Technology Advisory Board

Kelly Ahuja

CEO,
Versa Networks

Kelly Ahuja is a seasoned industry veteran with more than 20 years of experience in networking and telecommunications. He currently serves on the board of directors for two startups in Silicon Valley.

Kelly spent 18 years at Cisco rooted in the design and deployment of telecommunications networks. He was most recently SVP of Service Provider Business, Products and Solutions at Cisco where he was responsible for developing and managing the service provider segment strategy and portfolio. Kelly held several other senior executive roles at Cisco, including SVP and GM of the Mobility Business Group, Chief Architect for the Service Provider business, and SVP and GM of the Service Provider Routing Technology Group.

Earlier in his career, Kelly served as VP of Marketing at optical networking startup BlueLeaf Networks and product management leader at Stratacom. He also managed the design and deployment of data and voice networks for AT&T Canada, Bank of Canada and Telesat Canada.

Kelly holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Calgary.

Ari Banerjee

Senior Vice President Strategy,
Netcracker Technology

Ari Banerjee works for Netcracker as Senior Vice President of Strategy, responsible for the company’s strategic direction and enabling it to address changing market and technology opportunities. He is responsible for all aspects of Netcracker’s strategic initiatives across its portfolio of software solutions, including customer, product and technology management, market direction and corporate communications.

Ari interfaces with CTOs and CIOs at customers and prospects to ensure the alignment of technology, products and services while providing strategic input to the CTO office, product management and R&D teams. In his role, Ari collaborates with industry organizations, standards bodies, media and analysts and is responsible for running marketing and strategic partner programs for Netcracker.

Rohit Batra

Vice President and Head of Product Management for Telecom, Media and Technology,
ServiceNow

Rohit is VP and Head of Product Management for Telecom, Media and Technology at ServiceNow. As part of his role, Rohit leads the TMT product strategy and roadmap pertaining to domains such as network and service experience, order management and customer experience for ServiceNow customers. Prior to ServiceNow, Rohit ran the solutions and product strategy teams at various organizations including Salesforce, Amdocs, Oracle and Comverse. He has over 20 years of experience in TMT industry across Customer Experience and BSS/OSS domain running delivery, solutions, and product management functions.

Gurudutt Belur

Chief Architect,
VMware

Gurudutt Belur is the Chief Architect for the VeloCloud SD-WAN and SASE product line at Broadcom. In this role, he has been responsible for driving the evolution of VeloCloud from SD-WAN to a multi service connectivity fabric incorporating SSE and ZTNA capabilities tying users anywhere to applications anywhere connected via a variety of underlays. 

Guru has been working on networking and security solutions for more than two decades at companies like VMware and Oracle. 

Suraj Chandrasekaran

Regional Vice President of SASE for Global MSP/MSSPs,
Palo Alto Networks

Suraj Chandrasekaran currently serves as the Regional Vice President of SASE for Global MSP/MSSPs at Palo Alto Networks. His primary responsibility is to help accelerate the adoption of Palo Alto’s SASE solutions worldwide via top MSPs/MSSPs across the globe. He works with the Product team to drive the required technology to help MSPs adopt the solution with minimal effort, coming up with disruptive GTM strategies, and drives a team of subject matter experts to help evangelize SASE adoption. 

With a rich background in Network and Network Security technologies working for companies such as Ericsson, Juniper Networks, FireEye, and Versa Networks, Suraj has more than 20 years of experience bringing new innovative solutions to the market via multiple Channels and Service Providers.

Suraj Chandrasekaran holds a Master’s degree in Computer Engineering from Santa Clara University, California, specializing in Network Security, and a Bachelor’s degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Bharathiar University in India.

Gabriele Di Piazza

Vice President, Product Management, Alliances and Architectures,
Blue Planet

Gabriele Di Piazza is Vice President of Product Management, Alliances and Architectures for Blue Planet, a division of Ciena. He is responsible for leading and driving the evolution of Blue Planet’s product roadmap, as well as amplifying Blue Planet’s vision with its customers and technology partners.

Prior to joining Blue Planet, Gabriele led the Telecom Industry group for Google Cloud, driving strategy and adoption for a portfolio of Telecommunications products and solutions, across network modernization, subscriber monetization and data & artificial intelligence transformation.

Gabriele has more than 25 years of enterprise and communication service provider (CSP) expertise in product management, marketing and business development, holding leadership roles at VMware, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard and Guavus (Thales).

