Management
Amir Bassan-Eskenazi
Chief Executive Officer, President and Co-founder
Amir Bassan-Eskenazi is the chief executive officer, chairman of the board and co-founder of BigBand Networks. Recognizing the advancement of video, voice and data services provided over broadband networks, Bassan-Eskenazi is dedicated to optimizing operators' infrastructure. He has led BigBand Networks' activities from conception through successful implementations with the leading global service providers, driving content to tens of millions of subscribers. Bassan-Eskenazi's success with BigBand Networks extends a record of leadership in the establishment of the digital video. He was previously an executive of industry pioneer Optibase (NASDAQ: OBAS) where he rose to executive vice president of marketing and chief operating officer. Other roles with Optibase included development engineering, technical support, project management, product planning, marketing, business development, pre-sales and sales. Bassan-Eskenazi was a member of the JPEG Committee, has published on the future of broadband multimedia services, and holds several patents. He graduated from Technion Institute of Technology, where he studied electrical engineering.
Ran Oz
Chief Technology Officer, Executive Vice President and Co-founder
Ran Oz is chief technology officer of BigBand Networks, which he co-founded as a new breed of company combining advanced multimedia and communications technologies. He has been the primary visionary in the development of the company's products, now globally deployed and utilized for more and better services over more efficient networks. Under Oz' technical leadership, BigBand Networks is pioneering vital advances in digital television, on-demand and IP services, and he is directing the company towards leadership in the industry's next-generation network initiatives. Oz was part of the founding team of digital video technology provider Optibase (NASDAQ: OBAS), and was the primary technical co-founder of Optibase spin-out VCON Telecommunications (Nouveau March: 022021), a vendor of IP video conferencing systems. Oz holds several patents in HFC networking, visual computing, media manipulation and other areas, and regularly publishes and presents on advanced technology topics at the most prominent broadband industry events. He is an electrical engineering graduate of the Technion Institute of Technology, and holds an MSEE from Tel Aviv University.
Maurice Castonguay
Chief Financial Officer
Maurice "Moe" Castonguay serves as senior vice president and chief financial officer of BigBand Networks, responsible for finance, accounting and investor relations. Moe has more than 30 years of experience in financial management, and spent more than 11 years as CFO of multiple public technology companies; including Xylogics, Inc. (acquired by Bay Networks, Inc.), Stratus Computer, Inc. (acquired by Ascend Communications, Inc.),and MatrixOne, Inc. which he lead through an initial public offering. Castonguay has also served as CFO for a number of private technology companies, including, most recently; Acopia Networks, Inc. (acquired by F5 Networks) and video-on-demand specialist Broadbus Technologies, Inc. (acquired by Motorola, Inc). Castonguay began his career in public accounting with Coopers & Lybrand (now PriceWaterhouseCoopers) and later with Peat Marwick (now KPMG). He currently serves as chair of the audit committee on the board of directors of Cedar Point Communications, Inc., a privately-held VoIP switching company. Castonguay is a certified public accountant (CPA) and holds a bachelor's degree in accounting and a master's degree in taxation from Bentley College, as well as an M.B.A. from Babson College.
Paul Crann
Vice President, Media Services Platform
As Vice President Media Services Platform for BigBand Networks, Paul is responsible for delivering new breakthrough solutions to service providers worldwide. He brings 20 years of operational experience to BigBand having served in a variety of management roles across the data networking and wireless communications industries. Paul has worked extensively with service providers including recent roles with start-up companies serving the fixed mobile convergence and WiMax markets. Previously Paul served as Sr. Vice President of Marketing and Business Development for Avici Systems, a core IP/ MPLS routing vendor. He has also held senior product management and market development positions with Lucent Technologies and Ascend Communications where he as part of the core switching business unit. His earlier experience includes roles with Omnipoint one of the early PCS wireless service providers, PRTM as a management consultant, and the U.S. Navy where he served as a submarine officer. Paul holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School and a BS degree in Engineering from Villanova University.
Greg Greco
Senior Vice President of Global Research & Development
Greg Greco is BigBand Networks' senior vice president of global research & development. In this role he is responsible for worldwide product development. Greco brings over 30 years experience in product development and product management of complex, scalable, and highly reliable networking products for video, wireless and wireline applications. He has spent the last 18 years building highly motivated and effective development teams in geographically diverse centers in the US, Europe, and Asia. Previously, he held executive level positions at Tekelec, Santera, and Lucent Technologies. Greco holds BS Electrical Engineering and MS Electrical Engineering degrees from the Polytechnic University of New York.
