Please tell us a little about your professional background and how long you’ve been in the industry.
I have been in sales for over 20 years in a variety of industries, including telecommunications, financial services, and commercial automotive. I have held sales management positions at AT&T, CenturyLink, and Windstream. In these roles, I specialized in fiber circuits, data security, colocation, and IP phone systems. Prior to joining AireSpring, I was a Fleet Business Development Executive at Tessco Technologies, a supplier of wireless communications products for network infrastructure, site support, and fixed and mobile broadband networks.
Tell us about your role at AireSpring.
I am the Regional Channel Manager for North and South Carolina. The long-term relationships I developed in my previous roles at Windstream and elsewhere have helped me connect partners with Airespring. I am actively reaching out to partners I’ve worked with over the past 20 years to help them find comprehensive solutions for their customers and close deals. The North and South Carolina market has been underserved for a while, and since we’ve expanded our team into this region, we’re also now able to offer high-touch service to new partners who are pleased that AireSpring is focusing on this market.
What do you enjoy most about working at AireSpring?
One of the things I enjoy most about working at AireSpring is that I get to work with old friends, including Jesse Michael [AireSpring Regional Channel Manager] and Melvin Frederick, [AireSpring Solutions Engineer]. I worked with them 15 years ago when I was at Windstream and have stayed in touch since then. My colleagues love working for AireSpring and that made me want to join the team.
I really like working for a private company like AireSpring, because the decisions that are made are made for the health of the company and its customers, not the investors. It’s great to work for a family-owned business. Being able to offer service both domestically and internationally is also really exciting. We offer a wide variety of solutions, and when people refer to us as an aggregator, I have to correct them because we’re not just an aggregator, we’re a full-service provider.
What are some of your hobbies or interests outside of the office?
Grilling and reading are my two main hobbies. If I know it’s going to be turned into a show or a movie, I’ll read the book. I read anything from science fiction to mystery, and I often trade books with my wife. She’s a bigger reader than me—she’ll knock out four or five a month and I only read one or two. The last book I read was “Upgrade” by sci-fi writer Blake Crouch. It’s his newest book and it was really good.
About ten years ago, I picked up cooking, and I love to grill. We just bought a new house, and we grill almost every day. I also love going to the grocery store and picking out what looks good to grill for the day.
I’m also very involved in charities and have been since I was 23 years old. Currently, I volunteer for a non-profit organization called Swim Across America that raises money for pediatric cancer research at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. I have been in the organization for five years and even met my wife Allison there (oddly enough, Jesse Michael’s wife helped make the introduction!). She is the director of the Atlanta swim event, and I am an operations volunteer. The Atlanta Swim is a big open water swim event with 600 swimmers that takes place at a lake in the area. It takes a lot of work to organize, but it’s very rewarding. It’s bittersweet to be involved with pediatric cancer patients, and it can be hard, but at the end of the day, you’re given hope. For example, two of the most recent cancer trials have had promising results, which is great news. There are so many nuances when it comes to pediatric cancer research and so many different types of cancer, but an organization like this one makes me believe we can advance the cause in a real way.
