About Primus − Management Team
Andrew Day, Chief Executive Officer
A.J. Byers, Executive Vice President, Business Services
Rob Warden, Senior Vice President, Residential Services
Craig Denson, Vice President, Prepaid and Wholesale
Maureen Merkler, Vice President, Human Resources
Hilton Reading, Vice President, Information Technology
Matt Stein, Senior Vice President, Network, Technology, and Planning
Ron Ethier, Vice President, Data Centres and Managed Services
Andrew Day, Chief Executive Officer
Andrew Day joined Primus in July, 1999 as Vice President, Marketing and Sales (Residential) and in July, 2000 his responsibilities broadened to include overall management of the Residential Services Division.
Before joining Primus, Mr. Day was General Manager of Business Development for AT&T Canada, where he helped develop many new products and services. He was also a member of the original competitive long distance provider launch team at AT&T's predecessor company, Unitel.
Mr. Day has an Honours Bachelor of Commerce degree from McMaster University and is a Certified Management Accountant.
A.J. Byers, Executive Vice President, Business Services
A.J. Byers is the Executive Vice President of the Business Services organization, where he manages a dynamic team of professionals who devote themselves to both serving and driving value for Canadian businesses.
Prior to this role, and as Executive Vice President of Operations, he also lead the technology and customer operations groups at Primus with a core focus of being innovative, designing business processes that can scale with the company’s growth, and solving strategic business problems.
Joining Primus in 2004, AJ held the position of Sr. Vice President of Business Services and focused the organization on becoming a full service data and telecom services provider, expanded the Primus datacenter business to have an expansive national footprint, developed a wide array of managed services offerings, and launched one of Canada’s most sophisticated hosted VoIP offerings for business.
Before joining Primus, Mr. Byers was the Chief Operating Officer for Magma Communications, which was one of Canada's leading full service Internet Solutions Company. Through acquisition, Magma's service offerings are now a key component of the growth strategy for Primus Business Services.
A.J. holds a Bachelor of Applied Science and a Masters of Engineering specializing in the Management of Technology from the University of Waterloo.
Rob Warden, Senior Vice President, Residential Services
Rob Warden is the Senior Vice President of the Residential Services Division, and brings over 20 years of Consumer Marketing experience to the role. Rob is responsible for the national Sales & Marketing of Primus’ full range of consumer telecommunications services, and for the Operations supporting the Residential customer base.
Rob joined Primus Canada in June, 1999 as Director of Residential Products, taking on progressively increased responsibilities throughout his tenure encompassing Marketing, Sales, Customer Care and Provisioning. Rob has helped re-position Primus from primarily a Long Distance provider to a full services Telecommunications provider, adding High Speed Internet, VoIP, Local Home Phone and Wireless services to the suite of Primus products.
Before joining Primus, Rob spent over 4 years at AT&T Canada, starting in the Residential Advertising Group, developing several National Advertising campaigns, including all communications surrounding the re-branding of the company from Unitel to AT&T Canada. From there, Rob moved into progressive Product Management roles with focus on Residential Long Distance services.
Prior to joining Unitel, Rob spent over 4 years on the Agency side at DDB Needham Worldwide in Media Planning and Account Services, developing National and Regional Advertising campaigns across all key media, primarily for Consumer Packaged Goods clients.
Rob has an Honours Bachelor of Business Administration (Administrative & Policy Studies) from Trent University .
Craig Denson, Vice President, Prepaid and Wholesale
Craig Denson joined Primus in March 2010 and has responsibility for both the prepaid and wholesale business units. Mr. Denson has over 25 years of business experience in multiple industries including 15 years in telecommunications and technology and 10 years in retail packaged goods. Most recently he was President and COO at Sigma Software, a company specializing in Telecom billing as an application service provider. Previous to the telecom industry, he held various positions within the PepsiCo organization. Mr. Denson is a change agent and motivator, focused on stakeholder and customer satisfaction, he excels at bringing clarity to complex issues and creating practical solutions to organizational challenges.
Maureen Merkler, Vice President, Human Resources
Maureen Merkler is responsible for the development and execution of human resources strategies that align, support and contribute to Primus Canada's vision and corporate objectives.
