Judges

Rob Scott is the Founder and Publisher of UC Today, the leading digital publication for unified communications professionals worldwide. Since launching UC Today in 2017, Rob has built it into the industry's most trusted source for news, insights, and strategic guidance across the global UC ecosystem.

As Chair of Judges for the UC Awards, Rob brings over 25 years of telecommunications and IT experience to the role. His deep understanding of the unified communications market ensures the awards maintain their reputation as the industry's most prestigious recognition program.

Rob's vision for the UC Awards goes beyond vendor recognition—he believes in celebrating solutions that genuinely transform how organizations communicate and collaborate. Under his leadership, the awards have expanded to 21 categories, reflecting the evolving workplace technology landscape while maintaining rigorous standards for innovation, execution, and measurable business impact.

Zeus Kerravala is the founder and principal analyst with ZK Research and has an exclusive focus on emerging technology in the areas of communications, networking and security. He’s the only UC/CC analyst in the AR power 100 rankings and in 2020, was the Ranked #6 Analyst by Apollo Research.

Kerravala provides a mix of tactical advice to help his clients in the current business climate and long term strategic advice.

Kerravala provides research and advisory services to the following constituents: End user IT, vendors of hardware, software and services, the reseller community and the financial community looking to invest in the companies he covers.

Melissa is a recognized independent consultant and expert on communication technology, including VOIP, Unified Communications, and Contact Center at Swartz Consulting, LLC. She offers completely independent vendor agnostic technology consulting to guide clients in selecting and implementing the best solutions for their individual needs.

Specialties include VOIP, Contact Centers, Cloud and UCaaS, Premise, Project Management, Unified Communications, RFP creation and consulting.

Dom has worked in the telecoms and technology sectors for the past decade providing research on the UCaaS, CCaaS and Microsoft Teams enablement markets.

Cavell Group works primarily with service providers, channel organisations and carriers helping them understand how the market is developing and what they should be doing to be successful.

Evan Kirstel is a B2B thought leader, content creator, industry expert and top technology influencer with an aggregate social media audience of over 550,000 people (420K Twitter, 56K LinkedIn, 70K Instagram, 6K Clubhouse, 5K YouTube) as well as 35K newsletter subscribers. He's a content entrepreneur. So like a media company, Evan delivers information consistently to a group of people.

Evan is building a loyal audience with an organic social media reach in the tens of millions, and his Linkedin, YouTube and Twitter livestreams reach into the millions per video. He's been named as the top 20 most mentioned and retweeted by Both CIOs and CMOs and is the #1 influencer in areas like Telecom, Cloud, Unified Communications, 5G, IoT arena, CX and more.

Kevin Kieller is the co-founder and Principal Analyst of EnableUC, where he and his team help organizations select and successfully implement leading collaboration, communication and cloud technologies, focusing on delivering positive business outcomes. He helps vendors generate awareness and demand, position their products, and make the most of the Microsoft ecosystem.

Kevin is a globally recognized Unified Communications, Collaboration and technology strategist, and thought-leader. He leads the elite BC Strategies Expert group and writes regularly for several industry publications. He regularly presents at industry conferences, and participates in many other webinars, podcasts, and events focused on technology effectiveness.

Craig Durr leads the Workplace Collaboration practice, focusing on the services, technologies, and devices that empower seamless connections between businesses, employees, and customers.

His expertise encompasses comprehensive market analysis, sizing projections, product evaluations, emerging trends, and end-user and buyer expectations, and he is recognized by ARInsights as an ARchitect Power 100 analyst.

In addition to following the technology, Craig also studies the human elements of work - organizing his findings into the workforce, the workplace, and the workflows – and charting how these variables influence technologies and business strategies.

Fazil Balkaya is a cloud, telecommunications & networking consultant, and industry analyst with both global & local coverage in US, Europe & other markets.

He produces UCaaS, CCaaS & CPaaS reports quarterly, focusing on market shares, market sizing, ARPUs, forecasts and more. Reports are off-the-shelf market segment views, or custom cuts that tightly align with company needs.

With his consulting hat on, he provides services on product development, product management, go-to-market & corporate development to vendors and service providers.

Prior, Fazil was BroadSoft’s lead on competitive and market intelligence programs, as well as providing strategic consulting services to telecommunications service providers globally.

Entrepreneur and telecom innovator, Rob has built his career on challenging the status quo in telecommunications. With a history of founding and scaling businesses as well as advising and guiding corporates, Rob's expertise spans telco innovation, international business development, and forging strategic partnerships.

Known for out-of-the-box thinking, a results-driven approach and sometimes being too direct, he likes to both organize and speak at industry events that drive growth and collaboration.

Rob's mission is to catalyze the CPaaS industry's journey from niche to mainstream, leveraging connections and innovation to spark global transformation.

Beth English is the founder of EE and Associates/Global Tech with a career dedicated to transforming the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) landscape of multi-location and global enterprises. Her unique blend of expertise, comprehensive knowledge, and an unparalleled commitment to excellence has made her a sought-after advisor for organizations of all sizes.

Beth's primary focus lies in assisting multi-location and multinational organizations in achieving their ICT objectives. Her wealth of experience includes working with both enterprise and government clients, guiding them through transformative projects, and leveraging the latest technological innovations for sustainable growth. Her understanding of the intricate challenges associated with diverse geographical locations and complex operational structures has earned her a reputation for crafting tailor-made solutions that deliver tangible results.

Tom Brannen is the founder and principal analyst of OnConvergence, a modern industry analyst firm focusing on enterprise communications technologies. In addition to traditional solutions such as Contact Center, Unified Communications, and Team Collaboration, Tom also covers emerging technologies, including Artificial Intelligence and Virtual/Augmented Reality, where he is sought for his insights into the present and future of these technologies and their effect on enterprise communications.

