Welcome Address

MEF CEO Dario Betti opens the day, welcoming the audience. He will share some of the work that the MEF has been doing in Canada and world-wide and share the results of its recent studies in the Canadian market. With Caitlin O’Neill, Senior Manager, Messaging Product Development – Canadian Telecommunications Association.

Keynote Address

For over three decades, Kids Help Phone has diligently catered to the mental health needs of Canadian youth. In this keynote address, Kathy Hay, President and CEO of Kids Help Phone, will recognize the efforts made by the Canadian telecom industry in supporting its mission. She will provide insights into her vision for future collaborations and what more can be achieved.

• Kathy Hay, CEO – KidsHelpPhone

More Than Digits: Toll Free and 10 DLC Messaging in Canada

Guided by representatives from the Canadian Telecommunications Association, this panel will delve into the current status of Toll Free texting and 10DLC in Canada. The panelists will explore existing challenges, potential solutions, and future directions for these critical communication channels.

• TJ Thinakaran, Content & Strategy Advisor – MEF
• Caitlin O’Neill, Senior Manager, Messaging Product Development – Canadian Telecommunications Association
• Paul Wheeler, VP, North American Carrier Relations – Twilio
• Ryan Tollofson, Director – Emerging Communications & Strategic Marketing – Telus
• Chris Galdun, Vice President, Messaging Strategy and Sourcing – Syniverse
• Caitlin Long, Director Commercial Product Management – Bandwidth Inc.

Practical Use of AI in Enhancing Mobile User Experiences

This session focuses on the cutting-edge applications of AI currently being deployed by leading global brands. While the synergy of mobile and content has been around for some time, AI is taking it to a new dimension.

• Marina Petrova, CEO & Co-Founder, Intentful.ai

Spilling the Beans: Lessons Learned from US implementation

Leaders from US aggregators, vetting providers, and the A2P industry will discuss their experiences and insights gained from the implementation of 10DLC. They will share the progress made, hurdles overcome, and key lessons learned during this transformative process.

• Stefan Heller, Vice President, Business Development & Strategic Partnerships – The Campaign Registry
• Allison Billings, Vice President – Twilio
• John Bruner, President & CEO – Aegis Mobile
• Marcelo Frizzo, VP Strategic Accounts North America – Infobip
• Jonathan Vimont, Director, US Messaging Products and Services – Sinch
• Eric Perelshtein, Senior Sales DirectorSenior Sales Director – netnumber Global Data Services
• Michael Blum, Mobile Security Product Management Director – Proofpoint

One Medium, Many Paths: Differentiating between Shortcode, Toll Free, and 10 DLC

Leaders from Twilio, Attentive, Bandwidth, Sinch and iconnectiv discuss best practices for choosing the correct endpoint for text messaging. The past few years have been transformative in the industry. This panel will share how the network is evolving to keep up with the innovative use cases being developed.

• Caitlin O’Neill, Senior Manager, Messaging Product Development – Canadian Telecommunications Association
• Nate Kliger, Senior Director – Messaging Strategy & Operations – Attentive
• Paul Wheeler, VP, North American Carrier Relations – Twilio
• David Schwind, Product Owner – Sinch
• Caitlin Long, Director Commercial Product Management – Bandwidth Inc.
• Matt Lear, Senior Director of Product Management – iconectiv

Building Emotive Conversations Using MMS

Prominent leaders from Syniverse, Cisco, Infobip, and Sinch will share insights into the latest advancements in A2P MMS support. They will highlight the innovative use cases these improvements are enabling within the market.

• Caitlin O’Neill, Senior Manager, Messaging Product Development – Canadian Telecommunications Association
• Zak Hussain, Director, CPaaS Messaging Business – Cisco
• Marcelo Frizzo, VP Strategic Accounts North America – Infobip
• Laura Barzelai, Compliance and Implementation Manager – Sinch
• Craig Smith, Sales Director – Syniverse

Sharing is Caring: How CLNPC Use Case Expansion will Increase Trust

The use of portability data in North America is often subjected to restrictions concerning permitted use cases. In Canada, this portability data is produced by Neustar, a subsidiary of Transunion, which has been the Canadian Portability administrator since the portability mandate was established in the country. However, the Canadian LNP Consortium (CLNPC) heavily regulates the utilization of this data on behalf of its shareholders, comprising local exchange and wireless carriers within Canada.

• Paul Wheeler, VP, North American Carrier Relations – Twilio
• Munz Bharde, Product Management Director – NeuStar, Inc.

An Anti-Fraud Masterclass: What Tools Are Available to the Mobile Ecosystem?

