Broadband and optical movers and shakers: ATX names McLaughlin as CEO; Comcast taps Lance West to oversee its advocacy strategy

ATX names cable veteran McLaughlin as CEO
ATX Networks has named Tom McLaughlin as CEO, succeeding Dan Whalen, who immediately stepped down as CEO. McLaughlin is a 25-year veteran in the telecom and cable industry. He joins ATX to drive the company toward a new era of profitable growth with a focus on innovation and operational execution. Earlier, McLaughlin held executive positions across leading technology companies, including CommScope, Arris International and Motorola.

Comcast taps Lance West to oversee advocacy strategy
Comcast has named Lance West Executive Vice President of Federal Government Affairs and Head of the Washington, DC office. In this role, West will lead the company’s legislative and regulatory initiatives on Capitol Hill at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and other agencies. Reporting to Tom Reid, Chief Legal Officer and Secretary, West will oversee Comcast’s advocacy strategy, manage relationships with key external partners, and ensure the company’s leadership voice is represented in Washington, DC.
West brings extensive government advocacy experience to Comcast. Most recently, he served as Vice President of Federal Government Relations at The American Petroleum Institute (API), where he led the federal lobbying team and developed a comprehensive advocacy strategy for its member companies. Before joining API in 2023, West served as Chief of Staff to Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia. In this role, he navigated the Senator to help pass landmark legislation, including the Great American Outdoors Act, the American Rescue Plan, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. West will begin his new role at Comcast on September 3, 2024.

Harmonic adds Neel Dev to its board
Harmonic has expanded the company's board of directors with the appointment of Neel Dev. Dev currently serves as the chief financial and revenue officer of Congruex, a communications network infrastructure design, engineering and construction company. At Congruex, Dev is responsible for financial planning, accounting, tax, treasury, procurement and supply chain management. He also oversees the sales and commercial services organizations and processes related to revenue generation activities and go-to-market strategy. Dev is a decorated telecom industry veteran. Before coming to Congruex, Dev served as executive vice president and chief financial officer of Lumen Technologies, and he previously held various finance leadership roles at Level 3 Communications, MCI (now Verizon Business), and MFS Communications.

Gogo adds aviation and banking veteran Koch to its board
Gogo has named Monte Koch a member of its board, expanding it from nine to ten directors. Koch is a private investor and a retired Partner of BDT & Company, a merchant bank managing over $20 billion in assets. He is also Chair Emeritus of the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA), a trade association serving the business aviation community, following his tenure as a board member from 2005 to 2023, including serving his last two years as NBAA's Board Chair. An accomplished pilot, Koch holds an Air Transport Pilot rating with more than 5,000 hours of flight time and is type-rated in various aircraft, including the Falcon 10, Falcon 50/900, Gulfstream G-IV/G450, Gulfstream G-V/G550 and Boeing 747-400. He also holds helicopter and seaplane ratings.

Inseego enhances product and sales leadership team
Inseego, a provider of 5G mobile and fixed wireless solutions for mobile network operators, Fortune 500 enterprises, and SMBs, named David Markland in the newly created role of Chief Product Officer; Dean Antonilli as SVP Sales, Service Providers; and Sal Aroon in the new role of Vice President and Head of Operations.

Lumentum names Matthew Sysak as CTO
Lumentum has tapped optical industry expert Matthew Sysak as the chief technology officer for the company’s cloud and networking platform. Before joining Lumentum, Sysak worked for Ayar Labs as laser and platform engineering vice president. Before that, he worked for Intel as an architect and engineering manager. According to social media posts from the company, Sysak’s extensive tech background positions him to develop Lumentum’s strategic vision of developing cloud, AI, and machine learning technologies. Sysak joined the company during a ramped-up period.

VETRO names Edebol as Chief Revenue Officer
VETRO has appointed John Edebol as Chief Revenue Officer (CRO). Edebol brings a wealth of experience in sales leadership and business development to VETRO, where he will be responsible for driving revenue growth and expanding the company’s market reach. He joins VETRO from Perforce, where he led a team of 55 and generated over $115 million in revenue. Earlier, he held a leadership role at Sitetracker, where he increased revenue from $16 million to over $40 million in just 2.5 years.

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