January 31, 2012
Spirit Names Director of Sales for Greater Greenville and North Carolina Markets
(Columbia, SC) - Spirit Communications has named Dwayne Drake as Director of Sales for the greater Greenville, South Carolina market and all North Carolina markets, as well as all Channel Partner programs in the Southeast.
"Dwayne brings considerable sales management experience to Spirit," said Grey Humphrey, Spirit's Executive Vice President of Sales. "He has planned and executed effective sales strategies while also directing numerous sales reps in this region," Humphrey added, "and we are pleased to have his extensive knowledge on our team." Drake previously served as Area Vice President of Sales for Windstream in the Greenville area from 1998 to 2011.
Spirit Communications, a major provider of voice, data, and Internet services for businesses and government agencies in the Carolinas, is expanding its reach in several key markets in South and North Carolina, according to Drake.
"Spirit is currently expanding facilities in Greenville and Charlotte," Drake said, "and we'll be expanding in other markets in the Carolinas this spring. We will be launching aggressive sales campaigns to demonstrate how Spirit can improve efficiencies for SMB, enterprise, multi-location, and Fortune 500 clients."
Drake earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Winthrop University. He takes an active role in the community by volunteering with various non-profits. He serves as a volunteer at The United Way in their Loaned Executive Program and the Frazee Dream Center Mentoring Program.
Spirit has 150 service locations throughout North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia and 6 regional sales offices located in Augusta, GA; Aiken, SC; Charleston, SC; Charlotte, NC; Columbia, SC and Greenville, SC. Core vertical markets that Spirit serves include Healthcare, Manufacturing, Industrial, Banking/Finance, and Legal.
January 17, 2012
Spirit Named Information & Technology Sponsor of Columbia Inaugural Marathon
(Columbia, SC) - Spirit Communications, the leader in SC business telecommunications services, will be the Information and Technology Sponsor of the inaugural Columbia SC Marathon, an effort to aid various charities and bring national recognition to the community. The event will take place March 10, 2012 from the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center and will progress through downtown Columbia. The marathon is expected to draw over 3,000 runners in addition to 7,000 friends, family, spectators and running enthusiasts.
"We are honored to be the Information and Technology Sponsor of this signature event," said Robert Keane, President and CEO of Spirit Communications. "The Columbia SC Marathon is going to become a marquee event of this city and demonstrate to the nation that our community is a leader focused on quality of life and good health. Our city's large state government, student and military populations, as well as wonderful weather, will help make this marathon an outstanding event."
Spirit was named Information and Technology Sponsor in recognition of its position as a leader in providing voice, data and Internet services to businesses in South Carolina, including the State Agencies of South Carolina.
"The Columbia SC Marathon is excited to partner with Spirit Communications," says race director Dan Hartley. "As a statewide leader in the communications market and based right here in Columbia, SC, we can't think of any company better suited to be our IT Sponsor."
As IT sponsor, Spirit will provide Information and Technology tents along the race way, offering runners and spectators race course maps, event details, and up-to-the-minute information. Information booths will also be provided by Spirit at the 2-Day Health & Fitness Expo leading up to the marathon. As a bonus, Spirit will provide free access to the Internet so that volunteers and runners, who need to travel light, will be able to access emails and websites before, during and after races. Access will also be provided to the public for emergency use.
"Sports events such as this bring so much joy and health to individuals and to the community as a whole," added Keane. "This marathon will be a grueling test for the runners who embrace the challenge, and we want to help make their time off the course a little easier by providing a place where they can stay connected," Keane said regarding the decision to provide technology centers for the marathon's participants. "We want to help make this amazing event as enjoyable and successful as possible-for the runners, volunteers and the city as a whole."
The Columbia SC Marathon events kick off at seven o'clock A.M., Saturday, March 10, 2012, and include a kids' marathon, 10k, half marathon and full marathon. For more information on race day events, location, registration and volunteer opportunities, please visit columbiascmarathon.com
August 29, 2011
Spirit Offering Call Center Solution to Businesses
Spirit Communications, a South Carolina based total communications company, has added BroadSoft's premier call center service to its solutions for business customers.
The hosted service requires no capital or operating expenses or expenses for integrating with an existing phone system and supports flexible devices such as analog lines, mobile phones and Voice over IP phones.
"Our customers were telling us they needed a call center solution, and we are pleased to be a partner with Broadsoft for their solution" said Greg Guerra, executive vice president of strategy, product management and business development.
"We've been partners with BroadSoft for seven years and use their platform for our high definition hosted Voice over IP service," he said.
