Tell us about your professional background and roles at other companies prior to starting at AireSpring.

I grew up in southwest England. I'm actually officially a pirate, because I grew up in Penzance. Most of what was there was tin mining and farming, but the area was so quiet, it was an excellent place for telecommunications. We had, within ten miles of where I grew up, some of the earliest undersea cable systems, very old ones, late 1800s, that came into a place called Porthcurno. Marconi sent his very first Morse code signal to the States from near there. We had the very first television signal come in from the States to a place called Goonhilly, again very nearby. Somebody asked years ago, how did you end up in telecom? My first answer was "I don't know," but then I thought about all these historic influences.

So, with a degree in electronics engineering, I started in telecom at Cable and Wireless. That was in the UK, and I was involved in one of the very first startup companies, Mercury Communications, that competed with British Telecom, similar to the CLEC startups in the US.

I've worked in several countries including the UK, Hong Kong, Australia, Bermuda, Brazil, Colombia, the Caribbean, Mexico, Chile, Peru and Morocco. I've been involved in additional startup companies: Optus Communications in Australia and Sprint PCS in the US. I've also worked at Hong Kong Telecom, BellSouth Mobility and Nortel Networks, and most recently wrapped up a long stretch with TPx (TelePacific) where I led a very, very large account management team before moving into a Customer Experience management role, having obtained a graduate degree in Customer Experience. I currently sit on the advisory board for the University of California, Irvine's Customer Experience program.

What led to your interest in AireSpring?

I left TPx after seeing through the major realignment there, and a long-time colleague suggested I look at AireSpring. After talking with Avi Lonstein (CEO AireSpring) for two hours and later meeting with Daniel Lonstein (President and CRO AireSpring), the company just felt right. It resonated with me as a great opportunity with great mutual benefit. I have the greatest respect for their achievements and their focus in running and guiding a company through the vast changes in telecommunications leading us to converged voice, video and data that we see today. So I came on board at the beginning of January, and it's been an exceptional start.

Tell us about your new role at AireSpring and what you plan to accomplish with it.

It's a new role that's perhaps best summarized as 'to further advance the great customer experience that AireSpring has today.' Few companies in this industry have the extraordinary level of service and customer support we do, and our advantage over competitors is maintaining that "high touch, white glove" relationship with partners and end customers.

It's right in our mission statement: "We aim to delight our customers and partners by providing personalized, outstanding service." There's our customer experience vision and it's very key. I could define my role as 'working to make sure we meet this mission.'

What do you enjoy most about working at AireSpring?

It's been an incredible six weeks working at AireSpring. The warm welcome I've received from all of my teammates has been just brilliant.

So if I look at what I enjoy most about working at AireSpring, thus far it's been the people. It's been incredible. That's important because I really see people trying to do the right thing for our customers.

Tell us about your hobbies outside of work.

I love soccer and am an avid fan. I played soccer earlier in my career and was fortunate enough to do so in the many countries in which I worked. Maybe one day I'll write a book about how I was able to play football-soccer-all around the world because of working in telecommunications. I played soccer for forty years-playing and coaching, and again, lucky enough to play all over the world. I'm a Tottenham Hotspurs soccer fan. My father was going to become a professional football player, but there was more money in working at the shipyards than there was in professional football in the 1940s. But I got paid to play (semiprofessionally) in Hong Kong… not very much, but I got paid!

My other hobbies include spending time with my wife and family, of course; I love cars, I actually love doing VR [virtual reality] racing. My wife and I also love salsa dancing, and we took a leisurely 6.300-mile trip around the US just before I came on board. But my biggest hobby is perhaps studying-history, technical subjects and developments, telecommunications. I'm always studying something and enjoying it.

And it's been a good life. Traveling the world, playing soccer around the world, meeting incredible people from all different cultures… and selling stuff to them. I still get a huge kick out of signing a contract. It's something that excites me to this day.

I enjoy traveling the world, playing soccer around the world, meeting incredible people from all different cultures… and selling stuff to them. I still get a huge kick out of signing a contract. It's something that excites me to this day.