We are pleased to welcome new leadership to our Governing Board, reflecting the continued growth, collaboration, and strategic momentum of the open networking ecosystem. As networks evolve to support AI-native operations, cloud-native infrastructure, automation, and next-generation connectivity, our Governing Board plays a critical role in guiding the community’s priorities and ensuring that open source remains central to industry transformation.

We welcome Praveen Atreya, Vice President, Technology Development and Network Planning, of Verizon, as the new Governing Board Chair, and Douglas Knisely, Senior Director, Technical Standards, Qualcomm as the new Vice Chair. 

The incoming board leadership brings deep expertise from across the global networking ecosystem, including operators, vendors, cloud providers, and technology innovators. Together, they will help advance LF Networking’s mission to foster open collaboration, accelerate adoption, and support the projects and communities building the future of networking.

Thank you to outgoing Chair,  Sebastian Zechlin of Deutsche Telekom, for his leadership, service, and dedication throughout his tenure. We are grateful for his many contributions to the community and look forward to his continued participation in the LF Networking ecosystem!

Learn more about our new Governing Board leadership below. 

Vice President, Technology Development and Network Planning, Verizon

Atreya has built his career at the intersection of software and telecommunications. At Verizon, he has led the adoption and operationalization of open virtual RAN, open compute platforms, disaggregated networking, cloud native core network functions, and open source orchestration and automation technologies.

“I’m honored and delighted to step into the role of Chair for the Linux Foundation Networking group. I fully embrace our mission to accelerate open, community-driven and commercial-ready solutions essential for building smarter networks, transforming network operations, and delivering superior customer experiences globally.”

He has focused on helping operators move away from vendor lock-in and closed operating models toward open-interface, open-data, multi-vendor environments while preserving and enhancing customer experience.

As Governing Board Chair, Atreya intends to advance carrier-grade open source solutions that enable a global software-centric operating model. He has also identified AI-driven transformation as a key area of focus, emphasizing the role of open source in delivering efficiency, interoperability, and choice for a cloud native, AI-driven telecommunications future.

Senior Director, Technical Standards, Qualcomm

“I’m pleased to continue contributing to the Linux Foundation Networking mission to bring together and harmonize a wide range of open source projects, while collaborating closely with other industry organizations to help enable complete system blueprints that will shape the future of cellular and broader networking domains.”

Knisely works across spectrum sharing, Open RAN, and industry standardization efforts while championing the integration of open source software with industry standards.

Within LF Networking, he has initiated and supported cooperative efforts between projects and industry organizations, including O-RAN Alliance, 3GPP, and Small Cell Forum, ultimately leading efforts to consolidate the 5G end-to-end OpenAirInterface stack, fully integrated into the Duranta project, and unify the O-RAN Software Community under the LF Networking umbrella.

Knisely serves on the governing boards of LF Networking, the OCUDU Ecosystem Foundation, the Wireless Innovation Forum, and OpenAirInterface. He is also Co-Chair of the O-RAN Alliance Standards Development Focus Group, where he advocates for coordination and cooperation across the broader Open RAN open source ecosystem.

As Governing Board Vice Chair, Knisely’s priorities include advancing a complete open source platform for 5G and 6G intelligent and AI-native Open RAN systems and completing the portfolio with automated orchestration and management platforms aligned with emerging AI ecosystems and evolving industry standards.

Looking Ahead

Congratulations to Praveen and Douglas on their new leadership roles! Thank you for stepping forward to serve the LF Networking community. We look forward to the leadership, perspective, and collaboration you will bring to LF Networking.