User:Stevencotton

Steve Cotton's career in computers and telecommunications began in 1966 and he has conducted business in 31 countries. After serving four years as a business systems programmer in the U. S. Air Force and then earning an MSEE in Communications Systems from Georgia Tech, Steve joined GTE as a telephony switching systems developer and had a successful 11 year tenure there, serving in various positions, including Director of Network Engineering and Vice President of Quality Management at GTE Telenet, culminating as Director of Strategic Planning for GTE Sprint. Starting in 1985, Steve served in various executive positions for several telecommunications ventures, deploying major billing teleprocessing systems throughout the RBOCs, cellular and PCS companies, as well as leading the development of a comprehensive wireless billing/customer care/POS system deployed worldwide. Steve has been operating a strategic management consulting practice since 1993 and was engaged by the IPDR organization from its inception until August of 2007 as Editor-in-Chief, responsible to the Board of Directors for all technical program activities of the organization. Steve served on the staff of the TM Forum during the integration of the IPDR Organization into the Forum. Steve joined the TM Forum in July 2010 as Head of Revenue Management, leading Collaborative R&D across the entire Enterprise Management subject area, including Asset Management, Business Metrics, Enterprise Risk Management, Fraud Management, Revenue Assurance, as well as operational areas such as Billing and Charging, Customer Experience, Data Analytics, and Supplier/Partner Management. He now serves as Director, Business Assurance Programs, Steve's areas of personal expertise include Software Engineering Methodology and Management, Signaling Systems, Circuit and Packet Switching Systems, Billing Systems, Customer Care Systems, Business Process Transformation, as well as three decades serving in senior executive positions and consulting to boards and C-level executives for such matters as venture capital funding, merger/acquisition, technology strategy, and business operational transformation.