CenturyLink taps Time Warner Cable exec Vernon Irvin to lead SMB sales effort

CenturyLink (NYSE: CTL) has added more firepower to its small and mid-sized business (SMB) arsenal by naming Vernon Irvin as the new vice president of sales for its Business Solutions Group.

He will oversee the sales team that will support its SMB customers with its suite of bundled voice, data and Internet connectivity solutions, cloud products and outsourced IT support solutions.  

One of the products he likely will be driving in his new position is Managed Office, a fully managed IT services, cloud and communications network bundle designed for SMB customers.

In addition to Managed Office, Irvin will be able to drive its recently released symmetrical 1 Gbps fiber-based service that it is offering to Salt Lake City-area small to medium sized businesses (SMBs) that reside in multi-tenant unit (MTU) office buildings.

Irvin has a strong base to build from. During the fourth quarter, CenturyLink's overall business services segment generated $1.56 billion in total revenues, an increase of 1.0 percent from the fourth quarter of 2012, "as growth in high-bandwidth offerings offset lower legacy services revenues."

Irvin comes to CenturyLink from Time Warner Cable, which is now in the process of being bought by Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA), where he served as the vice president of Business Services for the cable MSO's Midwest region. During his first year in this position, he led a team that drove 35 percent of revenue growth year over year.

Having Irwin's knowledge of the businesses sector will be key for CenturyLink as it looks to penetrate deeper into the underserved SMB market where cable is growing its presence. 

A 30-year IT and telecom industry veteran, Irvin held leadership positions at VeriSign Inc., American Management Systems, XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc., British Telecommunications (NYSE: BT) and additional telecommunications, digital media and IT companies.

For more:
- see the release

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