IBcon 2025 | Precon Accelerator: ELECTRIFY

Farukh Aslam is the Chief Executive Officer of Sinclair Digital (SD) a low voltage design and consulting company developing Digital DC-Microgrid Buildings. In 2019, Aslam successfully developed the Sinclair Marriott Autograph Hotel which is widely considered the most diverse PoE and DC Microgrid project in North America. From the completion of the Sinclair Hotel, Aslam created SD to bring expertise of the sustainability and cost benefits of a DC building infrastructure to the marketplace. Since its inception SD has been involved in several design build projects and continues to evolve DC infrastructure in buildings.

Jim Baldwin is the founder and CEO of Domatic, a company that is revolutionizing how to build smarter, healthier buildings. With over 30 years of experience in software and hardware design and development, he has led and contributed to innovative projects at Apple, Microsoft, Intel, and several startups.

Jeff Beavers is Executive Director with National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA). With more than 30 years in the information and communications technology (ICT) industry, Jeff began his telecommunications career in the U.S. Air Force. He has served in various design and consulting roles in many types of industries, including the Department of Defense, municipal and federal government, K–12 and higher education, healthcare, sports and entertainment, data centers, and utilities (broadband, water, energy, wind and solar). Jeff is a Registered Communications Distribution Designer and has the OSP Designer credential. He is a recognized subject matter expert and past President of BICSI, a global professional association supporting the advancement of the ICT community.

Ronna Davis has been in the networking and telecommunication industry for 23 years. She has been with CommScope for over 13 years and has held positions in sales, channel and product line management. She is currently on CommScope’s Strategy and Technology Team for Buildings and Campuses. Previous to CommScope she worked in the design and construction of telecommunications networks for eight years and in wholesale distribution for two years. She studied marketing and is a LEED Green Associate.

Akram Khalis (AK) serves as MHT’s CEO and Co-Founder of MHT's Inspextor smart building platform. As an entrepreneurial executive who currently holds three US technology patents, AK's background in technology, product, and general management allows him to bridge the gap between engineers and businesses to bring high quality solutions to market efficiently. Well regarded as an innovator and thought leader for his work developing PoE systems for lighting and smart building automation, AK has scaled and accelerated the growth of innovative technology for more than a decade.

Bob Kroon is the CEO and Founder of August Berres. August Berres provides applications for DC-powered workplaces, eliminating the need to install 120V power at every workstation. Bob has a forty-year history in electro-mechanical durable goods and the furniture industry. His career began as an Industrial Engineer for Maytag. His furniture background began in manufacturing engineering with The Hon Company in 1979. In the next 18 years, he served in assignments in product engineering and general management. His subsequent experience includes contract manufacturing for low-volume, high-value, high-complexity electronic enclosures.

Andrew Lu serves as Director of Product Management in the Engineering Sustainability Office (ESO) at Cisco. He passionately nurtures and promotes DC-microgrid solutions like Fault Managed Power (FMP) and Power over Ethernet(PoE) for sustainable building infrastructure. Prior to Cisco, Andrew’s career spanned multiple sectors including industrial automation, intelligent building system integration, and home automation. Andrew represents Cisco as a co-founder and the President of the FMP Alliance.

Trent Morano is currently SVP at Power Designs. With more 20 years in the construction industry, he is a highly accomplished Fortune 500 executive leader with exceptional vision, strategy and sales acumen complemented by proven results in business transformation models. With his unique background in construction, electrical, mechanical, and IT, Trent brings forward financial models to executives that impact the bottom line.

Luis Suau is the Chief Business Officer at Sinclair Digital. With 40 years of overall IT experience; ,26 of them at Cisco, Luis previously worked as a Technical Leader in Cisco's IOT Business Unit and was a key member in developing Cisco's Digital Ceiling and Digital Building Solutions. Luis helped to engineer the highly innovative Marriott Sinclair Hotel which leverages the use of Lithium-Ion Energy Storage, Digital Electricity, POE and USB-C. After its completion in 2020, Luis left Cisco to pursue his passion of expanding the scope of Digital Building Systems with a goal of developing a Building as a DC Microgrid.

Bob Voss is a Distinguished Engineer in Panduit Corporate Research and Development, driving technological innovation. Focused on industrial and building automation, his expertise spans shepherding of groundbreaking technologies such as Single Pair Ethernet and Fault Managed Power. Bob plays a key role in setting global engineering standards in IEEE, TIA, NEMA, ODVA, and NFPA, as well as nurturing strategic technology partnerships. Bob is the chairman and one of the founders of the FMP Alliance.