of the Common Carrier Bureau at the Federal Communications Commission.

Epstein graduated from Lehigh University with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering, with highest honors. He graduated from Harvard Law School with a JD, with honors. He is married to Jeralyn Epstein and has two children.

Luis Lucatero

Chief of Regulatory Policy, Cofetel

Luis Lucatero is the head of the Telecommunications Regulation Research Unit of the Mexican Federal Telecommunication Commission since July 2011. Considering the time evolution of smartphone price erosion, computing processing power, and traffic patterns, Mr. Lucatero has applied an assumption of recurrent congestion risks with 100% mobile internet penetration as a basic paradigm for spectrum management in Mexico. In the last five years, Mr. Lucatero has actively advocated for network-crunch-proof spectrum management throughout the world, and since September 2010, following the 9th APT wireless forum meeting, Mr. Lucatero has actively worked for the global harmonization of the 700MHz band following the APT model. Mr. Lucatero studied semiconductor physics at Hokkaido University in Japan and laser physics and nonlinear optics at Ecole Polytechnique, France. Before joining the Mexican Federal Government, Mr. Lucatero worked at Alcatel-Lucent in France for 12 years where he held various positions including research scientist, network development engineer, technology marketing, technical sales, network financial analysis, and global government affairs.

Pearse O'Donohue

Head of Unit, Radio Spectrum Policy, European Commission

Pearse O'Donohue is responsible for the development and implementation of policies for efficient spectrum use and a coordinated approach to frequency management in the EU. This also involves the development of spectrum harmonisation measures in the electronic communications field and in other internal market sectors such as transport and research. He is Chairman of the EU Radio Spectrum Committee.

Prior to taking over his current post in June 2008, Pearse O'Donohue was the Assistant to the Director-General of DG INFSO (Information Society and Media). Before that, he was Deputy Head of the Unit responsible for monitoring and enforcing implementation of the EU regulatory framework in electronic communications, where he dealt amongst other things with spectrum authorisation and broadband access issues.

Pearse O'Donohue began his career in the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs, from which he was posted to the Permanent Representation of Ireland to the EU in Brussels. In 1991 he was appointed Assistant Director of the Brussels office of the Irish Business & Employers' Confederation and in 1995 he joined the European Commission.

Karl Nebbia

Associate Administrator, Office of Spectrum Management, NTIA

Karl Nebbia is the Associate Administrator of the Office of Spectrum Management within the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). In this capacity, he leads spectrum management for the executive branch agencies and manages engineering, frequency assignment, IT, policy, emergency planning and, strategic planning functions. Recent efforts have focused on President Obama’s call to identify within 10 years 500 megahertz for wireless broadband. In March, NTIA released its review of the 1755-1850 MHz band, concluding that the entire 95 MHz could be made available for wireless broadband.

Previously, he served as the Deputy Associate Administrator for Domestic Spectrum Management, acting as the focal point for development of domestic policy and coordination of spectrum issues with the FCC. In this capacity, he also chaired the Interdepartment Radio Advisory Committee (IRAC), an advisory committee with radio spectrum managers from 19 executive branch agencies. The longest standing federal advisory committee in the United States, the IRAC serves as the primary mechanism for frequency coordination with U.S. government users.

Mr. Nebbia has also extensive international experience as the program manager coordinating the participation of NTIA staff and the U.S. federal agencies in international spectrum management fora, particularly International Telecommunication Union (ITU) activities such as the ITU Plenipotentiary and Council, the ITU-R study groups, the Radio Advisory Group, the Radiocommunication Assembly, World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC), and ITU Development Sector regarding spectrum management.

Mr. Nebbia, a 1974 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, joined NTIA in 1983.

Sonia Agnese

Regulatory Evolution Director, Telecom Argentina

Sonia Agnese is responsible for regulatory evolution and strategy of Telecom Argentina Group, specifically covering convergence regulation and spectrum issues. With over 10 years experience in Telecom, she has developed a particular specialisation in telecommunications regulation. She participates in several international forums, including ITU, CITEL, European Union Parliament, Ahciet, Mercosur, Spectrum Management Forum, Telecom Regulation Forum . She previously worked as a senior consultant at Arthur Andersen and at Deloitte. Sonia has an accounting and economics degree and holds an MBA from CEMA University, Buenos Aires.

Amit Nagpal

Partner, Aetha Consulting

Amit Nagpal advises fixed and mobile operators, regulators/government bodies, financial institutions and equipment manufacturers on a wide range of commercial, technical and regulatory issues. In particular, Amit Nagpal assists organisations with commercial & technical due diligence, radio spectrum policy development and spectrum valuation and auction support. Prior to founding his own consulting company, Amit was a Senior Partner at Analysys Mason, a specialist telecoms strategy consultancy, where he advised on several multi-billion dollar M&A and debt financing transactions as well as leading numerous high-profile regulatory studies. In the area of spectrum management, Amit's experience has included:

* leading high-profile studies for the European Commission (harmonised approach to the digital dividend, introduction of spectrum trading)

* supporting spectrum users (e.g. O2, KPN, UPC), industry bodies (e.g. GSM Association, UMTS Forum, TETRA Association) and regulations (e.g. Ofcom in the UK, NITA in Denmark, MinEZ in the Netherlands) on major policy issues such as (i) the future demand for spectrum e.g. for wireless broadband services (ii) liberalisation of mobile spectrum/GSM licence renewal and (iii) the award of the digital dividend (800MHz) and 2.6GHz bands.

Amit is able to bring a global perspective to his work having undertaken projects for clients in Europe, North America, Middle East, Africa and Asia.

Francesco Ricci

Manager, Analysys Mason

Francesco has extensive project experience in due diligence of fixed and mobile operators, next-generation access (NGA) business planning and spectrum valuation. His work spans more than 30 markets.

Francesco recently led the valuation workstream of the Swiss and Irish (ongoing) multi-band spectrum auctions on behalf of two established operators. Previously, he assessed and developed numerous capital expenditure plans for mobile operators in developed and developing markets in the context of due diligence, business planning and licence acquisition projects.

