EXFO @ MWC19

Germain Lamonde, founder of EXFO, is Executive Chairman of the Board and served as the company’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for over 30 years. During his tenure as CEO, Mr. Lamonde grew the company from the ground up, turning it into a global leader in the communications test, monitoring and analytics market and the world’s #1 fiber/highspeed testing company, with customers in over one hundred countries. Today as Executive Chairman, Mr. Lamonde leads EXFO’s acquisitions strategy and is actively involved in defining the company’s growth and investment strategies, strategic direction and corporate governance policies. Mr. Lamonde has served on the board of directors of several public and private organizations, fulfilled numerous speaking engagements, and received several industry awards for his leadership, innovation and global development. Mr. Lamonde presently serves on the Board of QG100 and was recently appointed Chairman of the Quebec Digital Transformation Council and Chairman of ENCQOR the Canada–Quebec-Ontario partnership focused on research and innovation in the field of 5G/IoT innovation. Mr. Lamonde holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering physics from Université de Montréal’s school of engineering (Polytechnique Montréal) and a master’s degree in optics from Université Laval in Québec City. He is a graduate of the Ivey Executive Program at Western University in London, Ontario, and a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering.

Philippe Morin was appointed Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of EXFO in April 2017. He has more than 25 years of experience in the telecommunications industry, and became EXFO’s Chief Operating Officer (COO) in November 2015, leading the company’s global sales leadership, market development, marketing and product strategy. Before joining EXFO, Mr. Morin was Senior Vice President of Worldwide Sales and Field Operations at Ciena. He previously held senior leadership roles at Nortel Networks, including President of Metro Ethernet Networks and Vice President and General Manager of Optical Networks. Philippe Morin holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Université Laval in Quebec City, Canada, and a master’s degree in business (MBA) from McGill University in Montréal, Canada.

Abdelkrim Benamar was appointed EXFO’s Vice President of Service Assurance, Systems and Services Division in May 2018, following the Astellia acquisition. In this role, Mr. Benamar is responsible for the overall product and services portfolio for monitoring and analytics. He brings over 25 years of experience in the telecom industry with proven leadership, business transformation and change management skills.

Before joining EXFO, Mr. Benamar successively held the positions of COO (July 2015) and CEO (June 2016) of Astellia. He previously held several executive roles at Alcatel-Lucent including Vice President EMEA, CEO Alcatel-Lucent International, and Vice President Global Head of Financial Analysis and Risk Assessment. He has also worked for leading telecom companies such as Ericsson Group (2000–2007), Motorola (1996–2000) and Alcatel Mobile Phones, in areas such as R&D, Communications & Public Affairs, and Strategy and Sales.

Mr. Benamar holds an engineering degree from Telecom SudParis (formerly known as Institut National des Télécommunications) and a PhD in electrical engineering from Université Paris-Sud.

Claudio Mazzuca was appointed Vice President, Strategic Partnerships and Alliances in March 2012. Prior to this appointment, he held the role of Director of EXFO's Transport and Datacom business unit since 2006. In this role, he was responsible for the development and execution of business and product strategy for this business unit, which now is a leading player in the Ethernet and next-generation packet transport test market segments.

Mr. Mazzuca began his career as a systems engineer for Nortel Networks, where he worked on the launch of the highly successful 10G High-Speed Transport and DWDM product line, and later on Nortel's Preside Network Management solution. He then moved to technology startup Hyperchip Systems as Senior Product Manager, focusing on the development of large-scale metro and core IP routers and switches, and associated OEM components. In 2004, he joined EXFO's Transport and Datacom business unit as Product Line Manager for the next-generation SONET/SDH products, and in 2005, was promoted to Group Manager for the entire Transport and Datacom product line.

Claudio Mazzuca holds a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Concordia University and a master's degree in business from McGill University in Montreal.

Stéphane first joined EXFO as Product Line Manager in 1998 and was then promoted to Business Unit Manager—Network Service Provider Market in 2001. Prior to his employment at EXFO, he was a Telecommunications Officer at the Canadian Armed Forces from 1992 to 1998. Stéphane holds a bachelor’s degree in Space Science from the Royal Military College of Canada and an MBA from Université Laval, Québec City.

Dana Yearian was appointed EXFO’s Vice President, Sales—Americas in March 2007. Prior to this appointment, Mr. Yearian held the position of Vice President, Telecom Sales, North America. He is responsible for managing telecom sales, both direct and indirect, and the execution of sales strategies across North, Central and South America regions. From 2005 to 2006, Mr. Yearian held senior executive sales positions at Spirent Communications Service Assurance division. In 2003, he founded The Katrixx Group, which provided consulting and contracting services to high-technologies companies. Before founding this company, Mr. Yearian worked as Vice President of Sales at Acterna Corp. (from 1991 to 2003), where he led both North American and International sales and support operations. Prior to working for Acterna, Mr. Yearian held various executive positions, namely at Toshiba America, Silicon Sensors (Advanced Photonix, Inc.) and Impell Corporation (ABB Ltd.). Dana Yearian holds a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, and has completed MBA course work at DePaul University, also in Chicago, Illinois, USA.

Willem Jan te Niet was appointed Vice President, Sales—EMEA in August 2016. He is responsible for managing telecom sales, both direct and indirect, and the execution of sales strategies across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Prior to joining EXFO, Wim was on the senior management teams for global leaders such as Citrix Systems, Equinix, Ericsson-LG and Nortel. He brings considerable expertise in the areas of cloud, networking and big data mobile analytics. Wim also has more than 20 years of experience in managing sales teams and executing successful business development strategies with wireline and mobile operators. Wim holds a master of science degree in business administration from the University of Groningen.

Michael Scheppke was appointed EXFO’s Vice President, Sales – APAC in October 2016. He is responsible for managing telecom sales, both direct and indirect, and the execution of sales strategies across APAC regions. Michael developed his expertise working in our industry in both the USA and Asia. Following several years at HP and Agilent, he spent a significant part of his career at Ixia where he held various senior roles. He has developed and executed the go-to-market strategy for their network monitoring business in APAC by successfully leading diverse sales teams, and expanding sales coverage with channel partners. Michael holds a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering from the University of Florida.