Executive Team

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Thomas K. Grundman
Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer

Mr. Grundman has more than 25 years of executive managerial, financial advisory and financing experience across a wide variety of industries. Mr. Grundman worked for JP Morgan Chase Securities and its predecessor banks for 12 years, first structuring debt and equity transactions for leveraged buyouts and then as a Managing Director in the Global Oil and Gas group. He joined PNC Bank, NA in 1996 as a Senior Vice President to lead an Energy Corporate Finance business where he was responsible for merger and acquisition advisory and financing transactions. In May, 1999 he joined Key Energy Services, Inc. as Senior Vice President – Corporate Development to assist with its financial restructuring and turnaround. Thereafter he was promoted to Executive Vice President of International Operations and CFO. After leading the successful $400 million recapitalization effort, he began his own advisory and investment business in May 2002. Since 2002, Mr. Grundman has invested in, and/or actively managed several incubation stage businesses in the technology and other industries and provided consulting service for other clients.

Mr. Grundman serves as the President of the “Washington Crossing 2026” organization and on other community boards. He received his BS in Finance at Syracuse University and has completed executive management courses conducted by Harvard Business School and Carnegie Mellon University.

Adam C. Kassab
Chief Financial Officer & Legal Counsel

Adam Kassab recently joined American Broadband bringing nearly 20 years of extensive financial management experience. Adam came to American Broadband from the PNC Financial Services Group where he was a Vice President and held the positions of Functional Controller of the Private Bank and Controller of the Branch Network. There he was responsible for the valuation, assessment, and financial management of a $137 billion portfolio of assets under management/administration comprised of bonds, stocks, real estate holdings and other fixed assets held in trust. He was also responsible for the accounting, analysis, budgeting, forecasting and regulatory reporting related to a $630 million annual revenue stream. Adam also managed the expense base for a branch network comprised of 700+ locations. He also played a key role in the securitization of an $800 million real estate mortgage portfolio.

Prior to PNC, Adam was with Mellon Financial Corporation for eight years as Vice President and Controller in the Cash Management and Technology Support Services Division. There he was responsible for $150 million of operating cash and the determination of adequate cash levels for business sustenance as mandated by the Fed while optimizing the cost of funds for the corporation. He also was responsible for control, analysis and management of the technology procurement and maintenance expenses for a delivery network comprised of 300+ branch locations and 600+ ATM machines. Adam was involved in all aspects of financial management including development of policies and procedures, annual budgeting, monthly forecasting, modeling and analysis, financial reporting and audits.

Adam also worked at Textron Financial Corporation as a Financial Analyst supporting the CFO and subsequently as a Portfolio Manager within their Real Estate Finance Division. As an analyst, he was responsible for the compilation of the budget, forecast, strategic plan and other analyses in support of the treasury function. As a portfolio manager, he had day-to-day handling and oversight responsibilities for the administrative functions related to a large-ticket commercial real-estate loan portfolio which included accounting, reporting, customer service, collections, feasibility studies, and disposition of properties acquired as a result of foreclosures.

Adam is an Attorney at Law and a member of the Bar of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania and also a member of the Bar of the Federal District Court of Western PA. Adam is also a Certified Management Accountant and a member of the Institute of Certified Management Accountants. He graduated from Bryant University in Rhode Island with a BS in Business Administration majoring in Information Systems. He also has a PBC in Accountancy from Robert Morris University and has been awarded a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree from Duquesne University.

