Integra Telecom Names New Executive Chairman

O’Hara took control at Integra last week following the unexpected exit of CEO Tom Casey, who left Integra for a new position as CEO of Tronox, a pigment manufacturer.

Casey didn’t have a long tenure at Integra, having joined the CLEC in February after a five-year stint as the CEO of Current Group, a broadband and VoIP provider. Casey had served as chairman of Integra’s board since 2009.

O’Hara was the co-founder and COO of Level 3 Communications before his ouster in 2008 and has been a member of Integra’s board since 2009. In February, when Casey became CEO, O’Hara moved up to serve as chairman of the board. He also sits on the board of directors at Elemental Technologies, a video processing company.

In other executive news, last month Portland, Ore.-based Integra named company veteran Ken Worcester its channel chief, tasked with unifying its previously regionalized partner program.

Integra has been laser-focused on expanding its service offerings for the SMB and enterprise market this year -- including high bandwidth Ethernet over Copper and cloud services -- and has been aggressively building out its network and expanding its fiber reach, most recently investing $11 million in its Midwestern and Western territories.

Jim Heusgen, who has served as Integra's president since 2002, will remain in that role and will report to O’Hara.