Telecoms Council

Gareth is Director of Government Affairs at global satellite operator Eutelsat OneWeb (formerly OneWeb), where he leads on policy, regulatory, and licensing issues with the UK government and supports broader market access and business development globally. He is also responsible for securing all launch and in-orbit operations licences for OneWeb’s satellite constellation. Previously, he served at the British Embassy in Washington D.C., where he led on UK transport and infrastructure policy across the United States. Prior to this, he held a range of policy and security roles across the UK government, including at the Cabinet Office, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), Department for Transport (DfT), and Ministry of Defence (MOD).

Luigi Ardito is currently working as a Senior Director of Government Affairs EMEA at Qualcomm. He is leading Qualcomm spectrum and regulatory policy agenda in Europe dealing with various government entities and industry organizations. He is also the Chairman of Digital Europe Spectrum Group and member of the GSA Spectrum management team. Prior to joining Qualcomm, Luigi worked at Sony Corporation both in Japan and in the UK for over a decade. He has additionally gained a professional experience at France Telecom and at the Italian Public Broadcaster RAI. Luigi has extensive experience in the Media and Telecom industry as well as the Semiconductor Industry gained through his assignments at Qualcomm, Sony, France Telecom and RAI. He holds an Electronic Engineering Degree from the Politecnico di Torino in Italy, an MBA of Marketing and Finance from the Henley Management College in the UK and a Diploma in Communications and Media Regulations at the European University Institute – Robert Schuman Centre.

Eric Brown is an independent consultant in energy systems, working through his company Grid Scientific Limited. In his work he focusses on projects and initiatives that address the challenges and opportunities of energy system transformation in pursuit of Net Zero. He is also Professor of Practice in Energy Systems in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Strathclyde. Eric is the former Chief Technology Officer at Energy Systems Catapult, having been part of the team that established the organisation. He remains engaged with the Catapult as Executive Adviser. Eric chairs the National Energy System Operator’s Technology Advisory Council. He became involved in the energy sector after having gained many years’ experience in the telecommunications industry. He is a Fellow of the Institution of Energy and Technology and of the Energy Institute.

Mark Grayson is a Cisco Fellow in Cisco’s Global Technology and Standardization Group, where he currently has broad responsibility for supporting Cisco's 5G strategy, including defining the role of Wi-Fi based access in 5G environments, chairing the WBA’s OpenRoaming program that defines a roaming federation of private wireless networks, leading Cisco’s multi-vendor RAN virtualization efforts, being co-chair of the O-RAN Alliance’s Fronthaul Working Group, as well as supporting Cisco’s enterprise team defining systems for supporting 5G enterprise use cases. He has over 30 years of experience in the wireless industry, ranging from the development of military HF systems, cellular handset RF/DSP design, the definition of mobile satellite communication architectures, architecting service provider Wi-Fi solutions, the evolution of traditional cellular systems through to the creation of the latest virtualized RAN solutions. He holds a first class Honours degree in Electronics and Communications Engineering from the University of Birmingham (England) together with a PhD in Radio Communications. Mark has been granted over 200 patents in the area of mobile communications and is the co-author of IP Design for Mobile Networks (2009) and Building the Mobile Internet (2011), both published by Cisco Press

With 30 years experience as a technologist and researcher in communication networks, distributed system design and interoperability, Dritan is Director of 5G Technology at Digital Catapult and Co-Director of SONIC Labs. Dritan has established and leads the Future Networks 5G and Digital Infrastructure programs in Digital Catapult, delivering technology development and innovation in advanced ICT systems and their adoption in enterprise networks in the UK. He was a founder of the SONIC Labs and of UK Telecommunication Network (UKTIN). An acknowledged thought leader in his field, Dritan has published over 75 papers, holds three patents and has edited two international standards on interoperability, and is often invited to speak on advanced digital infrastructure and communication systems. He has represented the UK in international standardisation bodies and served on/chaired international conferences and technical committees, and provided technical advice to industry and the UK government. His focus is on national coordination and how to best support advanced digital infrastructure and connectivity technology uptake, growing UK capabilities in telecommunications R&D, as well as developing in Digital Catapult technical advances on new 5G/6G network architectures, network and service orchestration, edge computing and IoT support. Prior to Digital Catapult he was at University of Bristol, where he led a 15-strong research team, strategically combining network and distributed systems research with industrial collaboration, making a wide range of contributions and practical implementations in networking, interoperability, smart energy, cities and digital health.

