— from Dan Burke, Rock Island and Suzanne Olson, OPALCO —
Rock Island Communications founder Mike Greene, who has most recently been serving as Vice President of Technology, has announced that he will be leaving the company as of October 15.
When OPALCO purchased Rock Island in February, Greene stayed on to help with the transition, merging staff and operations to keep the business humming while a huge infrastructure expansion began. With that transition solidifying, Greene has taken the opportunity to step down. Company operations will continue to be directed by Gerry Lawlor, Executive Vice President of Rock Island.
“Rock Island is revolutionizing Internet services for our communities,” said Lawlor. “We are taking a local ISP to the next level, delivering modern services by building on the foundation of OPALCO’s backbone.”
It’s not unusual for founding leaders to step down in the year following an acquisition, but Mike Greene’s expertise and institutional knowledge will surely be missed. “We wouldn’t be here today without the significant investment that Mike has made in our communities,” said Foster Hildreth, President of Rock Island and General Manager of OPALCO. “Rock Island Communications is the product of his passion, foresight and skillful entrepreneurship in San Juan County.”
Rock Island continues to build out its staff in both the Friday Harbor and Eastsound offices. In August, the company hired Chief Financial Officer Chad Bailey to lead the accounting team, and hiring will continue as the business grows. Rick Lysen, who has been the architect and manager of the OPALCO fiber backbone for the past 14 years, will continue to oversee network operations.
The team currently serves thousands of customers, and is engaged in the construction of “fiberhoods” and LTE Wireless systems throughout the county to deliver next generation, fiber-based Internet services. Rock Island currently has a total of 235 fiber customers. With more than 300 currently under construction, the company is well on its way to meeting its 2015 target of 500 new fiber customers.
About Rock Island
Rock Island Communications provides modern, scalable and reliable broadband services for homes and businesses in San Juan County and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Orcas Power & Light Cooperative. For more information, go to www.rockisland.com and follow us on Facebook.
About OPALCO
For the latest information about OPALCO, go to: www.opalco.com; sign up for our email newsletter (https://www.opalco.com/about/email-signup/); and follow us on Facebook (Orcas Power & Light Cooperative) and Twitter (@orcaspower). OPALCO is our member-owned cooperative, powering more than 11,000 members on 20 islands in San Juan County since 1937.
Worth re-reading what happened not so long ago….
https://theorcasonian.com/opalco-rock-island-join-internet-forces
This sounds worrisome. Selling information is a very different kind of business from selling electricity, and OPALCO needs all the expertise it can hire, especially local expertise.
Thank you, Mike, for building Rock Island and for years of good service. We wish you well.
Fair winds and following seas, Mike. It has been a pleasure to be your customer all these years.
President of Rock Island and Manager of Opalco. I’m sure this makes some kind of sense, but I’m bothered, WHY? I am a huge supporter of Opalco, but I’m getting uncomfortable, WHY??
Clyde…You’re not alone. I for one, and I suspect there are many others, wonder how, as members we can support OPALCO so
that it can meet the multiple challenges of looming capital expenditures and evolving technologies in a changing world, as well as meet its fiduciary responsibilities to steward member-owned assets.