Elliot Eichen grew up in New York City; his first visit to Boulder (and his first beer) was as a volunteer on a trail crew in Rocky Mountain National Park as a high school student. He has a BS in physics from SUNY Stony Brook, a PhD in optics from The University of Arizona, and an MBA from Boston University. Elliot retired as Director of R&D at Verizon in 2017, and in 2018-2019 was an IEEE/AAAS Congressional Fellow working for Senator Ron Wyden, and supporting Senate Commerce and House Science Committees. His academic appointments (concurrent with industry positions) include Visiting Industry Professor (Tufts University), Adjunct (Northeastern University), and staff member (MIT); his students are employed by major carriers, MSOs, and ISPs in the United States, many equipment vendors and communication systems providers, and multiple startups. He is author or co-author on about 50 peer reviewed publications, and about 60 US patents. Elliot’s current interests are spectrum sharing, 5G/6G communications, and qubit resistant cyber security.