O. GENE GABBARD

Gene Gabbard, a private investor, works with new high technology start-up companies in the Southeast and Texas. Mr. Gabbard also serves as a member of the Board of directors of COLT Telecom Group S. A., Luxembourg, the leading pan-European provider of business communications services, data center services and cloud services.  Gene is a member of the Board of Directors of NetCracker Technology Corporation, Waltham, Massachusetts, a leading provider of Business and Operational Support Systems (BSS/OSS) for carriers throughout the World.  Mr. Gabbard is also a member of the Board of Directors of Tower Cloud, LLC, St Petersburg, Florida, a provider of fiber and radio broadband backhaul for wireless carriers in the Southeast. He is a Venture Partner of Ballast Point Ventures equity capital funds based in St Petersburg, Florida, that specializes in providing expansion capital to small and growing businesses in the Southeast and Texas.

Mr. Gabbard served as an advisor to executives of The Walt Disney Company during the period May 1994 through July 1996. From August 1990 to January 1993, he was an Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of MCI Communications Corporation (now Verizon Business).  He served as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Telecom*USA and in various executive positions of its predecessor, SouthernNet, Inc., from July 1983 until 1990, when Telecom*USA, the fourth largest US based long distance company, was acquired by MCI.  Mr. Gabbard was also a founder, board member and President of Digital Communications Corporation (now Hughes Communications, Inc.) and an executive officer of M/A-Com, Inc., a manufacturer of telecommunications equipment and components.

Upon completing a distinguished career as an officer in the U. S. Army Signal Corps, Mr. Gabbard was awarded the Army Commendation Medal. Then in private industry as a Member Technical Staff and Section Head for COMSAT Laboratories, Mr. Gabbard was one of the inventors of Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), the technology discovery that has helped power the digital wireless revolution. Throughout his professional career he was awarded more than a dozen patents in digital data processing and transmission. Gene has published several articles in trade and professional publications and is quoted regularly in leadership circles.

He is an electrical engineering graduate from the University of Kentucky and holds a master's degree in engineering from the University of Pennsylvania. In April 1999 he was inducted into the University of Kentucky, College of Engineering, Hall of Distinction.

He is a member of Sigma Xi, Tau Beta Pi, Eta Kappa Nu, and a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers(IEEE). His social affiliations are with the Cosmos Club, Washington DC, and the Cardinal Club, Raleigh, NC. In his leisure, Gene Gabbard enjoys fishing, golf and wine tasting.

10 December 2012