RoW People

Effective March 15, Peter Sommerer will take over as chair of the board of directors at SiGEM Inc., replacing Herb Woods who will remain on the board. That is the day pegged for the company to also change its name to Mobile Knowledge Inc. Sommerer is an advisor to the Longitude Fund, which will lead the financing. He brings extensive experience in successfully growing technology companies having held senior-level positions at Mitel Corp. and Newbridge Networks (now part of Alcatel SA). Voice Mobility International Inc., Vancouver, has appointed Don Calder to its board of directors. Calder is currently the vice-chair of the board and executive committee of the Vancouver Bid 2010 Corp., which is bidding to host the 2010 Olympic Winter Games and Paralympic Games. He is a telecom industry veteran with 30 years experience having served as CEO of BC Telecom from 1997 to 1999. Prior to that job, he was executive VP of network and operations at the company, and was group VP of marketing and development with Stentor Resource Centre Inc. C-COM Satellite Systems Inc. has named Bilal Awada CTO. As one of the founders of the company, he has been actively involved in the design and development of C-COM products since 1997. Awada’s primary responsibilities will include managing the design, development and testing of mobile antenna products and the deployment of new technologies associated with fixed and fixed mobile satellite products. He has more than 14 years experience in the design, development and research of networking and satellite communications products. Mobile Computing Corp. has announced that its COO Bryan Hills has resigned to pursue other opportunities, effective April 5. He has been with the Toronto-based company for the past three years. Other members of the senior executive team will assume his responsibilities. Former Industry minister Brian Tobin’s communications director, Heidi Bonnell, has been appointed VP communications at Hill and Knowlton Canada’s communications group. She has eight years experience having served under Tobin during his tenure at Industry Canada, the department of Fisheries and Oceans, and his premiership of Newfoundland and Labrador. Kaval Wireless Technologies Inc. has appointed John Sweeney executive VP of the company as well as president of Kaval Wireless Solutions Inc. In this newly created position, Sweeney will oversee the entire North American and international sales team, and will play a fundamental role in expanding Kaval’s sale force. He will also be key in establishing strategic relationships. Prior to joining Kaval, Sweeney spent more than 28 years at Motorola Inc., where he held numerous positions. Some of those included: VP of the customer support services division, VP and director of systems engineering and field operations and VP and director of Asia and North America iDEN infrastructure. Ericsson has appointed Henry Stenson as senior VP corporate communications, replacing Roland Klein who has decided to leave the company. Stenson will be based out of the company head office in Stockholm, Sweden and will be responsibile for a variety of communications tasks. Microsoft Corp.has combined its mobile devices and hosting divisions into one unit and appointed Pieter Knook to head the software giant’s push into the mobile software and services market. As corporate VP of the amalgamated unit, the 12-year veteran of Microsoft will work with Windows CE, Pocket PC and smart phone projects to integrate them into the company’s mobile strategy. The company unveiled portions of that strategy last month, then it decided to develop blueprints for phones that will run its Windows Powered Smartphone 2002 operating system. Knook has also worked in Microsoft’s service provider and software businesses and served as the leader for the Network Service Provider group and president of the company’s sales group in Asia. Former head of AOL’s mobile devices initiative, AOL Anywhere, Lisa Hook will now lead the company’s broadband unit. Hook will replace Audrey Weil, who will step down in May. A replacement for Hook has not yet been named. Before joining AOL, she served as COO of Time Warner Telecommunications, having the responsibility of overseeing telecom-related deals. Bob Berner has been promoted to executive VP and CTO at Rogers Wireless Communications Inc. from his previous position of senior VP and CTO. He joined the company at its inception back in 1985 and has served in several senior management positions. Berner held national leadership roles in a variety of areas including engineering, operations, finance and administration, and business planning. He is currently responsible for all aspects of network planning, engineering, implementation and operation, as well as product development, and government and inter-carrier relations. Berner played a key role in the rollout of Rogers’ GSM/GPRS overlay network. CSI Wireless Inc. has appointed Colin Maclellan as senior VP and GM of the company’s wireless business unit, effective March 15. He will also become a member of CSI’s executive management committee. Maclellan will be responsible for all areas of the company’s wireless business. He comes to CSI from Nortel Networks Corp. where he spent 16 years in various roles, including VP of the company’s Calgary facility. Most recently, he was VP of wireless Internet operations. AT&T Wireless has named Michael Sievert as executive VP and chief marketing officer. He will be based out of the company’s headquarters in Redmond WA. Sievert will be responsible for the marketing strategy, programs, and resources in the company’s mobile voice service offering. He also will create an overall marketing strategy encompassing data offerings as well as voice services. Morgan Sturdy has joined the board of directors at Ignition Point Technologies Corp., a Vancouver-based firm that provides access and applications for fixed and wireless network service providers. Sturdy already serves on the boards of several local technology companies including Q/Media Services, Wavemakers Inc., Voice Mobility International Inc., Infowave Software Inc., and others. Cygnal Technologies Corp. has named John Challinor director of marketing and public affairs, responsible for marketing, investor, industry analyst and public relations. Previously, he held a number of positions within the technology industry, and began his career as a reporter in southern Ontario.

RoW People

News | March 18, 2002

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