Manish Sharma, Ph.D., oversees Nortel's global speech solutions consulting and services practice utilizing latest speech technologies. Prior to joining Nortel Networks, he was vice president of advanced technology research at T-NETIX, responsible for its SpeakEZ Voice Verification product development. Sharma was a co-founder of SpeakEZ, a spin-off venture from Rutgers University, with verification products acquired by ScanSoft (now part of Nuance Communications). He holds a doctorate in electrical and computer engineering from Rutgers University, holds several patents, and is published widely in the area of speech processing technology. He has been voted as one of the "Top 10 Leaders in Speech" by Speech Technology magazine subscribers. His team at Nortel has been responsible for delivering market-leading speech solutions for such customers as, Bank of America, AT&T Wireless, Verizon Wireless, American Airlines, Canadian Railways, Hewlett Packard, Pacific Gas & Electricity and Kaiser Permanente.