Bringing more than 25 years experience in the telecoms industry, Michael has had an international career designing, evaluating, negotiating, and deploying telecommunications networks throughout the world for carriers such as AT&T International, Level 3 Communications in the US, WorldCom (now Verizon) in the UK/Europe, PCCW in Hong Kong, Telstra in Australia, and Tata Communications in Singapore. His most recent role was as CTO for Zayo Group, where he was responsible for technology, engineering, capacity planning and vendor/customer relationships for Zayo's global network.Michael’s significant career achievements include the design and installation of one of the world's first private protected fiber rings; the first optical interface onto the public internet at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratories; and the design/engineering, and associated contract negotiations, of more than 50 data centers and cable landing stations around the world. Michael has deep experience in network planning and engineering, developing strategic direction for network acquisitions and builds, establishing and enhancing partnership relationships with network carriers and colocation partners, leading diverse teams to deliver complex projects requiring multi-disciplinary/multi-jurisdictional collaboration, and ensuring bottom-line P&L delivery of network assets.Michael is passionate about coaching and mentoring young professionals in the engineering and technology fields. He is an advisory board member of the University of Colorado’s College of Engineering/Computer Science Board, which supports the college’s progress towards broadening the interdisciplinary approach to the field of advanced networking, cybersecurity, and machine learning. He is also a distinguished alumni from the University of Colorado-Boulder. Michael has a range of experience advising universities, governments, and communities in organizing innovation and entrepreneurial events, such as hackathons, to drive positive change.