US IGNITE - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
Anna Gomez joined the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) in February 2009. In her role at NTIA, Gomez handles a wide range of communications and Internet policy issues with a particular focus on spectrum management, public safety communications, and NTIA efforts to expand broadband access and adoption for all Americans. Ms. Gomez was previously Vice President, Government Affairs at Sprint Nextel. Prior to her work in private industry, Ms. Gomez served for 12 years in various management positions at the Federal Communications Commission. Ms. Gomez also served as the Senior Legal Advisor to former FCC Chairman William Kennard. In addition, Ms. Gomez was Deputy Chief of Staff in the National Economic Council during the Clinton Administration; Staff Counsel in the U.S. Senate for the Subcommittee on Communication, Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation; and an associate at the law firm of Arnold & Porter.
Ms. Gomez is a graduate of Pennsylvania State University and earned her J.D. from George Washington University. She is a member of the District of Columbia's Hispanic Bar Association and the Federal Communications Bar Association.
Arnold Liyai is a Program Manager where his responsibilities cut across several programs: US Ignite Communities where he serves as a community program manager coordinating local community tech-enabled projects; InnovateSLC where he manages an Economic Development Administration funded project to drive the creation and support of startups and small businesses in the connected community ecosystem in Salt Lake City; and a partnership with the Knight Foundation focused on building city resources like funding and RFP tools for smart city projects.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
Bob Metcalfe was an Inter net pioneer at MIT starting in 1970 and in 1973 received his PhD from Harvard for "Packet Communication." He invented Ethernet in 1973 and founded 3Com Corpora tion (now part of HP) in 1979. He was a publisher-pundit in the 1990s with International Data Group and a venture capitalist in the 2000s with Polaris Venture Partners.
Dr. Metcalfe has received awards including the ACM Grace Hopper Award in 1980, the IEEE Alexander Graham Bell Medal in 1988, the IEEE Medal of Honor in 1996, the National Medal of Technology in 2005, induction into to the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2007, the Fellow Award from the Computer History Museum in 2008, and the Japan NEC C&C (Computing and Communication) Prize in 2011. He is a life trustee of MIT and a member of the National Academy of Engineering.
Job Titles:
- Deputy Director of the Quantum Economic Development Consortium
Celia Merzbacher is Deputy Director of the Quantum Economic Development Consortium (QED-C), where she is building a new consortium to enable and grow a robust quantum industry and supply chain in the United States. Cr. Merzbacher has extensive experience in industry consortia direction and management having previously held the position of Vice President for Innovative Partnerships at the Semiconductor Research Corporation, a consortium of the semiconductor industry. She has navigated the creation of programs that bring together industry, government and academia to meet the goals of all part of the innovation ecosystem.
In 2003-2008, Dr. Merzbacher was Assistant Director for Technology R&D in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, where she oversaw the establishment and coordination of the National Nanotechnology Initiative. She also served as Executive Director of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). Dr. Merzbacher began her career as a materials scientist at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in Washington D.C., where her research led to six patents and numerous scientific and technical publications. She has served as Chair of the National Materials and Manufacturing Board of the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine, on the Board of Directors of ANSI, as well as on advisory boards of startups and university research centers.
Daniel is an experienced serial entrepreneur and business consultant passionate about the end-to-end concept of the customer product lifecycle. He is constantly in search of innovative ways to impact marginalized communities both locally and abroad through scalable businesses. With over 15 years of experience as an founder and CEO, he has been known to be a "Swiss Army knife" helping start-ups and small businesses through their entrepreneurial journeys. With a background in politics, economics, and social impact, he has worked to make non-profits and start-ups more sustainable while scaling for growth.
Prior to joining US Ignite, Daniel served as the Director of Diversity and Inclusion and Associate Director of the Incubator at the University of Southern California. He most recently was the Director of Incubation services at Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator. Daniel has a BA in Political Science and Economics from Morgan State University and Master's Degree in Social Entrepreneurship from the Marshall Business School at the University of Southern California.
