Page History

Nan Chen  – Chief Executive Officer

Responsibilities

As Chief Executive Officer, Nan oversees all Mplify activities.

Biography

Nan is a tech entrepreneur, a world traveler, and an avid runner.

As a tech entrepreneur, Nan founded and serves as CEO of Mplify, the organization that defines, certifies, and federates global communications/Internet services. Nan also founded CENX (acquired by Ericsson) that pioneered industry first service assurance solution using AI/ML automation. His previous ventures include Atrica (acquired by Nokia) and SynOptics/Bay Networks (acquired by Nortel). Nan has been recognized regularly as one of Top 100 Most Influential People in Telecom/Internet Industry. 

As a world traveler, Nan visited over 60 countries mostly for work, and over 300 wineries mostly for pleasure.

As an avid runner and collegiate pole vault champion, Nan raced over 30 marathons, including Paris Olympics and World Marathon Majors.

Kevin Vachon – Chief Operating Officer

Responsibilities

Kevin leads the MEF Mplify recruiting, retention, and member liaison functions including emerging marketing development activities. He coordinates staff and contracted resources required to enable the volunteer activities of the committees and to provide the necessary administrative and IT infrastructures required for the MEF Mplify to operate and scale.

Biography

As MEF COO of Mplify since 2006, Kevin leads a team that builds, supports, and scales the MEF’s Mplify’s ever-increasing mix of global programs and activities. He is actively engaged with MEF’s Mplify’s global member and partner community and has a broad perspective on the important role that MEF Mplify plays in the industry and how to deliver results. 

MEF Mplify is a global industry association of networkalliance of enterprises, service providers, data centers, cloud platforms, and technology providers who together drive network transformation to power the digital economy. MEF develops service standards, LSO frameworks and APIs, and certification programs for services, technologies, APIs, and professionals, and systems integrators accelerating the AI-powered digital economy. Mplify enables organizations to innovate, interoperate, and securely scale trusted services through certification, standardization, and collaboration. As a major milestone in this journey, Kevin led MEF’s Mplify’s efforts to conceive and bring to market , MEF 3.0, the global services framework. He was instrumental in engaging global service providers for the development of MEF 3.0 LSO Sonata APIs for inter-carrier automation.  

Prior to joining MEFMplify, Kevin held the position of CEO of DIATEM Networks Inc., a Carrier Ethernet software company from 2003 to 2005 and was President and CEO of NUVO Network Management, a network management outsourcing firm, from 1996 to 2002. Previously, he held other senior management positions with NUVO and spent 10 years in a wide variety of capacities with Gandalf Technologies, a network equipment manufacturer. 

Pascal Menezes – Chief Technology Officer

Responsibilities

In his role as CTO, Pascal leads MEF’s technical strategy and aligns key work programs internally and in conjunction with open-source and SDO partners. Pascal engages with MEF’s global membership base to ensure that the organization’s strategy and work plans are market-driven, with agility and time to market being prime objectives.

Biography

As CTO of Mplify, Pascal is a proven technology thought leader, sales evangelist, product manager, and seasoned IP architect with decades of experience in internetworking, next-generation information systems, and communication architectures.

At Mplify, Pascal leads the advancement of cutting-edge automation, security, and networking technologies, focusing on Network-as-a-Service (NaaS), AI-driven networking, Mplify’s Lifecycle Service Orchestration (LSO), SASE (Secure Access Service Edge), SD-WAN, cloud-scale architectures, edge computing, service assurance, and API-driven interoperability. His work is driving industry alignment around standardization and certification for automation in global communications services.

Biography

Pascal is a former Principal at Microsoft, where he spent nearly a decade working on real-time media and network technologies. He has contributed to five startups with multiple successes, received numerous industry thought leadership awards, and presented extensively at global events. Pascal holds over 30 patents and patents pending and has co-authored standards in the IETF, Mplify, and Broadband Forum (MPLS). 

