The industry-leading Board of Directors and passionate subject-matter experts driving MEF’s committees and projects.
MEF has a long history of industry collaboration to solve shared business challenges, which is engrained in MEF’s mission and organizational structure. The member-elected, business-focused Board of Directors helps to reinforce the membership’s direction to deliver measurable value to the industry and its stakeholders. The merit-based appointment of technology specialists leads the cross-domain and cross-geographic collaboration within MEF’s committees.
Debika Bhattacharya
Board Chair, MEF
Chief Technology Officer,
Verizon Business Group
Debika Bhattacharya is Chief Technology Officer, Verizon Business. She is responsible for ensuring a consistent and simplified end-to-end experience for Verizon’s B2B customers. Her focus spans across the technology lifecycle from product development, to design & solutioning, to operational enablement. Previously she held the role of Chief Product Officer, and was responsible for the company’s holistic product portfolio and its strategy.
As a global executive with 30+ years in the telecommunications industry, Debika has extensive experience leading complex technology projects for Fortune 1000 clients. She has held a variety of executive roles within Verizon, including an overseas assignment in Europe. She was instrumental in the global expansion of Verizon’s communications network, as well as the deployment of breakthrough optical wave technologies.
Debika is deeply committed to the advancement of MEF objectives related to building secure, dynamic and standards-based automated networks with cloud-like experiences.
Paul Gampe
Director, MEF
Chief Technology Officer,
Console Connect by PCCW Global
Paul Gampe became Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Console Connect by PCCW Global in late 2017 and is able to draw on 20 years’ experience in IT operations, software development and international business.
He had previously held CTO posts at Console Connect Inc and NEXTDC, and served as Vice President of Worldwide Engineering Services and Operations at Red Hat.
Operating as a senior software executive with a substantial technical foundation, Paul has led multidisciplinary teams globally for over 20 years.
Paul holds a wealth of experience in all aspects of the software industry – especially in terms of acquisitions, investments, development, quality engineering, program management and operations – and has led multi-disciplinary teams on a global basis. He is expert in open source technology, has worked extensively in the fields of cloud computing, networks and data centres, and has earned a track record for delivering outstanding financial results.
Earlier in his career, Paul was General Manager of TWICS, Japan’s first public Internet service provider. In the late 1990s, he led technical operations for the Asia-Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC), which is one of the five Regional Internet Registries (RIRs) responsible for ensuring fair distribution and management of IP addresses and related resources.
With experience in cloud, networks, data centers, and open source globally, Paul has developed specific expertise in the open source technology landscape. As a highly effective manager, he has a proven track record of managing global teams and products whilst delivering outstanding financial results.
Franck Morales
Secretary, MEF
Senior Vice President, Marketing and Business Development,
Orange Wholesale International
In August 2023, Franck was appointed as SVP Marketing & Business Development for Orange Wholesale International. In this role Franck oversees developing and managing the full product portfolio from building infrastructures, delivering Bandwidth and IP Services, as well as Voice, Messaging and Roaming Services.
Franck Morales’ 38 years in the industry have centered on the product and marketing, Network Infrastructures and managing strategic industry partnerships, giving him extensive knowledge of the global telecom ecosystem.
From 2013 to 2023, Franck worked within Orange Business the B2B Division. His focus on product and strategic planning for both fixed and mobile technologies, paved the way for his position, over the last 2 years, of VP Evolution Platform. The aim of this strategic program was on building the future orchestrated cloud-native infrastructure, to ensure the delivery of real business outcomes, with use cases like SASE, Cloud Connectivity, and Cloud Services.
Prior to this role, Franck led the connectivity portfolio and was instrumental in the company’s global transformation towards SD-WAN, orchestration, and virtualization.
Franck is also a MEF Board Director, and a frequent and requested speaker promoting Orange and MEF at global industry conferences, including MEF Quarterly meetings, SD-WAN Summit, and other industry partner events.
In his free time, Franck enjoys travelling, skiing, cycling, in addition to Opera and Theatre, and he will be more than happy to share his knowledge of French wines and gastronomy.
