Institute for Communication Technology Management (CTM)

As Vice President of Enterprise IT – Network & Hosting Services for the Walt Disney Company / Disney Worldwide Services, Inc.  Sherri Brown is responsible for the strategy, architecture and operations of data center, hosting and global telecommunications services.  She is a member of Disney Enterprise Architecture Board aiding in the establishment and adoption of company-wide technology strategy and architecture decisions. 

Prior to this position and role, she was the Vice President - Corporate I.S., Telecommunications for Disney Worldwide Services.  This year marked her 19^th year with The Walt Disney Company.

Ms. Brown is also a Board Member for the Institute for Communications Technology Management at USC’s Marshall School of Business. 

Ms. Brown received a Bachelor of Science degree in Applied Mathematics from Cal Polytechnic San Luis Obispo University.

Lucy Hood, head of USC’s Institute of Communication Technology Management (CTM), is a highly respected industry expert in telecom strategy and innovator in digital content. USC’s CTM Institute is the world’s leading Institute at the intersection of technology and content, offering its members cutting‐edge global research and business strategy, executive education and leadership forums for the digital industry. Corporate partners include AT&T, Verizon, HP, Cisco, Qualcomm, Motorola, Alcatel‐Lucent, France Telecom, and Disney.

Prior to joining USC’s Marshall School of Business, Hood was founder and President of Fox Mobile Entertainment and Senior Vice President at News Corporation. Lucy Hood and her team created many industry firsts, including leading the groundbreaking “American Idol” mobile efforts, which introduced text messaging to mass media in the United States in 2001. Hood also received the first Emmy ® nomination for mobile content with the mobile video series “24: Conspiracy,” leading the team that created the Mobisode ® and the first ad‐sponsored mobile video. Hood was a key executive in launching numerous technology businesses at Fox, including Fox.com and FX Cable. Previously, she was an executive at Paramount Pictures, and produced the news program, “Business Times.”

Ghassan Abdo is responsible for HP’s strategy and portfolio in the Communication Service Provider and Network Equipment segments. In the service provider segment, HP is focused on enabling the transformation of the their business to provide higher value services beyond legacy communication services, meeting evolving customer needs and incorporating IT technologies and processes to provide an open and flexible network infrastructure and NG operation systems. In the NEP segment, HP is focused on creating strategic partnerships to address the evolving needs of service providers and enterprises and providing enabling technologies spanning IT, network operations and service delivery.

Prior to his current role, Ghassan held several senior roles within the Communication, Media and Entertainment industry both in the US and EMEA. He was the worldwide director of Joint GTM program with service providers, worldwide presales and competitive sales director and held senior EMEA sales positions. Ghassan efforts were focused on delivering value to the service provider customers and championed consultative selling approach. Ghassan is a regular presenter at customer events.

Brian Angiolet is the Vice President of Marketing for Verizon’s South and West territories.  He was promoted to his current role in August of 2009. 

Mr. Angiolet oversees the company’s Telecom Marketing, Retail Sales and Alternate Distribution operations for the Consumer and Small Business Segments.  He leads the effort to build the reputation within the community, grow market share and retain customers.

He joined Verizon in 1999 after launching his career at J. Walter Thompson Advertising.  Since then, he’s advanced through numerous positions within the company, amassing a wide range of experience in all facets of the Marketing, Product and Sales continuum.

In 2004, he was the Marketing leader for the launch of Verizon’s flagship product, FiOS, the Nation’s first fiber-to-the-home network and fastest growing Broadband and Television services. He was responsible for Advertising, Marketing and Promotion of the product and pioneered new distribution channels quickly adopted by the rest of the industry.

In previous assignments, Brian led Verizon’s DSL Customer Relationship Management organization.  And, had most recently, been the Executive Director responsible for National Consumer Marketing Strategy, Planning and Execution for all Telecom Products.

