WARWICK, R.I. -- ICOA, Inc. (OTCBB:ICOA), a major provider of neutral-host broadband wireless Internet solutions in high traffic public locations such as airports, marinas and restaurants, announced today the strengthening of its senior management team with the appointment of Rick Schiffmann as Executive Vice President.
"Appointing Rick as Executive Vice President is a significant step forward for ICOA and its shareholders as we strengthen our management team and continue our rapid growth in broadband services," said George Strouthopoulos, ICOA president and CEO. "Rick has tremendous experience in all aspects of broadband wireless in high traffic public locations, with particular expertise in building revenue for growing companies. He is being charged with developing and implementing our business growth strategy and execution."
Prior to ICOA, Inc, Mr. Schiffmann was founder and president of Airport Network Solutions (ANS), now a wholly-owned subsidiary of ICOA, Inc. At ANS, Mr. Schiffmann led the company’s growth into 6 major regional airports serving over 20 million passengers annually. Prior to the founding of ANS, Mr. Schiffmann served as Vice President of Cometa Networks, a wholesale broadband wireless venture with Intel, IBM and AT&T. Mr. Schiffmann gained much of his wireless and airport industry expertise while with Aerzone, a subsidiary of SoftNet Systems, a pioneering wireless ISP targeting frequent business travelers in public 'hot-spots' through the deployment of 802.11 infrastructure. As Vice President of Business Development for Aerzone, Mr. Schiffmann was instrumental in signing significant equity partners in the business. Prior to joining SoftNet, Mr. Schiffmann was a management consultant with Dove Consulting in their Consumer Broadband Group and with Coopers & Lybrand. Mr. Schiffmann received his MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management and a Bachelor of Arts from Bates College.
“ICOA has established a solid platform for rapid growth over the coming years,” said Rick Schiffmann. “I look forward to the opportunity to significantly enhance shareholder value by rapidly ramping revenues, scaling our emerging platform of services and infrastructure into our current verticals, opening greenfield vertical opportunities as broadband wireless alters the telecommunications landscape and through highly-screened acquisition opportunities.”
ICOA Inc.