Daniel Bar-Lev

– Chief Product Officer

Responsibilities

As VP Strategic Programs Daniel Mplify’s Chief Product Officer, Daniel is responsible for the development and implementation of delivery of Mplify member-driven standards and assets, and a range of strategic MEF programs that are central to MEFMplify's industry-facing programs. Mplify’s transformation to an agile-process - oriented standards development organization . Programs in his purview include SASE, SD-WAN, the MEF 3.0 PoC Program, Provider Commerce and Business Automation, and the LSO API Release Framework. Daniel also manages business development for MEF in the Europe and Africa regions.defining, implementing and certifying services means that Mplify can rapidly build broad industry-stakeholder consensus and deliver them in the form of base line standards, APIs, smart contracts and subscriber services which are forming the basis of the rapidly growing NaaS market. 

Biography

Daniel has been involved in the networking industry for 25 over 30 years holding a variety of positions in RAD Data Communications, as well as co-founding Resolute Networks where he held executive positions. Representing Resolute in MEFa member, Daniel served on a voluntary basis for 3 years as MEF Global Marketing Co-Chair and was elected three times to the MEF Mplify Board of Directors. Since 2010, Daniel has been a senior member of the MEF staff creating and leading many of the current central programs in the MEF.Mplify staff. 

Sunil Khandekar  – Chief Enterprise Development Officer

Responsibilities 

Sunil is a tech executive and founder with over 25 years of experience in cloud networking and telecom. At Mplify, Sunil leads the Enterprise Program, guiding its strategic direction to enhance Mplify's influence in network, cloud and security ecosystems. He spearheads initiatives to engage the enterprise sector, foster industry collaboration, and elevate Mplify's thought leadership.

Biography

Previously, he founded and led Nuage Networks, scaling it to over $100 million in revenue in five years. Sunil held senior roles at Alcatel-Lucent and Nokia, driving growth and product innovation in global markets. Earlier, Sunil played a pivotal role in defining the IP/MPLS service router market as a founding member at TiMetra Networks, co-authoring the VPLS standard, and later at Alcatel-Lucent, where he led disruptive product strategies against industry incumbents.

Sunil advises startups and growth-stage companies on SaaS, SDN, cloud infrastructure, cybersecurity, and go-to-market strategies, helping them scale and achieve product differentiation. 

Sonny Soni  – Vice President of Business Development

Responsibilities

Networking, both technology and people is his passion and expertise. For over 25 years, Sonny has been bringing innovative information technology solutions that enable companies and people to share information anytime, anywhere, and on any device. In his role at Mplify, he is responsible for managing the membership ecosystem in accelerating and amplifying the adoption and benefits of NaaS and AI enabled digital infrastructure. 

Biography

Before Mplify, he held leadership positions in Sales, Business Development and Marketing organizations with multiple startups & large technology companies.  In these roles, he leveraged his skills and experience in networking, security, SDN, NFV, SaaS, IoT, Big Data, and AI to define and execute go-to-market strategies, accelerate customer adoption and revenue generation, establish and foster strategic partnerships, and present to C-level and technical audiences.  

He is a challenger and consultative solution seller, a cross-functional team player, and a startup veteran who has participated in raising seed rounds, IPOs, and mergers and acquisitions. He enjoys sharing his knowledge and enthusiasm with others and helping them solve their business needs. 

Lisa McCausland – Senior Director of Marketing

Responsibilities

Lisa oversees the marketing strategy and execution at MEF, in close collaboration with MEF staff, leadership and other outside resources. Her responsibilities include growing the MEF brand, increasing awareness and adoption of MEF products (standards, APIs & certifications) and creating programs and content to drive engagement, build community and grow membership.

Biography

Lisa is a results-driven strategic marketing and communications leader with extensive experience developing plans and programs for telecommunications and technology companies, and global consortiums to help them meet their business objectives. Most recently she worked at a full-service marketing agency, and previously owned her own marketing and communications consulting business and held marketing leadership roles at SaaS, hardware and telecommunications companies.

Lori Vachon – Director of Global Events

Responsibilities

As Director Global Events, Lori oversees MEFLori oversees Mplify's global events program including project managing all aspects of quarterly member meetings, virtual workshops, industry events, and project management of our flagship event MEF21 and Infinite Edge SeriesGNE. In addition, she is responsible for sponsor sales for MEF21 and the Infinite Edge Series. Over the years, Lori has been instrumental managing relationships with industry organizers to allow members the opportunity to participate in events all around the globe. 

