Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina
Telecom Technology Executive — Data & AI
Twenty-five years inside the industry — from iDEN push-to-talk and the dawn of enterprise wireless data through MPLS, LTE, FirstNet, 5G, and today's AI-driven network operations. I have sat on both sides of the table: sixteen years building and selling the operator's own portfolio, then leading the technical strategy that systems integrators bring back to them.
Those are usually two different résumés. This one is both.
Twenty-four years inside the carriers. From the dawn of enterprise wireless data at Nextel in 2000 through sixteen years at AT&T, I learned the operator business from the inside — architecting mobility, transport, IoT, security, and public-safety solutions; carrying the customer relationships; and eventually leading the account organization for a multi-state region. I know how a carrier is structured, how it buys, how it delivers, and where its systems and incentives actually collide.
Then I crossed the table. Joining Apex Systems in 2024, I built the telecom technology solutions portfolio — network engineering, contact center, data platforms, AI — with an advantage most solution leaders don't have: I had been the customer. I knew which offerings operators would actually fund, which delivery models survive carrier procurement, and which technical claims a network organization will see through.
Which is how I ended up as Industry CTO. Setting technical strategy for tier-1 engagements across AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Lumen, and Altice; authoring the practice's AI-for-Telco strategy; standing up an RF engineering practice from scratch when we lacked the depth to compete; and architecting an agentic intelligence platform end-to-end on Snowflake.
AI that isn't integrated with order, service, fault, and billing can only recommend. Integrated, it can execute.
Six builds that show the range — strategy, platform, practice, and field.
Flagship build of the Communications Skunk Works, architected end-to-end from first principles: three-environment structure (sandbox/dev/prod), a seven-layer data architecture, a 16-role RBAC model with SCIM integration, per-workload warehouses with dedicated embedding compute, and Openflow ingestion feeding Cortex Search and Cortex Analyst.
Outcome A working agentic platform, not a slide — prototyped ahead of client demand.
Mapped the full carrier tech stack (ERP/HCM, CRM, ITSM, BSS, OSS) against 2026 industry drivers — agentic AI across the lifecycle, 5G monetization pressure, M&A integration debt, data unification, network API monetization — and defined where AI must integrate to move from proof-of-concept to run-the-business systems.
Outcome Adopted as the practice's AI strategy for Communications.
Identified that the practice lacked the RAN engineering depth to credibly pursue managed services, and built the capability — a team of highly credentialed RF engineers hired for depth rather than availability.
Outcome Earned a tier-1 operator's trust with delivery work across the majority of its markets.
Led the Snowflake alliance for the Communications practice and drove joint technical strategy on tier-1 carrier network pursuits, positioning Snowflake-based automation to deliver use-case value immediately — without disrupting the operator's multi-year GCP migration roadmap.
Outcome Value now, without touching the migration critical path.
Authored the practice's point of view on the full OSP lifecycle for US telecom — transport, middle- and last-mile fiber, and RAN plant, from route engineering through test and turn-up to as-built actualization — alongside technical strategy for nationwide RAN RF design, grounding audit and remediation, drive testing, and BIM services.
Outcome The reference document for field-layer pursuits.
Architected early public-safety broadband and NG911 solution paths as FirstNet emerged, positioning statewide agencies for the transition to dedicated public-safety LTE — mission-critical infrastructure where availability and compliance are non-negotiable.
Outcome Statewide agencies positioned for public-safety LTE before it was standard.
2000 to present — every era of the industry, in order.
EverForth / Apex Systems
Apex Systems
AT&T
AT&T
AT&T
Sprint-Nextel
Nextel
AT&T Wireless
Nextel
Five domains, from the agent layer down to the fiber in the ground.
GenAI copilots and agentic workflows for telco operations; LLM-powered automation; MCP-based agent orchestration; human-in-the-loop design; AI governance, observability, and anomaly detection; use-case scoring and prioritization frameworks.
Modernization strategy across Amdocs, Netcracker, CSG, Aria, and goTransverse billing stacks; ServiceNow TSM/NetACE and Salesforce Communications Cloud/Agentforce; order-to-cash fallout automation; service assurance transformation; composable BSS for 5G monetization and XaaS.
Snowflake AI Data Cloud (Cortex AI/Search/Analyst, Openflow ingestion, RBAC and governance design); Kubernetes platform architecture; hybrid cloud modernization; Kafka streaming telemetry; Databricks, Neo4j, Ray, and Airflow pipelines; Salesforce Data Cloud; CCaaS on Amazon Connect; secure enclave and DoD-compliant deployment patterns.
5G/RAN architecture, nationwide RF design, drive testing, grounding audit and remediation; outside-plant lifecycle (transport, middle/last-mile fiber, RAN plant) from route engineering through test/turn-up and as-built actualization; network API monetization (GSMA Camara).
SAFe and agile value-stream transformation for carrier operations organizations; acceptance-first delivery governance with QA gates and audit-ready artifacts; CAPA and change-management frameworks; elastic engineering workforce models.
A true thought leader across telecommunications, data, and AI, with a rare ability to connect market trends, customer challenges, and emerging technologies into strategies that drive meaningful business outcomes.
Whenever we identified opportunities to bring Apex's RF Engineering practice into the conversation, Chris was the first person I wanted standing in front of my clients. His command of the industry is immediately clear to anyone who meets him.
His ability to connect technology strategy with business outcomes is both impressive and extremely valuable — always ready and able to jump into the trenches with his team to address issues head-on.
He pairs real technical expertise with the kind of stewardship and leadership that's rare to find in one person.
If you're building the AI and data layer that actually touches the network — or you need someone who has lived on both sides of the carrier table — I'd like to hear about it.