Rich Berliner, RCA Fellow

Rich Berliner is an outdoor and in-building wireless expert, and is currently the CEO of Digital Locations, Inc.  Digital Locations is a public company (DLOC in the OTC market) which is the leading aggregator and marketplace for small 5G cell sites.   He has held many C-level positions in the wireless industry.   Mr. Berliner previously served as Chairman and CEO of Fifth Gen Media, Inc., a digital media and publishing company, owned by Mr. Berliner since 2016.  Fifth Gen Media published Connected Real Estate magazine.  Earlier In his career, Mr. Berliner completed a  consulting engagement for the Swedish equipment manufacturer Ericsson.  In 1995, Mr. Berliner founded Berliner Communications (BCI), which became a public company and served as Chairman and CEO, which merged with another firm in 2010.  He was responsible for that firm’s quarterly earnings calls and the annual meetings in his role as Chairman.  He began his wireless career in 1985 at the dawn of the industry and has been involved ever since.  Mr. Berliner graduated from Rutgers with a BA in Business in 1975.

More info:  https://digitallocations.com/digital-locations-names-industry-executive-as-new-ceo/ 

Jeff Bratcher

Jeff Bratcher is the Chief Network and Technology Officer (CTO) at the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet).  FirstNet is the government authority that is building out a nationwide broadband cellular network for public safety agencies.   He previously served as Chief Technology and Operations Officer, and for a period was the acting CEO of FirstNet.  Prior to that he was a Division Chief at the Institute of Telecommunications Sciences (ITS); a Market Manager for Siemens; a Lead Engineer at Opuswave Networks; and a Lead Engineer at Motorola.   Mr. Bratcher has a BSEE from Texas Tech, and MS Telecommunications from Southern Methodist University, and is a member of the Radio Club of America  Mr. Bratcher was interviewed by RCA and the recording is found in the RCA YouTube channel.

More info:   https://www.firstnet.gov/about/leadership/jeff-bratcher  and  https://www.linkedin.com/in/jbratcher/

Dr. Jim Breakall, RCA Director

Electrical Engineering Professor at Penn State University

Antenna and radio engineering expert; inventor or co-inventor of 3 patents. 

Inventor of 3D Frequency Independent Phased Array Antenna (3D-FIPA)

Kinstar Low-Profile AM Broadcast Antenna (RD100 Award); Skyhawk Triband Yagi; and Optimized Wideband Antenna (OWA) Yagis.

Worked on many large antennas including HAARP, Arecibo, U.S. Navy, Air Force, and Army.

Honors:  Sarnoff Citation (RCA); Mainstay Award (Applied Computational Electromagnetics Society); Outstanding Research Award – Penn State; National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) Recognition Key Contributor Award.

More info:  https://www.eeweb.com/interview-with-dr-jim-breakall/

Marty Cooper, RCA Fellow and Lifetime RCA Member

Marty Cooper is the co-founder of Arraycomm and Dyna LLC.

Dr. Cooper is perhaps best known as the inventor of the handheld cellular phone, in 1973 while he worked at Motorola.  For the next 10 years, as VP & Corporate Director of R&D, he and his engineering team worked to further improve cellular technology.  Dr. Cooper also worked on other projects, including developing multi-city paging systems, and improving quartz crystals used for wrist watches. 

In 1986 he and his wife Arlene Harris co-founded Dyna LLC supporting the founding of Arraycomm 1992, a company that developed software for smart antennas while receiving 400 patents in the field.  He initiated the concept of “Cooper’s Law”, describing the continuing spectral efficiency that technology enables, and has several patents in his name.  Dr. Cooper has authored many articles about wireless technology and its future uses, and recently published a book Cutting the Cord. 

Dr. Cooper is the recipient of numerous industry prizes, including RCA’s Lifetime Achievement Award, RCA’s Fred Link award, the Marconi Prize, the IEEE Centennial Medal & Fellow, CTIA’s Emerging Technology Award, WHF’s Top U.S. Innovators of All Time, and many others.  He has been a fellow of RCA since 1981.

