Jim Farmer retired in August, 2013. He has enjoyed a 45-year career in communications technology. He has held CTO responsibilities in the cable television and FTTH industries.

He holds over 90 patents in the field of delivering video, voice, and data. He received the 1996 NCTA Vanguard Award in Technology, was inducted into the SCTE Hall of Fame in 1997, and was inducted into Cable Pioneers in 1998. Formerly the President of the IEEE Consumer Electronics Society and then editor of its newsletter for 11 years, Jim has served on the program committees for the NCTA, SCTE, and the IEEE International Conference on Consumer Electronics, and chaired the program committee for the FTTH Council from its inception through 2011. He was an early member of the SCTE Board of Directors and wrote its first certification tests for set-top converters. He was active on the NCTA Engineering Committee and participated in development of several standards and recommended practices. He has been on the FTTH Council’s Board of Directors, was the first chair of its Technology Committee, and remained active on the Planning Committee until his retirement. Jim is a life member of SMPTE, a senior member of the SCTE, and a Life Fellow of the IEEE.

He coauthored two editions of Modern Cable Television: Video, Voice and Data Communications, which won the Cable Center 2000 Cable Book Award. Broadband Cable Access Networks was released in 2009. He has a number of publications with the FTTH Council, NCTA, SCTE, and IEEE and has been a columnist with several periodicals. Jim holds BSEE and MSEE degrees from the University of South Florida.

Brian Lane has held key technology and business management positions, in engineering, manufacturing/operations, and product management in the FTTx industry—focused on the development and support of FTTx products and technologies.

Brian has over 28 years of industry experience. Before getting into FTTH, he held various engineering and management positions in real-time, embedded software and critical systems development focusing on aircraft controls, avionics, satellite communications, and consumer communications product development.

Brian has a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Texas, Arlington, where his research thesis focused on control theory of unstable systems.

Kevin Bourg has over 20 years of industry experience in system engineering, software development, and sales in the telecommunication industry. Kevin is an active member of the FTTH Council Americas serving on the Technology and Planning Committees as well as Conference Chair for the 2012 Conference in Dallas, Texas. Kevin is a past Chairman of the Board for the Council and continues to serve as an active Board member.

He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science with a minor in Business Administration from the University of Southwestern Louisiana and a Master of Science from Southern Methodist University.

Weyl Wang has more than 20 years of industry hands-on experience in metro transport and FTTH access broadband networks. He worked at several major labs on WDM devices and systems. For more than 10 years Weyl had been responsible for system testing of FTTx network equipment.

Dr. Wang holds a Ph.D. degree in Electronics Engineering from NCTU University in Taiwan. He holds more than 10 US patents in areas of optical transport, DWDM, OADM, switching components, and broadband access systems.