June 26, 2020

Telecom Innovator adds John Barrett and Janice Roberts to its Advisory Board

Common Networks—a revolutionary wireless internet service provider (ISP)—officially welcomes telecom industry veterans John Barrett and Janice Roberts to their Advisory Board. John and Janice, who have worked for some of the largest telecom companies in the country, bring deep finance and operations expertise to Common’s Advisory Board.

“As a company reinventing the technology, business model, and customer experience of home internet service, we’re excited to learn from John and Janice’s years of experience in these areas,” says Grace Chen, CEO of Common Networks. “Their expertise will be invaluable as we expand to new markets and scale our operations.”

John Barrett most recently served as President and CEO of CCU, a fiber optics construction firm in the southeast. Prior to that, with Clearwater Advisors, John provided executive consulting services concentrated upon the internet and video provider industries for clients including investment and international consulting firms. A major portion of John’s career has been spent in leadership roles with Comcast Corporation as he helped guide the company’s growth from a small regional cable operator to a Fortune 50 enterprise. His roles included CFO for a $5 billion cable division and as Senior Vice President managing Comcast’s broadband business serving over 3 million customers in the southeast. John resides in Atlanta and recently co-founded a startup mentorship program for students of Oglethorpe University.

Janice Roberts was Senior Vice President of Field Services at Cox Communications, Inc., where she was responsible for strategy and day-to-day enterprise operations for installation and service delivery of Cox video, voice, data, and home security & automation services for residential and commercial customers. Before Cox, she was a partner at Accenture in their Communications & High Technology practice. She began her career with AT&T as an outside plant engineer, designing distribution networks, after receiving her B.S. degree in Civil Engineering from Clemson University. She earned her MBA degree from Kennesaw State University, Michael J. Coles College of Business.

About Common Networks, Inc.

Common Networks is a technology company providing first-of-its-kind wireless internet powered by open 5G and local connections. Using groundbreaking proprietary innovations, Common delivers unparalleled speed at a reduced cost. Common is disrupting industry standards with complete transparency in pricing and customer service.

In less than three years, Common’s network has provided coverage to over 100,000 people in a fraction of the time—and at less than 1/50th of the price it would take to lay fiber optic internet for these communities. The company has raised more than $34 million in funding to date from notable partners, including General Catalyst, Eclipse Ventures, and Lux Capital. Based in San Francisco, Common was founded in 2016 by Grace Chen, Jessica Shalek, Zach Brock and Mark Jen to provide accessible, high-speed internet services for all.