Sparkplug Names Former Hawaiian Telecom Leader New CEO
In planned transition, current CEO Bill Malloy moves to Chairman of leading fixed wireless business broadband provider for Steve Hooper who retains board position.Chicago - August 18, 2008 - Sparkplug, Inc. a leading provider of fixed wireless broadband services, today announced that former Hawaiian Telecom CEO Michael Ruley has been named Chief Executive Officer, taking over from current CEO Bill Malloy as part of a planned leadership transition. Malloy will be moving to the position of Chairman for Steve Hooper who retains a seat on the Board of Directors.
The addition of Ruley, who has more than 20 years experience leading communications companies, reflects the next stage in Sparkplug's growth. Since 2006, Sparkplug has seen significant growth both through mergers and acquisitions with other fixed wireless providers and through the expansion of its business broadband and carrier, government and data access services across eight states and five metropolitan markets.
"One of the most important determiners of success for any company in this industry is having the right leadership team to help it achieve full potential and attain the next level of growth," said Steve Hooper, Sparkplug Chairman and Founding Partner of Ignition Partners. "The high-caliber experience that Mike Ruley brings as the new CEO leading our company day to day, coupled with Bill Malloy as Chairman now devoting his time to business development and strategic opportunities is a great combination for Sparkplug."
The prospect of leading a well-funded, dynamic company in an emerging, growth market is what attracted Ruley to Sparkplug. "Its exciting for me to join a company that has all the pieces in place including a great reputation for quality service, a strong team and the backing of an exceptional group of investors and board with a record of building successful companies," Ruley said. "Sparkplug has already established a leadership position by providing fast, reliable and affordable broadband data access services to businesses and many of the leading telecom carriers. I look forward to the opportunity of expanding the scope of Sparkplug's service offerings and helping to take the company to new heights."
Ruley brings to Sparkplug an impressive record of leadership, experience and accomplishment in telecom, data access and managed services. Most recently he was CEO of Hawaiian Telecom, an independent telecommunications company owned by The Carlyle Group, based in Honolulu, Hawaii, that provides wireline, wireless, long distance, data, managed services and yellow pages. At inception, Hawaiian Telecom had about 1,850 employees with operations that serve all of the major Hawaiian Islands.
Prior to that, Ruley was CEO of NextiraOne, a North American voice and data solutions business with about 3,500 employees. He also held several senior positions at XO Communications, including President of Market Sales where he managed about 1,500 people in sales, support, customer care and the indirect channel organizations that delivered nearly $1 billion in annual revenue. Prior to XO Communications, Ruley served in several senior roles at Teleport Communications Group, a competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC) that is now part of AT&T.
Ruley's appointment is effective immediately. He will be based in the company's Scottsdale, AZ location.
About Sparkplug
Sparkplug is a leading fixed wireless broadband service provider currently operating networks across five states, including the metropolitan markets of Chicago, Nashville, Des Moines, Phoenix and Las Vegas. The company offers a suite of high-speed data, voice over IP, and other managed services over its own network to business, education and government customers. All enjoy the benefits of fast, scalable and easy-to-deploy broadband service. Customers can choose from a complete range of symmetrical bandwidth service options starting at 2 Mbps with speeds of up to 1 Gbps at a fraction of the typical cost. The company also provides high capacity data services and transport to many of the nation's leading telecommunications providers. For more information, visit www.sparkplug.net.
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