BroadSoft has been providing innovative software to the telecommunications industry for more than 12 years.
The BroadWorks® Call Center application delivers a comprehensive solution with sophisticated features and functionality required by call centers and can be used with any network architecture.
Spirit's service provides dramatic cost savings and carrier-class reliability and scalability and supports the needs of any call center with services such as call distribution, queuing and desk top monitoring.
Agents can manage calls from a desktop application and answer calls, transfer calls, conference in additional agents, escalate calls to a supervisor or click to dial. Supervisors can manage agents, queues, set call distribution rules and have access to a host of call center tools.
Spirit Communications is a premier provider of telecommunication services in North and South Carolina. It operates its own cutting-edge MPLS network and provides innovative voice, data and Internet solutions to a cross section of businesses, government agencies and healthcare organizations throughout the Southeast.
August 25, 2011
Spirit Expands Metro E Service in South Carolina
COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Spirit Communications, a South Carolina based total communications company, is expanding its business services with an enhanced Metro Ethernet offering.
The new service, which provides faster speeds and higher dependability, is being offered in markets throughout the Palmetto State.
Spirit has partnered with Overture Networks to provide the leading-edge business solution for greater bandwidth reliability. The service meets the standards set by the Metro Ethernet Forum for scalability, reliability, quality of service and service management.
The Spirit Business Elite and Business Select services provide a single high-speed connection with high-definition voice quality. Speeds of up to 100Mb up and down are available along with hosted voice services, converged services and SIP trunking.
"This gives more business customers the opportunity to use a secure, dedicated connection for their voice, data and Internet," said Bob Keane, CEO of Spirit.
"Ethernet provides fast downloads, uploads, greater reliability, flexible scalability, and a higher level of security than DSL or Cable modems," Keane said. "The service is especially beneficial to businesses needing dedicated bandwidth from one office to another," he said.
The services are available in the metropolitan markets of Charleston, Columbia and Greenville.
For more information on the service, visit: www.scecircle.com
August 2, 2011
S.C. Network, Telecom Provider To Operate As Single Company
COLUMBIA, S. C. -- Two of South Carolina's largest independently owned communications companies will begin operations under a single company doing business as Spirit Communications.
PalmettoNet, which operates one of the most expansive fiber networks in the state, will combine with Spirit Telecom, the state's largest South Carolina based Competitive Local Exchange Carrier (CLEC) under a common board of directors and common operating leadership.
Together the companies will have combined sales of more than $100 million and 140 South Carolina based employees and will likely be among the 30 largest private companies in the state.
Both companies are owned by the independent phone companies and cooperatives of South Carolina and will be managed by a single governing board of SCTG LLC.
PalmettoNet will continue to operate under the same name, but with a new logo. Spirit Telecom will operate under the name of Spirit Communications with separate business units for Business, Wholesale and Government. The combined company will bring increased efficiency and introduce new and advanced services to its customer segments.
The announcement of the changes was made to employees of the two companies by Bob Keane, who will be the President and CEO of Spirit Communications. Bob was previously CEO of PalmettoNet and President and CEO of Spirit Telecom.
"By combining the companies, customers will benefit from the increased focus and investment on our local markets and deploying capital in ways that make our services and operations more robust, reliable and efficient. We are excited about the continued commitment by our local owners and will continue to invest in the Carolinas making us more responsive and increasing our portfolio of services to all our customers'," Keane said.
PalmettoNet is one of the largest providers of digital fiber optic networks in the Carolinas. A carrier's carrier with almost 5,000 fiber route miles, PalmettoNet serves the needs of prominent telecommunications carriers who provide wireless, wire line interstate, intrastate, and interexchange service.
Spirit Communications is a Competitive Local Exchange Carrier (CLEC) in South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia and operates its own cutting-edge MPLS network to provide innovative communication solutions to a cross section of commercial businesses, state and federal government agencies and healthcare organizations throughout the Southeast. Its partnerships with major telecommunications carriers allow Spirit to provide world-wide connectivity.
"We have strengthened the entire company and leadership team through this combination of companies and we have already seen significant efficiencies and opportunities in the marketplace develop because of it," Keane said.
Spirit is headquartered in Columbia, S.C. and has regional offices in Charleston and Greenville and Charlotte, N.C.
