Carl J. Grivner

Chief Executive Officer

Carl Grivner was appointed chief executive officer of XO Communications on May 15, 2003.

Mr. Grivner's career in telecommunications and technology spans more than 25 years. Formerly, Mr. Grivner was chief operating officer at Global Crossing, a position he held from February 2002 until April 2003. Mr. Grivner joined Global Crossing in June 2000 as executive vice president of global operations. Prior to joining Global Crossing, Mr. Grivner was chief executive officer of Worldport Communications. He is also a former chief executive officer for the Western Hemisphere at Cable & Wireless. Additionally, Mr. Grivner has held various senior executive positions at Advanced Fiber Communications. Early in his career he held various positions with Ameritech and IBM.

Mr. Grivner received a Bachelor of Arts from Lycoming College and served in the United States Marine Corps from 1975-1978.

He is a board member and vice chairman of CompTel, the nation's largest association of facilities-based competitive telecommunications companies.

Heather Burnett Gold

Senior Vice President, External Affairs

Heather Burnett Gold is Senior Vice President of External Affairs at XO Communications. In this role she oversees all of XO's advocacy with the federal government, including Congress, the FCC, other federal agencies, and the White House, and with state legislative and regulatory entities.

A telecommunications veteran with more than 20 years of experience, Gold joined XO from the KDW Group, where she was a co-founder & principal, providing strategic and financial planning to companies in the telecommunications industry with respect to opportunities created by regulatory change. Prior to The KDW Group, Gold was vice president of industry affairs at Intermedia Communications where she oversaw the company's regulatory, legislative and industry relations at both the state and federal levels. Before Intermedia, Gold served as president of the Association for Local Telecommunications Services (ALTS) from 1993 to 1998. During her tenure at ALTS, Gold was a leading proponent for opening local telecommunications markets to facilities-based competition and a driving force behind the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Before joining ALTS, she served as vice president of member services for the Competitive Telecommunications Association (CompTel).

Gold holds an MBA in marketing and finance from Washington University in St. Louis and Bachelors and Masters degrees in Economics from Tufts University.

Simone Wu

Senior Vice President and General Counsel

Simone Wu is senior vice president and general counsel of XO Holdings. In this role, she oversees the company's legal affairs, which include commercial, corporate, employment, and intellectual property matters, as well as all litigation in which the company is involved.

Wu has 20 years of wide-ranging experience in the telecommunications industry, including domestic and international business and corporate development, intellectual property and commercial matters, and legal and regulatory affairs. Prior to joining XO in 2001, Wu held business and legal positions at MCI and AOL among other places, and practiced domestic and international transactional and communications law at the law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. She is a member of the board of directors of the Minority Corporate Counsel Association.

She graduated with high honors from the University of Michigan with a degree in Political Science and as a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar from the Columbia University School of Law.

Barbara Polk

Senior Vice President, Human Resources

Barbara Polk is Senior Vice President, Human Resources for XO Communications. Polk leads HR functions encompassing employee relations, learning, HR management systems, recruiting, compensation, and benefits administration. Polk is responsible for implementing and monitoring human resources programs that are aligned with the company’s strategic initiatives; and ensuring that all human resources programs and policies establish a positive employer-employee relationship.

Polk joined XO in 2007 and prior to this role held positions in human resources as director and vice president.

Polk brings over 20 years of experience in human resources management and strategic consulting in both for-profit and non-profit organizations and has worked in healthcare, energy, telecommunications, and retail industries. She holds a bachelor's degree in political science from Rutgers University and has done graduate studies at the University of Maryland.

Robert Geller

Chief Information Officer

Robert Geller is XO Communications' Chief Information Officer. He is responsible for overseeing all the company's IT operations.

Since joining XO in 2001, Geller has significantly improved the quality, timeliness and cost management of IT operations. Additionally, he has overseen the development of several architecture plans, including those that directly impact the ability of XO to provide superior service and delivery to customers.

Prior to joining XO, Geller served as the Senior Vice President of Information Technology at US West/Qwest where he played a pivotal role in raising delivery standards and producing key systems for long distance, DSL, wireless, and e-business for all of the company's business units.

Prior to US West/Qwest, Geller was the Vice President of Software Development for MCI where he held a variety of senior executive positions.

Ernie Ortega

President, XO Carrier Services

Mr. Ortega is president of XO Carrier Services. In this role, he is responsible for marketing, operations, sales and service delivery of wholesale voice, data and Internet services to emerging and established telecommunications companies, cable companies, content providers, Internet service providers and wireless operators.

