Wave Broadband Hires Execs, Makes Organizational Changes

About five months after a buyout from two private equity firms and key management, Wave Broadband said Thursday that it has hired three new executives and broadened the roles of two others to better reflect its expansion strategy.

In June, private equity funds Oak Hill Capital Partners and GI Partners and several key Wave managers led by CEO Steve Weed, bought out Wave’s original backer Sandler Capital Management in a deal estimated to be worth about $950 million.

At the time of the deal, Weed said it would give Wave, which has about 382,000 video, voice and data customers in suburban areas near Seattle; Portland, Ore.; San Francisco and Sacramento, Calif., capital to expand.

In a statement Thursday, Wave said it made two promotions – COO Steve Friedman is now president and COO, while chief marketing officer Arah Peck has been promoted to executive vice president of strategic development. In addition, Wave hired three new executives – former Insight Communications senior vice president of operations Tim Klinefelter as executive vice president of broadband services; former Sunflower Broadband general manager Patrick Knorr, will become Wave’s executive vice president of IP and business services; and former Cox Communications vice president of marketing Colette Jelineo as Wave’s new chief marketing officer.

“We are extremely happy about the addition of these newest members to our executive team; their experience and expertise help position Wave for incremental success and growth in the future,” Weed said in a statement.