Examples of recent projects:

· led the valuation workstream on behalf of two established operators in the Swiss and Irish multi-band spectrum auctions

· managed the successful buy-side due diligence of Polkomtel on behalf of Deutsche Bank and Credit Agricole

· built the BU-LRIC cost model for local-loop unbundling (LLU) on behalf of Telecom Italia

· undertook a thorough business planning exercise on behalf of a greenfield mobile operator in South East Asia to help the client make a decision on acquiring a 3G licence.

William H. Grigsby

Director of Telecommunications Policy for Mexico, U.S. State Department’s Office of International Communications and Information Policy

Mr. Grigsby services as the lead negotiator for U.S. delegations in the U.S.-Mexico bilateral telecom relationship.
Mr. Grigsby spent 31 years at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) before starting at his current position 13 years ago. Mr. Grigsby served for 30 years in the FCC’s field service and was director of the FCC’s San Diego District Office for approximately19 years. During his tenure in San Diego, Mr. Grigsby primarily focused on the domestic and bilateral regulatory regimes involved in resolving hundreds of cases of cross-border radio interference between U.S. and Mexican stations in dozens of radiocommunication and broadcasting services. At the State Department, Mr. Grigsby has been involved in creating policy level solutions to the causes of the interference throughout the border area, with a particular focus on improving cross-border compatibility for the public safety and the commercial sectors.

Mr. Grigsby received a Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Tennessee Technological University in 1973 and is a certified Spanish/English translator. In 2009 Mr. Grigsby received a Superior Honor Award from the State Department for advancing improvements in emergency and law enforcement communications between the United States and Mexico to benefit the safety and security of all the citizens of both countries.

Peter Cramton

Professor of Economics, University of Maryland

Peter Cramton is Professor of Economics at the University of Maryland. Since 1983, he has conducted research on auction theory and practice. This research appears in the leading economics journals. The main focus is the design of auctions for many related items. Applications include spectrum auctions, electricity auctions, and treasury auctions. On the practical side, he is Chairman of Market Design Inc., an economics consultancy founded in 1995, focusing on the design of auction markets. He also is Founder and Chairman of Cramton Associates LLC, which since 1993 has provided expert advice on auctions and market design. Since 2001, he has played a lead role in the design and implementation of electricity auctions in France and Belgium, gas auctions in Germany, and the world’s first auction for greenhouse gas emissions held in the UK in 2002. He has advised numerous governments on market design and has advised dozens of bidders in high-stake auction markets. Since 1997, he has advised ISO New England on electricity market design and was a lead designer of New England’s forward capacity auction. He led the design of electricity and gas markets in Colombia, including the Firm Energy Market, the Forward Energy Market, and the Long-term Gas Market. Since June 2006, he played a leading role in the design and development of Ofcom’s spectrum auctions in the UK. He has advised the UK, the US, and Australia on greenhouse gas auction design. He led the development of the FAA’s airport slot auctions for the New York City airports. He received his B.S. in Engineering from Cornell University and his Ph.D. in Business from Stanford University.

H Nwana

Group Director, Spectrum Policy Group, Ofcom, U.K.

Prof H Nwana became Group Director of Spectrum policy at Ofcom in Sept 2009. He leads its Spectrum Policy Group, which oversees all UK airwaves for broadcast, mobile and other communications services. Before that, he worked at transmissions firm Arqiva, as Managing Director. He was also an Executive Director at Quadriga Worldwide where he helped take the hotel PayTV industry from analogue to digital with P/L responsibility of about£75M. Previously, he was CTO/investment director at venture capital firm antfactory for a couple of years. He has also been a senior manager at BT Laboratories at Adastral Park, which is now known as BT Innovate, where he led many award-winning teams including a prestigious British Computer Society award for innovation for 1999. Dr Nwana holds a first degree in Computer Science & Electronic Engineering from the University of Birmingham, an MSc in Computer Science, a PhD in Artificial Intelligence/Computer Science from Aston University, Birmingham and an MA in Computer Science Education from Queens’ College, Cambridge. He also holds an MBA with distinction from the London Business School, University of London. He is a visiting professor at both Brunel University in West London and at the University of Bristol. He has published several scientific tomes.

Evan Kwerel

Senior Economic Advisor, FCC

Evan Kwerel is currently Senior Economic Advisor in the Office of Strategic Planning and Policy Analysis, and the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau at the Federal Communications Commission. He has worked on broad range of spectrum policy issues and has been a proponent of market-based approaches to spectrum management. He is currently working on a proposal for the FCC to use “incentive auctions” to induce TV broadcasters to voluntarily give up spectrum in the UHF TV band so that it can be re-auctioned for higher-value flexible uses. In 1993, after Congress granted the FCC auction authority, he was the primary architect of the FCC's innovative simultaneous multiple round auction methodology. He was also a major intellectual force in the development of price caps and reforming the regulation of international telecom facilities and rates.

Dr. Kwerel received his B.A. in economics from the University of Pennsylvania in 1972 and his Ph.D. in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1976. From 1976 to 1982, he was an assistant professor of economics at Yale University. In 1981 he was a Brookings Economic Policy Fellow, and from 1982 to 1983, he was a senior economist with the President's Council of Economic Advisers. He joined the FCC in 1983. In 1995 he received the Federal Communications Commission’s Gold Medal Award for Distinguished Service. In 2009 the Federal Communications Bar Association awarded him the Excellence in Government Service Award.

Marc Dupuis

Director General, Engineering, Planning and Standards Branch, Industry Canada

Marc Dupuis is Director General of the Engineering, Planning and Standards Branch at Industry Canada. He is responsible for the regulatory planning and engineering of the radio spectrum and telecommunication network development for the benefit of Canadians under the Spectrum Management and Telecommunications Program.

