MCNC expands leadership team, names new Chief Operating Officer

Today's announcement coincides with the retirement of Vice President of NCREN Community Support John Killebrew

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., Oct. 30, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- MCNC, the independent non-profit operator of the North Carolina Research and Education Network (NCREN) and oversight organization for the $144 million Golden LEAF Rural Broadband Initiative (GLRBI) expanding broadband connectivity to community anchor institutions throughout North Carolina, today announced the retirement of Vice President of NCREN Community Support John Killebrew as well as appointments to executive positions at MCNC including the promotion of Tommy Jacobson to Chief Operating Officer.

"John has contributed so much to the NCREN community the last 12 years," said MCNC President and CEO Joe Freddoso. "John has been the key executive in helping build cohesive, transparent, and trusted relationships between MCNC and the members of the NCREN Community, and we will greatly miss him."

Killebrew's retirement will lead to several executive moves within MCNC. 

Tommy Jacobson has been promoted to the newly-created role of Chief Operating Officer (COO). Jacobson will report directly to the CEO and continue to have overall operational responsibility for the continued operation and expansion of NCREN as well as assuming responsibility for network operations, constituent support, and overall service delivery for MCNC. Jacobson is a 19-year MCNC veteran, starting as an intern in technical support for MCNC while a student at N.C. State University.

Other MCNC promotions include:

Todd Broucksou has been promoted to Senior Director of Constituent Support and System Operations. After serving as Director of Operations at MCNC for the last six years, Broucksou will assume responsibility for managing business relationships for all customer verticals and the community support staff members that work in those verticals. This will include responsibility for key business executive contacts at UNC General Administration, North Carolina Community College System, N.C. Department of Public Instruction, and N.C. Information Technology Services (ITS). In addition, he will continue to manage the MCNC Data Center as well as the overall operation of systems-related services.

David Warden is now Senior Director of Fiber Business Development and Plant Management. He has more than 20 years of experience working with commercial service providers overseeing fiber-optic business development and fiber builds. Warden will assume responsibility for managing all opportunities relating to fiber infrastructure business, including working with GLRBI Round 1 matching partner FRC and MCNC fiber marketing firm ECC Technologies. He also will take the lead role in helping to market the newly-constructed BTOP fiber on NCREN to carriers interested in building out their networks in rural North Carolina as well as have direct oversight on all fiber-related maintenance issues. 

Jeremy Buenviaje is being promoted to Senior Manager of Network Operations and Customer Fulfillment. His responsibilities will include the day-to-day operation and management of MCNC's Network Operations Center, ensuring all elements of the network are operating appropriately and that customer needs and requests are being met and delivered on time. Also within this department, Pam Pruitt, a 25-year veteran at MCNC, is being promoted to Fulfillment Specialist, and will coordinate service provisioning efforts among Community Support, Engineering, Operations, and Accounting.

Matt Valenzisi is being promoted to Chief Architect and NCREN Senior Technical Manager of Network Management. He has 15 years of experience in network design and architecture in the higher education space and now will oversee all network architecture and planning on NCREN, ensuring the network continues to be a recognized national leader in networking and service delivery. Valensizi's role also will include oversight of a team of talented individuals focused on the network management tools that are critical components to the reliable operation of NCREN.

Ray Suitte is being promoted to Senior Technical Manager of Core Engineering and Network Deployment. He will lead all elements of network deployment with his highly-skilled engineering team on an infrastructure that has grown four times in size as a result of the GLRBI. He also will continue to be a key engagement point for all trouble-related matters to NCREN constituent groups.

Peter Valentine is now Director of Facilities Engineering and Video Engineering/Operations. He is a 25-year veteran at MCNC and will continue to lead engineering efforts in addition to assuming responsibility of overall operations for NCREN Video Services. Valentine also is in charge of all facility issues, including MCNC's primary location in Research Triangle Park, as well as all 20 remote telecommunication huts now positioned throughout the state.

"The promotion of Tommy Jacobson to COO and the added promotions position MCNC well to transition from a focus on the GLRBI network build-out to helping our NCREN Community leverage the outstanding capabilities of this expanded network," added Joe Freddoso. "In particular, Tommy's promotion is in recognition of his wonderful leadership of the GLRBI and his customer skills displayed the last two decades."

About MCNC
MCNC is an independent, non-profit corporation based in Research Triangle Park, N.C. MCNC's main focus is to operate the North Carolina Research and Education Network (NCREN). Visit www.mcnc.org or follow @MCNC or @GLRBI.

Photography
Photos of each person named in this release are available for download: https://www.mcnc.org/about/our-team.html#

Keywords & Tags
MCNC, NCREN, BTOP, ARRA, NTIA, North Carolina, NC, RTP, Research Triangle Park, education, telehealth, telecom, dark fiber, fiber-optics, broadband, Internet, web, NC non-profits, employment, technology news

Editorial Contacts
MCNC Communications Hotline: (919) 248.4105
Noah Garrett, NGC Communications, on behalf of MCNC: (252) 423.1277 or [email protected]

SOURCE MCNC