Brightspeed, the nation's fifth largest incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC), initiated a leadership succession plan that will enable the company to continue executing its goal to provide fiber broadband services to 3 million homes and businesses across its 20-state footprint.
Currently serving as the company’s COO, Tom Maguire will succeed Bob Mudge as CEO. Mudge will step into the role of executive chair of the Board of Directors, responsible for the company's strategic direction. Brightspeed will also welcome Manuel (Manny) Sampedro as chief operating officer.
The changes are effective November 1, 2023.
"When we began our exploration of a new internet company in 2020, Bob Mudge, Chris Creager and Tom Maguire were the advisors we trusted to help evaluate and shape the opportunity. We asked each of them to stay on to take the company through the launch and initial stabilization, and we've been so pleased with all this team has accomplished so far. As planned, Chris transitioned to an advisor role earlier this year, and this next transition is a natural next step in the team's evolution," said Aaron Sobel, partner, private equity at Apollo and Brightspeed Board member. "Bob has helped to shape Brightspeed into the growing, thriving company it is today, and I'm pleased he has agreed to step into the role of executive chair for our Board, where he will remain actively involved."
A 40-plus-year telecom veteran, Tom Maguire brings a breadth of expertise to his new role as CEO. Starting his career as a field technician and rising through various management and leadership roles at Verizon, Maguire ultimately served as SVP, national operations support, responsible for the processes and systems supporting an operations team of 35,000 field technicians engineering and network operations employees.
As COO at Brightspeed, he leads a team of nearly 3,000 employees and is responsible for service and repair and the company's multi-year fiber network deployment. "I'm honored to expand my role at Brightspeed and continue to build on the legacy that Bob, Chris and I helped to establish," said Maguire. "Brightspeed has a promising future, and it's a true privilege to work alongside our talented team to bring faster, more reliable internet to millions of people who don't have it today."
Brightspeed, also named Manny Sampedro, a long-time telecommunications veteran, as the company's new COO. Sampedro, a long-time telecom executive, joins Brightspeed from Verizon, where he most recently served as SVP of business transformation. Throughout his 25-year career, he held executive positions with significant P&L responsibility across the wireline and wireless businesses before transitioning to strategy, integration and transformation roles.
Sean Buckley
Sean is responsible for establishing and executing the editorial strategies of Lightwave and Broadband Technology Report across their websites, email newsletters, events, and other information products.