About

Karim Al-Khafaji is a Product Development Manager, Sustainability at Verizon, with almost 20 years of relevant experience in the industry. He is currently responsible for managing all aspects of product delivery for Verizon's networked street light control solution, including hardware and cloud software-as-a-service. Karim oversees product definition and roadmap, contract manufacturing and inventory, product marketing, sales enablement, deployment, and support model. He leads product managers, engineers, and UX designers in an Agile development environment to deliver continuous cloud and embedded software improvements. Karim also leads cross-functional teams of support and field operations staff, supply chain specialists, marketers, and business operations staff to ensure P&L attainment and product success. He evaluates addressable markets, customer definition, and product-market fit for new features and products, developing business cases to support product launches. Karim also evaluates strategic fit and performs due diligence on potential acquisitions and partners. Prior to his current role, Karim worked as a Partners and Channels Executive for Verizon Smart Communities, where he identified, established, and maintained go-to-market relationships with energy service companies (ESCOs), lighting companies, and consultants for Verizon's lighting and smart cities business. He also developed business and supported deal strategy and execution for key projects in lighting. Karim's past experience also includes working at Sensity Systems as an Alliance Director, where he led commercial and product development relationships with a Fortune 1000 lighting and electronics manufacturer. He crafted go-to-market strategy and supported joint business development efforts with key customers in addition to managing all operational aspects of their strategic partnership. Sensity Systems built an IoT platform for Smart Cities that used energy-efficient LED lighting as its foundation for field deployment. With the Sensity platform, lighting owners were able to reduce energy costs and implement a variety of Smart City applications and services. Sensity was recognized as a Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum. Overall, Karim's expertise lies in product development, sustainability, IoT solutions, and Smart Cities. He is a result-driven professional with excellent leadership and communication skills, able to lead cross-functional teams to achieve business objectives and drive innovation.