Growth & Transformation

Track Sponsor

In order to thrive in the next generation of connectivity, the industry must transform to seize untapped growth and generate new value.

This track will explore how the evolution of business models, new offerings and target customers, and harnessing the benefits of emerging technologies can unlock opportunities for growth and differentiation. Hear from the experts what the next big opportunities are for industry evolution, and how to capitalize on what’s to come.

Track Speakers

Cesar Amaro

Sr. Program Manager IT Security & Compliance
Liberty Latin America

Chris Anderson

Principal Advisor, National Security & Emergency Preparedness
Lumen Technologies

Dr. Jennifer Andreoli-Fang

Sr. Manager Solutions Architecture
AWS

Carol Ansley

Senior Lead Architect
Cox Communications

Ari Banerjee

Chief Strategy Officer
Netcracker Technology

Harshita Bhatt

Engineer 3: Data & Network Evolution
Comcast

Chantal Blake

Technical Program Manager
Comcast

Dr. Veronica Bloom

Vice President Data Science
Charter Communications

Douglas Blue

Business Development - North America
Nokia

Brock Bose

Vice President Data Science
Charter Communications

Ed Boyd

Ciena

Andrew Bundy

Sr Manager, Enterprise Data Engineering
Comcast

Christopher Burke

Principal Engineer III
Charter Communications

Dr. Alberto Campos

Fellow
CableLabs

Ryan Capone

VP, Network Facilities & Energy
Comcast

Brad Carpenter

COO
C Spire

Scott Caruso

Co-Founder & CEO
GridVisibility

Charles Cheevers

Chief Technology Officer
Vantiva

Karthik Choutagunta

Principal Architect
CableLabs

Simon Clement

Director, Technology Strategy
Liberty Global

Megan Collins

Senior AI/ML Engineer
CableLabs

Jason Combs

Network Engineer
Comcast

John-Michael Cortez

Head of Government and Community Affairs for the South and Southwest
GFiber

Martin Creaner

Director General
World Broadband Association

Victor Davis

Dr. Paul Dickinson

Chairman of FOSA Advisory Council and Strategic Business Consultant for Dura-Line
FOSA Advisory Council

Derek DiGiacomo

Senior Director, Energy Management Programs and Business Continuity
SCTE

Kevin Domer

National Security/ Emergency Preparedness Manager
Comcast

Nameet Dutia

Sr. Solutions Architect (AI/ML)
AWS

Thomas Edwards

AWS

Track Sessions​

Growth & Transformation ​

Headliners | Shaping the Future: Strategy Executive Perspectives

9:00 am – 10:30 am • September 25
Damian Poltz
Senior Vice President,
Wireline Networks,
Rogers Communications
Jim Ryan
SVP and Chief Strategy Officer,
Liberty Global
Ray Collins
SVP, Infrastructure and Corporate Strategy,
Liberty Latin America
Moderator: Ron Reuss
Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer,
CableLabs
Agenda Tabs

Headliners

8:45 AM
- 10:30 AM
Maria Popo
President & Chief Executive Officer
SCTE
Elad Nafshi
Executive Vice President, Chief Network Officer
Comcast
Tom Monaghan
Executive Vice President, Field Operations
Charter Communications

Women’s TechConnect Program Graduation Luncheon

12:00 PM
- 2:00 PM
AI & Automation

AI-Powered Fiber Observability

12:30 PM
- 1:45 PM
Douglas Blue
Business Development - North America
Nokia
Robert Gaydos
Comcast Fellow
Comcast
Karthik Choutagunta
Principal Architect
CableLabs
StreamTech

Network Management and Streaming Architectures

12:30 PM
- 1:45 PM
Operations, Network Planning & Construction

Disaster Resilience and Power Continuity for Broadband Infrastructure

12:30 PM
- 1:45 PM
Moderator
Derek DiGiacomo
Senior Director, Energy Management Programs and Business Continuity
SCTE
Victor Davis
Chris Anderson
Principal Advisor, National Security & Emergency Preparedness
Lumen Technologies
Joe Viens
Vice President, Regulatory Affairs
Charter Communications
Alexander Falcon
Senior Product Manager
Comcast
Kevin Domer
National Security/ Emergency Preparedness Manager
Comcast
Wireless & Convergence

Converging Networks, Expanding Horizons

12:30 PM
- 1:45 PM
Filip Liharik
VP, Wireless Strategy & Product Planning
Comcast
Hans Geerdes
Principal Strategist
CableLabs
Simon Clement
Director, Technology Strategy
Liberty Global
Chris Stengrim
VP, Technology Strategy
CableLabs
Roy Williams
Integrator
Rogers Communications
Wireline

Track Keynote

12:30 PM
- 1:00 PM
Elad Nafshi
Executive Vice President, Chief Network Officer
Comcast

Optimizing Wireless and Broadband with Anyhaul over Passive Optical Networks (PON)

