Management Team
headshot-dan-caruso-071609.jpgDan Caruso
Co-Founder, President and CEO

dan.caruso@bearequity.com

An industry veteran, Dan Caruso has 23 years of experience in the telecommunications and Internet industries. Dan is currently CEO of Zayo Group, a regional provider of telecom services comprised of three complimentary business units. Zayo Bandwidth provides reliable fiber-based bandwidth solutions; zCOLO provides colocation and internet services to carriers, service providers, and other colo intensive businesses; Onvoy Voice Services delivers wholesale voice services to carriers and LEC’s, and Zayo Enterprise Networks provides converged IP services to small and medium enterprises. Under Dan’s direction, each business unit concentrates specifically in its area of excellence and tailors offerings to fit customers’ needs.

Prior to Zayo, Dan was President and CEO of ICG Communications, a major provider of telecommunications and Internet service. In a buyout led by Dan in 2004, ICG was purchased by Columbia Capital and M/C Venture Partners. Dan and his team propelled ICG to become a profitable and positive cash flow company while realizing double-digit revenue growth. Level 3 Communications purchased ICG in 2006, marking the culmination of one of the more successful telecom investment stories in the post-bubble era. Dan was also a founding executive member and officer of Level 3, where he was group vice president of Lines of Business and Marketing and group vice president of Network Services. Previously, Dan was a senior vice president at WorldCom and MFS Communications, where he had various responsibilities in business development, network planning, and operations. Dan began his career at Ameritech (now part of AT&T) in an executive management program.

Dan is active in telecom and related industries, serving as chairman of Envysion, a venture backed company providing Internet-based video surveillance services and formerly sat on the board of NGT Communications. Dan is active in local philanthropy and since 2003 has been on the board of Colorado Uplift, a charity focused on supporting Denver inner-city youth. Dan holds a MBA from the University of Chicago and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana. Dan maintains an interesting and informative blog at www.BearOnBusiness.com.

 

john-scarano.jpgJohn Scarano
COO & Co-Founder of Zayo Group, President of Zayo Bandwidth
jscarano@zayo.com

John Scarano has 21 years of experience in the wireline and wireless communications industries.  John co-founded and is currently COO of Zayo Group, and President of Zayo Bandwidth.  Zayo Bandwidth leverages its network footprint to support the high-capacity bandwidth needs of its customers.  Since inception, Zayo Bandwidth has absorbed portions or all of 11 of our 12 acquisitions to date, growing the consolidated business steadily at double digit rates.Previously, John was EVP of Corp Development and Operations at ICG Communications (acquired by Level 3), responsible for business development, acquisitions, divestitures and various other sales and marketing operations.  ICG was one of many telecom entities that had developed a robust network infrastructure across a US footprint, but not a sustainable business.  John's leadership in M&A and operations oversight helped turn ICG into a cash-flow positive, customer focused entity.  ICG was sold to Level 3 Communications in 2006.While at Level 3 Communications from its inception in 1997 until 2004, John was initially responsible for the development and build-out of Level 3's North American intercity backbone network, local networks and facilities which were completed ahead of schedule in 33 months for $6.2B.  John then founded and led the company's Global Business Development group, closing more than 30 transactions valued at approximately $1.6B. While at MFS Communications (acquired by Worldcom) from 1993 to 1997, John held various executive and staff positions in global operations, regulatory, marketing, product and business development.  John began his telecom career at at&t, commercially responsible for the delivery of the first digital air-to-ground communications system.John was a Town Board member in Orange County, NY for 7 years, holding the elected offices of Councilman and Deputy Supervisor.  John earned a combined degree in Business Administration and Computer Science from the State University of NY at Albany in 1987.

 

headshot-ken-desGarennes.JPGKen desGarennes
CFO
kdesgarennes@zayo.com 

Ken desGarennes has 13 years of experience in technology and communications, most recently as the CFO of Wire One Communications. Wire One, the largest international provider of videoconferencing solutions in the market, was created through the acquisition and integration of three videoconferencing properties. In addition to leading the acquisition and integration efforts, Ken was responsible for raising debt and building a world class finance organization.

Prior to joining Wire One, Ken was a Senior Director at the Gores Group, a technology focused private equity firm. While at the Gores Group, Ken led the financial due diligence and negotiations on numerous acquisitions in both the telecom and technology market. Ken started his career as a commercial banking officer with First Union Bank before moving to Accenture where he worked for 6 years in a corporate development role.

