Join us for 5G Innovation Sessions

Discover 5G solutions
that can transform
your business.

TJ Fox

TJ Fox is President of Industrial IoT and Automotive for Verizon Business, responsible for catalyzing Verizon’s growth in the burgeoning connected vehicle and industrial device markets. He oversees business development, commercial modeling, and cross-functional efforts for Verizon in the industrial IoT and Automotive businesses. He is a 28-year V Teamer with a proven track record of driving growth, especially in new or high-priority segments.

Fox previously served as SVP and President of Verizon Business Markets, leading 5,000 sales professionals dedicated to selling wireless and wireline solutions to small and medium businesses in the U.S., contributing to an annual revenue of $12B. In Verizon’s first year under the new operating structure, the combined teams drove sales and increased revenue year over year by 6%.

In the course of Fox’s Verizon tenure, he has been immersed in many different areas of the business, including Retail and Business sales, Telesales, US Operations, US Customer Service Operations and Verizon Enterprise Solutions. He has held several senior executive-level national and field operations roles, including SVP of the Wireless Business Group and SVP of National Operations for Verizon Wireless, and also served as President of the Illinois/Wisconsin region of Verizon Wireless.

He has been honored as a Crain’s Chicago “40 under 40” award winner and a seven-time recipient of Verizon President’s Cabinet award, which is the highest honor that a Verizon sales professional and leader can attain. Fox is passionate about volunteering because helping his community affords the opportunity both to give back and better understand how to effect change. Fox served as a board member of the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, and served as Chairman of the Board for Prevent Child Abuse America (PCAA), where he remains an active member of the Leadership Council.

He currently lives in northern New Jersey with his wife and two children. He is a native of Annapolis, Maryland and earned his Bachelor’s degree at Virginia Tech.

Mitch Cooper

Mitch has been with Ericsson since 2001. He is leading the sales of Ericsson’s Emerging Business portfolios, Core network, and IT Managed Services. Prior to joining the Verizon Account in 2020, Mitch held various strategic leadership and technical roles at Ericsson within Core R&D and Services organizations, spanning North America, Europe and Asia.

Mitch holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Iowa State University. He lives with his wife and four children in Tewksbury, New Jersey.

Maggie Hallbach

Maggie Hallbach is the President of Verizon Frontline and Senior Vice President of Public Sector at Verizon, leading the team of professionals dedicated to partnering with Verizon’s federal, state, local, education and public safety customers to deliver innovative technology solutions and services. This includes Verizon Frontline, the advanced network and technology built for first responders.

Maggie has held a number of executive roles during her more than two decades at Verizon. Most recently she served as Vice President of Business Development and Strategic Sales for VerizonPublic Sector where she led the team focused on developing, designing and capturing strategic opportunities in the Public Sector.

She has also served as Vice President of the state, local and education markets for Verizon. In this role, she and her team were responsible for developing solutions to address the increasingly complex requirements of state and local governments and education clients.

Additionally, Maggie has held a variety of roles focused on delivering customer experience enhancements and increasing shareholder value. She headed Verizon’s Lean Six Sigma efforts to drive ongoing business transformation and process improvement across Verizon Enterprise Solutions.

Maggie earned a Master of Business Administration in marketing and finance from the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business and holds a Bachelor of Arts in history from Brown University. She is also on the boards of directors at the Northern Virginia Technology Council (NVTC) and the United Service Organizations (USO). Maggie is committed to inclusion of youth and adults with special needs, dedicating time to TOP Soccer, Best Buddies International and supporting the Arc of Northern Virginia.

Kurt Schwartzkopf

As EVP and Co-Head of Sports, Kurt oversees the NBA and NHL Teams/Arenas business segment for Ticketmaster.

Kurt and his team focus on delivering the highest level of client care and innovation to their partners while helping clients leverage industry leading technology and services that drive more revenue and deliver more fans. Joining Live Nation Entertainment in May of 2013, Kurt brings over 25+ years of industry knowledge. Prior to his role at Ticketmaster, Schwartzkopf spent 5 years as Chief Marketing Officer for the Denver Nuggets, Colorado Avalanche, Colorado Mammoth and Pepsi Center (now Ball Arena) where he oversaw all team ticket sales & service, premium sales & service, marketing, creative, digital/interactive media, box office operations, game entertainment, fan development and community relations for the clubs and arena. Schwartzkopf also spent seven years with the Los Angeles Kings and STAPLES Center and was part of the executive team that transitioned from the Great Western Forum to STAPLES Center in 1999 and helped launch a new era of Kings hockey and live events in downtown Los Angeles. He also has over nine years of collective experience with FELD Entertainment, Inc. both as a promoter and then Regional Vice President. In his role as an RVP Kurt supervised the Western U.S. and Western Canada for all FELD tours.

Mayor Kate Gallego

Kate Gallego has a vision for Phoenix: she sees it as a place that is vibrant and growing, and one where every person is treated with dignity and respect.

