Howard Benn - VP Communications Research, Samsung Electronics R&D Institute UK

Howard started his career in the fixed telecommunication sector (Plessey) back in 1982, did his degree and PhD at Bradford University, moving into radio based communications in 1989. He started working in ETSI GSM standards committees in 1993, helping create 3GPP and chairing 3GPP RAN 4 from 1998 to 2007. He has been a board member of ETSI since 2008, is currently advising the ICANN board on mobile technology, and a member of a number of advisory boards for UK universities and research programs. His current role is ‘Vice President Communications Research’ for Samsung Electronics R&D Institute in the UK, managing a team of engineers covering ETSI, 3GPP, and GSMA. His team are also very active in the EU Horizon 2020 program with a focus on the 5G PPP activities. He also sits on the UK5G government advisory committee looking at the future of communications technology in the UK, and an advisor to the UK government on international free trade agreements.

Joseph Butler - Director for Telecommunications, Ofcom

Joe is a director at Ofcom, (the independent organisation which regulates the UK’s broadcasting, telecommunications and wireless communications sectors) where he has played a number of roles mainly in the area of mobile and radio spectrum, including CTO for the spectrum group. Joe was one of the authors of the National Infrastructure Commission report on 5G and the future of mobile communications in the UK (an independent commission chaired by Lord Adonis), which made recommendations accepted by UK government on the future of mobile in the UK. He has also undertaken an interim role as Director for Telecoms at DCMS. Prior to working in Telecoms Joe worked in a number of tech startups, in computer vision, AI/machine learning and signal processing. He is a visiting Professor at the University of Bristol, has a PhD in Electrical Engineering from UCL and a first degree in Physics.

Paul Ceely - Technology Strategy Consultant, Paul Ceely

Paul Ceely has over 20 years' experience network strategy and IP networking, and is been responsible for developing, driving and communicating the medium to long-term network strategy for BT.  He has shaped the mobile network strategy for EE since its formation in 2010 from the merger of T-Mobile UK and Orange UK, continuing this through the merger with BT in 2016, being instrumental in the strategy EEs 4G launch in 2012, the Emergency Services Network and the development of BT’s 5G Strategy.  Having studied Physics at Cambridge University, he started his career as a graduate working on IP networking and security in BT, before leaving for a startup, eventually ending up at T-Mobile and developing the IP strategy for the DT 4G programme.

Moray Rumney - Director, Rumney Telecom, Industrial Fellow, University of Bristol (Communication Systems & Networks Research Group)

Moray Rumney received a BSc in EE from Heriot-Watt University in 1984. He joined Hewlett-Packard that year and remained with the company through the transition to Agilent Technologies in 1999 and Keysight Technologies in 2015. Moray joined ETSI in 1991 and 3GPP in 1999 where he participated in the development of cellular communications standards and conformance test methods. His recent work has focused on radiated test methods for mobile phones. He was editor and major contributor to Agilent’s book “LTE and the Evolution to 4G Wireless”. From 2018 to 2021 Moray represented Keysight at 3GPP RAN plenary who oversee the development of the 5G radio standards. His recent interests include expert witness work, engineering consulting services, and the safety debate around cellular technology including the evolution of test methods to validate that base stations and mobile phones comply with safety regulations.

William Webb FREng FIET FIEEE - CTO, Access Partnership

William is CTO at Access Partnership. He was one of the founding directors of Neul, a company developing machine-to-machine technologies and networks, which was formed at the start of 2011 and subsequently sold to Huawei and became CEO of the Weightless SIG, a body standardizing IoT technology. Prior to this William was a Director at Ofcom where he managed a team providing technical advice and performing research. He has worked for a range of communications consultancies and spent three years providing strategic management across Motorola’s entire communications portfolio, based in Chicago. He was IET President 2014-2015.

William has published 17 books, 100 papers, and 18 patents. He is a Visiting Professor at Southampton University, a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, the IEEE and the IET. He has been awarded multiple honorary doctorates by the UK’s leading universities and in 2018 was awarded the IET’s prestigious Mountbatten Medal for technology entrepreneurship.