Fairpoint Announces New CEO

By Elaine Grant on Tuesday, June 16, 2009.

Fairpoint has announced that a new CEO will take the helms of the troubled telecommunications company in July.

NHPR’s Elaine Grant has more.

David Hauser, CFO of Duke Energy and a Fairpoint board member, will take over as the company’s CEO on July 1.

Fairpoint had earlier announced that current chairman and CEO Eugene Johnson will retire.

Fairpoint has struggled to digest its $2.3 billion acquisition of Verizon’s landline operations in New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine.

Its customer service and billing problems have become notorious in the state.

By the end of March, the company had 13,000 unfilled orders for service and the Public Utility Commission had begun publicly discussing the possibility that it would ask Fairpoint for a change in management.

Debra Howland is executive director of the PUC.

“The need for new leadership is an issue the commission has raised on several occasions in the past few months. And looking at the statements made by Mr. Hauser in the Fairpoint press release, it appears that Mr. Hauser is well aware of the financial and operational issues facing the company.”

In a statement, Hauser says he plans to address Fairpoint’s problems quickly.

For NHPR News, I’m Elaine Grant.