April 30, 2003 at the UTDallas Conference
Center
7:00 am - Reception with breakfast buffet
7:45 am - Program
presentation
Admission with $35 donation ($25 for MIT Club of DFW members,
$10 for students) .
For reservations call Mary Langford at 972-377-4554, or email to mitforum@juno.com
How to Go from an R&D-Stage Company to a Successful
Customer-Centered Company,
Program
On April 30, 2003, the M.I.T. Enterprise Forum of Dallas-Fort Worth, Inc.
will present How to Go from an R&D-Stage Company to a Successful
Customer-Centered Company, at The University of Texas at Dallas (UT-Dallas)
Conference Center beginning with breakfast and networking at 7 a.m., and the
program at 7:45 a.m. The cost to attend is a donation of $35 or $10 for
students. Reservations can be made at mitforum@juno.com, or 972-377-4554.
The panelists will include executives from Navini Networks; Taqua, Inc.; and
Transat Technologies, Inc. The panel will discuss the challenges of
transitioning from product development to general availability, and
transitioning from an R&D company to a successful customer-centered
business. The panel will be presented by Bill Kleinman, partner at Haynes and
Boone, LLP and the moderator will be Scott Bennett, principal of ChangeAgent.
Navini Networks, Inc.
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John Grabner, Vice President of Engineering
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Bjorn Kirchdorfer, Exec. VP of Commercial Operations
Taqua Systems, Inc.
Transat Technologies, Inc.
Headquartered in Richardson, Texas, the heart of the Telecom Corridor, Navini
Networks offers patented wireless broadband technology that addresses the
world's need and desire for high-speed Internet access. Navini was founded by
successful Silicon Valley entrepreneur Wu-Fu Chen and industry expert Dr.
Guanghan Xu, and provides nomadic, zero-install, non-line-of-sight
infrastructure to allow for anytime, anywhere Web access. John Grabner, vice
president of engineering; and Bjorn Kirchdorfer, executive vice president of
commercial operations will represent Navini on the panel.
Taqua, Inc., "The Voice of Next Generation Networks," is a
telecommunications company that offers Incumbent Local Exchange Carriers (ILECS)
and Competitive Local Exchange Carriers (CLECS) with a state-of-the-art Next
Generation Class 5 switching program. Jody Bennett, vice president of marketing;
and Hermon Pon, chief product officer will represent Taqua on the panel.
Transat Technologies, Inc. enables wireless data access solutions by
utilizing the strengths of cellular networks to support Wireless LAN (WLAN)
deployments. It has developed software to integrate WLAN seamlessly within the
core architecture of cellular networks. Chris Rogers, vice president of sales
& business development will represent Transat on the panel.
BIOS
Navini Networks, Inc.
John Grabner, Vice President of Engineering Mr. Grabner has 16 years
of experience in the telecommunications industry and 13 years of experience in
management positions.
Prior to joining Navini, he served in multiple managerial positions at Nortel
Networks in various worldwide offices and oversaw the development of numerous
projects. At Nortel, John acquired extensive knowledge in leading and managing
product planning, research and development, and new product introduction.
Mr. Grabner earned his Electrical Engineering degree from Carleton
University.
Bjorn Kirchdorfer, Executive Vice President of Commercial Operations
Mr. Kirchdorfer recently joined Navini and brings more than 15 years of industry
experience at leading telecommunications companies and extensive experience with
industry OEMs to Navini. He is in charge of expanding Navini's reach into
international markets, as well as providing overall leadership to the sales and
marketing teams at Navini.
Prior to joining Navini he was a Vice President with IP Wireless where he was
in charge of the North American Sales Strategy and helping expand the company's
reach into Asia. Previously he was the Vice President of Worldwide Sales for
Telespree Communications. Before his tenure at Telespree, he held several key
positions at Ericsson, Inc., including Vice President, Sales and Marketing, for
the North American Wireless division.
Mr. Kirchdorfer earned an M.B.A. in international management from the
American Graduate School of International Management, and has a B.S. in business
administration from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas.
Taqua Systems, Inc.
Hermon Pon, Chief Product Officer
Mr. Pon is responsible for leading all engineering and product
management/planning activities for Taqua's award-winning Open Compact Exchange
(OCX) next-generation Class 5 switch.
Mr. Pon joins Taqua following an engagement as Entrepreneur in Residence with
Sevin Rosen Funds and Battery Ventures, where he provided strategic counsel,
strategy formulation, acquisition strategy and market development to a cadre of
telecommunications industry startup organizations. Mr. Pon has also held several
senior positions with Nortel Networks over the course of a two-decade career
with the industry giant.
Mr. Pon is well-known for a successful 20-year career at Nortel Networks,
where he served in a variety of senior management positions, most notably as
Chief Technical Officer, Wireless Internet and VP of Technology and Chief
Technical Officer, Wireless Solutions.
Mr. Pon, who has been granted four patents in optical networking and wireless
communications, and has been widely-published in technical journals, holds an
M.B.A. and B.S. Electrical Engineering from the University of Alberta in
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Transat Technologies, Inc.
Tom Allen, Vice President of Engineering and Operations
Prior to Transat, Mr. Allen served as Vice President of Engineering and
Operations for Vocaldata. He has extensive experience with startup, medium and,
large companies. Tom's experience includes several executive positions with
Glenayre's Integrated Network Group including Vice President and General Manager
of Open Development Corp., Vice President of Product Management and, Vice
President of Product Development.
Prior to Glenayre/CNET, Tom held executive positions with Interphase Corp.
and DSC/Integrated Telecom and Harris .
Mr. Allen has a B.S. in Mathematical Sciences from the University of Texas at
Dallas and Graduate Studies in Business from the University of Florida.
Moderator
Scott Bennett, Managing Director of ChangeAgent
Mr. Bennett was most recently the Managing Director of Temerlin McClain
Public Relations, the largest communications firm in Texas. He was previously
the National Executive Vice President of E. Bruce Harrison Company a Washington
DC-based litigation support and crisis management group with responsibility for
planning and business development. He has also been a nationally syndicated
business and political columnist with "The Dallas Morning News" and
Editor of "Texas Business" magazine. The clients he has worked with
include AT&T, GTE, American Airlines, Texas Instruments, SABRE, Bank of
America, Temple-Inland, British Petroleum, Hewlett-Packard and a host of small
and medium-sized businesses.
Introductions
Bill Kleinman, Partner at Haynes and Boone, L.L.P. A specialist in
corporate law with emphasis on information technology companies, Mr. Kleinman's
expertise includes venture capital, public offerings and other forms of public
and private finance, mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, public company
representation, board matters, bankruptcy reorganizations and leveraged
buy-outs.
His recent transactions include telecommunications-related IPOs and secondary
offerings, representing semiconductor and e-commerce companies in seed and
venture capital fundings, representing buyers and sellers in a variety of
technology-related transactions, representing publicly-traded companies in
product adoptions and proxy fights and hostile acquisitions, representing
companies in formation of joint ventures and strategic partnerships,
representing e-commerce companies in service and co-branding arrangements, and
representing technology startups in adoption of various stock plan agreements.
Mr. Kleinman earned his J.D. from the University of Texas Law School in 1983,
where he was Associate Editor of the Texas Law Review, and he earned a B.S.
degree from MIT in 1979.
