LOS ANGELES, February 12, 2020 — TPx Communications, a premier managed services provider, whose award-winning product line includes unified communications, contact center, managed security, managed WAN, other managed IT services and network connectivity solutions, announced today the completion of its acquisition by affiliates of Siris Capital Group, LLC (“Siris”), a leading private equity firm focused on investing and driving value creation in technology and telecommunications companies.
For more than two decades, TPx has delivered critical communications services to business, government and not-for profit customers, today serving approximately 25,000 enterprises with more than 50,000 locations across the United States.
In conjunction with the close of the acquisition, Richard A. Jalkut, TPx’s Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, announced his retirement. Siris Executive Partner Joseph A. Cozzolino will serve as Executive Chairman of the Board of TPx and as Interim CEO. Mr. Cozzolino will lead the process to identify and select a permanent CEO with the appropriate experience and qualifications to drive TPx’s next phase of growth.
With more than 30 years of experience in the technology and telecommunications industry, Mr. Cozzolino brings a wealth of knowledge and B2B services expertise, with deep experience in enterprise voice, data, communications, security and managed services. Prior to joining Siris, Mr. Cozzolino served as Senior Vice President and Worldwide General Manager at Cisco, where he was responsible for growing Cisco’s $12.7 billion global services business. In previous roles at Motorola Mobility, he successfully delivered on strategic growth initiatives and drove large-scale turnarounds and strategic transformations.
“As part of the Siris family of companies, TPx will have the enhanced support and resources it needs to lead in the fast-growing addressable market for UCaaS, CCaaS, and managed IT services, including security,” said Mr. Cozzolino. “I know Siris is excited and eager to help accelerate TPx’s growth, building on its industry-leading customer satisfaction, tremendous range of award-winning products, and its large, diversified customer base. As Executive Chairman and Interim CEO, I look forward to supporting the company’s continued growth and helping the team achieve its strategic objectives.”
Commenting on the leadership transition, Mr. Cozzolino said, “Dick has done a truly extraordinary job leading the transformation of TPx from a small regional telecom provider to a premier national managed services leader. We appreciate his excellent stewardship of TPx and thank him for his significant contributions to this business over the years.”
TPx also announced that Brent Novak will assume the role of Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Novak succeeds Tim Medina, who will be stepping down from the CFO role to pursue other interests. Mr. Novak brings more than 25 years of financial leadership to the role, including 14 years at Ixia, a leading network validation and monitoring company, where as CFO he partnered with the CEO and other senior executives on key strategic, operational, and growth initiatives. Mr. Novak has an extensive background in corporate finance, accounting, treasury, financial planning and analysis, mergers and acquisitions, tax and strategic planning.
Additionally, TPx announced that Greg Daily will lead the sales and customer success organizations in the newly created role of Chief Revenue Officer. Greg brings 30 years of diverse and relevant technology and telecom experience to TPx. He has built, managed, transformed, and optimized national and international sales organizations, and is well positioned to lead TPx’s go-to-market and customer success efforts in its next phase of growth.
“TPx has a fantastic reputation and is well-positioned to accelerate growth with its award-winning product UCx and MSx product lines,” Mr. Cozzolino said. “I want to welcome Brent and Greg to the TPx family, and I look forward to partnering with them and the rest of the executive team on this incredible opportunity to take TPx to the next level.”
Financing & Advisors
Sidley Austin LLP served as corporate counsel, Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as financing counsel and PJT Partners served as lead financial advisor to Siris in connection with the transaction. Macquarie Capital also served as a financial advisor to Siris. Evercore served as lead financial advisor to TPx. Q Advisors also served as a financial and strategic advisor to TPx, and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP served as TPx’s legal counsel. Morgan Lewis and Bockius served as TPx’s regulatory counsel.
About TPx
Founded in 1998, TPx is a leading provider of UCaaS, Managed IT services and Managed Connectivity services, with approximately 25,000 customers with more than 50,000 customer locations across the U.S. TPx has best-in-class customer service embedded in its corporate DNA, offering guaranteed performance to all customers wherever there’s a broadband connection. TPx customers serve every business sector and include many government and not-for-profit enterprises. For more information, visit www.tpx.com or follow @TPxComm on Twitter.
About Siris
Siris is a leading private equity firm that invests primarily in mature technology and telecommunications companies with mission-critical products and services, facing industry changes or other significant transitions. Siris’ development of proprietary research to identify opportunities and its extensive collaboration with its Executive Partners are integral to its approach. Siris’ Executive Partners are experienced senior operating executives that actively participate in key aspects of the transaction lifecycle to help identify opportunities and drive strategic and operational value. Siris is based in New York and Silicon Valley and has raised nearly $6 billion in cumulative capital commitments. www.siris.com
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