Inventing our future.

At Verizon, we offer customers access to the best networks in the world. How do we do that? By constantly pushing the boundaries of what’s possible. To celebrate that spirit of innovation, each year, The Verizon Patent Group recognizes outstanding V Teamers with The Master Inventor Award. It’s given for exceptional work in developing innovative technologies over the course of a career.

For 2021, we are recognizing the following nine recipients:

Kalyani Bogineni, Fellow - Network Planning, Southlake, Texas
Kalyani has been with Verizon for 17 years. During that time she has worked on over 70 patents and pending applications in support of Verizon’s 4G LTE and 5G networks. She’s currently working on the end-to-end slicing architecture for our 5G network.

Ye (Thomas) Huang, Distinguished Engineer, Walnut Creek, California
Throughout his 13 years at Verizon, Thomas has been an inventor on over 80 patent filings in the IoT and MEC space. He’s currently working on our 5G capabilities for IoT.

Mohammad Raheel Khalid, Fellow - Systems Architecture, Bedminster, New Jersey
Raheel has contributed to over 60 patent filings in technologies such as augmented/virtual reality, which is also known as XR. He’s currently serving as Chief Engineer for our Bluejeans XR team.

Scott R Kotrla, Associate Fellow - Network Design, Richardson, Texas
Scott has been with Verizon for 22 years, including 7 at MCI. In that time, he has participated in more than 50 patents and is currently working on Verizon’s next generation core transport architecture.

Jignesh S Panchal, Associate Fellow - Network Planning, Basking Ridge, New Jersey
During his time at Verizon, Jignesh has contributed to more than 70 patents and pending applications for improvements in wireless RAN technologies. He’s currently working on the launch of the C-Band for 5G.

Sudhakar Reddy Patil, Senior Manager - Network Design, Southlake, Texas
Sudhakar has only been with Verizon for seven years, but in that relatively short time, he has contributed to over 110 patent filings in support of our 4G LTE and 5G core network architecture. He's currently managing a team that is working on our 5G end-to-end experience.

Matthew Turlington, Distinguished Engineer - Applied Research, Irving, Texas
Matt Turlington has been with Verizon 28 years, including 13 with MCI. Matt has participated in over 60 patents and is currently developing new technologies that can be used with our 5G network.

Andrew E Youtz, Distinguished Engineer - Tech Strategy, Basking Ridge, New Jersey
In Andy’s 15 years at Verizon, he has contributed to over 60 patent filings for his work on projects like 4G LTE signaling optimization and 5G performance. He’s currently working on user device architecture, requirements and certification.

Lily Zhu, Fellow - Technology Strategy, Basking Ridge, New Jersey
Lily has been with Verizon for 11 years. She is an inventor on over 70 patent filings for her work in 5G radio access and IoT networking. She’s currently working on 5G and sports technology.

Congratulations on your award and thank you!

It’s incredible when you realize these nine V Teamers have collectively contributed to more than 500 Verizon patents. What an impressive class! Thank you for all of the work you do on our networks, for our customers and in moving the world forward.

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