Andy Paff

** ******* *****, *******, ** ***** acrgf7@r.postjobfree.com 720-***-****

Senior executive – technology telecommunications

Building companies into global leaders with groundbreaking products

Entrepreneurial business leader with 20+ years of success building high-growth technology companies and optimizing investor returns in both up and down markets. Key strengths:

Recognize and assess future market opportunities and direction of rapidly changing (e.g. network virtualization and wireless)

Leading hardware and software technical teams to develop world class product

Working with Executive team to drive consensus and focus on future direction

Willingness to dive in and facilitate when appropriate and where beneficial

Ability to learn complex technology very rapidly and apply it to current and future market needs

Experience and success with both turn-around and early stage situations

Experience and success with scaling companies to achieve growth without breaking things

Excellent customer skills and willingness to meet any time anywhere to facilitate customer satisfaction and to qualify company objectives

Excellent “360 degree” skills and strong believer in “culture”

Reputation for shaping emerging technology into cutting-edge products that edge out large, entrenched competitors. Visionary who seizes new business opportunities to lay the foundation for sustainable growth. Talent for attracting dedicated professionals who consistently achieve targeted goals. Change driver, complex problem-solver, clear communicator.

Milestones:

Planned and executed major operational restructuring and international product commercialization to edge out the competition and grow revenues and valuation 15X. (Cedar Point Communications)

Applied technology and business acumen to grow $5M company to a $60M acquisition. (Worldbridge Broadband Services)

Developed one of the first-ever, highly successful GIS mapping applications, a product still in use worldwide to this day. (Integration Technologies)

As President, led ONI and launched revolutionary new fiber optic technology that changed the course of the cable TV industry by changing the basic architecture. (Optical Networks International (ONI) became the cornerstone of Antec IPO, the company is now ARRIS)

Looking for opportunity in an established company, working alongside great leadership, which is poised for growth.

Career highlights

Universal Plasma Boston 2013 – Present

Founder, President and COO

Evaluated technology and commercial applications and then formed company and raised initial capital.

Thunderhead Innovations LCC Boston 2008 - Present

Founder and CEO

Thunderhead provides technical, business, and strategy consulting services to technology companies.

The focus is on early stage company support or large company product positioning, including customer validation and development roadmap. Heavy emphasis on optical architecture, software and network application & virtualization, wireless.

Headwaters MB, LLC Boston, MA 2008–2011

Provider of financial advisory and merchant banking services to mid-market companies in US and Europe.

Managing Director – Technology Investment Banking Practice

Hired to develop the technology and telecommunications vertical at the onset of the global financial crisis, provided expertise to early and late stage technology companies in navigating through complex refinancing, acquisition, and liquidity issues.

Cedar Point Communications Deery, NH 2003–2008

A leading provider of carrier grade IP multimedia processing and application platforms; known for its VoIP Safari product line.

President and Chief Executive Officer

Took the helm at a critical point characterized by low cash and an immature product. Immediately built a world-class management team to plan new vision and strategy. Introduced new QA processes, including Six Sigma/continuous improvement metrics and diagnostic capabilities, to improve product consistency. Worked with Sales to preserve relationships with clients during the restructuring. Succeeded in raising private equity, launching the Safari product, and winning a key Tier 1 customer, in the first 12 months.

High-Performance Leadership:

Substantially grew both domestic and international markets in spite of well-established, entrenched competition, expanding into Caribbean, LatAm, and European markets to achieve profitability in the first year.

With increased market share, lessened dependence on one key US customer from 80% to 35%.

Grew US customers from 10K lines per switch to 250K lines per switch as product reliability soared from poor to outstanding during first 2 years and annual revenue grew from $3.5M to $70M in 3 years.

Company became industry leader in Class 5 carrier grade, VoIP switching, with the Safari C3 product line achieving best performance metrics worldwide for 3 consecutive years.

Honors and Awards:

Second fastest-growing private company (US) and #1 telecom company, Inc. Magazine's 500, 2007.

Fastest-growing company, New Hampshire Business Magazine, 2007.

Finalist, Ernst & Young's Regional Entrepreneur of the Year, 2007.

CEO of the Year, MassNetComms, 2006.

CEO of the Year, CableFax, 2005.

Broadband Services, Inc. (BSI) Denver, CO 2000–2003

Founded by group of industry veterans to pursue scalable products and services in the broadband telecom marketplace.

Chief Technology Officer/ EVP

Provided strategic direction, identified and developed new business opportunities, and participated in the company's Operating Committee. Progressed to executive management during the telecom collapse in 2001, and in 2003, assumed leadership of IT and software development in a move to further reduce cost and consolidate BSI’s overhead structure.

Developed innovative GIS conversion service to provide telecom infrastructure companies with advanced mapping tools.

Worldbridge Broadband Services Denver, CO 1998–2000

Leading provider of outsourced technical services in the broadband networking industry.

Chief Technology Officer & Executive Vice President, New Business Development

Worked with CEO to develop new lines of business and position the early-stage company in the emerging broadband local access market, following a VC “Series A” round. Established an equipment integration unit, a network management service bureau, and built relationships with key telecom clients throughout the United States. In 2 years:

Delivered revenue growth of 300%.

Positioned the $5M company through growth for $60M acquisition.

Independent Consultant Boulder, CO 1997–1998

Provided expertise on products, services, and business development to startup and established hardware and software companies developing new products and markets.

Integration Technologies Denver, CO 1996–1997

Joint venture between Nortel and Antec providing broadband network design, engineering, and systems integration services.

Founder, President, CEO

In 18 months, grew company from 6-person startup to industry leader, pioneering development of an advanced GIS mapping software – one of the first such applications and the most successful at the time. The product, Model.it, is still used worldwide.

Early Success:

EVP, Strategic Planning – Antec Corporation, 1993–1996: Positioned new IPO as a leader in advanced broadband network deployment; instrumental in developing first viable CBR HFC telephony platform.

President – Optical Networks International (ONI), 1990–1993: Grew startup to $200M fiber optics leader in cable TV industry.

Director – ATC Telecom (Time-Warner Cable), 1987–1989: Developed fiber optic technology for phone and data services (CLEC).

Manager, New Business Development – Viacom, 1984–1987: Pioneered broadband data networks and PPV technology.

Education

MBA Foundation Platform, University of California, Berkeley

MS Communications, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

BA Psychology, University of Colorado, Boulder

FINRA Series 7, 2008

Board Associations

Board of Trustees, Mt Washington College (Kaplan University)

Former Board of Director, MassNetComms (merged in 2009)

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