Meet the AV&Co. Leadership Team:
Rory Altman,
Director
Ed Vilandrie,
Director
Stefan Bewley,
Principal
Dan Chu,
Principal
Steve Conway,
COO
SoumenGanguly,
Principal
MichaelGrossi,
Director
Jonathan Hurd,
Director
Sujit Jha,
Principal
Rory Altman, Director
Rory founded AV&Co. with Ed Vilandrie in 2002, after serving as Principal and management team member at CSMG. He is an expert in competitive dynamics, marketing effectiveness, converged communications products, new market entry, channel strategy, and mergers and acquisitions.
Rory works with clients to develop new business models, balance new product development with short-term retention and acquisition investments, select the most impactful converged services for investment, perfect the channel mix amid changing customer needs and increasing product complexity, maintain value in wireline voice, defend against video bypass, and efficiently manage a diverse competitive landscape by segment, geography and product availability. Additionally, Rory works with industry investors to develop investment hypotheses, forecast industry dynamics, value buyout targets, and improve their portfolio companies' performance.
Rory is a frequent speaker and moderator at management, investor and industry conferences such as VON and the Annual Wireless Telecommunications Symposium. He also serves as a resource for national business and trade press such as The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones, Telephony Magazine and RCR Wireless News.
Rory holds a M.B.A. from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University and a B. Eng. in Civil Engineering from McGill University. Prior to joining CSMG, he was a traffic engineer and transportation planner at Barton-Aschman Associates, Inc. in Chicago.
Ed Vilandrie, Director
ed@altvil.com
Ed Vilandrie founded AV&Co. with Rory Altman in 2002. Ed is an expert in areas including sales and marketing; product, network and channel profitability; operations restructuring; investment advisory and due diligence; merger integration; and growth strategy.
Ed assists clients with multi-channel challenges, such as residential bundles, effective products and managed services to small, medium and enterprise business customers, and home convergence and integration. He often speaks at industry, executive and investor conferences such as WiMAX World, COMPTEL, the Goldman Sachs Communicopia Conference, and the Telecom Investor Conference. In 2007, Ed also served as keynote speaker at a major communications industry association conference. He is frequently invited to discuss topics surrounding successful restructurings and turnaround situations.
Prior to co-founding AV&Co., Ed served as Principal and management team member at CSMG. Ed has also served as an Analyst at Cambridge Economics, Inc., a M.I.T.-based economic consulting firm specializing in patent infringement and anti-trust litigation. He holds a Sc.B. in Applied Mathematics & Economics from Brown University. Ed is on the Board of Trustees at Plimoth Plantation and is Parent Co-chair of the Annual Fund at Milton Academy.
Stefan Bewley, Director
bewley@altvil.com
Stefan is a Director with AV&Co. Stefan primarily advises clients in business strategy, financial planning, investment due diligence, operations optimization, and technology decisions.
Stefan assists a wide range of clients with both long term and immediate profit maximization. His recent client engagements include work for executives and investors regarding the technical capabilities and business implications of 4G technologies. Additionally, Stefan’s projects focus on increasing the value of existing operations, particularly around customer retention. Stefan's significant M&A experience includes both conducting due diligence for investors as well as developing integration plans and financial milestones for operators.
Stefan has authored several articles and serves as an ongoing media source for publications including The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones, RCR Wireless, Telephony Online, and Mass High Tech, on topics ranging from wireless services for automotives to wireless channels.
Prior to joining AV&Co. in 2004, Stefan worked with The Brattle Group, an economic consulting firm. Stefan holds a Bachelors of Science and a Masters of Engineering from M.I.T.
Dan Chu, Principal
dchu@altvil.com
Dan is a Principal with Altman Vilandrie & Company (AV&Co.), where he has worked since 2003. His key areas of expertise include marketing strategy and optimization, business case development, strategy development, M&A advisory and due diligence for private equity funds and hedge funds.
Dan is an expert in wireline, Internet, and wireless technologies. Recent client engagements include strategy work relating to multi-platform advertising, video and content strategy, Web 2.0 applications, social networking, and marketing plan development. Dan is also immersed in telecommunications industry consolidation, where he has conducted a number of strategic and financial due diligence projects for financial and strategic buyers.
Prior to joining AV&Co., Dan was a consultant with CSMG. Before that, he worked with American Management Services (AMS), a technology consulting group. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Economy from Williams College.
