Leadership

Charlie Vogt has spent his professional career executing visionary strategies resulting in unprecedented growth in the broadband networking and software defined networking market segments.

Vogt is currently the CEO of DZS, a global leader in broadband networking, connectivity and cloud software solutions serving more than 250 Communication Service Providers with more than 20 million productsdeployed and 50 million software license subscriptions around the world.  DZS represents marquee Service Provider such as Lumen, Brightspeed, TDS, UScelluar, Windstream, Consolidated Communications, Boingo, Coca-Cola, Telus, Bell Canada, DT, Orange, Telefonica, Vodafone, Sky, Freedom Fibre, NBN, Telstra, Aussie Broadband, Etisalat, STC, Mobily.  DZS is publicly traded on the Nasdaq (DZSI).

Under Vogt’s leadership the company has executed company-wide product innovation, people, and systemstransformation; executed $100 million follow-on equity offering; four technology acquisitions, (Optelian, RIFT, CloudCheck/Expresse and NetComm) and record 2022 sales financial results of $400M Orders (62%^), $375M Revenue (15%^), and $304M Backlog (217%^).

Prior to DZS, Vogt was the Chairman and CEO of ATX Networks, a global leader in cable HFC, access networking and media distribution solutions serving more than 100 MSO Cable and Communication Companies including Comcast, Charter, Cox, Altice, Liberty Global, NBN and Dish. Prior to ATX Networks, Vogt was the CEO of Imagine Communications, a global leader of Media Content, Playout and Networking solutions serving more than 1,000 TV Networks, Broadcasters, MSOs, and new Media Providers spanning 100countries.  After joining Harris Broadcast in July 2013, Vogt restructured, integrated, and rebranded the company – creating Imagine Communications and GatesAir; acquired three technology companies; launched the industry’s first XaaS for video playout and unified distribution; secured the industry’s first IP cloud playout network with Disney; founded Alliance for IP Multimedia Solutions; and increased sales by more than 50% andearnings by more than 400 percent.

In 2004, Vogt became the President and CEO of GENBAND (Ribbon Communications), which over the next 9 years, grew from a start-up to more than $700 million in annual revenue and became a global leader of access networking and real-time communication solutions. During Vogt’s nine-year tenure as CEO, the company acquired and integrated ten companies including Nortel VoIP business unit, expanded its operations to more than 50 countries and secured 80 percent of the world’s largest service providers as customers. During Vogt’s tenure, the company experienced a compound annual growth rate of 110 percent and increased operational earnings 9-fold.  In 2012, The Wall Street Journal recognized GENBAND as the no. 1 privately backedcompany in America, topping a list of 5,900 companies.  Vogt’s first CEO role was in 2002 with an emerging VoIP company, Taqua Systems.  Two years later, in 2004, Taqua was acquired by then Tekelec (today, part of Microsoft) delivering a 4x return to shareholders.

Earlier in Vogt’s career, he was instrumental in the operational and financial growth of four standard-setting technology companies including Accelerated Networks (Calix), ADTRAN and Ascend Communications (Nokia). Following Lucent Technologies’ $20 billion acquisition of Ascend Communications in 1999, Vogt became part of the leadership team reporting to then President Carly Fiorina.

Vogt has been an active public speaker and has received numerous awards for his leadership and corporate accomplishments including EY’s “Entrepreneur of the Year,” Dallas’ Tech Titans “Corporate CEO of the Year,” Global Telecoms’ “Power 100,” Inc. 500 “Fastest-Growing Private Companies” and Saint Louis University’s “Hall of Fame”.

Vogt has been featured on Bloomberg TV with Kailey Leinz, Bloomberg Radio with Alisa Parenti, PBS’s CEO with Lee Cullum, Fox Business with Maria Bartimora, CNBC Squawk Box, Fox Business Closing Bell with Liz Claman and CEO Spotlight with KRLD David Johnson.

Board of Director Roles

Miguel Alonso serves as Chief Product Officer at DZS. In this role, Mr. Alonso is responsible for product strategy, product management, technology, quality and engineering across the Access Edge, Home Edge, Mobile & Optical Edge and Cloud Software teams.

Before joining DZS, Mr. Alonso served as Vice President of Cloud Products at Calix, where he led the company’s transformation from hardware products to cloud, software, and systems platforms. Mr. Alonso has also served in multiple senior product management, marketing, and sales executive positions at Nortek Control, mandal.ai, and Advanced Fibre Communications (AFC).

Mr. Alonso holds an Engineering Degree in Telecommunications from the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (Spain).

