MEF Support Team Area

Kevin Vachon – Chief Operating Officer

Responsibilities

Kevin leads the MEF recruiting, retention, and member liaison functions including emerging marketing development activities. He coordinates staff and contracted resources required to enable the volunteer activities of the committees and to provide the necessary administrative and IT infrastructures required for the MEF to operate and scale.

Biography

As MEF COO since 2006, Kevin leads a team that builds, supports and scales the MEF’s ever-increasing mix of global programs activities. He is actively engaged with MEF’s global member and partner community and has a broad perspective on the important role that MEF plays in the industry and how to deliver results.

MEF is a global industry association of network, cloud, and technology providers who together drive network transformation to power the digital economy. MEF develops service standards, LSO frameworks and APIs, and certification programs for services, technologies, APIs, and professionals. As a major milestone in this journey, Kevin led MEF’s efforts to conceive and bring to market, MEF 3.0, the global services framework. He was instrumental in engaging global service providers for the development of MEF 3.0 LSO Sonata APIs for inter-carrier automation.

Prior to joining MEF, Kevin held the position of CEO of DIATEM Networks Inc., a Carrier Ethernet software company from 2003 to 2005 and was President and CEO of NUVO Network Management, a network management outsourcing firm, from 1996 to 2002. Previously, he held other senior management positions with NUVO and spent 10 years in a wide variety of capacities with Gandalf Technologies, a network equipment manufacturer.

Pascal Menezes – Chief Technology Officer

Responsibilities

In his role as CTO, Pascal leads MEF’s technical strategy and aligns key work programs internally and in conjunction with open-source and SDO partners. Pascal engages with MEF’s global membership base to ensure that the organization’s strategy and work plans are market-driven, with agility and time to market being prime objectives.

Biography

Pascal Menezes is Chief Technology Officer at MEF. He is a proven technology thought leader, sales evangelist, product manager, and seasoned IP architect with decades of experience in internetworking, next-generation information systems, and communication architectures.

At MEF, Pascal leads the advancement of cutting-edge automation, security, and networking technologies, focusing on Network-as-a-Service (NaaS), AI-driven networking, MEF’s Lifecycle Service Orchestration (LSO), SASE (Secure Access Service Edge), SD-WAN, cloud-scale architectures, edge computing, service assurance, and API-driven interoperability. His work is driving industry alignment around standardization and certification for automation in global communications services.

Pascal is a former Principal at Microsoft Skype for Business Global Carrier Group, where he spent nearly a decade working on real-time media and network technologies. He has contributed to five startups with multiple successes, received numerous industry thought leadership awards, and presented extensively at global events. Pascal holds 30+ patents and patents pending and has co-authored standards in the IETF, MEF, and Broadband Forum (MPLS).

Daniel Bar-Lev – Chief Product Officer

Responsibilities

As Chief Product Officer Daniel is responsible for the development and implementation of a range of strategic MEF programs that are central to MEF's transformation to an agile-process-oriented standards development organization. Programs in his purview include SASE, SD-WAN, the NaaS Accelerators, Provider Commerce and Business Automation, and the LSO API Release Framework. Daniel also manages business development for MEF in the Europe and Africa regions.

Biography

Daniel has been involved in the networking industry for 25 years holding a variety of positions in RAD Data Communications as well as co-founding Resolute Networks where he held executive positions. Representing Resolute in MEF, Daniel served for 3 years as MEF Global Marketing Co-Chair and was elected three times to the MEF Board of Directors. Since 2010, Daniel has been a senior member of the MEF staff creating and leading many of the current central programs in the MEF.

Lori Vachon – Director of Global Events

Responsibilities

As Director Global Events, Lori oversees MEF's global events program including project managing all aspects of quarterly member meetings, virtual workshops, industry events, and project management of GNE. In addition, she is responsible for sponsor sales. Over the years, Lori has been instrumental managing relationships with industry organizers to allow members the opportunity to participate in events all around the globe. 

Biography

Lori has been involved in the events industry for 25 years in various industries including technology, biotechnology, and pharmaceuticals.  During her tenure with MEF since 2007, she has traveled all around the globe expanding her role into member retention, and recruitment in Europe, Asia, Central & Latin America, and North America. Her success building relationships by working closely with members in various countries has been key to keeping them engaged in MEF.

