Experienced Leadership
Broadvox is staffed from top to bottom with innovators and veterans of the VoIP communications industry. Some of them were implementing VoIP networks and services as far back as 1996, making them true industry pioneers. Broadvox leaders also have many years of traditional telecom experience.
The executives profiled below lead a geographically distributed team of over 250 employees to keep Broadvox customers on the leading edge of technology and quality.
Andre Temnorod - Founder, President & Chief Executive Officer
Andre Temnorod founded Broadvox in 2001. As Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer, he focuses on the company’s technology platform strategy and the growth of Broadvox’s national private network. He is also responsible for setting the overall vision and growth plan for the business.
Prior to founding Broadvox, Andre served as the Chief Executive Officer of Nexbell Communications, a leader in VoIP (purchased by COUNSEL Communications in 2001). He previously served as Chief Technology Officer at Unicent Technologies, where he spearheaded the research and deployment testing of early VoIP initiatives.
Building on over 13 years of executive management experience, Andre continues to excel at business operations in the high tech industry. He is among the most respected VoIP technology leaders in the market today and has been featured in numerous professional forums in print, video, and as a guest speaker on a variety of panels.
John A. Higgie - Chief Financial Officer
As Chief Financial Officer for Broadvox, John is responsible for all corporate finance functions including planning, accounting, tax, and reporting. John brings more than 25 years of experience in the financial and accounting fields to this role and more than 15 years of experience working with telecommunications ventures.
John was previously the CFO and Controller for Speakeasy. John was instrumental in helping to raise $27 million in financing, selling the company to Best Buy, and ultimately spinning the company out into a three-way merger. Prior to Speakeasy, John’s career in the telecommunications industry was focused primarily on working with development-stage wireless carriers across several technologies including cellular, paging, and fixed wireless communications. His experience includes seven years traveling the world as a consultant helping wireless companies acquire licenses to build and operate networks in places like Indonesia, Latvia, and Ireland. John began his career as an auditor with Arthur Andersen.
John is a CPA and has an MBA from the University of Washington. His bachelor’s degree in accounting is from Wake Forest University.
Eugene Blumin - Chief Operating Officer
Eugene Blumin has more than 20 years of experience in the technology field and has held a range of senior management, operations and finance-related executive positions. Utilizing his vast experience in operations and finance, Mr. Blumin drives the company's vision and day-to-day operations, with significant involvement in developing and evolving its customer and vendor relationships.
Prior to founding Broadvox, Mr. Blumin co-founded Nexbell Communications, where he served in various executive positions. Nexbell Communications was then sold to COUNSEL Communications in 2001. Prior to Nexbell, Mr. Blumin co-founded and served as President and COO of Unicent Technologies, a $100 million privately-held PC and communications company.
Arnaud Gautier - Chief Marketing Officer
As Chief Marketing Officer at Broadvox, Arnaud Gautier is responsible for all retail product management and development, platform and customer application development, and for developing a disciplined marketing strategy.
Arnaud has over 20 years experience leading teams in systems engineering, technology development and product management in the field of fixed and mobile telecommunications. Most recently, Arnaud was Senior Vice President, Product Management at MegaPath, the largest privately held end-to-end, facilities-based telecom provider serving small, medium, and enterprise businesses. He was responsible for broadband, voice services, unified communications, managed security and cloud solutions offerings.
Arnaud previously served as Vice President, Product Solutions for Speakeasy. Beginning in 2002 through the company’s merger with Covad and MegaPath, he focused on the launch and growth of Speakeasy’s Ethernet and VoIP services. Prior to Speakeasy, he was Director of Development for Myrio, the first open source-based middleware and client software provider for the emerging multichannel video over IP industry. Arnaud has also held a variety of consulting, engineering and product management positions at AT&T Wireless, Boeing Defense and Space, The Walter Group and the French Space Agency.
Arnaud holds a MBA from the University of Washington, Michael G. Foster School of Business and an Engineering Degree from Ecole Superieure d'Electricite in Paris, France.
Craig Eidem - Chief Technology Officer
As Chief Technology Officer for Broadvox, Craig Eidem brings his technological and operational expertise to the task of scaling the technology organization and institutionalizing processes and procedures in this high growth environment.
Craig has over 25 years of product delivery and operational experience in a variety of technology businesses. Most recently, he was the head of Information Technology at Meteorcom, a joint venture of railroad companies building a nationwide wireless network to control traffic. Prior to that, Craig was CTO of Speakeasy, where he was responsible for all operational aspects of running a nationwide network and building a BroadSoft business VOIP platform that delivered 99.99% availability. Previously, Craig spent 20 years in a variety of leadership roles at Honeywell International, Advanced Radio Telecom, AT&T Wireless, Sundstrand, and Telematic Products.
Craig received his BSEET in Electronics from DeVry University.
