President and General Manager

Hiawatha Broadband Communications, Inc. (HBC), is a Schurz Communications company, and headquartered in Winona, MN, delivering industry-leading telecommunications services to communities in southeastern Minnesota and west-central Wisconsin. HBC has approximately 100 employees and operates a growing fiber network as well as wireless broadband in rural, underserved areas.  We are seeking a new President & General Manager to lead our HBC company.  The successful person will oversee the go-to-market strategy and have overall responsibility for customer service, engineering/operations, sales, marketing, financial management, and community public/government relations.  This role will inspire a high-performing team to deliver exceptional customer satisfaction while achieving financial & operational results within the expanding HBC service markets. 

Job Type: Full-time

Location: Winona, MN in office

Reporting to:  Executive Vice President

Primary Responsibilities Include:

• Provide visionary cross-functional employee relations leadership including the hiring, coaching, counseling, and development of positive teamwork and a rewarding work environment.
• Develop and manage business strategies, plans, and procedures to meet HBC’s service objectives and financial goals.
• Oversee all local operational activities to ensure efficiencies, profitability, and compliance with regulations (local, state, and Federal) and company policies.
• Build local brand image as an ambassador. Cultivate and maintain strong relational presence with community leaders, customers, and key stakeholders.
• Promote a customer-centric culture that emphasizes exceptional service and high satisfaction.
• Revenue driven. Creatively drive sales growth through effective incentive programs, marketing tactics, and strategy campaigns.
• Proactively identify new business development opportunities based on market trends, including new attractive expansion opportunities and public/private partnership programs.
• Support implementation of evolving market driven innovative product solutions to achieve expanding ARPU targets.
• Direct HBC’s process of handling budget development and delivering on its financial performance objectives and forecasting.
• Ensure effective cost management and operational efficiency to maximize profitability.
• Tactically manage finances through expenditure approval, inventory management, and overall system cost control.
• Achieving capital efficiencies for new fiber and technology investments bringing on-time and in-scope delivery of project initiatives.
• Ensure the delivery of high-quality products and services to all customer segments consistently producing high Net Promoter Scores (NPS)
• Support operational processes and systems to enhance efficiency and effectiveness.
• Monitor and evaluate operational performance, streamlining/adjusting as necessary to achieve overall optimal company results.
  

The successful President and General Manager has:

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, technology, or a business-related field; MBA or advance degree highly preferred.
• At least 10 years successful progressive broad experience in sales, marketing, or engineering operations within the fiber, or cloud service-based technology industry.  
• Previous role as a GM, or similar capacity, leading P&L management while bringing operational excellence in a competitive environment.
• Demonstrated ability to lead community, customer, and employee relations.
• Excellent communications, negotiation, and stakeholder management skills
• Strong financial acumen with data oriented strategic thinking
• The role requires the successful candidate willingness to live within or very close proximity to our HBC location in Winona, MN service footprint.
• Strong sense of culture and importance of the role people play in the success of teams, continuing the values of this 150-year-old family business.

Benefits:

• Family Medical (3 plans to choose from), Dental and Vision
• Company funded HSA
• Company Paid Short Term Disability
• Company Paid Long Term Disability with Voluntary option
• Company Paid Parental Leave
• Company Paid Life as well as Voluntary policies
• 401(k) with generous company match
• Paid Time Off
• Volunteer Paid Time Off
• Paid Holidays

When you join HBC...

You'll be joining an award-winning company and team.  We also believe in giving back to the community and we want our employees to have the opportunity to do so.  We provide an environment that gives each employee the opportunity to nurture their gifts and achieve their potential.  For more information, go to www.schurzchoice.com. 

Schurz Communications and its subsidiaries strategic objectives:

• We will attract, invest in, communicate with, and retain top talent. 
• We will innovate, partner, experiment and create a better future together. 
• We strive to continuously improve operating performance to ensure sustained growth. 
• We will dynamically grow revenues by building and nurturing mutually beneficial and profitable customer relationships.

Physical Demands/Working Conditions:

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this job the employee is:

• Regularly required to talk and hear
• Required to use hands to type, handle objects and paperwork
• Required to use close vision and be able to focus

The employee generally works in an indoor office environment.