Management Team
Brian Silvestri - President
Brian has over 18 years of executive-level management and engineering design experience in the wireless industry. His strengths include network deployment execution, cost accountability and project management. As President, he oversees strategy, sales, system delivery, customer support, and product management.
Prior to co-founding Connectiv Solutions, Brian was the Executive Director of Engineering at Telecorp PCS, AT&T Wireless' largest affiliate until its acquisition in 2002 for $5.6 billion. At Telecorp, Brian was responsible for managing a $230 million dollar annual operations budget which consisted of 16 mobile switching centers and 4000 cell sites throughout the United States and Puerto Rico. Brian's team addressed RF optimization, core routing and network operating expenses and provided corporate direction to the regional teams. This corporate guidance resulted in millions in captured savings for the company. Through Brian's direction, Telecorp successfully deployed a comprehensive and consolidated ATM network which combined both engineering and IT requirements onto a single, highly-redundant infrastructure. This innovation resulted in over $10 million in annual OPEX savings.
Prior to Telecorp Brian was Manager of Network Engineering and Sr. RF Engineer for American Personal Communications/Sprint Spectrum. Brian played a pivotal role with the CDMA overlay initiative over the existing GSM network in the Greater Washington DC Area. Brian started his career as a wireless consultant for Comsearch. While with Comsearch, Brian helped implement and optimize the first CDMA PCS network in the Tampa region with PrimeCo PCS.
Mr. Silvestri earned a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Widener University in Chester, Pennsylvania.
Thomas Wehrung, Chief Technical Officer
Thomas has over 18 years of experience in both the telecom and aerospace industries utilizing his diverse background in engineering, software development and management. As CTO, Thomas is primarily focused on software development and integration of new technologies but also contributes to corporate direction.
Prior to co-founding Connectiv Solutions, Thomas spent 5 years with TeleCorp PCS as Director of RF Operations and Software Development. His main responsibility was to monitor the performance of 10 Lucent and 6 Ericsson MSCs, which included over 4,000 cell sites covering 10 states and Puerto Rico. In addition, he was responsible for overseeing the design, development and deployment of specialty software within the Engineering and Operations department to maximize revenue and minimize operational expenses. By creating software to ensure accurate switch translations for roaming partners, Thomas' team played a key role in TeleCorp's capturing of $130 million in annual roaming revenue. In addition, he managed the network the network optimization process that identified several sources of revenue leakage and was instrumental in saving approximately $2.5 million in LD usage over a two year period.
Prior to TelecCorp, Thomas spent several years with American Personal Communications/Sprint Spectrum, helping to launch the first PCS system in the US.
Thomas holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering (with an emphasis on Computer Science) from the University of Maryland, College Park.
Joe Kiriacos , VP of Sales
As the VP of Sales for Connectiv Solutions, Joe Kiriacos will help drive the direction and growth of Connectiv Solution’s flagship product, netCLARUS, and professional services in North America. A native of the telecom industry, Joe brings over 17 years of experience spanning sales, sales management, and operations as well as experience having led multiple transformational sales engagements for telecommunications organizations.
Prior to joining Connectiv Solutions, Joe held leadership roles in telecommunications companies like InfoVista, Actix and Telarix with responsibility for managing notable clients including Sprint, Verizon, TELUS, and Ericsson. Joe also provided management consulting, revenue assurance and cost avoidance consulting as a Manager in the business advisory practice of PriceWaterhouseCoopers for such international tier one operators including MCI, AT&T and British Telecom.
Joe is recognized as a subject matter expert in the several areas of network optimization, has been interviewed by leading telecom trade journals, and has contributed to several telecom industry white papers.
Joe holds a BS in Finance from the University of Maryland.
John McCluskey, Director Consulting Services
As Director of Consulting Services, John is responsible for client services and expanding Connectiv Solutions’ SaaS solutions. With more than 22 years in the telecom industry, John possesses (boasts) extensive experience with providers in the Wireless, Long Distance and Competitive Local Exchange marketplace. He understands the complexities faced by telecoms both large and small having worked with start-up companies with less than 20 employees to large carriers with thousands of employees. Regardless of size, John produced results such expanding and streamlining operations, reducing network costs and recovering overbilled charges by more than $50M.
Most recently the manager of Telecom Expense & Analytics Management at US Cellular, John has held leadership roles in Network Planning, Regulatory, Operations and Network Cost departments at such companies as US Cellular Corp, Level3 Communications, MFS Communications, MCImetro, McLeodUSA, and Access One.
John holds a B.A. from Loras College.