More info:  https://wrethinking.org/, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Cooper_(inventor) , https://dynallc.com/

Tim Duffy, RCA Fellow and President Emeritus

Tim Duffy is the CEO of DX Engineering

DX Engineering is a supplier of amateur radio equipment and parts.  Prior to becoming CEO Mr. Duffy was COO and General Manager at the company.   He has held many other senior positions in wireless including:  CEO and CTO of Stelera Wireless; Senior VP at Dobson Communications; CTO of Cellular One; and was a VP at AT&T.  As K3LR, he is a very active amateur radio contester .  He has a BSEE from the Pennsylvania State University, and was formerly an RCA President for three years.  For several years during the pandemic Mr. Duffy conducted RCA interviews of prominent people in wireless (those interviews are found in the RCA You Tube channel).

More info:  https://www.dxengineering.com/aboutus/team

Arlene Harris, RCA Fellow and Lifetime RCA Member

Arlene Harris is the co-founder and president of Dyna LLC.

Ms. Harris is an inventor, serial entrepreneur, investor, and policy advisor in the wireless industry.  She has started numerous wireless companies through Dyna LLC, co-owned with her husband Martin Cooper.  Dyna is an early technology development company.  Founding entities include Subscriber Computing (her most important innovation – created the first cellular prepaid enablement platform), GreatCall (innovated the Jitterbug phone for seniors), Accessible Wireless (a wireless carrier - built the foundation for GreatCall to serve low usage customers not served by other carriers), Wrethinking (non-profit helping support initiatives especially driven by women in technology).

She was a co-founder of the Wireless History Foundation.   Ms. Harris has several issued patents and won many industry awards.   In 2007, she became the first female inductee of the Wireless Hall of Fame; in 2017 she was named to the Consumer Technology Hall of Fame; in 2022 she won the first RCA Wireless Innovation Award; and has been a fellow of RCA since 1987. 

More info:  https://wrethinking.org/, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arlene_Harris_(inventor) , https://dynallc.com/

Carroll Hollingsworth, RCA Fellow, Life Member, President Emeritus

Carroll Hollingsworth is the Vice President of Sales for JPS. JPS designs products to enhance communications systems by making them more versatile, more secure, and more robust. JPS innovative solutions solve modern challenges for public Safety, Military, Government, and other industries.

Prior to joining JPS Carroll owned and managed DH Sales Group for over 30 years. Carroll started his lifelong journey in Wireless Communications with the United States Navy as a morse code intercept operator. Carroll’s career in the Navy as a Cryptologist working in several roles using wireless communications on classified assignments. Carroll served honorably for over 11 years with decorations and commendations.

After several years in the Navy Carroll worked for International Crystal in both a technical capacity, then in management. International Crystal was a leader in the design and manufacture of crystals, and oscillators for two-way radios and other wireless communications transceivers.

Carroll Hollingsworth K5CTT was elected and served on the Radio Club of America (RCA) board for more than 25 years. Carroll chaired numerous RCA committees during his time as a member of the board of directors. Carroll served as the liaison for RCA Partners APCO, and the U.S. Naval Cryptologic Veterans Association. As chair of the RCA Historical Committee Carroll worked with RCA member and committee member Ed O’Connor to negotiate with the Antique Wireless Association (AWA) Museum to provide an RCA display in the museum and archive all RCA historical documents and other historical material.

Carroll served several years as an RCA Vice President and completed his RCA board service as RCA president for two years.

Carroll is a lifetime member of the Antique Wireless Association (AWA) and a member of APCO for the past 40 years, a 30-year member of the U.S. Naval Cryptologic Veterans Association.