Scott St. John serves as Chief Customer Officer at DZS, responsible for leading global sales for the company. Mr. St. John has an extensive track record over the past 25 years leading global sales, marketing and customer service functions for public and private companies from start-up to nearly $1B in revenue. Prior to DZS, he served as Chief Sales Officer for ADVA until its merger with Adtran.  Mr. St. John has also held senior sales leadership positions with several high-growth technology companies including MRV, Overture Networks, Larscom and others. He started his career at AT&T/Lucent.

Mr. St. John has a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Economics from Syracuse University, which he completed in 1991.

Jeff Liening serves as SVP of Americas Sales at DZS. Mr. Liening brings 30 years of executive sales management experience across broadband network optical transport, PON and HFC access, subscriber premise and cloud orchestration/assurance software solutions to the Americas region. Mr. Liening previously held the position of Chief Sales Officer at ATX Networks.

Prior to ATX, he held various sales management and technical solution engineering positions with Imagine, GENBAND, Sycamore, Ascend, Cascade, KPMG and the U.S. Department of Defense.

Gunter Reiss serves as Chief Marketing Officer and Business Development Leader at DZS. Most recently, Mr. Reiss was Vice President of Worldwide Marketing at A10 Networks where he positioned the company as a technology leader in 5G, cloud, and cybersecurity solutions.

Prior to A10, he held business development, strategy, M&A, and strategic sales leadership roles at Ericsson, IPC and DAMOVO Group. Mr. Reiss brings in-depth expertise in cloud, SaaS, AI, cybersecurity, and application networking to DZS.

Raghu Marthi serves as Chief Operating Officer at DZS. Mr. Marthi brings 25 years of experience in information technology to the company through leadership of complex company-wide application development, data management, technology infrastructure, data center operations and telecommunication networks worldwide.

Prior to DZS, Mr. Marthi was Chief Information Officer at MediaKind, responsible for information technology and digital strategy spanning applications, data, cybersecurity and infrastructure. He has also held a variety of management and technical leadership positions at Hewlett Packard, PricewatershouseCoopers, HCL and Dresser Industries.

Mr. Marthi holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics, a Master’s degree in Computer Science and earned his MBA from SC Johnson Graduate School Management at Cornell University, Ithaca NY.

Jon Cox serves as SVP of Customer Care at DZS, managing all aspects of our technical support and our diverse professional services and education organization.

Mr. Cox has over 30 years of experience leading global technical support and professional services organizations, working in some of hi-tech’s most innovative, forward-thinking environments.

Previous to DZS, Mr. Cox has held customer care leadership roles in ATX and Ribbon where he has a proven track record of revitalizing, building, and molding customer-facing organizations, dedicated to providing ‘world-class’ support and exemplary customer experience.

Misty Kawecki serves as Chief Financial Officer at DZS, bringing over 24 years of finance and accounting experience to the CFO role.

Previously, Ms. Kawecki served as CFO and Head of Operations for MediaKind and prior to that, she was VP, Finance and Corporate Controller at Imagine Communications. She also served as Senior Vice President, Finance and Corporate Controller at GENBAND and Senior Director, WW Revenue Controller at McAfee (Intel). She started her career at Big 4 accounting firm EY.

Ms. Kawecki has a Master of Science degree in Accounting from Texas Tech University. She is a Certified Public Accountant in the state of Texas.

Laura Larsen-Misunas serves as Chief People Officer at DZS. Mrs. Larsen-Misunas has held several progressively advancing administration and human resources management roles since joining DZS, with more than twenty years of experience in the telecommunications industry.

Most recently at Ascend Communications, she established the company’s first Risk Management department, managing day to day cash, long term investments, and the foreign exchange program. Prior to Ascend, Mrs. Larsen-Misunas was a successful account manager and executive in the financial and insurance industries, having worked for Marsh and Willis.

Mrs. Larsen-Misunas holds a B.S. in Marketing from California State University San Francisco.

Justin Ferguson serves as Chief Legal Officer at DZS, responsible for the company’s global legal activities and policies. In addition, Mr. Ferguson serves as Corporate Secretary to the Board of Directors and is responsible for all corporate governance matters and brings more than 20 years of legal experience which includes advising companies in the telecom, technology and cloud security space.

Prior to joining DZS, Mr. Ferguson was Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary to Ribbon Communications Inc. Prior to Ribbon, Mr. Ferguson served as Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of Zix Corporation, a Nasdaq listed company that provides email and cloud security solutions. Mr. Ferguson began his career as a corporate attorney at the law firms of Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP and Baker Botts L.L.P.

Mr. Ferguson received a Juris Doctorate degree from Texas Tech University School of Law and a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Texas Tech University. He is a member of the State Bar of Texas.