Kate is the Public Affairs Manager for the South of England at Virgin Media O2. Kate began her career in Local Government, spending 10 years working in economic development, digital leadership and infrastructure deployment. Kate is now responsible for Virgin Media O2’s public affairs engagement for the South of the UK, covering both fixed and mobile connectivity. In her 8 years at Virgin Media, and latterly O2, Kate has worked on fibre network expansion, fibre upgrade, electric vehicle charging, small cell deployment and mobile infrastructure investment.

Andrew works for CGI as a Telecoms Subject Matter Expert, providing pre-sales consultancy and business development support within the Space, Defence and Intelligence business unit. He is an experienced Pre-sales Consultant and Principal Solution Architect with significant achievements and a strong leadership track record gained from over 35 years experience in the IT and Telecoms industry. He combines technical and commercial expertise across all project lifecycle aspects from requirements capture through to business case definition, work package development to contracted sale and successful delivery. His depth of knowledge is across a wide range of business areas and technologies, including IPTV, Mobile TV, Media Delivery and Management, Unified Messaging, Enriched Communications, Service Layer Enablers, Enterprise Applications, Presence, IMS, OSS/NMS, Internet Technologies, Hosting, Managed Services and Network Software.

Henry has joined Cellnex following a number of roles focusing on telecommunications and technology regulation across the UK, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific. He is a former Head of Telecoms and Spectrum Policy at techUK, and managed the organisation’s response to the first Digital Economy Act in 2010. Since then, he has managed public affairs for EE following its acquisition by BT Group, helping to accelerate the UK's 5G and fibre broadband deployment, managing stakeholder relations around the Emergency Services Network rollout, leading on the Universal Service Obligation delivery, and helping to launch the Shared Rural Network initiative. At the GSMA, he managed public policy activity across 23 Asia-Pacific markets from Hong Kong, securing significant policy reforms through collaboration with ASEAN, APEC, and other regional bodies. Prior to that, he managed Gatwick Airport’s public affairs and public policy functions on separation from BAA. Most recently, at Logically AI, he has expanded his focus to address emerging challenges in technology policy, particularly around AI governance, cybersecurity, and online content regulation. He holds an Advanced Diploma in Political Communications from the Chartered Institute of Public Relations and a master's degree from King's College London.

Olivier Raynaud is a Senior Manager in the Regulatory and Government Affairs team for the UK, Ireland, and the Nordics at Verizon. His responsibilities cover public policy, regulatory compliance, and government relations for these jurisdictions. He also works on network security, foreign direct investment, and sustainability across the European region. Before joining Verizon in 2021, Olivier spent two years in the regulatory team at a global digital infrastructure company, focusing on telecoms regulation. He has a background in law and economics, with an LLM in Transnational Law from King’s College London and a Master’s in Business Law, Markets, and Regulation from Sciences Po Paris.

Andrew received a first class BSc degree in Physics from Loughborough University in 1989 before joining NPL. His >35 year career at NPL includes three roles: 1) research scientist for 14 years – NPL lead role in developing femtosecond photoconductive pulse generation and electro-optic sampling for novel metrology applications in the communications areas. Authored >25 publications and conference papers, PhD awarded from University College London, managed a world-leading fast pulse calibration facility, and led several related research projects; 2) worked as Group Leader for 16 years in electromagnetics and 5G areas - responsible for all aspects of a technical group (typically 15+ staff) - managing complex portfolio of projects, people manager, business development, and health and safety; 3) working in NPL Partnerships establishing key relationships and projects with industry, academia and UK government. Andrew worked on developing new policy ideas (such as the Future Networks Initiative), convening industry, inputting to various committees, and also undertook a 18 month secondment to the DCMS 5G policy team. He was pivotal in helping DSIT (DCMS) and NPL establish the new UK Telecoms Lab (UKTL), now with a growing complement of over fifty new staff focussing on telecoms security. He is the strategy lead for future comms in the Security and Resilience area.