Job Titles:
- President and CEO of the Enterprise Center
- Socia
Deb Socia is President and CEO of The Enterprise Center, a nonprofit that nurtures innovation in Chattanooga with the goal of connecting people to resources and building an inclusive community. Growing the entrepreneurial ecosystem and the Innovation District, building digital equity, and supporting research and implementation of smart city applications are all a part of the organization's focus. Prior to her current role, Deb was the Executive Director of Next Century Cities, a nonprofit that supports community leaders as they seek to ensure that all have access to fast, affordable, and reliable Internet. Previously, Deb was the Executive Director of the Tech Goes Home program in Boston whose mission is to ensure digital equity. Deb's early career included 32 years as an educator and administrator. She was the founding principal of the award winning Lilla G. Frederick Middle School, a Boston Public School where she led the one-to-one laptop initiative.
Deb has been the recipient of many awards for her work, including the NATOA Community Broadband Hero, the Pathfinder Award from MassCUE, the CRSTE Leadership and Vision Award, a Google Digital Inclusion Award, Motherboard Human of the Year, an NTENny Award, and the Charles Benton Digital Equity Award.
Job Titles:
- Community Innovation Manager
Domenick Lasorsa serves as a Community Innovation Manager for US Ignite where he focuses on the Prizes and Challenges portfolio.
Before joining US Ignite, Domenick worked as the Associate Director of the Veterans Career Program at Paralyzed Veterans of America where he built, managed, and grew a virtual engagement program for veterans and their families. He spent several years working directly with city leaders at the National League of Cities with a focus on affordable housing and homelessness. Before moving to Washington, D.C., Domenick worked for the Mayor of Little Rock, AR, and completed a year of service with City Year Little Rock.
Domenick received his Bachelor's degree from Fordham University in International Political Economy and Latin American Studies and his Master's Degree from the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service.
Dorothy Robyn is a public policy expert who writes and consults on transportation, energy and telecommunications policy. She is a Non-Resident Senior Fellow with Boston University's Institute for Sustainable Energy.
Dr. Robyn served in the Obama Administration as the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Installations & Environment in the Department of Defense, where she had DoD-wide oversight of U.S. military bases around the world (2009-2012), and as Commissioner of Public Buildings at the U.S. General Services Administration (2012-2014).
From 1993-2001, Dr. Robyn was a Special Assistant to the President for Economic Policy on the staff of the White House National Economic Council, where she coordinated policy issues related to aviation, aerospace, defense, telecommunications, and science and technology. Previously she was an assistant professor at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government; a principal with The Brattle Group, an economic consultancy; and a Guest Scholar at the Brookings Institution. She is the author of Braking the Special Interests: Trucking Deregulation and the Politics of Policy Reform (University of Chicago Press) and Toward an Evolutionary Regime for Spectrum Governance: Licensed or Unrestricted Entry (Brookings Press) (with William J. Baumol).
She has an MPP and Ph.D in public policy from the University of California, Berkeley.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
- Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Notre Dame
Dr. Monisha Ghosh is a Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Notre Dame. She is also the Policy Outreach Director for SpectrumX (https://www.spectrumx.org/ ), the first NSF Center for Spectrum Innovation. Her research interests are in the development of next-generation wireless systems: cellular, Wi-Fi and IoT, with an emphasis on spectrum sharing and coexistence and applications of machine learning to improve network performance. Prior to joining the University of Notre Dame in 2022, she was the Chief Technology Officer at the Federal Communications Commission, a Program Director at the National Science Foundation, a Research Professor at the University of Chicago, and spent 24 years in industry research at Bell Labs, Philips Research and Interdigital. She obtained her B.Tech from IIT Kharagpur and Ph.D. from USC. She is a Fellow of the IEEE.
Dr. Renata Rawlings-Goss is a biophysicist and a nationally recognized leader in Data Science.
