FiberLight has named its COO, Don MacNeil, to be the service provider's new CEO. MacNeil will replace Jim Lynch, who will become executive chairman.
MacNeil joined FiberLight as the company’s COO in September of this year.
The service provider said MacNeil’s appointment marks a new stage of development for FiberLight as it continues to leverage its fiber network to address its growing wholesale and enterprise customer base.
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He brings plenty of experience running competitive fiber and data center companies.
Before coming to FiberLight, MacNeil served as CTO for EdgeConneX, a data center solutions provider, which built a national portfolio of 29 edge data centers throughout the U.S. and Europe. He is probably best known for his 14-year tenure with XO Communications as COO. Additionally, Don MacNeil held a variety of leadership roles with operations, engineering and sales and marketing teams.
“By combining my past experience in the data center and service provider networking segments with FiberLight’s expertise and strategic network reach, we will be able to meet the challenges posed by hyperscale connectivity, evolving wireless solutions and the needs of our enterprise customers,” MacNeil said in a release.
His appointment as CEO comes as FiberLight continues to expand its network organically. FiberLight told FierceTelecom in a previous interview that the company is keen on extending its network into more places, but the focus will be on conducting its own builds versus purchasing other service providers' networks.
FiberLight currently owns and maintains 1.7 million fiber miles in over 400 cities and towns across the United States. It also maintains over 17,000 backbone access points, 1,700 on-net locations and presence in over 100 data centers across the country.
As the company’s new CEO, MacNeil will likely continue to look for ways to enhance the current network with targeted builds, including connections to subsea landing stations to attract more international carrier wholesale customers.