Valerie Wimer
JSI

Valerie joined JSI in 1997 and manages a group that assists clients with the development and implementation of strategic and tactical plans for the growth and positioning of their businesses in the competitive environment. Valerie evaluates strategies for companies to maintain and expand their business in such areas as video, VoIP, service bundling, data, CLEC, DSL, LNP and other new product lines. For these ventures, Valerie designs and develops business cases supporting initial market entry; establishes full-scale implementation requirements; conducts project management; plans and carries out marketing strategies, including product definition, pricing, margin analysis and advertising; analyzes regulatory requirements, including tariff filings; reviews and designs network architecture; and reviews operational issues, such as billing and customer service. She has negotiated interconnection agreements with cable companies and the RBOCs, achieving favorable terms for clients. Valerie has been involved in arbitrations and policy proceedings at state commissions, supporting rural LEC positions on interconnection and operational issues.

Prior to joining JSI, Valerie served as a director for SNET, where she had a long history of setting direction for and implementing new businesses, products and technologies. She oversaw the regulatory, marketing, and technical development of resale and unbundled tariffs, filing one of the first unbundled tariffs in the United States. She negotiated interconnection agreements with CLECs and educated new entrants on the operational aspects of providing local service. On the technical and operational side, Valerie managed the construction of a $100 million hybrid fiber-coax CATV network for more than 100,000 households, a project that led to the re-engineering of SNET's concept of how communications services can be delivered and supported.

Valerie earned her Bachelor of Science in engineering with honors from Cornell. She completed Executive Engineering Education at Stanford, Continuing Engineering Courses at George Washington University, and SNET's Advance Management Development Program. She has developed video and CLEC training courses for JSI and has participated in several seminars and presentations on CLEC, interconnection, DSL and marketing. In 1996, she was named one of the "Top Forty Under Forty" in New Haven County for her business and volunteer leadership.