Comings & Goings: Distributel Appoints New CEO

By Casey Houser
Contributing Writer

Distributel, a leading Internet service provider based in Canada, announced this week that it has appointed a new CEO.

Matt Stein will head the company following his role in previous senior positions at multiple telecommunications firms. Distributel said it hired Stein for his proven experience and vision, and company Founder Mel Cohen issued his congratulations within Distributel's statement.

"During this time of transformation, there is no better person to lead Distributel than Matt Stein,” Cohen said. “Matt is a proven leader with deep technical skills, business vision and the ability to bring people together."

Stein worked previously as the CTO at Primus Telecommunications (News - Alert) Group and was a senior member at CallNet Enterprises and ArQana Technologies. He also sits on the Board as a member of the Canadian Network Operators Consortium. He expressed his excitement about his new position, stating, “Distributel is an amazing place to be right now.”

Distributel operates as a carrier of telecommunications services across Canada. It works in greater than 1000 cities across the nation and offers cable and DSL Internet and home phone service. It acquired ThinkTel (News - Alert) in 2009, and through that brand it offers voice, video, and data services to individuals and businesses.

ThinkTel provides SIP trunking services to businesses, as well, and a range of Microsoft (News - Alert) Lync services. In 2012, it achieved Gold Communication competency and Silver Hosting competency by demonstrating its expertise with Microsoft products. ThinkTel deploys, manages, and sets up voice services through Microsoft Lync for customers in many parts of Canada. At the time it received the Microsoft competencies, it was the only Canadian company certified by Microsoft to deliver Lync and OCS R2 services in the country.

Stein will no doubt impact the future of Distributel and its ThinkTel brand. He mentioned that his company will be working further with Think365, which combines Microsoft Lync with Distributel's Enterprise Voice.

Edited by Maurice Nagle