Management Team

Mr. Johnson is the former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Knology, a publicly traded (NASDAQ: KNOL) provider of cable TV, telephone and Internet services to residential and business customers in 12 markets. In July, 2012, Mr. Johnson led the successful sale of Knology in a transaction valued at $1.5 billion. Earlier in his career, Mr. Johnson served as President and Chief Executive Officer, as well as a director, of Communications Central, Inc., a publicly traded provider of pay telephone services. Prior to joining Communications Central, Mr. Johnson served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of JKC Holdings, Inc., a consulting company providing advice to the information processing industry. In that capacity, Mr. Johnson also served as the Chief Operating Officer of CareCentric, Inc., a publicly traded medical software manufacturer. Before founding JKC Holdings, Inc., Mr. Johnson served for approximately eight years as the President and Chief Operating Officer and as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Firstwave Technologies, Inc., a publicly traded sales and marketing software provider. Mr. Johnson spent his early career from June 1971 to November 1984 with AT&T where he worked in numerous departments, including sales, marketing, engineering, operations and human resources. In his final job at AT&T, he directed the development of consumer market sales strategies for AT&T’s Northeastern Region. Mr. Johnson currently serves on the Board of Directors of Tower Cloud, Inc., a provider of wholesale telecommunications services, specializing in cell site backhaul solutions for wireless carriers by operating and maintaining fiber optic and wireless networks using IP/MPLS Ethernet technologies. Additionally, Mr. Johnson serves on the Board of Directors of The Kleinfelder Group, Inc., a large multidisciplinary international consulting engineering firm. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from Mississippi State University and a Master of Business Administration degree from Georgia State University.

Mr. Poth is the founding President and CEO of LumenServe, Inc. and has an extensive entrepreneurial and operations background founding and growing numerous telecommunications and technology-based companies over a 25+ year professional career. Mr. Poth’s experience includes being Founder and CEO of a wide range of companies that have built and operated IP Networks with 3,000+ route miles of microwave/fiber transport, built and serviced 25,000+ VoIP connections, constructed over 1,300 miles of hybrid fiber/coaxial broadband plant, provided 50k+ CATV/telephone/Internet connections, constructed 100k+ square-mile canopy of wireless networks and constructed and operated 500+ wireless towers. During his career, Mr. Poth has raised more than $400M in venture equity and debt capital to finance a wide array of infrastructure-based businesses. Mr. Poth has a legacy of building businesses with strong Value Systems, operations and customer service track records. Mr. Poth received a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and a Master of Business Administration from The University of Texas.

Mr. Gabbard, a private investor, works with new high-technology start-up companies in the Southeast and Texas. Gene is a member of the Board of Directors of NetCracker Technology Corporation, Waltham, Massachusetts, a leading provider of Business and Operational Support Systems (BSS/OSS) for carriers throughout the World. Mr. Gabbard is also a member of the Board of Directors of Tower Cloud, LLC, St Petersburg, Florida, a provider of fiber and radio broadband backhaul for wireless carriers in the Southeast. He is a Venture Partner of Ballast Point Ventures equity capital funds based in St Petersburg, Florida, that specializes in providing expansion capital to small and growing businesses in the Southeast and Texas.

Mr. Gabbard served as an advisor to executives of The Walt Disney Company during the period May 1994 through July 1996. From August 1990 to January 1993, he was an Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of MCI Communications Corporation (now Verizon Business). He served as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Telecom*USA and in various executive positions of its predecessor, SouthernNet, Inc., from July 1983 until 1990, when Telecom*USA, the fourth largest US based long distance company, was acquired by MCI. Mr. Gabbard was also a founder, board member and President of Digital Communications Corporation (now Hughes Communications, Inc.) and an executive officer of M/A-Com, Inc., a manufacturer of telecommunications equipment and components. Mr. Gabbard also previously served as a member of the Board of directors of COLT Telecom Group S. A., Luxembourg, the leading pan-European provider of business communications services, data center services and cloud services. He also was previously a member of the Board of Directors of Knology, Inc., West Point, Georgia, a broadband services company providing telephony, video and high-speed Internet throughout much of the Southeastern and Midwestern United States.

Upon completing a distinguished career as an officer in the U. S. Army Signal Corps, Mr. Gabbard was awarded the Army Commendation Medal. Then in private industry as a Member Technical Staff and Section Head for COMSAT Laboratories, Mr. Gabbard was one of the inventors of Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), the technology discovery that has helped power the digital wireless revolution. Throughout his professional career he was awarded more than a dozen patents in digital data processing and transmission. Gene has published several articles in trade and professional publications and is quoted regularly in leadership circles.

He is an electrical engineering graduate from the University of Kentucky and holds a master’s degree in engineering from the University of Pennsylvania. In April 1999 he was inducted into the University of Kentucky, College of Engineering, Hall of Distinction.

He is a member of Sigma Xi, Tau Beta Pi, Eta Kappa Nu, and a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE). His social affiliations are with the Cosmos Club, Washington DC, and the Cardinal Club, Raleigh, NC.