Christopher W. Craven
COO
Mr. Craven joined the United States Air Force in December of 1976 and after completing technical training at Biloxi, MS, assumed various duties as a Telecommunications Technical Controller in the United States and in Europe. Mr. Craven completed his military service at Strategic Air Command Headquarters in Omaha, Nebraska where in the spring of 1982 he was awarded the Air Force Commendation Medal.
Upon leaving military service, Mr. Craven joined MCI Telecommunication in 1983 and was directly responsible for successful deployment of the companies Remote Access and Testing System, REACT, a computer driven quality control system for the testing of the company’s inventory of inter-connection facilities with the Bell Telephone Operating companies.
Mr. Craven left MCI Telecommunications in May of 1987 after he was invited to participate in deploying one of the first commercially independent fiber optic networks in the United States for the investors of Chicago Fiber Optics. Craven was part of the original management team for Chicago Fiber Optics and the company was substantially acquired by the majority investors in 1988 and became MFS Telecom. The company went on to build and operate Fiber Optic, ATM, and Voice Switched Networks in over 25 major us markets. MFS Telecom defined the new model for Competitive Local Exchange Carriers and Craven was responsible for developing procedures in both the Operations and Customer Service Organizations. MFS was acquired by WorldCom in 1996 and Mr. Craven participated in several transition roles until he left WorldCom as Vice-President Operations in the spring of 1998.
Craven joined Nextlink Telecommunications, a Competitive Local Exchange Carrier in the fall of 1998 as VP – Operations for the companies Midwest Region. Mr. Craven transitioned to a task force of Nextlink executives tasked with developing the company’s initiative to bring its services to Canada. While in Canada, in his capacity as VP Operations, he worked to conclude negotiations for inter-connections agreements with Bell Canada as well as the right to operate networks with various Canadian metropolitan areas. Mr. Craven was responsible for all network Operations in Canada for NextLink.
Craven left Nextlink Canada in 2000 to explore opportunities within the wireless industry. In December of 2000, he joined a group of entrepreneurs attempting to deliver high speed wireless internet access utilizing CDMA 1XEVDO technology. Mr. Craven was responsible for Operations, Engineering, and Customer Service. Monet Mobile Networks was the first company in North America to implement and operate a viable high speed wireless service utilizing the 1XEVDO technology as networks in 5 Midwest markets went commercial in 2003. Monet Mobile Networks was not able to secure long term financial support, and in March of 2004, ceased operations.
In May of 2004, Craven joined Telecom Transport Management of Seattle Washington, a company formed to provide last mile services to the wireless industry. TTM provides the wireless industry with an alternative to the Local Exchange Carriers by designing and constructing high capacity digital microwave networks that provide connectivity between the cell site and the wireless providers switching center. Mr. Craven was directly responsible for Operations, Construction, and Customer Service and was the architect of the successful integration of microwave networks and optical fiber networks to provide and end-to-end solution for customers of TTM, Inc. Mr. Craven resigned from TTM in May 2007 to pursue other interests.
Mr. Craven is currently the Chief Operating Officer at Business Only Broadband, a company providing wireless ethernet services via licensed and un-licensed microwave radio technology as a disaster recovery service or as an alternative to traditional providers.
Mr. Craven is 54, married with 6 children and 5 grandchildren and resides in Lemont, Illinois.