In this panel discussion, attendees will hear from global leaders in the fraud prevention space as they explore top tools and strategies to keep messages and calls safe from advanced fraud risk. From powerful phone number intelligence data-driven options to SMS firewalls and beyond, attendees will garner a deeper understanding of the current landscape of fraud, how prevention options are being offered, how they can harness the power of these solutions, and how these solutions operate within business contexts.

• Catalin Badea, VP, Product Management – netnumber Global Data Services
• Eric Perelshtein, Senior Sales DirectorSenior Sales Director – netnumber Global Data Services
• David Spouse, Vice President, Head of Global Messaging Service Provider Sales – AdaptiveMobile
• Nate Kliger, Senior Director – Messaging Strategy & Operations – Attentive

Better Onboarding: Using Data to Protect the Network

The most effective ways to safeguard a network involve preventing intrusions before they occur. Everyone, including malicious actors, possesses a digital signature. In this expansive panel, leaders from Enstream, Proofpoint, Syniverse, TCR, Aegis, and Sinch will discuss the state-of-the-art in threat assessment.

• TJ Thinakaran, Content & Strategy Advisor – MEF
• Stefan Heller, Vice President, Business Development & Strategic Partnerships – The Campaign Registry
• John Bruner, President & CEO – Aegis Mobile
• Michael Blum, Mobile Security Product Management Director – Proofpoint
• Alex Bobotek, Lead, Mobile Messaging Anti-Abuse Strategy and Architecture – AT&T
• Ellery Shentall, Policy Advisor – UK Department for Science, Innovation and Technology

Messaging – Opportunities and Pitfalls

Syniverse VP of Product, Chris Galdun, will focus on A2P messaging, touching on topics such as KYC, spam, vetting, and campaigns.

• Chris Galdun, Vice President, Messaging Strategy and Sourcing – Syniverse

Protecting Network Trust, Identity, and Privacy

Enstream and Telesign leaders shed light on the rigorous process involved in verifying data for Canadian consumers. They delve into the impending challenges of fostering trust within the network while safeguarding subscriber identity and privacy.

• Megan Lukitsch, Vice President of Sales, The Americas – Telesign
• Almis Ledas, President & COO – EnStream LP

The Role of Spam Filtering in Protecting the Canadian Consumer

This panel will discuss the state-of-the-art in-network filtering and its role in protecting end consumers. Leaders from Adaptive, Cisco, WMC Global, and Sinch will share the threats they are currently witnessing and the best practices to mitigate them.

• TJ Thinakaran, Content & Strategy Advisor – MEF
• Simeon Coney, Head of Business Development – ENEA AdaptiveMobile Security
• Bruce Bales, Director, CPaaS Messaging Business – Cisco
• Ian Matthews, President & CEO – WMC Global
• Brien Jones-Lantzy, Head of Compliance, Spam & Fraud Mitigation – Sinch
• Craig Smith, Sales Director – Syniverse
• Mike Reading, Vice President Of Technical Services – Proofpoint

The Mobile Cloud Edge: New innovation and monetization opportunities for operators and enterprises via the Telco Edge Cloud

Mobile operators are deploying 5G MEC (Multi-Access Edge Computing) commercially now. Bringing the Cloud to the network edge represents the next frontier of innovation and digital transformation, and creates new opportunities for mobile operators and enterprises.

• Doug Makashima, CSMO – SummitTech.ca
• Roger Billings, Director and Principal Architect, Emerging Technologies – Cradlepoint
• Patrick Vincent, GTM Lead Telco Edge Partnerships – Canada – AWS
• Peter Wilcox, Director, 5G Products & Services (PMN, MEC & Developer Program) – Bell

Artificially Inflated Traffic & Smishing: What is it and why everyone should care

• Dario Betti, CEO – MEF
• Jason Lunn, Global Connectivity, CPaaS – Cisco
• Fionan McGrath, Business Strategist – Sinch

RCS & OTT Messaging: Friends or Foes?

Representatives from each hop on the network discuss the growth of OTT apps in the A2P messaging space, and consider the future of RCS within this context.

• TJ Thinakaran, Content & Strategy Advisor – MEF
• Marcelo Frizzo, VP Strategic Accounts North America – Infobip
• Ryan Tollofson, Director – Emerging Communications & Strategic Marketing – Telus
• Nate Kliger, Senior Director – Messaging Strategy & Operations – Attentive
• Alexa Davidovic, Head of FinServ, Americas – Sinch
• Surinder Anand, CTO & VP Product Management – Dotgo
• Brian Hiekes, Director of Product Management – Cisco