Through the enhancement of internal systems and programs, Ms. Merkler and her team continue to foster work environments conducive to maximizing Employee engagement.
Maureen Merkler was instrumental in the delivery of Primus' Strategic Leadership, Effective Management and Vision Development initiatives and continues to promote the core values of Primus Canada.
Before joining Primus in 1999, Ms. Merkler was the Vice President of Human Resources for London Telecom Network and WinTel Communications.
Maureen is a certified Human Resources professional and a member of the Human Resource Professionals Association of Ontario.
Hilton Reading, Vice President, Information Technology
Hilton Reading Joined Primus in June 2010 and has responsibility for Information Technology.
Mr. Reading has over 25 years of experience in multiple industries including Telecommunications, Broadcasting, Manufacturing and the Airline industry. Most recently he was Vice President, IT and CIO at Skyservice Airlines. Previous to Skyservice, he held executive positions at CTV, Pitney Bowes and Dow Jones.
Mr. Reading specializes in the areas of strategic initiatives, transformations and optimization of IT environments both from an application development and infrastructure perspective. Mr. Reading received his education at the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa in Electrical Engineering.
Matt Stein, Senior Vice President, Network, Technology, and Planning
Matt joined Primus in 2003 to define and build new and innovative products for Business and Residential markets. His responsibilities include the planning, engineering and operations of the company's services, as well as the Project Management Office.
Matt brings a wealth of experience in the areas of telecommunications, information technology, information security, networking, and enterprise applications. Prior to his role with Primus, Mr. Stein was Chief Technology Officer at Sprint Canada's Application Service Provider Division, where he spearheaded the organization's delivery of technology. Previously, Mr. Stein was Principal Consultant at ArQana Technologies(now Telus National Systems), where he led the Internet Infrastructure and Information Security consulting practices, delivering solutions to large ISPs and financial services companies.
Matt is a board member of the Canadian Network Operators Consortium (CNOC) and co-chairs the Public Relations and Government Relations Committees.
Ron Ethier, Vice President, Data Centres and Managed Services
Ron Ethier is a proven leader with over 14 years of experience in Telecom and Data Hosting operations where he specializes in the design, construction and operations of mission critical facilities.
In his current role of Vice President, Data Centres and Managed Services, Ron is responsible for 7 Internet Data Centres in 5 cities across Canada. Primary areas of focus include organizational restructuring, operational efficiencies, outsourcing management and capital preservation as it relates to Data Center expansion. His Professional Services and Managed Services teams provide consulting and full server and network operations for many mid-market customers who have learned to depend on Primus for all of their mission-critical infrastructure requirements.
Prior to joining Primus, Ron was the Vice President of Operations for Magma Communications. While at Magma, he designed and built Ottawa’s first Internet Data Center, was instrumental in driving workforce automation and working on merger and acquisitions.
Ron Ethier graduated from the University of Ottawa with a Bachelors of Applied Science - Mechanical Engineering degree.
Jill C. Schatz, General Counsel & VP Law
Jill Schatz joined Primus in 2008 as General Counsel and VP Law and has overall responsibility for the legal needs of the Company.
Ms. Schatz has extensive in-house experience in various public and private corporations and has held senior legal, corporate secretarial and executive roles in the IT and Telecommunications industries since 2000 with Momentum Advanced Solutions Inc. (formerly OnX Enterprise Solutions Inc.) and Cybersurf Corp. Prior to 2000 she held in-house positions with ICI Canada Inc. (formerly C-I-L Inc.) and TransCanada PipeLines Limited.
Ms. Schatz is active in the corporate counsel community and is a past-President of the Canadian Corporate Counsel Association (“CCCA”). She currently serves on the Executives of the IT and E-Commerce Section of the Ontario Bar Association and the Toronto Chapter of the CCCA.
Ms. Schatz holds a Juris Doctorate and MBA both from the University of Toronto as well as a Masters in Law (International Trade & Competition Law) from Osgoode Hall Law School.
TopPrimus Canada offers a wide variety of long distance, Internet, data and hosting services. To inquire about making Primus' services work for you, e-mail: info@primustel.ca.
Primus Canada is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Primus Telecommunications Group Incorporated (NASDAQ: PRTL) www.primustel.com.