She is the Executive Director of The South Big Data Innovation Hub, an NSF-funded 16 state center connecting industry, academia, and government around data science innovation. She is the Director of Strategic Partnerships for the Georgia Institute of Technology - Institute for Data Engineering and Science (IDEaS), and also the founder of Good with Data LLC, which runs The Data Career Academy for professionals and faculty looking to accelerate their careers with data.
Formerly, Dr. Rawlings-Goss worked with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy founding the National Data Science Organizers and co-leading the writing team for the Federal Big Data Strategic Plan. Through her roles, she has served as an executive strategist, career mentor, and policy advisor to Fortune 500 companies, individuals, as well as over 19 federal and state government agencies around data science education, Big Data, Digital Transformation, Public-Private Partnerships, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), Machine Learning, Data Career Success, Professional Development and Data Innovation.
Job Titles:
- Director of Autonomous Vehicle Programs
Jigyasa received her Bachelor's degree from the University of Delhi, India in Economics, a Master's Degree in Applied Economics from the National University of Singapore, and a second Master's Degree in Public Policy from the University of California, Berkeley.
Eric Werner is the Director of Autonomous Vehicle Programs at US Ignite. Over his career, he has worked at multiple automotive OEMs, the Department of Energy, and the Department of Defense advancing renewable energy, transportation electrification and the latest automotive technologies. Eric leverages this experience to integrate autonomous vehicles into US Ignite's smart city movement.
Eric received a Bachelor of Science in Engineering degree from the University of Iowa and a Masters in Automotive Engineering from Kettering University.
Glenn Ricart is one of the Co-founders of US Ignite and serves as CTO. Glenn Ricart brings forty years of innovation in computer networking and related fields to US Ignite. Glenn is an Internet pioneer who implemented the first Inter-net interconnection point (the FIX in College Park, Maryland) and was recognized for this achievement by being inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame in August 2013. In one of his previous roles where he was academic CIO at the University of Maryland, his campus implemented the first institution-wide TCP/IP (Internet) network in 1983 using low-cost PDP-11 routers ("Fuzballs") with software devised at the University of Maryland. Glenn was principal investigator of SURAnet, the first regional TCP/IP (Internet) network of academic and commercial institutions.
Dr. Ricart has also held other senior management positions including Executive Vice President and CTO for Novell in the 1990s, Managing Director of PricewaterhouseCoopers, and CEO and President of National LambdaRail. Dr. Ricart is also the founder or co-founder of five startups; the one previous to US Ignite, CenterBeam, was sold to Earthlink in 2013 after 14 years of independent operation.
Glenn's formal education includes degrees from Case Institute of Technology and Case Western Reserve University, and his Ph.D. in Computer Science is from the University of Maryland, College Park. His inventions have resulted in more than a dozen patents. Dr. Ricart has served on the boards of three public companies, CACI, the SCO Organization, and First USA Financial Services, in addition to numerous non-profits.
Job Titles:
- a Network Engineering Program Manager
Hani Almasoud joined US Ignite as a Network Engineering Program Manager to manage the network infrastructure and deployment for different projects like Platforms for Advanced Wireless Research (PAWR), Smart Bases, and Smart Communities. Before US Ignite, Hani worked as Sr. Technical Service Manager for TATA Communications. With over 20 years of experience in the wireless industry, he has held multiple roles in the US and overseas as a Technical Delivery, Product, and Project Manager, with extensive experience in radio network design, optimization, and performance. Hani holds a Master's degree in Business and Administration (MBA) from Strayer University and a Bachelor's degree in Telecommunications and Electronics Engineering. He is also a Certified Project Management Professional (PMP) and Agile Certified Practitioner (ACP) by the Project Management Institute (PMI).
Jigyasa Sharma is a Program Manager at US Ignite. She works with US Ignite communities on a wide range of technology policy issues such as innovation districts, privacy, cybersecurity, data governance, equity, and community engagement. She also manages Project OVERCOME and leads a peer working group on Innovation Challenges and Prize Competitions.
