Executive Bios

Mike Mulica

Mike Mulica

Chief Executive Officer

Mike Mulica has been at the nexus of mobile communications, the internet and globally scaled industry solutions for the past three decades and was named CEO of Alef in October 2021. A mobile and internet industry veteran, Mulica has played a foundational role in pioneering the mobile internet and overseen the release of game-changing products and technologies to global markets. His leadership at both public and private companies spans the likes of Motorola, Synchronoss, Openwave, Phone.com, Unwired Planet, FusionOne, RealNetworks and Actility. Prior to being named Alef’s CEO, Mike was the Executive Chairman at Alef and has served as a board member and global advisor to other private companies and venture capital funds. Mike holds a BS in Finance from Marquette University and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Jeff Tennery

Jeff Tennery

Chief Operating Officer

Jeff Tennery serves as Chief Operating Officer at Alef. Prior to joining Alef, Jeff founded leading freelance platform company Moonlighting, which was acquired in January 2021 by CareerGig. Founded in 2014, and backed by the largest US media companies, the Moonlighting platform supported over 860,000+ freelancers and generated over $50M in annual gig revenues. Jeff has over 30 years of senior executive leadership roles at Verizon, AT&T and Millennial Media. At Millennial Media, he was responsible for delivering hundreds of millions of dollars annually across 100,000 applications worldwide and played an instrumental role in Millennial Media’s 2012 IPO. His leadership has helped lead large enterprises and start-ups in key acquisition and IPO activities, including AT&T’s acquisition of TeleCorp PCS and the IPO of nTelos. Over the past decade, Jeff has achieved notable success in the mobile application economy, serving in advisory and EIR roles to venture capital firms, as well as start-up companies in mobile video, mCommerce, mobile location data, mobile gaming, blockchain and media.

Steven Spencer

Steven Spencer

Co-Founder and Chief Administrative Officer

Steve Spencer manages financial strategy and oversees all global financial functions at Alef, bringing extensive executive experience in financial and business management. Prior to co-founding Alef, Steve served in numerous executive management positions including CEO at UPOC Networks where he led their merger and integration with Dada; Head of the Mobile Business Unit at Pinnacor Financial Group; and CFO and Business Head at Beezag. In addition, Steve served in a variety of technical business leadership positions at Lucent Technologies in network infrastructure, mobile applications, consumer products and corporate development. He received an MBA with highest honors and membership in Beta Gamma Sigma from the NYU Stern School of Business, an MSEE from Cornell University, and a BSEE from Union College.

Dean Bogdanovic

Dean Bogdanovic

Chief Technology Officer

Dean, a seasoned technology executive with more than 25 years of cutting edge technology experience, founded and lead Volta Network to the acquisition by IBM. Before founding Volta, Dean was a Distinguished Engineer at Juniper Networks and a Chief Evangelist at CounterPath. During his career, Dean led the development of several products, implemented by leading Tier 1 service providers, mobile and fixed networks. Dean held various senior engineering positions at Bridgeport Networks, Tazz Networks, MCK Communication, and IBM.
He is an active participant of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and has made major contributions in the areas of voice over IP and network management. He is the holder of numerous network technology patents and holds a degree in electrical engineering from the University of Zagreb.

Dr. Ganesh Sundaram

Founder and CEO, Alef Innovations

Dr. Ganesh Sundaram is a leader in wireless technology with over 20 years of rich experience in technology creation, having worked extensively on opportunities globally. As a founder of Alef, he has made several foundational contributions and was recognized in 2019, at the Edge Computing Congress, with the award for the “Biggest Individual Contribution to Edge Computing Development.” Prior to founding Alef, Ganesh was a Distinguished Member of Technical Staff and led multiple secure wireless solutions initiatives at Bell Labs in New Jersey. He has developed several foundational technologies, leading to new standards, products, and deployments and has authored over 50 patents relating to mobile data networking, architecture, security, cryptography, resource and mobility management. Ganesh was named a Bell Labs Fellow in 2012, inducted into the Alcatel-Lucent technical academy in 2009, and is a recipient of two Bell Labs president’s awards. He has a PhD in Mathematics from Purdue University and Master of Science degrees in Applied Mathematics and Mechanical Engineering from Oklahoma State University.