Before joining the federal government, Marc spent 18 years in the private sector, first with Telesat Canada and then as the Director of the Canadian office for Teledesic, a start-up satellite company based near Seattle, Washington. During this time, Marc’s work covered a wide range of satellite related topics including regulatory aspects, satellite payload and earth station design, as well as implementation.

Marc obtained his B.A.Sc. (Electrical Engineering) with honours from the University of Ottawa and is a member of the “Ordre des Ingénieurs du Québec”.

Gustavo Cantú

Corporate Vice-President, Nextel Mexico

Gustavo Cantú Durán is Corporate Vice President for Nextel de Mexico, where he has worked since march 2000, in charge of mergers and acquisitions, special projects, corporate and regulatory strategy and institutional relations, he also held the positions of General Counsel and Director of Business Development at the same company. Gustavo is a spokesman for Nextel Mexico and is also a member of the Board of Directors.

In industry chambers, he holds the positions of Vice President of the National Association of Telecommunications and also of the National Association of Trunking Operators.

Before Nextel, Gustavo worked as an associate for major law firms in Mexico City, New York City and Houston, Texas, specializing in corporate, international and telecommunications law, regulated industries and antitrust.

He holds a degree in law from Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City and a Masters Degree (LL.M) in law from Columbia University in New York. Gustavo has published various articles in Reforma, El Norte and Excelsior newspapers, is a law professor at Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City and has participated as a speaker in various national and international forums.

Charla Rath

Vice President, Wireless Policy Development, Verizon

Charla Rath joined Verizon in January 2010 as Vice President – Wireless Policy Development, where she is engaged in the development of Verizon’s public policy positions on spectrum and other wireless issues. Previously, as Executive Director – Spectrum and Public Policy at Verizon Wireless, Charla worked with the company’s business development and network planning groups to address policy and regulatory issues related to the acquisition of spectrum.

Prior to joining Verizon Wireless, Charla was Vice President – Strategic Affiliations, of NextWave Telecom Inc., where she established a business alliance of small carriers and coordinated advocacy on spectrum auction and financial issues. As Vice President of Freedom Technologies, Inc., a Washington, DC-based telecommunications consulting firm, she advised governments and companies worldwide on a range of telecommunications structural, regulatory and business strategy issues.

Charla also served in the government as advisor to FCC Chairman Alfred C. Sikes on common carrier and spectrum policy issues and as a primary specialist in spectrum and internet policy at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. Early in her career, she worked in both the United States and Europe on projects related to the impact of information technology on the financial and education sectors.

Charla has an MA in science, technology, and public policy from The George Washington University and a BSFS (Foreign Service) in international economics and finance from Georgetown University.

Julius Knapp

Chief, Office of Engineering Technology, FCC

Julius Knapp is Chief of the FCC’s Office of Engineering and Technology (OET). Mr. Knapp has been with the FCC for nearly 36 years. Mr. Knapp became Chief of OET in 2006, having previously served as the Deputy Chief since 2002. Prior to that he was the Chief of the Policy & Rules Division where he was responsible for FCC frequency allocation proceedings and for proceedings amending the FCC rules for radio frequency devices. Mr. Knapp was Chief of the FCC Laboratory from 1994 – 1997 where he was responsible for the FCC’s equipment authorization program and technical analyses. Mr. Knapp received a Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the City College of New York in 1974. He is a member of the IEEE EMC Society and is a Fellow of the Radio Club of America. He was the 2001 recipient of the Eugene C. Bowler award for exceptional professionalism and dedication to public service and received the FCC’s Silver and Gold medal awards for distinguished service at the Commission.

Paul Garnett

Director, Technology Policy Group, Microsoft

Paul Garnett is a Director in Microsoft’s Technology Policy Group, where he focuses on promoting higher-bandwidth, more efficient and ubiquitous spectrum-based broadband connectivity. Paul has also supported Microsoft’s Mobile Business on various business- and policy-related activities.
Prior to joining Microsoft, Paul spent 17 years in Washington, DC, where he focused on telecommunications law and policy. Paul was Assistant Vice President, Regulatory Affairs, at CTIA-The Wireless Association®, where he represented the U.S. wireless industry before the Federal Communications Commission and the United States Congress. Paul also worked at the Federal Communications Commission in its Wireline Competition Bureau leading complex rulemakings developing universal service and intercarrier compensation regulations. Paul was an Associate in Swidler Berlin’s telecommunications practice representing telecommunications and broadband start-ups. In addition, Paul was a Consultant at Price Waterhouse advising on the privatization of state-owned telecommunications and utility monopolies.

Paul earned his bachelor's degree in political science at Union College and his law degree at the Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law.

Jane Mago

Executive Vice President of Legal & Regulatory Affairs, National Association of Broadcasters

Jane Mago, Executive Vice President and General Counsel, directs the work of the NAB legal department. She is responsible for all aspects of NAB’s legal strategy and for ensuring that NAB’s pleadings before the FCC, the Courts, and other administrative agencies effectively advocate on behalf of NAB’s members. Her areas of expertise include Constitutional issues (including First Amendment matters), FCC ownership rules, political broadcasting, EEO, administrative law, enforcement and licensing matters.

Jane joined the NAB in 2004 after more than 26 years at the FCC. Her prior work at the FCC included many high level positions such as General Counsel, Chief of the Office of Strategic Planning and Policy Analysis, Deputy Chief of the Enforcement Bureau and legal advisor to three commissioners.

Jane is a member of the New York Bar. Jane holds BA, MA and JD degrees from the State University of New York at Buffalo. She lives in McLean, Virginia with her husband, Robert Blau, and their three children.

Matthew Hussey

Telecommunications Advisor, Office of Senator Olympia Snowe, U.S. Senate

Matthew is the telecommunications, commerce, science, and education advisor to Senator Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine). As Senator Snowe's Legislative Assistant, Matthew deals with a wide range of telecommunications and media issues including cyber security, spectrum policy, Internet governance, broadband, media ownership, Universal Service, and network neutrality.

