Alykhan Velshi
VP, Corporate Affairs
Huawei Technologies Canada Co., LTD

Alykhan brings more than a decade of experience in law, politics, public policy, and technology. He has worked at the highest levels of Canadian and Ontario politics advising political leaders on policy, political strategy, communications, and legal affairs. From 2007-2014, he worked as a political aide in the Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper – eventually serving as head of strategic planning in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). In that role, he was described by a Globe & Mail reporter as “one of the main movers on the wireless file.” Alykhan provided advice on a range of telecommunications and national security topics while in the PMO — including broadcast policy, wireless spectrum policy, CRTC appointments, and national security reviews. Following that, he worked at McKinsey & Company as a management consultant in their telecommunications practice as well as their transformation & restructuring practice, where he advised telecommunications companies across North America on capex optimization. At Huawei, Alykhan focuses on helping the company and its officers navigate the range of strategic, legal, regulatory, and commercial issues – but also opportunities – that they face in Canada and the United States.

Mark Goldberg
Principal
Mark H Goldberg & Associates

Mark Goldberg is head of Mark H. Goldberg & Associates Inc., a telecommunications industry consulting practice specializing in assisting clients understanding of the implications of changes in competitive markets. Drawing on nearly 40 years of industry experience, for more than 20 years the firm has assisted clients in Canada and around the world in all sectors of the industry: new entrants and incumbents, end users, manufacturers and software suppliers, government regulators and industry associations. In the course of corporate careers, he gained the perspective and led changes from many perspectives: telecommunications service providers, regulation, research and development, equipment architectures and large customer networks. Mr. Goldberg was Vice President Network Services for Sprint Canada, responsible for the planning, engineering, administration and operations of its national network. At Unitel Communications, he developed the network interconnection architectures for the introduction of telecommunications competition in Canada and testified on competitive network architectures before the CRTC in proceedings that led to its landmark decisions related to long distance and local competition. He continues to advise governments in Canada and overseas on a variety of issues. Mr. Goldberg has lectured at the University of Western Ontario and the University of Toronto. He is the co-founder of GST Conferences, a telecommunications industry training and conference company and the producer of the annual Canadian Telecom Summit held in June of each year. GST Conferences has produced training courses used by regulators for new employees and commissioners. He is quoted often in such newspapers as the National Post and Globe and Mail. His OpEds have appeared in the National Post and Hill Times.