Chris Watson is one of the world’s leading technology law experts. He is Chair of the CMS Technology, Media and Communications group and leads an international team of over 600 lawyers. He focuses on cross-border and international commercial and regulatory/competition and financing matters in TMC, particularly in areas where competition and regulation overlap, and on EU law arising in cross-border and complex transactions. Chris has advised regulatory and competition authorities around the world on codes. Chris is included as one of a handful of “Global Elite Thought Leaders” in Who’s Who Legal: Data 2020. He has also been ranked for many years in the Hall of Fame for IT & Telecoms, most recently by Legal 500 2025, and Band 1 for Telecommunications by Chambers and Partners 2025. His recognition as a Who’s Who Legal “Global Leader” in the categories of Data - Information Technology, and Data - Telecoms & Media also goes back for many years. He has notably been a leader in the evolution of structures for digital infrastructure finance. Chris is described by clients and contacts as "exceptionally bright", boasting an "amazingly international practice". Sources told Chambers and Partners: "He is very knowledgeable on telecoms regulation and competition law, and one of the nicest people you could ever meet." He is past Chair and current Advisory Board Member of the IBA Communications Law Committee. He is bilingual and dual qualified in English and French law. He has advised the following in relation to digital infrastructure work: ING Bank on numerous financing of various forms of digital infrastructure; The World Bank on drafting, existing and analysing digital identity legislation and programmes for numerous African and several other countries; and CityFibre, the UK’s largest alternative provider of wholesale fibre network infrastructure, on a partnership with Vodafone to deliver ultra-fast Gigabit-capable full fibre broadband to up to 5 million homes and businesses across the UK by 2025.

As CTO at Telent since early 2015, Gerard provides extensive knowledge of the current and emerging technologies trends required to deliver digital transformation initiatives such as Industry 4.0 and beyond. As part of his remit, Gerard analyses these trends and insight, building a technology strategy roadmap as part of the CTO office. This ensures that Telent offers services that deliver the tangible business benefits and innovation required to sustain its existing clients and attract new customers. Currently, he is engaged with technologies such as ubiquitous connectivity (Fixed, Mobile (public/private) and Satellite) connected things (sensors, connected people, vehicles), sustainability and OT cybersecurity to build future solutions and services in the CNI industries. With a constant eye on new technologies from current and emerging vendors, ensuring how they offer a solution to a problem, how they complement or replace existing technologies and solutions built for specific industries and re-purposing these for other new market verticals for telent is a primary focus. As part of his role, Gerard has also been engaged as technical programme lead for a number of high profile and complex projects wins. These include the transition and transformation programme for the National Road Telecommunications Service for Highways England and the design package for ICT for Hinkley Point C, the next generation nuclear power station being built in Somerset. Gerard has over 35+ years’ experience in the ICT and Telecommunications market starting out as a field service engineer. His knowledge has been gained across a broad range of technologies, from maintaining mainframes, building and operating client server environments to, designing secure IP communication networks from Enterprise to carrier grade networks.

Jamie Hayes, Chief Sales and Commercial Officer at Cornerstone, drives the business's ambition to be the guardian of all digital infrastructure for wireless customers, enterprises, government partnerships, and communities across the UK. Formerly Managing Director at Boldyn Networks UK, he was responsible for developing new capabilities, focusing on the fibre and streetscape business. Prior to this, he led BT’s Enterprise – Wholesale mobile network operators segment and spent time in global leadership roles at Ericsson in the US, Middle East and Europe. He spends time outside work with three causes; Be the Business and One Million Mentors mentoring and coaching, and volunteering with YoungMinds a leading youth mental health charity. His ITP Fellowship is a well-deserved recognition of his outstanding achievements and contributions to the industry.

Seán has worked on wireless networks for over 25 years. He has delivered projects across four continents. Europe, North America, the Middle East, and Australasia. This involved building infrastructure for mobile operators, governments, investors, real estate companies, offshore wind developers and large industrials. As CTO for the UK and Ireland, Seán leads an innovative technology team creating industry-leading technology for our customers, underpinning Boldyn Networks’s growth ambitions. Before Boldyn Networks's acquisition in 2021, Seán was CEO of Vilicom. In this role, Seán executed a strategy to expand the company into new verticals, supporting digital transformation and launching Europe’s first cloud platform to deploy mobile and private networks faster and more efficiently. Seán holds an electronics engineering degree from Dublin City University and an MBA from Smurfit Business School. He has completed a year-long leadership development programme with IMD Lausanne.

