Oct 24, 2020 Portfolio Company News

Great Plains Communications Appoints Brent Whittington to Board of Directors

Blair, Nebraska (October 24, 2019)

Great Plains Communications, the largest privately-owned telecommunications provider in Nebraska and a Grain Management portfolio company, is pleased to announce that Brent Whittington has been elected to the Great Plains Communications Board of Directors.

Whittington is a seasoned Fortune 500 C-suite executive who has built, financed, managed and scaled operations for multi-billion-dollar U.S. public companies in communications and technology. He has served as the COO and CFO of Windstream Corporation, a communications and technology solutions provider with operations in 29 states and more than $5 billion in annual revenues. During the formation of Windstream as a spinoff to Alltel Communications shareholders in 2006, Whittington led the creation of the original Windstream finance department, as well as its integration with a company that was acquired and closed simultaneously with the spinoff, and which together resulted in the launch of a newly-formed, $3 billion NYSE-listed company.

Prior to the formation of Windstream, Whittington served as the senior vice president of operations for Alltel, as well as serving in a variety of positions at Arthur Andersen. In addition, Whittington serves on the Board of RigNet, a small cap NASDAQ-listed company, where he also serves as the Audit Committee Chair and serves on the Board of Trustees of The Nature Conservancy of Arkansas. Mr. Wittington received his Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

“I am pleased to welcome Brent Wittington to the Great Plains Communications Board of Directors,” said Todd Foje, CEO of Great Plains Communications. “Brent will bring technology expertise and deep industry knowledge, as well as an entrepreneurial spirit that will be valuable as we look to expand and capture new opportunities.”

“By serving on the Great Plains Board of Directors, Brent Wittington will share his communications industry experience, as well as his leadership and strategic skills. This will further enable us to sustain our growth trajectory as we continue our goal of delivering valuable fiber-based services to meet rising bandwidth needs,” said Chad Crank, Managing Director at Grain.

About Great Plains Communications

Great Plains Communications is the largest privately-owned telecommunications provider in Nebraska, delivering high-speed Internet, cable television, and voice services to over 90 communities across the state. The company also prides itself on their progressive approach to accommodating the unique needs of all regional and national telecommunications carriers, LECs, ISPs, wireless carriers and other service providers utilizing superior engineering and custom build strategies. At the core of its service offering is an extensive 11,500-mile regional fiber network, including over 500 fiber miles in the Omaha Metro area. The network extends beyond Nebraska into Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, South Dakota, and Wyoming, offering community access rings, last-mile, and middle-mile solutions, all fully supported by their 24x7x365 Network Operations Center. For more information visit www.gpcom.com.

About Grain Management

Grain Management, LLC is a leading private equity firm focused on investments in the global communications sector. The firm was founded in 2007 with the objective of bringing a differentiated approach to the industry characterized by expansive sector knowledge, rigorous analytics, and dedicated, in-house operating and financial professionals. Grain is directed by a team of highly experienced investment professionals with deep industry knowledge and a specialized skill set, marked by extensive operating history, quantitative and analytical proficiency, and regulatory expertise. For more information visit www.graingp.com.

Grain Management Public Relations

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