ONUG Connect Roadmap and Partnerships

A focused update on the 2026 ONUG Connect roadmap — current state, what’s in flight, and what’s coming through year-end — and an introduction to the newest partnerships extending the platform beyond Connectbase. Attendees leave with a clear view of how ONUG Connect is evolving from a working-group initiative into a broader, partner-enabled connectivity ecosystem.

Speakers:

Ben Edmond is the CEO and Founder of Connectbase, where he is responsible for
leading the company’s strategy, culture and operations. Prior to founding Connectbase,
Ben served as the chief revenue officer at Global Capacity, where he was responsible
for all aspects of the company’s customer go-to-market strategy and execution. Ben has
25 years of experience in the fiber, telecom and networking industries, encompassing
broad expertise in the areas of executive leadership, strategy, product, customer
experience, sales, marketing and operations.

Tony Farinacci recently retired from JPMorgan Chase after 22 years of service in executive leadership roles including CTO – Global Network Services, End-User Services, CISO – Global Technology Infrastructure, and Distinguished Architect – Cybersecurity Architecture.  His first 13 years were providing global oversight of JPMorgan Chase’s Voice & Data Network, and Perimeter Security with the last 9 years in Cybersecurity focused on Infrastructure and Cloud Security, Threat Modeling, Risk Assessment, Policy as Code, and Zero Trust.

Previous to JPMorgan Chase, Tony spent 9 years at KeyCorp in various executive leadership roles including oversight of Voice & Data Networks, Enterprise Architecture, Distributed Computing, and the Enterprise Command Center.

Tony started his career at General Electric where he spent 7 years in various technical leadership roles including Senior Architect & Systems Programmer (Mainframe, UNIX, VAX, LAN), Telecommunications and Networking.

Tony earned his Bachelor of Electrical Engineering degree at Cleveland State University.  He currently resides in Boca Raton, Florida with his wife.

Tatiana Finkelsteyn is the CEO of zLinq, a software company that helps enterprises manage,
optimize and buy ISP services. She has spent more than 20 years in telecom, has founded and
run two successful companies, and has stayed actively involved in the industry’s development
— serving on the advisory boards of Lumen, Comcast, and others throughout her career. A
lifelong learner, Tatiana holds an MBA from Columbia University.
zLinq combines a purpose-built platform with a specialized team working across engineering,
contracts, and billing to deliver full enterprise telecom lifecycle orchestration. The product itself
was imagined and built alongside a Fortune 100 team, that helped define what enterprise-grade
telecom management actually had to do. zLinq’s Net Promoter Score is 81, against a telecom
industry average of 27.
Tatiana lives with her husband in downtown Denver. Outside of work she plays volleyball,
camps, and travels — 52 countries to date. Being the best she can be while helping others do
the same is her mission in life, and her superpower is “hugging jello”: turning complex concepts
into clear goals and action plans that produce epic results.

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