Prior to working in the Senate, Matthew was the Telecommunications & IT Task Force Director for the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a nonpartisan membership organization of state legislators. There he was responsible for educating and advising state legislators and private sector leaders on telecommunications and IT issues as well as working with members to develop model legislation. At ALEC, Matthew testified before several state legislative committees as an expert witness on telecommunications and Internet issues. Before joining ALEC, Matthew worked for over eight years in the telecommunications industry, most recently for Verizon Communications. There he worked in network architecture and planning, sales & marketing, and business development. Prior to that, he spent several years in the cable industry where he held engineering and product development positions for broadband services.

Matthew holds an electrical engineering degree from Georgia Tech where he studied fiber optics and telecommunications, and an MBA from the University of Maryland.

Ruben Lopez-Rivas

Representative, Inter-American Development Bank

Originally hailing from Madrid, Rubén is an ICT specialist, member of the Broadband Platform of the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB).

Profesionally, after his graduation as Superior Telecommunications Engineer in 2003, Rubén spent 6.5 years at ISDEFE, a technology consultancy state-owned Spanish company, where he assumed responsibilities as Business Strategist and International Development Coordinator and supervised several international projects in the EU and South America, opening a new business line for the company in eleven countries (Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela and Mexico) in the areas of Telecommunications and Borders Surveillance. During the summer of 2011, Rubén worked as adviser for the Secretary of State for Telecommunications and Information Society in the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Commerce in Spain, where he dealt with broadband and information society policy issues. Immediately after this period, Rubén joined the IADB at a part-time basis, and he extended his collaboration at a full-time basis after his MBA graduation in May 2012. Specifically at the IADB, Rubén works in the design, composition, revision and evaluation of technical and strategic publications and reports as well as with strategic decisions dealing with public policy measures.

Academically, Rubén specialized in the area of Systems Engineering at the Friedrich-Alexander Universität in Erlangen (Germany) in 2001 and at the École Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications in Paris in 2002, to finally earn his first B.A. at the Polytechnic University of Madrid in 2003 with a major in Telecommunications Engineering. In 2007, Rubén earned a Master in International Trade Management at the ICADE University, where he was awarded as Madrid's top student in International Trade from the Official Chamber of Industry of Madrid; and in 2010, he earned his second B.A. at the UNED university with a major in Economics and a minor in International Economy. Additionally, in 2012, Rubén graduated as Class Salutatorian (#2 out of 300) at Georgetown University earning the MBA in the McDonough School of Business and the Excellence International Business Diplomacy (IBD) Certificate in the School of Foreign Services.

Johanne Lemay

Co-President, Lemay-Yates Associates, Inc.

Ms. Lemay is Co-President of LEMAY-YATES ASSOCIATES INC. She has more than 25 years of experience in the communications industry including the first 10 years at Nortel (Northern Telecom) and Bell-Northern Research.

LYA is a leader among management consulting firms in Canada owing to the breadth of its knowledge ranging from traditional telecommunications to cable TV and fixed and mobile wireless. LYA brings unparalleled understanding and analysis of the Canadian communications market at large.
LYA’s wireless practice has been expanding for a number of years and we have been assessing and forecasting the market for mobile media in Canada as well as on a worldwide basis. LYA’s expertise in auctions has been retained by key industry stakeholders in every auction held in Canada since 1999, both for preparation prior to the auction as well as ongoing management and decision making during the auction.

Ms. Lemay is a recognized expert in telecommunications and broadcasting, with particular emphasis on the development of business plans, due diligence, market research, development and assessment of pricing plans and estimation of capital investment requirements to offer new services. Ms. Lemay has also been actively involved in regulatory proceedings and in consultations for the development of public policy in communications, including the new rules for the AWS spectrum auctions as well as the framework for mandated roaming and tower sharing.

Ms. Lemay has co-authored many independent market research reports published by LEMAY-YATES ASSOCIATES INC.

Prior to founding LEMAY-YATES ASSOCIATES INC., Ms. Lemay was in charge of International Marketing for all Nortel transmission equipment product lines. At Nortel, Ms. Lemay also created a fiber multiplex product line which was extensively deployed by operators in the US and Canada.

Ms. Lemay is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and seminars in Canada, in the United States and abroad as well as on BNN and other media. She holds an Engineering Physics degree from Laval University and an MBA, Executive Option, from Concordia University.

Avi Vaidya

VP, Product Development and CTO, Shure, Inc.

Dr. Avinash (Avi) Vaidya, Shure, is Senior Vice President of Engineering/Product Development and Chief Technology Officer in charge of Shure’s Product Development Division, where he has full responsibility for leading all of the Company’s engineering and technology functions. Dr. Vaidya also provides strategic counsel as a member of Shure’s Executive Staff.

Dr. Vaidya was Vice President of Global Business Development at Emerson Network Power. Prior to that, he spent more than six years at Charles Industries as Vice President of Engineering/CTO and 14 years at AT&T and Bell Laboratories, where he held various engineering management positions. He holds nine U.S. patents, has published numerous technical papers, and has received several awards for technical excellence. Dr. Vaidya has a Master’s in Engineering Electronics from the Netherlands Universities Foundation, a Master’s in Computer Science, and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

Thomas Hazlett

Prof. of Law & Economics, George Mason University

Thomas W. Hazlett is Professor of Law & Economics and serves as Director of the Information Economy Project at George Mason University School of Law. He is also a Columnist for the New Technology Policy Forum hosted by the Financial Times. Prof. Hazlett previously held faculty appointments at the University of California at Davis, Columbia University, and the Wharton School, and in 1991-92 served as Chief Economist of the Federal Communications Commission.

Prof. Hazlett has published widely in academic and popular journals on the economics of the Information Sector. He has provided expert testimony to federal and state courts, regulatory agencies, committees of Congress, foreign governments, and international organizations. His book, Public Policy Toward Cable Television, was co-authored with Matthew L. Spitzer (MIT Press, 1997).

