Chris Helzer

Chris brings over 15 years of technical leadership in wireless communications, product development, and software development. Recent engagements include modeling nationwide coverage and capacity sites for a new wireless entrant, evaluating device requirements, and establishing core network architecture and configurations for a 4G wireless deployment.

Previously, Chris was a Director of Radio Access Network and Subscriber Unit Architecture at Nextel Communications. In this role, he led a team responsible for handset architecture, RFIs and RFPs for new handsets, large-scale trialing of OFDMA PC cards, and formation of chipset and supplier strategies. In addition, he led a team responsible for new technologies and features deployed in the existing radio network; for the evaluation of EVDO, f-OFDM, and other systems, RFI and RFP activities for next-generation systems; and for driving vendor technology roadmaps, including enhancements to iDEN handset and radio infrastructure technology from Motorola.

Prior to Nextel, Chris has been a product manager for a tool for monitoring and reporting the performance of wireless networks, an RF engineering consultant designing much of Nextel's iDEN network in California, and a software developer working on medical billing systems and custom database applications.

Chris holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and a B.S. in Physics from the University of Maryland, College Park, graduating with honors in both degrees.