“From the Soccer Field to the Board Room: Lessons Learned Along the Way”
When: April 11, 2011 11:00 a.m.
Where: Dodds Theatre
Biography: Mr. Bednarski is responsible for developing strategic global relationships in order to expand XipLink’s overall market opportunity and corporate development. Mr. Bednarski brings more almost 30 years of diverse telecommunications and networking experience to the position and has a proven history of bringing together innovation, creativity and execution to achieve breakthrough results.
Mr. Bednarski began his career as a systems engineer for Nortel Communications (formerly Northern Telecom), where he designed and installed both Central Office-class switching platforms. Mr. Bednarski next served as a member of the systems design team for the United States Senate, where he managed the Senate’s complex telecommunications infrastructure. He further developed his technical expertise at Verizon (formerly Bell Atlantic) as a member of the marketing technical support group, where he supported cutting-edge network and fast packet data services for Verizon’s largest clients. He continued his career by becoming one of the four founding partners of Net2000 Communications. Net2000 grew from a small private company to a public company (NASDAQ – NTKK) with more than 1,000 employees and a market capitalization of more than $1.6 billion at its initial public offering in March 2000. Mr. Bednarski worked intimately in many facets of building the business into a full facilities-based competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC) with a customer base of 3,000 clients and annual revenues of $150 million.
Following his role at Net2000, Mr. Bednarski joined iDirect Technologies in April 2002 in a board-led effort to restructure the executive management team. Through successfully redrafting and executing a new business plan, iDirect was propelled from a minor position in the VSAT router industry to a leadership role within a very short time. During this period, iDirect grew revenues from a 2001 level of $1.5 million to more than $125 million in 2006 with industry-leading gross margin and net income percentage. Net2000 was acquired in 2005 by Singapore Technologies returning a 45 times return to the investors.
Mr. Bednarski holds a B.A. in business administration and an M.B.A. from the University of New Haven (Connecticut) where he also captained the soccer team for three consecutive seasons. In 1978 through a series of rigorous try-outs, he participated in the Olympic National sports festival where he was in the pool of top players contending for a spot at the 1980 Moscow Olympics. Mr. Bednarski achieved professional status when he was drafted by the Hartford Hellions of the Major Indoor Soccer League.
