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Our Management
Stephen L. Schilling
President & Chief Executive Officer
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Stephen L. Schilling has over 20 years of experience in the telecom and data communications industry where he has specialized in turnarounds, start-ups and managing high-growth firms. Prior to Cypress Communications, Steve was the founder and President of Netifice Communications, a company he created in 1998 and led until its merger with MegaPath Networks. Under his leadership, Netifice navigated the turbulent waters of telecom in the early 2000’s to become a thriving, nationally recognized leader and innovator in the IP VPN space.
Prior to Netifice, Steve was President and COO of Charter Communications International, and prior to Charter Communications, he held executive positions at GE Capital-ResCom, MFS and RealCom Office Communications.
Steve has twice been named to Catalyst Magazine’s Atlanta’s Top 50 Entrepreneurs list. In 2000 he was an Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year finalist and in 2004 he was awarded Atlanta Telecom Professionals’ Award for Outstanding Leadership. Steve speaks frequently at industry tradeshows and has been published in various trade journals. He earned a B.S. in Administrative Management from Clemson University and an M.B.A. in International Business from Georgia State University.
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Scott Drake
Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer
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Scott Drake brings to Cypress more than 20 years of telecommunications experience in both private and public companies, including CFO roles at five private telecom ventures over the last 15 years. He has also held executive positions at WorldCom, The Breckenridge Group and spent five years in banking and auditing. Scott holds a BA in Accounting from The University of West Florida.
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John A. "Jack" Harwood
Vice President & General Counsel |
John A. Harwood, known as “Jack”, serves as Vice President and General Counsel for Cypress Communications. Jack has an extensive communications legal background, serving as in-house counsel for over 20 years with BellSouth Corporation. From 1992-2007, Jack held the position of Senior Mergers & Acquisitions Counsel for BellSouth. In this position, Jack represented BellSouth in its negotiation of complex contracts, formation of new joint ventures, disposition of unprofitable lines of business, venture capital investments, and merger & acquisition activities.
From 1990 to 1992, Jack served as General Counsel of BellSouth International, where he acted as lead in-house counsel for investments in France, Germany, Italy, Israel, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Guatemala, Mexico, Australia, Malaysia, and New Zealand. His career at BellSouth began in 1985 with Jack providing advice in connection with new ventures and domestic acquisitions. Prior to BellSouth, Jack practiced tax planning, commercial law, as well as mergers and acquisitions by joining the Atlanta office of Kutak Rock LLP.
Jack attended Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree, Magna Cum Laude, in 1978. He then attended the College of Law at the University of Arizona, where he was a member of the Order of the Coif and an editor of the Law Review. After receiving his Juris Doctor degree, Jack attended the Graduate Tax Program at the University of Florida, where he received a Master of Laws degree in Taxation.
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Jorge L. Rosado
Executive
Vice President Engineering and Network Operations
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Jorge L. Rosado has over 30 years of engineering and telecommunications executive management experience. As Executive Vice President of Engineering and Network Operations, Jorge leads the development and execution of the company’s IT, IS and network business plans.
Prior to joining Cypress, Jorge served as EVP Operations and Development at Netifice Communications, COO at Intelispan Inc. (acq. by McLeod USA), SVP of Operations and Development at Splitrock Services (acq. by McLeod USA), Co-Founder and VP Operations & Planning at Gridnet International (later part of MCI WorldCom) and held several positions in Engineering, Operations and Planning at Bellsouth, including VP General Manager of Bellsouth Advanced Networks. Jorge received a BSEE from Florida Atlantic University.
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Frank M. Grillo
Executive
Vice President Marketing |
As a visionary communications executive, Frank M. Grillo joined Cypress Communications in August of 2005. Frank is known for his ability to identify growth opportunities and to produce extraordinary results that make a real contribution to the bottom line of an organization. Previously, Frank worked as Senior Vice President - Business Services for Z-Tel and as Senior Vice President of Global Business Markets for MCI WorldCom, where he managed over 1,000 marketing professionals and was responsible for global business marketing strategy, including product management, pricing, marketing communications, advertising, sales training, sales support, sales engineering and online and alternate channel distribution. From 1995 to 2000 he was Vice-President of Marketing for LDDS.
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Carolyn Prantil
Executive
Vice President
Service Delivery and Customer Care |
As Executive Vice President of Service Delivery and Customer Care at Cypress, Carolyn Prantil is responsible for Customer Care, Service Provisioning, Client Implementation and Training, Circuit Provisioning and Process Improvement and Analysis. To this role, Carolyn brings a diverse background that spans 15 years in Customer Experience and Support, Operations, and Product Management. Most recently, Carolyn served as Vice President of Business Operations at EarthLink, launching and managing all non-network operations for the newly formed Wi-Fi business unit. Prior to that, Carolyn served as the Vice President of Customer Optimization in EarthLink’s Customer Support Organization and spent a number of years consulting with Scott, Madden and Associates. Carolyn earned Bachelor of Science degrees in Business and Economics as well as a Master of Science degree from SUNY Stony Brook in Long Island, New York. In addition, Carolyn holds a Master of Business Administration from the Goizueta School of Business at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.
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Dale L. Bennett
Senior Vice President
Field Operations
Southeast / West
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Dale L. Bennett serves as Senior Vice President of Field Operations and is responsible for the company’s local field operating units in the southeastern and western regions. Dale has 27 years of experience in both public and private telecommunication companies and 10 years of service with Cypress Communications. Dale has also served Cypress as Regional Vice President of Field Operations and Vice President of Field Operations - Enterprise Services. Prior to Cypress, Dale held management positions at Bell Atlantic/Verizon, as well as Georgetown University and Medical Center. Dale is also a decorated veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps.
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Michael Blair
Senior Vice
President
Field Operations
Northeast |
Mike Blair serves as a Senior Vice President of Field Operations for the northeast region. In this role, Mike is responsible for the branch operations and the Cypress field technical force operating throughout the northeast. With nearly two decades of experience in the telecommunications industry, Mike brings a diverse background to this role at Cypress. He also has over 15 years spent in management positions at distinguished telecommunication companies such as Fairchild Communications, Shared Technologies and Intermedia. Most recently, Mike served as Cypress Communications’ Vice President of Shared Tenant Services Operations. Mike studied business at Montana State University and earned a Telecommunication degree from Dakota County Technical College in Minneapolis. |
Mark J. Herold
Vice President
Human Resources |
Mark Herold comes to Cypress Communications with two decades of experience, driving change and cultivating a high-performance culture. Mark is responsible for facilitating a performance-driven culture guided by the Cypress values, resulting in the delivery of superior customer service. Previously, Mark served as vice president of HR at AMVESCAP Retirement. As part of the due diligence team, he helped seamlessly transition the company during its acquisition by Merrill Lynch Global Retirement Services. Mark also led human resource shared services at the U.S. headquarters of ING Financial Services, providing leadership and strategic direction of the payroll and benefits administration needs of 10,000 full-time ING Financial employees and 5,000 retirees.
Mark also serves as executive sponsor of Cypress Cares, a company-wide community involvement organization. Employees are encouraged to participate in worthwhile and rewarding community volunteer programs. Mark graduated from St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota with a degree in Business and earned a Master of Business Administration with a concentration in Industrial Relations from the University of Minnesota. Outside of Cypress, Mark enjoys his family, gardening and a day on the tennis court or golf course.
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