Ms. Stafford advises to clients across the globe who invest in and build submarine cable networks, providing them technical, commercial, project management support, plus market insight/analysis. Before DRG, Elaine was an engineer, manager and executive at AT&T, where she held various roles in R&D, engineering, implementation and sales of submarine networks- leading the design, planning and construction of projects dating back to the world’s first undersea fiber optic networks. Elaine holds engineering degrees from Union College and Stanford University. She is active in many submarine cable community activities which focus on supporting the industry as a whole, including serving on the SubOptic Executive Committee and SubOptic Foundation Board.

Jasvinder Khaira is a senior managing director in the Tactical Opportunities Group. Prior to joining Tactical Opportunities, Mr. Khaira was a member of Blackstone’s Private Equity Group and GSO Capital Partners. He has been involved in the execution of Blackstone’s investments across the digital infrastructure sector, including Global Tower Partners, Phoenix Tower International, Phoenix Tower do Brasil, Wireless Capital Partners, Ascenty, 21Vianet Group, Sipartech, and various spectrum investments. Mr. Khaira has been involved in a variety of strategic Blackstone business investments and special projects, including, the firm’s initial public offering and acquisition of GSO Capital in 2008.

Mr. Khaira received a B.S. in business and a B.A. in history from the University of California, Berkeley, where he graduated magna cum laude and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

Mr. Jan Vesely joined EQT Partners in 2010. At EQT Mr. Vesely has been one of the leading investors in digital infrastructure globally and is responsible for many businesses in the space including: Zayo, the largest private fiber communication infrastructure company in the U.S., Canada, and Europe; Segra, the leading independent fiber provider in the Carolinas and the Mid-Atlantic region; and EdgeConneX, a high growth wholesale data center business focused on serving cloud customers globally. Prior to joining EQT Partners, Mr. Vesely worked in the investment banking division of Goldman Sachs. He holds a master’s degree from the University of Mannheim.

Waldemar Szlezak (New York) joined KKR in 2019 and is a managing director on the infrastructure team. Mr. Szlezak leads KKR’s communications infrastructure investments in the Americas, among other sectors. At KKR, Mr. Szlezak is actively involved in a number of investments including Hyperoptic and GTR. Prior to joining KKR, he was a senior managing director with Soros Fund Management LLC (SFM) where he was responsible for originating, structuring, and monitoring the firm’s communications infrastructure and real estate investments. Prior to SFM, Mr. Szlezak served as an associate at Soros Private Equity Investors / TowerBrook Capital Partners and prior to that, in the mergers & acquisition investment banking group at Credit Suisse First Boston where he was involved with a number of mergers, acquisitions, restructurings, and general corporate advisory transactions. Mr. Szlezak holds a B.S. in operations research from Columbia University in New York and a B.A. in mathematics from Knox College in Galesburg.

Beth Hoffman joined Berkshire Partners in 2003. Beth’s directorships and primary Berkshire portfolio company involvement includes: Masergy, a global provider of managed networking solutions; Protelindo, the largest independent owner and operator of wireless infrastructure in Indonesia; and Vapor IO, an early stage mobile edge computing platform. Beth has also worked extensively with the following portfolio companies: Asurion, Advanced Drainage Systems, Bartlett Nuclear, Crown Castle, Telx, Teraco, Torres Unidas, and Tower Development Corporation.

Before joining Berkshire, Beth worked for six years in venture capital and began her career as a financial analyst in the M&A Group at Morgan Stanley. Beth is a member of the Boston Children’s Hospital Trust and Chairman of the Boston Children’s Hospital Philanthropic Board of Advisors. She and her husband, Kevin, are also active supporters of Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center.

Jonathan Atkin is a managing director at RBC Capital Markets. His focus areas include telecom services, communications infrastructure, and cloud computing. During the last three years, Jonathan has received the #1 ranking from Institutional Investor in the Communications Infrastructure sector. He has also received #1 rankings from Thomson Reuters in Telecom Services and Real Estate Equities, a #1 ranking from the Wall Street Journal in Internet Services, and a #1 ranking from the Financial Times in Telecom Services. Before joining RBC, Jonathan was a senior consultant at BIA Companies focused on wireless strategy and valuation, worked in corporate strategy at Daimler-Benz AG, and was a policy analyst with the United States Congress. He has an MBA from Columbia University and BS and MS degrees in engineering from Stanford University. He is a two-time finisher of the Ironman triathlon.‎

As VP of Network Engineering at Facebook, Najam Ahmad oversees all aspects of the development and operation of the global network infrastructure that serves more than a billion people around the world.

Prior to joining Facebook, Najam was the general manager of global networking services at Microsoft. In that role, he was responsible for the overall architecture, implementation, and operations of Microsoft’s global online network. Najam’s other experience includes management and engineering roles at MCI/UUNET and Netrix Corporation.

Najam holds an MS in telecommunication protocols and computer science from The George Washington University and a BE in Electrical Engineering from the NED University of Engineering and Technology.

Campbell Massie is the Advocacy Manager for GSMA’s North America region. Located in Atlanta, she focuses on telecommunications policy and in the United States and Canada.

Prior to joining the GSMA in 2019, Campbell held roles at AT&T managing corporate communications for the Internet of Things and prepaid business groups. Prior to AT&T, she worked in public affairs for CTIA in Washington D.C.

Campbell holds Bachelors’ degrees in Journalism and Sociology from the University of Missouri. She is pursuing her MBA at the Georgia Tech Scheller College of Business in Atlanta with a concentration on Strategy and Innovation.

Joe Weinman is the author of Digital Disciplines: Attaining Market Leadership via the Cloud, Big Data, Social, Mobile, and the Internet of Things, which was the Amazon number one new release in the computer and technology industry. He is also the author of Cloudonomics: The Business Value of Cloud Computing, and a co-editor of Fog and Fogonomics: Challenges and Practices of Fog Computing, Communication, Networking, Strategy, and Economics. He has held a number of executive positions at Bell Labs, AT&T, HP, and Telx (now Digital Realty), and has been awarded 26 U.S. and international patents. He received his BS and MS in Computer Science from Cornell University and UW-Madison, respectively, and has completed executive education at the International Institute for Management Development and MIT Sloan.

Dave Temkin is the Vice President of Global Networks for Netflix, where he and his team built the Open Connect Network infrastructure to serve streaming video to nearly 150 million customers. Prior to Netflix, he worked on building the Yahoo! and Right Media delivery networks. Located in New York City, he is active in several non-profit and charity groups including NANOG, Community IX, and Children of Bellevue.

Chris Sharp has over 20 years of experience in the technology industry, with an extensive background in developing technology strategies in global markets. He has a deep knowledge of the data center sector and is well positioned to expand technical innovation at Digital Realty. Most recently, he was responsible for cloud innovation at Equinix, where he led the development of innovative cloud services solutions and developed new capabilities enabling next-generation, high-performance exchange and interconnection solutions, facilitating broad commercial adoption of cloud computing on a global basis. Previously, Mr. Sharp held leadership positions at top network and colocation providers, including Qwest Communications, MCI/Verizon Business and Reliance Globalcom.