Ray Barghi is now the Executive Director of Maryland Research and Education Network. In this role, he is focused on providing leadership to create business value through leveraging human connectivity, ‘Smart Network’, and above/beyond Network services to accomplish stakeholder success.

Ray Barghi has extensive experience in multiple industries including Information Technology, Higher Ed, and Telecom.

Prior to his new role as Executive Director of MDREN, he served as CTO for SPUG, where he provided leadership, direction, and consulting for a growing global organization of 40+ service providers in Digital Transformation, Big Data Analytics, AI, and Cybersecurity.

Previously, he served as Chief Information Officer for Baltimore City College and focused on student success and workforce development. He led Digital and Service Transformation including Cloud migration and implementation of new enterprise applications.

Ray also worked as the Chief Information, Product, and Technology Officer for Huawei, a global Fortune 100 company, responsible for Network Transformation, Cloud Computing, Big Data Analytics, and IoT. He led a global team and played a critical role in developing innovative products and significantly reducing cost.

Earlier he joined Nextel as Director of Technology Development and held a variety of positions with Nextel and Sprint Nextel, where he successfully developed and launched major programs.

Prior to Nextel, Ray was with Ericsson where he held a number of key positions and most recently served as the Director of Technology Development for mobile and Internet products. He was instrumental in championing end-to-end solutions and partnerships.

Ray Barghi holds a B.S., M.S., and PhD in Electrical Engineering from University of Oklahoma where he also served as a member of faculty, lectured and conducted research in Computer and Electrical Engineering.