Jeff Bankston

Jeff Bankston has a diverse work experience spanning over two decades. Jeff started their career as a Software Engineer in the Optical Networks Division at Nokia in 1999 and worked there for 11 years. Jeff then transitioned into a Sales Engineer role at Alcatel-Lucent's National Wireless Accounts division, where they consulted with Tier 2 and Tier 3 CDMA providers in North America on LTE, IMS, IP, and Cloud technologies.

In 2013, Jeff became a Technical Sales Director at Nokia, leading a team of experts covering every Tier 2-3 wireless operator in the US market and specializing in CDMA, W-CDMA/UMTS, LTE, IMS, IP, and cloud technologies. Jeff then moved on to become a Sales Director at Nokia, managing teams focused on Sprint and US Major Accounts, where their responsibilities included small cells, SON, LTE Advanced, and other advanced wireless product areas.

In 2019, Jeff became Sales Director for the DISH Wireless account at Nokia, leading a team and securing the 5G Core contract that supported DISH's nationwide 5G network build, based on cloud-native principles. Jeff held this role until 2020.

Jeff's most recent work experience is with Amazon Web Services (AWS), where they served as the Principal Segment Leader for Private Wireless. In this role, they drove business development and partnerships for the private wireless segment, as well as customer requirements and business development for the AWS Private 5G product. Jeff played a key role in taking the new service from MVP stage to initial customer wins. Jeff joined Underline as the VP of Business Development in 2023.

Jeff Bankston completed their education in a chronological manner. Jeff first attended The University of Texas at Dallas from 1996 to 2000, where they obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering. Following this, they pursued a Master of Business Administration (MBA) with a specialization in Marketing at the Naveen Jindal School of Management, UT Dallas, from 2005 to 2008. In terms of additional certifications, Jeff Bankston obtained the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner certification from Amazon Web Services (AWS) in November 2021.