Dr. Cecil Groves, CEO

Dr. Groves was a driving force in the creation of BalsamWest FiberNET, serving on the Board from its inception to becoming CEO in 2010. Prior to becoming CEO, he served as president of Southwestern Community College in Sylva, North Carolina and as president/chancellor of colleges in Louisiana, Colorado, and Texas, including a service as a manager for Bausch & Lomb’s Houston Instrument Division in Austin, Texas. Dr. Groves has been appointed in states where he served to various State-Level Boards and Commissions dealing with educational, technology-related, and economic development matters, the latest being to the Rural Prosperity Task Force and Rural Internet Access Authority in North Carolina. At the national level, he was a founding member of the National Coalition for Advanced Manufacturing and National Coalition for Advanced Technology Centers that helped modernize American industrial practices. For his efforts, he has received numerous awards such as being named Distinguished Alumnus by the College of Education at The University of Texas, Distinguished Alumnus of Texas A and M University/Commerce, and a recipient of the “Long Leaf Pine” Award by the Governor of North Carolina. A pioneer for technology-enhanced learning in the classroom and responsible and sustainable rural economic development through affordable and accessible broadband access, Dr. Groves brings demonstrated passion, knowledge, experience and leadership.

Ron Massingale, Vice President of Sales & Marketing

Ron Massingale joined BalsamWest in January 2007 and is the VP of Sales & Marketing. He is directly responsible for all revenue generation efforts, product development and day-to-day operations of the company sales efforts.  Ron has almost four decades of experience in the telecommunications industry serving such leading edge companies as Western Union, MCI, Racal DataCom and WilTel.  At ITT Ron was named as “Manager of the Year” an unprecedented 4 times and was VP & Director of Sales. His experience in voice, data, enterprise sales and carrier wholesale sales, coupled with his desire to give back to the community made him a perfect fit for BalsamWest.  “The telecom industry has blessed my life in many ways and I want to use that experience to help BalsamWest enrich the lives of the people in South West North Carolina.”  Ron grew up in Knoxville, Tennessee and attended East Tennessee State University and later transferred to the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and is forever a Volunteer Fan. Ron later moved to North Carolina where he has resided for 30 years.

Jim Campbell, CTO, Vice President of Network Operations

Jim has contracted his services and expertise to BalsamWest FiberNET since its beginning in 2003. He joined the company full time in 2007 where he serves as the CTO and Vice President of Network Operations. Jim has over 30 years of experience in the telecommunications industry. He worked with AT&T/Western Electric as a Telecommunications Engineer. Jim was also the former Vice President of Information Technology and Telecommunications at Southwestern Community College in Sylva, North Carolina where he was responsible for the planning, development, and management of the college's technology and network infrastructure. He has a master's degree from Clemson University and he holds a number of telecommunications certifications and endorsements. Additionally, he has experience in the deployment of carrier class infrastructure such as SONET. Jim’s chief responsibility is the development of BalsamWest’s network infrastructure.

William Howell, Director of Voice Operations and Services

William joined the BalsamWest Team in September of 2009 as Director of Voice Operations and Services. He is directly responsible for operation of the voice infrastructure, regulatory requirement, and Local and Long Distance Termination and Origination. William has 29 years in telecommunication and networking with industry leaders like, Williams Communications, WilTel Communication, Level 3, Excel Communications and Source Communication. At Williams Communication, William was Director of IT for all aspects of IT infrastructure for the 150 office locations, for both internal LAN and WAN communications. During his time at Williams, he trained internal employees on LAN and WAN deployments for Enterprise customers. At WilTel Communication, William was Director of Sales Engineering responsible for a staff of 40 Sales Engineers nationwide, covering DWDM, IP, Voice, Private Line, Frame Relay, SONET and ATM products. William attended the school of Electrical Engineering at University of Alabama.

Ed Terry, Outside Plant Manager

Ed joined BalsamWest in June 2006 and serves as the Outside Plant Manager.  He is directly responsible for the design, engineering, construction and locating BalsamWest facilities within the BalsamWest network with his team of OSP supervisors.  Ed has over 30 years of engineering and construction experience including RUS projects, serving companies such as AT&T, TDS, AGL Networks and various other operating companies throughout the South East.  Bringing a wealth of knowledge from working on long haul fiber projects in places such as Chili, Peru, Colombia and Saudi Arabia, Ed’s experience has been an instrumental tool in the implementation in some of BalsamWest’s key projects.

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