Biography

Lori has been involved in the events industry for 25 years in various industries including technology, biotechnology, and pharmaceuticals.  During her tenure with MEF Mplify since 2007, she has traveled all around the globe expanding her role into member retention, and recruitment in Europe, Asia, Central & Latin America, and North America. Her success building relationships by working closely with members in various countries has been key to keeping them engaged in MEF.

Mplify.

Stan Hubbard – Principal Analyst

Responsibilities

Stan oversees strategic research in support of existing, planned and potential MEF work areas and programs supporting MEF goals and objectives. He authors and coordinates FAQs, blogs, and presentations for internal and external audiences, engages in industry briefings, and contributes to a broad range of strategic initiatives, including SD-WAN, SASE, CE, LSO, certification, etc. He is responsible for development of in-house reports and collaborative reports with the analyst community.

Biography

Stan has more than 24 years of experience in strategic marketing, industry analysis, event programming, and communications. In 2013, he joined MEF, where he has directed program development for global networking events, managed press and analyst relations, and contributed to strategic initiatives to accelerate MEF 3.0 adoption. Prior to MEF, Stan was a Senior Analyst at Heavy Reading, where he focused on Carrier Ethernet and SDN. He chaired 20 major Light Reading CE events worldwide. Prior to that, Stan was the director of market intelligence at Ciena.

Kirby Russell – Director of Technical Services

Responsibilities

Kirby manages our all IT efforts for MEF including our public and member sites, Ethernet Academy, related systems architectures, and the environment for technical programs. Kirby also provides the graphic design, video production, and editing requirements for MEF.

As Principal Analyst with Mplify, Stan engages and collaborates with executives and other experts from the world's most innovative communications service and technology companies. His key areas of focus include NaaS for the AI-powered digital economy, Cybersecurity/SASE, SD-WAN, service automation, and other technologies driving digital transformation. Stan has authored several major industry reports, including Mplify’s 2025 NaaS Industry Blueprint, State of the Industry Report on SASE, and State of the Industry Report on Service Automation.  

Biography

For more than 25 years Stan has been in the communications industry in various roles including strategic marketing, industry analysis, analyst relations, public relations, and global event programming.

Isabelle Morency  – Director of Product Management

Responsibilities

Isabelle Morency is a passionate leader and distinguished technologist with over 20 years of experience in the telecommunications industry.  She currently is the Director of Product Management at Mplify where she is responsible for the strategic oversight and execution of Mplify's product and program portfolio, ensuring alignment with the organization’s top priorities.

Biography

Before joining Mplify in 2025, Isabelle held the role of Head of Engineering and Standards at Iometrix, during which time she actively contributed to the communications industry standardization.  She served as the editor of nine Mplify Technical Standards, two Broadband Forum Technical Reports, and an IEEE Conformity Test Suite in the areas of Carrier Ethernet, GPON, MPLS and Network Timing and Synchronization. 

In 2024, Isabelle was honored with the MEF Distinguished Fellow Award for her technical work in the communications industry and her contributions to the development and success of Mplify’s certification program.

Isabelle holds a B. Eng in Electrical Engineering and has completed postgraduate studies in Business and Administration.

Neil Danilowicz  – Director of

Technical Delivery

Responsibilities

As Director of Public Relations, Melissa oversees MEF's media relations strategy and execution globally. She works with MEF and industry executives and experts to craft and promote stories that bring the MEF brand to life. In collaboration with MEF leadership, staff and members, Melissa develops the communications strategy and content to drive strong brand awareness and thought leadership across MEF’s key external audiences horizontally, vertically, and geographically.

Biography

Melissa is a savvy PR and integrated communications professional with expertise in developing and implementing strategic, brand-building communications campaigns for technology, healthcare, energy, and telecommunications companies, and global industry associations and standards development organizations. Previously Melissa worked at a full-service marketing and communications agency.