Robert K. Yates

Co-President, Lemay-Yates Associates, Inc.

Mr. Yates has been Co-President of LEMAY-YATES ASSOCIATES INC. since its inception in 1993 and has over 30 years of experience in the telecom industry. Mr. Yates is an expert in spectrum auctions, licensing, telecom and licensing policy and regulation, business case development, wireless and network technologies, strategic marketing and product management, market and demand forecasting, segmentation analysis, and enterprise valuation.

In the wireless arena, Mr. Yates has been instrumental in development of in-depth business cases including network models driving spectrum usage based on subscriber demand characteristics. He has worked closely with clients on assessment of competitive entry opportunities, forecasting of spectrum demand, and in development of policy proposals in public consultations. He has participated in many licensing processes, developed auction strategy, bidding tactics, including game analysis, valued licenses and assessed the financial viability of mobile and fixed wireless services.

Mr. Yates has often been called upon to support clients via expert testimony in regulatory proceedings and public consultations. Testimony has been focused on industry competitive structure, spectrum licensing, technologies and deployment in various fixed and mobile bands, auction policy and framework rules, foreign ownership, broadband network evolution, interconnection, cost structures and business economics.

Mr. Yates has contributed to LYA’s published Reports and has provided many customized analyses to clients. Mr. Yates was the primary author of LYA’s report “International Review of Mobile Spectrum Pricing, Licensing and the Economic Crisis” published in September 2009 and of “Mobile Applications, Apps and Smartphones in Canada”, published in June 2010.

Mr. Yates holds a Bachelors Degree in Electrical Engineering (1979) and a Masters Degree in Industrial Engineering – Management Science/Operations Research (1983), both from the University of Toronto. He completed Concordia University’s Executive MBA Program in Montreal in 1992. Mr. Yates is a Registered Professional Engineer in the Province of Quebec (Canada) and has a Certificate of Competency in French from McGill University. Prior to embarking on a career as a consultant, Mr. Yates spent 10 years with Bell Canada and Nortel Networks in engineering, product management and marketing roles.

David Villano

Assistant Administrator, Rural Utilities Service, US Department of Agriculture

Mr. Villano was born in Dearborn, Michigan, and raised primarily in the Northeast. In 1976, he began his career with the Farmers Home Administration (the predecessor Agency of Rural Development) serving in many Field Offices throughout New York and Connecticut. In 1984, he accepted a position with Rural Development's National Office in Washington, D.C. in Single Family Housing. In 1990, he transferred to the Multi Family Housing area, and was promoted to Chief of the Rural Rental Housing Branch in 1991. In 1995, he was promoted to Special Assistant to the Administrator for Regulatory and Policy Development. In 1998, he became the Deputy Administrator, Single Family Housing, responsible for administering the direct and guaranteed homeownership programs and several housing grant programs. In January 2008, Mr. Villano was named Assistant Administrator of the Telecommunications Program. In this role he manages the Telecommunications Program's loan and grant programs, with an annual budget of nearly $1 billion and a $4.5 billion loan portfolio. Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), Mr. Villano spearheaded the Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP) under which 320 awards totaling over $3.5 billion were made to bring broadband to unserved and underserved rural communities.

Mark Loney

Executive Manager, Australian Communication and Media Authority

Mark grew up and was educated in Western Australia, completing a Bachelor of Arts in 1985 at the Western Australian Institute of Technology. Mark moved to Melbourne in 1986, joined the Department of Defence in 1988 and worked in Melbourne, Washington DC and Canberra over the next nine years. Since joining the Spectrum Management Agency in 1996, Mark has lead the development, implementation and operation of regulatory arrangements for broadcasting, radiocommunications and telecommunications services. Mark was Deputy Head of the Australian Delegation to the 2003 World Radiocommunication Conference in Geneva, played a key role in the establishment of Australian Communications and Media Authority in 2005 and has lead the Operations Branch since it was established in December 2009.

George Miley Rojas

Board Member and Commissioner, SUTEL, Costa Rica

* Commissioner for SUTEL - Superintendencia de Telecomunicaciones (Telecom Regulatory Agency for Costa Rica), where he was the first chairman for the board, and who led the break-up the 40 year-old telecom monopolistic regime

* Holds an Engineering degree from University of Costa Rica

* Also, he has an MBA from the Goizueta Business School at Emory University, with concentration on Corporate Finance and Corporate Strategy.

* Prior to coming to SUTEL, he worked as the Global Contract Director in Orange Business Services, managing the largest telecom contract within the the France Telecom Group, valued in more than 7 billion USD.

* Has over 10 years of international telecommunications experience in global telecom services negotiations, contract management, network process implementation and strategic business analysis.

Patricia Paoletta

Counsel and Representative, 4G Americas

Patricia Paoletta, representing 4G Americas, is a partner at Wiltshire & Grannis LLP and specializes in telecommunications and technology policy. Ms. Paoletta provides advice on regulatory and legislative policy to 4G Americas before the FCC, Congress and the Administration. From 1990 to 1995, she was senior advisor to the FCC’s International Bureau Chief. In the mid '90s, Ms. Paoletta was Director of Telecommunications Trade Policy, for the U.S. Trade Representative, and then was Majority Counsel to the House Commerce Committee. Before becoming a law partner, she was Vice President, Government Relations of Level (3) Communications from 1999-2001.

Carl Povelites

Assistant Vice President of Public Policy, AT&T

Carl Povelites is currently the Assistant Vice President Public Policy, Mobility, for AT&T. He leads a group of professionals responsible for the development of public policy initiatives for AT&T’s wireless business to advance and facilitate AT&T Mobility’s business initiatives on a wide-range of issues, from spectrum policy to emerging devices and technologies to safe driving. In 2011 he was appointed by the U.S. Department of Commerce to serve on the Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Council. With over 20 years of experience in the wireless industry, Carl has had the opportunity to participate in and actively shape its extraordinary growth.