Jigyasa is an experienced economics and policy professional with extensive experience working with non-profits and governments in the US, Singapore, India, and Indonesia. Before US Ignite, she worked with the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKYSPP) in Singapore. In addition to co-authoring books on competitiveness and ease of doing business in India, she worked on evaluating the productivity and efficiency of small and medium enterprises in Singapore. She was also the lead field researcher for the independent review and efficiency monitoring of the real-time outcome monitoring system for the government of Andhra Pradesh, India. As the lead field researcher, she trained over 500 enumerators and coordinated quarterly surveys to evaluate various government programs' coverage, targeting, and effectiveness.
Job Titles:
- Executive Director of the National Spectrum Consortium
Joe Kochan is one of the Co-founders of US Ignite. He helped launch US Ignite in 2012 and served as CEO from January 2020 - May 2021.
Joe is the Executive Director of the National Spectrum Consortium. Prior to US Ignite, Joe worked as part of the Department of Commerce's BTOP grant program. Prior to that role, he was a founder and Vice President-Operations of DigitalBridge Communications (DBC), a Virginia-based startup backed by over $40M in venture funding dedicated to bringing broadband services to small, underserved markets nationwide using broadband wireless technology. Previously, he was with Verizon, with responsibility for strategic planning and strategic project management, specifically focusing on the military housing market and the implementation of the first Verizon FiOS networks at military bases across the country.
Joe received a Bachelor of Science in Engineering degree from Princeton University and lives in Washington, DC.
Job Titles:
- Venture Partner With Columbia Capital
John Leibovitz is a Venture Partner with Columbia Capital, an investment firm that builds companies in the mobility, Internet infrastructure, and enterprise IT sectors. Previously, he served as Deputy Chief of the Wireless Bureau and Special Advisor to the Chairman for Spectrum Policy at the Federal Communications Commission. Prior to the FCC, John helped launch the Technology, Innovation, and Government Reform working group for President Obama's transition team. Before that, he was a wireless entrepreneur and strategy consultant. He started his business career with McKinsey & Company. John has written about technology and telecom policy in the Yale Law Journal and the Yale Journal of Law and Technology. He holds a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, an M.Phil. from Cambridge University, and a J.D. from Yale Law School.
Job Titles:
- Community Innovation Manager
Jonathan Beam serves as a Community Innovation Manager at US Ignite, focusing on the Challenge Competitions portfolio and Smart Bases and Installations program. He works closely with US Ignite communities to foster innovation and encourage experimentation in the design and delivery of smart city services.
Prior to joining US Ignite, Jonathan managed programs and outreach for the Massive Data Institute at Georgetown University's McCourt School of Public Policy as a Program Manager. Before Georgetown, he worked on a number of political campaigns and spent several years in the nonprofit sector as a development officer.
Originally from South Carolina, Jonathan earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Emory University, and a Master of Public Policy degree from the Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan.
Job Titles:
- Program Manager in the Smart Bases Program
Kyle Compton serves as a Program Manager in the Smart Bases program at US Ignite, where he manages multiple projects developing and piloting dual-use applications of commercial technologies that improve quality of life and mission readiness for DoD installations. The portfolio of projects he supports spans multiple installation missions including traffic management, energy management, and access control, and the portfolio of technologies he leverages includes connected and autonomous vehicles and infrastructure, data fusion and AI/ML, and wireless networking and IoT devices.
Prior to joining US Ignite, Kyle worked as an Economic Associate for Regional Economic Models, Inc. (REMI), the nation's premier economic impact modeling company supporting federal, state and local, private, and academic partners. As the regional manager for a 14-state territory of the mountain west, heartland, and northern plains states, Kyle supported clients and managed consulting projects across a diverse range of economic policy areas including Medicaid expansion, vehicle electrification, and grid decarbonization, fiscal policy, transportation infrastructure and more.
Kyle received his Bachelor's degree in Economics from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and is currently pursuing a Master of Science in Engineering Management from Johns Hopkins University.
