Trender Research Board of Advisors

Jennifer Hicks

President, ink Communications

If you are seeking a leg up in this increasingly targeted, sophisticated and technologically innovative era of global communications, you need to know Jennifer Hicks. As president of international communications agency ink Communications and co-founder of bGrand, Jennifer is a new world order PR warrior on the front edge of the changing communications landscape. She connects clients to their channels - funding, media, markets. Jennifer broke new ground with ink in 2001 as a virtual agency pioneer, operating across borders to help clients from North America to EMEA to Asia Pacific translate their publicity efforts into a competitive advantage. Whether she’s blogging the highlights of the latest trade show, creating a strategic roadmap for a client to navigate market shifts, matchmaking for a seed round or illuminating the wilds of new techniques such as social media, Jennifer has made a name coaching start-ups on their communications and market strategies that help them find their own niche in the world. Clients range from start-ups like ZYB (acquired by Vodafone) to Playjam, Dreampark, Trivop, Spinvox, Zoran Corporation, Siano Mobile Silicon, Edgware TV and Acentic.

As a former assistant press secretary to US Senator Sam Nunn, director at Brodeur Worldwide and liaison to several of Europe's leading venture capital, angel investors and finance gurus, Jennifer's extensive experience ensures the right plan for clients no matter where they are, where they need to be or how quickly they need to get there.

Jennifer is a regular speaker and coach at e-Unlimited’s European Venture Summit and Nordic Venture Forum as as well as on Marketing 2.0 topic matter at Red Herrring’s ETRE and Venture Market Europe. She is on the advisory board of IRL Corporate, Intera, SOMESSO, a social corporate media conference series, and the United Nations of Greater Boston Advisory Council.

Aref Matin

CTO – Technology Products and Solutions, RealNetworks

Aref is CTO – Technology Products and Solutions at RealNetworks. He is responsible for the product development, technology operations, solution integration services, and professional services teams of RealNetworks providing technology solutions to mobile carriers and network operators worldwide. He oversees several technology development teams in multiple regions globally providing a digital entertainment suite of products and services for music, video, ringtones, ringback tones and convergence user interface/user experience for PC, TV and mobile devices.

Previously, Aref was SVP of Engineering and Operations at Millennial Net, where he led technology and operations teams to introduce an innovative wireless sensor networking product family concerned with extending battery life, wireless mesh networking and ad-hoc self managed routing networks. Aref has worked at executive leadership levels for several technology and systems integration companies including Juniper Networks as VP of Software development, Siemens AG in Munich as VP of Wireless Data and Internet Solutions, AT&T Business Communications Services, and AT&T Bell Labs. Aref holds Bachelors and Masters degrees in Electrical Engineering.

Alicia D. Nevins

Chief Development Officer, New Tier

Alicia Nevins has over ten years of advertising and emerging media sales experience with her primary focus being in Sports and Entertainment. Before working directly in sports, she served for almost two years as the Regional Marketing Director for Matrix Rehabilitation, a Physical Therapy company based out of Dallas. She oversaw the marketing and advertising for 13 clinics state-wide. Alicia then transitioned into the fast-paced world of radio as a Senior Account Executive for Clear Channel Radio. In 2002 Alicia was hired as the Director of Advertising Sales with the Houston Astros. She was with the Houston Astros for four years and was fortunate to be part of the Astros first World Series birth. During her tenure with the Astros her department reached the highest sales revenue in Astros history, ranking fourth out of all thirty Major League Baseball teams in gross advertising revenue. In July of 2006 Alicia was recruited to Dallas as the Vice President of Corporate Sales for the Texas Rangers Baseball Club. Her business acumen and ability to earn and maintain strong corporate sponsors resulted in a promotion within the first six months of her stint with the Rangers to additionally oversee and manage the corporate sales department for the Dallas Stars Hockey Club. In 2007 she was again promoted to Vice President of Hicks Sports Marketing Group. In addition to managing the Texas Rangers and Dallas Stars corporate sales, the promotion included the involvement of Hick’s Liverpool Soccer club, Mesquite Rodeo, AVP Volleyball tournament and White Rock Marathon.

Alicia came on board with New Tier in February, 2008 to oversee business development and sales. She was instrumental in finalizing and deploying the CBS Colleague Sports partnership between New Tier and the ninety-four CBS Colleague University relationships. Currently serving as the Chief Development Officer, she has been heavily involved in the launching of New Tier’s most recent application and is responsible for all strategic partnerships in both the United States and Europe.

Timothy B. Steele

Senior VP Global Alliances & Business Development, Siemens Enterprise Communications

Tim Steele leads the Global Alliance and Business Development function for Siemens Enterprise Communications, a global leader in unified communications software and services. His organization focuses on accelerating the pace of technology agreements with IT application providers and on creating jointly developed go-to-market arrangements leveraging the Siemens product portfolio with system integrators and service providers with global reach.

Tim rejoined Siemens in December of 2003, from a position with BroadSoft Inc., where he was responsible for strategic planning and business development activities. Prior to this, Tim served as President and General Manager for the U.S. subsidiary of NetCentrex (now part of Comverse), a convergence communications software company selling to the carrier market and headquartered in Paris, France. In this role, he was responsible for sales, marketing, and operations for the Americas and Asia markets.

Mr. Steele previously held the position of CEO progressing from the role of Vice President of Sales and Marketing with the start-up Tundo Corp, a venture-backed telecommunications softswitch technology company located in Boston, MA. Tim was responsible for all aspects of the company, including sales, marketing, operations, product management and the R&D/Engineering team located offshore.

Tim holds a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) degree from James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia, and he has completed graduate work at Loyola College in Baltimore, Maryland with continuing studies at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. Tim also serves on the Advisory Board of Trender Research Inc., a news analysis and market research firm that covers the use of technology-based devices and services. Tim resides in the Washington, DC area with his wife and two daughters.

Rich Tehrani

President and Group Editor-in-Chief, TMC

Rich Tehrani is an IP Communications industry expert, visionary, author and columnist. He founded the first magazine focused on VoIP in 1998 and, as President of TMC, is the owner of the registered trademark for the term Internet Telephony. In 1999, Tehrani launched Internet Telephony Conference & Expo and has watched it grow into the best attended VoIP show in the world. Tehrani is also the founder of TMCnet, the most popular communications/technology portal in the world. More recently he launched TMC's two newest titles, SIP Magazine and IMS Magazine. Tehrani is also Group Editor-in-Chief of Customer Interaction Solutions (CIS) Magazine. Launched in 1982, CIS is the first publication in the world to cover call centers and CRM.

A well-respected voice of the communications industry, Tehrani has served as an expert witness and been quoted frequently in such prestigious publications as the Economist and New York Times.

Rich, currently president and group editor-in-chief, has led TMC in many capacities since 1982. Rich plays a pivotal role in positioning TMC as the only publishing and trade show company focusing exclusively on the rapidly growing voice/data convergence and computer telephony integration. He continues to be a driving force in the creation and implementation of pioneering publications and events.

Rich Tehrani is a computer engineer who graduated from the University Of Connecticut with a hardware/software Bachelor of Science degree.