Joe Ross's Email & Phone

Joe has more than 15 years experience in managing and directing operations on a national scale. He most recently served as president of Grande Communications. Joe came on board with Grande as one of the original founders in September 1999. Under Joe's leadership, the company grew during a five-year period to more than 900 employees and approximately $190 million in revenue achieving EBITDA positive in its second year of operations. Among his many responsibilities as president, Joe oversaw Grande's network engineering and operations, construction, retail sales and marketing, as well as Grande's information system operations. This included managing a nationwide voice network that handled more than 200 million minutes a month of voice traffic and a nationwide data network that handled more than 800 Mbps a month. Joe also oversaw Grande's retail billing system that billed more than 135,000 retail customers a month as well as three call centers, one technical support center and a 24/7 Network Operations Center. In addition Joe was responsible for Grande's retail sales and marketing efforts. This included telemarketing, e-blasts, door-to-door sales teams, on-line sales, direct mail and mass media. During his tenure at Grande, Joe also played a key role in the negotiations and integrations of five key acquisitions for Grande. Prior to Grande, Joe was the former director of operations of J.R.'s Cable Services, Inc., a nationwide company with offices in Austin, Texas, Las Vegas, Washington, D.C. and Houston. While at J.R.'s Cable Services, Ross successfully bid, managed and executed the installation of 7,000 miles of new network build and 18,000 miles of network upgrade for the company. Joe has also worked with leading communications companies, including Level 3 Communications, RCN Communications, Time Warner Cable, Comcast, Espire and Cox Cable. A 20-year Austin native, Ross's extensive volunteer efforts in the community include Coats-for-Kids, Operation Blue Santa and Computers for Learning. He is also a member of the Young Men's Business League. Joe has been a finalist for two years in the Austin Under 40 Awards, which recognizes outstanding business and community achievements.