Job Titles:
- Director of Community Development
Lee Davenport is the Director of Community Development for US Ignite where he leads the US Ignite Communities program and serves as Project Director for Project OVERCOME. For 20 years, he has worked with national nonprofit organizations, large corporations, federal agencies, and local governments to create and deliver technology-informed economic empowerment strategies to communities nationwide. He has expertise in program design, multi-partner program development, communications, implementation, and evaluation strategies. Before joining US Ignite, Lee founded a successful consultancy delivering strategy and operational leadership for nonprofits and private sector agencies delivering consumer technology to low-income communities. Prior to that, he served as Vice President, Programs at One Economy Corporation leading a national effort for digital literacy and broadband adoption.
Lee is active on the Board of Directors at Capital Area Asset Builders (www.caab.org), a regional financial empowerment nonprofit organization, where he has served as President of the Board for four years. Lee has a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of Texas at Austin and a Master of Science in Urban Policy/Nonprofit Management from the New School for Public Engagement in New York City.
Lev Gonick is an educator, technologist, and smart city architect, and currently serves as Chief Information Officer at Arizona State University.
Prior to his current role, Lev was co-founder and CEO of DigitalC, the award-winning non-profit organization enabling and celebrating innovation, collaboration, and productivity through next generation broadband networks, big open data solutions, and IoT for public benefit.
Lev was also previously CIO at Case Western Reserve University from 2001-2013. He and his colleagues were internationally recognized for technology innovations in community engagement, learning spaces, next generation network projects, and organizational development. Lev's innovations, including the Case Connection Zone catalyzed national projects, including US Ignite and Gig.U.
Lizzette Arias serves as the Communications Manager at US Ignite. She brings her passion for developing strategic, clear, and inspiring communications to the organization. Over the past 10 years, Arias has worked exclusively in the nonprofit sphere and developed the skills and expertise needed to execute successful project and communications plans.
Previously Lizzette served as the Executive Director of the Dream Project, a nonprofit organization focused on helping low-income Virginia immigrant students go to college. Currently, she sits on the Board of Directors of The Arlington Committee of 100, and The Child & Family Network Centers.
Lizzette majored in history and sociology at Moravian College and earned an MBA from Villanova University.
Job Titles:
- Senior Director of Partnerships
Prior to joining US Ignite, Arnold worked as an associate with Smart City Works, an infrastructure actuator working with architecture, engineering and construction startups based in Reston, Virginia. He spent several years working in the IT industry in Kenya with Microsoft East and Southern Africa, where he held different positions including distributor operations, anti-piracy and local government engagement. Arnold received his Bachelor's degree from the University of Nairobi, Kenya, and his Master's degree in Urban and Regional Planning from Virginia Tech, where he focused on Urban Planning and Economic Development.
Mari Silbey is Senior Director of Partnerships and Outreach for US Ignite, and Program Director for the Platforms for Advanced Wireless Research (PAWR) program, a $100 million initiative funded by the National Science Foundation and a consortium of more than 30 wireless companies and associations. In her time at US Ignite, she has helped launch several public-private partnership programs, convened workshops with local leaders around the country, and developed best practice materials for community connectivity and data-driven initiatives.
Mari has nearly two decades of experience in the telecom industry. Prior to joining US Ignite, she covered broadband infrastructure and telecom as a full-time journalist. She also worked as an independent writer and analyst in the private sector with companies including Limelight Networks and Motorola before its acquisition (and later sell-off) by Google.
A graduate of Duke University, Mari lives just outside of Washington, D.C.
Job Titles:
- Cleveland Water Alliance Program Manager
Job Titles:
- Chief Marketing Officer
- Senior Vice President
- Chief Marketing Officer, Juniper Networks, Inc
Mike Marcellin is Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, leading the global marketing team responsible for marketing Juniper's product and services portfolio and stewarding the brand, driving preference for Juniper in the market, training its partners and sales teams, and developing a differentiated digital experience for its customers. Before joining the global marketing organization, Marcellin led business strategy and marketing for Juniper's industry-leading portfolio of high-performance routing, switching and security products.
