Executive Bios
Sonim Executive Staff
Bob Plaschke Chief Executive Officer
Bob Plaschke recently served as an Entrepreneur-In-Residence at Sutter Hill Ventures focusing on wireless investments. Before joining Sutter Hill Ventures, Bob was senior vice president of worldwide client services at InfoSpace, where he was responsible for the implementation of wireless data solutions for the company's worldwide group of carriers. Before joining InfoSpace, he was Chief Financial Officer and Vice President for Business Development at Prio, a wireless and wireline promotion infrastructure company. Bob earned an MBA with honors from the University of Chicago and received his undergraduate degree in computer engineering from Northwestern University.
Joakim Wiklund Chief Technology Officer
Joakim Wiklund is a wireless technology veteran. He was one of the founding members of mobile giant Ericsson's GPRS team based in Stockholm, Sweden that built and delivered the first GPRS end-to-end network solution, Joakim had full responsibility on the technology aspect of the product. In his 15 years at Ericsson, he fulfilled technical, product and line management roles. Joakim moved to the U.S. in early 2000 as Director of Ericsson's Wireless Center in Silicon Valley. He was instrumental in guiding the Ericsson Sonim OEM relationship and Sonim's contribution to the Push To Talk over Cellular (PoC) standard development.
Albert M. Costilo Vice President, Sales: Europe
Albert M. Costilo has a strong, international record of success developing sales and marketing organizations for new geographic markets. During his 16 years of international sales experience spanning Europe, Latin America and Asia, Albert has worked with top wireless operators and Fortune 500 companies worldwide to introduce state-of-the-art wireless services and build coalitions with top wireless operators. His expertise, gained through his work with Nextel International, Iridium LLC, Advanced Semiconductor includes emerging technology, strategic planning and market development. Albert is multilingual.
Jan Erik Forslow Vice President, Product Management
Prior to joining Sonim, Jan co-founded ipUnplugged, a Mobile-VPN startup with funding from Swedish and Japanese investors. With ipUnplugged Jan developed a new kind of router and corresponding PC software for mobile users. During his four years at ipUnplugged Jan acted as CTO and represented the founders on the company board. During Jan's leadership, ipUnplugged signed contracts with clients such as NEC, Cisco, CapGemini and NorskHydro. Jan has also worked as a Product Manager for Ericsson Datacom and System Leader for Ericsson Radio, and as Senior Research Engineer for Bellcore. Previously, Jan was the Assistant to the Attaché at STATT (Swedish Technical Attaché Office) charged with reporting news from the US telecommunications industry. Jan has a Master of Science degree in Industrial Economics from Linköping Institute of Technology, Sweden. During Jan's first year He has been directly responsible for Sonim's strong involvement in the Open Mobile Alliance Push-to-Talk standardization efforts, and for developing Sonim's patent and product strategies. Jan grew up in Sweden and is currently living in San Francisco.
Javor Kolev Vice President, Mobile Phones
20 years wireless telecommunications experience: 16 at Ericsson and Sony Ericsson Mobile phones and 4 at Sonim in a start-up Silicon Valley environment. Javor started his professional career at Ericsson Mobile Phones in Sweden 1988 and built the first Ericsson mobile phones. Worked on SW development managerial positions in Sweden and, form 1995, in NC, where he managed SW Systems for the SE handset portfolio. At present, Javor is a VP Mobile Phones and a Total Handset Program Manager responsible for the design, development, industrialization, commercialization and manufacturing of a portfolio of highly specialized Sonim-branded VoIP-enabled GSM handsets. The program involves own D&D in India, design house and manufacturing in China. Javor holds a MS in Computer Science from Lund Technical University, Sweden, and is multilingual.
Jon Spinney Vice President, Business Development
Jon has 13 years combined experience in the Mobile and Geographic Information Systems fields, with 9 years dedicated to Location-Based Services (LBS) technologies and market development. Prior to joining Sonim, he was Marketing Director at Openwave, working corporate outreach programs for LBS. Before that, Jon managed LBS Industry Solutions Marketing at ESRI. In 2004, Jon was awarded ESRI's annual Award in Innovation. Prior to ESRI, he deployed the first wireless emergency 911 provisioning products in the U.S. while at LBS pioneer SignalSoft, and was a Senior Analyst with wireless research & consulting firm The Strategis Group where he managed wireless-market segmentation GIS products tracking FCC spectrum auction activity. Jon teaches an LBS graduate course at the University of London part time, and holds a University of London MS in Geographic Information Science and an Anthropology BA from St. Vincent College.
Bob Plaschke Chief Executive Officer
Bob Plaschke recently served as an Entrepreneur-In-Residence at Sutter Hill Ventures focusing on wireless investments. Before joining Sutter Hill Ventures, Bob was senior vice president of worldwide client services at InfoSpace, where he was responsible for the implementation of wireless data solutions for the company's worldwide group of carriers. Before joining InfoSpace, he was Chief Financial Officer and Vice President for Business Development at Prio, a wireless and wireline promotion infrastructure company. Bob earned an MBA with honors from the University of Chicago and received his undergraduate degree in computer engineering from Northwestern University.