Chief Harlin McEwen

RCA Life Member, RCA Fellow, former RCA Director

First Chair, First Net Public Safety Advisory Committee; Chair of IACP Police Chiefs ‘ Communications and Technology Committee (37 years); Deputy Assistant FBI Director; Deputy Commissioner NY State Division of Criminal Justice; Police Chief Ithaca NY and Cayuga Heights NY; Deputy Sheriff of Tioga County NY.  Winner of numerous awards including FBI Medal of Meritorious Achievement; the first NPSTC Richard DeMello Award; and RCA’s Special Recognition Award.

More info:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/harlin-mcewen-6504a44/details/experience/

Ellen O’Hara, RCA Member

Zetron Board Chairman, President and CEO; iCERT Board Chairman; EF Johnson President, COO and Board member; Motorola VP & General Manager; Ericsson/GE Product Manager, Marketing Manager.

Harvard Business School MBA; Mount Holyoke College MA

More info:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/ellenohara/

Carole Perry, RCA Fellow and RCA Director

Carole Perry is the Chair of RCA’s Youth Activities Committee.  For over 30 years she has been encouraging middle and high school students to become interested in STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) subjects, using the medium of amateur radio to kindle their interest.

Carole began this quest as a middle school teacher in Staten Island NY, teaching a required course in amateur radio.   Since then, through her RCA Youth Forums at major amateur radio events, Carole has influenced countless students to pursue careers in wireless or STEM related fields.   The best of her students have been able to also present at RCA’s prestigious annual Technical Symposium, right next to Ph.D.’s and other wireless experts. 

Carole was the winner of the second RCA Vivian Carr award, given to women who have made significant contributions to the wireless industry.  She is also a director of the QCWA (Quarter Century Wireless Association).  The Carole Perry Educator of the Year Award was started in 2019 at the Orlando HamCation® amateur radio show, to honor teachers who have made an outstanding contribution educating and advancing youth in the science of radio communication.  Carole started out her career as an executive secretary/educational consultant in a small electronics company in Brooklyn NY.

Carole earned her degrees MS in Education at Brooklyn College.

More info:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/caroleperry/

Ted Rappaport is a Professor at New York University (NYU); holds faculty appointments in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department of the NYU Tandon School of Engineering, the Courant Computer Science department, and the NYU Langone School of Medicine. Founder and director of NYU WIRELESS, a multidisciplinary research center for wireless communications and applications.

His research includes wireless channels used to create the first Wi-Fi standard (IEEE 802.11); fundamental work leading to US Digital cellphone standards, TDMA IS-54/IS-136 and CDMA IS-95; engineered the world’s first public Wi-Fi hotspots; proved the viability of millimeter waves for 5G mobile communications.

He founded three academic wireless research centers at Virginia Tech, University of Texas, and NYU.  Co-authored over 300 papers and twenty books; holds over 100 patents.  Served on the Technological Advisory Council of the FCC.

Numerous awards including: ASEE’s Terman award; the IEEE Vehicular Technology Society’s James R. Evans Avant Garde and Stu Meyer awards; the IEEE Communications Society Armstrong award; the Sir Monty Finniston Medal from the United Kingdom Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET); the Armstrong medal from the Radio Club of America; Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors; Wireless History Foundation Hall of Fame; IEEE Eric E. Sumner field award.  Purdue University Ph.D. US National Academy of Engineering.

More info:  https://wireless.engineering.nyu.edu/tedrappaport/

Dr. Henry Richter, P.E., RCA Fellow, RCA Lifetime Achievement Award

Dr. Henry Richter was born in Long Beach, California, and served a short tour of duty in the U.S. Navy in World War II.  From there he received a BS and PhD (Chemistry, Physics, and Electrical Engineering) from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena California.  Then he went to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which became part of NASA.  While there he headed up the development of the free worlds first earth satellite, Explorer I.  He then oversaw the scientific instrumentation for the Ranger, Mariner, and Surveyor Programs.  From JPL, he went to Electro-Optical Systems becoming a Vice President and Technical Director. Next was a staff position with UCLA as Development Manager of the Mountain Park Research Campus. He then owned an electronics manufacturing business and afterwards became the Communications Engineer for the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department. Since 1977, he has been a communications consultant to Public Safety organizations. This involved the participation in the design and implementation of probably one hundred Police and Fire facilities, dispatch centers, radio and microwave systems, CAD systems, and building security and electronic systems.  He is a life member of APCO, the IEEE, and the American Chemical Society. In 2019, Henry was awarded the Life Achievement Award by the Radio Club of America.

