A municipally owned system, providing electric, water, wastewater and fiber- optic telecommunication and information services to the City of Bristol, Virginia; Washington County, Virginia and Abingdon, Virginia.

  CATV and Associated Telecommunications (GM)

Bristol Virginia and Mooresville, North Carolina
FMS OIC New York reporting to: President & CEO and Executive Vice President & CFO

Client - The first municipal entity in the United States to build a fiber-to-the-premise network offering the “triple-play” of telephone, cable and Internet services.

Search - General Manager – GM

Client Situation - A search committee was formed consisting of members of the board of directors the President and CEO, CFO and CMO.  The client facing increased competition from MSO, Satellite, Telco and Telecommunications providers overlapping in their geographic wanted to identify a more sales centric GM with operational and customer service modality proven to increase subscribers and retention.

Sector inclusion:

• Broadcast Television
• Cable Television
• Telecommunications - Telephone and ISP
• MSO

The (ESC) identified Filcro Media Staffing (FMS) and Tony Filson (TF) functioning as Officer in Charge of Search.

FMS was retained.

FMS Officer in Charge of Search worked initially with the CEO and CFO to establish a consensus of the desired goals for increasing subscribers and enhancing retention of subscribers in an increasingly competitive market.

FMS was provided with technical, strategic, operational, organizational, financial and cultural overviews requested to evaluate all hard and soft assets as they relate(d) to the skills and experience required of the new GM. This information was invaluable in garnering an understanding of their unique culture and the company as a whole that so positively part of the local communities it serves.

The CFO and CEO  had very clear “ideals” as to what their business and residential subscriber goals were in the communities serviced.

The priorities of the search were clear. The new GM would have to have a proven track record of success with both business and residential subscriber growth and providing service that enhanced retention and the up-selling of tiered telecom and CATV services.

Some of the biggest challenges facing the new General Manager (GM)

• Change management
• MSO and telecom competition in the same geographics
• Local, State and National legislative awareness
• Financial management and budget controls
• Customer service
• Increasing sales through brand awareness to business Customers
• Community relations
• Establishing products and services that meet the needs of a growing customer base

Solution FMS proceeded to Identify sales centric "GM’s" with a proven record of success in building and enhancing hard and soft assets in similar markets with comparable business and consumer subscriber bases.

Working outwards from the geographic in an attempt to identify local candidates not requiring relocation proved to be highly successful.

A GM capable of focusing on sales and enhancing the relationship with marketing would be essential if brand awareness was to be increased with new and current business and residential clients.

Customer service needed to enhance sales by identifying opportunities that could increase business and residential participation. This new GM would need tactical and strategic experience in this critical area to assure that every contact with a customer was assuring that they were aware of the many services offered that could enhance their business, telecommunications needs or provide entertainment value for the family. 

In such competitive cross markets where services are bundled this new GM would also need experience pricing and creating tiers of service that met unique needs based on Telco, MSO and Telecommunications competition. Defining clear options for the consumer and businesses had to be part of this new GM’s successful past experiences.

Successful candidate identified as new GM

A 25-year cable industry executive with progressive levels of leadership working as a marketing executive and General Manager at Time Warner Cable, Charter Communications and Adelphia

This executive had a clear record of success in optimizing process and returns in competitive markets similar to the client engaging the firm.   His ability to develop employees and resources to increase subscribers, lower costs and increase margins was exactly what was needed going forward.

The board and the representatives of the various constituencies were unanimous in their decision to hire this honed cable executive.

The executive did not require relocation and became acclimated quickly.  His performance has exceeded expectations and we trust that he will continue to grow the organization and service the communities well that depend on these vital services.  

Filcro Media Staffing, All rights reserved, 1985 - 2010
National Media and Broadcasting Executive Search Firms - http://www.ExecutiveSearch.TV
CATV General Manager Case History: http://www.executivesearch.tv/html/gm_virginia.html

International media and broadcasting executive search across multiple media platforms. Filcro Media International Copyright 1985 - 2010 All Rights Reserved. http://www.ExecutiveSearch.TV