Our Leadership

Matt Stein

President

With a passion for championing innovative service offerings, Matt Stein has a wealth of experience in telecommunications, information technology and business management. His appearances before the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) and the Canadian Parliament, as well as the U.S. Senate, demonstrates his dedication to the industry and his advocacy for Canadian telecom.
In addition to his leadership and business development expertise, Matt was honoured in 2019 with the Top Canadian Telecom CEO Award in recognition for his leadership in communications, innovation and social responsibility. Matt is a past Chair of the Competitive Network Operators of Canada and continues to be an active member. Matt joined Distributel as CEO in 2014 and has continued on as the leader of the organization subsequent to Distributel joining the Bell Canada family in December 2022. He is an active member of the board of the Maple Leaf (Toronto) Chapter.

Gerry Vanderpost

Chief Financial Officer

With experience earned both within and outside the telecommunications industry, Gerry is responsible for the financial leadership at Distributel. He works to develop and uphold strong financial management and accountability while providing timely, accurate and reliable financial information and enhancing internal controls.
Before joining Distributel in 2016, Gerry was the VP of Finance at Primus Telecommunications where he led the finance group for the Canadian and US operations. Prior roles include Associate Vice President at Canadian Tire Corporation where he held various senior financial positions in corporate finance, treasury, and financial planning & analysis.

Brad Fisher

Chief Revenue Officer

Brad leads all revenue generating functions at Distributel, including Sales and Marketing for the residential, commercial, and wholesale markets. Brad joined Distributel in 2017 and brings an extensive background in telecommunications and technology, with 20+ years of experience driving innovation and business growth as a senior executive in both Canada and the USA.
Prior to joining Distributel, Brad served as the President of Primus Canada, where he led all Canadian operations for Birch Communications. Previous roles include SVP Strategy and Marketing at Hawaiian Telecom, as well as VP Consumer Internet and VP Services Development at Bell Canada.

Rishi Bahall

Vice President, Network Engineering

Rishi oversees the Network Engineering team, responsible for all network development across telephone and IP networks. He has accountability for network performance, process automation, new product development and establishing the vision for long term technology planning.
Rishi joined Distributel in 2016, his previous role was VP of Network and IT at Globalive Communications Corp, where he held various roles of increasing responsibility in Network Engineering for over 13 years.

Geoff Batstone

Vice President, General Counsel

Geoff is a senior legal, regulatory and public policy counsel with extensive international experience in leading telecommunications and technology organizations. He brings a highly creative approach to problem solving, as well as a pragmatic but commercially sound approach to legal issues.
Previous to joining Distributel in 2016, Geoff ran his own practice after spending 12 years in various legal roles at Cable & Wireless Communications. Prior to that he served as Legal Counsel to the CRTC.

Don Cavanagh

Vice President, Service Operations

Don has been an asset to Distributel since 1995. His top priority is our customers and partners, with direct responsibility for ensuring service quality, keeping network operations healthy and enabling customer operations.
Don joined Distributel as a Telecommunications Analyst and has advanced through various roles into his current role overseeing Network Operations, Carrier Relations and Service Assurance. During his two decades at Distributel, Don had been instrumental in the company’s transformation from a small switchless long distance reseller, to a national CLEC operating its own network facilities, and to one of Canada’s leading independent ISPs.

Jim Dawson

Vice President, Enterprise Sales

With over 15 years of sales leadership experience in Commercial Telecom, Jim leads the Sales function for ThinkTel, the Business Services division of Distributel (www.thinktel.ca). He leads a talented team of professionals across Canada, and brings passion to building industry partnerships. Under his leadership, ThinkTel has become the leading Canadian provider of SIP-based voice, video, and data services in the SMB and enterprise markets. ThinkTel was co-founded by Jim, and was acquired by Distributel in 2010.
Jim’s previous positions include Account Executive roles at Bell Canada, C1 Communications, and Sprint Canada.

J. Owen Gilbert

Vice President Carrier Services & President, Navigata

A vibrant senior executive with a twenty five year track-record of success in the Telecom sector.
A creative leader with a reputation for delivering quality customer service in a collaborative manner. Owen holds a background in operations, marketing and sales which help to deliver the right solutions for our customers.

Jacqui Irving

Vice President, People and Culture

Jacqui leads our People and Culture group, ensuring the right people are in the right roles and are equipped with the right skills. We are focused on building a vibrant culture that promotes teamwork, personal development, and flexibility.
Jacqui is ideally suited for the role as she has over 29 years of experience at Distributel, having led the Customer Service, Billing, Provisioning and Customer Loyalty groups and has a deep understanding of the talent requirements needed to drive the organization toward achieving the business vision.

Sheldon Pepin

Vice President, Information Services

Sheldon has been in the Telecom industry for 20 years and has a varied background across multiple functions, including Support, Engineering, Operations, Innovation, and Information Services. Sheldon held various roles of increasing responsibility at Primus before joining Distributel to oversee the Access product portfolio in the Innovation group. With his technical acumen and leadership strength, Sheldon provides a creative approach to the continued development of innovative, robust and secure IS and IT systems across the Distributel organization and brands.

Daniel Puckett

Vice President, Strategic Projects

Daniel leverages his vast experience gained over more than 28 years at Distributel leading Corporate strategic projects. Daniel provides thought leadership on key projects that will enable the organization for continued growth across Operations, Property Management, Mergers and Acquisitions and Partnerships.
In addition to telecommunication and computer science, Daniel enjoys being a grandfather to two grandsons and two granddaughters, plays racquetball regularly as a mediocre over-the- hill player with a great serve, and has previously earned his keep through public sector labour relations and property development.

Rob Switzman

Vice President, Customer Experience

Rob leads the customer experience function across the residential, commercial, and wholesale divisions. He’s accountable for customer care, technical support, service delivery and fulfillment. Rob is passionate about human centered design and seeks opportunities to both simplify and transform the end to end customer experience.
Rob joined Distributel in 2019 and brings over 20 years of telecom industry experience focused on innovation, new business development and product management. A hands-on hockey dad, Rob is an avid skier, and enjoys travelling both in Canada and around the world.

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Careers

Distributel is one of Canada's leading Internet Service Providers. Join a dynamic team and experience the wealth of opportunities that only a growing company can offer.

We think if you can’t get passionate about your job, you might be in the wrong job or maybe it’s just the wrong place. Look at what we have to offer on our Distributel Career Page and you may be able to get 2 for 1: an awesome job in a great company. Discover us today, your future is waiting.

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