Our Team

Randall C. Schwartz

Mr. Schwartz has been a key participant in the broadband wireless market for the last 10 years. He brings 20 years of experience in the semiconductor, as well as wireless industries. He has been a key contributor to the 802.16 standard from its inception, and has been a leading advocate and contributor of the WiMAX Forum.

Schwartz has led the development of strategy, market development and product development for both leading chipset vendors and equipment manufacturers in the broadband wireless market. He has extensive experience in working with wireless service providers to develop service strategies and business plans. Schwartz has held engineering, marketing, business development and consulting positions with Arraycomm, Intel, BeamReach, Texas Instruments, AT&T Microelectronics, PA Consulting, and Trimble Navigation. He holds both undergraduate and graduate engineering degrees from Dartmouth College.

Haig A. Sarkissian

Mr. Sarkissian brings 23 years of experience in the semiconductor industry with focus on the wired and wireless communication markets. As a consultant he has advised leading semiconductor and broadband wireless companies on strategy, target market definition, technology assessment & selections, as well as partnership development and investments. His clients span from startups to Fortune 100 companies.

Prior to his consulting career, Sarkissian was VP of Sales and Marketing at Data Race, a leading data communications equipment company, where he managed the OEM business unit. He has held senior marketing and product line management positions at AT&T Microelectronics where he helped establish the DSP modem product line which grew to a $350M business unit in just five years. Sarkissian also has extensive technical experience in ASIC design and development. He holds a BSEE from Pratt Institute and an MSEE from Polytechnic University.

John Liebetreu, Ph. D.

Dr. Liebetreu has over 25 years of wireless communications systems engineering experience at a variety of companies including Motorola, Intel Corporation, and Intersil Corporation. He is a recognized expert in wireless communication chip architectures, creating complex system-on-chip solutions for broadband wireless applications, including the first 622 Mbps commercial wireless modem. He has been active in the IEEE 802.16 standards development community since its inception in 1999, including service as a task group chair, developing the initial IEEE 802.16 PHY specification.

Liebetreu's previous experience includes CTO of Sicom Incorporated – a broadband wireless start-up, Senior Scientist at Intersil Corporation, and Chief Technologist in Intel’s broadband wireless division. He holds a BSEE from Michigan Technological University, a MSEE from Arizona State University, and received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Missouri-Rolla.

Rob Franzo

Mr. Franzo brings over 25 years of experience in systems and semiconductors for both wired and wireless communication applications. Most recently, he was Director of VoIP Marketing in the Wireless Connectivity Division at Broadcom. He brings to Wireless 20/20 recent experience in developing new markets for VoIP/SIP/IMS as well as new applications for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS and NFC.

Prior to joining Broadcom, Franzo spearheaded the development of a variety of high volume consumer electronic products for Satellite and Terrestrial Digital Mobile Radio using 2G, 3G and 4G technology during a long tenure at AT&T Microelectronics and Agere Systems. Franzo started his career at AT&T Bell Laboratories where he held a variety of technical leadership roles in communication and computing systems. He holds a BSEE from Lafayette College and has completed business management studies at the AT&T School of Business.

David A. Sumi

Mr. Sumi has a deep understanding of the Broadband Wireless marketplace and technologies based on over 15 years experience in the industry. He posses a powerful combination of technical knowledge, marketing savvy, business development, management and international experience in wireless networking from WiFi to 4G. While serving as Secretary on the Board of Directors of the WiMAX Forum® from 2002 until 2008, Mr. Sumi influenced and participated as an integral part of the Board in driving the 4G vision forward. Receiving his degree in Physics from the Georgia Institute of Technology, Mr. Sumi is able to comprehend at a fundamental level, the core values of the technologies being promoted, analyze how they fit the marketplace, and develop strategies for driving them into the market via company level strategies, product introduction and partnerships.

Sumi was previously the Senior VP, Strategic Marketing and Business Development at SOMA Networks, responsible for all marketing activities, including Marcom, PR and company spokesperson as well as the strategic roadmap and system release planning for the company. In his role as head of Business Development, Sumi was responsible for all strategic third party relationships, identifying company needs, targeting potential partners, and negotiating and closing contracts. Prior to joining SOMA Networks, Sumi was President and Chief Operating Officer of TeleCIS Wireless, a founding partner at The Telnecity Group, Director of Marketing at Malibu Networks, Director of Marketing at Wireless Inc., and Product Line Manager at Nortel.

Martin Rauchwerk

Mr. Rauchwerk has 23 years of experience in semiconductors for the communications industry. Most recently he had marketing responsibility for Infineon’s satellite radio chip-set business and shipped millions of units to Sirius Satellite for their radio products. Prior to this, Rauchwerk had marketing responsibility for various Agere Systems communication product lines such as DSL, VoIP, 1394, USB as well as their NAS business.

Rauchwerk was previously the Marketing Director of Lucent Technologies’ highly successful modem chip set business which has shipped over 200 Million Units with revenue of over $2 Billion. Rauchwerk started his career at AT&T Bell Laboratories where he wrote DSP code for Modems and Speech Coder Products. He received a BSEE Degree from Rutgers University, an MSEE Degree from Cornell University, and an MBA from the NYU Stern School of Business.

Robin Bestel

Ms. Bestel brings over 25 years of experience assisting executives within the semiconductor, computing, networking, wireless, Internet, software, and consumer electronics industries with Marketing Communications program planning and management. As a consultant, her strong business acumen and understanding of technical products has allowed her to create and manage numerous, highly successful launches and on-going communications programs for Fortune 500 companies and start-ups, that have enabled them grow sales and reach profitability.

Prior to becoming a consultant, Bestel was Senior Marketing Communications Manager for AT&T’s Personal Communication Systems business unit, where she was responsible for much of AT&T’s entry into that emerging market. As the Corporate Communications Manager at AT&T Microelectronics (now LSI), she was responsible for supporting the launch of over 100 new products, which during this period, grew into a $1 billion dollar business. She received her BS Degree from Kutztown University in Art Education.

Advisors

Berge Ayvazian

As chief strategy officer of the Yankee Group, Mr. Ayvazian has provided thought leadership for leader’s in the mobile, telecom, IT, applications, media and entertainment industries worldwide. As a senior industry analyst and consultant, Ayvazian has directed a wide range of research and consulting projects across a broad group of topics, including communications industry structure, broadband service provider strategy, mobile network infrastructure, enterprise networking strategy, information technology and applications. Ayvazian has directed more than 100 consulting projects forecasting product and service markets, assessing strategies and analyzing investment opportunities in the telecommunications, wireless, computer, internet, cable and broadcast TV industries. He is currently a leading industry analyst, conducting consulting and product initiatives on the convergence of broadband and mobile network technologies, and the emerging business strategies of mobile broadband service providers.

During his nearly 20-year career at Yankee Group, he served as strategy director for the Reuters Research and Advisory Unit and was a consultant and researcher with Kalba Bowen Associates. In addition, Ayvazian was the company Chief Executive Officer from 1999 through 2001. He is joining Wireless 20/20 as a senior advisor acting as a Principal Consultant.