CC - SMS Messaging Summit 2018 - Frankfurt 18^th & 19^th April 2018

Based in Switzerland and with a market driven approach to the telecommunication industry we at MGI are committed to being the right connection for all our partners. Over the last 20 years, Erik developed extensive expertise and deep domain knowledge working at major telecom companies. His international career includes senior & executive level positions. Over the years, Erik has been a regular speaker & moderator at major international telecom conferences.

Andreas is the Commercial Director of Yuboto, a leading acclaimed and 7 times awarded Mobile Marketing Company in Greece.

He joined Yuboto in 2012 and holds almost two decades of experience in telecommunications industry. He holds great motivation abilities and inspires teamwork. He is a sales oriented person and passionate for high value customer service performance. Andreas will present the 2^nd Generation Mobile Marketing Tools, that give access to unlimited and personalized mobile marketing campaigns via a simple SMS landed on a smart phone, and all 2nd Generation tools available at Yuboto's mobile marketing platform: "Yuniverse". Andreas is a qualified Professional Business Trainer of National Organization for the Certification of Qualifications & Vocational Guidance and author of numerous best-seller Sales books and manuals.

An expert in wholesale voice and SMS messaging with over 20 years’ experience in the telecom industry as former VP of Sales & Carrier Relations at tyntec, one of the largest A2P SMS service providers globally and as Regional Manager at Verizon where he headed up a team responsible for international voice services in Europe. José also previously managed operator relations in Central and Southern Europe for Netsize, a Gemalto company. José holds a degree in business administration from the Wolfgang-Goethe University in Frankfurt a. M.

Specialties:
Launch SMS services / Shift from Voice to Messaging / A2P SMS Monetization / MNO revenue assurance / SMS platforms / P2P SMS Cost optimization / Training Sales and Carrier Relations / Wholesale Voice / VoIP / Integration of Operators, Carriers, Aggregators into value chain of OTT services / Off-net connectivity for OTT services.

Dr René Arnold is Head of Department Markets and Perspectives at WIK – a leading German think tank focusing on ICT Policy. He holds a PhD in Marketing / Consumer Behavior from the University of Edinburgh. His research revolves around the socio-economic impact of OTT applications as well as digitization across various verticals. Recently, he has published various studies on mobile messaging applications. Prior to joining WIK, René was a research analyst with the consulting subsidiary of the Cologne Institute for Economic Research. Next to his professional career, he has engaged as a guest lecturer at various universities across Europe.

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Surash leads the RealNetworks business in EMEA and has over 25 years of experience in telecommunications. Prior to joining RealNetworks, Surash worked at mGage, the global mobile engagement provider, where he held roles of Chief Strategy officer as well as COO for Europe.  Surash was also previously instrumental in helping Velti through its meteoric growth and NASDAQ listing. Surash has worked for KPMG, Accenture, O2 and BT in various consulting and business development positions. Surash has an MBA from London Business School and a BEng(Hons) in Electrical & Electronic Engineering from Brunel University.

For more than 25 years, Lee has been pioneering product innovation, bringing ideas to life and addressing market needs as a software engineer, project manager, product manager, and sales & marketing leader.  He is a veteran of the telecommunications industry and is passionate about digital products and willing to challenge anyone that doesn't believe telecommunications is super exciting.  Lee has worked as a consultant helping mobile operators launch new mobile services, with SaaS providers on new services, and has spent over 10 years working with the A2P marketplace.  Over the last 3-4 years he has focused on privacy technology and as well as running market development he also leads the GDPR preparedness program @ Xconnect.

Dr. Marco Lafrentz is responsible for tyntec’s person-to-person and cloud services business. As an expert in platform technology and enterprise solutions, Lafrentz leads tyntec’s CPaaS development. He is also frequently called on to provide expert commentary on topical issues relating to enterprise mobile communications.

Prior to his current position, Lafrentz was a Senior Product Manager and Product Manager at tyntec. He also served as an Academic at TU Dortmund University. Lafrentz holds a Doctorate in Physics from TU Dortmund University, Germany.

James Williams is the Founder and CEO of MrConnectivity, a consultancy practice having Mobile Engagement as its principal focus; A2P SMS  is a core competence within that. Clients include Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), content Aggregators, API companies, Messaging Hubs and technology vendors.  James founded MrConnectivity four years ago, leveraging 20 years’ Telecommunications experience. A large part of the past five years has been spent guiding MNOs globally in securing their A2P SMS channels, effectively monetising all traffic and helping them develop comprehensive Mobile Engagement strategies and multi-channel product suites that can be used by their Enterprise clients (Inbound and Outbound). Technology alone is not the ‘silver bullet’ and a holistic approach is required. Companies just need to bring their brand and MrConnectivity can deal with the rest.

Based in Paris, France, Florence is an experienced New Business Development Professional and Relationship Broker with deep expertise in the telecommunication industry. After a Master in International Trade (Paris II), she joined Telecom Italia during 10 years. She founded FSE Consulting 8 years ago to help companies to build market positions by locating, developing, defining, negotiating, and closing impactful business relationships.
Identify and interpret market trends, as well as track individual contributors and their accomplishments to seek business deals. Contact potential partners, discover and explore opportunities to help companies to close new business. Develop negotiating strategies and positions by studying integration of new venture with company strategies and operations, examining risks and opportunities, and estimating partners' needs and goals.

“15 years of experience in International Wholesale Industry with main focus on Voice Trading, Messaging and New Business Development”