This feature is in our weekly Monday Morning Report newsletter, which showcases our highest-level members. Leaders You Should Know highlights community leaders who are making a notable impact in the Nashville region.
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Tell us about yourself?
Originally from Cincinnati, OH, I came to Nashville in January 2014 and was charged with bringing Google Fiber (GFiber) to Music City. Over the past decade, I’ve had the privilege of seeing GFiber expand across the Middle Tennessee region to most parts of Nashville and increasingly the surrounding areas.
About a decade ago when I joined GFiber, I served as Supplier Sourcing Manager. Since then, I’ve held several different roles – some locally focused in Nashville and some national – throughout my 10-year tenure. In November 2023, I transitioned from a national role with a broad scope as our COO’s Chief of Staff to the General Manager for The South Region, overseeing day-to-day operations that support customers in Tennessee, Alabama and Florida.
I received my Bachelor’s of Science in Civil Engineering with highest distinction from Purdue University and an MBA from The Ohio State University. In my free time away from work, I enjoy exploring nature, working in the garden to grow nutritious fuel and traveling with friends and family to explore areas all over our country. I have visited 41 states + DC and look forward to visiting the remaining 9 soon. We live in a great, big country, and I enjoy exploring it and seeing the beautiful scenery and people along the way. I’m a happy dog dad to two English Springer Spaniels.
An avid gardener, I’m passionate about where our food comes from and involved in the local direct to consumer farming community. I have been actively involved with Habitat for Humanity for years, specifically here in Nashville since I moved here. It’s been exciting to see the city I am a part of grow so much over the last decade at the same time my career has grown. I look forward to the next chapter of growth and continuing to improve Nashvillians’ connectivity and quality of life.
Tell us about your business/industry?
GFiber is an internet service provider (ISP) that provides fast, reliable, accessibly priced internet service to customers across the U.S. by using the best technologies, methods and people. With multi-gig speeds and advanced tech, we support everything you dream of doing online from working at home to creating content and beyond. Plus, GFiber customers never have to worry about data caps, annual contracts or hidden fees.
GFiber has always set the bar on speed and service. We rolled out new lifestyle-based products – Core 1 Gig, Home 3 Gig and Edge 8 Gig – designed to meet the unique internet lifestyle needs of every household. Core 1 Gig is a premium product at an approachable price that makes it easy to set it and forget it. Home 3 Gig is built to meet the needs of today’s typical home, with multiple people working, learning, streaming and anything else-ing simultaneously. And Edge 8 Gig is the cutting-edge, radical internet for today and tomorrow, offering advanced tech capabilities at less than 2 cents per Mpbs. These tailored, new lifestyle products underscore GFiber’s commitment to meeting customers’ unique needs, no matter their situation. GFiber also offers business-grade gigabit internet. Small businesses can choose between our super-reliable 1 Gig and 2 Gig services to power up their business.
This year, GFiber is celebrating its 10-Year Anniversary in Nashville, and I’m proud to say I was part of the team that led this launch. We’ve come a long way since announcing the expansion to Nashville back in January 2015. From the first customer served in downtown Nashville, to now serving most parts of Nashville and increasingly the surrounding areas, these milestones just underline GFiber’s hundreds of millions of dollars of investment in Middle TN communities. Not only have we grown in speed and reach, but GFiber’s pricing has remained the same since coming to Nashville a decade ago.
What should we know about you?
I am both the first in my family to finish college and the first to earn my graduate degree. I shook hands with an astronaut while attending the event announcing GFiber’s expansion to Huntsville in 2016. And lastly, it’s unique to have been with GFiber’s Nashville team since the very beginning. It’s been rewarding to experience the journey – from getting the keys to our first temporary office space, to our first customers, to the One Touch Make Ready initiative and all the way through our most recent expansion into Smyrna, Murfreesboro and Franklin. I look forward to continuing to grow in tandem with GFiber and the City of Nashville.
How did you get to your current position?
Within GFiber, the roles I’ve held prior to my current position include Chief of Staff to COO, as well as Network Deployment and Operations Lead. Before coming to GFiber, I served as Sourcing Manager at AT Kearney and was a Structural Engineer at Steinbicker & Associates. I wouldn’t be where I am today in my career without the relationships I’ve cultivated and the business acumen I’ve built through persistence and diverse experiences. I focus on really understanding what I enjoy about work, and as new opportunities arise, I simply assess them based on whether they will bring me satisfaction, expose me to new groups of people, and open new opportunities down the road.
What value do you see in Chamber involvement?
It’s been incredibly rewarding to build lasting relationships with industry peers and join a community where we can exchange insights, build on each other’s wins, get more involved locally and increase GFiber’s visibility across Middle TN. Moving to Nashville in 2014, I was in awe of how friendly everyone was. Whether it was work-related or personal, I instantly became part of this collaborative community, where instead of competing with one another, we cheered each other on. Here I am 11 years later and still see the welcoming, vibrant and generous nature that Nashvillians exude across the city. Our growth has not changed that. As Nashville grows and prospers economically, so does GFiber.
What advice would you give your 25-year-old self?
“Smooth seas don’t make skillful sailors.” If I could give my 25-year-old self any advice, I would tell myself that it’s the challenges we overcome that shape our greatest strengths. The moments that seem like unrelenting storms are precisely the ones that spur your growth and force you to develop the resilient, optimistic and creative leadership qualities that set you apart.
