Leadership
Gary Gadson
Interim Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
Gary Gadson serves as interim CEO and is an Operating Partner at Grain Management. Gary has over 20 years of experience in the telecommunications and technology industries.
Prior to joining Grain, Gary was Vice President Enterprise Analytics, Execution, and Platform Integration for American Virtual Cloud Technologies, Inc. Previous to this role, he was with AT&T for over 18 years and held various leadership roles in the areas of mobility and financial operations, customer service, business strategy, software engineering, and technology management.
Gary serves as Board Chair of Friends of the Dallas Public Library and Co-Chair of Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business CIRCLE. He holds an MBA from Georgetown University, a Master of Science degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from The Johns Hopkins University and a Bachelor of Science degree from Bowie State University.
DAN HAKKER
Chief Revenue Officer (CRO)
Dan Hakker joined Summit Broadband in June 2020. He has more than 15 years of experience in the telecommunications industry. Mr. Hakker oversees commercial, wholesale and hospitality sales as well as marketing and product development.
Before joining Summit Broadband, Mr. Hakker was Vice President and General Manager of the Florida region for Windstream where he led an organization responsible for $150 million in annual revenue. His background includes roles in sales leadership and sales operations with a focus on the Enterprise Business Segment. Throughout his career, he has focused on developing a company culture that aligns cross-functional teams to the common goal of revenue growth.
Mr. Hakker holds an Economics degree from State University of New York at Albany.
MARK RANKIN
Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
Mark Rankin joined Summit Broadband in February 2021. With more than 25 years of accounting and finance experience – 17 years of which has been in the telecommunications industry – Mr. Rankin is responsible for all accounting and audit, tax, fleet, procurement, financial reporting and treasury functions of the company.
Prior to joining Summit Broadband, Mr. Rankin was CFO of Armstrong Telecommunications, where he was responsible for the financial operations of the cable and telephone divisions of the Armstrong Group of Companies. His telecom background includes financial reporting, strategic initiatives, audit, tax, fleet, purchasing and contract negotiations.
Mr. Rankin is a Certified Public Accountant and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration/Accounting from Slippery Rock University and is a board member of the National Cable Television Cooperative (NCTC).
RANDALL COVARD
Vice President, Legal & People Operations
Randall Covard joined Summit Broadband in July 2020. With nearly a decade of legal experience in the telecommunications industry, Mr. Covard advises the company and its stakeholders on all legal matters and oversees its Human Resources functions.
Prior to joining Summit Broadband, Mr. Covard served as legal counsel at FiberLight, LLC, where he was responsible for providing legal advice on a broad range of matters – including corporate governance, commercial transactions, litigation, regulatory compliance and human resources. He also led the legal team during a large-scale network deployment with new fiber construction across several regions of the United States. He negotiated and closed a variety of customer transactions that generated hundreds of millions in revenue.
Mr. Covard earned his Doctor of Jurisprudence degree from John Marshall Law School and also holds a degree in Education from Elizabethtown College.
DANNY PATE
Executive Vice President, Operations
Danny Pate joined Summit Broadband in May 2022. He has 32 years of telecommunications and leadership experience. In his role, Mr. Pate oversees Engineering, Field Operations, Network Operations, Customer Care and Service Delivery.
Mr. Pate’s career evolved through the mergers of Sprint, Qwest, CenturyLink and Lumen, where he managed over 2,000 employees and a $250 million budget. His background encompasses Product, Network and Field Operations, Internet Tech Support, Systems evolution, Strategic Planning and Engineering, as well as Retail and Media Relations.
Mr. Pate holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a concentration in Management Information Systems from Longwood University.
TYLER WALLIS
Executive Vice President, Residential Services
Tyler Wallis joined Summit Broadband in May of 2022. With 25 years of experience in the telecommunications industry, Mr. Wallis is responsible for Strategy, Sales and Marketing for all of Summit’s Residential Services.
Prior to Summit, Mr. Wallis led Sales and Business Operations for Google Fiber’s build out and launch in San Antonio. He has also held senior-level consumer marketing and product roles with Cricket Wireless, Qwest Communications and AT&T.
Mr. Wallis received an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University.