MEF Leadership

Nan Chen

President, MEF

Head of The One Network,
Ericsson

Nan is a tech entrepreneur, a world traveler, and an avid runner …

As a tech entrepreneur, Nan founded and serves as president of MEF that defines, certifies, and federates global communications services. Nan also founded CENX (acquired by Ericsson) that pioneered industry first service assurance solution for closed loop automation. His previous ventures include Atrica (acquired by Nokia) and SynOptics/BayNetworks (acquired by Nortel). Nan has been recognized regularly as one of Top 100 Most Influential People in Telecom/Internet Industry.

As a world traveler, Nan visited over 50 countries mostly for work, and over 200 wineries mostly for pleasure; As an avid runner, Nan raced over 20 marathons, including World Marathon Majors.

In his previous life, he was a record holder in pole vault at Beijing University with 2 MS & 1 BS degrees.

Andrew Dugan

Chairman, MEF

Chairman, MEF

Chief Technology Officer,
Lumen

Andrew Dugan is Chief Technology Officer for Lumen. In this role, he is responsible for the development, integration and deployment of the Lumen global network supporting Enterprise, Consumer, Wholesale and Government customers. Andrew is running for his third term on the MEF board and actively supports the efforts of MEF through internal and external sponsorship of several MEF Initiatives. Andrew views the work being done at MEF as an important part of Lumen’s objectives – to create a differentiated Digital Experience for customers through standardization and automation.

Andrew is a veteran technology executive with more than 32 years of experience in building telecommunications networks, switching platforms and services platforms. Prior to his CTO role, he served as Senior Vice President of technology planning, network architecture and security. He joined Level 3 in 1998 where he played an integral part in building its global network. He held various roles at Level 3 and was named its CTO in 2016.

Bob Victor

Treasurer, MEF

Treasurer, MEF

Senior Vice President of Product Management,
Comcast Business

Robert (“Bob”) S. Victor serves as Senior Vice President of Product Management for Comcast Business, where he is responsible for development and lifecycle operations of all Comcast Business products and services as well as Blueface, a Unified Communications Company based in Ireland. 

Bob joined Comcast in 2008, and in prior roles has served as Senior Vice President of Strategic and Financial Planning for Comcast Corporation and Chief Financial Officer for Comcast Business.  Prior to Comcast, Mr. Victor was a Partner at The Boston Consulting Group.

Debika Bhattacharya

Director, MEF

Chief Product Officer,
Verizon Business Group

Debika Bhattacharya is Chief Product Officer for Verizon Business, charged with delivering 5G solutions and strategic business outcomes to Verizon’s Global Enterprise and Government customers — leading a team of 1,100+ sales and technology professionals across 20 countries.

Debika’s current focus is on delivering business value to clients through Verizon’s best-in-class solutions such as 5G, Edge Computing, Software-Defined Services, and Digital Collaboration — partnering with customers to navigate the challenges of today while building the foundation for future success.

As a seasoned global executive, Debika has extensive experience leading complex technology projects for Fortune 1000 clients, guiding successful IT transformations in healthcare, retail, manufacturing, and financial services. She has held a variety of executive roles within Verizon, including an overseas assignment in Europe. She was instrumental in the global expansion of Verizon’s communications network, as well as the deployment of breakthrough optical wave technologies.

Debika holds advanced degrees in Electrical Engineering and Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the State University of New York. She serves as an industry liaison to the MIT community and participates in outreach programs aimed at increasing the participation of women and minorities in Science and Engineering. She is also active in IEEE-Women in Engineering and the Society of Women Engineers.

Frederick Chui

Director, MEF

Chief Commercial Officer,
PCCW Global

Frederick joined Hong Kong Telecom (HKT) in 1991 and held senior positions in solutions design, product management, product development and marketing. 

Until 2008, Frederick was the Senior Vice President of PCCW Global’s International Products and Solutions division and was responsible for managing PCCW Global’s product management and development activities, as well as overseeing marketing and presales support activities around the world.  In 2008, Frederick was appointed head of Eastern Europe, Mediterranean, the Middle East, Africa and Oceania sales and business development operations.