As Director of Technical Delivery, Neil oversees the management of technical components of Mplify’s programs and the implementation, management of the technical aspects of the Partner relationships, management of the technical processes for all Mplify programs, and provides on-going sales support and stakeholder education.  As a member of the Product team, Neil works with the Mplify staff to assure program rollouts and milestones align with the technical delivery.

Biography

Neil brings over 30 years of networking experience to the SD-WAN and SASE community. Neil has extensive experience in networking (Layer 2, Layer 3, and Layer 7), security and cloud technologies. Neil has expertise in building standards, implementation procedures, and certification processes and methodologies.

Prior to joining Mplify, Neil was a Principal Architect in the Office of the CTO at Versa Networks. At Versa Networks, Neil was responsible for the design of workflows for SD-LAN and SD-WAN, and unique customer solutions. Neil was instrumental in developing the CALEA compliant solutions within Versa Networks as well as the design of the Concerto orchestrator.

Amy Foschetti  – PR Executive

Responsibilities

As Digital Marketing Manager for MEF, Stephanie is responsible for executing, measuring, and optimizing digital marketing campaigns, and inbound and outbound marketing tactics. She utilizes and optimizes marketing technology and analytics to increase awareness, drive engagement, and ultimately grow revenue for MEF.

Biography

a Public Relations Executive, Amy drives Mplify’s media and analyst relations. With an eye for compelling storytelling, she crafts powerful narratives that elevate the organization’s industry presence. Amy cultivates relationships with key media and industry analysts, ensuring Mplify’s voice resonates across telecom, security, and enterprise sectors. Through her strategic efforts, Amy plays a pivotal role in amplifying Mplify’s brand and proactively expanding its reach into strategic growth areas, reinforcing its status as an industry authority.

Biography

As an experienced PR professional, Amy has a track record of outstanding results in media and analyst relations for technology and B2B companies. She excels at developing strong relationships, delivering quality content, and managing day-to-day PR programs. Her effective communications strategies combined with rapport-based PR campaigns help businesses and associations achieve their objectives. Previously Amy worked at a B2B technology marketing and public relations agencyStephanie is a dynamic, data-driven and creative Digital Marketing Manager with extensive experience and knowledge of marketing. She develops innovative approaches and thinks creatively to overcome challenges. She consistently delivers results within set deadlines and budget requirements. Previously, Stephanie has handled marketing and communications for a print and manufacturing company in the Tampa, Florida area.

Alysia Bennett

– Manager,

Operations & Finance

Responsibilities

Alysia manages all of the finance and administrative needs of MEF Mplify along with supporting its new member recruitment and retention efforts. 

Biography

Alysia joined MEF Mplify in 2010 and brings experience from multiple industriesmultiple industries. Prior to MEF Mplify, she was the Administrative Coordinator Administrator for another non-profit, served four years in the United States Army as an Arab linguist and four years as was an editorial assistant and freelance writer for the Washington Post.

Tom Dickson – Technical Support Manager

Responsibilities

Tom provides support on all our mission-critical platforms including this Wiki, the MEF Mplify public site, SalesForce, Microsoft 365, and member and internal support. Support inquiries can be directed to him. He also helps coordinate the MEF 3.0 Proof of Concept runs the NaaS Accelerator program.

Biography

Tom joined MEF Mplify in 2014 to assist with the technical support, both internally and for the members. Previously he has handled corporate IT and facilities management for Finarta and CTS, including data center server configuration, along with managing the US technical support division of Tandberg Data.

Steph Simon – Executive Assistant

Responsibilities

Steph is the Executive Assistant and supports the executive team on activities with Mplify. She will also work closely with Mplify staff on any activities that need attention.

Biography

Steph joined Mplify in January 2023. She was with Ericsson for over two years as an administrative support and a support as well with a biotech company for over 15 years. She brings great experience in supporting a team.

Jackie Wade – Administrative Assistant

Responsibilities

Jackie is the Administrative Assistant at MEF Mplify and handles billing, Committee call scheduling, and various other administrative tasks.

Biography

Jackie lives in sunny California when she is not in Belize.