Joakim Wiklund Chief Technology Officer
Joakim Wiklund is a wireless technology veteran. He was one of the founding members of mobile giant Ericsson's GPRS team based in Stockholm, Sweden that built and delivered the first GPRS end-to-end network solution, Joakim had full responsibility on the technology aspect of the product. In his 15 years at Ericsson, he fulfilled technical, product and line management roles. Joakim moved to the U.S. in early 2000 as Director of Ericsson's Wireless Center in Silicon Valley. He was instrumental in guiding the Ericsson Sonim OEM relationship and Sonim's contribution to the Push To Talk over Cellular (PoC) standard development.
Albert M. Costilo Vice President, Sales: Europe
Albert M. Costilo has a strong, international record of success developing sales and marketing organizations for new geographic markets. During his 16 years of international sales experience spanning Europe, Latin America and Asia, Albert has worked with top wireless operators and Fortune 500 companies worldwide to introduce state-of-the-art wireless services and build coalitions with top wireless operators. His expertise, gained through his work with Nextel International, Iridium LLC, Advanced Semiconductor includes emerging technology, strategic planning and market development. Albert is multilingual.
Jan Erik Forslow Vice President, Product Management
Prior to joining Sonim, Jan co-founded ipUnplugged, a Mobile-VPN startup with funding from Swedish and Japanese investors. With ipUnplugged Jan developed a new kind of router and corresponding PC software for mobile users. During his four years at ipUnplugged Jan acted as CTO and represented the founders on the company board. During Jan's leadership, ipUnplugged signed contracts with clients such as NEC, Cisco, CapGemini and NorskHydro. Jan has also worked as a Product Manager for Ericsson Datacom and System Leader for Ericsson Radio, and as Senior Research Engineer for Bellcore. Previously, Jan was the Assistant to the Attaché at STATT (Swedish Technical Attaché Office) charged with reporting news from the US telecommunications industry. Jan has a Master of Science degree in Industrial Economics from Linköping Institute of Technology, Sweden. During Jan's first year He has been directly responsible for Sonim's strong involvement in the Open Mobile Alliance Push-to-Talk standardization efforts, and for developing Sonim's patent and product strategies. Jan grew up in Sweden and is currently living in San Francisco.
Javor Kolev Vice President, Mobile Phones
20 years wireless telecommunications experience: 16 at Ericsson and Sony Ericsson Mobile phones and 4 at Sonim in a start-up Silicon Valley environment. Javor started his professional career at Ericsson Mobile Phones in Sweden 1988 and built the first Ericsson mobile phones. Worked on SW development managerial positions in Sweden and, form 1995, in NC, where he managed SW Systems for the SE handset portfolio. At present, Javor is a VP Mobile Phones and a Total Handset Program Manager responsible for the design, development, industrialization, commercialization and manufacturing of a portfolio of highly specialized Sonim-branded VoIP-enabled GSM handsets. The program involves own D&D in India, design house and manufacturing in China. Javor holds a MS in Computer Science from Lund Technical University, Sweden, and is multilingual.
Jon Spinney Vice President, Business Development
Jon has 13 years combined experience in the Mobile and Geographic Information Systems fields, with 9 years dedicated to Location-Based Services (LBS) technologies and market development. Prior to joining Sonim, he was Marketing Director at Openwave, working corporate outreach programs for LBS. Before that, Jon managed LBS Industry Solutions Marketing at ESRI. In 2004, Jon was awarded ESRI's annual Award in Innovation. Prior to ESRI, he deployed the first wireless emergency 911 provisioning products in the U.S. while at LBS pioneer SignalSoft, and was a Senior Analyst with wireless research & consulting firm The Strategis Group where he managed wireless-market segmentation GIS products tracking FCC spectrum auction activity. Jon teaches an LBS graduate course at the University of London part time, and holds a University of London MS in Geographic Information Science and an Anthropology BA from St. Vincent College.
Bob's Blog
PCWelt: Torture Testing the World's Toughest PhoneTechnology news and reviews portal PCWelt made a very funny video about the trials and tribulations they inflicted on the World's Toughest Phone. And we have to say that we've rarely seen a journalist who was having such an obviously... - read more "No gimmicks, just pure functionality"
Reporters from Prosieben, a German television station,recently took us up on our offer to the media to try and destroy the World's Toughest Phone -- the XP1. Snipped from the write-up of their review: A few weeks ago we received... - read more Built For Life
Ruggedized phones aren't just for the hardy arctic explorer, the round-the-world solo sailor, the folks who work outdoors and in other challenging environments. Anyone who needs a phone that they can rely on 100% should consider a phone that's built... - read more
