Our Team
R.
Paul Waits, President
A pioneer in the telecommunications
industry, Paul brings over 20 years of telecom experience
in operations, regulatory affairs and marketing to Ritter
Communications.
Paul began his telecom career in
1982 with the Arkansas Public Service Commission, where
he managed telecommunications and served on several boards,
including the FCC Joint Board Staff. Paul testified in numerous
communications proceedings, and designed procedures that
were adopted by the PSC in the mid 80s.
For the next ten years, from 1987
to 1997, Paul worked in many capacities at Century Telephone,
including VP of Regulatory Affairs and Regional VP where
he managed a seven-state operating area.
In 1997, Paul joined Acxiom Corporation,
where we served as a consultant and product leader. Among
other achievements, Paul developed a nationwide caller ID
solution which was adopted by Alltel.
While serving as the Principal of
his own telecom consulting firm, RP3 Group, Paul was approached
by Ritter Communications. Paul began with Ritter in August
of 2001, and began assisting Ritter with plans to expand
into new business areas. To date, Paul has led the Ritter
team in all aspects of launching a integrated package of
services into Jonesboro and his visionary focus will allow
Ritter to continue to leverage current technology trends
and opportunities, while providing innovation to traditional
and non-traditional customer groups.
Paul holds a Bachelor of Arts with
Distinction in Economics and Business from Hendrix College,
in Conway, Arkansas, and attended law school at University
of Arkansas at Little Rock.
He is an accomplished speaker and
published writer on various telecommunications topics.
Shanna
French, Customer Service Manager
Shanna joined Ritter Telephone in
January of 1998 in our corporate office in Marked Tree Arkansas
as Human Resource Director. After moving over to the Ritter
Communications team in Jonesboro, she began working on new
ISP acquisitions and the CLEC business plan.
Although Shanna’s title is the
Customer Service Manager she serves as an invaluable resource
in many capacities. She is responsible for all customer
service functions, works closely with our customers, and
is involved with day-to-day activities in our provisioning
department. Shanna is also our billing manager and closely
manages our billing software to ensure that Ritter Communications
bills are simple and easily understandable for our customers.
She also manages our technical support group and quickly
takes care of any problems that may arise during the day
or night.
Shanna is a graduate of ASU with
a B.S. in accounting and a holder of an Arkansas CPA license.
Margaret
Holloway, Sales Manager
Margaret Holloway brought 8 years
of telecommunications experience to Ritter when she joined
us in August of 2003 in the newly created position of Sales
Manager. Prior to joining Ritter, Margaret was in the banking
industry for over 17 years handling special assets and sales
for several banks. In addition to her banking experience
she also holds an Arkansas Real Estate License.
Immediately prior to her arrival
at Ritter Communications she was employed by ALLTEL Communications
in Jonesboro starting as an Account Specialist; quickly
advancing to an Account Executive, Retail Sales Manager,
and then to the Business Sales Manager.
Having been raised in Northeast Arkansas,
Margaret is highly involved in community activities. And
she credits her involvement in the community with opening
many doors and contributing to her success in the sales
arena. Her strong customer service focus is, and has always
been, her number one goal. She is very accessible to all
her customers and they know they can depend on her 24/7.
"I want our customers to know that it is not just about
a job that is from 8 to 5, I’m available whenever they
need me", Margaret says. "It is all about maintaining
and retaining relationships. My customers know when I make
a promise I will stand until it is delivered. They know
that I am going to take care of them"
Margaret is married to Bob Holloway,
a real estate appraiser in Jonesboro and they have two daughters.
Margaret is an active member in the Jonesboro Chamber of
Commerce, a graduate of Leadership Jonesboro and is a member
at Southwest Church of Christ .
Ken
‘K. Rex’ Mayfield, Director — Solutions Delivery
K. Rex relocated from Hot Springs
in 2002 to join the Ritter Communications team.
He began his career in telecommunications
in 1969 with AT&T. Since then, he has served in the
carrier industry, the public sector, private enterprise
networks and in independent consulting for Fortune 500 clients.
His specialty is in the planning and design of large and
elaborate voice and data networks.
K. Rex brings to Ritter over 30 years
of experience with telecommunication networks and data centers.
He has been instrumental in creating, developing, and managing
procedures for the implementation, testing, and training
of state-of-the-art telecommunication systems on projects
ranging from individual site development to multiple site,
multiple mainframe consolidations. His extensive knowledge
in information systems design, development and implementation,
and Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Planning has
proven extremely valuable to clients across the country.
K. Rex joined the U.S. Navy in 1964
and spent thirteen years in the Naval Reserves after his
active duty. He earned a B.A. degree from St. Edward’s
University in Business Management, and is certified as a
Registered Communications Distribution Designer with an
additional certification in LAN/WAN/Internetworking Design.
K. Rex is also certified as a telecommunications project
manager.
He is a member of the Project Management
Institute (PMI), the Building Industry Service Consulting
International (BICSI) and the Telecommunications Project
Managers Association (TPMA).