Prior to joining Juniper in 2010, Marcellin served as Vice President of Global Managed Solutions for Verizon, where he oversaw product development and marketing of its managed IP networking, hosting, security and IT solutions for businesses around the world. He also served as Vice President of Global Product Marketing for Verizon Business, executive director of Verizon Business' IP and Ethernet portfolio as well as leading the company's eCRM marketing division. Marcellin began his career with Price Waterhouse IT consulting.
Marcellin is a Board Vice-Chair for the Telecommunications Industry Association and a Board Member of US Ignite, an NSF-sponsored initiative. Marcellin holds two patents and was a Rodman Scholar at the University of Virginia, where he received a bachelor of science degree with distinction in systems engineering. He is based in Sunnyvale, California and you can follow him on Twitter https://twitter.com/mmarcellin.
Nancy Jemison serves as US Ignite's CFO and offers 30+ years of private sector and Federal program management expertise to US Ignite.
As a senior project manager, she served as the lead analyst and author of a $1 billion information technology infrastructure modernization project for Immigrations and Customs Enforcement; a $550 million Customs and Border Protection investment; a $250 million investment for Detention and Removals Operation, and she managed the Department of Interior trust management improvement projects. She has also trained more than 2,000 Federal employees and contractors on project management, financial analysis, performance measurement, earned value management, and contracting. As a former CFO and CIO at the Bureau of Indian Affairs, she has hands-on experience in managing nationwide IT, budget, accounting, procurement and administrative operations in a $2.2 billion federal agency.
Nancy majored in Education and Economics at Dartmouth College and earned an MBA at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. She is a member of the Seneca Nation of Indians.
Nick Maynard serves as the Co-founder and CEO of US Ignite, where he is responsible for leading the organization in its mission to accelerate the smart community movement and to strengthen public-private partnership programs to drive smarter community development and advance key network and sensor-based technologies. In his previous role as COO, Maynard was instrumental in building out US Ignite's smart community program and in establishing the Smart Bases program. He also wrote a smart transportation white paper that was incorporated into the Biden infrastructure plan, which is now a $500M DOT smart cities program funded through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
Prior to US Ignite, Nick was a Program Director at the National Science Foundation, where he launched a national advanced wireless research. He was also the Assistant Director at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, where he managed federal IT R&D portfolio, launching more than $1B in new programs, including a photonics foundry as well as the President's ConnectHome program to bring broadband to underserved students. Previously, Nick was a member of the National Broadband Taskforce at the FCC, where he created a public-private partnership to offer technology training to small businesses in low-income communities. Nick also spent ten years in the telecom industry, consulting with leading global carriers and vendors on next-gen networks and services. Nick received his BA and MA from the University of Chicago and a Public Policy PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Palak Agarwal serves as a Data Scientist at US Ignite where she focuses on making insights from data to help with policymaking.
Prior to US Ignite, Palak worked as an architect in India for 2 years designing for underserved communities through CSR projects. During her masters, she focused on research that looked into understanding the climate and global dynamics between the global north and south. She believes that enactable policies should be developed and employed across the country, and reflective of the myriad spatial, social, cultural, political, and morphological agents that constitute place.
Palak holds a dual master's degree from the University of Pennsylvania, specializing in Landscape Architecture and Urban Spatial Analytics.
Praveen Ashok serves as the Smart Cities Big Data Program Manager at US Ignite and brings with him strong experience in technology, operations & project/program management working across the private, government, academic, utilities and not-for-profit sectors. At US Ignite, he works with cities and industries to create a unified, robust framework for open data platforms to facilitate ease in data sharing.
