BlueSlice Networks
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Management Team

Stephan Ouaknine
President and Chief Executive Officer

Stephan Ouaknine is the founder and CEO of Blueslice Networks, a Telecom Equipment company founded in 2001, which provides products and solutions for multi-profile subscriber management to wireless, fixed, VoIP, and cable operators around the world. Responsible for strategic planning and execution, Stephan has led Blueslice to consistently meet and exceed its goals including financial performance, profitability, and business and customer growth. Stephan has driven the development of Blueslice's product portfolio, channel partnerships, sales, and overall organizational performance.

Prior to Blueslice, Stephan was founder and CEO of Airslide Systems, a leader in Signaling Gateways, which merged with Cantata and was acquired by Dialogic. Prior to Airslide, Stephan was a member of the founding team of Emblaze, a leader in mobile multimedia, which went public on the London Stock Exchange.

Born in Montreal, Canada, Ouaknine serves on the Board of Directors of Blueslice and has a Bachelor degree in International Relations from McGill University.

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John Grobstein
Chief Financial Officer

As Chief Financial Officer, John Grobstein brings to Blueslice over 20 years' experience in both telecommunications and banking. In addition to his financial responsibilities, John implements systems and business processes focused on supporting overall growth and profitability.

Prior to joining Blueslice, John was VP - Corporate Strategy at AT&T Corp. At AT&T, he gained extensive experience in the global carrier market, in regions including the United States, Canada, Europe, and Japan. As a senior member of a top-level strategy advisory team which reported to the Corporation's Chairman and President, he developed business strategy and assessed new opportunities, including early and later-stage equity investments and strategic partnerships. In addition, he advised business units in all segments of AT&T's telecommunications portfolio, across a $US 37B P&L. John was involved in both WiFi and WiMAX projects at AT&T, as well as numerous projects in conjunction with AT&T Labs. Prior to AT&T Corp., John spent twelve years' as a banker with firms including Chase Manhattan and Banque Paribas, and held assignments in Canada, the United States, the UK, and Hong Kong.

John holds a BA from McGill University, an MSc from the London School of Economics, and a Masters of International Affairs from Columbia University.

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Luc Mayrand
VP, Research & Development

Luc Mayrand is responsible for the research and the development of Blueslice Networks products. In that role, he directs the development team efforts and manages the overall project from specifications to customer trials.

Throughout his 20 year career in telecom, Luc has exhibited a track record of successfully introducing new products to the mobile market and has been responsible for the complete development cycle of TDMA, GSM, and CDMA core network equipment sold in more than 30 countries. Prior to joining Blueslice, Luc held multiple technical and managerial positions at Ericsson Canada. As part of the founding team of this center in 1986 and a member of the senior management since 1994, Luc was involved in all areas of the development cycle: developing strategies, establishing effective management systems, implementing productivity tools and quality standards, and quickly bringing products from R&D to commercial reality. He spent over 10 years on the TDMA MSC and HLR and established the development unit for the CDMA MSC. Most recently, Luc held the position of Vice President, CDMA Radio Access Network Development.

Luc has led intellectual property development and has filed multiple patents. He received both his Masters (M.Eng.) in Electrical Engineering and Bachelor of Electrical Engineering (B.Eng), Communications from École Polytechnique de Montréal.

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Leonard Scheepsma
VP, Sales Europe, Middle East, and Africa

As VP Sales for Europe, Middle East, and Africa, Leonard Scheepsma leads sales growth for Blueslice HLR/HSS systems in this region. At Blueslice, he will continue to grow partnerships and deployments with mobile carriers, VoIP operators, multi-plays, and alternate mobile service providers.

Leonard is a proven leader in the drive towards subscriber data consolidation based on 18 years of telecommunications experience. Before joining Blueslice, as Sales Executive in Telecommunications and the HLR/HSS team at Hewlett Packard, Leonard was responsible for business development and direct sales and for managing account teams and associated organizations. He was the initial driver for the HP Opencall subscriber profile management solutions into the EMEA market four years ago, creating the recognition for HP’s HLR/HSS solutions through deployments in this region.

Previously, he was Business Development Manager of Wireless E-solutions at Ericsson, responsible for bridging 2G networks with 3G services and positioning and selling Ericsson Intelligent Networking and Core Network infrastructure including HLR and switching. As part of Ericsson Business Innovation AB, Leonard initiated and ran a Business Innovation Cell focused on innovative applications bridging 3G and Bluetooth. For the "New Telecom Operators" division, he conceptually developed and deployed IN services for Telfort (now KPN).
 
Leonard is fluent in Dutch, German, and English.

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Frederic Bastien
VP, Product Line Management

As Vice President of Product Line Management, Frederic Bastien is responsible for ensuring that Blueslice's solutions portfolio exceeds the requirements of current and future customers. In such a role, he directly contributes to shaping the technology direction and leadership of the company. His primary responsibilities extend beyond product management and include direct support of the sales organization from a product marketing and solutions architect perspective.

Frederic joined Blueslice Networks carrying with him 10 years of international telecom experience, leading technical projects and teams within both network equipment vendors and network operators. During the last six years at Nortel Networks, including three years in France and two in Texas, Frederic held roles of increasing responsibility spanning wireless business development, product management, and project management. Most recently, he was leading the Product Management team for GSM/UMTS end-to-end systems and was responsible for building the strategy and vision in the areas of Fixed Mobile Convergence, VoIP, MobileTV, and 4G evolution beyond UMTS.

Prior to Nortel, Frederic managed the implementation and deployment of Teleglobe's international VoIP/VoATM points-of-presence, with assignments in Japan, France, and the USA. In 1996, Frederic was also part of the initial network planning team at Microcell Connexions that launched Fido, the first GSM network in Canada and the first Intelligent Network-based GSM Prepaid service, dubbed Fidomatic. Frederic holds a Bachelor degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering, with telecom specialization, from École Polytechnique de Montréal.

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