Industry veteran is being replaced by three executives after leading the effort to build a national fiber-optic network.

July 6, 2016

2 Min Read
Nicklas Steps Down as Windstream CTO

Telecom industry veteran Randy Nicklas has left Windstream, where he was CTO, and is being replaced by a trio of executives.

Nicklas, who previously served as CTO of XO Communications Inc. , came to Windstream Communications Inc. (Nasdaq: WIN) to lead that network operator's national fiber push. "He was instrumental in the evolution of Windstream’s high-speed nationwide fiber network, and we thank him for his service," a company spokesman tells Light Reading in response to an email query.

In the wake of Nicklas's departure, Jeff Small has been named head of engineering, and takes over responsibility for network engineering, architecture and capital management. Small, whose background is in accounting, rejoins Windstream from Communications Sales & Leasing, the real estate investment trust created in 2015, into which Windstream spun off major network assets. He previously headed procurement and carrier service delivery at Windstream, and held other accounting and finance leadership roles.

Stay up-to-date on data center strategies including connectivity in the data center connectivity section of our Data Center page here on Light Reading.

Two other Windstream engineering executives have been promoted, with Mike Hoyt named senior vice president of IP engineering and Ron Bayer chosen as senior vice president of transport engineering. Hoyt will be responsible for Windstream's MPLS IP network. He joined the company three years ago, bringing IP engineering expertise from Level 3 Communications Inc. (NYSE: LVLT) and Global Crossing (Nasdaq: GLBC). Bayer will be responsible for Windstream's long-haul, regional and metro network and its power and colocation systems as well as future fiber deployments. He joined the company in 2014 from CenturyLink, where he was director of transport planning and engineering and previously also worked at OnFiber Communications Inc. and MCI/Worldcom.

— Carol Wilson, Editor-at-Large, Light Reading

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