Bob Victor
Treasurer, MEF
Senior Vice President, Customer Solutions,
Comcast Business
Robert (“Bob”) S. Victor is responsible for the development and lifecycle operations of all Comcast Business products and customer solutions.
Bob joined Comcast in 2008, and in prior roles has served as Senior Vice President of Strategic and Financial Planning for Comcast Corporation and Chief Financial Officer for Comcast Business.
Prior to Comcast, Mr. Victor was a Partner at The Boston Consulting Group.
Colin Bannon
Director, MEF
Chief Technology Officer,
BT Business
Colin is the CTO for BT Business, charged with delivering BT’s product technology strategy-design, customer solutions, supporting strategic business outcomes for BT’s Global Enterprise, Wholesale, SMB, Government, Defence, Health markets, providing service across 180 countries.
In addition to his 20 years in BT, Colin has had engineering leadership and Consulting Engineer roles in IBM Global Services, Lucent INS and Unisys. Colin is active in several technology advisory/standards boards, and a lecturer at Warwick University.
Colin is the architect of some of the largest customer network transformations in the world. Colin is leading BT’s journey to build a Global NaaS platform which BT calls ‘Global Fabric’ which is a fully digitalised, automated, API first platform that includes Internet, MPLS, Ethernet, Cloud interconnectivity, DC Interconnect, Mobile Interconnect, Data Sovereignty, DDos, Edge Compute that supports service insertion including SDWAN and SASE, SSE, SIP, Load Balancing, and Firewalls.
Shawn Hakl
Director, MEF
Vice President, 5G Strategy,
Microsoft
Shawn is responsible for building and executing the product strategy and partnerships for Microsoft’s Azure for Operators portfolio. His team works across product, engineering, and sales to help operators execute on the digital transformation of the core and edge networks. Prior to Microsoft, Shawn served at Verizon as the Senior Vice President of Business Product, responsible for a $29B portfolio covering services such as enterprise networking, 4G/5G, cyber security, collaboration and IoT.
Silke Hoesch
Director, MEF
Senior Vice President Wholesale,
Telekom Deutschland
Silke Hoesch is Senior Vice President Wholesale, Telekom Deutschland, Leading the Digitalization, Data Management, Billing and Cash Coordination for the Wholesale Segment.
A Senior Executive with 15+ years Management experience in TelCo, Silke is always focusing on standardization, digitalization, and automation to gain efficiencies and to enable sustainable Business growth.
Starting with T-Mobile International, Silke has held a variety of executive Management positions within the Deutsche Telekom Group, Group Technology, and T-Systems International, and led the FreeMove Alliance as General Manager. In Addition, Silke Serves as Supervisory Board Member Deutsche Telekom Technik GmbH and is an Engaged sponsor of women in STEM.
Daniele Mancuso
Director, MEF
Chief Marketing & Product Management,
Sparkle
Daniele Mancuso has been appointed Chief Marketing & Product Management at Sparkle in February 2024, in charge of developing the Group’s holistic Products Portfolio, its market positioning (geographies, pricing, differentiating elements, marginality constraints) and its alignment against Sparkle’s vision & strategy. The responsibility includes the lifecycle management of Sparkle’s International Points of Presence and Submarine Cables.
In the previous years, he served as Chief Product Management, Chief Marketing Solutions & Business Development, EVP ICT Engineering and Director Innovation & Engineering.
Daniele brings three decades of broad commercial and technical experience in building and marketing telecom networks and associated products, both for wholesale and enterprise markets, spanning from Submarine Cables and related infrastructures to L1 Capacity and L3 IP Transit services, from Carrier Ethernet to SD-WAN, SASE & Multicloud, from International Wholesale Voice to Enterprise cloud-based Geo-Numbering, Unified Communications, and, most recent addition in Sparkle Portfolio, Global IoT connectivity services.
During his years of technological leadership, he triggered the transformation of Sparkle towards an API-centric Global Service Platform, introducing the pillars of a software-defined, virtualized, and programmable network, while ensuring the full commitment of the Company to contribute and follow open standards & certification programs, of which he’s a total believer and supporter.
