OTELCO Inc. (NASDAQ: OTEL), a wireline telecommunications services provider in Alabama, Maine, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Hampshire, Vermont and West Virginia, a provider of cloud hosting and managed services, and the parent company of OTELCO, announced the appointment of Robert J. Souza, President of Otelco, to the additional position of Chief Executive Officer following the retirement announcement of current CEO Michael D. Weaver.
Souza and his wife Tammy live in Durham and have three grown daughters; his career in telecommunications began in the early 1970s, literally in the trenches as a technician for New England Telephone Company. His first experience with an independent phone company came during a three year stint in Tennessee working for Ooltewah Collegedale Telephone Company. In 1983, Souza returned to Maine, joined the Saco River Telephone Company, and began the tenure that would bring him to his current position. In 2001, the Saco River company was sold to Country Road Communications, and Souza was made president of the company. Souza went on to become a Senior Vice President with Otelco when it acquired the holdings of Country Road in 2008. This past May, Otelco promoted Souza to President.
Stephen P. McCall, Chairman of Otelco’s Board of Directors commented, “Rob has more than thirty years of telecommunications leadership experience across numerous areas of the wireline industry. His technical understanding of the rapid changes being experienced in the telephone industry positions him well to lead Otelco’s evolution. Rob will continue to work out of the Company’s office in New Gloucester, Maine.”
Weaver’s retirement comes after leading Otelco since its start in 1998. Chairman McCall noted, “During his tenure with the Company, Mike has orchestrated nine acquisitions, guided the Company through its initial public offering in 2004 and always served our investors well,” he continued“,we wish him an enjoyable retirement.” According to McCall, Mr. Weaver will serve as a consultant to the Company for one year to ensure a smooth transition.
“I have been blessed with the direction my career has taken and I look forward to the new challenges and responsibilities that Otelco has entrusted to me,” commented Mr. Souza. “Working with Mike for these past years has been an educational and rewarding experience as he has been a great friend and mentor. While I’ll miss the daily interaction with Mike, he has taught me well and I am confident that the Company is well positioned to seamlessly make this transition in leadership.”
ABOUT OTELCO
Otelco Inc. provides wireline telecommunications services in Alabama, Maine, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Hampshire, Vermont and West Virginia. The Company’s services include local and long distance telephone, digital high-speed data lines, transport services, network access, cable television and other related services. With approximately 99,000 voice and data access lines, which are collectively referred to as access line equivalents, Otelco is among the top 25 largest local exchange carriers in the United States based on number of access lines. Otelco operates eleven incumbent telephone companies serving rural markets, or rural local exchange carriers. It also provides competitive retail and wholesale communications services and technology consulting, managed services and private/hybrid cloud hosting services through several subsidiaries. For more information, visit the Company’s website at www.OtelcoInc.com.
FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS
Statements in this press release that are not statements of historical or current fact constitute forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other unknown factors that could cause the actual results of the Company to be materially different from the historical results or from any future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. In addition to statements which explicitly describe such risks and uncertainties, readers are urged to consider statements labeled with the terms “believes,” “belief,” “expects,” “intends,” “anticipates,” “plans,” or similar terms to be uncertain and forward-looking. The forward-looking statements contained herein are also subject generally to other risks and uncertainties that are described from time to time in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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