Moderator : Claude Achcar
Managing Director
Actel  

Claude Achcar is the Founder and Managing Director of Actel. Claude resides in Hong Kong and has been working and living in Asia since 1995.  Actel, founded in 2002, is a leading specialist strategy and technology consulting firm operating in Asia and the Middle East, and offering detailed, focused, and unbiased technology and strategy consulting to IT, Telecom, and Media corporates and investors.

Claude began his career as a research associate with CRIM (1987-1989) in Canada followed by eleven years (1989-2000) with Nortel Networks where he held an extensive range of responsibilities from systems engineering, to program management, marketing and major accounts in Canada, France, Singapore, and Hong Kong.  Prior to Actel, Claude built up the Asian operations of Ciena (2000-2002) from a greenfield start. He established and developed offices in Tokyo, Seoul, Singapore, and Beijing. Claude built a self-sustaining organization achieving significant revenue growth in each year of operation.

Claude is a telecom engineer by training and holds a B.Eng and M.Eng Engineering from Ecole Polytechnique and an MBA (‘92) Strategy & International Marketing from McGill University, in Montreal, Canada.  He is fluent in English, Arabic and French.