Executive Management

Bob Udell is the President and CEO of Consolidated Communications. Prior to being named President and CEO in 2014, Udell served as the Company's President and COO, and as Senior Vice President upon joining the Company in April 2004.

Udell has more than 25 years of telecommunications leadership experience including profit and loss management and operations at large- and mid-sized local exchange companies. He served in leadership roles at TXU Communications including Executive Vice President of Business Development, Regulatory and Administration, and Chief Operating Officer. He served in leadership roles at McLeodUSA as Senior Vice President of Network Services and Vice President and General Manager of the company’s Indiana operations, and he held management roles at Bell Atlantic in operations, carrier sales and marketing.

Udell serves on the USTelecom Board of Directors and formerly served as Chairman of the Independent Telephone and Telecommunications Alliance. He also serves on the boards of the Greater Conroe Economic Development Council and The John Cooper School Board of Trustees.

He holds a master's degree in business administration from the Katz Graduate School of Business at the University of Pittsburgh and a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Pittsburgh. Udell completed the Advanced Technology Innovations Program at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

Steve Childers is the Chief Financial Officer at Consolidated Communications. He has a diversified background in accounting and finance and a lengthy career with the Company which began in 1986. He was named Chief Financial Officer in 2004, with responsibilities for all accounting, treasury, tax and regulatory functions.

Prior to his current role, Childers served as the Director of Accounting and as President of the former Consolidated Market Response. Childers served in a number of executive roles with McLeodUSA during the time of the merger with Conx, leading the company's Business Process Teams to implement revenue assurance processes and controls.

He serves on the Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center and Health Systems Board, the Lake Land College Foundation Board and the Eastern Illinois University Business Advisory Board. He is a past member of the Board of Directors for the Illinois State Chamber of Commerce. Childers was named TopGun CFO by Brendan Wood International as rated by Global Shareholders in 2019.

Childers holds a bachelor’s degree in business from Eastern Illinois University and is a Certified Public Accountant.

Erik Garr is the President of the Consumer-Small Business unit at Consolidated Communications, and has responsibilities for consumer-small business product management, sales and marketing as well as the service and customer experience associated with the consumer fiber broadband offering.

Prior to joining Consolidated in 2021, Garr was vice president at Policygenius, where he was responsible for the fastest growing business unit at this late stage insurtech startup. Prior to that, Garr was director of strategy and operations at Google Cloud, and served as director of Google Fiber where he launched five new markets across the southeast region and managed the business in its entirety in North Carolina. Prior to Google Erik was a principal at PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP and served a one-year appointment at the FCC as the general manager of the National Broadband Plan.

Garr holds a master’s degree in public policy from the University of Chicago and a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Michigan.

He is a visiting professor at Duke University.

John Lunny is the Chief Information Officer at Consolidated Communications and is responsible for IT architecture and development, technical operations, project management and network security. He joined the company at the time of the FairPoint merger in 2017.

Lunny has 30 years of communications industry experience in network operations, engineering and service delivery. Previously, Lunny served as Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at FairPoint Communications, Senior Director of Service Delivery at Comcast Business and Regional Vice President of Metro Network Operations at Level 3 Communications.

Lunny has a certificate in executive finance from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Michael Smith is President of the Commercial and Carrier business sector at Consolidated Communications with responsibilities for commercial and carrier sales, product management, sales operations and the Company’s business marketing solutions directory business. Prior to his current role, he served as Chief Revenue Officer and Chief Marketing Officer at Consolidated. He also held executive management positions in sales, product management, marketing and customer service since joining the company in 1989.

He is active in the Coles County community, serving as past Chairman of Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center and Health System Board of Directors. He is past President of the Charleston Area Chamber of Commerce, past President of the Eastern Illinois University Panther Club and a former board member of Coles Together.

Smith holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Saint Louis University.

Jennifer Spaude is the Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications & Investor Relations. She is responsible for media and public relations, corporate and internal communications, investor relations, brand management and company giving programs.

Prior to joining Consolidated in 2014, she served as the Director of Investor Relations, Public Relations and Marketing at Enventis and HickoryTech. She has more than 20 years of experience in the telecommunications industry holding positions in marketing, product management, investor relations and corporate communications.

Spaude currently serves on the Greater Mankato Growth Board and the Minnesota State University, Mankato Foundation Board. She also serves on the Consolidated Communications Community Fund Advisory Board and has been past Chair or on the Board of Directors of the Educare Foundation, Junior Achievement, Greater Mankato YWCA and South Central College Foundation.

She has a bachelor’s degree in mass communications from Minnesota State University, Mankato and completed the Management Executive Program at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota.

Garrett Van Osdell is the General Counsel and Corporate Secretary at Consolidated Communications. He oversees the company’s legal affairs and legal department.

Van Osdell has more than 20 years of experience advising public and privately-held companies on transactional and corporate law matters, with over 10 years of experience in the telecommunications industry. He began his career in the San Francisco Bay Area working for the law firms of Cooley Godward Kronish LLP and Kirkland & Ellis LLC. In 2008, he moved in-house with FairPoint Communications where he most recently served as Vice President and Deputy General Counsel prior to Consolidated’s acquisition of FairPoint in 2017.

He earned his juris doctorate from the University of South Carolina School of Law where he was a member of the South Carolina Law Review. He has an international master of business administration from the Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina and earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Florida.

Gabe Waggoner is the Executive Vice President of Operations at Consolidated Communications with responsibility for field operations, network operations, customer service, and overall service delivery strategy for the Company.

Prior to his current role, Waggoner served as Director of Network Services. He joined the Company in 1996, and has a diversified background, having served in numerous management and leadership roles in customer service, construction management, engineering and field services.

He serves as Chairman of the Roseville Telephone Museum, and as an Advisory Board Member for the Consolidated Communications Foundation.

Waggoner earned his master's degree in business administration and his bachelor's degree from the Lumpkin School of Business at Eastern Illinois University.

Tom White is the Chief Technology Officer at Consolidated Communications and is responsible for the company’s network design and development, engineering and network operations center functions, in addition to the administration of the company’s capital investment in technology.

He joined the company in 1992 as a Supervisor in the company’s former Operator Services and has held management and leadership positions during his career with the company in the areas of network operations, field services and engineering.

White is active in his local community and currently serves on the Coles Together Board, and has served on the Charleston Excellence in Fountain Board and the CCAR Industries.

He earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration and management from Virginia Commonwealth University.