Mr. Ortega has spent more than 20 years in the telecommunications industry. Prior to his current role, Mr. Ortega was president of carrier sales for XO Communications. Before that, he was vice president of national accounts, responsible for developing and overseeing sales and services to enterprise and wholesale accounts. Prior to joining XO, Mr. Ortega held several sales management positions at MCI in its southwestern U.S. division.

Dan Wagner

President, XO Business Services

As President of XO Business Services, Dan Wagner oversees the sales, marketing and delivery of voice, data and IP communications services to all XO business customers, from small and medium businesses to large enterprises. In this capacity, Mr. Wagner manages more than 1,000 finance, marketing, sales and service delivery employees nationwide who interact daily with XO business customers.

A seasoned industry veteran, Mr. Wagner joined XO Communications from Global Crossing, where he spent eight years. Mr. Wagner was also with Frontier Communications for six years and part of their merger with Global Crossing.

In his former role, Dan led the Regional Direct Sales Channels, Government Services, Collaboration Services, Indirect Channels, and Sales Engineering. Dan was able to increase sales productivity, improve sales representative tenure, grow revenue above industry standards, create a service model that was customer centric, streamline processes, and create a metrics driven culture. These accomplishments reflect Dan's reputation for building top performing customer focused sales and marketing organizations.

Other roles at Global Crossing included Chief Information Officer and Executive Vice President, President, Europe, and Managing Director, U.K. Dan graduated from Cornell University with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering.

Laura Thomas

Chief Financial Officer

Laura Thomas is chief financial officer for XO Communications. In this role, Ms. Thomas is responsible for the company’s finance and accounting functions. She previously served as XO vice president of finance for nine years. In this capacity she oversaw various financial and accounting functions including revenue accounting, billing, business planning and analysis, external reporting and compliance, among other responsibilities. Thomas also worked closely with the senior executive team to manage the company's financial position as it transformed into a broadband-focused telecommunications provider.

With more than 30 years of experience in finance and telecommunications, Thomas’ previous experience includes the role of vice president of finance at Concert Communications, a joint venture between MCI Communications and British Telecom. In this role, she served as acting CFO for six months and managed all revenue and telecommunications accounting functions. She also served as director of finance at MCI where she directed revenue reporting and analysis, as well as managed investor relations and financial planning across all of MCI's business units.

Thomas earned her Master's of Business Administration from George Washington University and her Bachelor of Arts degree in French and Business from Radford University.

Randy Nicklas

Chief Technology Officer

As Chief Technology Officer for XO Communications, Randy Nicklas is responsible for the overall network technology vision for the company’s voice, data, and transport networks. He also advises on the overall design of XO’s commercial and wholesale voice, data and IP-based services.

Previously, Randy was vice president of Engineering, responsible for the design, implementation, and sustaining engineering of XO’s transport, voice and data networks. Before joining XO, he held engineering and technical management positions at Intelsat, Cisco, and MCI. Randy has also worked in the areas of software development and systems engineering on a variety of aerospace programs for NASA, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and Computer Sciences Corporation.

He obtained a B.S. and M.S. in Applied Mathematics and an M.S. in Physics, all from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Steve Nocella

Senior Vice President, Network Services

As senior vice president of network services, Steve Nocella leads XO Communications’ 900-person strong network services organization. In this role, he oversees all aspects of network operations, network planning, network engineering, process development and service assurance.

Prior to assuming this role, Nocella had been vice president of network operations, and before that had been vice president of network engineering. In those positions he was responsible for network operations, service delivery, and planning as well as the deployment of network technology. Prior to these roles, he was director of network engineering, managing the company’s switching, transport and access networks in the northeast region.

Nocella began his career with AT&T Local Services where he held a number of positions in planning, operations, and engineering.

Nocella holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Rutgers University and an M.B.A. from Columbia University.

Valerie Ianieri

General Manager, Small Business Services

Valerie has been successful in a variety of business environments for nearly three decades. Her sales, management, and executive experience are predominantly in the telecom and tech-related arenas. Valerie’s expertise spans enterprise, wholesale carrier, and government markets, in public and private sectors, both domestically and internationally.

Valerie has held a variety of positions at MCI, Teleglobe, and Universal Access, among others. Most recently, Valerie has centered consulting services on troubled businesses, set restructure and turnaround strategies, and provided interim executive management