Gerald Belson serves as the Global Consulting leader for Deloitte’s Technology, Media and Telecommunications practice, and previously led the Telecommunications industry practice for the U.S.  Mr. Belson has advised industry clients for over 25 years on a wide range of issues, including business and IT strategy; Billing/OSS, M&A and process management.  His clients have included major US and global carriers, as well as emerging market players.  Previously, he was Deloitte’s wireless industry practice leader and global IT practice leader for the telecom industry.  He has also served as the managing director for the Washington D.C. consulting practice.

Mr. Belson has been a frequent speaker at telecom industry conferences, has directed several industry studies resulting in published articles, and has been quoted in CIO Magazine and other major publications. Mr. Belson also represents Deloitte on the Board of Directors of CTM.  He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from the University of Maryland.

Jack Borsting is Professor of Business Administration and Dean Emeritus, Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California (USC).  From 1994 to September 2001, he served as the Executive Director of the Center for Telecommunications Management (CTM) at USC, as well as the Morgan Stanley Professor of Business Administration.  From 1988 to 1994, Dr. Borsting was Dean of USC’s School of Business Administration and Robert Dockson Professor of Business Administration.  From 1983 to 1988, he was Dean of the School of Business Administration at the University of Miami.

Previously, Dr. Borsting was Assistant Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) for the United States Department of Defense, appointed by Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan.  As Comptroller, he acted as Chief Financial Officer for the Secretary of Defense, with overall responsibility for the Department’s information and budgeting systems, and was a member of the Defense Resources Board.

Dr. Borsting has served as Provost and Academic Dean at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, and has been the Visiting Distinguished Professor at Oregon State University.  He served two years with the Air Force as Project Officer at the Air Force Special Weapons Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

For his lifetime achievements, he was awarded the University of Oregon College of Arts and Science Fellow Award for 2004-2005. In 2000, the Institute for Operations Research & the Management Sciences (INFORMS) awarded Dr. Borsting its Steinhardt Prize for Military Operations Research.  Oregon State University has presented Dr. Borsting with its Distinguished Service Award, and the Operations Research Society of America (ORSA) has awarded him its Kimball Medal for Distinguished Service to the Profession.  The United States Department of Defense has twice awarded Dr. Borsting its Medal for Distinguished Public Service, and the Military Operations Research Society (MORS) has presented him with its Vance Wanner Award for Distinguished Service to the Profession.

Dr. Borsting is Past President of ORSA and MORS, and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the International Engineering Consortium (IEC), INFORMS, and MORS.  Dr. Borsting is a Member of the Army Science Board, the Board of Advisors of Adventis, the Naval Postgraduate School, and The One Hundred Club of Los Angeles. He is a Director, and formerly Chairman of the Board, of the Los Angeles Orthopaedic Hospital, and serves on the Advisory Council of the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI).  Dr. Borsting is a Trustee of The Rose Hills Foundation and MetLife Investors Trust; and also serves as the Lead Governor of the American Stock Exchange.

Dr. Borsting has previously served as a board member of Northrop Grumman Corporation, the Aerospace Corporation, Whitman Education Group, The Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA), the Center for Naval Analyses, Coast Savings Bank, McDonnell Douglas Finance Corporation, PLATO Learning, Inc., Storer Communications, and Sun Bank of Miami.

Dr. Borsting received his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Statistics from the University of Oregon, and his B.A. degree in Mathematics from Oregon State University.  He has published articles on operations research and statistics.

Deborah Bothun is a principal in the Advisory practice in the Los Angeles office of PricewaterhouseCoopers.  She leads the US Advisory Entertainment, Media and Communications practice and is the Global Leader of the PricewaterhouseCoopers Digital Convergence initiative, focusing on assisting clients in adapting to the changing content and distribution marketplace.  Ms. Bothun specializes in commercial and financial due diligence for entertainment and telecommunications transactions and financings, Corporate Business Planning and Strategy and Product Lifecycle Management. Bothun has over 15 years of experience working with Fortune 500 Entertainment and Media clients.  Her recent experiences include providing due diligence for financings supported by over $20 billion in entertainment assets, strategy consulting and voice of the market studies, market and competitive analysis, and emerging market entry analysis.  In addition to helping clients maximize opportunities in an evolving marketplace, Ms. Bothun has supported organizations in crisis situations.  She has presented at mediations and testified in arbitrations and depositions at both bench and jury trials.  She has extensive experience assisting clients with negotiations around economic loss and has worked in numerous matters where several $100m were at issue.  Of particular note is a matter where she conducted due diligence on several hundred films in over 40 film slates (portfolios) to assist various stakeholders in evaluating their financial position.

