Board of Directors
Members of the BelAir Networks Board of Directors complement the management and technological strengths of the founders.
- Dr. Adam Chowaniec - Chairman of the Board, BelAir Networks
- Bernard Herscovich - President, CEO and Co-founder, BelAir Networks
- Chris Albinson - Managing Director, Panorama Capital
- David Zilberman - Principal, Comcast Ventures
- Philip R. Reddon - Managing Partner, Covington Capital
- Patrick DiPietro - CEO, Samnite Technologies
- Larry Lang - President and CEO, QuorumLabs Inc.
Dr. Adam Chowaniec - Chairman of the Board, BelAir Networks:
Dr. Adam Chowaniec is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of BelAir Networks. He also holds that position at Tundra Semiconductor Corporation and is Executive in Residence at Vengrowth Capital Partners Inc. Adam began his career in the 1970's, as a member of the scientific staff of Bell Northern Research in Ottawa. From there, he moved into engineering management at Nortel Networks. In 1983, he moved to Westchester, Pennsylvania to become Vice President of Technology with Commodore International. In 1986, Adam returned to Ottawa to become President and Chief Executive Officer of the semiconductor firm Calmos Systems. Calmos Systems was acquired by Newbridge Networks Corporation, in 1989. Calmos was renamed Newbridge Microsystems. Under this new structure, Adam served as both its President and as a Vice President of Newbridge Networks. In December 1995, Adam was the founding CEO of Tundra Semiconductor Corporation, which is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Adam holds a Master's degree in Electrical from Queen's University (Canada), as well as both a Bachelor of Engineering and a Ph.D. from the University of Sheffield (England). Adam's affiliations include the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers and the Association of Professional Engineers of Ontario.
Bernard Herscovich - President, CEO and Co-founder, BelAir Networks:
Bernard as BelAir Networks founding President and CEO brings many years of management experience in large and small companies. Bernard's track record of creating innovative products in the wireless industry has been recognised with numerous awards including "Hot Product of the Year".
Prior to BelAir, Bernard was the President of Breezecom Inc. in Carlsbad, California, Vice President of Wireless at Newbridge Networks in Ottawa, and spent ten years in engineering and management positions at Nortel Networks. Bernard holds an MBA from the University of Ottawa and MASc from the University of Toronto.
Chris Albinson - Managing Director, Panorama Capital:
Chris Albinson is a Partner at Panorama Capital (formerly JPMorgan Partners). Prior to joining Panorama / JPMP, he was Chief Strategy Officer at Digital Island (ISLD – Acquired by C&W) and CSO at C&W. Previously, Albinson has held corporate development roles at Newbridge Networks and did telecom services consulting in Russia. Albinson’s activities included raising $250M in private equity, $1.5B in M&A transactions, and managing a corporate venture capital fund of 28 companies in a broad range of technologies. His investments included Juniper Networks (JNPR), Cambrian Systems (acquired by Nortel), Abatis Systems (acquired by Redback), Fastlane Technologies (acquired by Quest Software), BNI Systems (acquired by Nortel) and PixStream (acquired by Cisco). He sits on Board of Directors at Affinity Internet, Greenfield Networks, Reflectivity, Valere Power and Belair Networks. Albinson is also on the Advisory Board for Partners for Growth, a venture lending firm backed by Silicon Valley Bank.
Albinson holds an undergraduate degree and an MBA from the University of Western Ontario where he taught and published works in the areas of business strategy & corporate governance.
David Zilberman - Principal, Comcast Ventures:
Dave joined Comcast Ventures in early 2006 and is responsible for identifying, executing and managing new investments while supporting existing portfolio companies. As an investor focusing on telecommunications and digital media, Dave brings a combination of operational, technical and advisory experience to bear as a board member. Prior to joining CV, Dave was a business development manager at Flarion Technologies responsible for a variety of corporate development initiatives. Dave played a pivotal role in Flarion’s fundraising activities and ultimate $805M acquisition by Qualcomm. Prior to Flarion, Dave was a communications and media investment banking analyst and asset management associate at Lehman Brothers. Dave holds a Bachelors of Science in Management with a concentration in Finance from Binghamton University. Dave serves on the Board of Directors of BelAir Networks, EdgeConneX, Ortiva Wireless and SB Nation and is involved in as an advisor or board observer to a number of other CV portfolio companies including Bubble Motion and previously was the Board Observers on Broadsoft prior to their IPO.
Philip R. Reddon - Managing Partner, Covington Capital:
Philip R. Reddon joined Covington Capital in 2002. In his role as Managing Partner, his responsibilities include analysis of new investment opportunities for the Fund and assisting in the management and
monitoring of the Fund’s existing investments. Mr. Reddon has over 17 years experience in the private equity field including six years at Bank of Montreal Capital Corporation, a $400 million private equity fund. As Managing Director and head of its Technology Investment team, Mr. Reddon was a member of the investment committee and sat on the boards of eight companies. Prior to BMO Capital, Mr. Reddon spent six years with the Business Development Bank of Canada. Mr. Reddon holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Western Ontario and a Bachelor of Commerce (Honours Business Administration) from the University of Windsor.
Patrick DiPietro - CEO, Samnite Technologies:
Pat is currently CEO of Samnite Technologies, which he founded in July 2010. Samnite invests in and provides operating expertise to mid-stage tech companies. Formerly, he was Managing General Partner at VenGrowth, one of Canada’s Tier 1 venture capital firms, from Oct 2001 through June of 2010.
Pat has over 30 years experience in high technology operations and finance and currently serves as a member of the board of directors of BelAir Networks, SiGe Semiconductor, Continuous Computing, and StealthDrive. He is a former board member of Nakina Systems Inc. BTI Systems, Neterion (sold to Exar) and Sandvine, now a public company.
Before joining VenGrowth in 2001, Pat was Vice President of 3G Wireless at Nortel Networks.
Pat was also a founder of The Ottawa Network and a board member of OCRI, two not-for-profits focused on enabling the growth of Ottawa high tech firms. Pat holds a B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from Queen’s University.
Larry Lang - President and CEO, QuorumLabs Inc.:
With years of experience in executive management, product development, marketing and sales in the technology industry, Larry Lang currently is the President and CEO of QuorumLabs Inc. QuorumLabs develops solutions that make world-class business continuity easy and affordable for any size business. He also serves on the board of Violin Memory. Previously, Larry was Vice President and General Manager of Cisco’s Services and Mobility Business Unit, where he grew the mobile Internet business from near-zero to several hundred million dollars. He held senior management and technical positions at Ipsilon Networks and Bellcore.
Larry holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Duke University and a Master of Science degree in Operations Research from Stanford University.