Steve Conway, Chief Operating Officer
conway@altvil.com
Steve joined AV&Co in 2003 after serving as Principal and management team member at CSMG. He has deep functional expertise in corporate strategy, marketing strategy, mergers & acquisitions, corporate finance, and investor due diligence. Steve is responsible for all operational aspects of AV&Co and overseeing the firm's long term strategy.
Steve previously focused on the energy sector as a Consultant with Deloitte Consulting in Dallas, and as a Corporate Financial Analyst with NSTAR, a Massachusetts based electric and gas utility. Steve holds an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago's Graduate School of Business and a B.S. in Business Administration (Finance concentration) from Northeastern University.
Jonathan Hurd, Director
jhurd@altvil.com
Jonathan joined AV&Co. in 2006. With more than 20 years of consulting and industry experience, Jonathan’s background within the communications, media and related technology sectors is extensive. His primary areas of expertise include business and marketing strategy, new business creation and launch, integrated consumer and business services, and customer and sales channel segmentation and targeting.
Jonathan’s work with operators includes communications services strategy and business planning, market sizing, product roadmap development, customer segmentation, and marketing budget optimization across systems, products, customers and channels.
Prior to joining AV&Co., Jonathan was a Vice President with ADVENTIS. Before that, he was a Partner in the Communication, Information and Entertainment practice of Mercer Management Consulting. Jonathan has also served as Vice President of Marketing for a computer peripherals manufacturer, and has held marketing and strategic planning positions at Lotus Development Corporation. In addition, he has served as a software development product manager in industries including financial services, computer peripherals, video game development and management consulting.
Jonathan is frequently quoted in publications such as Investor’s Business Daily and Telephony Magazine. He often speaks at industry conferences such as the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Digital Hollywood and IPTV World Forum. Jonathan has authored and published articles on topics such as customer and channel segmentation, online content strategy, the future of voice services and partnership strategy.
Jonathan received a B.S. in Computer Science and Engineering from M.I.T., and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.
Sujit Jha, Principal
sjha@altvil.com
Sujit is a Principal with Altman Vilandrie & Company (AV&Co.). He assists wireline and wireless operator and investor clients in new product strategy, development and lifecycle management.
Sujit is an expert in areas across the communications spectrum including FTTx strategy and planning, IPTV, wireless data and advanced advertising. He has defined some of the leading new product business models in these areas and developed deep actionable economic analysis in support of these business models.
Prior to joining AV&Co. in 2007, Sujit was a Manager at Deloitte Consulting's Telecom Strategy Practice. He holds an MBA from Cornell University, and a Bachelor of Technology in Electrical Engineering degree from Regional Engineering College, Kurukshetra, India.
Soumen Ganguly, Principal
sganguly@altvil.com
Soumen is a Principal with AV&Co. His key areas of expertise include product portfolio strategy and optimization, new product strategy, customer segmentation, business case development and marketing strategy.
Soumen's experience includes leading major engagements for multiple US and European mobile and broadband operators, equipment manufacturers and investors. Recent client projects include strategy work related to converged communication products, mobile handsets, customer segmentation, product portfolio rationalization, emerging products innovation, push-to-talk and mobile payments.
Prior to joining AV&Co. in 2009, Soumen was a partner at Mercator Partners, a telecom focused strategy boutique. Soumen holds an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and a bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Delhi, India.
Michael Grossi, Director
mgrossi@altvil.com
Michael joined AV&Co. in 2008. He has over 17 years of industry and consulting experience in the telecom, technology and media sectors. Most recently, he was a senior executive with Helio, a company he helped form four years ago. While at Helio, Michael oversaw a number of functions including Strategy, Business Development, M&A, Sales & Distribution and the Mobile Data Services team. Michael orchestrated many “industry firsts” while at Helio including the launching of MySpace Mobile, GPS Google Maps and Buddy Beacon and the first full YouTube experience via mobile.
Michael has managed large teams during his time at Helio including the 400 person sales team and 40 product managers and has proven himself to be an effective and well respected leader. Prior to Helio he was Partner with Adventis leading their wireless practice and worked both across the value chain as well as in key areas of strategy formulation, market expansion, consumer segmentation, business case development and planning.
Prior to his consulting career, Michael was also a Captain in the US Air Force stationed at Hanscom AFB fulfilling a ROTC scholarship commitment. Michael received a BSBA from Villanova and and MBA from Bentley College. He is married with three children and resides in Wellesley, MA.