CENX

CENX Management Team

CENX management team has taken a leading role in defining Carrier Ethernet, developing Carrier Ethernet standards and market as well as implementing telecom interconnection through their work in the MEF (www.MetroEthernetForum.org) and the industry.


	Sanford (Sandy) Brown, CEO, is a well known industry leader and Ethernet evangelist in the telecoms community. He joined CENX from AT&T where he was Vice President responsible for multi-billion dollar lines of business, including worldwide Ethernet, private line and ring services. In that role, AT&T became a visible market leader in Ethernet services and won numerous awards for the Ethernet service family. Mr. Brown has spent a substantial portion of his career linking customer needs with concepts and emerging technologies and building them into large successful businesses; including as a principal of AT&T’s business IP services and as VP/General Manager of Hosting Services, both of which are now AT&T's growth engines with multi-billion dollars in revenue. He began his career at Bell Labs and holds 6 patents in the areas of PBX and computer design and Internet services. Mr. Brown earned a BE from Vanderbilt University and a MS from the University of Illinois.
	Nan Chen, President, is known in the telecom/networking industry as the founding President of the MEF, which has been materially shaping the telecom industry, establishing Carrier Ethernet as the predominant technology and service for businesses, internet applications and mobile infrastructure. Mr. Chen’s drive to unite standardization and certification with dynamic, global campaigns and strategic initiatives, has helped make Carrier Ethernet one of the fastest growing areas in telecoms ($22b in 2009). He served as VP of Marketing at Atrica (acquired by Nokia Siemens Networks); VP of Marketing at Strix Systems (acquired by Private Equity); Director of Technology at Bay Networks/SynOptics (acquired by Nortel); Founding Board of Director of 10 Gigabit Ethernet Alliance. Mr. Chen has received 30+ industry awards/accolades and 10,000+ citations in worldwide media, and has been named as one of the Top 100 Most Influential People in Telecom/Internet Industry and achieved 2 MS & 1 BS degrees. In his past life, he was a record holder of pole vault at Beijing University.
	Ron Gavillet, Executive Vice President of External Affairs and General Counsel, was a co-founder of Neutral Tandem (Nasdaq: TNDM), the first independent, neutral telecom exchange company; he served as its Executive Vice President, External Affairs, and General Counsel. Mr. Gavillet created the concept for Neutral Tandem, developed its unique regulatory strategy, and helped lead its successful IPO in 2007. Mr. Gavillet has over 20 years of diversified telecommunications experience. In addition to five years in private practice with the law firms of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and Hopkins & Sutter, Mr. Gavillet held senior positions with several competitive carriers, including MCI, ClearTel Communications, USN Communications and Universal Access. Mr. Gavillet holds B.S. and B.A. degrees from Southern Illinois University, a J.D. from Catholic University of America, and a Masters in Management from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management. He received the 2007 Earnst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award (Lake Michigan region).
	Tony Thakur, Executive Vice President of Operations and Engineering, is responsible for CENX's Network Architecture, Engineering and Operations. He has worked in the Telecom Industry for over 25 years in various capacities including operations, engineering, architecture, technology, product development and network management. He has architected, implemented and operated Carrier Ethernet, Metro, IP/MPLS, and VoIP networks. He was the first to implement several new technologies for service providers including VOIP, VPLS, optical switching and Carrier Ethernet. Prior to joining CENX, Mr. Thakur spent 15 years at Time Warner Telecom where he introduced next generation technologies and service management for the IP backbone, Metro DWDM, Ethernet & VoIP. He architected and implemented several national, regional and metro networks across the US including the Time Warner Telecom Orlando network. Previously, Mr. Thakur engineered and deployed Metro networks for the Sprint in Florida (UTF) and fiber networks for MCI. Mr. Thakur holds a BSEE from the University of Texas (Arlington) and a Masters in Engineering Management from the Florida Institute of Technology.