Pete Sandrev - Executive Vice President & General Manager, Retail Sales
As EVP and Retail GM Pete relies on nearly 30 years of experience in telecommunications-specifically and management generally, to help drive sales and overall partner strategy while maintaining an ever-vigil eye on the customer’s overall experience.
Pete has been with Broadvox since its inception in 2001. During his time at Broadvox, Pete has worked in a number of leadership roles including most recently its VP of Shared Tenant Services. Pete has also served as VP of Customer Experience, and managed various teams – including service provisioning, customer service, network operations, and account management.
Prior to Broadvox Pete was a leader in rolling out Nexbell Communications and working with Broadvox’s current CEO, COO, and EVP of Wholesale Sales. Prior to Nexbell Pete was the co-founder of CSi, a regional interconnect located in Cleveland, OH.
Pete holds an MBA and a BA in Business Administration from the University of Phoenix, and an AA in Electronic Engineering from the Electronic Technology Institute.
Gary Tabachnik - Executive Vice President, Wholesale Sales
Gary Tabachnik leads the Broadvox sales and business development teams and is responsible for growing the Broadvox wholesale voice packet product segment. Gary is also responsible for leading partnerships for strategic revenue and growth, setting and achieving revenue goals, and identifying new markets to penetrate while ensuring 100% overall customer satisfaction. Gary's proven track record, strong leadership skills and entrepreneurial drive, along with his ability to build and motivate successful teams, are critical components that fuel the success of Broadvox.
Gary brings over 17 years of extensive experience in sales, business development, and executive management to Broadvox. From 1990 to 1996, he was Director of Operational Systems with Penske Logistics. He continued to hold a key leadership role with AMPTech, a PC server manufacturer from 1996 to 1999. Gary joined Nexbell Communications in 1999 as a Director of Sales, where he was instrumental in fueling the company's sales growth and upheld Nexbell's leading position in the booming VoIP market.
Gary holds a Master's degree in Logistics Management from Moscow State University, Moscow, Russian Federation.
Grant Williams - Executive Vice President, Customer Operations
As Vice President of Customer Operations at Broadvox, Grant is responsible for all customer-facing support services, including Implementation, Provisioning, Field Services, Dispatch, Customer Service, Technical Support, and Strategic Account Management. In his time at Broadvox, Grant has been a leader of many customer support functions. To everyone who has worked with him, it is clear he embodies one of Broadvox’ core values, as he has a passion for our customers.
During his 15 years of telecom experience, Grant has served as Regional Director, Customer Support at Network Telephone (a VoIP start-up CLEC), where he was responsible for Provisioning, Implementation, Field Services, Customer Support, Account Management and Collections. Grant has also worked as Director, Customer Support, at Talk America following the merger with Network Telephone and LDMI. At Talk America Grant oversaw the customer service call center for the combined companies. Upon the acquisition of Talk America by Cavalier, Grant became the Director of Business Services for Cavalier Telephone, where he was responsible for the Customer Service and Account Management for Business and Government accounts.
Grant holds a BA in Communications from the University of West Florida.
Alex Gertsberg - Executive Vice President, General Counsel
Alex Gertsburg handles and supervises all of the company's legal affairs and its Human Resources department. Prior to joining Broadvox, Alex’s primary legal focus was business litigation with the law firms of Calfee, Halter & Griswold LLP in Cleveland, and Roetzel & Andress LPA in Akron. In both firms, he worked with closely-held, publicly-traded and foreign clients in developing strategies to resolve complex and diverse legal disputes, both inside and outside the courtroom. He also dedicated a significant amount of his practice to First Amendment, antitrust, real estate and commercial disputes.
In 2003, Alex was deployed with his Army Reserve unit to Iraq where he served as a platoon leader and convoy commander. By the time he was demobilized at the end of that year, he had served with the Army Reserve for ten years. Alex currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Transitional Housing, Inc., a non-profit organization providing homeless women with a safe environment, programs and services that promote self-sufficiency and independence.
Alex graduated magna cum laude from the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, and was honored with membership in the Order of the Barristers as a result of his successful tenure in the law school's moot court program. In law school he also served as an extern for the late Hon. John Manos of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. He earned his B.A. from Miami University in 1997, where he studied political science and sociology.
Karen Herrmann - Vice President, Human Resources
Karen Herrmann leads the human resources function at Broadvox and is responsible for the design, development, and implementation of HR strategies and processes that support the company’s business objectives and culture.
Karen has more than 25 years of experience in HR management across diverse industries including financial services, manufacturing and not-for-profit. Her expertise includes leading employees through periods of transition, including mergers and acquisitions; employee engagement and recruitment selection programs. Additionally, Karen serves on the Board of Trustees and is a member of the Executive Committee and Chair of the Human Resources Committee for the Ronald McDonald House of Cleveland.
Karen holds a BA from Bowling Green State University, is certified as a Senior Professional in Human Resources, and holds numerous professional certifications in management and human resources programs from well-respected institutions including the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Kenan-Flagler Business School.
