Nan Chen, Co-Founder and 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.

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.

Eric Gillenwater, Senior 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.