David Heard
Chief Operating Officer
David Heard is BigBand Networks' Chief Operating Officer. In his role, Mr. Heard oversees all of the BigBand's business units and is focused on scaling operations and increasing the scope of the company's solutions to meet its customers' media management and delivery needs. Mr. Heard has more than 18 years experience guiding high-growth technology companies focused on developing products and services to meet the needs of service providers. Heard has previously served as president & CEO of Somera Communications, president and general manager of Tekelec's switching division and president & CEO of Santera Systems. Heard has also held a variety of executive positions at Lucent Technologies, including vice president of the company's access division, and has held multiple manufacturing, marketing and business development management positions for AT&T. Mr. Heard earned a Bachelor of Arts in production and operations management from Ohio State University, and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Dayton. He also holds an additional master's degree in science and management from Stanford University.
John Holobinko
Vice President of Product Management
John Holobinko is BigBand Networks' Vice President of Product Management. Mr. Holobinko overseas the profit and loss for all of BigBand's current products, and directs product enhancements. Previously he was VP and GM of BigBand's Cable IP Business Unit. Mr. Holobinko has over twenty five years experience in leadership positions within suppliers of video and IP solutions to cable television providers and telco providers. Prior to Bigband Networks, he was President and CEO of VPI Systems, President and CEO of Aplion Networks, and a Division VP of Marketing and Strategy for ADC Telecommunications. He was a cofounder of American Lightwave Systems, a successful fiber video solutions provider that became the most successful acquisition of ADC Telecommunications in the 1990's. He began his communications career as a pioneer in fiber video transport systems and fiber to the home systems in the early 1980's. He holds a BSEE from Carnegie Mellon University. He has published over fifty papers on video systems and IP networking.
Rob Horton
Vice President and General Counsel
Rob Horton serves as the vice president and general counsel for BigBand Networks, responsible for the company's legal and regulatory interests, including intellectual property protection, licensing, regulatory compliance and corporate governance. Horton previously served as senior counsel for Borland Software (NASDAQ: BORL). Prior to Borland, Horton was an attorney in private practice at the law firms of Covington and Burling LLP and Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich and Rosati, PC. Horton holds a Bachelor of Arts in history from the University of Notre Dame and a JD from Northwestern University.
Jeff Lindholm
Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing
Jeff Lindholm is BigBand Networks' senior vice president of sales and marketing. In this role, Lindholm oversees both the company's global sales and corporate marketing organizations. Lindholm has spent the last twenty years driving growth for highly successful network technology companies, and scaling sales and service organizations to support some of the largest data and communications service providers in the world. He previously served as vice president of worldwide sales for Juniper Networks. Prior to Juniper Networks, Lindholm held senior executive positions in both sales and support at Unisphere Networks, Redstone Communications, Bay Networks, New Oak Communications, Motorola and Wellfleet Communications. Lindholm holds a bachelor's degree in marketing from Boston College School of Management.
Ralph Rondinone
Senior Vice President, Global Operations
Ralph Rondinone is BigBand Networks' senior vice president of global operations. In this role he is responsible for worldwide customer service, manufacturing, quality, information technology and infrastructure. Rondinone brings over 20 years experience in customer service, manufacturing engineering, quality and operational responsibilities from start ups to public networking companies. Previously, he held executive level positions at SeaChange International, Lucent Technologies and Ascend Communications. He spent 13 years of his career at Digital Equipment Corporation where he worked in both the US and Europe in engineering and in manufacturing operations. Rondinone holds a B.S. Mechanical Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
Avner Taieb
Vice President of Research & Development
Avner Taieb is BigBand Network's vice president of Research & Development of Video Applications. In his role he is responsible for video and core technology application development, and also serves as BigBand Networks' Israel site manager. Mr. Taieb brings over 20 years of experience in leading development of systems and embedded software for wireless and wireline communication products. He previously served as vice president of R&D of Adimos, vice president of R&D of Congruency. He has also co-founded Abstract Ltd, a software house that developed software for leading communication companies in Israel. Mr. Taieb holds a B.Sc. in Mathematics from Tel-Aviv University.
