Decision Makers
Board of Directors
Mike Wilfley has served as Chief Financial Officer for the past 20 years and as Grande's CFO since 2000. He possesses experience in finance, compliance reporting, mergers and acquisitions, risk management, management information systems, investor relations, human resources and accounting operations. Wilfley has led Grande's fundraising efforts since February 2000. Prior to joining the Grande team, Wilfley was CFO of Thrifty Call, Inc., where he was responsible for the capital markets and mergers and acquisitions efforts that led to Thrifty Call's eventual acquisition by Grande Communications. Wilfley also served as CFO for Littlefield Real Estate Co., a private investment company, which managed more than $250 million in equity and debt interests in Texas-based commercial real estate. Mr. Wilfley also serves on the Board of Directors of Austin based Littlefield Corporation (LTFD). He is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, a certified public accountant and a member of the Financial Executives Institute and The National Association of Corporate Directors.
Walter K.L. "Scott" Ferguson, Jr. has served as our Chief Operating Officer since February 2006. Prior to that, from July 2005 to February 2006, he served as Interim Chief Executive Officer and President, and from June 2002 to January 2005, Executive Vice President, Retail Services and from February 2000 to June 2002 as Chief Operating Officer. Previously, from 1997 to 1999, Mr. Ferguson was a founding partner and senior vice president of PrimeOne, L.P., a broadband video services company. At PrimeOne, Mr. Ferguson was involved with operating, sales and customer service strategies for BellSouth, SBC Communications, Inc. and Southern New England Telephone Corporation broadband trials and businesses. Prior to working at PrimeOne, Mr. Ferguson served in various capacities at Prime Cable, a cable multiple systems operator based in Austin, Texas, including vice president of administrative services and vice president of operations. Prior to Prime Cable, Mr. Ferguson worked for Tenneco, Inc. in the corporate finance and investor relations groups as well as Arthur Young & Co. where he focused in tax practice. He is a certified public accountant and a graduate of The University of Texas at Austin, where he earned his BBA degree in Finance and an MBA in Accounting and Finance.
Jeffrey A. Brennan has served as our Senior Vice President Business Services since April 2006. Mr. Brennan is responsible for leading Grande s broadband transport services, network services and enterprise sales departments. Prior to joining Grande Mr. Brennan served as Vice President of Sprint s Public Sector for the West Region from 2005 to 2006, and was Area Vice President for Nextel s Pacific Northwest, from 2002 to 2005. He has worked for several companies in the telecommunications industry including Primeco, US West and Verizon/GTE. He began his career at Verizon/GTE as a telephone traffic engineer and then held positions in network planning, sales operations, product management and national account sales. At Verizon/GTE, Mr. Brennan was responsible for marketing and planning for sales of private line and switched services for a national fiber optic and satellite network serving the North American and Caribbean markets. Mr. Brennan earned a MBA and a BBA in Management from Angelo State University. He also holds a Radio Communication Technology degree from the Community College of the Air Force.
| Organization |
Position |
Status |
| Grande Communications Holdings Inc |
Senior Vice President Business Services |
Current |
| Angelo State University |
Bachelor of Business Administration In Management |
Former |
| Angelo State University |
MBA |
Former |
| Angelo State University |
Bachelor of Business Administration In Management |
Former |
| Community College Limited |
Degree |
Former |
Miguel Lecuona joins Grande Communications as Senior Vice President of Marketing. With over 15 years of post-MBA experience in technology marketing and strategic business development, Mr. Lecuona's most recent position at Nextel was Senior Marketing Director. Holding the top marketing position in one of Nextel's three operating regions, Mr. Lecuona was charged with full marketing responsibility for the Western US. He also created and opened the award-winning Nextel Central Monorail Station at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Lecuona joined Nextel in 1994, serving a variety of field and headquarters marketing roles. He developed the innovative pricing strategy for Nextel's national service launch in 1997. As Area Marketing Director launched Nextel service in Texas. Later, as Senior Director of Network Services Marketing, his team launched Nationwide Direct Connect . Prior to joining Nextel, Mr. Lecuona held brand management positions in consumer-packaged goods for 3 years while at Frito Lay, Inc. Mr. Lecuona earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in management from Texas A&M University, and an MBA in marketing from the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
| Organization |
Position |
Status |
| Grande Communications Holdings Inc |
Senior Vice President of Marketing |
Current |
| Frito-Lay, Inc. |
|
Former |
| Texas A&M University |
Bachelor of Business Administration In Management |
Former |
| Organization |
Position |
Status |
| Apple Creek Candles |
Vice President and Controller |
Current |
| Grande Communications Holdings Inc |
Vice President and Controller |
Current |
| La Quinta Corporation |
|
Current |
J Findley is responsible for oversight of the Dallas, Waco, and Houston retail markets, as well as the company's call center operations. He has acquired a broad range of knowledge in the ILEC, MSO and Broadband industries during his 25-year career. He joined Grande after serving as Vice President of Operations for ClearSource, Inc. He played a key role in launching and raising funds for the first broadband over-builder in Texas. Also, he was an officer at Golden Sky Systems, Inc. and MultiTechnology Services while serving as Vice President Retail of Operations of both companies. Findley started his telecommunications career working for GTE holding various management positions in the customer service organization. His past experience with these aforementioned companies were: call centers, billing, technical, construction, engineering, customer fulfillment and collections.