A recognized industry expert, Ms. Bothun has been featured at several industry conferences, including the National Association of Television and Program Executives (NATPE).  She is frequently quoted in trade publications on industry issues and topics.  Her recent contributions to PricewaterhouseCoopers' thought leadership include, “How to Capitalize on Lifestyle Advertising in a Customer-Centric World”, “Breaking Down the Walls: How an Open Business Model is Now the Convergence Imperative”, and “The Rise of Lifestyle Media: Achieving Success in the Digital Convergence Era". Ms. Bothun is an author of the Entertainment Profit and Litigation chapter in the Fourth Edition of the Litigation Services Handbook: “The Role of the Financial Expert.”  She is also the recipient of the Cruz de Plata Award of Distinction, received from The Expresion En Corto Film Festival, the largest festival in Latin America, for her achievements in the entertainment and media industry.

William Davidson is senior vice president of global marketing and investor relations for Qualcomm Incorporated.  In this role, Mr. Davidson provides leadership for Qualcomm’s marketing and public relations efforts worldwide and is the primary liaison with the investment community and Qualcomm shareholders.  Previously, Mr. Davidson served as vice president of carrier relations for Qualcomm Internet Services (QIS).  He worked closely with wireless service providers throughout the world to establish business opportunities based on Qualcomm’s wireless data technology and service offerings.

Prior to joining Qualcomm in 2002, Davidson served as senior vice president of corporate affairs and carrier relations at Aether Systems, where he acted as a liaison between the company and wireless carriers, negotiated network carrier contracts and formed joint marketing agreements. While with Aether Systems, Davidson worked closely with financial and industry analysts, and was the principal company spokesperson for investor conferences and analyst briefings.

Davidson has more than 20 years of experience in technical sales, marketing and general management roles in the telecommunications industry. He spent 13 years at Bell Atlantic that included substantial experience within the wireline business at New Jersey Bell, as well as serving subsequently as vice president of wireless data sales and marketing for Bell Atlantic Mobile. Davidson's experience also included serving as vice president of commercial sales operations for GE Capital's telecommunications financial services division.

Thomas Drake, CEO, brought seasoned management and quality technology to TCIM. Tom pioneered the development of ISO technology at TCIM. Previously he was with E. I. du Pont de Nemours in senior management positions for 15 years. At DuPont Tom was a software development manager in DuPont Engineering and later became the Company’s Director of Telecommunications. Prior to DuPont, Tom served as a software architect for the Lem Module, the first Lunar Lander at NASA in Houston. Tom is a Wharton Fellow. Tom is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Center for Telecom Management (CTM), University of Southern California and has previously served as a Board member of various local and state boards including Junior Achievement and Boy Scouts.

Richard Drobnick has a joint appointment with the University of Southern California and the National University of Singapore (NUS) and the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU), which maintains its Secretariat at NUS.

At USC, Drobnick is the founding director of the Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER) at the Marshall School of Business, which has been supported by the U.S. Department of Education since 1990, as one of its 31 national resource centers on international business. From 1994-2005, Drobnick served as USC’s Vice Provost for International Affairs.

At NUS, Drobnick is the Managing Director of the APRU World Institute, an institute founded in 2006 to produce interdisciplinary research on issues of critical importance to Pacific Rim policy makers and he is a Visiting Professor of Global Studies at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (www.apru.org/awi) . Drobnick is also the Secretary General Emeritus and a member of the Steering Committee of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU), the association of presidents of 42 leading Pacific Rim research universities (www.apru.org) .

