Telecom Symposium: Biography of Hank Kafka

Hank Kafka

As AT&T's Vice President - Network Architecture, Hank is responsible for creating the target architecture and roadmap for AT&T's technology through the network layer, including the access, metro, transport, and core technologies for wireless, wireline, broadband, and cellular networks. Hank is also responsible for development and delivery of AT&T's radio access network, and for managing all of AT&T's standards activities.

Hank has over 25 years of experience in telecommunications, focused on identifying key emerging technologies, shaping them to meet customer and service provider needs, and pushing the best of them from the lab into the network. He started his career in Bell Labs, holding various technical and management positions in development, applied research, and architecture for communication and video technologies. At Johnson Controls he was responsible for the Controls Group data, voice, and mobile communications networks and applications for local, regional, and global networks. Before BellSouth's merger with AT&T, Hank's responsibilities at various times included the architecture for all of BellSouth's networks and services, IT architecture, systems engineering, and advanced technology / exploratory development.

Hank has a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Northwestern University and a Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.