For more than 25 years Tom was an independent IT/Telecom consultant, most of those years being with the consulting firm he started in 1998. In that role, Tom worked in all aspects of business communications, including contact centers, data networks, mobility, Unified Communications, and more. In 2019, Tom pivoted into a new role as an independent analyst, launching OnConvergence to provide thought leadership through blogging, creating video content, public speaking, and writing.

Tom is also the co-creator of the podcast “Your Call is Very Important to Us” which seeks to uncover why customer service organizations still struggle to provide good service despite advancements in technology.

Tom is a proud member of BCStrategies, the Society of Communications Technology Consultants, XR4Work, and the CPAAS Acceleration Alliance and is a frequent contributor to nojitter.com.

Amanda Sterner works as an Employee Experience and Productivity Expert at Xenit, where she helps her customers make the most out of their Microsoft investment focusing on Microsoft 365, Microsoft Teams and Copilot.

Amanda is a Microsoft MVP and actively contributes to the community by organizing events, presenting at conferences and sharing collaboration ideas in her blog and LinkedIn. Amanda's goal is to help people understand how Microsoft Teams, Copilot and other tools can improve their daily work and make their days a little better.

Melody Brue is a marketing, business development, and communications executive currently serving as Principal FinTech Analyst and practice lead at Moor Insights & Strategy. With over 25 years of experience across various disciplines, Brue has worked both in-house and at agencies, with companies ranging from start-ups to global brands.

She most recently served as CMO at Lottery.com, a venture-backed technology company based in Austin, Texas. At Lottery.com, Mel's focus was on marketing, investor relations, board governance, corporate communications, and brand development, working as a liaison between all contributing departments and agencies, including shareholders, strategic partnerships, public relations, advertising, sports marketing, and social impact.

Brue’s early experience in tech and highly regulated spaces led her to hone in her focus on problems that aren’t usually easy to solve and the companies solving them. She was CMO of Lottery.com, a member of the founding team of ProWallet, and has worked with global companies on mobile payments and transactions, POS redemption, and stored value, including Qualcomm, Kyocera, Visa, First Data, Transaction Wireless, and others. Brue has extensive experience working in highly regulated spaces, ensuring initiatives address the needs and concerns of legislators, lobbyists, employees, customers, and shareholders.

Although she’s now heads down in more techy ventures, she began her career working as a publicist on the hit television show Seinfeld. Mel is an active philanthropist focusing on youth, education, and the environment and has been recognized by the NFL and Pop Warner for fostering youth sports.

I'm a passionate and results-driven communications professional specializing in enterprise communications (UC, CC, Meetings, Chat). My expertise lies in industry analysis, vendor analysis, trends, and the broader landscape of business communications.

As an active industry thought leader, I share my insights and analysis regularly on TalkingPointz.com, where you'll find my curated news in the monthly TalkingPointz Insider Report, as well as authored content across various industry publications. I collaborate closely with financial analysts and end users to deliver unique perspectives and drive informed decision-making.

My finger is always on the pulse of the latest trends in unified communications, meetings, messaging, CC/CCaaS, VoIP, IT, and general business communications. I'm a professional attendee regarding industry events, and actively engage online.

My mission is to help the vendors and their customers leverage effective communication technologies to achieve their business objectives. Let's connect and explore how I can contribute to your success.

A visionary marketing leader and industry evangelist with a proven track record of driving brand growth, strategic partnerships, and market influence. Beginning my career as an applications and network architect, I rapidly progressed into leadership roles across Product Management, Product Marketing, and Alliances, culminating in my current role as Global Director of Technical Marketing. I lead high-performing teams responsible for collaboration product strategy, supplier relationships, and accreditations with key IT and Unified Communication partners such as Microsoft and Zoom.

Beyond my corporate leadership, I've built a powerful industry presence as a brand ambassador and thought leader. I create high-impact content through keynote speaking, hosting large corporate events like the Modern Work Summit, and building platforms like the Smarter Spaces podcast, CresTV, and live-streamed interviews and panels from premier industry events, including Enterprise Connect, InfoComm, and ISE.

I have a passion for innovation and storytelling, exceling in building influential marketing strategies that drive engagement, brand authority, and business growth.

As a fresh-faced graduate on her first day of work, tasked with contacting 50 service providers for their updated escalation matrix, I was in my element, the first intern to complete the list, exceeding all expectations.

Now I get to solve big business problems - by connecting ideas and creating innovative solutions.

The journey from that little girl curious to connect with the world - to a seasoned professional in IT Infrastructure Management, Agile Project Leadership, and Digital Transformation, has propelled me to travel around the world, from India to North America.

It was during my MBA in Canada that I discovered my superpower - “Optimizing”. Optimizing as my preferred style of thinking aligns with Lean Management, enabling me to turn abstract ideas into efficient, value-driven solutions.

My clients who see me as a partner in their success say I’m a breeze to work with. They are leaders in government agencies, academia, and companies of all sizes and they value my knack for communication, collaboration, and connection.

My mission is to connect businesses and clients with emerging technologies, ensuring timely project delivery in a rapidly evolving landscape.

Tim leads Techtelligence, the dedicated research and intelligence division of Today Digital, specializing in data-driven insights and trend analysis for B2B enterprise technologies.

He uses his experience in the digital workplace and market intelligence to bring together Today Digital's data assets across different technology areas. By setting up advanced AI analytics, Tim turns Today Digital's data into insights to help spot emerging tech trends under the Techtelligence offering.