Carl joined AT&T Mobility (f/k/a Cingular) as Executive Director of External Affairs in December 2000. Prior to joining Cingular, Carl was Vice President - Regulatory Affairs for Evolution Networks, a start-up fiber-optic networking company. He began his telecommunications career as a pricing analyst for Contel Telephone Operations in 1986, joining GTE Wireless in 1990 responsible for state regulatory and legislative activities. While at GTE Wireless, Carl’s responsibilities expanded to include state and federal regulatory and legislative activities as the Assistant Vice President – Government Relations. Carl has also held marketing positions in the home health care industry with Everest & Jennings and Inspiron as well as service engineer positions in the oil service industry with Dowell Schlumberger. He earned his Bachelors degree, a double major in economics and management, and an MBA from New Mexico State University.

Daniel Mah

Regulatory Counsel, SES

Daniel Mah is Regulatory Counsel at SES, a global satellite operator based in Luxembourg, The Hague and Princeton, New Jersey. Mr. Mah’s primary responsibility is for regulatory and policy matters in North America and parts of Asia. Before joining SES, Mr. Mah was an attorney at the Washington-based law firm, Steptoe & Johnson LLP, where he advised clients on satellite, telecommunications and technology law. Mr. Mah is currently the co-chair of the Satellite Industry Association’s Regulatory Working Group.

Mr. Mah holds a Doctor and Master of Juridical Science from Stanford University in California, and a Bachelor of Laws from Murdoch University in Western Australia.

Derek Khlopin

Head of Government Affairs, North America, Nokia Siemens Networks

Based in Washington, DC, Derek Khlopin leads the North America government affairs activities for Nokia Siemens Networks, a global leader in solutions and services for mobile and fixed communications networks. Mr. Khlopin has responsibility for the development and implementation of the company’s regulatory and policy strategy and for the nurturing of its relationships with government policy makers. He represents the company’s interests in the U.S. before the Congress, the Federal Communications Commission, the Executive branch, and other government agencies, as well as in industry forums. Prior to joining Nokia Siemens Networks in
June 2009, Mr. Khlopin spent three years as the director of regulatory and industry affairs for Nokia. Previously he led the regulatory and legal advocacy efforts for the Telecommunications Industry Association and its information and communications technology member companies.

Mr. Khlopin started his career as an attorney in the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau of the FCC. He has held leadership positions in industry associations, including chairing the Government Affairs Council of the Consumer Electronics Association, and professional organizations, including serving as a co-chair of the Federal Communications Bar Association’s wireless practice committee. He earned a J.D. from the Columbus School of Law at the Catholic
University of America, and its Institute for Communications Law Studies, and was a member of the editorial board of the CommLaw Conspectus, a law journal on communications law and policy.

Joan Marsh

Vice President of Federal Regulatory Affairs, AT&T

Joan Marsh is Vice President of Federal Regulatory for AT&T in Washington, D.C. where she has represented AT&T since 1999. In her current role, Ms. Marsh is responsible for managing AT&T’s wireless and public safety/national security interests before federal regulatory authorities, including the Federal Communications Commission. From 1997 to 1999, Ms. Marsh served as Senior Regional Attorney for AT&T in its Chicago offices representing AT&T before various state public utilities commissions in the Midwest.

Prior to joining AT&T, Ms. Marsh spent five years as a trial litigator with the Chicago firm of Kirkland & Ellis. Prior to that position, Ms. Marsh was a law clerk for the Honorable Edward Rafeedie of the US District Court for Central District of California, Los Angeles. She received a J.D. with Honors from the University of Southern California Law Center in Los Angeles in 1990 and a Bachelors of Arts in Philosophy from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1986.

Mark Racek

Director of spectrum policy, Ericsson

While employed at Ford Aerospace, Mark was involved in the development of an expert system for dynamic reconfiguration of a fault tolerant communication network on the International Space Station. Besides artificial intelligence, Mark was responsible for the management of the design and documentation of the display consoles in Building 30 (Mission Control) at the NASA Johnson Space Center. Later Mark spent his early years at Ericsson standardizing a product family based on the Enhanced Digital Access Communication System architecture within the Telecommunications Industry Association engineering committees and International Telecommunication Union. This trunking-based EDACS communications system served industrial and business needs, but primarily served two-way radio communications for Public Safety. During this time, Mark also developed traffic simulations for operational analysis and system design. In his current role, Mark is involved in the development of global spectrum strategies and policies for Ericsson. Mark Racek is a graduate from University of Houston with honors.

Dean Brenner

Vice President, Government Affairs, Qualcomm

Dean Brenner is Vice President, Government Affairs for Qualcomm Incorporated. He directs Qualcomm’s initiatives relating to spectrum and telecommunications policy in North America. He represents Qualcomm before the Federal Communications Commission and other agencies of the United States and Canadian governments responsible for spectrum and telecommunications policy. In addition, he is responsible for global spectrum acquisitions and strategy for Qualcomm.
Mr. Brenner was responsible for obtaining the necessary regulatory approvals to launch Qualcomm’s MediaFLO USA mobile TV network, which is now the largest mobile broadcast network in the world. In addition, he led Qualcomm’s bidding team in recent spectrum auctions in the United States (the 700 MHz band) and the United Kingdom (the L Band). He also lead Qualcomm’s bidding team in a recent procurement reverse auction held in Spain. He has spoken at conferences on spectrum policy issues in the United States, South Korea, Belgium, Great Britain, and elsewhere around the world. He joined Qualcomm in November 2003.

Before joining Qualcomm, Mr. Brenner was a partner in the Washington, DC-based law firm he co-founded, Crispin & Brenner, P.L.L.C., where he specialized in telecommunications law and litigation. Mr. Brenner handled a number of major FCC-related cases in the wireless, mass media, and wireline businesses, both before the FCC and in federal and state courts around the country. He began his career at the Washington, D.C. law firm of Verner, Liipfert, Bernhard, McPherson and Hand in August 1985 as an associate. He became a partner at that firm, where he practiced telecommunications law and litigation.