Ken received his BS in finance from the University of Maryland in College Park.

 

headshot-scott-beer.jpgScott Beer
General Counsel 
sbeer@zayo.com

Scott Beer has 17 years of experience in the legal field, with an emphasis on telecommunications. He most recently worked for Level 3 Communications as VP of Carrier Relations, responsible for vendor relations covering $1.8 billion in network expenses. Prior to Level 3’s acquisition of ICG Communications, Scott was VP and General Counsel of ICG, overseeing all legal and regulatory matters for the company. Scott started with ICG as Director of Government Affairs handling all state and federal regulatory matters and providing legal support to new product development.

Before starting with ICG, Scott was in house counsel at MCI WorldCom supporting the Mass Markets Finance Department for three years. He began his legal career as an associate attorney for a Denver law firm, where he was a commercial litigator and represented several large communication companies.

Scott holds a Juris Doctorate from Detroit College of Law at Michigan State University. He earned his B.A. from Michigan State in Communications and Pre-law.

 

headshot-fritz-hendricks.jpgFritz Hendricks
President, Onvoy Voice Services 
fritz.hendricks@onvoy.com

Fritz Hendricks has more the 27 years of experience in the telecommunications industry. Prior to joining Zayo, Fritz was COO of Onvoy. At Onvoy he was responsible for Engineering, Operations, Information Technology, Product Innovations, Product Management, Market Development and Customer Care.

Fritz started his career working at Cox Communications delivering competitive telecom services using a hybrid fiber coax system. After Cox, he had a 17 year career with US WEST (now Qwest) where he held leadership positions in center and field operations, next generation business and technology planning, engineering, and systems automation culminating as the Vice President of Operations for Qwest Global Services.

Fritz has served as the Chairman of the Minnesota Telecom Alliance Technology and Engineering Board and on the Best Prep Tech Corp Board of Directors, a non profit organization that supports the advancement of technology education in public schools.

Fritz holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Bellevue and is a graduate of the Carnegie Mellon Information Networking Institute for Advance Telecommunication Innovation.

 

glenn-russo.jpgGlenn Russo
President, Zayo Enterprise Networks 
glenn.russo@zayoenterprise.com

Glenn Russo has 20 years of telecommunications, IT and related services experience both as a communications service provider and corporate IT executive.  Glenn was most recently Senior Vice President at Level 3 Communications responsible for Transport and Infrastructure services.   In this role, he managed annual revenues in excess of $1.5B.  He was responsible for services across North America and Europe and for establishing Level 3’s channel partner program to expand the company’s distribution to enterprise customers.  

In his 8 years at Level 3, Glenn led a broad range of businesses including fiber, transport, colocation, voice, IP, data and professional services.  In those leadership positions, he was responsible for overall business performance, integration of numerous acquisitions, product development and management, and major customer network projects.   

Prior to joining Level 3, he was a senior executive at Bridgeworks, a regional network services company in Texas.  His responsibilities included sales, service delivery and consulting. Glenn also spent 16 years with ExxonMobil’s global chemical product division in a range of IT, sales and finance leadership positions.  As an IT manager he oversaw data center operations, application services, telecommunications and user support for headquarters, manufacturing and technology locations.  He also held several positions in advanced polymers sales and financial management across two major business units.  Glenn earned his Engineering degree from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. 

matt-erickson.jpg

Matt Erickson
Corporate Development/Strategy
merickson@zayo.com

Matt Erickson is head of Corporate Strategy & Development for Zayo Group.  In his current role, Matt has responsibility for M&A activities, analyst relations (equity, debt and corporate) and general business strategy and analysis for Zayo Group.  Matt was part of the day one executive team at Zayo and previously held product and vendor management roles at Zayo Bandwidth.  In addition, Matt has actively participated in Zayo’s equity and debt funding rounds.  Prior to Zayo, Matt was at ICG Communications where he was Vice President of Marketing & Product Management.  Matt was a member of the senior team that successfully sold ICG to Level 3 Communications. Prior to ICG, Matt was at Level 3 Communications where he held various roles including Internet, transport and infrastructure product management and corporate strategy/development roles. Matt began his career at Price Waterhouse in the audit and financial advisory services groups. Matt received his B.S. (Summa Cum Laude with Honors) in Accounting from Colorado State University.