Consolidated Communications CEO and Leadership

Bob Udell is the President and CEO of Consolidated Communications. Prior to being named President and CEO in 2014, Udell served as the Company's President and COO, and as Senior Vice President upon joining the Company in April 2004.

Udell has more than 25 years of telecommunications leadership experience including profit and loss management and operations at large- and mid-sized local exchange companies. He served in leadership roles at TXU Communications including Executive Vice President of Business Development, Regulatory and Administration, and Chief Operating Officer. He served in leadership roles at McLeodUSA as Senior Vice President of Network Services and Vice President and General Manager of the company’s Indiana operations, and he held management roles at Bell Atlantic in operations, carrier sales and marketing.

Udell serves on the USTelecom Board of Directors and formerly served as Chairman of the Independent Telephone and Telecommunications Alliance. He also serves on the boards of the Greater Conroe Economic Development Council and The John Cooper School Board of Trustees.

He holds a master's degree in business administration from the Katz Graduate School of Business at the University of Pittsburgh and a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Pittsburgh. Udell completed the Advanced Technology Innovations Program at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

John Lunny, executive vice president and chief technology officer at FairPoint Communications, Inc., is responsible for voice and data network architecture, data center operations, IT, engineering and provisioning, as well as project management and product development. Mr. Lunny has more than 25 years of network operations, engineering and service delivery experience in the communications industry. He joined FairPoint in 2008 as director of sales engineering and was promoted to vice president of network planning in 2009 and Senior Vice President of Planning and Engineering in 2010. He moved into his current role in 2013 and was promoted to Executive Vice President in 2015. Prior to joining FairPoint, Mr. Lunny was senior director of service delivery at Comcast Business Services, and before that he spent 13 years at Level 3 Communications in operations where he took on roles of increasing responsibility and became vice president of operations for the northeast region. Mr. Lunny also worked in sales engineering and operations at Reliance CommTec / Lorain Power. He began his career in Network Operations for AT&T.

Michael Smith is President of the Commercial and Carrier business sector at Consolidated Communications with responsibilities for commercial and carrier sales, product management, sales operations and the Company’s business marketing solutions directory business. Prior to his current role, he served as Chief Revenue Officer and Chief Marketing Officer at Consolidated. He also held executive management positions in sales, product management, marketing and customer service since joining the company in 1989.

He is active in the Coles County community, serving as past Chairman of Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center and Health System Board of Directors. He is past President of the Charleston Area Chamber of Commerce, past President of the Eastern Illinois University Panther Club and a former board member of Coles Together.

Smith holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Saint Louis University.

Steve Childers is a Treasurer at Illinois State Chamber of Comm and Chief Financial Officer at CONSOLIDATED COMMUNICATIONS. He works or has worked as President at Eastern Illinois University, BOARD MEMBER at Eastern Illinois University, and BOARD MEMBER at Illinois Chamber of Commerce.

Tom White is a Chief Technology Officer at CONSOLIDATED COMMUNICATIONS.

J Garrett Van Osdell is a Chief Legal Counsel/Secretary at CONSOLIDATED COMMUNICATIONS. He has worked as VP/Deputy General Counsel at Fairpoint Communications. J studied at University of South Carolina School of Law and Darla Moore School of Business.