Session Speakers: WISPAPALOOZA 2022

Full Name	Company	Job Title	Speaking At	Attendee Bio
Nathan Stooke	Wisper ISP	CEO & Founder	Breakfast/Opening Session/State of WISPA Speed Dating WISPA Awards Luncheon All Things Private Equity Entrepreneurial Operating System for WISPs Closing Session and 50/50 Drawing	In the last 19 years, Nathan Stooke went from programming PCs to building Wisper into a successful multi-million dollar Internet service provider. With headquarters in Mascoutah, IL, Wisper now services Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Indiana, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. In 2018, the FCC announced that Wisper ISP won $220.3 million of federal funding in the FCC's rural broadband auction, the Connect America Fund Phase II. This money will be distributed to Wisper over a period of ten years. Wisper was one of 103 providers to win financial support from across the country. As CEO of Wisper, Nathan has provided high-speed Internet service to tens of thousands of happy customers; many in rural, underserved areas where previous service providers had been spotty or nonexistent. Stooke is a well-respected businessman in the St. Louis area; he was selected as a "Top 30 Under 30" by the St. Louis Business Journal and named on the list of the "Top 100 St. Louisans to Know" by the St. Louis Small Business Monthly. Wisper was named one of the Top 20 Small Businesses in 2014 and one of the 50 Fastest-Growing companies in St. Louis by St. Louis Small Business Monthly. Nathan credits his battle with Dyslexia, and his competitive nature gleaned from hours of intense training, which earned him a spot on the. U.S National Swim Team as his catalyst for success. His vision is to create standards in the wireless industry, establish Wisper as a household name, and continue to serve exceptional customers in rural and metropolitan communities. When not at the office, Stooke enjoys spending time with his wife and three children and you can often find him at the McKendree Rec Plex coaching a Seahawks Swim Team. He volunteers on the Wireless Internet Service Provider Association (WISPA) board and is a founding member of the Dyslexic Advantage, an educational, scientific and charitable organization that improves the lives of those with Dyslexia. Stooke attended high school (and currently resides) in O’Fallon, IL and received his undergraduate degree and his MBA from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.
Timothy Murphy	Siklu Communications	Director of Network Development	Hybrid Wireless/Fiber to the Home Great Troubleshooting Methods	With over 25 years of expertise in the telecommunications/wireless data industry, Mr. Murphy has played a fundamental role in developing, designing, and implementing network deployments worldwide. These networks cover a broad range of applications, from mines, ports, energy production facilities to hospitals, retail centers, city-wide & neighborhood networks, campuses, and public safety projects. Some recent notable projects are the Statue of Liberty, NASA’s Johnson Space flight Center and the US National Mall & Capital. Mr. Murphy has held management roles with AT&T, NEC, Lucent/Bell Labs, Phillips, Sprint, Vivato, Vislink, PeckTeck, and Siklu.
Bruce Terry	King Communication	Technical/Fiber manager	Fiber Deployment Options	Technical/Fiber manager at King for 8 years, in the industry for 30, been with MSOs, software developers and engineering contractors. Working with fiber technologies and architectures for 10 years in Greenfields, Brownfields areas, front and backhaul, FTTx and vertical designs.
Vardin Amiri	Tarana	Technical Sales Engineer	Dealing With Interference - Session Sponsored by Wireless Coverage WiFi 6e for Fixed Wireless Access Deep Dive	Vardin Amiri is a highly seasoned Technical Sales Engineer with more than 22 years of experience in the Wireless industry. He has worked for manufacturers of Point-to-Point as well as Point-to-MultiPoint wireless solutions built on proprietary and standard based technologies, such as LTE and 802.11xx chipsets.
Spencer Pous	BluBroadband ISP	Founder/CEO	All Things MDU - From Sales to Service to Tech Next Generation Network Monitoring Beyond SNMP Selling to Businesses	Spencer is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of SJP Network Solutions. His company serves areas in Florida. He is also a member of the WISPA Board of Directors.
