Leadership
Wesley J. Johnston – Chief Executive Officer
Mr. Johnston joined TIA as its CEO in June 2017. He brings more than 25 years of experience delivering global solutions in information and communications technologies (ICT), as well as a keen sense of how business, government and associations should work together to drive industry innovation. Prior to joining TIA, Mr. Johnston was the Managing Director of Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT investments for the Gores Group, a leading global private equity M&A firm). As an active technology company board member, he was responsible for portfolio company oversight as well as leading operational due diligence efforts for the firm's TMT investments. Prior to joining The Gores Group, Mr. Johnston held senior executive positions with global, multi-national firms as well as start-up technology companies. He was EVP and Chief Operating Officer with Dimension Data, where he led sales, marketing, solutions development and service delivery across the Americas for the $6 billion technology integrator.
Mr. Johnston earned a BA from Princeton University, an Executive MBA from George Mason University and completed a two-week European study program at Oxford University. A lifelong technologist, he is also a cyber security co-patent holder: No. 20150244771 – “System and method for interconnecting and enforcing policy between multiple disparate providers of application functionality and data centers and/or end-use.”
Fraser Pajak - Chief Operating Officer
Fraser Pajak joined TIA as its COO in November 2017. Mr. Pajak was formerly the CEO of QuEST Forum, a non-profit organization with a vision to “be the global force for improving quality of products and services delivered to customers of information and communication technologies (ICT)”. QuEST Forum’s membership is comprised of companies from around the world, collaborating around a common passion for quality and administering the highly respected industry standard known as TL 9000.
Fraser, a QuEST Forum board member since 2007, has over 30 years’ experience in the industry. Previously, Fraser was the VP of National Service Infrastructure Support for TELUS Communications where he directed a team of approximately 1200 of the most highly skilled technical people in Canada. Fraser’s team took care of incident management, escalation, resolution, root cause analysis, change management and service performance for the wireline, wireless, internet and TV networks and data centers across Canada.
In his spare time Fraser likes spending time with his wife Maggie and their four children as well as flying his airplane, snowboarding and waterskiing.
Ken Koffman - Senior Vice President, Standards & Technology
Ken joins TIA as Senior VP of Standards and Technology, responsible for assuring that all our communities add value for our members and participants. His team oversees the process as well as execution of standards at TIA in addition to the QuEST Forum Community.
Ken Koffman is a customer-focused results-oriented executive with an excellent technical background and over 35 years of Telecom management experience. As the Quality Officer at multiple large international high tech companies (including Siemens, BigBand Networks, and JDSU/Viavi), Ken oversaw the creation and optimization of all corporate key processes and the measurement system that drives continual improvement and maximizes customer satisfaction.
Ken also has had several diverse management responsibilities, covering all aspects of complex product development and support – from systems architecture to 7×24 Service. He oversaw strategic planning, balanced score card design, and QMS implementation, while serving QuEST Forum as an SME and team leader.
Ken is a charter member of QuEST Forum, an author of both TL 9000 handbooks, and an acknowledged industry expert. He has served on their Board of Directors for over 10 years. He is currently the QuEST Forum Community’s Board’s liaison and an active participant in the Oversight & IGQ Workgroups and Board champion for the Performance Data Report improvements initiative.
Cinnamon Rogers - Senior Vice President, Government Affairs
Cinnamon Rogers brings to TIA more than 20 years of corporate, association, government and legal experience. She has held senior level government relations positions with Time Warner Inc. and Time Warner Cable, Discovery Communications, and NCTA - The Internet & Television Association. Rogers’ time in government included working on Capitol Hill for House Energy and Commerce and Senate Commerce Committee members, as well as serving as Director of Congressional Affairs for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration.
Andrew Kurtzman - Vice President and General Counsel
Andrew Kurtzman is Legal Counsel of the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA). Mr. Kurtzman oversees the contracting for TIA and its tradeshows, both domestic and international. He also serves as the Counsel for the TIA standards department, reviewing meeting reports and publications and helping to ensure fair, technology-neutral processes for the fourth largest ANSI-accredited standards developing organization.
Mr. Kurtzman, an attorney with a distinguished career assisting small businesses and associations, came to TIA from Infostar Inc., an IT consulting firm where, as vice president, he ran a data network of more than 1,000 long term care facilities, the largest of its type in the world. At Infostar, Mr. Kurtzman consulted to MCI Worldcom and to the American Health Care Association. Prior to Infostar, Mr. Kurtzman consulted to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on its state revolving fund loan program.
Mr. Kurtzman is a member of the Bar of the District of Columbia and has a Juris Doctorate from the Washington College of Law and a BA in Art History from the University of Michigan.
Harry Smeenk - Vice President, Program Development
Harry Smeenk has over 30 years of industry experience in wireline, wireless and IP network design, development, deployment and integration. He has led product development, business development, engineering, installation, and field service organizations across the country working in start-up and medium size wireless construction and deployment companies, as well as larger corporations such as Nortel Networks, Goodman Networks and others. He has provided IoT and next generation networking and wireless consulting expertise to numerous companies, started and sold 3 wireless construction and maintenance companies, and has held various executive-level leadership positions across the information and communications technology industry.
Harry earned his Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of North Carolina (UNC) - Chapel Hill, NC
He earned his Bachelor of Science (BS) in Business Management from St. John Fisher College, Rochester, NY.
Ashley Simmons – Senior Director, External Affairs
Ashley Simmons joined the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) in March of 2016. As the Senior Director for External Affairs, Ashley leads TIA’s communications, public affairs, and campaign-based marketing initiatives across the association on behalf of its 250+ members advancing global connectivity technologies around the world. Ashley brings a decade of communications experience shaping strategies and executing issue-advocacy campaigns for global nonprofit organizations, political candidates, and Fortune 500 companies to TIA’s senior leadership team. Most recently she served as Director of Communications at the Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITS America). In that role, she led the association's communications department, focused on raising awareness among policymakers of the benefits of ITS technologies to transform vehicle and roadway safety, reduce traffic congestion, and increase mobility options. Prior to that, she led communications and public affairs at the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI), representing some of the most innovative technology brands in the world. Ashley resides in the Navy Yard neighborhood of Washington, D.C. and holds a master’s degree in Media and Public Affairs from George Washington University and a bachelor’s degree in Communications and Political Science from the State University of New York College at Buffalo. Find her on Twitter @AshleySimmonsDC.