OIF announced its 2026 Board of Directors and Officers, setting leadership for standards and interoperability work spanning electrical, optical, and control technologies. The terms run through September 30, 2026, as the industry accelerates demand for higher-speed, lower-power interconnects to support AI, cloud, and carrier networks.
The updated board combines continuing directors with newly elected and appointed leaders, reflecting broad participation across system vendors, component suppliers, and network operators. The organization said the team will guide technical direction and cross-industry collaboration as scale-up and scale-out AI architectures place new requirements on electrical and optical links.
Officers elected for 2026 also reinforce OIF’s technical and market-facing committees, with leadership spanning technical standards, interoperability testing, and market education—areas central to aligning multi-vendor ecosystems as interconnect speeds and power efficiency targets advance.
2026 Leadership
- Board of Directors
- Nathan Tracy — TE Connectivity; President (re-elected)
- Jeffery Maki — HPE; Vice President (elected); Physical Layer User Group Working Group Chair
- Mike Klempa — Alphawave Semi; Secretary/Treasurer (re-elected); Physical and Link Layer (PLL) Interoperability Working Group Chair
- Ian Betty — Ciena; Director (continuing)
- Cathy Liu — Broadcom Inc.; Director (continuing)
- Steven Hand — Nokia; Director (appointed)
- Yi Tang — Cisco; Director (appointed); PLL Working Group Electrical Vice Chair
- Officers
- Sam Kocsis — Amphenol Corporation; Technical Committee Chair
- Karl Bois — Nvidia; Technical Committee Vice Chair
- Tom Issenhuth — Huawei Technologies; Market Awareness & Education Committee Co-Chair, PLL (re-elected)
“OIF’s board reflects the technical strength and broad industry engagement required as we move into the next phase of electrical and optical innovation,” said Nathan Tracy, President of OIF. “As with all OIF leadership roles, these positions are fully volunteer — a testament to the commitment our members bring to advancing interoperable solutio
ns for the industry. Their expertise will help drive the interoperability work essential to supporting scale-up and scale-out AI architectures, next-generation cloud growth and the evolving needs of global network operators.”