Mr. Brenner received his A.B. degree, magna cum laude with distinction in public policy studies, from Duke University in 1982. He won a prize for the best paper on communications policy, and he was a recipient for four years of a CBS Scholarship. He received his J.D., cum laude, from Georgetown University in 1985. He is admitted to the Bars of the District of Columbia, Maryland, and the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Courts of Appeal for the D.C., Third, and Eleventh Circuits, and the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Field School and the Advisory Board for Jewish Life at Duke University. Mr. Brenner is married and has two children.

Eduardo Solorzano

Regulatory and Antitrust Affairs Manager, Telefonica Moviles El Salvador

Eduardo is responsible of supervising regulatory and antitrust evolution of the telecommunications market in El Salvador. With over 13 years experience in Telecom, he has developed a particular specialization in telecommunications, antitrust and consumer protection regulation. He has a Law degree and studies in antitrust Law.

Patrick Welsh

Assistant Vice President, Wireless Policy Development, Verizon

Patrick Welsh joined Verizon in January 2012 as Assistant Vice President – Wireless Policy Development, where he is engaged in the development of Verizon’s public policy positions on spectrum and other wireless issues.

Prior to joining Verizon, Patrick worked in T-Mobile's government affairs office in both the federal regulatory and legislative affairs groups. As a regulatory attorney, Patrick was responsible for a number of wireless public-policy issues, including spectrum policy, spectrum auctions, voice and data roaming, wireless open access/network neutrality, broadband reclassification, smart grid, mergers and acquisitions, and federal preemption of state regulations. As part of T-Mobile’s legislative team, he lobbied both Democrats and Republicans on the House and Senate commerce committees. Prior to joining T-Mobile, Patrick worked at American Tower, where he managed site development and construction of wireless communications facilities in the Mid-Atlantic area.

Patrick began his career at Gallagher, Evelius & Jones, LLP as an associate with the firm’s commercial transactions group. He is an adjunct professor at Catholic University's Columbus School of Law and a graduate of Syracuse University College of Law (J.D.) and Loyola College (B.A.).

Tim Donovan

Vice President, Legislative Affairs, Competitive Carriers Association

Tim Donovan is the Vice President of Legislative Affairs for the Competitive Carriers Association. CCA is the nation's leading association for competitive wireless providers and stakeholders across the United States. The licensed service area of CCA's more than 100 members covers 95 percent of the nation. In this capacity, he leads the association’s legislative advocacy before policymakers on issues impacting the competitive wireless community, including roaming, universal service, interoperability, spectrum policy, device availability, broadband policy, and others.

Prior to joining CCA, Donovan served as Manager of Government Affairs for the Direct Marketing Association, where his primary responsibility was supporting the advocacy goals of the direct marketing community, including managing all aspects of the Political Action Committee.

Donovan holds a bachelor’s degree from Providence College, where he studied English and Political Science.

Apurva Mody

Chairman, Whitespace Alliance

Dr. Apurva N. Mody (apurva.mody@ieee.org) is the Chairman of the WhiteSpace Alliance (www.WhiteSpaceAlliance.org). He is also the Chairman of the IEEE 802.22 Working Group (WG) for Wireless Regional Area Networks (WRANs) (www.ieee802.org/22).

IEEE 802.22 WG has created commercial wireless standards that will use TV white spaces to enable regional and rural broadband wireless access serving more than 3.5 Billion people. WhiteSpace Alliance (WSA) is an international trade association enabling emerging worldwide WhiteSpace ecosystem to deliver products and services that use WhiteSpace spectrum. WhiteSpace Alliance will collectively educate, advocate and seed the market to demonstrate the benefits of using WhiteSpaces. WSA will create a successful marketplace across many regulatory domains using WhiteSpaces to provide Internet connectivity and drive many other machine to machine applications. WSA specifications including Wi-FAR™ 4G-WhiteSpace™, and others, will demonstrate further enhancements in radio performance, interference mitigation and network capacity.

Under Dr. Mody’ s leadership, the IEEE 802.22 WG is the recipient of the IEEE SA Emerging Technology Award. Dr. Mody received his Ph. D. in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology. Dr. Mody has carried out pioneering research in the field of Cognitive Radio (CR), Dynamic Spectrum Access (DSA) systems. He is an invited speaker at many conferences and workshops. Dr. Mody is the Senior Member of the IEEE, President’ s Fellow while at Georgia Tech, Member of Tau Beta Pi and Eta Kappa Nu Honor Societies. He is an author of more than fifteen patents and more than fifty conference and journal papers.

Michael Calabrese

Director, Wireless Future Project, New America Foundation

Michael Calabrese is a Senior Research Fellow and Director of the Wireless Future Project at the New America Foundation, a non-profit think tank based in Washington, D.C. As part of the Foundation’s Open Technology Initiative, he develops and advocates policies to improve our nation’s management of the public airwaves and more broadly to promote pervasive connectivity, particularly through more ubiquitous and affordable high-speed wireless broadband access. New America develops and advocates policies to promote more efficient spectrum use as well as the reallocation of more prime spectrum for open, shared, unlicensed access.

Mr. Calabrese currently serves as an appointed member of the Department of Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee (CSMAC) and an appointed member of the working group that drafted the report of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) 2012 report: Realizing the Full Potential of Government Held Spectrum. Previously, Mr. Calabrese served as General Counsel of the Congressional Joint Economic Committee, as Vice President of the New America Foundation and as Domestic and Economic Policy Director of the Center for National Policy. Calabrese is a graduate of Stanford Business and Law Schools, where he earned a JD/MBA degree; and a graduate of Harvard College, where he earned a B.A. in Economics and Government. He is the co-author of three previous books on policy and politics and has published opinion articles in the nation’s leading outlets, including The Atlantic Monthly, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times.

