Exton, Pa. -- The Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers (SCTE) has hired Chris Bastian as senior vice president and CTO.

The CTO office became available earlier this year when the SCTE's previous CTO, Daniel Howard, announced he would be leaving that post.

Over the past three decades, Bastian has been at the forefront of Wi-Fi, advanced broadband and telecommunications security developments with Comcast, RCN and the National Security Agency. He joins Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers (SCTE) following more than 10 years at Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK), where he most recently had been executive director focusing on Comcast’s Xfinity Wi-Fi network.

With SCTE and its global brand, the International Society of Broadband Experts (ISBE), Bastian will be responsible for all areas of technology and engineering to ensure that SCTE and ISBE maintain a leadership role in standardizing and operationalizing advanced technology, including the SCTE Standards Program and the SCTE Engineering Committee -- as well as efforts such as SCTE’s Energy 2020 program.

“Harnessing the power of new services, maintaining the integrity of our networks and ensuring our customers’ security are among the objectives that will define cable’s future success,” said Mark Dzuban, president and CEO of SCTE and ISBE. “Chris Bastian’s strong record of accomplishment in those areas, his background with large and small MSOs and his leadership abilities all made him an ideal fit for our CTO position.”

“One of our goals for SCTE is to anticipate future industry needs and to provide the technical resources operators and vendors need to achieve those objectives,” said Tony Werner, chairman of the board of directors for SCTE and executive vice president and CTO, Comcast Cable. “Chris Bastian has the industry vision, the knowledge base and the interpersonal skills to address the broad range of cable technologies, and his background in Wi-Fi, DOCSIS 3.1 and cybersecurity will be of particular value in the years ahead.”

Prior to his most recent focus on Xfinity Wi-Fi, Bastian had been executive director of network architecture for the Comcast Technology and Product Group and senior director of converged regional area network engineering for the Comcast Network Engineering Group. Previously, he had held network operations and engineering positions with RCN and Comcast Cellular Communications and had spent 10 years in engineering and leadership capacities with the National Security Agency.

Bastian holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Penn State University, an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from George Washington University and an M.S. in Technical Management from Johns Hopkins University.

Bastian is the latest in a series of senior-level additions to the SCTE ranks, including: Reni Gorman, an award-winning performance improvement and learning strategist who became SCTE’s first vice president, learning & development; Deighton Liverpool, a 20-year IT veteran, as vice president, information technology; and Terry Maloney, a veteran cable, telecommunications and energy marketing and advertising executive, as vice president, marketing & business development. Another highly regarded industry executive, Senior Vice President, Operations Lindsay Johnston, joined SCTE 18 months ago.

Bastian will be based in SCTE’s Exton, Pa., headquarters. He will officially begin his role as Senior Vice President and CTO on Monday, Dec. 14.

Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers (SCTE)