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Tara Mahoney
Solutions Leader, Communications Enabled Business Solutions, Nortel

Tara began her career at Nortel. She held a variety of roles in strategy, commercial marketing, new product introduction, and product/solution management. Highlights included involvement in the first carrier VoIP deployment, and beginning her passion with software and solutions through the creation of the Carrier Hosted Solutions team.

Leaving Nortel in 2005 she joined Nimcat Networks, a start-up in Ottawa, as Director of Product Management. Nimcat was bought by Avaya and after launching the first peer to peer solution at Avaya, Tara moved into managing the Small and Mid-Market Applications Portfolio at Avaya.

She returned to Nortel to take part in the movement to the Software and Services business through communications enablement. Tara is now Vice President CEBS (Communications Enabled Business Solutions) Portfolio Management. She lives in Ottawa with her husband and son.

John Bednarek
Leader, Alliances & Business Development Communications Enabled
Business Solutions, Nortel

John Bednarek is responsible for Nortel global alliances and business development strategy driving its Communications-Enablement Strategy across Nortel's enterprise businesses.

Mr. Bednarek is a seasoned business professional with over 20 years of product marketing, business development/alliances and sales experience in the networking and software industry - delivering, marketing and selling products and services ranging from embedded systems to total system solutions for targeted markets. John has worked with leading industry companies such as Gandalf, Mitel, Nortel, Motorola and Freescale Semiconductors. He also worked with several start-ups including Solana Networks, Avoca Semiconductors and C-Port Network Processors (acquired by Motorola in 2001).

John earned a Bachelor of Commerce degree, with honors, from Carleton University.

Erik K. Linask
Group Managing Editor, TMCnet

Erik oversees the daily operation of TMCnet, which delivers news, information, videos, white papers, podcasts, and more to three million visitors each month. He is also a contributor to TMCnet as well as TMC's IP Communications publications. Prior to joining the TMC team, several years ago, he was Managing Editor at Global Custodian, a global securities services publication, where he also managed the magazine's survey research. Erik began his professional career at management consulting firm Leadership Research Institute.