Keri Gilder

Speaker Bio

Keri Gilder is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at Colt Technology Services (Colt). Appointed to the role in May 2020, Keri is responsible for executing Colt’s strategy: powering the future of connectivity through world-class fibre infrastructure, an autonomous AI-driven platform that makes services effortless, and intelligent solutions that deliver secure, market leading customer experiences.

Before becoming CEO, Keri was Colt’s Chief Commercial Officer, leading global teams across sales, presales and marketing, as well as working closely with the wider organisation to ensure Colt delivered for its customers.

Prior to joining Colt, Keri held several leadership roles at Ciena and was most recently its Vice President and General Manager EMEA, responsible for guiding Ciena’s EMEA service provider and enterprise customers and partners.

Named to Mobile Magazine’s top telco CEOs 2025; Capacity magazine’s Most Influential People List 2025; TMT Finance’s CEO of the Year; included in Management Today’s Women in Leadership Power List; named People’s Choice Woman of the Year by Network X; and referred to as a leader that ‘has the ability to move mountains’ (Global Telecoms Women’s Network), Keri is passionate about promoting Inclusion and Diversity to ensure Colt is a business where everyone feels they can bring their true selves to work. In addition, Keri brings this passion to the wider industry as the Chair of the TM Forum’s Diversity & Inclusion Council and President of the Global Telecom Women's Network.

Prior to Ciena, Keri worked in multiple roles for Lucent Technologies, and she has also worked for Hughes Aircraft as a Network Engineer.

Keri has a Bachelor of Business Administration degree with an emphasis in Management Information Systems (MIS) from New Mexico State University.