Prior to US Ignite, Praveen was a Technology & Innovation fellow at the New York City Mayor's Office of Technology & Innovation where he worked along with the CTO of NYC in formulating the region's smart city strategies and IOT guidelines and participated in breakthrough innovative projects such as framing architecture to map IOT devices using device fingerprinting.
From 2016 to 2018 he was a lead researcher working on a Con-Edison grant to pre-emptively detect leaks in gas distribution using artificial intelligence and machine learning. He also co-taught classes to graduate & undergraduate students at the Urban Infrastructure Institute at New York University.
Prior to this, in India, Praveen worked as a Senior Design Engineer at Larsen & Toubro and was responsible for engineering, design, and research for smart cities projects. He successfully led and delivered large-scale automation projects and was responsible for overall operations, engineering, commissioning and project management.
Praveen holds a master's degree in Urban Systems from New York University and was commended as a Graduate Scholar.
Ryan Guild is a Full Stack Developer for the US Ignite Smart Basses Program. He has six years of industry experience as a principal developer for multiple small sized organizations. Ryan formerly led implementation of the 2020 design system refresh for Thermo Fisher Scientific as a contracting developer.
Ryan is pursuing his Bachelor of Science in Computer Science at the University of Pittsburgh. He plans to graduate in early 2023 with a minor in economics and mathematics.
Sayed Elham Zewari serves as the Finance Manager at US Ignite and brings strong experience in public financial management and contracts management. Sayed has over nine years of experience with the U.S. government, international NGOs, and other government agencies in a wide range of internal audit, public financial management, and contracts management activities, developed a strong knowledge of US Government contracting rules and regulations, and a deep understanding of American and International accounting and auditing standards.
Before joining US Ignite, Sayed worked as a Contracting Specialist at the US Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, Assisting International Contracting Officer Representatives and Government Technical Monitors (GTMSs) in performing oversight, monitoring, and inspection of USG-funded programs.
Sayed also led the establishment of an internal audit department within Afghanistan's Ministries of Education and Higher Education, where he managed international and Afghan staff and consultants.
Sayed holds a bachelor's degree in economics and a FAC-COR Level I Certificate.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
- CEO of Motion Intelligence, Inc
Sue Spradley is CEO of Motion Intelligence, Inc., and Board Chair of US Ignite, a public/private partnership with NSF to drive application adoption across smart cites and 5G deployments. She also serves on the boards of Qorvo, Inc., Avaya, and NetScout. A veteran telecom senior executive leader, Sue has previously served as Executive Vice President of Viavi, Head of North America for Nokia Siemens Networks, and President of Nortel Networks. Sue's experience spans P&L management, sales, R&D, operations, and services across the globe. She specializes in managing all phases of growth, turnaround, and diversification from start-up to $2 billion in revenue. She is active in government and community affairs and currently resides in Colorado Springs, CO.
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Board of Directors
- Co - Founder
William Wallace is Chairman of the Board of Directors and brings to US Ignite more than 30 years of experience in the telecommunications industry, most recently as co-founder of DigitalBridge Communications (DBC), a venture-backed startup dedicated to bringing 4G broadband wireless services to underserved portions of the U.
William Wallace is a Co-founder of US Ignite and now serves as the Chairman of the Board of Directors. He brings to US Ignite more than 30 years of experience in the telecommunications industry, most recently as co-founder of DigitalBridge Communications (DBC), a venture-backed startup dedicated to bringing 4G broadband wireless services to underserved portions of the U.S.
Prior to DBC, Mr. Wallace was co-founder and CEO of OnePoint Communications, which was purchased by Verizon Communications in 2000. OnePoint and its successor company, Verizon Avenue, provide bundled communications services to concentrated communities nationwide, including apartment communities, military bases, and rural areas.
Previously, he served as head of the Telecommunications practice and Chief Operating Officer for Gemini Consulting, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Cap Gemini Sogeti group. In that role, he led teams that developed strategies and improved operations for many of the world's largest carriers.
Mr. Wallace received an AB degree in Government and Economics from Harvard College and an MBA from Harvard Business School.