John Hawkins

John Hawkins is Senior Advisor for Product and Technical Marketing at Ciena. As a network specialist, John supports the company’s Packet Networking portfolio. Joining Ciena in 2009, John has held positions in business development and product management functions. He led the business development and promotion of Ciena’s E-Suite family of packet products.

Prior to joining Ciena, John was with Nortel Networks where he was responsible for Carrier Ethernet product management. His projects included the development of a number of innovative technology building blocks within Nortel’s Optical Ethernet portfolio. John began his career at GE as an IC designer, and later product manager in the Aerospace Division.

With over 25 years of technical experience, John is a frequent contributor to the Metro Ethernet Forum and sought after industry speaker. John holds a BSEE degree from North Carolina State, an MS in Telecommunications from Southern Methodist University, as well as an MBA from Duke University.