Drobnick specializes in Pacific Rim economic and business issues and U.S. and Pacific Rim trade policies. He is the author of numerous articles regarding international economics and business, as well as the co-author of Neither Feast nor Famine: Food Conditions to the Year 2000 (D.C. Heath, 1978) and co-editor of Small Firms in Global Competition (Oxford University Press, 1994).

Drobnick is a member of the United States Asia Pacific Council, which is the organizing institution for the United States National Committee of the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC), a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Pacific Council on International Policy, a director of the Japan-America Society of Southern California, and a member of the Advisory Council of the Asia Society’s Southern California Center.  From    1967-69, Drobnick served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Malaysia, as a management advisor   to the Farmers Associations Movement that was being launched by the Malaysian Department of Agriculture.

Kenneth Frank is Executive Vice President of Alcatel-Lucent and President, Solutions and Marketing. Kenneth is a member of the Alcatel-Lucent Management Committee.

Prior to his current role, Kenneth Frank was President of Alcatel-Lucent’s Professional Services Business Division in the Services Business Group. He has responsibility for IPTV, OSS/BSS, Applications and Security integration.

Previously, Kenneth Frank was Senior Vice President for IPTV North America at Alcatel-Lucent and formerly held the positions of Senior Vice President of Strategic Solutions and CTO of Alcatel North America.

Prior to coming to Alcatel in February 2005, he held positions of Senior Vice President, Global Business Development and Strategy, and Senior Vice President, Network and Operations at Masergy Communications. He also held senior management positions at Zephion Networks/Broadband Office, BellSouth Telecommunications, and AT&T Bell Laboratories.

Joseph Hanley is Vice President – Technology, Planning, and Services for Telephone and Data Systems, a Fortune 500 company serving over 7.4 million customers in 36 states through its operating subsidiaries U.S. Cellular and TDS Telecom.

Mr. Hanley reports directly to the CEO of TDS, Inc. and is responsible for a variety of corporate functions including enterprise strategic planning, technology vendor and industry relations, technology and policy support of corporate growth initiatives, and technology assessment.

Hanley joined TDS in 1988 and has held a series of positions in engineering, product management, product development, customer operations, technology assessment, and strategy formulation.

Doreen Ida is Vice President and General Manager of Nestlé Performance Nutrition for the Americas.  She was selected for this position in March 2007 to rebuild the growth of Performance Nutrition’s main brand, PowerBar.

Prior to her current role, Doreen and her family spent 2 years in Vevey, Switzerland where she was responsible for building the Global Consumer Excellence department for the Nestlé Infant Nutrition business unit which includes infant formula, baby food, infant cereal and growing up milk products, and spans across 130 countries.  The Consumer Excellence department consists of Consumer Insights and Consumer Relationship Marketing (direct mail and digital).  In addition, because of her extensive experience in new product launches, she was selected to lead key innovation projects for the infant formula business.

From 2002-2005 she was Vice President of Marketing for the U.S. infant formula and healthcare nutrition businesses.  Key brands include Nestlé Good Start, Carnation Instant Breakfast, Peptamen and Nutren.

Prior to that Doreen was the Vice President of Marketing for the Nestlé USA Beverage Division where she engaged her marketing expertise to help grow the market shares and profits on key brands such as Coffee-Mate, Nesquik and Nestlé Carnation Hot Cocoa Mix.  Total size of the portfolio: $1.2 billion in retail sales.

Doreen has over 21 years of marketing experience, primarily with Nestlé, but also 2 years with Kraft General Foods.

She received her MBA from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, and is presently serving on the Corporate Advisory Board for the USC Marshall School of Business.

Darrell Jordan Smith is basedin Boston, Massachusetts and is Vice President of NEP/OEM Sales and Industries at Oracle. He leads Sun Microsystems’ largest vertical market with revenues exceeding USD4.6B and an organization of over 300 industry specialists.