More recently he initiated the exploration of new technological enablers—such as Distributed Ledger Technology—as source of new revenue streams, bringing Sparkle to join as founding member of the Integrated Trust Network and as sponsor of the MEF LSO Blockchain concept.
In May 2023, keeping his Group Responsibilities, Daniele has been appointed Chief Executive Officer of TI Sparkle Greece, the major Op.Co. in Sparkle Group in terms of technological assets and number of employees.
He is frequently invited as speaker at industry events to share his vision, experience, and execution challenges.
Daniele holds a BSc in Computer Science from the University of Catania.
Mike Troiano
Director, MEF
Senior Vice President - Product & Pricing,
AT&T Business
Mike Troiano is the head of AT&T Business products with responsibility for a $30B+ P&L. This includes driving product and monetization strategies, profitability, and roadmaps for fiber and 5G products, as well as network adjacent services such as Security, SD-WAN, Cloud and Edge. Mike and team are focused on serving business customer all sizes, from Small and Medium to Public Sector, and nearly all Fortune 1,000 companies.
Prior to his current role, Mike served as Vice President of Corporate Strategy and Business Development, where he was responsible for driving long-term initiatives for AT&T Communications and AT&T Business.
Mike has held many leadership roles including serving as Vice President of AT&T’s Internet of Things (IoT) and Vice President of AT&T’s Advanced Mobility Solutions organization.
He is based in Dallas, TX with his wife and three daughters.
Mirko Voltolini
Director, MEF
Vice President, Innovation,
Colt Technology Services
Mirko Voltolini is VP Innovation at Colt, responsible for leading the effort to define the long-term strategic product roadmap for Colt, working to identify innovative ideas and technologies to ensure Colt is driving forward as an industry leader.
He is responsible to identify, develop and execute an innovation strategy aligned to Colt strategic business goals, to define and manage the Colt innovation process and the portfolio of innovation development projects, to accelerate the validation of new ideas with partners and customers
Prior to this Mirko was the Head of Network On Demand, responsible for leading the effort to architect and develop the Colt network and product portfolio to deliver an online digital customer experience where customers order, design and manage their network services on demand.
He joined Colt in 2002 and has held several senior leadership roles in the technical development and engineering areas.
Mirko is a member of the Board of Directors of MEF and leads Colt contributions to the definition of MEF standards.
Mirko holds an MSc in Telecommunications Engineering from Politecnico of Milan.
Dave Ward
Director, MEF
Chief Technology & Product Officer,
Lumen
Dave Ward is Chief Technology & Product Officer for Lumen. In this role, he is responsible for the development, integration and deployment of Lumen’s global network and the disruptive technologies we are deploying to expand the power of our network.
Dave has more than 25 years of experience reinventing and expanding the capabilities of networks and the value they bring to customers. He previously was the CEO of PacketFabric, a rapidly growing networking company that specializes in Network-as-a-Service (NaaS). Under his leadership, it expanded its portfolio and customer base, and grew its network to position the company among the largest network providers on the Internet. Prior to that, he served as a Senior Vice President, CTO-Engineering and Chief Architect at Cisco Systems, and served as a Fellow at both Cisco Systems and Juniper Networks.
Dave holds a bachelor’s degree from Syracuse University and graduate degrees from the University of Minnesota.
Nan Chen
Chief Executive Officer, MEF
Nan is a tech entrepreneur, a world traveler, and an avid runner …
As a tech entrepreneur, Nan founded and serves as CEO of MEF that defines, certifies, and federates global communications services. Nan also founded CENX (acquired by Ericsson) that pioneered industry first service assurance solution for closed loop automation. His previous ventures include Atrica (acquired by Nokia) and SynOptics/BayNetworks (acquired by Nortel). Nan has been recognized regularly as one of Top 100 Most Influential People in Telecom/Internet Industry.
As a world traveler, Nan visited over 50 countries mostly for work, and over 200 wineries mostly for pleasure; As an avid runner, Nan raced over 20 marathons, including World Marathon Majors.
In his previous life, he was a record holder in pole vault at Beijing University with 2 MS & 1 BS degrees.