Mayor Gallego is a strong advocate for smart business growth and investment – she recently helped land the city’s largest-ever business development deal, a $12 billion semiconductor manufacturing plant that will bring significant economic development for decades to come. She is leading the city to global status as a leader in bioscience, research, and advanced medical manufacturing.

The Mayor is also leading Phoenix to meet its goal to become the most sustainable desert city in the United States. She has fostered investments in cool solutions, including the nation’s first, publicly funded Office of Heat Response and Mitigation; launched the city’s successful cool pavement pilot; and led the charge toward building EV infrastructure and a strong transportation system to clear the air and empower families and individuals to spend less time stuck in traffic.

Mayor Gallego is the second elected female Mayor in Phoenix history and one of the youngest big city Mayors in the United States. In November 2020, she was returned to office with the highest number of votes ever cast for a mayoral candidate in Phoenix.

A graduate of Harvard University, she earned an MBA from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. Prior professional pursuits include strategic planning and economic development for one of Arizona’s largest utility companies and service in state government, as part of the Governor’s team. She was elected to the Phoenix City Council in 2013, and won the office of Mayor in 2019.

Mayor Kate Gallego enjoys a desert hike and a good read. She is Mom to five-year-old Michael.

Cory Davis

His team partners with first responder and public sector agencies nationwide to help them stay connected, innovate, plan for the future, mitigate pain points, and prepare for times of crisis. His team is responsible for Verizon Frontline Public Safety strategy, and overall customer experience for our most critical customers. Verizon Frontline is committed to the public safety community, putting the nation's #1 Network for Public Safety to work every day ensuring the mission-critical communication needs of public safety professionals are met. His team takes pride in its partnership with federal, state, and local agencies, and sponsors numerous public safety events and associations throughout the country.

Anil Lalwani

Anil Lalwani is responsible for AWS Edge Product Management and Go-To-Market. He brings over 25 years of experience in the enterprise technology space and is passionate about helping customers solve business problems using modern digital technologies.

Anil began his career as a software engineer and managed solution architect, business development and product management fronts. Prior, he led and scaled AWS services - DynamoDB and ElastiCache to fastest growing NoSQL Databases. Before joining Amazon, Anil was a Sr Director at Oracle, and responsible for Business Development, Partners and Solutions Architects.

Anil graduated with top honors from Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, India and holds an MBA from UC Berkeley.

Kara Kalkbrenner

A native Phoenician, Fire Chief Kara Kalkbrenner joined the Phoenix Fire Department in 1985. During her 37 plus years of service, she held the ranks of Fire Engineer, Fire Captain, Division Chief, Deputy Chief and Executive Assistant Chief of Administration.

Chief Kalkbrenner was one of only six female Fire Chiefs of large metropolitan fire departments in the country. Her philosophy is that public administrators are community stakeholders and play an integral role in shaping the community where they work and live. Chief Kalkbrenner led 2,300 members and oversaw an operating budget of more than $550 million dollars, carefully stewarding taxpayer dollars and city resources while serving as Phoenix Fire Department’s Fire Chief. 

Chief Kalkbrenner served in every operational capacity within the Department’s six divisions, including Operations (Fire and Emergency Medical Services response), Fire Prevention, Human Resources, Physical Resources, Information Technology, and Training. That experience provided her with the insight and understanding of all aspects of the Phoenix Fire Department. 

Chief Kalkbrenner’s Labor/Management Teams had an ongoing commitment to present-day Strategic Plans that addressed the current and future needs of the community and Phoenix Fire Department. The Strategic Plans were the guiding force for continued innovation and customer service to the citizens of Phoenix. The plans include the 26 jurisdictions the Phoenix Fire Automatic Aid System responds into. The plans keep the PFD and the Automatic Aid Consortium relevant and continue to move the organizations forward. These plans include six key initiatives:

• Comprehensive Training and Development
• Technology and Communications 
• Assess and Prioritize Fire Department Programs and Needs
• Management of Human Resources
• Analysis and Management of Data
• Emergency Service Delivery and Deployment Model

Chief Kalkbrenner holds an Associate Degree in Fire Science from Phoenix College, a Bachelor’s Degree in Fire Service Management from Ottawa University and is a graduate from the Naval Postgraduate School. She has served as an adjunct instructor for the Fire Services program at Maricopa County Community Colleges.

Michael Ruhnke

In his current role as Vice President, Enterprise Investment Accounts, Mike is responsible for leading a diverse organization of approx. 200 professionals focused on growing new share in over 5,000 large Enterprise customers in the United States. His teams are tasked with uncovering new opportunities and selling compelling solutions that leverage the assets and capabilities of Verizon across the wireless and wireline portfolio - and solve key business challenges for these enterprises.

As a part of his responsibility. Mike has designated a team that exclusively supports our growing efforts and investment in the Sports and Large public venue space. This team is focused on delivering solutions to Sports leagues, teams and clubs that leverage our investments and partnerships across this exciting space.