With over 20 years' experience in the IT, Telecommunications and Media industries, Darrell has developed a strong focus on B2B relationships and innovative business development practices. Under his leadership, Sun's

CMP organization has delivered impressive revenue growth over the past 4 years.

At Sun, Darrell revolutionized the 'go-to-market' approach by introducing a Global Sales Strategy, which saw the focus shift to emerging markets. Anticipating a shift in client needs, Darrell also aligned the product development and technical solutions team closer to the client, whilst integrating the Media responsibilities into his scope. Recognized for his leadership and achievements at Sun, Darrell received the prestigious Chairman Award for Outstanding Leadership as well as the Best Worldwide Client Executive Award.

Before joining Sun, Darrell enjoyed successful careers with AT&T, Lucent, Novell and NCD, where he set up and managed some of Europe's largest sales organizations. Darrell received his MBA from the University of Strathclyde and his BSc in Computing Science from the University of Glasgow.

Alexis Livanos is the chief technology officer and corporate vice president for Northrop Grumman. In this transformational role, he is responsible for leading the company’s development and insertion of cutting-edge technologies to address the evolving requirements of customers. He also serves on the company’s corporate policy council.

Livanos is also a research professor at the Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical Engineering at University of Southern California (USC) Viterbi School of Engineering.  

Prior to this, Livanos was corporate vice president and president of Northrop Grumman Space Technology, responsible for the strategic direction and operations of the sector, which developed a broad range of systems at the leading edge of space, defense and electronics technology. Prior to that, Livanos served as vice president and general manager of the Systems Development and Technology and Space Sensors Division in the Electronic Systems sector.

Before joining Northrop Grumman in 2003, Livanos served as executive vice president of Boeing Satellite Systems, where he was responsible for technology, engineering, manufacturing, supply chain management, and strategic relationships and ventures. He also served as deputy general manager for the former TRW Electronic Systems and Technology Division and later as executive vice president of operations for Space Systems/Loral. During his career, Livanos participated in the successful launch of 46 satellites and has more than 30 years experience in research and applications in the fields of microelectronics, solid-state physics, electro-optics and signal processing.

Livanos earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering (with honors), a master’s degree in engineering science, and a doctorate in engineering science and physics from the California Institute of Technology. He also taught applied physics at Caltech for two years as a post-doctorate fellow.

In 2009, Livanos was appointed to the Defense Science Board reporting to the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology & Logistics, Ashton Carter. In 2008, he was inducted into the National Academy of Engineering. That year he also received the Caltech Distinguished Alumni Award, the International von Karman Wings Award from the Aerospace Historical Society, and the IS Executive Leadership Award given by the UCLA Anderson School of Management. He is a senior fellow of the California Council on Science & Technology. He is chairman of the Science Advisory Council for GALCIT and a member of the Visiting Committee for Caltech’s Division of Engineering and Applied Science. He is on the Board of Councilors for the USC Viterbi School of Engineering. He also serves on the UCLA Visiting Committee for Science and Technology. Livanos is a member of the IEEE and AFCEA, and an associate fellow of the AIAA. He also serves on the Board of Directors for the Space Foundation, Planetary Society and National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering, Inc.  

Laurie Miller has been President of the Telecom New Zealand US operations since 2004.  Over that time he has grown the business and has been instrumental in driving new business and building strong and lasting strategic partnerships.

TNZUSA is a wholesale long distance phone provider, selling voice and value added products and services  to the top tier of phone carriers, Cable companies and mobile operators.  TNZUSA also provides internet and data services for the parent company’s operations in New Zealand and Australia.

Laurie joined the international division of Telecom New Zealand straight out of University in 1991 as a management accountant, working his way through finance and sales roles before helping to build the US operation as the EVP of sales in the US from 1998.

Pieter Poll is the Chief Technology Officer at Qwest. In this role, he facilitates the strategic technology direction of the company. Additionally, he is responsible for network planning and engineering functions.

