Our Management
Stephen L. Schilling
President & CEO
Stephen L. Schilling has over 20 years of experience in the telecom and data communications industry where he has specialized in turnarounds, start-ups and managing high-growth firms. Prior to Cypress Communications, Steve was the founder and President of Netifice Communications, a company he created in 1998 and led until its merger with MegaPath Networks. Under his leadership, Netifice navigated the turbulent waters of telecom in the early 2000’s to become a thriving, nationally recognized leader and innovator in the IP VPN space.
Prior to Netifice, Steve was President and COO of Charter Communications International, and prior to Charter Communications, he held executive positions at GE Capital-ResCom, MFS and RealCom Office Communications.
Steve has twice been named to Catalyst Magazine’s Atlanta’s Top 50 Entrepreneurs list. In 2000 he was an Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year finalist and in 2004 he was awarded Atlanta Telecom Professionals’ Award for Outstanding Leadership. Steve speaks frequently at industry tradeshows and has been published in various trade journals. He earned a B.S. in Administrative Management from Clemson University and an M.B.A. in International Business from Georgia State University.
Scott Drake
Executive VP and CFO
Scott Drake brings to Cypress Communications more than 20 years of telecommunications experience in both private and public companies, including CFO roles at five private telecom ventures over the last 15 years. He has also held executive positions at WorldCom, The Breckenridge Group and spent five years in banking and auditing. Scott holds a BA in Accounting from The University of West Florida.
John A. "Jack" Harwood
Vice President & General Counsel
John A. Harwood, known as “Jack”, serves as Vice President and General Counsel for Cypress Communications. Jack has an extensive communications legal background, serving as in-house counsel for over 20 years with BellSouth Corporation. From 1992-2007, Jack held the position of Senior Mergers & Acquisitions Counsel for BellSouth. In this position, Jack represented BellSouth in its negotiation of complex contracts, formation of new joint ventures, disposition of unprofitable lines of business, venture capital investments, and merger & acquisition activities.
From 1990 to 1992, Jack served as General Counsel of BellSouth International, where he acted as lead in-house counsel for investments in France, Germany, Italy, Israel, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Guatemala, Mexico, Australia, Malaysia, and New Zealand. His career at BellSouth began in 1985 with Jack providing advice in connection with new ventures and domestic acquisitions. Prior to BellSouth, Jack practiced tax planning, commercial law, as well as mergers and acquisitions by joining the Atlanta office of Kutak Rock LLP.
Jack attended Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree, Magna Cum Laude, in 1978. He then attended the College of Law at the University of Arizona, where he was a member of the Order of the Coif and an editor of the Law Review. After receiving his Juris Doctor degree, Jack attended the Graduate Tax Program at the University of Florida, where he received a Master of Laws degree in Taxation.
Jorge L. Rosado
Executive Vice President - Engineering and Network Operations
Jorge L. Rosado has over 30 years of engineering and telecommunications executive management experience. As Executive Vice President of Engineering and Network Operations, Jorge leads the development and execution of the company’s IT, IS and network business plans.
Prior to joining Cypress Communications, Jorge served as EVP Operations and Development at Netifice Communications, COO at Intelispan Inc. (acq. by McLeod USA), SVP of Operations and Development at Splitrock Services (acq. by McLeod USA), Co-Founder and VP Operations & Planning at Gridnet International (later part of MCI WorldCom) and held several positions in Engineering, Operations and Planning at Bellsouth, including VP General Manager of Bellsouth Advanced Networks. Jorge received a BSEE from Florida Atlantic University.
Frank Grillo
Executive Vice President of Implementation, Support and Marketing
As a visionary communications executive, Frank M. Grillo joined Cypress Communications in August of 2005. Frank is known for his ability to identify growth opportunities and to produce extraordinary results that make a real contribution to the bottom line of an organization. Previously, Frank worked as Senior Vice President - Business Services for Z-Tel and as Senior Vice President of Global Business Markets for MCI WorldCom, where he managed over 1,000 marketing professionals and was responsible for global business marketing strategy, including product management, pricing, marketing communications, advertising, sales training, sales support, sales engineering and online and alternate channel distribution. From 1995 to 2000 he was Vice-President of Marketing for LDDS.
Frank has also been recognized as the Technology Marketing Executive of the Year by the Technology Association of Georgia (TAG). A frequent lecturer at events and tradeshows, Frank currently blogs for TMCnet; his musings can be read at http://blog.tmcnet.com/uc-360/.
Mark Herold
Vice President - Human Resources
Mark Herold comes to Cypress Communications with two decades of experience, driving change and cultivating a high-performance culture. Mark is responsible for facilitating a performance-driven culture guided by the Cypress values, resulting in the delivery of superior customer service. Previously, Mark served as vice president of HR at AMVESCAP Retirement. As part of the due diligence team, he helped seamlessly transition the company during its acquisition by Merrill Lynch Global Retirement Services. Mark also led human resource shared services at the U.S. headquarters of ING Financial Services, providing leadership and strategic direction of the payroll and benefits administration needs of 10,000 full-time ING Financial employees and 5,000 retirees.
Mark also serves as executive sponsor of Cypress Cares, a company-wide community involvement organization. Employees are encouraged to participate in worthwhile and rewarding community volunteer programs. Mark graduated from St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota with a degree in Business and earned a Master of Business Administration with a concentration in Industrial Relations from the University of Minnesota. Outside of Cypress, Mark enjoys his family, gardening and a day on the tennis court or golf course.