Michael Kletchko	Adtran	VP, RSP West Sales	Plug and Play Cookie Cutter Concepts Simplify FTTH Deployments	(not set)
Daniel White	Atheral LLC	Co-Founder	Culture vs Company Values: What Do I Need?	Mr. White is a 20-year telecommunications veteran and the Co-Founder of Atheral LLC, a white-Label services company that builds customer-centric cloud solutions that are geo-redundant, highly available, and scalable. Atheral offers a white-label cloud VoIP solution that more than 150 WISPs utilize in their network today. Before Atheral, he was the Managing Director of Sales and Operations for CTIconnect, and the Managing Director of North America for SAF Tehinka. He also served in engineering, installation, and tower climbing roles. Mr. White previously served on the WISPA Board of Directors.
Brett Woollum	Tekify Fiber & Wireless	CEO/Founder	Troubleshooting Fiber	(not set)
Brad Berwald	Morningstar Corporation	Director of Product Marketing	Mixing -48v, 48v, 24, In One System and How to Ground it All	Brad brings over 21 years of technical sales and marketing experience in the RE power electronics industry to his role as Director of Product Marketing at Morningstar Corporation. His expertise in Global Account Management, Technical Marketing & Training, as well as product development, has enabled him to grow and take on many new challenges at Morningstar. Brad is helping Morningstar grow its international business and guide its product portfolio to meet the evolving needs of the remote power industry. Brad holds a BSEE and a Marketing-focused MBA from Alfred University. He serves on the company's Board of Directors and his contributions have assisted Morningstar Corporation in becoming the world’s leader in solar charge controllers and inverters. Brad holds a BSEE and an MBA from Alfred University and his skillset includes several networking and telecom industry certifications.
Chris Kilbourn	Wi-Fiber	COO & CMO	WISP Marketing/PR	Chris is the COO and CMO at Wi-Fiber, a WISP that partners with other WISPS to help them grow and get some sleep. He has 15 years of experience as a marketer and entrepreneur with three exits.
Rory Conaway	Triad Wireless	Managing Partner	What Does it Take to be a WISP Owner? Competition - Fiber, Satellite, Cable, DSL, 5G	Rory P. Conaway is an entrepreneur and technology expert with over 30 years of experience in the telecommunications and wireless industry. He is the founder and president of Triad Wireless, a leading wireless network engineering and consulting company based in Phoenix, Arizona. Rory began his career in the early 1990s as a telecommunications engineer and quickly became a recognized expert in the field. He has worked on a wide range of projects, from designing wireless networks for major companies and government agencies to developing cutting-edge technologies for wireless communication. His expertise in wireless network design, deployment, and optimization has earned him a reputation as a leading authority in the field. Mr. Conaway is also the author of "Tales from the Tower", a popular blog series that is on the Triad Wireless website and many other blog sites.
Josh Luthman	Imagine Networks	President/Owner	Playing Offense and Defense: The $42.45 Billion Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program Basics About Filing Form 477 And The New Broadband Data Collection Submission	Josh Luthman began working at Imagine Networks in 2006 and became President and sole owner in 2015. Imagine Networks is a small rural WISP located in south west Ohio. Fiber deployments began in 2019 and are now in the process of expanding out to the rural market. Josh Luthman is a current member of WISPA’s Board of Directors and the Chairman of WISPA’s Policy Committee.
Andreas Bitzarakis	Select Spectrum	Managing Director, Broadband	CBRS and Other Private Network Strategies	Andreas serves as the Managing Director, Broadband at Select Spectrum. His roles consist of facilitating transactions in broadband licensed spectrum bands directed at serving Fixed Wireless, proprietary, 4G LTE and 5G applications - including but not limited to the 600 MHz,1.6 GHz, 1.9 GHz, 2.5 GHz, CBRS (3.55 GHz), and mmWave bands as well as providing strategic and transactional advisory services as it relates to licensed wireless spectrum . Andreas is additionally responsible for managing Select Spectrum’s Spectrum Marketplace which brings together educational institutions, major carriers, operators, investors and other entities to complete successful deals and partnerships on the secondary spectrum marketplace within the CBRS, EBS and BRS bands. Andreas’s background consists of over 12 years in telecommunications, and he has had significant success working with major U.S carriers such as AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile.