Richard Ellsworth
Senior Vice-President, Operations

Prior to joining American Broadband, Rich Ellsworth most recently served as the president of Stahls’ Hotronix, a manufacturer of equipment and garment decorator for the imprinted sportswear industry (ISI) and Imprintables Warehouse, a value added reseller of products and equipment unique to the (ISI) . During his 16 year tenure, Rich had full P&L responsibility and managed all aspects of the company’s multi-million dollar businesses including: sales, marketing, finance, IT, product design, engineering, manufacturing and customer service. Under his leadership the company grew from a 7 person operation to a 200 person workforce and serviced the highest profile customers in its industry including, Nike, Reebok, USA Networks, The Home Shopping Network, Global Sports, the NBA, NHL, NFL and Major league Baseball. Additionally, the divisions under his stay were awarded numerous design achievement awards, became the leading manufacturer of heat seal equipment in the world and achieved the highest customer satisfaction ratings in the company’s history. He was also instrumental in the creation of two new divisions within the Stahls’ group of companies that grew to hold dominant positions within the ISI market.

Rich obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from Point Park University in Pittsburgh, PA and has also graduated from the Industrial Administration and Entrepreneurial Management programs of Carnegie Mellon University. He is a current member of the Executive Board of Directors for the Fay-Penn Economic Development Council of Pennsylvania.

Raymond S. Chiu
Senior Vice-President & Chief Technology Officer

Raymond Chiu brings over ten years of extensive networking experience to American Broadband. Prior to joining American Broadband, Ray served as Senior Manager of Business Development for Marconi, a leader in ATM networking, where he directed a team of marketing analysts and technologists and was instrumental in the development of value propositions to aid in worldwide BBRS sales. As manager, Ray was responsible for generating $100 million in new sales. He also assisted with internal launch training of Marconi’s global sales force.

Prior to his management position, Ray also served as a Network Consultant Engineer and Senior Systems Engineer with Marconi where he was responsible for executive and technology presentations and proposals. He worked on network designs with 1,000+ switch node architectures, client lab trials, and interoperability evaluations. He was involved with the integration of optical, broadband and access architectures with a focus on tier-1 and tier-2 networks and specializing on Multi Protocol Label Switching and IP services. Prior to Marconi, Ray was a Systems Engineer with Anixter and the University of Missouri.

Ray obtained his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Missouri in 1995 majoring in Computer Science with Mathematics and Physics as minors. In 2000, Ray received his Masters of Telecommunications Management from Washington University, St. Louis.

Thomas Wheeler
Senior Vice-President of Business Development Strategy

Prior to joining American Broadband, Tom Wheeler most recently served as Director of Commercial Business Operations for Charter Communications’ Central Region where he was responsible for all Non-Residential Data services provided by Charter’s largest region. In this role, Tom had complete P&L responsibilities for the Central Region’s Commercial efforts, i.e. capital budgeting, operating expenses, revenues, and meeting OCF targets. Tom was brought from the Eastern Division in July, 2001 to build Charter Business Networks in the Central Region from start up. The organization has 35 people and revenues that exceed $28 million annually. Tom was originally brought to Charter in 2001 by Steve John, Eastern Division Vice President of Charter Business Networks, to assist in the development of the commercial networking business unit throughout the Eastern Division.

Prior to joining Charter, Tom was hired by TCI to turn around an existing TCI Network Solutions office in the Great Lakes Region located in Chicago. His role there was to oversee P&L responsibilities, get the revenues in line with the market’s potential, and build the key relationships with the core cable operation necessary for the business to succeed. With quick success in Chicago, Tom’s role expanded to cover the St. Louis office of TCI Network Solution’s Midwest market as well.

Prior to the broadband business, Tom’s career had been directed at start-up businesses or turnarounds of existing businesses. Before TCI in Chicago, Tom was hired by Ken Charbeneau, President of Four Winds Investments, as Vice President of Operations for Phon-Net Corp. In this role, Tom positioned Phon-Net and its software to be purchased by Sprint Corp in the continental U.S. In addition, he successfully negotiated the franchise rights and user rights for distributors of the software in Australia, New Zealand, and the Philippines. His background in the Telecom space dates to 1991 as an agent for LDDS Communications (WorldCom today).
Tom graduated from the University of Missouri with a double major B.A. in Mass Communications and Speech Communications.