Kerry Ritz

Chief Commercial Officer for largest direct seller of Telecom services in Europe; most recently CEO of pioneering start-up in rich communications for mobile devices including Instant Messaging, presence, mobile messaging, location; previous experience includes President of Vonage Ltd, Director of Customer Strategy at Hutchison 3G--now called 3 (mobile content), Head of Asia-Pacific Consulting Practice, InterMatrix, brand management, General Foods, category management, Loblaws Retail

Kerry Ritz’s Specialties:

mobile, wireless, messaging, IM, VOIP, convergence of telecoms, online, digital, media and internet, brand building, fixed-mobile convergence, customer strategy, customer segmentation, customer experience, international expansion, mobile and wireless strategies, retail, emerging markets, asia, start-ups, conference speaker, new media, disruption, mobile marketing, wind power, cleantech, russia, indonesia, india, thailand, brazil,partnerships,business development,video telephont,europe

Kerry Ritz’s Experience

Chief Commercial Officer

ACN Europe

(Privately Held; Telecommunications industry)

August 2009 — Present (4 months)

ACN is the largest direct seller of telecom and home services in Europe,operating in: Ireland, UK, Portugal, Spain, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Austria, Denmark, Norway,Sweden, Finland, Poland, Switzerland. We offer fixed, mobile and videotelephony on our own VoIP network.
Advisor

Palringo

(Telecommunications industry)

April 2009 — Present (8 months)
CEO

Palringo

(Telecommunications industry)

February 2008 — April 2009 (1 year 3 months)

Palringo makes Instant Messaging (IM) work on the mobile with its innovative Vocal IM capabilities. A true platform for rich communications and presence.
non-executive director

ECTA (European Competitive Telecom Association)

(Non-Profit; Telecommunications industry)

January 2007 — February 2008 (1 year 2 months)

The European Competitive Telecommunications Association was founded in 1998, and looks after the regulatory and commercial interests of new entrant telecoms operators, ISPs and suppliers of products and services to the communications industry. The members of the Board set strategy and monitor execution of ECTA's activities by the staff.
President

Vonage Ltd

(Public Company; 1001-5000 employees; VG; Telecommunications industry)

January 2005 — February 2008 (3 years 2 months)

First President of Vonage UK, subsidiary of one of the world's largest independent provider of internet based telephony (VoIP).
Managing Director

Great River Ltd

(Telecommunications industry)

April 2003 — December 2003 (9 months)

customer experience, marketing and business strategy, new business development, international expansion, mobile telecoms, wireless, new media, MVNO, VoIP, broadband, telecom convergence, Asia, Russia
Director of Strategy

3 (formerly known as Hutchison 3G UK)

(Privately Held; 1001-5000 employees; Telecommunications industry)

April 2000 — March 2003 (3 years )

strategic issues, communities of interest (social networks), device/handset development, market and customer research, usability, product strategy, international coordination, strategic planning, outsourcing
Head of Practice

InterMatrix Ltd

(Management Consulting industry)

September 1994 — April 2000 (5 years 8 months)

responsible for both telecom, consumer and consulting practice in Asia-pacific. Managed projects and client relationships internationally in telecoms, cleantech (wind energy), retail, automotive, new media and consumer goods. Countries include Turkey, Russia, Poland, Indonesia, China, Thailand, Brazil and India. Worked very closely with clients like Turkcell, Hutchison Telecom, Vodafone, Xerox, Marks & Spencer, Inchcape, R-Style (New Media Generation in Russia, KM.Ru), GlaxoSmithKline and Ford.
Strategy Consulting

Optima Consulting

(Management Consulting industry)

January 1989 — August 1994 (5 years 8 months)

consulting projects in automotive,retail and fast moving consumer goods in UK, Spain, Italy and France.Previously part of consulting practice at Fitch RS (the leading design company in Europe)
Buying and Merchandising

Loblaws

(Public Company; 5001-10,000 employees; Supermarkets industry)

September 1983 — August 1986 (3 years )

category management, pricing, vendor negotiations, product sourcing, store merchandising, store-relations, financial analysis, store promotion
Product/Brand Management

General Foods

(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; Consumer Goods industry)

1981 — 1983 (2 years )

Brand management, field sales, advertising, promotion, packaging, positioning, pricing, business analysis, cross-functional teams, manufacturing, new product development.

Kerry Ritz’s Education

University of London

LL.B , Law , September 1993 — June 1997
IMD

MBA , August 1986 — May 1987
York University - Schulich School of Business

MBA , Business , 1981 — 1985
The University of Western Ontario

BA , Political Science , 1977 — 1981

Activities and Societies:

Students Council Executive (VP Finance & Publications), various official University bodies (e.g University Senate), University Community Centre;
spanish at ESADE

Additional Information

Kerry Ritz’s Websites:

My Company

Kerry Ritz’s Groups:

Speaker at Following Conferences:

Telecoms World India (2007), VoIP and Wireless VoIP (Berlin Jan 2007), Forbes CEO Conference (Qatar, Feb 2007), Carriers World Asia (Hong Kong, March 2007), The wVoip Forum (London, March 2007), IP Leaders (London, March 2007), Mobile Broadband (London, May 2007), Fixed-Mobile Convergence (Amsterdam, April 2007), VoIP World MENA (Dubai, June 2007), Fixed Mobile Convergence Asia (Sept 06), GSM 3G Africa (October 2006), C-Cor Global IP Summit (Disrupters, 2007), VON Europe (Nov 06), The Economist Technology Conference (CEBIT, 2005), TeleManagement Forum (May 2005)