12:30 PM
- 1:45 PM
Roy Williams
Integrator
Rogers Communications

Pushing the Streaming Architecture to the Edge

12:30 PM
- 1:45 PM

PACE Planning for Critical Infrastructure Broadband Providers and SCTE 239

12:30 PM
- 1:15 PM
Moderator
Derek DiGiacomo
Senior Director, Energy Management Programs and Business Continuity
SCTE
Victor Davis
Chris Anderson
Principal Advisor, National Security & Emergency Preparedness
Lumen Technologies
Joe Viens
Vice President, Regulatory Affairs
Charter Communications
Kevin Domer
National Security/ Emergency Preparedness Manager
Comcast

Advances in Distributed Acoustic Sensing: Transformative Applications for Cable’s Next-Gen Resilient Fiber Networks

12:30 PM
- 1:45 PM
Karthik Choutagunta
Principal Architect
CableLabs

Case Study: Maximizing streaming quality through embedded caching

12:50 PM
- 1:45 PM
Wireline

The Future of FTTx: How Does PON Fit Into the Equation?

1:00 PM
- 2:00 PM
Moderator
Belal Hamzeh
Vice President, Technology and Systems Engineering
Comcast
Jason Combs
Network Engineer
Comcast
Hy Hyunh
Vice President, Fiber Products
Harmonic
Ed Boyd
Ciena
Israel Madiedo
Innovation and Technology Director
izzi (Televisa Group)

The Future of FTTx: How Does PON Fit Into The Equation?

1:00 PM
- 1:45 PM
Moderator
Belal Hamzeh
Vice President, Technology and Systems Engineering
Comcast
Jason Combs
Network Engineer
Comcast
Hy Hyunh
Vice President, Fiber Products
Harmonic
Ed Boyd
Ciena
Israel Madiedo
Innovation and Technology Director
izzi (Televisa Group)

Make The Passive Optical Distribution Network Observable Using AI-powered Insights

1:00 PM
- 1:45 PM
Douglas Blue
Business Development - North America
Nokia
Robert Gaydos
Comcast Fellow
Comcast

E.T. Phone Home: Converging Opportunities from Earth to Space

1:00 PM
- 1:45 PM
Hans Geerdes
Principal Strategist
CableLabs
Chris Stengrim
VP, Technology Strategy
CableLabs
Filip Liharik
VP, Wireless Strategy & Product Planning
Comcast
Simon Clement
Director, Technology Strategy
Liberty Global

Portable Generator Management for Disaster Recovery

1:25 PM
- 1:45 PM
Alexander Falcon
Senior Product Manager
Comcast

Networking Break

1:45 PM
- 2:00 PM
Wireless & Convergence

Seamless by Design: Innovative Paths to Scalable, Always-On Networks

2:00 PM
- 3:15 PM
Hans Geerdes
Principal Strategist
CableLabs
Haynes Taylor
VP, Strategy
Cox Communications
Sanjay Patel
Sr. Director Strategy
CableLabs
Operations, Network Planning & Construction

PNM Live! 2025: Proactive Maintenance Makes Reliable Networks

2:00 PM
- 3:15 PM
Moderator
Brady Volpe
Chief Product Officer
Open Vault
Jason Rupe
Distinguished Technologist
CableLabs
Larry Wolcott
Engineering Fellow
Comcast
Mike O’Dell
Distinguished Engineer
Comcast
Foad Towfiq
CEO
Promptlink
AI & Automation

Operational Intelligence at Scale

2:00 PM
- 3:15 PM
Moderator
Todd Musat
Director, Critical Infrastructure
Rogers Communications
Ryan Capone
VP, Network Facilities & Energy
Comcast
Ken Nickel
Vice President
Quest Controls
Mike Glaser
Principal Architect, Critical Facilities
Cox Communications
Bill Leslie
Chief AI Acceleration Oficer
Nrby
Gavin Mitchell
VP Product Operations and Quality
Altice USA
StreamTech

Securing your Streams

2:00 PM
- 3:15 PM
Wireline

From Tap to CPE: Strategies to Unlock DOCSIS 4.0 Performance at Scale

2:00 PM
- 3:15 PM
Stephane Raimbault
Sr. Manager, DOCSIS Engineering Operations
Rogers Communications
Bill Wall
Principal Architect
Cox Communications
Matthew Olfert
Principal Network Architect
Rogers Communications

Connectivity-as-a-Service

2:00 PM
- 3:15 PM
Haynes Taylor
VP, Strategy
Cox Communications
Sanjay Patel
Sr. Director Strategy
CableLabs

Leveraging HFC for Dense Mobile Coverage

2:00 PM
- 3:15 PM
Hans Geerdes
Principal Strategist
CableLabs

PNM for Capacity Additions – Methods to Support DOCSIS 4.0 Deployments and Beyond

2:00 PM
- 2:20 PM
Matthew Olfert
Principal Network Architect
Rogers Communications

DOCSIS 4.0 at the Doorstep: Field Results and Design Considerations for Successful Self-Installs

2:25 PM
- 2:45 PM
Bill Wall
Principal Architect
Cox Communications

Content, Network, CDN, Player: How to Make Streaming More Secure

2:30 PM
- 3:45 PM

Efficient Resource Allocation for HFC Plant Repair Using ML-Driven Predictive Intelligence