Kevin Vachon
Chief Operating Officer, MEF
As MEF COO since 2006, Kevin leads a team that builds, supports and scales the MEF’s ever-increasing mix of global programs activities. He is actively engaged with MEF’s global member and partner community and has a broad perspective on the important role that MEF plays in the industry and how to deliver results.
MEF is a global industry association of network, cloud, and technology providers who together drive network transformation to power the digital economy. MEF develops service standards, LSO frameworks and APIs, and certification programs for services, technologies, APIs, and professionals. As a major milestone in this journey, Kevin led MEF’s efforts to conceive and bring to market, MEF 3.0, the global services framework. He was instrumental in engaging global service providers for the development of MEF 3.0 LSO Sonata APIs for inter-carrier automation.
Prior to joining MEF, Kevin held the position of CEO of DIATEM Networks Inc., a Carrier Ethernet software company from 2003 to 2005 and was President and CEO of NUVO Network Management, a network management outsourcing firm, from 1996 to 2002. Previously, he held other senior management positions with NUVO and spent 10 years in a wide variety of capacities with Gandalf Technologies, a network equipment manufacturer.
Pascal Menezes
Chief Technology Officer, MEF
Pascal Menezes is a high-energy technology leader with depth and breadth of expertise, business acumen, and the ability to translate technical strategies into results. Pascal has decades of demonstrated success in technology strategy, planning, and execution in internetworking, next-generation information systems, communication architectures and cloud technologies. As co-founder and chief technology officer (CTO) of MEF, Pascal directs the organization’s technology strategy and roadmap, currently focused on connectivity, digital services, cybersecurity, edge computing, and service provider automation for cloud-scale deployments.
Previously Pascal led several high-tech startups and spent 10 years in Microsoft’s Skype for Business Global Carrier Group (i.e., Teams) delivering on global, large-scale cloud technology development. Passionate about technology, Pascal sits on the advisory board of Layer 1 2 3 and the editorial board of Capacity; has held leadership positions in several industry associations; received numerous industry global thought leadership awards, including Capacity Magazine Top 20 Leaders in SDN 2018, Top 25 Movers and Shakers in Telecom 2018, and Capacity Magazine Power 100 2019; and delivers executive presentations extensively at conferences worldwide. Pascal holds 30+ patents and patents pending and has co-authored numerous standards within the IETF, MEF, and Broadband Forum.
Pascal Menezes is also the creator and host of MEF’s Executives at the Edge podcast. Each podcast episode delves into leading-edge business insights from top network, cloud, and technology executives and industry analysts—listen in!
Daniel Bar-Lev
Chief Product Officer, MEF
As MEF’s Chief Product Officer, Daniel is responsible for the development and implementation of a range of strategic MEF programs that are central to MEF’s transformation to an agile-process oriented standards development organization defining, implementing and certifying MEF 3.0 services. These innovative programs – including SD-WAN definition and certification, MEF 3.0 Products, MEF 3.0 Proofs of Concept and the MEF Developer Community – enable MEF’s 200+ member companies to accelerate the transformation of their networks and operations to offer and deliver MEF 3.0 services. In addition, Daniel is responsible for MEF membership in the EMEA region, developing relationships and facilitating engagement of member companies in every aspect of MEF activities.
Daniel has been involved in the networking industry for over 25 years holding a variety of positions in RAD Data Communications, as well as co-founding Resolute Networks where he held executive positions. Representing Resolute in the MEF, Daniel served for 3 years as MEF Global Marketing Co-Chair and was elected three times to the MEF Board of Directors. Since 2010, Daniel has been a senior member of the MEF staff.
Sunil Khandekar
Chief Enterprise Development Officer, MEF
Sunil is a seasoned tech executive and advisor with over 25 years of experience in the Telecom and Networking industry. He specializes in developing high-value growth businesses from concept to customer adoption. Sunil’s most recent role was as the Founder and CEO of Nuage Networks.
During his career, Sunil has held various product and business leadership roles at Alcatel-Lucent, including an international assignment in Europe, leading and managing the IP Division business for the EMEA region. He has in-depth knowledge of SDN, SD-WAN, multi-hybrid cloud, cloud security, and networking. Sunil is a frequent speaker at industry events and conferences.