Gabriele holds a master’s degree in Electronic Engineering with a major in Telecom Networks from Politecnico di Milano University.

David Fan

Vice President and General Manager of Communications Cloud,
Salesforce

David Fan currently serves as the Vice President and General Manager of Communications Cloud at Salesforce. David joined Salesforce through the Vlocity acquisition in 2020. He has over 20 years of CRM and BSS experience in Communications, holding various leadership roles in product management, application development and global transformation implementations.

Prior to joining Salesforce and Vlocity, David served as VP of Industry Strategy and Product Management at Oracle where David led the product team in developing industry CRM solutions and fostered the ecosystem that made Oracle CRM/CX a market leader in Communications. He was also the Vice-President at Huawei Technologies for 3 years where he led the company’s BSS application strategy and product management.

Lalit Kashyap

Vice President and Sector Head for Communications, Media, and Information Services,
Wipro

Lalit Kashyap is a distinguished global technology executive with over 25 years of experience driving digital transformation, growth strategies, and technological innovation across global markets & industries—including communications, media, technology, education, insurance, services, retail, and CPG. His experiences spans Technology Advisory, Industry Platform launches, P&L management, Sales & Business development, Team building and management.

Throughout his career, Lalit has delivered over $1 billion in business impact, managed operations spanning more than 20 countries, and led teams of over 10,000 professionals worldwide. His leadership in executing large-scale programs has empowered organizations to unlock new revenue streams, modernize legacy systems, and adopt cutting-edge technologies, consistently driving accelerated market growth and long-term customer success.

In his current role, Lalit leads P&L for Communications, Media, and Networks business at Wipro Limited. This business includes all the leading Telecom Service Providers, Media, Broadcast, Entertainment, Information & Publishing, Music, Network Equipment Partners, Edge providers.

A recent milestone under Lalit’s innovative leadership is the development and launch of TelcoAI360, Wipro’s flagship AI-powered network automation platform, introduced at the Mobile World Congress 2025. This solution integrates AI, 5G, and edge computing to provide intelligent, predictive, and secure network operations, transforming how service providers manage and scale digital infrastructure.

Prior to his tenure at Wipro, Lalit held strategic leadership roles at HCL Technologies, where he directed global consulting and account strategies for the Media and Entertainment sector, and at Infosys, managing transformation programs for Fortune 100 companies. His extensive cross-sector experience enables him to design agile, high-value solutions tailored to complex enterprise needs.

An active thought leader, Lalit frequently contributes to industry forums and panels, advocating for techenabled innovation, data-driven decision-making, and responsible digital transformation. His insights have significantly influenced discussions on enterprise network evolution, platform-led growth, and customercentric design.

Suresh Katukam

Co-founder and Chief Product Officer,
Nile

Suresh Katukam is an experienced technologist and entrepreneur with a proven track record of successfully building and launching a range of products. Prior to co-founding Nile, Suresh held positions at companies such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Aruba Networks, Cisco, and various startups.

With over 25 years of industry experience, Suresh has held diverse roles encompassing product management, engineering, business development, investments, and acquisitions. He has also made contributions to the field of Artificial Intelligence, publishing several research papers and co-authoring industry standards and IETF drafts. Additionally, Suresh is an inventor with 40 patents to his name.

Suresh holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from BITS, Pilani, India, a Master of Science degree in Computer Science from Arizona State University, and an MBA from the Anderson School of Management at UCLA.

Jinu Koshy

Vice President and Head of Domain Consulting Group for Telecom, Media and Technology,
Infosys

Jinu is VP and Global Head of Domain Consulting for Telecom, Media and Technology at Infosys. As part of his role, Jinu leads a global team of consultants in the TMT space, doing Product Advisory, Technology Selection, End-to-End Solution Design, Strategy and roadmap pertaining to domains such as OSS/BSS, IT, Networks and Business Operations working with clients across North America, Europe, India, Japan, Asean and ANZ.

With his wide experience of over 30 years in the TMT industry working with communication service providers, media companies, telco OEMs, ISVs and silicon vendors, Jinu brings a unique perspective and has helped drive Innovation Councils, engage C-level executives, set up major transformation programs, structure solutions, manage products, run the industry partner ecosystem, work with niche start-ups and build global teams. Jinu also serves on the Communications Industry Partner Advisory Boards of Salesforce and ServiceNow. His industry domain teams help clients harness the power of Cloud, AI and Data in their businesses to drive cost down and build new revenue streams.