Stan Hubbard – Principal Analyst

Responsibilities

Stan oversees strategic research in support of existing, planned and potential MEF work areas and programs supporting MEF goals and objectives. He authors and coordinates FAQs, blogs, and presentations for internal and external audiences, engages in industry briefings, and contributes to a broad range of strategic initiatives, including SD-WAN, SASE, CE, LSO, certification, etc. He is responsible for development of in-house reports and collaborative reports with the analyst community.

Biography

As Principal Analyst with MEF, Stan Hubbard engages and collaborates with executives and other experts from the world's most innovative communications service and technology companies. His key areas of focus include NaaS, Cybersecurity/SASE, SD-WAN, service automation, and other technologies driving digital transformation. Stan has authored several major industry reports, including MEF’s 2025 NaaS Industry Blueprint, State of the Industry Report on SASE, and State of the Industry Report on Service Automation. For more than 25 years Stan has been in the communications industry in various roles including strategic marketing, industry analysis, analyst relations, public relations, global event programming, and public speaking.

Neil Danilowicz  – Director of Technical Delivery

Responsibilities

As Director of Technical Delivery, Neil oversees the management of technical components of MEF’s programs and the implementation, management of the technical aspects of the Partner relationships, management of the technical processes for all MEF programs, and provides on-going sales support and stakeholder education.  As a member of the Product team, Neil works with the MEF staff to assure program rollouts and milestones align with the technical delivery.

Biography

Neil brings over 30 years of networking experience to the SD-WAN and SASE community.  Neil has extensive experience in networking (Layer 2, Layer 3, and Layer 7), security and cloud technologies. Neil has expertise in building standards, implementation procedures, and certification processes and methodologies.

Prior to joining MEF, Neil was a Principal Architect in the Office of the CTO at Versa Networks.  At Versa Networks, Neil was responsible for the design of workflows for SD-LAN and SD-WAN, and unique customer solutions. Neil was instrumental in developing the CALEA compliant solutions within Versa Networks as well as the design of the Concerto orchestrator.

Amy Foschetti  – PR Executive

Responsibilities

As a Public Relations Executive, Amy drives MEF’s media and analyst relations. With an eye for compelling storytelling, she crafts powerful narratives that elevate the organization’s industry presence. Amy cultivates relationships with key media and industry analysts, ensuring MEF’s voice resonates across telecom, security, and enterprise sectors. Through her strategic efforts, Amy plays a pivotal role in amplifying MEF’s brand and proactively expanding its reach into strategic growth areas, reinforcing its status as an industry authority.

Biography

As an experienced PR professional, Amy has a track record of outstanding results in media and analyst relations for technology and B2B companies. She excels at developing strong relationships, delivering quality content, and managing day-to-day PR programs. Her effective communications strategies combined with rapport-based PR campaigns help businesses and associations achieve their objectives. Previously Amy worked at a B2B technology marketing and public relations agency.

Alysia Bennett – Manager, Operations & Finance

Responsibilities

Alysia manages all of the finance and administrative needs of MEF along with supporting its new member recruitment and retention efforts. 

Biography

Alysia joined MEF in 2010 and brings experience from multiple industries. Prior to MEF, she was the Administrator for another non-profit, served in the United States Army as an Arab linguist and was an editorial assistant and freelance writer for the Washington Post.

Tom Dickson – Technical Support Manager

Responsibilities

Tom provides support on all our mission-critical platforms including this Wiki, the MEF public site, SalesForce, Microsoft 365, and member and internal support. Support inquiries can be directed to him. He also runs the NaaS Accelerator program.

Biography

Tom joined MEF in 2014 to assist with the technical support, both internally and for the members. Previously he has handled corporate IT and facilities management for Finarta and CTS, including data center server configuration, along with managing the US technical support division of Tandberg Data.

Steph Simon – Executive Assistant

Responsibilities

Steph is the Executive Assistant and supports Kevin on activities with MEF. She will also work closely with MEF Staff on any activities that needs attention.

Biography

A new member to MEF, Steph joined in January 2023. She was with Ericsson for over two years as an administrative support and a support as well with a biotech company for over 15 years. She brings great experience in supporting a team.

Jackie Wade – Administrative Assistant

Responsibilities

Jackie is the Administrative Assistant at MEF and handles billing, Committee call scheduling, and various other administrative tasks.

Biography

Jackie lives in sunny California when she is not in Belize.