Tomas Kirnak	NetCore j.s.a. (Unimus)	CEO	Ransomware - Proofing Your ISP Resiliency and Reliability in WISP networks	A former IT specialist with heavy focus on networking, Linux, virtualization & clustered and distributed systems. While I love designing and building IT infrastructure, I am especially passionate about in-depth monitoring, automation, DevOps and NetOps. I have now moved to a management role, and serve as the Team Lead & CEO of NetCore j.s.a. In 2016 I started writing Unimus, with the goal to create a simple, user friendly, but powerful Network Automation and Network Config Management solution. Unimus now has thousands of deployments world-wide, and these days my role has transitioned to the Team Lead and CEO of NetCore j.s.a. - the company behind Unimus. Our mission has since expanded to bring other new tools which are missing in the Networking industry to the market. We want to create software that will make life easier for net-admins around the world.
Evan Galvin	Ping Marketing	CEO	Best Practices for Marketing From Lead to Installed: The Customer Journey	Evan Galvin is the CEO of Ping Marketing. A successful entrepreneur and a recognized authority in sales and marketing, Evan's journey in the ISP industry is marked by significant accomplishments. He founded and was the driving force behind XL Broadband, an Internet Service Provider that he scaled to multiple seven figures before executing a successful exit. This venture provided him with profound insights into the unique challenges and opportunities within the ISP sector. Evan's expertise encompasses lead generation, marketing automation, customer relationship management, and sales conversion. He possesses a keen ability to identify market gaps and devise innovative solutions to address them. Beyond his business acumen, Evan is celebrated for his strategic thinking and hands-on approach, consistently leading to increased sales and revenue for his ventures.
Joseph Roybal	SECOM Inc.	Network Operations Supervisor		Starting with SECOM in 2015 as a Wireless Technician, Elijah is experienced in all aspects of Network Operations. He has quickly advanced through several leadership roles in the company and is now the Chief Network Officer. During his tenure at SECOM, he has overseen the network integration of three acquisitions as well as many wireless and FTTH deployments. During Elijah’s tenure in Network Engineering and Operations he has specialized in finding and integrating new technologies in order to increase SECOM’s offering, in terms of bandwidth and reliability. Leadership and leadership development are also near and dear to Elijah. As such, he places an strong emphasis on his personal growth as well as coaching his subordinates in their growth.
Martha Huizenga	DC Access LLC	COO and Co-Owner	WISP Marketing/PR	(not set)
Ryan Grewell	Smart Way Communications, LLC	General Manager	All Things Employee - Your Most Important Resource What Does it Mean to be a Manager?	Ryan Grewell is the founder and General Manager of Smart Way Communications, a WISP in east central Ohio. With a background in technology and an entrepreneurial mindset, he has operated several tech related businesses that all were sidelined to focus on the WISP. His ability to engage and connect with people has contributed to his ability to build teams, manage and mentor people, and focus on leadership development.
Gerrit Nagelhout	Preseem	CEO & Co-Founder	Exit Strategies	As CEO and co-founder of Aterlo Networks and Preseem, Gerrit’s passion is helping ISPs understand and improve subscriber Quality of Experience (QoE) on their networks, while uncovering new opportunities to help customers thrive and scale. Prior to co-founding Aterlo/Preseem, Gerrit spent 12+ years developing product and managing engineering teams for platforms used by some of the largest ISPs in the world. Now, however, he’s dedicated to helping local and regional ISPs take on the big guys and solve network problems with products that people love. Gerrit has a degree in computer engineering from the University of Waterloo.
