CommNexus MarketLink™
Committee
Kobe Bogaert - Principal, Strategic MomentumCommittee Chair
Mr. Bogaert has 10 years of experience in executive roles where he has worked with companies from a VC backed start-up to medium sized and multi-national companies. He has worked with Dr. Igor Ansoff, a distinguished strategic thinker and author often referred to as the ‘father of strategic management’. He has successfully applied his strategic management skills to help position his client companies for further growth, increased value and subsequent exits. Mr. Bogaert has an extensive international network to help his clients establish relationships with domestic and international companies.
VADM Walter J. Davis, USN (Ret.)
Mario Diez - Trade Commissioner, Consulate of Canada
Mario has 11 years of R&D experience working for Ericsson in the areas of TDMA and CDMA communications technologies, where he was involved in the design of private radio systems, cable modem broadband telecommunications, and wireless infrastructure systems. He also worked for the Banzai Research Institute in the design and implementation of fully autonomous unmanned ground vehicles for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). After his activities in Ericsson and Banzai Research, he founded Alnilam Ventures, a consulting company focused on wireless communications, marine navigation and instrumentation, and corporate image development. Mario currently holds the position of Trade Commissioner at the Consulate of Canada in San Diego, where he represents the sectors of Information and Communications Technologies and Ocean Technologies. Mario holds a Masters of Science in Electrical Engineering from Virginia Tech, a Bachelors of Science in Electrical Engineering from Southern Illinois University, and 6 years of graduate studies in Telecommunications Engineering from the Universidad Politecnica in Barcelona. He is also a U.S. Merchant Marine Officer, Coast Guard licensed Master Captain.
Bo Hedfors - Former President, Ericsson, Inc., Motorola
Prashant Kantak
Prashant Kantak most recently served as Senior Director of Business Development for QUALCOMM Incorporated and founded QUALCOMM Ventures in 2000. As Senior Director, he oversaw QUALCOMM’s strategic venture capital fund, with operations in North America and Asia including South Korea and China. Mr. Kantak has over 15 years of business and technical experience in the field of telecommunications.
Rory Moore - CEO, CommNexus San Diego
Ake Persson - Former President, Ericsson Wireless Communications
VADM Walter J. Davis, USN (Ret.)
Vice Admiral Walter J. Davis, USN (Ret) was Navy N6, Director Space systems, Information Warfare systems, Command and Control Systems, and Modeling and Simulation where he directed Navy’s $3.5B IT budget. He is former VP for Business Development at GDE Systems (BAE). He was a Navy fighter pilot, Aircraft Carrier CO, and Battle Group Commander. He served in numerous Navy engineering positions including Navy Engineer for the F-14 and Naval Warfare IT Architect (SPAWAR), He was a co-founder of E-fire. He is an Ohio State University Electrical Engineering graduate.
Mario Diez - Trade Commissioner, Consulate of Canada
Mario has 11 years of R&D experience working for Ericsson in the areas of TDMA and CDMA communications technologies, where he was involved in the design of private radio systems, cable modem broadband telecommunications, and wireless infrastructure systems. He also worked for the Banzai Research Institute in the design and implementation of fully autonomous unmanned ground vehicles for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). After his activities in Ericsson and Banzai Research, he founded Alnilam Ventures, a consulting company focused on wireless communications, marine navigation and instrumentation, and corporate image development. Mario currently holds the position of Trade Commissioner at the Consulate of Canada in San Diego, where he represents the sectors of Information and Communications Technologies and Ocean Technologies. Mario holds a Masters of Science in Electrical Engineering from Virginia Tech, a Bachelors of Science in Electrical Engineering from Southern Illinois University, and 6 years of graduate studies in Telecommunications Engineering from the Universidad Politecnica in Barcelona. He is also a U.S. Merchant Marine Officer, Coast Guard licensed Master Captain.
Bo Hedfors - Former President, Ericsson, Inc., Motorola
Bo Hedfors, a native of Sweden, has 40 years of global telecom experience in both wireline and wireless. He founded his own telecom/internet consulting practice in Chicago, USA in 2002. Previously, Bo was Executive Vice President of Motorola and President of its global wireless infrastructure business based in Chicago. He came to Motorola in 1998 from Ericsson, where he spent 30 years in different management positions. Among them, president of Honeywell Ericsson Development Co. in Anaheim, California 1984-1986; Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of LM Ericsson in Stockholm, Sweden 1990-1993; President and CEO of Ericsson, Inc. in Dallas, Texas 1994-1998. Bo is member of the board of two public companies: Tellabs in Illinois and Openwave in California. He is also on the board of four private companies: Silicon Valley based Kineto Wireless, Firetide and Purewave Networks and San Diego based E-Band Communications. Bo has served as advisor to Sun, Compaq and HP and is currently engaged as advisor to both small private and large public communications companies worldwide. Bo holds a Master of Electrical Engineering degree from Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden and he is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences.
Prashant Kantak
Prashant Kantak most recently served as Senior Director of Business Development for QUALCOMM Incorporated and founded QUALCOMM Ventures in 2000. As Senior Director, he oversaw QUALCOMM’s strategic venture capital fund, with operations in North America and Asia including South Korea and China. Mr. Kantak has over 15 years of business and technical experience in the field of telecommunications.
Rory Moore - CEO, CommNexus San Diego
Rory Moore was the seed round investor, co-founder of Peregrine Semiconductor Corp., one of the world’s leading providers of radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs) for the wireless communications and aerospace markets. Peregrine ships millions of chips every week to cell phone manufacturers around the globe. Rory was also the seed round investor and founding CEO of Silicon Wave, Inc., now owned by Qualcomm. Silicon Wave produced the world’s first Bluetooth chips. Bluetooth chips are now in over a billion devices from cell phones to automobiles. Rory was a cofounder of e-Fire.com, and Optical River. In addition, he is co-chair of the Military Special Interest Group and a member of the NextStage committee. A University of Michigan alum, Rory’s other interests include angel investing, competition aerobatic flying, scuba diving and surfing.
Ake Persson - Former President, Ericsson Wireless Communications
Ake Persson is an established member of the telecom industry with over 30 years of experience. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for several corporations and organizations including CommNexus. From 1999 until his retirement in February 2004, Persson was the president of Ericsson’s CDMA Systems Business Unit and president of Ericsson Wireless Communications Inc. in San Diego. From 1995 to 1999, Persson was the vice president for marketing and sales for Ericsson Radio Systems, encompassing all wireless activities of the global Ericsson organization. From 1993 to 1995, he was the vice president of business development for Ericsson US. Between 1970 and 1993, he served Ericsson in a number of other roles, including vice president and general manager of Ericsson’s Mobile Voice and Data Systems from 1984 to 1989. In addition to his experience with Ericsson, for two years, Persson was the executive vice president of RAM Mobile Data, Inc., a nationwide data service provider, which was subsequently acquired by BellSouth International, Inc. Persson holds a B.Sc. in theoretical physics and mathematics from the University of Uppsala, Sweden.
