C-Level

KB: I was very fortunate in my process to be able to talk to CEO Ernie Ortega and to [COO] Don MacNeil. I’ve learned a lot of lessons in our world. It’s nice that they like you. It’s nice that they pay large commission checks. And it’s nice that you have shiny slicks that say you’re going to be the most wonderful company. But ultimately the strength of where I came from was the strength of being a quality service provider. In our business, things can go bump in the night. It’s a commitment and a consistency to service that you’re looking for. When I spoke with Ernie and Don, they shared the commitment to customer-first that makes up what GTT is today.

GTT grew from organic growth, but also a lot of acquisitions – more than 44 acquisitions. That was great. It gives us a lot of great assets, which I’ll touch on. But it also brings a lot of debt in. So they cleaned all that out as part of the prepackaged bankruptcy. Today it’s all about organic growth. The company knows that when you’re a service provider like we are (especially a managed service provider), you’ve got to take care of customers. It’s not just lip service; it’s by action. Everybody wants to be a great service company, and they’ll say it is. But Ernie and Don went through specific operational excellence efforts and investments in people, processes and systems that GTT has done, is doing and will continue to do. It’s an ongoing evolution. That’s the commitment that hooked me into the business.