Prior leadership roles included Sales Engineering, Sales Operations, Business Development, and Senior Sales leadership roles in Direct the Medium Business, Indirect Channel, and Enterprise segments.

Dan Costello

Costello is in his 16th season with the Phoenix Suns. As Chief Revenue Officer and Executive Vice President, Costello oversees all revenue generation departments including Ticket Sales and Service and Global Partnership Solutions. Costello also oversees the organization’s strategies involving innovation and Information Technology, as well as Suns Legacy Partners’ interest in the Legends Entertainment District. Prior to becoming Chief Revenue Officer & Senior Vice President of Business Innovation, Costello was Chief Commercial Officer. Before the 2018-19 season, in an organization-wide initiative helmed by Costello’s vision and guidance, the Suns partnered with PayPal to create a first-of-its-kind global partnership that made PayPal the first-ever jersey patch partner of the Suns and the Official Payment Partner of the Suns, Phoenix Mercury and Real Club Deportivo Mallorca. In July 2019, the Suns were awarded the NBA’s Changemaker of the Year Award at the NBA’s Revenue & Analytics Workshop in recognition of their innovative approach to partnering with PayPal. Costello began his career in television advertising with Cox Media, and while there he had successful years as a local account executive focusing on local business, national sales manager focusing on bringing national ad sales dollars to the state of Arizona, and national Hispanic sales manager. Costello currently serves on the Phoenix Suns Charities Board of Directors, Great Hearts America Board of Directors, the Steward Health Care Board of Trustees and is a Honorary Commander at Luke Air Force Base. A graduate of the University of Nevada Las Vegas, he is married to Melissa (an attorney with Bryan Cave) and has two children, Logan and Dylan.

Danny Johnson

Danny Johnson, a 20+ year veteran in the technology industry, is a seasoned executive possessing experience in software development, engineering, sales, consulting, product development, and marketing.  Danny has started and launched innovative products and solutions into multi-billion dollar markets and is currently Director of product marketing for Verizon Business Group where his responsibilities include:  portfolio positioning and messaging, competitive differentiation, and new channel activation for Verizon Business Group’s 5G, MEC, IoT, and SDN portfolios.

Steve Reese

Steve is in his tenth season with the Phoenix Suns as their Chief Information Officer.

An early Information Technology trailblazer, he joined the Houston Oilers in 1990 as one of only six Sports Technologists in the world. Since then, he has served as Chief Technologist for the Tennessee Titans, Houston Astros, and San Diego Padres. His unique experience working with professional athletes and team organizations in the NFL, MLB, and NBA, has given him insight on how to achieve and maintain personal peak performance.

He currently sits on the Board of Directors for MoonshotAZ, an Arizona technology and business Incubator. Previously, Steve sat on the Executive Advisory Board of S.E.A.T. (Sport Entertainment Alliance in Technology), the NBA’s Innovation Hub and was a founding member of the NFL’s Technical Advisory Committee.

A native of Detroit, Michigan, Reese ran track at Saginaw Valley State University, where he earned All-America honors in 1980. In 1984, he received his B.B.A. from the University of Houston where he graduated Summa Cum Laude with a concentration in Information Systems.

Steve is married to Joanne, the love of his life, and has two sons, Steve (33) and Matthew (31).  In his time away from the office, Steve trains his Australian Labradoodle, Houston, who provides therapy services to the elderly who suffer with Alzheimer.

Peter Linder

As Head of 5G Marketing, North America for Ericsson, Peter aspires to help enterprise, industry, and service provider stakeholders to understand and realize the full potential of 5G technology and mobile G forces. In 2020 Oanlytica ranked him as the #1 expert technology influencer on LinkedIn. This recognition comes from three decades as a broadband networker in the fixed and mobile domain, two decades as a professional speaker, and one decade exploring digital marketing. After hours he is passionate about formula one racing, photography, travel, and time with friends and family.

David Hickey

Dave Hickey is Vice President of the West Business Markets where he oversees all Mid-Markets business sales. He is responsible for an organization of approximately 850 sales professionals and leaders serving the mid-market space businesses driving over $1.6B in annual revenue.

Dave joined Verizon in 2000 as a Business Account Executive and has held various roles within the organization, including Major Account Manager, Business Sales Manager, Associate Director, and Director of SMB, Retail, Enterprise, and Government.

Throughout his career, Dave has accumulated a broad depth of experience in technology and business development. He has earned a reputation for molding the teams he leads into elite organizations that not only exceed and achieve maximum success but have a sense of positive energy and transparency that pave the way for teamwork and growth.

Corporate and charitable leadership

Dave brings his spirited energy to the team around strategic direction, funnel management, high activity levels, and developing emerging talent. 

Dave’s passion is established from a centralized framework in tactful employee culture and customer engagement, creating relationships that serve all sides of the business.

He and his family reside in Southern California, where he is an advisor to EvoNexus, a not-for-profit organization that has a unique incubation program that attracts applications from early-stage technology ventures across the globe seeking to benefit from strategic advisors and capital connections.