Paradigm Shift in Wireless Innovations for Hospitality

Bruno Tomas

Program Director, Wireless Broadband Alliance

Bruno C. TOMÁS serves as program director at WBA, where is responsible for managing activities and working groups focused on the business development and implementation of wireless technologies (Next Gen Wi-Fi, IoT, 5G) and services (OpenRoaming, Security, Data, Interoperability). Since joining WBA in 2012, based on an extensive collaboration with its global membership, he was one of the initial few driving seamless roaming NGH deployments leading to world’s first success stories, working closely with partners in the United States, Brazil, China, Spain, UK, Germany, Mexico, Thailand, Indonesia, India.
He started his career at Portugal Telecom / Altice as a network engineer for headend systems and later as innovation consultant conducting the strategic analysis and new business development for medium/long term technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), along with managing external engagement and standardization activities with ETSI, ITU and EC.

Tomas received the BSc in Electrical and Computer Engineering and the MSc in Telecommunications from the Technical University of Lisbon (IST), Portugal. Before joining the industry he collaborated with the Telecommunications Institute as an investigator in the areas of wireless and UHDVideo.

Tiago Rodrigues

CEO, WBA

Tiago Rodrigues is the CEO of the Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA). Tiago is responsible for leading the overall strategy, together with the WBA Board, and the operational planning for the WBA. As well as overseeing the day to day management, Tiago takes a leadership role in understanding industry challenges and working with membership to agree the key focus areas and programs that need to be developed to ensure the wireless industry optimises market opportunities for Wi-Fi and works to resolve any business issues that impede the success of the industry overall.

Before he joined the WBA, Tiago spent 15 years at the Portugal Telecom Group. In his previous role as Head of Business Innovation, he collaborated with various departments within the company to identify and develop new business opportunities. Prior to this, he managed the Public Wi-Fi sector of Portugal Telecom Group where he was responsible for service management, development, strategy and internationalisation of the Wi-Fi service. He was also involved in strategic marketing, regulatory affairs, pricing, product development and roaming.

Tiago holds an M.Sc. in Economics and Management of Science and Technology, and a degree in Business Administration from the Higher Institute of Economics and Management at The Technical University of Lisbon He also has a BA. Honors Degree in Business Administration from Humberside University, UK.

Chris Bruce

Managing Director of GlobalReach Technology

Chris is responsible for leading the GlobalReach Technology team to deliver world class Wi-Fi authentication and user experience services for Operators, on a global basis. Chris has over 15 years experience in the Wi-Fi Service Provider sector: as CEO BT Openzone: Director BT Global Sales and Consulting including Wi-Fi roaming and has previously held the posts of Chair and Co-Chair of the WBA, representing BT.

He has more than 30 years of international experience in the telecommunications industry in a range of general management, product, marketing and sales channel roles he was responsible for business growth in the data communications, mobile, internet hosting, global voice and wireless broadband sectors.

Chris has a deep interest in innovation, entrepreneurship and new technologies. Chris has acted as mentor to start-ups in programmes eg Cognicity Smart Cities Challenge, PWC’s Swiftscale programme, a support of the BT Infinity Labs and has been a board advisor to Pie Mapping. He has a specific interest in the Industrial Internet of Things and Smart Cities and is a member of the WBA Connected Cities Advisory Board.

Prior to joining Global Reach Technology in 2018, Chris was at BT during which time he was vice president for BT’s pan-European Applications Hosting business and a board director of Inet Spa, a publicly quoted Italian hosting business in which BT was a shareholder. In 1998 he was sales & marketing director of Telfort Business Mobile (The Netherlands), launching the first 1800 GSM service in Holland. While at BT he also spent a secondment with the British government Department of Trade & Industry (DTI), where he managed the UK Broadband Britain programme. Prior to BT, Chris held a number of positions in product marketing with Ericsson Business Systems, Ascom and CASE Communications PLC.

Sam Wood

Cisco

Working within the CTO Office of Cisco UKI Sam leads the development of new propositions which typically combine emerging technologies and innovative business models. Usually, this involves the integration of Cisco and non-Cisco technologies to solve enterprise digitisation challenges. Sam specialises in enterprise digital transformation projects, smart and connected communities, smart buildings and workplace transformation. Sam has recently led Cisco’s business development activities for Future Connectivity technologies – 5G, WiFi 6 and OpenRoaming for Cisco in the UK, which are foundational technologies underpinning IoT. Sam’s role includes leading project teams, shaping consortia models and joint solution design, and overseeing business case analysis to underpin investment. Sam has been at Cisco for five years, prior to this Sam has worked in a Mobile SaaS start-up, spent nine years in technology sector investment banking and six years in the military.

Derek Peterson

CTO, Boingo

Derek Peterson, Ph. D., is chief technology officer at Boingo Wireless. He is responsible for the company’s technical vision and strategy. Under his leadership, Boingo is pioneering the adoption and deployment of the latest IT and wireless network technologies including 5G, Passpoint, network virtualization and convergence. He is directly responsible for building and operating Boingo’s core technologies and systems, including web applications, client software, networks, authentication, billing, advertising, IPTV, business intelligence and IT infrastructure.

Dr. Peterson has deep telecommunications experience as a consultant, engineer, product manager and executive. Prior to joining Boingo in 2011, he served in strategic product roles at Oracle driving global launch campaigns for LTE adoption and billing software solutions.

He is a Wireless Broadband Alliance, MulteFire Alliance and New IP Agency board member, and a founding member of the Wireless Infrastructure Association’s Innovation & Technology Council. Dr. Peterson was named “CTO of the Year” in 2017 by the Los Angeles Business Journal and a 2015 “Wireless Industry Executive to Watch” byFierceWireless.

Dr. Peterson holds a BS in computer science from the University of Maryland, an MA in education and technology from the American Intercontinental University, and a Doctorate of Computer Science with a focus on enterprise information systems from Colorado Technical University. He is an adjunct professor for Colorado Technical University and an editor for the “International Journal of Strategic Information Technology and Applications.”

Stuart Strickland

Distinguished Technologist, Aruba HPE

Stuart Strickland is a Distinguished Technologist at Aruba Networks, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company, where he leads the technical development of Aruba’s 5G strategy, including customer and partner engagements and representation in 3GPP, IEEE, the Wi-Fi Alliance, and the Wireless Broadband Alliance. He drives initiatives on spectrum allocation, Wi-Fi/cellular coexistence, edge computing, and heterogeneous network architectures. Prior to joining Aruba, Stuart led Qualcomm’s enterprise Wi-Fi/small cell convergence and hybrid location strategies, served as Vice President of CSR’s location-based services business unit, as CTO at Insiteo, as lead software architect for the Radio Network Controller of Siemens’ first 3G network, and as Assistant Professor of History at Northwestern University. Stuart earned his PhD from Harvard University, his BA from Columbia University.

Bio coming soon!

Bio coming soon!