Windstream Names Langston, Dement To New Executive Posts

by Talk Business & Politics staff ([email protected]) 205 views 

Windstream named Lewis Langston as chief information officer. He succeeds Cindy Nash who is leaving the company to pursue other career interests. The changes are effective Feb. 2.

Langston, a veteran of Alltel Wireless, AIS, and Allied Wireless, has extensive experience in the information technology field.

Langston served as chief information officer at Allied Wireless Communications Corporation from 2009 to 2013. The company was acquired by AT&T in September 2013. He most recently was an executive telecommunications and technology consultant.

Prior to joining Allied Wireless, Langston was executive vice president of process development and support at Alltel Corp. from 2003 to 2009. He also held a number of senior leadership roles at Alltel from 1998 to 2003 in financial services, operations support and IT service delivery. From 1984 to 1998, Langston held various programming and sales roles at Alltel Information Services.

“Lewis’ extensive telecommunications and technology experience will be a tremendous asset in our effort to provide a world-class experience to customers. He successfully led the effort to build the business infrastructure for a wireless company in an expedited manner. He also brings considerable expertise in designing and re-engineering processes to drive improvement,” said Tony Thomas, Windstream president and CEO.

“I also want to thank Cindy for her leadership and numerous contributions since joining the company through the merger with VALOR Communications Group. Cindy and I discussed her decision to leave earlier, and I am grateful to her for agreeing to stay on until a successor had been found,” Thomas said.

Matt Dement was also named SVP of strategy, corporate development and financial planning & analysis. The appointment is effective Feb. 2.

Dement will be responsible for leading Windstream’s corporate development efforts and investment strategy, as well as the short-term and long-term financial forecasting process.

“Matt has been a close adviser to Windstream over the past several years on several key strategic transactions that the company has announced,” said Bob Gunderman, Windstream CFO. “His investment banking experience, significant knowledge of the telecom industry and superior financial skills will be very beneficial to our efforts to maximize shareholder value.”

Dement currently serves as a senior vice president in the communications and media group at Stephens Inc., a full-service independent investment bank.

During his 10-year tenure at Stephens, Dement advised on dozens of transactions with a combined transaction value of more than $30 billion. He has spent significant time on both buy-side and sell-side assignments, as well as performed other strategic advisory work for both public and private companies.