In early 2011, Frederick became Senior Vice President, Global Marketing and Sales.  He was responsible for overseeing PCCW Global’s business development in data sales as well as presales activities, access management and marketing strategies.  In 2012, he became the Senior Vice President, Global Data Sales and Presales and, in 2019, the Chief Commercial Officer of PCCW Global.

Before joining HKT, Frederick engaged in the development of products and solutions for a number of telecoms operators serving the Asia Pacific region.

Frederick graduated from the University of Nottingham with a Bachelor of Engineering and holds an Executive MBA from The Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Frederick has been serving on the MEF Board since 2018.  And he is also a Committee member of the HK Trade Development Council ICT Services Advisory Committee.

Shawn Hakl

Director, MEF

VP, 5G Strategy,
Microsoft

Shawn is responsible for building and executing the product strategy and partnerships for Microsoft’s Azure for Operators portfolio. His team works across product, engineering, and sales to help operators execute on the digital transformation of the core and edge networks. Prior to Microsoft, Shawn served at Verizon as the Senior Vice President of Business Product, responsible for a $29B portfolio covering services such as enterprise networking, 4G/5G, cyber security, collaboration and IoT.

Daniele Mancuso

Director, MEF

SVP Chief Product Management,
Sparkle

Daniele Mancuso is SVP Chief Product Management at Sparkle, in charge to develop the Group’s entire product portfolio.

In the previous years, he served as Chief Marketing Solutions & Business Development, EVP ICT Engineering and Director Innovation & Engineering.

Daniele brings nearly 30 years of broad commercial and technical experience in building and marketing telecom networks and associated products, both for the wholesale and enterprise markets, spanning from submarine cables to L1/L3 transport services, from Carrier Ethernet to SD-WAN & Multicloud, from wholesale voice to cloud-based unified communication & collaboration platforms and Multimessaging.

During his years of technological leadership Daniele initiated the transformation of Sparkle towards an API-centric Global Service Platform, introducing the pillars of software-defined, virtualized and programmable networks as well as the full commitment of the Company to contribute and follow MEF standards & certification programs, of which he’s a total believer & supporter.

He is frequently invited as speaker at industry events to share his vision, experience and execution challenges.

Daniele holds a BSc in Computer Science from the University of Catania.

Franck Morales

Director, MEF

Vice President, Evolution Platform,
Orange Business

Franck Morales, Vice President of the Evolution Platform at Orange Business, was appointed MEF Board Director in 2020.

With over 30 years of industry experience, Franck has been a key player in Orange Business’ global transformation towards SD-WAN and he is embracing the new wave of digital transformation as an enthusiastic champion of Secure Access Service Edge (SASE).

Franck Morales is keen to enhance the Orange position in a marketplace which requires a dedicated telco Cloud platform for connectivity and security as part of the new infrastructure for Service Providers.

His experience in managing durable strategic partnerships is an important benefit in this ecosystem where Service Providers are reinforcing close relationships with vendors and hyper-scalers to comprehensively meet customers’ needs.

In his free time, Franck enjoys travelling, running, cycling, in addition to Opera and Theatre, and he will be more than happy to share his knowledge on French wines and gastronomy. 

Giovanni Sansalone

Director, MEF

Vice President, Product Management,
Bell Canada

Giovanni Sansalone is Vice President of Product Management for Bell Canada.

Mike Troiano

Director, MEF

Senior Vice President - Business Products,
AT&T Business

Mike Troiano is Senior Vice President of Business Products for AT&T Business.

Mirko Voltolini

Director, MEF

VP, Innovation,
Colt Technology Services

Mirko Voltolini is VP Innovation at Colt, responsible for leading the effort to define the long-term strategic product roadmap for Colt, working to identify innovative ideas and technologies to ensure Colt is driving forward as an industry leader.