More info:  http://henryrichter.org/ and

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/slice-of-history-dr-henry-richter-working-on-explorer-1-in-1957

Andy Seybold, RCA Fellow and former Director, Recipient of the RCA Sarnoff Citation

Andy Seybold, who for decades has been the best known pundit in the wireless industry, is the author of The Public Safety Advocate column, which is published weekly on allthingsfirstnet.com. Andy is President and Principal Consultant Andrew Seybold, Inc, (30 years).  His prior work history includes:  VP BioComm Inc. (first paramedic ECG radio); Motorola C&E; GE; and RCA Mobile Communications.  Andy is the winner of the National Sheriff’s Association President’s Award.  He was the senior technical expert during the “D Block” proceedings which led to the establishment of FirstNet.  He has a BSEE from Drexel University.

Andy has been over the years a contributor to various NPSTC (National Public Safety Telecommunications Council) committees, and been a member of the Public Safety Spectrum Alliance, The Public Safety Broadband Technology Alliance, APCO (Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials), IACP (International Association of Chiefs of Police), and IAFC (International Association of Fire Chiefs).

Over the years, Andy has received many awards for his dedication to public safety and he has been a sought-after speaker for many events.

More info:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-seybold-5280531/

Alan Tilles, RCA Fellow, Past Vice President - Counsel

Alan Tilles is the lead attorney at the Law Offices of Alan Tilles, practicing in the wireless telecommunications and entertainment industries. 

Alan has over 35 years’ experience in working with various clients in the wireless industry, including radio & TV stations, public safety agencies, railroads, and many others.  He has authored many articles in the industry, and presented at numerous industry trade shows.  He serves on the NPSTC (National Public Safety Telecommunications Committee) Spectrum Committee, and the Telecommunications Industry Association Smart Buildings Program Committee.  Alan has worked on many projects including 800 MHz rebanding;  authoring rules defining interference; and helping railroads acquire spectrum for PTC (Positive Train Control).

He is the Co-Founder and Counsel of GWTCA (Government Wireless Technology and Communications Association).  He received APCO International’s Presidential Award in 2004.  Alan was formerly on the Board of Trustees of Capitol Technology University, and is a member of the Federal Communications Bar Association.  He has a BA from the University of Maryland, and a JD from Catholic University.

More info:  https://alantilleslaw.com/about/

Marilyn Ward is the Executive Director and Founding Governing Board Chair of NPSTC (National Public Safety Telecommunications Council). 

NPSTC is a volunteer federation of 16 public safety organizations, whose mission is to improve public safety communications and interoperability through collaborative leadership.  NPSTC's members are the organizations representing fire, EMS, law enforcement, transportation, and other telecommunications organizations.  NPSTC has for decades guided the public safety wireless industry through independent research, white papers, and other advocacy measures to improve the safety of first responders and the public they serve.

Marilyn has 49 years of experience in public safety telecommunications including positions as Manager of Communications at the City of Orlando Police Department, and as Manager of Orange County Public Safety Communications.  She was also president of APCO (the Association of Public Safety Communications Officials). 

Marilyn has a degree in business and management from Nova Southeastern University, received APCO's highest honor, the J. Rhett McMillian award, and received NPSTC's highest honor, the Richard DeMello award.

More info:  https://www.npstc.org/contactsAndBios.jsp?name=WardMarilyn