Christel Bivens, Controller
Christel, a CPA, has over 20 years of managerial accounting and finance experience in many industries including telecom. Her strengths include cost containment and cost accountability, forecasting, revenue assurance, best business processes, developing policy and procedure structure, and business operations.
Prior to coming on board with Connectiv-Solutions, Christel started her own consulting firm in 2007 where she set up several businesses and assisted clients with the implementation of several accounting software packages including Oracle Financials while administering best business practices in compliance with DCAA and GAAP. Before her consulting engagements, Christel served as the Controller on the Executive Committee at Startec, Inc. (a long distance telecom) where she applied effective management tactics and processes to achieve strategic goals which included turning the company profitable, with a 200% increase in EBITDA in less than 18 months. Her main responsibilities included reliable financial reporting, cash flow management, cost containment, revenue assurance, insurance risk assessment, policy and procedure development and implementation, forecasting and budgeting, due diligence, and compliance accounting. Her guidance assisted the company in effectively increasing profits and positioning itself for a successful acquisition.
Christel started her career in public accounting and has successfully performed as an executive management member in the following industries: telecom, manufacturing and wholesale (of consumable and building products), bio-tech, settlement services, and non-profits.
Christel received her B.S. in Accounting from the University of Maryland, College Park, MD.
Phillipe Mathis, Director of Client Services
Phillipe has over 15 years of Telecom experience that includes Carrier Relations, Interconnect, Telco Auditing and Project Management. Over the years Phillipe has held managerial positions at Nextel, Espire Communications, Telecorp PCS, AT&T Wireless and Quickcomm Software Solutions. As Director of Business Development, Phillipe is primarily responsible for Sales Account and Strategic Development for Tier 1, 2, 3 and 4 Telecom customers. Phillipe has been very instrumental in helping existing clients actualize over $100M in network optimization savings.
Prior to joining Connectiv Solutions, Phillipe was a Network Expense Manager for AT&T Wireless. His group was responsible for contract management and Telco billing for 12 AT&T Wireless Regions. During that time Phillipe’s team recovered over $10 million in Interconnect Expenses and successfully implemented E911 throughout the former Telecorp PCS markets. During his tenure at AT&T Wireless, Phillipe successfully negotiated interconnection and service level agreements for the Southern, Mid-West and International Regions.
Phillipe holds a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Maryland, Eastern Shore.
Nicole Whelan, Director of Product Management
As Director of Product Management, Ms. Davison is responsible for the product evolution as well as overseeing the customer management group. Her group serves as a liaison between customers and software development and is responsible for gathering, prioritizing and validating customer requirements. Nicole brings over 12 years of experience in both the wireless telecommunications and software industries.
Prior to joining Connectiv, Nicole was a Lead Functional Analyst at CACI where she led a group that developed product requirements based on market indicators and customer requirements. Prior to CACI, she worked extensively in the wireless industry for Invertix Corporation, where she participated in the launch and ongoing optimization of several PCS systems nationwide. Nicole also gained significant experience with GSM and CDMA air interface technologies and performed extensive research on GSM and CDMA layer 3 messaging in support of Invertix's optimization software products. Prior to joining Invertix, she worked as a consultant RF engineer with MLJ, Inc. where she performed CDMA and GSM design and optimization for customers across North America, South America, and Europe
Ms. Davison received her B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia
Nikki Vazquez, Senior Manager of Human Resources
As Manager of Human Resources, Nikki is responsible for recruiting the brightest leaders and professional staff, providing them with key development training and equipping them with the necessary tools and support to deliver the optimal experience to our customers. With more than 20 years of diverse experience in finance, health care, hospitality and human resources, Nikki joined Connectiv Solutions in May of 2007 and has developed the necessary policies and programs to maximize employee success for both their professional and technical development.
Very conscious of the fact that an employee’s personal well-being also affects them professionally Nikki continuously works to develop and implement specific initiatives to enhance the many benefits and programs Connectiv Solutions offers its’ employees. Nikki is dedicated to contributing to the success of Connectiv and its’ employees and is also working on setting standards that will, among other things, lead to Connectiv Solutions being recognized as one of the 50 Best Small and Medium Companies to Work for in America. Connectiv also has a mission to ‘give back’ to the community and Nikki organizes various internal charitable events throughout the year to aid in achieving that goal.
Nikki attended the University of Maryland and the College of Notre Dame of Maryland and is a member of the Society for Human Resource Management and the Human Resource Council of the National Capital Area.
Vertical Markets • Mobile • Cable • CLEC • VOIP • Broadband • LD
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