Dr. Poll started his career at AT&T Bell Laboratories where he contributed to the architecture and evolution path of the 5ESS® Digital Switch. He helped develop network evolution plans for the AT&T long distance network and product requirements for that network. He was a strategic and portfolio planner for what is now Lucent Technologies. Pieter joined the former U S WEST Advanced Technologies organization in 1994 to develop switching and network intelligence evolution plans for Qwest. In 1997, he was appointed Director – Core Network Evolution and was responsible for managing a program directed at identifying Qwest’s future data-centric network, and the transition path to that future. In 1999, he was appointed General Manger – Network Architecture, Technologies, and Services and was responsible for development of network solutions and intelligent network services. In 2000, Pieter formed Qwest Emerging Technologies and was responsible for identifying strategic network direction for Qwest. He was appointed head of Qwest Technology Management, in 2001. In this role, Pieter and his team defined detailed technology strategy for Qwest, performed technology selections, qualifed and operationalized selected technologies, and managed their introduction into the Qwest network. From 2003 through 2004, Pieter served as Vice President – Technology & Network Architecture at Mahi Networks, a provider of optical core transport infrastructure based in Petaluma, CA. Pieter returned to Qwest at the end of 2004, where he was responsible for the technology evolution of Qwest’s voice and data platforms.

Dr. Poll earned a B.Sc. in Physics and Mathematics (1982) from the University of Toronto, in Toronto, Canada, and a Ph.D. in Physics (1987) from Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.

Bill Rusitzky manages Adobe’s Strategic Partnership Group, which managed partnerships with large companies who touch multiple Adobe business units. This includes Viacom, Disney, NBC, News Corp, Intel, HP, Apple as well as the global ad agencies. These partnerships touch video, mobile as well as rich interactive initiatives, with focus on building a collaborative partnership to develop future products.

Bill joined Adobe as part of the Macromedia merger where he was leading Macromedia’s mobile business development initiatives. 

Prior to Macromedia Bill was part of the founding teams at two start-ups Netcentives, which he helped grow to $40M in revenue and Motion Sense. Prior to that he was at Silicon Graphics in the early 90’s.

Suraj Shetty leads Cisco’s Worldwide Service Provider Marketing organization, responsible for the marketing of medianet for Video, Modie Internet, Data Center, and Routing and Switching solutions to Internet service provider companies globally. His principal area of focus: enabling service providers to become “experience providers” by delivering rich “Connected Life” experiences, through Cisco’s Internet Protocol Next Generation Network (IP NGN).

As a member of Cisco’s Service Provider Business Council, Shetty is a member of the senior leadership team that collaboratively determines the company’s Service Provider business strategy.

Going beyond traditional marking, Shetty has successfully pioneered the use of “visual, viral and virtual” approaches to Cisco’s Service Provider marketing initiatives. An example is the launch of the Aggregated Service Router (ASR) 1000 and 9000 in 2008, Cisco’s largest entirely online launch to date. The launch’s use of interactive content and socal networking on Facebook was cited by Forrester Research as an excellent example of innovative marketing. Such use of Web 2.0 approaches has earned Shetty and his team prestigious honors including the Leading Light Award 2008 for Best Marketing and B to B magazine coverage entitled “Uber Launch.” The Cisco Visual Networking Index (VNI)—and ongoing study created and produced by Shetty’s organization—tracks and forecasts global IP traffic growth on a quarterly basis. The VNI is used as a data source and trend indicator by many analysis firms, including Goldman Sachs, and has been cited by the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Network World and other publications.

Shetty is a frequent speaker and recognized Cisco spokesperson among press, industry analysts and investors. During his 13 years at Cisco, Shetty has held many product management and marketing roles in DSL, ATM, broadband aggregation and core/edge routing technologies as well as channel marketing.

Garrick Tiplady has served as Vice President, Strategy for Rogers Communications since October 2006. He is responsible for strategy, planning and development.  Mr. Tiplady is also on the advisory board of Right To Play Canada.

Mr. Tiplady holds a B.Sc. from McGill University and an M.B.A. from the Richard Ivey School of Business.

Mr. Tiplady lives in Toronto, Canada, with his wife and two boys.