	Chris Purdy, Chief Technology Officer, is responsible for CENX technology and systems development. He has been a leading technical contributor to the development of Carrier Ethernet, acting currently as specification editor of Carrier Ethernet Service Constructs in the MEF’s technical committee. Before CENX, Mr. Purdy spent four years as CTO of Nakina Systems, selling operations software to telecom service providers. Here, he helped take the company from very early stage to one deployed in multiple Tier 1 providers managing thousands of network elements. Prior to this, Mr. Purdy spent 19 years with Nortel in numerous roles including Professional Services, acting as a senior network operations and IT consultant to service providers, and Director of Optical Ethernet Management, responsible for defining and building complete solutions in the earliest days of Carrier Ethernet. Mr. Purdy holds a BASc. in Electrical engineering from the University of Toronto
	William Bjorkman, Chief Technical Advisor, is co-chair of the MEF Technical Committee and currently co-editor for MEF's new ENNI (external network to network interface) specification. He serves as a Senior Technical Consultant for a Tier 1 Carrier and is a leading industry expert on deployment of next generation Ethernet services and Carrier Ethernet networks. Mr. Bjorkman has over 20 years of experience in high speed data communications and digital transmission networks. He has been published numerous times and has several inventions in the area of carrier Ethernet. Previously, he was Director of System Technology in Nokia Telecommunications, and Director of Broadband Data Services in NYNEX Science & Technology. Bill is a frequent contributor to MEF technical specifications and editor of MEF 6 (Ethernet Services Definitions Technical Specification).Mr. Bjorkman holds a BS in Electrical Engineering.
	Eric Gillenwater, Vice President, Worldwide Development, is responsible for sales and client facing activities for CENX’s global business initiatives with Incumbent Local Exchange Carriers, Competitive Local Exchange Carriers, Multiple System Operators, Independent Telephone Companies, Internet Service Providers, Interexchange Carriers and Wireless Service Providers. Mr. Gillenwater has spent more than 12 years in the telecommunications industry. Prior to his current role, he was Vice President of Sales for Telstra International’s Service Provider Division supporting all phone operators and their requirements into the Asia-Pacific region. He has held other management positions including those with MCI WorldCom (legacy MFS) Emerging Markets division. He has consistently been recognized for over achievement throughout his career with multiple awards and acknowledgments. Eric holds a B.S. in Business Administration and an MBA from Fordham University.
	Chris Swenson, Vice President of Finance, was most recently a co-founder of and Vice President of Finance at Neutral Tandem, Inc. (TNDM). He and his partners led the company from its inception to its IPO in 2007. Prior to Neutral Tandem, Mr. Swenson was CFO of TeleGea, Inc. He led the company through its largest round of funding ($42M) prior to its sale to Ensim. Prior to TeleGea, he was a Vice President at Fidelity Ventures (Telecom Group). At Fidelity, he took the forefront in all business planning and M & A activity for Colt Telecom, MetroRed and KVH Telecom. Before joining Fidelity, Mr. Swenson was a Senior Analyst at Tucker Anthony (now RBC). He was the firm's lead telecom analyst and was named to the Wall Street Journal's All Star Analyst list in 1994. Chris earned his BA from the University of New Hampshire and his MBA from Babson College.
	Mark Fishburn, Marketing Advisor, has more than 35 years experience in marketing, sales, systems engineering, and management in the computer and communications industries. He has been closely associated with Ethernet for most of his career, installing his first system in 1982 while at Xerox, co-authors of the initial Ethernet specification. Industry roles include Chairman of the Board, Metro Ethernet Forum, Chairman of the Board of the 10 Gigabit Ethernet Alliance, and board member of the Gigabit Ethernet alliance and he has been instrumental of the creation of the MEF’s Carrier Ethernet and Global Interconnect strategies. Mr. Fishburn is president of strategic marketing company MarketWord, in the Carrier Ethernet market. He spent 10 years as VP Technical Strategy and VP Marketing for network test company Spirent Communications, and UK Managing Director and officer for Retix. He has won more than 20 industry awards and studied BSc. Special Mathematics at University of London.