Alan Breznick has tracked the media, telecommunications, broadband, and consumer electronics industries for more than 20 years. Before switching over to Heavy Reading in 2007, he was the original editor of Light Reading Cable Website and founding author of Heavy Reading's Cable Industry Insider. At Heavy Reading, he primarily focuses on cable/MSO services, technologies, and networks, as well as IPTV infrastructure. Alan was formerly a broadband analyst for Kinetic Strategies and a contributing analyst for One Touch Intelligence. He previously reported for Communications Daily, Cable World, Multichannel News, Broadband Daily, Crain's New York Business, and Genuine Article Press, among other publications.

Mari Silbey is a technology writer, reporter and analyst with primary expertise in the broadband and wireless industries. She worked independently for more than a decade and has contributed to numerous trade publications, including Fierce Cable, CableFax and SmartPlanet (formerly part of CBS Interactive). She has also written for both corporate and association clients in the past focused on broadband networks, mobile apps and video delivery. In 2007, Mari launched the corporate blog for Motorola’s Home division -- a novel endeavor at the time -- which she ran until the end of 2010. Other clients have included the Utility Telecom Council, Limelight Networks, Turn and Looker.

Jean Davis is president and CEO of MCNC, the broadband technology nonprofit that builds, owns, and operates the North Carolina Research and Education Network (NCREN). Jean’s background includes experience in government, corporate and entrepreneurial settings with over 25 years of successful leadership. Her areas of expertise include global operations management, strategic planning, start-ups, and technology-led economic development. She joined MCNC from the N.C. Department of Commerce where she served as COO and Assistant Secretary of Business, Industry and Trade, directing efforts toward the creation and retention of high-quality jobs by attracting new businesses and supporting existing ones all over the state. Prior to joining Commerce, Jean was a partner at Empire Properties, and was the co-founder/owner of Serentec, Inc., a technical consulting. Jean also held international positions at IBM, Computer Digest Magazine and McGraw Hill.

Jeff Finkelstein is the Executive Director of Network Architecture at Cox Communications in Atlanta, Georgia. He has been part of the engineering and architecture groups at Cox since 2002, and was part of the team responsible for the deployment of DOCSIS technologies, from DOCSIS 1.1 to DOCSIS 3.0. Jeff has made significant contributions to the access network design and deployments at Cox, and has the new role of being responsible for future technology planning of backbone, metro, edge, access, and home networks. He is now part of the CableLabs DOCSIS 3.1 PHY and MAC teams, in addition to being part of the IEEE EPOC specification effort.

Venessa Harrison is President of AT&T North Carolina, a position to which she was named in March 2013, having previously served as Regional Vice President of External Affairs. In her current position, she is responsible for the public policy, economic development and community affairs activities of AT&T, a leading provider of wireless and wireline communications services. In her role, she works closely with state and community leaders to help bring new technology and jobs to the state and improve the quality of life for all North Carolinians. Harrison is a 35-year veteran of AT&T and its predecessor companies. Beginning her career in the operator services organization, she moved through positions of increasing responsibility in the network, business and regulatory and external affairs departments.

Jen Hensley is General Manager of LinkNYC, a project to install up to 10,000 free public WiFi kiosks throughout New York City’s five boroughs authorized by a franchise agreement with the City of New York. She oversees deployment; fiber and network coordination; technology management; product development; marketing and communications; and public, vendor and city relations. She is responsible for the financial performance of the franchise, a $300 million annual business. As Senior Vice President of Intersection, a key partner in the LinkNYC project, she also works with Intersection’s new business development unit to support global expansion of LinkNYC products. Jen led the expansion and evolution of the city’s preeminent civic advocacy organization from 2010 until 2015 as Executive Director of Association for a Better New York, where she continues to provide counsel today as a board member of the ABNY Foundation.

Joseph (Joe) Kochan joins US Ignite as a management consultant from Widelity Inc. specializing in business strategy, business plan development and modeling, project management, network deployment and operations and federal grant compliance. Prior to joining Widelity, he worked as part of the Department of Commerce's BTOP grant program. Prior to that role, he was a Founder and Vice President of Operations of DigitalBridge Communications (DBC), a Virginia-based startup backed by over $40M in venture funding dedicated to bringing broadband services to small, underserved markets nationwide using broadband wireless technology. At DBC, Joe managed the design and deployment of 4G wireless networks covering over 600,000 people in six states, as well as the acquisition of the company's first 20,000 customers. Previously, he was with Verizon Avenue, the Verizon subsidiary focused on providing bundled communications services to concentrated communities nationwide. At Verizon, he had responsibility for strategic planning and strategic project management, specifically focusing on the military housing market and the implementation of the first Verizon FiOS networks at military bases across the country.

Gigi B. Sohn advises the Chairman on a range of telecommunications and media issues and represents him in a variety of public forums around the country. She served from 2001 until 2013 as the President and CEO of Public Knowledge and from 2011 until 2013 as the Co-Chair of the Board of Directors of the Broadband Internet Technical Advisory Group (BITAG). Prior to that, she served as a Project Specialist in the Ford Foundation’s Media, Arts and Culture unit and as Executive Director of the Media Access Project. Gigi has served on the board of the Telecommunications Policy Research Conference (TPRC) and on the Advisory Board of the Center for Copyright Information. She served on the District of Columbia Bar Board of Governors from 1997 until 2000. In 1997, President Clinton appointed Gigi to serve as a member of his Advisory Committee on the Public Interest Obligations of Digital Television Broadcasters.

Jeff Stovall joined the City of Charlotte as its first Chief Information Officer in 2008 and is responsible for leading the City’s Innovation and Technology department. In his tenure, he directed the City’s technology preparations for the successful 2012 Democratic National Convention, consolidated divisional IT organizations into a new City department, implemented a significant modernization of legacy applications and infrastructure, and moved the City to use mobile, social and cloud-based systems. Prior to the City of Charlotte, Jeff was the director of IT merger integration planning for Sprint Nextel, responsible for leading multiple post-acquisition technology integration efforts. He was recognized as the CIO of the Year in Non-Profit/Government by the Charlotte Business Journal in 2015.