Jared P. Benson has served as Vice President of Enterprise and Wholesale Services since August 2008. Prior to that, from January 2001 to August 2008, he served as Vice President of Network Services. Mr. Benson is responsible for Grande's Enterprise and Wholesale divisions. Prior to joining Grande in April 2000, he served as Senior Carrier Account Manager for C3 Communications Network Division. Mr. Benson also provided voice, data and Internet service consulting to a variety of businesses while President of Intellicom Consulting Corporation. Before his consulting work, he served Westel Long Distance Communications, Inc. managing regional sales, where he directed multiple branch sales offices across the South. Additionally, Mr. Benson serves on the Board of Texaltel as its Vice President, a trade association with the purpose of promoting the business interests of competitive telecommunications and data service providers. He also served as the Marketing Chair on the board of the Young Men's Business League of Austin. Mr. Benson received his Bachelor of Science in Marketing from the University of Tulsa.
| Organization |
Position |
Status |
| Wholesale Services |
Vice President |
Current |
| Grande Communications Holdings Inc |
Vice President, Network Services |
Current |
| Apple Creek Candles |
Vice President |
Current |
| The University of Tulsa |
Bachelor of Science In Marketing |
Former |
| Organization |
Position |
Status |
| Grande Communications Holdings Inc |
Vice President, Human Resources |
Current |
| Apple Creek Candles |
Vice President, Human Resources |
Current |
| Society for Human Resource Management |
Board of Directors |
Current |
| Society for Human Resource Management |
Member |
Current |
| Leadership Texas |
|
Former |
| Hexcel Corporation |
Member |
Former |
Mark Machen is responsible for oversight of the Austin, San Antonio, San Marcos, Midland, Odessa and Corpus Christi markets. With over 20 years experience, he has extensive knowledge in the telecommunications and video services industry in both the regulated and competitive environments. He joined the Grande team with the 2002 acquisition of ClearSource, Inc. Before joining the Grande/ClearSource team, Machen held key positions within the Wholesale division of Verizon (formerly GTE). At GTE, he served as the Division Resource Manager in Durham, North Carolina and as Senior Administrator in Irving, Texas. Prior to working at GTE, Machen served as Director of Construction for Multi-Technology Services (MTS) in Richardson, Texas. His primary responsibilities included infrastructure provisioning in the company's Dallas, Houston, Austin and San Antonio markets. Additionally while at MTS, he held the position of Director of Operations where he led all customer service activities, including installations of service, repair activities and management of the customer contact center.
As General Manager of Grande's Waco operations, Matt Rohre leads the market's residential and commercial sales, field operations, office fulfillment and community relationships. Before assuming his duties for Grande's Waco market, he spent two years as Director of Field Operations for the Austin/San Marcos/Houston markets, working closely with management and over 40 technicians to increase service call response rates and improve production efficiency. Prior to Grande, Rohre spent over a decade in the telecommunications industry in various management and technical roles, both as a service provider and a vendor. He is a member of the United Way/Capital Area's Young Leaders Society and was a finalist for the Austin Business Journal's Rising Star award. Rohre graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Texas at Dallas with a Bachelor of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies.
Mr. Ferguson served as Interim Chief Executive Officer and President from July 2005 to February 2006. He remains with the Company as Chief Operating Officer.
