Region 5 Meeting

Ron has extensive experience in electronic and communications system design, deployment, and operation – focusing on utility telecommunications, power generation, electric distribution, and their associated industrial control systems (ICS) platforms. He is an advocate of the connected grid, a frequent speaker on subjects related to utility telecommunications modernization, and an active supporter of all things networked.

Ryan started his career at ALLETE, Inc. in 2011 and has served in varying roles of responsibility within the Purchasing and Contracts department supporting capital equipment and construction services procurement for transmission, distribution, substation, wind generation, and solar generation business units and engineering teams. In 2021 Ryan was appointed to lead the development and formalization of an internal drone program aimed at ensuring compliance with all applicable federal, state, and local laws that govern commercial drone operations. Ryan graduated from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University with a Bachelor’s degree in Business with minor areas of study in Supply Chain and Logistics and Human Factors in Aviation Safety. Ryan also holds a manned commercial pilot’s license with flight instructor privileges and has logged over 1800 flight hours in various makes and models of aircraft.

John Gilbert is a member of the NAM Microwave Solutions Sales Specialist team that is focusing on Transportation Energy and Public Sector (TEPS) customers.  John has been in his current business development role with Nokia since May 2015.  Prior to business development, he worked in the Microwave Network Engineering team supporting the customer transitions to the 9500MPR platform.  John has 29 years with Alcatel, Alcatel-Lucent, and Nokia.  For the first 18 years of his career, he worked as part of the System Verification Team on the Optical Network Division on the various cross-connect product lines.    John is currently working with the associated TEPS Sales team to provide product overviews and solutions as part of the pre-sales process and to provide product updates to existing customers for future network planning and coordination.  John has a BSEE and an MBA.

David Hattey is a seasoned strategic leader with thirty-plus years of successful executive assignments across IT, telecom, wireless, cloud services, and networking companies serving the Utility, Public Service, and Enterprise spaces. He is currently a consultant providing technology and strategy support through Lockard & White. David has held contributing and leadership positions in every area of business while working for companies ranging from start-ups to Fortune 100. He was awarded BS Electrical Engineering and BS Computer Engineering degrees from the University of Michigan, both Magna Cum Laude, as well as an MBA from Duke’s Fuqua School of Business where he was named a Fuqua Scholar. David is a named inventor on 11 US patents.

As Legal Counsel for Certes Networks, Simon assists with regulatory and compliance issues, contract drafting and negotiations, disputes, intellectual property and general legal matters.  Simon has extensive international experience in the technology sector and his combination of both legal and technical skills enables him to translate complex legal regulations and mandates into clear and definitive technical requirements for IT and Engineering teams.

Simon is a regular speaker on data protecting and cyber security regulations including GDPR, HIPAA, NIST Frameworks and PCI DSS. Simon resides in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Brett Kilbourne is the Utilities Technology Council’s General Counsel and Vice President of Policy, the Washington-based association representing vital energy and water utilities on their mission-critical technologies by driving innovation, fostering collaboration, and influencing public policy.

In this role, Mr. Kilbourne provides legal guidance to utilities on telecommunications issues both pending before federal and state agencies and being considered in Congress.

He received his Juris Doctor degree from Catholic University and his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of the South. Mr. Kilbourne is licensed to practice law in the state of Maryland and is a member of the American Bar Association and the Federal Communications Bar Association.

Tom Lockler is an Account Executive at Lockard & White. He first joined L&W in 2013 and served on the engineering team for six years before moving over to the Sales & Marketing team in early 2019. Tom’s engineering experience helping clients strategize, design, and implement new microwave, land mobile radio, and field area networks have proven to be invaluable in his current role working with clients to prepare for the networks of tomorrow. Tom graduated from Texas A&M University with a degree in Electrical Engineering Technology.

Tim Romanelli is the Business Development Manager – Central Region for RACOM, a nationally recognized system integrator of critical communication systems.
Over the past 25 years, he worked in various capacities including product development, marketing, and sales, working with device manufacturers, commercial carriers, and application developers serving multiple markets. For the past fifteen years, he has worked in the public safety market, bringing advanced technology into the hands of first responders and utility customers.

Richard Schertz is a Senior Engineer at Lockard & White. He has served in management and engineering roles for electric and gas utilities, cellular telephone companies and equipment manufacturers.  Richard has extensive engineering experience in microwave radio, grid-mesh radio, point-to-multipoint radio and land mobile radio.  Richard graduated from Texas Tech University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering, from the University of Texas at Dallas with a Master of Business Administration and is a professional engineer registered in Texas.

Before joining RACOM, Scott Skibness held senior-level positions at Harris PS&PC, Tait Radio Communications, VisionTEK, Aether, Cerulean, Ericsson, and GE.  His experience makes him one of the nation’s leading experts in the public safety and Utility communication market.  In his most recent position before joining RACOM, he was Director of North America Utility Sales at Harris Corporation.  Prior to joining Harris, Scott was the Vice President of Sales for Tait Communications where he was instrumental in strategic and sales decisions, playing a key role in their growth for 12 years in North America while he was there, he was also the owner of CRS Consulting, which provided consulting services for government and utility organizations, and was previously a Corporate Account Manager with Ericsson Private Radio Group.  Scott is a Council Member for Gerson Lehrman Group Technology Council where he provides information on industry trends, particular products and services, or other important developments to business and investment leaders. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Minnesota Duluth.

Tyler Spindler is a Principal IT Solutions Analyst at WEC Energy Group, working in the Infrastructure Planning & Management Area. He joined the company in 2003 and has served in a variety of engineering roles, acting as a systems engineer, network engineer and telecommunications engineer. While serving in these roles, Tyler broadened his skillset and developed expertise in embedded programming, control protocol integration and development, routing and switching, point to point and point to multipoint radios, radio towers and fiber optics. Tyler graduated from the University of Wisconsin Madison with double Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Engineering and Computer Science.

Travis Whitlock is a Senior Engineer at Lockard & White. He has been with L&W since 2012, working with several large utilities across the country on land mobile radio and microwave engineering. His experience includes multi-state projects that require needs analysis through conceptual and detailed design, implementation, and turn-up. In addition to engineering design, Travis’ experience includes extensive fieldwork and site surveys, FCC licensing, channel planning, and development of engineering packages, RFPs, and reports. Travis graduated from Texas A&M University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Electronic Systems Engineering Technology.

Rob Wright is a Senior Consultant within the IP Routing division at Nokia with a special focus on providing innovative networking solutions for vertical and enterprise markets including utilities, oil &gas, state and local governments, public safety, and transportation. He has over 25 years of data network design experience on telecom networks. His roles have included initial design consulting, identifying feature requirements, configuration development, and implementation of final solutions. When not working, he enjoys kayaking and biking.

John Yaldwyn is CTO and founder of 4RF. John focuses on the security and technical considerations of radio technology for critical infrastructure applications. A graduate of Victoria University of Wellington, he has a science degree and has done post graduate study in France at École Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications. He is a member of the Victoria’s Engineering Faculty Advisory Board.