2:30 PM
- 2:50 PM
Bill Leslie
Chief AI Acceleration Oficer
Nrby
Gavin Mitchell
VP Product Operations and Quality
Altice USA

Lost in the Lack of Capacity Fog – Clear Paths to Greater Capacity

2:55 PM
- 3:15 PM
Stephane Raimbault
Sr. Manager, DOCSIS Engineering Operations
Rogers Communications

Using AI and Automation to Optimize Critical Facility Operational Efficiency and Improve Reliability

3:00 PM
- 3:15 PM
Moderator
Todd Musat
Director, Critical Infrastructure
Rogers Communications
Ken Nickel
Vice President
Quest Controls
Mike Glaser
Principal Architect, Critical Facilities
Cox Communications
Ryan Capone
VP, Network Facilities & Energy
Comcast

Networking Break

3:15 PM
- 3:30 PM
Operations, Network Planning & Construction

Mastering Proactive Network Maintenance (PNM)

3:30 PM
- 4:45 PM
Moderator
Ron Hranac
Larry Wolcott
Engineering Fellow
Comcast
Jason Rupe
Distinguished Technologist
CableLabs
Differentiated Services

The Programmable Network: Automation, Interoperability, and Intelligence

3:30 PM
- 4:45 PM
Ben Hepworth
Principal Architect
CableLabs
Dr. Sebnem Ozer
Distinguished Engineer
Charter Communications
Wireline

DOCSIS Deep Dive: Mastering the MAC Layer and Full Duplex Architecture

3:30 PM
- 4:45 PM
Dr. Richard Prodan
Fellow
Comcast
Karthik Sundaresan
Distinguished Technologist & Director of HFC Solutions
CableLabs
StreamTech

Winning Cloud Models

3:30 PM
- 4:45 PM
Thomas Edwards
AWS
Wireless & Convergence

Li-Fi and Spectrum Innovation: Advancing Wireless Frontiers

3:30 PM
- 4:45 PM
Moderator
Rikin Thakker
Chief Technology Officer
NCTA
Lakhbir Singh
Principal Engineer III
Charter Communications

The Challenges of Using (and Not Using) The Cloud in the Video Tech Stack

3:30 PM
- 4:45 PM
Thomas Edwards
AWS

Operator’s API Journey

3:30 PM
- 3:50 PM

Mastering Proactive Network Maintenance (PNM)

3:30 PM
- 4:45 PM
Moderator
Ron Hranac
Larry Wolcott
Engineering Fellow
Comcast
Jason Rupe
Distinguished Technologist
CableLabs

Li-Fi (802.11bb) Technology and Potential Applications

3:30 PM
- 3:50 PM
Lakhbir Singh
Principal Engineer III
Charter Communications

DOCSIS MAC Layer Masterclass

3:30 PM
- 4:00 PM
Karthik Sundaresan
Distinguished Technologist & Director of HFC Solutions
CableLabs

Case Study: Cloud migration: forward-looking strategies for effective streaming workflows and infrastructure

3:50 PM
- 4:45 PM
AI & Automation

Harnessing AI for Experience and Efficiency

4:00 PM
- 5:15 PM
Moderator
Yvette Kanouff
Partner
JC2 Ventures
Brandy Riherd
Director, Data Science
Cox Communications
Laura Moche
VP of Engineering
Charter Communications
Amrit Shaswat
Manager, Data science
Cox Communications
Dr. Jennifer Andreoli-Fang
Sr. Manager Solutions Architecture
AWS
Bhanu Krishnamurthy
SVP Software and Engineering
Comcast

Overcoming Network-Application Paradoxes With Open, Interoperable, and Continuous Integration Systems

4:00 PM
- 4:20 PM
Dr. Sebnem Ozer
Distinguished Engineer
Charter Communications

Engineering the Future: Cloud, AI, and the Rise of Agentic Systems

4:00 PM
- 5:15 PM
Moderator
Yvette Kanouff
Partner
JC2 Ventures
Laura Moche
VP of Engineering
Charter Communications
Dr. Jennifer Andreoli-Fang
Sr. Manager Solutions Architecture
AWS
Bhanu Krishnamurthy
SVP Software and Engineering
Comcast

Engineering Spectrum Efficiency: Innovation at the Network Edge

4:00 PM
- 4:45 PM
Moderator
Rikin Thakker
Chief Technology Officer
NCTA

AI-Based Intent Prediction for Improved Customer Experience & Cost Optimization

4:00 PM
- 5:15 PM
Brandy Riherd
Director, Data Science
Cox Communications
Amrit Shaswat
Manager, Data science
Cox Communications

Masterclass: DOCSIS 4.0 FDX

4:15 PM
- 4:45 PM
Dr. Richard Prodan
Fellow
Comcast

API First Networking Meets L4S: Real-Time Congestion Management at the Speed of Software

4:25 PM
- 4:45 PM
Ben Hepworth
Principal Architect
CableLabs

Expo Happy Hour

5:00 PM
- 6:00 PM
Energy 20/20 Summit

Energy 20/20 Summit Reception

6:30 PM
- 9:30 PM