MEF work is developed through four distinct but collaborative committees.
Leading the work of MEF to enable new revenue streams, improve operational efficiencies, and better customer experience through automation and streamlining of inter-provider activities.
Karthik Sethuraman
Regional Product Head - Americas, Core Connectivity Services,
Tata Communications
Karthik Sethuraman is the Regional Product Head at Tata Communications, responsible for Core Connectivity Services products in the Americas region. As the co-chair of the MEF Commercial and Business Committee, he actively drives NaaS initiatives and co-edits the MEF NaaS Customer Experience whitepaper.
With over 20 years in the telecom industry, Karthik has established himself as a product and technology strategist. He previously served as the technical product manager for 5G Open Virtualized RAN and was a member of the 5G/6G technology strategy team at NEC. Before that, as a principal software architect, he architected and designed cutting-edge SDN Control software and Service Management Orchestration (SMO) systems.
Karthik holds a degree in Computer Science and Engineering and began his career in AI systems research.
Leading the MEF services standards work, including underlay connectivity services and overlay services, the Digital Services committee aligns with the Services pillar of our MEF 3.0 Global Services Framework.
Jason Wolfe
Sr. Network Architect,
Bell Canada
Jason is a Senior Network Architect at Bell Canada where he has been developing network and service architectures for over 20 years, spanning Broadband Access, Optical Transport, Carrier Ethernet, and IP in Bell’s incumbent and competitive territories.
In MEF Jason has personally contributed to more than 40 published MEF standards, and served numerous terms as a technical committee Chair, helping guide MEF’s expansion beyond its Carrier Ethernet origins. In 2021 MEF recognized Jason for his longstanding and significant contributions by awarding him the prestigious Distinguished Fellow Award.
Leading the MEF LSO API standards work including East-West and North-South APIs and modeling. The LSO committee aligns with the LSO API pillar of our MEF 3.0 Global Services Framework.
Leading the MEF certification standards work including both company-based certifications for services and technology as well as the professional certifications program. The Test and Certification committee aligns with the certification pillar of our MEF 3.0 Global Services Framework.
Charles Eckel
Global Technology Standards,
Cisco
Charles is a recognized champion of open source, standards, and interoperability. As a member of Cisco’s Global Technology Standards team, Charles is responsible for identifying and guiding open source efforts related to key standards initiatives. In MEF, Charles co-chaired the Digital Services Committee the past several years, home of network service standards for SD-WAN and SASE. He is also active in IETF, where he started and runs the IETF Hackathons, advancing the pace and relevance of networking standards by combining the speed and collaborative spirit of open source communities with the rigor and precision of standards organizations. Charles is also an active member in a number of open source projects in the Linux Foundation and elsewhere. He is a frequent speaker at open source conferences and helps run the Software Defined Networking devroom at FOSDEM. His current focus areas include application networking, network automation, and the intersection of networking and security, particularly where there is a need for new standards and closely associated open source projects.
Divesh Gupta
VP, New Technology & Sales Operations,
PCCW Global
Divesh has over 30 years of experience in the international telecommunication market. In his current role at PCCW Global, Divesh leads several software development teams engaged in digital transformation of international data connectivity services. A certified SAFe Agile practitioner, he focuses on enhancing customer experience and reducing turnaround times by improving the efficiency of the sales team and automating existing manual business processes. Current initiatives include: (1) API development for inter-carrier sales process automation for trading of international connectivity services and (2) Blockchain based financial settlements within the Telecom vertical (3) A custom designed CPQ (Configure-Price-Quote) application called QuickQuote, This automation cuts down the turnaround time for quote responses to PCCW Global’s customers from several weeks to under a few minutes.
Divesh is Co-Chair of the Test & Certification committee at MEF; is an ONF certified SDN associate (OCSA); has a MEF-SDCP certification. He attained his MBA from University of Iowa, Tippie School of Management in May of 2006 and also holds an Engineering degree in Electronics & Communications from Manipal Institute of Technology.