Fiona joined Gigaclear in May 2016 as sole in-house counsel, becoming General Counsel in January 2019. Fiona trained and qualified with a leading national firm based in Bristol, specialising in litigation. After a career break and prior to joining Gigaclear, she was sole in-house counsel at ULS Technology plc. Gigaclear designs, builds and operates a full fibre broadband network in rural areas of England. Since joining, Fiona has seen Gigaclear grow from a company of 67 people to almost 800, with its FTTP network expanding out from Oxfordshire and the Cotswolds to connect 600,000 rural premises across 26 counties. She now has a team of 5 covering a wide ranging legal and regulatory function and has more recently has added policy and public affairs to her responsibilities as part of Gigaclear’s leadership team.

Stephen McConnell is the Chief Network Architect at Cloud Gateway, where he leads the design and evolution of modern network infrastructure. With a focus on cloud networking, WAN, network architecture, and SASE, Stephen was instrumental in building the Cloud Gateway platform and product from the ground up. Known for his calm, considered approach and a deep technical mindset, Stephen thrives on solving complex challenges and turning them into practical, scalable solutions. He’s passionate about bridging the gap between innovation and reliability—ensuring that networks not only perform, but empower businesses to grow with confidence. When he’s not architecting networks, you’ll likely find him exploring new technologies, mentoring upcoming talent, or fine-tuning the details others might miss.

Dan Warren is the Director of Advanced Network Research at Samsung Research UK. He leads a team of researchers working on cutting-edge mobile telecoms technology innovation, in the fields of Beyond 5G, 6G and the application of Artificial Intelligence. Dan applies his broad experience in the industry across technical, commercial, strategic and regulatory topics to steer Research towards relevant and commercially viable solutions. Dan is currently Chair of the Steering Board of 5G-PPP, a Board member of 6G-IA, and a member of a number of External Advisory Boards for academic research projects. Prior to joining Samsung, Dan held senior roles at Capita, GSMA, Vodafone and Nortel. Dan is a widely respected authority on Telecoms, having been included in Global Telecoms Business Magazine ‘Top 40 Under 40’ list for three years, and in Capacity Magazine’s ’20 Innovators to Watch’ in 2018. Dan holds a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from Brunel University.

Dr. Peter D Couch is Chief Executive Officer at Joint Radio Company working with the Energy Network Operators to establish the optimum regulatory regime to facilitate the Smart Grid future. An innovative, highly driven strategic thinker with 20+ years’ experience of enhancing enterprise value in regulated businesses within the Energy, Technology, Media and Telecommunications sectors. At JRC Peter is responsible for all Management and Operational activities supporting the Operational Telecommunications needs of the UK Energy Network Operators and works closely with key stakeholders in DESNZ, Ofgem, DSIT and Ofcom to ensure that the UK Energy sector has the appropriate spectrum rights and regulatory interventions to facilitate 'Smart Grid' developments.

Nina is the Head of Network Solutions for Customer Unit UK and Ireland at Ericsson. Her role and the role of her team is to support Ericsson’s customers, Customer Service Providers (CSPs), in identifying optimal deployment solutions and defining network evolution strategies that foster growth and innovation. She has been a part of Ericsson for 7 years, working closely with CSPs in the UK and previously across the wider market area. Nina holds an MSc in Electrical Engineering from the School of Electrical Engineering, Department of Telecommunications, in Belgrade, Serbia.

Emma is a Senior Public Affairs Manager at CityFibre, leading on policy development and MP engagement. In her role, she is responsible for policy areas including barriers to rollout, rural deployment and telecoms security, working with both UK and Scottish Governments and Parliaments. Prior to joining CityFibre in 2021, Emma worked in Public Affairs Consultancy advising businesses in the tech, telecoms and travel sectors, including working as part of the ISPA secretariat managing the Broadband Policy workstream.

Chris is responsible for Vodafone UK's advocacy on telco market conditions, public service digitalisation and private sector uptake of digital tools. He has been at Vodafone for eight years, with prior experience in the construction industry and in Westminster.