When I was 25 and still at the beginning of my career, of course I wanted everything to flow seamlessly. Don’t we all? It’s natural to want the straightest path to success, but real growth happens when you’re put to the test —when a project fails, when you don’t meet deadlines, when you face burnout or just when things don’t go to plan. The trick is to flip your mind into thinking that these challenges don’t make you a failure but are instead a learning lesson. It’s through these hard times where I’ve developed problem solving skills, creativity, adversity, patience and so much more – both at a professional and personal level. The COVID experience was one of these trying times for most of us.
At GFiber, we quickly had to figure out how to keep our teams engaged while operating and expanding critical infrastructure amidst a pandemic experience with ever changing restrictions and risks that were new to everyone, all while opinions on the whole thing varied amongst our employees and customers. It was also a period of isolation for many of us and our teams who are accustomed to interacting with coworkers and customers on a day-to-day basis.
Having come through it though, we honed new ways to collaborate, kept our operation going and helped shape a better appreciation of the need for widespread, fast and reliable fiber-based internet. Remember that smooth waters only reinforce what you already know. It’s the rough seas that push you to learn new skills and reshape the way you think. Embrace the discomfort, because it’s in the hardest trials that your greatest growth happens.
What makes Nashville a great place to do business?
In Nashville, we help each other. So much has changed over the last 10 years, but one thing that has always held true is our friendly culture. Nashville has always been a community that fosters growth in a way that isn’t competitive, but collaborative. Nashvillians are expected to help each other, and this has been instrumental in the city’s growth in innovation and technology, as well as across all industries.
Over the past decade, Nashville’s thriving economy has experienced significant growth, ranking among the top U.S. metro areas for job creation, business formation and residential construction with a particularly notable rise in the healthcare, business services and information technology sectors. Recent data shows that Nashville has emerged as one of the top five cities across the country for job growth since before the COVID-19 pandemic.
During COVID, many people made the switch to working from home, which led to more flexibility and a slash economy where more and more people were working side gigs. Because of this, many of Nashville’s aspiring musicians, creators, innovators and entrepreneurs rose to fame, and hybrid work has allowed the culturally diverse people of Nashville to grow in more ways than one. Many customers and businesses who have been with us since launching our 1 Gig product in Nashville almost 10 years ago are now making the transition to 8 Gig because their lives and their businesses have grown in lock step with Nashville.
As GFiber has been rolling out its lifestyle products, we’ve been collaborating with our SMB partners including local businesses, content creators, artists, gamers, athletes and more – all of which have benefited from GFiber’s multi-gig internet. We’ve been hosting several community events, watch parties and other social gatherings that showcase our incredible SMBs, as well as working with influencers and podcasters to share insights on how GFiber is helping our ever growing city stay connected.
What is your favorite space in a home and why?
My favorite space in my home is the garage where I spend a lot of my free time working on antique equipment that I use around my farm. There was once a time where the internet couldn’t reach my garage and this hindered my ability to use YouTube or make video calls to friends in order to figure out how to best do maintenance and repairs. As the internet has become increasingly central to daily life — influencing how people work, learn, buy, and sell goods and ideas and connect with family, friends, communities and the world – the demand for connectivity has continued to grow, and GFiber recently evolved its product offerings to meet customers’ internet needs.
Our new lifestyle products – Core 1 Gig, Home 3 Gig and Edge 8 Gig – are tailored for every customer, allowing the individual to select the internet plan that fits best with their lifestyle. Our Edge 8 Gig product gives the ability to stay connected and take on multiple high bandwidth tasks no matter where you are in the house – including out in the garage like me! These lifestyle products underscore GFiber’s commitment to its customers – it’s not about just getting ‘more’ but getting it right and determining which option makes the most sense for the customer. There is truly a product for everyone, whether the household requires fast and reliable internet for the basics, internet connectivity for multiple devices and several smart home connections or a no-limit gaming experience.
What is your favorite leadership book?
My favorite leadership book is Start with WHY by Simon Sinek. Its core principle, known as the “golden circle,” is both simple and transformative. Sinek argues that truly inspirational leaders begin by articulating why they do what they do before explaining how or what they offer. By leading with purpose, they forge deeper connections with those around them and inspire stronger commitment.
Sinek illustrates this concept with the example of Ernest Shackleton’s Antarctic expedition. The expedition’s recruitment ad read: “Men wanted for Hazardous Journey. Small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success.” Though the ad painted an ominous picture, it effectively communicated why someone might want to join: the chance to be part of something extraordinary. Men who resonated with that purpose signed on willingly and were ready to face adversity for the sake of exploration and legacy.
For me, this example underlines the power of aligning people behind a shared mission or belief. It’s not about manipulating them with promises of wealth or comfort; it’s about showing them the why that compels them to devote themselves wholeheartedly. Through my leadership journey at GFiber, I’ve seen how clarifying the deeper reason behind our goals brings teams together, fosters loyalty and energizes everyone to tackle even the toughest challenges. GFiber exists here to provide abundant connectivity to Nashvillians so that they can do great things. What we do is provide great internet. How we do it is by wiring up homes and businesses to our network. By prioritizing why, you set the foundation for stronger engagement, innovation, and long-term success.