| Organization |
Position |
Status |
| Convergent Investors |
Steve Shaper |
Current |
| Grande Communications Holdings Inc |
Chairman |
Current |
| Acta Incorporated |
Board of Directors |
Current |
| Ceoamerica |
Board of Directors |
Current |
| Comptel Corporation |
Board of Directors |
Current |
| Redeemer Presbyterian Church |
Board of Directors |
Current |
| Comptel Corporation |
Member |
Current |
| Acta Incorporated |
Member |
Current |
| Grande Communications Holdings Inc |
Board of Directors |
Former |
| Tulane University Law School |
Jd |
Former |
| Millsaps College |
Bba |
Former |
| St Joseph High School |
|
Former |
| Organization |
Position |
Status |
| Extenet Systems, Inc. |
Managing Director for Centennial Ventures |
Current |
| Centennial Ventures |
managing director |
Current |
| Grande Communications Holdings Inc |
Board of Directors |
Current |
| Augmentix Corporation |
Board of Directors |
Current |
| Extenet Systems, Inc. |
Board of Directors |
Current |
| Clearlinx Network Corporation |
Investor |
Current |
| Innerwireless, Inc. |
Investor |
Current |
| Augmentix Corporation |
Investor |
Current |
| Criterion Incorporated |
|
Former |
| The University of Texas |
M.B.A. |
Former |
| The University of Texas at Austin |
MBA |
Former |
| The University of Texas |
B.S. in Chemical Engineering |
Former |
| The University of Texas at Austin |
BS In Chemical Engineering |
Former |
Doug Brannagan has almost 19 years of tax, cash management, and risk management experience. Brannagan has worked for Ernst & Young, LLP, providing accounting and finance consultation to both public and privately-owned communications companies. He was also the Controller for Thrifty Call, Inc. for five years where he was responsible for the company's financial and regulatory reporting. He is a certified public accountant and a graduate of Hastings College with Bachelor of Arts degrees in both Biology and Business. He also attended the University of Texas of Austin where he earned his Master of Professional Accountancy.
| Organization |
Position |
Status |
| Apple Creek Candles |
Treasurer |
Current |
| Grande Communications Holdings Inc |
Treasurer |
Current |
| Hastings College |
Bachelor of Arts Degrees |
Former |
| The University of Texas |
|
Former |
Duncan Butler is the managing director of Centennial's Austin office. Prior to Centennial, he worked at Prime New Ventures, an Austin-based venture firm which he co-founded in 1994 to manage venture funds focused on telecommunications and related areas.
| Organization |
Position |
Status |
| Masergy Communications, Inc. |
Managing Director of Centennial's Austin Office |
Current |
| Centennial Ventures |
Managing Director |
Current |
| Grande Communications Holdings Inc |
Board of Directors |
Current |
| Masergy Communications, Inc. |
Board of Directors |
Current |
| Masergy Communications, Inc. |
Investor |
Current |
| Centennial, Inc. |
|
Former |
| University of Texas School of Law |
Jd |
Former |
| The University of Texas at Austin |
MBA |
Former |
| The University of Texas |
M.B.A. |
Former |
| The University of Texas at Austin |
Bba |
Former |
| University of Texas School of Law |
Bba |
Former |
| The University of Texas |
B.B.A |
Former |
| Organization |
Position |
Status |
| J.H. Whitney Investment Management, LLC |
Portfolio Manager and Co-Founder |
Current |
| Whitney & Co., LLC |
Partner |
Current |
| Grande Communications Holdings Inc |
Board of Directors |
Current |
| United Biosource Corporation |
Director |
Current |
| Stanford Graduate School of Business |
Masters of Business Administration |
Former |
| Yale University |
B.A. |
Former |
Paul V. Walsh, Jr. was elected as a member of our board of directors in January 2009 and serves as Chairman of the audit committee and as a member of the finance committee. Mr. Walsh currently serves as the Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer for Silicon Laboratories, a publicly traded technology company based in Austin, Texas. Mr. Walsh joined Silicon Laboratories in January 2004 as Director of Finance, Worldwide Operations, and was appointed as the Corporate Controller in May 2005. In November 2006, Mr. Walsh was promoted to Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer. Prior to joining Silicon Laboratories, Mr. Walsh was Site Controller from February 2003 to January 2004 with PerkinElmer, a supplier to the health sciences and photonics markets. From 1992 to 2003, Mr. Walsh held various operational, finance and management roles at Teradyne and Analog Devices. Mr. Walsh is certifiable as a CPA and received his BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Maine, and an MBA from Boston University.
Richard Orchard, a board member since June 2006, is a seasoned telecommunications veteran with more than 25 years of experience in sales, operations and general management, including 12 years in senior positions. In 2005, he served as chief transition officer for Sprint Nextel, managing all aspects of the successful but complex, $36 billion merger between Sprint and Nextel Communications.
During his career with Nextel, Mr. Orchard also served as chief service officer, responsible for development of a best practice Customer Care organization; Eastern regional president, with operational responsibility for all aspects of sales, service, finance, network construction and marketing for the Eastern half of the U.S. market; and area vice president for the Southeast. Before joining Nextel, he spent more than 10 years with PacTel/AirTouch, originally hired as its first sales representative and eventually advancing through positions in sales management and operations and as area vice president of all East Coast properties. He entered the wireless industry in the late 1970s with Motorola Communications after earning a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of California, Santa Barbara.