The combined company, Spirit Communications, is owned by the independent phone companies and cooperatives of South Carolina made up of Chesnee Telephone Company, Inc., Comporium, Farmers Telephone Cooperative, Inc., Hargray Telephone Company, Inc., Home Telephone Company, Horry Telephone Cooperative, Palmetto Rural Telephone Cooperative, Inc., Piedmont Rural Telephone Cooperative, Inc., Sandhill Telephone Cooperative, Inc., TruVista Communications and West Carolina Rural Telephone Cooperative, Inc. Together, those companies provide services to business and residential customers statewide though 384,000 access lines.
June 14, 2011
Anna Way Joins Spirit Telecom in Charleston
COLUMBIA, S. C. -- Anna Way has joined Spirit Telecom as a sales account executive in the company's Charleston office on Chuck Dawley Boulevard in Mount Pleasant.
Way is to report to Walt Burnside, the regional sales manager of the Charleston office.
Way joins Spirit from Office Login Inc. in Charleston, where she was the sales manager. Before that she was an account executive for ScentAir Technologies and IKON Office Solutions, both of Charleston.
Way earned her Bachelor of Science degree in sports management from Western Carolina University.
June 1, 2011
Austin Bell Joins Spirit Telecom in Greenville
COLUMBIA, S. C. -- Austin Bell has joined Spirit Telecom as a sales account executive in the company's Greenville office on Garlington Road.
Bell will report to Josephine Bernson, the regional sales manager of the Greenville office.
He joins Spirit from Local Edge, where he was a multimedia marketing consultant. Before that he worked as a production assistant for Entercom Communications.
He attended of Bob Jones University and Union University in Jackson, Tenn.
June 1, 2011
Deron Croft Joins Spirit Telecom in Columbia
COLUMBIA, S. C. -- Deron Croft has joined Spirit Telecom as a sales account executive in the company's office at 1500 Hampton St.
Croft will report to Walt Burnside, the regional sales manager, and will be responsible for providing voice, data and Internet services to the business community.
Before joining Spirit, Croft served as account manager for Farmer's Furniture and was general manager of the Sumter store for Aarons Sales and Lease. He has almost 10 years experience providing services to businesses as the sales manager for Combined Insurance Company.
He attended Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Tifton, Ga.
June 1, 2011
Heather Berridge Joins Spirit Telecom in Columbia
COLUMBIA, S. C. -- Heather Berridge has joined Spirit Telecom as a sales account executive in the company's Columbia office at 1500 Hampton St.
Berridge will report to Walt Burnside, the regional sales manager, the regional sales manager, and will be responsible for providing voice, data and Internet services to the business community in Columbia.
She has several years sales experience with Sysco Food Service in Charleston, S.C. Monument Fine Wines and Service Distributing.
Berridge earned her bachelor's degree in sociology from the University of South Carolina.
June 1, 2011
Mark Ferguson Joins Spirit Telecom in Greenville
COLUMBIA, S. C. -- Mark Ferguson has joined Spirit Telecom as a sales account executive in the company's Greenville office on Garlington Road.
Ferguson will report to Josephine Bernson, the regional sales manager of the Greenville office.
Ferguson joins Spirit from Morris Communications, Inc. where he was a network sales consultant. Before that he was a system sales consultant for Inter-Tel Technologies, Inc. and a system sales representative for ITC DeltaCom.
He earned his bachelor of science degree in Business Administration from the College of Charleston in 1990.
April 18, 2011
Walt Burnside To Manage Spirit's Columbia Office
COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Walt Burnside has joined Spirit Telecom as the Regional Sales Manager for Spirit's Columbia office. The office is one of four operated by Spirit and is its headquarters.
Before joining Spirit, Walt was a major account executive for EarthLink Business in its Columbia office.
He moved to South Carolina in 2000 to work for Hargray Communications on Hilton Head Island. He was sales manager of Professional Broadband until 2003, when he started his own company, Lowcountry Landscapes, to provide services to national and local builders and streetscapes on Hilton Head Island. In 2010, he joined EarthLink Business.
He is a graduate of the State Technical Institute in Memphis, Tenn., where he earned a degree in business administration.
March 21, 2011
Josephine Bernson To Manage Spirit's Greenville Office
COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Josephine Bernson has joined Spirit Telecom as the Regional Sales Manager for Spirit's Greenville, S.C. office.
Before joining Spirit, Josephine worked as sales manager for Service Transport, Inc. of Greenville. She has IT sales experience, working for Acumen IT in Greenville as an account executive and telecommunications sales experience with NuVox where she was a sales productivity manager and account executive beginning in 2006.
From 2003 to 2006, she worked for Entercom Communications as a traffic manager and account executive.
She is a graduate of Greenville Technical College and the University of South Carolina, Spartanburg and lives in Simpsonville.
