- CEO CORNER
- FACT SHEET
- MANAGEMENT BIOS
- BOARD OF DIRECTORS
- CAREERS
- COMPANY CULTURE
- CORPORATE CITIZENSHIP
- PROGRAMS
- PARTNERS
Board of Directors
ViaWest enjoys a model relationship with its Board of Directors, centered on healthy communication and mutual respect.
The ViaWest management team relies on the wisdom and experience of its Board members with regards to the company's strategic initiatives, operating plans and acquisition activity. As result, ViaWest continually benefits from their Board's commitment to guide the company in a positive direction.
Roy Dimoff - Chairman
Nancy Phillips
Bob Morse
Bill Pade
Rick Magnuson
Phil Koen
Mike Fries
Roy J. Dimoff
ViaWest Co-founder, Chairman & CEO
As a Co-founder, Roy launched ViaWest in 1999. His active leadership, experience, and management ability has guided ViaWest throughout the company’s decade-long journey. With Roy at the helm, the company survived the ‘Dot-bomb’ crash which decimated similar companies, and ViaWest emerged as an industry leader, experiencing continual growth and success. Roy is a serial entrepreneur who launched his first telecommunications company in Toronto at the age of 26, Dimoff has driven his success through strategic positioning, strong financial administration, and an instinctive ability to select and manage successful mergers and acquisitions. After establishing and growing his own business, Teleconferencing Systems Canada, Dimoff recognized an opportunity to take the business to new levels. In 1988, he sold his company to Confertech International of Denver, Colorado (now Global Crossing), where he also accepted an executive management position in the services division. In less than five years, Dimoff had established Confertech as the second largest provider of audio and video teleconferencing services in the United States. In 1995, after a successful tenure with Confertech, Dimoff assumed control of RMI.net — a struggling Internet Service Provider. Using his strong telecommunications and technology background, coupled with his keen business insight, Dimoff quickly established RMI.net as the leading Internet Service Provider in Colorado and effectively completed one of the first Internet IPOs. With RMI.net in a strong financial state, Dimoff retired from his CEO position in 1997 and began the development of ViaWest. By 1999, Dimoff and the other founders officially launched ViaWest Internet Services, Inc. into the market as a provider of colocation and hosted solutions. While he remains focused on ViaWest's current strategy and future opportunities, Dimoff's entrepreneurial spirit and achievements continue to be recognized by prominent business leaders. Already holding a number of awards including the Denver Business Journal's "Who's Who in Technology, Telcom and Media," and a finalist for CSIA's "Technology Executive of the Year". Dimoff's latest industry recognition came by winning the 2009 Ernst & Young, "Entrepreneur of the Year Award" for the Rocky Mountain Region. Dimoff is a graduate of Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, where he earned his Honors Bachelor of Business Administration Degree.
Nancy Phillips
ViaWest Co-Founder, Director & COO
As co-founder and COO, Nancy Phillips has a vested interest in establishing ViaWest as a leader in the market. Phillips, who has over 15 years of management experience in technology, oversees ViaWest's operations, engineering and technical support divisions. Previously Vice President of Operations for RMI.net. Phillips was integral in managing the company's network and technical growth. Prior to helping this struggling Internet Service Provider back to profitability, Phillips held another position as Vice President of Operations for ITC Worldwide (now Genesys Conferencing) and was Senior Vice President of Operations for ConferTech International (now Global Crossing). Phillips has also been a principal, executive and consultant for numerous successful telecommunications companies including France Telecom, MCI and Qwest. Over 15 years ago, she began her career with Teleconferencing Systems Canada as Vice President of Sales and it was in this role that she met Roy Dimoff - the two have been loyal business partners ever since. In addition to being recognized by ViaWest for her outstanding contributions, Phillips has earned a reputation for excellence throughout the industry. In 2005, the Denver Business Journal named Phillips as "Outstanding Woman in Business" in the high-tech category. She also received the 2004 "Technology Business Woman of the Year" award hosted by the Colorado Software & Internet Association's APEX awards. Phillips was again recognized in 2004 by the Denver Chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) and the Denver Business Journal, winning the "Outstanding Women in Business Jean Yancey Award." The year 2002 marked the second year in a row in which Phillips was recognized by the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs (FWE), as a woman that has raised capital for an entrepreneurial venture. Nancy serves as a board member for CSIA(Colorado's Technology Organization), and also serves on the board of the National Center for Women & Information Technology(NCWIT). Phillips holds an Honors Bachelor of Economics from Queens University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
Bob Morse
Oak Hill Capital Partners
Robert L. Morse Jr. is a Partner of Oak Hill Capital Partners and has been with the firm since 2001. He is responsible for originating, structuring, and managing investments in the Technology group. Prior to joining Oak Hill, he worked at GCC Investments, a growth private equity firm, as a financial analyst at Morgan Stanley Capital Partners and at Loudcloud, Inc., an internet infrastructure provider. Mr. Morse earned a B.S.E. degree, summa cum laude, in Civil Engineering and Operations Research from Princeton University and a M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar.