John Kneuer

President, JKC Consulting LLC, and Senior Partner, Fairfax Media Partners

John Kneuer is the founder and President of JKC Consulting LLC (www.kneuerllc.com), a Senior Partner at Fairfax Media Partners (www.fairfaxpartners.com), and a member of the Board of Directors and Audit and Compensation Committees of Globalstar Inc. (GSAT – NASDAQ). He is widely recognized as one of the world’s leading experts on telecommunications, Internet, and spectrum policy.

From October 2003-November 2007, Mr. Kneuer served first as the Deputy Assistant Secretary, and then as the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information. As Assistant Secretary, Mr. Kneuer was the principal advisor to the President of the United States on telecommunications policy and the Administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration ("NTIA"). In addition to representing the Executive Branch in domestic and international telecommunications and information policy activities, NTIA manages the federal use of spectrum; performs cutting edge telecommunications research and engineering; and administers infrastructure and public telecommunications facilities grants.

Prior to his service at NTIA, Mr. Kneuer practiced law at the firm of DLA Piper in Washington, D.C., providing regulatory and legislative representation to corporate clients in the telecommunications, defense, and transportation industries. Mr. Kneuer began his career as an Attorney-Advisor in the Commercial Wireless Division of the Federal Communications Commission's Wireless Bureau.

Mr. Kneuer is a sought after public speaker, regularly presenting before government, industry, and academic meetings and forums. Mr. Kneuer has testified more than a dozen times before Congress. Mr. Kneuer holds Top Secret/SCI security clearances.

Chantale LaCasse

Senior Vice President, NERA Economic Consulting

At NERA, Dr. LaCasse is a Senior Vice President who provides advice on the design and implementation of auctions, procurement, and bidding processes. She has extensive experience providing such advice to governments and utilities in the energy sector, and has testified widely as an expert witness before state regulatory agencies. Dr. LaCasse has provided advice on all aspects of auctions, including conceptual advice on auction formats, the development of detailed rules and procedures, specific rules to promote competition and discourage collusion, and advice on the implementation of a wide variety of bidding processes.

Although her practice concentrates on serving NERA's energy clients, Dr. LaCasse's interests and experience span a broad range of industries, including communications, radio spectrum, capacity markets, and legal services. In addition to her work on market design and auction implementation, she has provided advice on bid strategy to participants in auctions. Prior to joining NERA in 2001, Dr. LaCasse was a successful academic in Canada, where she served as the T.D. MacDonald Chair of Industrial Economics in the Competition Bureau at Industry Canada. She holds a PhD and MA in economics from the University of Western Ontario, and a BSocSc in economics and BA in mathematics from the University of Ottawa.

Graham Johnson

Partner, Aetha Consulting

Graham Johnson has over 20 years of experience in telecoms and media, having carried out advisory work for governments, regulators, operators and investors worldwide. In 1998 he opened the Madrid office of Analysys (a specialist telecoms strategy consultancy), which he led for 12 years before joining Aetha Consulting in 2011. Graham’s experience includes: licence bids; next generation networks; technical advice; market reviews; fair market valuations; and regulatory costing. His most recent projects have been in the field of telecoms regulation, on topics such as MVNO set-up, 3G service costing and local loop unbundling pricing. He recently authored a report analysing case studies for how various countries have approached awarding the 700MHz/800MHz spectrum band for mobile broadband.

Christian Dippon

Vice President, NERA Economic Consulting

Dr. Dippon is a Vice President in NERA’s Communications Group. He specializes in the economics and business of the telecommunications and high-tech industries, advising his clients in complex litigation disputes, antitrust matters, regulatory and policy issues, and spectrum management challenges. Dr. Dippon has extensive testimonial experience, including depositions and expert testimonies before state and federal courts, the Federal Communications Commission, the International Trade Commission, numerous state commissions, and international regulatory, arbitration, and competition authorities.

With more than 15 years of experience, Dr. Dippon is an internationally renowned expert in telecommunications, specializing in wireless, wireline, cable, and emerging technologies. His clients call on him for his expertise with telecommunications markets and its participants, including local exchange carriers, mobile network operators (MNOs), mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs), long-distance carriers, Internet service providers (ISPs), cable operators, satellite providers, voice-over-Internet protocol (VoIP) providers, and equipment manufacturers. Dr. Dippon has consulted to clients around the world, in countries including the United States, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the Dominican Republic, Hong Kong, Hungary, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Qatar, Singapore, Spain, Thailand, Ireland, and the United Kingdom.

Dr. Dippon has authored and edited several books as well as book chapters in anthologies, and has written numerous articles on telecommunications competition and strategies. He also frequently lectures in these areas at industry conferences, continuing education programs for lawyers, and universities. His work has been cited in national and international newspapers and magazines, including the Financial Times, BusinessWeek, Forbes, the Chicago Tribune, and the Sydney Morning Herald.

Dr. Dippon serves on the Board of Directors of the International Telecommunications Society (ITS) and on the Editorial Board of Telecommunications Policy. He is a member of the American Economic Association and the Federal Communications Bar Association. Prior to joining NERA, Dr. Dippon was an analyst at BMW in Bangkok, Thailand.

Scott Wallsten

Vice President for Research and Senior Fellow, Technology Policy Institute

Scott Wallsten is vice president for research and senior fellow at the Technology Policy Institute. An economist with expertise in industrial organization and public policy, Wallsten’s research focuses on telecommunications, regulation, competition, and technology policy. His papers have been published in numerous academic journals and his commentaries have appeared in newspapers and newsmagazines around the world.

Wallsten is also a senior fellow at the Georgetown Center for Business and Public Policy and a lecturer in Public Policy at Stanford University. He served as economics director of the Federal Communications Commission’s Broadband Task Force. He has been director of communications policy studies and senior fellow at The Progress & Freedom Foundation, a senior fellow at the AEI - Brookings Joint Center for Regulatory Studies and a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, an economist at The World Bank, a scholar at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, and a staff economist at the U.S. President's Council of Economic Advisers.

Wallsten holds a PhD in economics from Stanford University.