Speaker:  Mr. David Foote

Speaker’s Title and Affiliation: Chief Technical Officer, Hitachi Communications Technologies America

Seminar Title: What Kind of “Wreck” Will You Be? (or what it takes to be a helluva engineer)

Abstract:
I. Brief overview of Hitachi and Hitachi CTA

II. Brief status update of latest trends and activities in telecom, data comm, and fiber optics communications industry.

III. Several key characteristics to becoming a successful engineer (besides your degree from Georgia Tech, of course)

Biographical Sketch of the Speaker:
Mr. Foote is currently responsible for strategic product planning and technical marketing of smart home, Internet of Things (M2M), optical transport, cellular, and switching systems. He has been instrumental in establishing Hitachi’s cellular, optical, and switching system business with major north american telecommunications service providers like AT&T, CenturyLink, Global Crossing, Sprint, Time Warner, and T-Mobile. Mr. Foote has been an active member, contributor, or committee chair in leading standards organizations such as ANSI T1, ATIS, ATM/MPLS Forum, IEEE 802, IETF, ITU-T, OIF, and SCTE. Before joining Hitachi in 1985, he served as an engineering officer in the United States Air Force and was responsible for network design and implementation of various data and packet networks including ARPAnet/MILnet.

Mr. Foote received a B.E.E. from Georgia Tech in 1980 and a master’s degree in Management in 1982 from the Air Force Institute of Technology/Webster University. In October, 2003, Mr. Foote was inducted into the Georgia Tech Academy of Distinguished Engineers.