Programme Committee

The following individuals are the current members of the PC:

Chris Russell (Chair)

Chris used to be the the Systems and DataCentres manager for a regional ISP and Services Provider, Knowledge IT in the North East of England. Knowledge IT were responsible for, amongst other things, the largest Wi-Fi campus network in Northern Europe (so Cisco told us) & the first Campus ipv6 lan in the North-East (as far as we know) whereas we used 2 full /48's (ND PFD). Knowledge was purchased by The Onyx Group in December 2014, and in turn Onyx were purchased by Pulsant whereas Chris is now a Senior Network Engineer within the Networks team whereas he continues to design solutions and work in core networks.

Linkedin Twitter

Cathy Almond (Vice-Chair)

Fearghas McKay (Vice-Chair)

Bob Sleigh

Marek Isalski

Marek has been a freelance network engineer for over a decade, helping businesses by finding the technologies, skills and suppliers they need to start pushing their own packets. He believes that every day is a school day - never stop learning!

Keith Mitchell

Also on the Board of Directors

Liz Stevens

Mike Hughes

Mike is a freelance consultant with over 15 years of industry experience, specialising in areas of multi-stakeholder relations, peering & interconnect, and technical evangelism.

Having a degree which has nothing to do with computing, Mike's technical skills were forged in the fires of dial-up ISP tech support and network ops in the mid- to late-1990s, having to do mighty hacks to make things work, and the power of asking someone to "Reboot and if it still doesn't work, phone back".

Mike is also Chair of the Board of Trustees at University of Greenwich Students' Union.

LinkedIn Profile Mike's Blog Twitter

Neil McRae

Since graduating in Software Engineering I have been employed by various ISP and Telecommunication companies in the UK and I have also carried out some contracting work for some US based Internet Service Providers.I worked at COLT Telecom Group PLC for 10 years in a number of roles including Director of Network Architecture responsible for Network Engineering and Product Development for COLT's services. I have also been an elected Non-Executive director of the London Internet Exchange Ltd for the past 5 years. I am currently also studying at the Sloan School of Management at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Nick Ryce

Nick Ryce is a Senior Network Architect for a major ISP based in Scotland. Nick has over a decade of experience working within the Service Provider industry and has worked with a variety of IT start ups as well long established operators within the industry.

Steve Karmeinsky

I am currently a consultant (NetTek Ltd) specialising in Internet and telecoms strategy. I was in full-time employment with THUS until March 2005 (from March 1995) as Head of Product Futures with overall responsibility for evaluating and providing technical insight into future technologies (both in the Internet and voice/data areas) and how they could be utilised in the development of new products and services. I also owned THUS's product roadmap.

Prior to joining THUS, I held the position of Internet Consultant at Telecom Securicor Cellular Radio Ltd (BT Cellnet/O2). I hold a BSc in Microelectronics and Information Processing, and am a member of the IEE, BCS, IEEE (US), and a Fellow of the Royal Institution.

Tim Chown

Steve Jones

Worked for many vendors for far too many years across Europe, Middle East & Africa. Now occasional seller of Optical equipment. I can remember when phones had dials and cables only came in copper.

I’m a rugby referee, part time farmer, marketing and sales guy.ution.