Rajiv Papneja

Chief Technology Officer,
Prodapt

As CTO, Rajiv provides overall end-to-end solutions leadership across Prodapt’s industry partnerships and technology practices – Cloud, AI, Data, Network Services, Billing and support systems, and Operational Excellence.

Rajiv is a business leader, change agent, and transformation advisor who synergizes technology strategy and business alignments, bringing completive differentiation to our clients through cross-functional team management and cross-pollinating expertise.

Prior to Prodapt, Rajiv was CTO at a leading global provider of information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure, and smart devices. He also co-founded a startup focusing on network of the future, third-party interoperability and testing for the telecommunications industry.

Rajiv is a patent holder in wireless networks and an industry leader across forums including the Open Networking Foundation. He has co-authored several publications including 8 Request for Comments (RFC) in notable areas like SDN, Network Disaggregation, Edge Services, IP-Optical routing and switching, and more.

He holds a Master’s degree from George Mason University, Virginia, and is an alumnus of The Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, New Hampshire.

Doug Roberts

Senior Vice President and General Manager, Automated Test & Assurance,
Spirent Communications

Doug Roberts is Senior Vice President and General Manager of Spirent Communications’ Automated Test & Assurance business unit. Doug has over 25 years of experience across various product innovation and business transformation roles.

Before joining Spirent, Doug held leadership positions at VIAVI and NetScout. With over 14 years of his career spent at Danaher, Doug is well-known for bringing a disciplined approach that yields results in a predictable manner. He has provided his subject matter expertise in network analysis, application performance, and digital transformation to the world’s largest Service Providers, along with thousands of private enterprises through guest speaking and keynote invitations that include RSA Conference, Cisco Live, TechNet, and Amazon’s re:Invent.

Doug holds an MBA in Corporate Finance from Mercer University and concluded his undergraduate work in Computer Engineering and Business Management at Georgia Tech and Mercer University.

Nirav Shah

Senior Vice President and Head of Products & Solutions,
Fortinet

Nirav Shah is the Senior Vice President and Head of Products and Solutions at Fortinet, leading global go-to-market strategy, product launches, positioning, and messaging for the Secure Networking, Unified SASE, Cloud Security, and AI-Driven Security Operations portfolio. With a passion for storytelling, customer-centric innovation, and data-driven decision-making, he plays a critical role in driving market adoption, revenue growth, and competitive differentiation.

With over 20 years of experience in the cybersecurity industry, Nirav has a proven track record of bringing market-defining products to life, building high-performing teams, and aligning product, sales, and marketing strategies for maximum impact. Prior to joining Fortinet, he held leadership roles at Cisco Systems, where he spearheaded strategic initiatives for SD-WAN and Intelligent Networks.

A recognized thought leader, Nirav frequently speaks at industry conferences, contributes to leading publications, and provides insights on the convergence of AI and cybersecurity. He holds a degree from the University of Southern California and is deeply committed to mentoring the next generation of marketing leaders.

Parag Thakore

Chief Product Officer, SASE,
Netskope

Parag Thakore is Chief Product Officer, SASE at Netskope. Prior to Netskope, Parag was the CEO and co-founder of Infiot, a Gartner “Cool Vendor™ in Cloud Networking” and a pioneer in delivering secure, reliable, and intelligent access to every remote user, site, IoT device, and cloud, later acquired by Netskope in May 2022. Parag was previously VP of Products and founding member of Velocloud Networks (acquired by VMWare) where he grew Velocloud to be a leader in the fast-growing SD-WAN space. Parag also spent time at Cisco, where he led product management for multi-billion dollar branch routing business and Cisco IWAN. Parag holds an MS in Telecommunications from University of Maryland, College Park.

Hugo Vliegen

VP Product Management & Technical Marketing, Enterprise Routing & SD-WAN,
Cisco

Hugo Vliegen has global responsibility for product management and technical marketing for Enterprise Routing & SDWAN. Hugo has 25+ years of experience in marketing and technology leadership roles.

Over the years, he has worked with numerous enterprise customers, service providers, and channel partners to define business strategies and product/solution requirements for networking and security infrastructure. Hugo also brings experience from working at cloud and IoT startups, including Aryaka, Nebbiolo and Infogear (acquired by Cisco). He is the cofounder of several new product lines in the networking and security space generating $100M+ in yearly revenues. Hugo started his career in Manufacturing IT and Automation.

Hugo earned a Ph.D. in Engineering from the University of Twente and graduated with Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees from the Eindhoven University of Technology in The Netherlands.