He is responsible to identify, develop and execute an innovation strategy aligned to Colt strategic business goals, to define and manage the Colt innovation process and the portfolio of innovation development projects, to accelerate the validation of new ideas with partners and customers

Prior to this Mirko was the Head of Network On Demand, responsible for leading the effort to architect and develop the Colt network and product portfolio to deliver an online digital customer experience where customers order, design and manage their network services on demand.

He joined Colt in 2002 and has held several senior leadership roles in the technical development and engineering areas.

Mirko is a member of the Board of Directors of MEF and leads Colt contributions to the definition of MEF standards.

Mirko holds an MSc in Telecommunications Engineering from Politecnico of Milan.

Daniel Bar-Lev

VP Strategic Programs, Business Development EMEA,
MEF

As Vice President Strategic Programs, Daniel is responsible for the development and implementation of a range of strategic MEF programs that are central to MEF’s transformation to an agile-process oriented standards development organization defining, implementing and certifying MEF 3.0 services. These innovative programs – including SD-WAN definition and certification, MEF 3.0 Products, MEF 3.0 Proofs of Concept and the MEF Developer Community – enable MEF’s 200+ member companies to accelerate the transformation of their networks and operations to offer and deliver MEF 3.0 services. In addition, Daniel is responsible for MEF membership in the EMEA region, developing relationships and facilitating engagement of member companies in every aspect of MEF activities.

Daniel has been involved in the networking industry for over 25 years holding a variety of positions in RAD Data Communications, as well as co-founding Resolute Networks where he held executive positions. Representing Resolute in the MEF, Daniel served for 3 years as MEF Global Marketing Co-Chair and was elected three times to the MEF Board of Directors. Since 2010, Daniel has been a senior member of the MEF staff.

Pascal Menezes

Chief Technology Officer,
MEF

Pascal Menezes is a high-energy technology leader with depth and breadth of expertise, business acumen, and the ability to translate technical strategies into results. Pascal has decades of demonstrated success in technology strategy, planning, and execution in internetworking, next-generation information systems, communication architectures and cloud technologies. As co-founder and chief technology officer (CTO) of MEF, Pascal directs the organization’s technology strategy and roadmap, currently focused on connectivity, digital services, cybersecurity, edge computing, and service provider automation for cloud-scale deployments.

Previously Pascal led several high-tech startups and spent 10 years in Microsoft’s Skype for Business Global Carrier Group (i.e., Teams) delivering on global, large-scale cloud technology development. Passionate about technology, Pascal sits on the advisory board of Layer 1 2 3 and the editorial board of Capacity; has held leadership positions in several industry associations; received numerous industry global thought leadership awards, including Capacity Magazine Top 20 Leaders in SDN 2018, Top 25 Movers and Shakers in Telecom 2018, and Capacity Magazine Power 100 2019; and delivers executive presentations extensively at conferences worldwide. Pascal holds 30+ patents and patents pending and has co-authored numerous standards within the IETF, MEF, and Broadband Forum.

Kevin Vachon

Chief Operating Officer,
MEF

As MEF COO since 2006, Kevin leads a team that builds, supports and scales the MEF’s ever-increasing mix of global programs activities. He is actively engaged with MEF’s global member and partner community and has a broad perspective on the important role that MEF plays in the industry and how to deliver results. 

MEF is a global industry association of network, cloud, and technology providers who together drive network transformation to power the digital economy. MEF develops service standards, LSO frameworks and APIs, and certification programs for services, technologies, APIs, and professionals. As a major milestone in this journey, Kevin led MEF’s efforts to conceive and bring to market, MEF 3.0, the global services framework. He was instrumental in engaging global service providers for the development of MEF 3.0 LSO Sonata APIs for inter-carrier automation. 

Prior to joining MEF, Kevin held the position of CEO of DIATEM Networks Inc., a Carrier Ethernet software company from 2003 to 2005 and was President and CEO of NUVO Network Management, a network management outsourcing firm, from 1996 to 2002. Previously, he held other senior management positions with NUVO and spent 10 years in a wide variety of capacities with Gandalf Technologies, a network equipment manufacturer.