Dan Siemon	Preseem	CPO & Co-Founder	Universal Access Architecture with Adaptive Cloud Networking Network/Traffic Engineering	Co-founder and Chief Product Officer at Aterlo/Preseem and a self-proclaimed “networking geek,” Dan is responsible for the product direction at Preseem. Dan’s market knowledge and expertise has been informed by almost 25 years of ISP industry experience, including three years as the owner and operator of an ISP and 9 years on the board of directors for a local provider. As CPO, Dan is focused on providing the best tools and analytics to the ISP community to help them gain and retain customers by measuring, analyzing, and improving subscriber QoE. Prior to co-founding Preseem, Dan was a Senior Product Manager at Sandvine, working on 3GPP and wired network products. Dan holds an MSc in Computer Science from Western University in London, Ontario.
Scot Loach	Preseem	CTO & Co-Founder	Troubleshooting Fiber	As Chief Technology Officer and co-founder, Scot is responsible for the technology direction of Preseem, and managing the intellectual property of the company. Scot has been working in the networking equipment industry for over 20 years. Before Preseem, Scot was a Senior Architect at Sandvine, where he contributed to many innovations across all product lines, and met Dan and Gerrit. Scot has filed several patents and has a degree in Computer Science from the University of Waterloo.
Jeremy Austin	Preseem	Senior Product Manager	Great Troubleshooting Methods Resiliency and Reliability in WISP networks	As Senior Product Manager, Jeremy is responsible for product direction in analytics with an emphasis on Fixed Wireless at Preseem. Based in Alaska, Jeremy brings over 20 years of product development and ISP/telecom/WISP network design and engineering experience to the position, including a recent role at Alaska Communications as Senior IP Network Systems Engineer.
Rob Payne	Preseem	Director of Sales	Selling to Businesses	As Director of Sales, Rob manages and oversees all sales operations within Aterlo Networks/ Preseem. Rob has over 25 years of experience as a customer-focused and solutions-oriented sales leader. Prior to working at Preseem, Rob held the title of Sales Director at Auvik Networks, and before that, was granted the Carswell Award of Excellence during his time working in the Legal Division at Thomson Reuters. Based in Waterloo, ON, Rob is a highly driven and enthusiastic sales professional, automotive enthusiast and avid golfer.
Jim Staheli	Positron	SVP Global Partner Management	All Things MDU - From Sales to Service to Tech MDU/MTU Cost Analysis - To Rewire or To NOT Rewire	Senior VP of Sales for Positron Access Solutions. Jim is a seasoned Sales & Operations Executive in the Technology, Broadband & Networking Industry. Jim has 25 years of experience nurturing technology manufacturers from start-up to global market leaders. Prior to joining Positron in 2019, Jim was instrumental in helping both Advanced Fibre Communications (1993-1999) and Calix Networks (2000-2017) grow from pre-revenue startups to $400 million+ annual revenue and from private to public companies with successful IPOs. Mimosa, Jim’s third start-up, was acquired by Airspan in 2019. Jim is a veteran of both direct and channel sales models both in the US and internationally, with large and small customers in a multitude of telecom market segments. He also has significant sales operations experience including the implementation of CRMs, employee and customer portals, and all manner of back office tools. Jim holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Information Systems from California Polytechnic University in Pomona California and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from the Claremont Graduate School in Claremont California.
Georgette Lopez-Aguado	Sonar Software	Client Experience Manager	WISP Management Systems From Lead to Installed: The Customer Journey Service Installs: Let's Make Them More Efficient	Georgette Lopez-Aguado is a native of Fort Worth, TX. She began working in the ISP/OSS arena in 2016 and joined Sonar Software in 2017. In her current role as the Sr. Director, Strategic Accounts, Georgette and her team are laser focused on helping customers harness the power of Sonar through partnerships. Connecting the dots is her superpower.
Absolom Quinlivan	Fonex	VP of Business Development	Fiber Technologies - 10Gbps Design Overview	(not set)