Bill Pade
Oak Hill Capital Partners
William J. Pade is a Partner of Oak Hill Capital Partners and has been with the firm since 2004. He is responsible for originating, structuring, and managing investments in the Technology group. Prior to joining Oak Hill, he spent 26 years at McKinsey & Company, where he was most recently a Director and the Managing Partner of McKinsey's Silicon Valley office. Prior to that, Mr. Pade was based in London, where he led McKinsey's high technology and telecom practice in Europe. He earned a B.A. degree, cum laude, from Harvard College and a M.B.A., with distinction, from Harvard Business School.
Rick Magnuson founded GI Partners in 2001, a Trans-Atlantic private equity advisor with $4 billion of assets under management. He leads the GI Partners team and oversees all of the group's operations. Mr. Magnuson is also the Co-founder and Chairman of Digital Realty Trust (NYSE: DLR), the leading global provider of data center and internet peering points. Prior to founding GI Partners, he served as Deputy Managing Director of Nomura’s Principal Finance Group in London, which he joined in 1994. At Nomura, he assisted in the investment and oversight of approximately $3 billion of equity capital invested in businesses and properties located in North America and Europe. Previously, Mr. Magnuson was a Director of Investment Banking at Merrill Lynch, where he provided corporate finance and M&A advice to asset-based businesses. Earlier in his career, he worked for Digital Research, the company that created the personal computer operating system, and founded and sold Interactive Software, a software services company. He also previously served on the board of Glenborough Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: GLB) until its sale in 2006. He is a charter member of the San Francisco Bay YPO chapter and a Trustee of the Hoover Institute at Stanford University.
PHIL KOEN served as Chief Executive Officer and a director of SAVVIS [NASDAQ: SVVS] from March 2006 until January 2010. Prior to joining SAVVIS, Mr. Koen served more than four years as President and Chief Operating Officer of Equinix [NASDAQ: EQIX], a provider of network-neutral data centers and Internet exchange services, and prior to that as Chief Financial Officer of Equinix for over three years. Prior to Equinix, Mr. Koen was in top executive positions at PointCast, Inc. where he served as President and Chief Executive Officer, Chief Operating Officer, and Chief Financial Officer, respectively. Prior to PointCast, he served in a CFO position with Etec Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: ETEC). Currently Mr. Koen serves on the Boards of Infinera Corp (NASDAQ: INFN), ViaWest and Vette Corp., and Webster University Board of Trustees. Mr. Koen holds a B.A from Claremont McKenna College and an M.B.A. from the University of Virginia, and is a CPA (non-active status).
Mike Fries is President and Chief Executive Officer of Liberty Global (LGI). A 20-year veteran of the cable and media industry, he has spent nearly his entire career building international distribution and programming businesses. Today LGI is the second largest cable TV operator in the world and the largest outside the U.S. with over 27 million video, voice, and broadband Internet subscribers, operations in 14 countries and $8.7 billion of revenue.1 LGI was created through the combination of Liberty Media International and UnitedGlobalCom in June 2005. Prior to the formation of LGI and his appointment as CEO, Mr. Fries served as president and chief executive officer of UnitedGlobalCom (UGC), one of the first companies to expand into international cable TV and programming. He joined UGC shortly after its formation in 1990 and spent five years as senior vice president, business development during which he spearheaded its early expansion into Europe, Asia and Latin America. In 1995, he became president of the Asia/Pacific region and launched LGI’s current business in Australia as well as several other markets. He was promoted to president and chief operating officer of UGC in 1998 and chief executive officer in 2004. Mr. Fries is a member of Liberty Global's board of directors and its two-person executive committee along with the company’s chairman, Dr. John C. Malone. He is an active industry partner at the World Economic Forum and a member of Young Presidents Organization. He also sits on the board of a number of professional and philanthropic organizations including CableLabs, the Denver Museum of Contemporary Art, the Cable Center, the Alliance for Choice in Education and Graland Country Day School. Mr. Fries holds a B.A. from Wesleyan University and an M.B.A. from Columbia University. He lives in Denver with his wife and two young daughters and is an avid skier, golfer, surfer, and triathlete.
