2022 Excellence Awards Winners

Doug Boone
Executive Vice President of Strategic Initiatives, Premier Communications (Sioux Center, Iowa)

Doug’s tenure as CEO at Premier stretched more than 20 years, during which time he took a small, single exchange company with roughly 5,000 access lines, 20 employees, and $13 million dollars of plant-in-service, and grew it into a company with more than 21,000 internet subscribers, 100 employees and $200 million dollars of plant-in-service. He began his career in the late 1970’s at Mutual Telephone Co. mowing lawns and washing service trucks. Fast forward a few years, Doug served as office manager starting in 1982, progressing at Premier to assistant general manager, CEO, and to his current role guiding Premier’s strategic initiatives. He is active in the Iowa state telecom associations, on local boards and on several state community development boards.

Doug served as an NTCA director for six years, including a role on the Unification Task Force, and he was the first solo NTCA board president from a commercial company. Beyond his many professional achievements, Doug’s character and his qualities as a leader commend him as an exemplary figure for all the lives he has touched. He is known throughout the industry for his selflessness, service, dedication, integrity and drive. Doug’s concern for the industry is matched only by his care for his customers and his love for his family.

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Leo Staurulakis
Co-Chair of the Board, JSI

During his decades-long career at JSI – likely starting from childhood – Leo has always believed that his success is linked to the achievements of individual clients and the health of the entire rural broadband industry. His dedication to this belief is evidenced in the many ways that he has been an active associate member, supporting NTCA and its programs at many turns. He served on the Associate Member Advisory Council and is a huge supporter of the NTCA Rural Broadband PAC. He served as a board member of the Foundation for Rural Service and spearheaded the creation of the Staurulakis Family Scholarship, showcasing his dedication to giving back to rural America. He has dedicated his time and financial support to NTCA events, serving as a speaker, sponsor and consistent presence at decades of NTCA conferences.

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Janine Fajardo
Former Marketing Coordinator, Plateau Telecommunications (Clovis, New Mexico)

Plateau had multiple websites and multiple vendors managing its online marketing, and early in her tenure, Janine identified a need to revamp the overall digital marketing efforts. Janine brought in-house all social media and search engine optimization (SEO) efforts, and from there started improving online efficiency. She initiated a project to consolidate several websites into one and worked with Plateau’s web team to sift through and change website content to fit the best practices of SEO. Following these efforts, Plateau saw a 105% increase in new users to its website, a 235% increase in page views, and a 64% increase in average pages visited per session, with page clicks increasing by nearly 200%. At the same time, Janine created display and video ads for Plateau’s “True” campaign, incorporating the company’s “Tried. True. Trusted.” tagline.

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Jeff and Kerry responded to a critical equipment failure and network outage at Marshall Medical Center Hospital. After restoring service, the two departed from the hospital around midnight to make the drive home on a foggy and rainy night. As they drove through the fog, they passed a state park and noticed a light off the road coming from a steep, wooded embankment. They stopped and determined that a car had gone off the road, hit several trees on the way down the embankment and was stuck. The driver was trapped in his vehicle, waving a flashlight trying to draw attention from passing motorists in a desperate attempt to solicit help, as the roadway was remote, and it was late at night. Kerry climbed down the embankment to the car, finding that the driver was injured with a broken leg and had no cell service. Kerry stayed with the driver while Jeff drove further down the road to get a cell signal and call 911. Police and rescue ultimately arrived on the scene and were able to extract the driver and take him to the hospital.

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Paul Beale
Outside Sales and Community Relations Manager, Taylor Telecom (Merkel, Texas)

Paul led Taylor’s involvement with a weekend Care Packs for Kids program. Every week, Paul physically delivers boxes of backpacks to each school containing food for the weekend for schoolchildren in need. If there is bad weather or a holiday, Paul delivers the packages to schools early, because he knows that if he does not, the kids receiving those backpacks will go hungry over the weekend. During Winter Storm Uri, Paul became aware of the needs of many elderly, sick, and impoverish families who were isolated in remote areas without water, electricity, or transportation. He coordinated with other local businesses to find firewood, lighters, fire starters, bottled water, and shelf stable food, and delivered them to those residents most in need. A final example of Paul’s recent service was during a major wildfire that broke out. Because of the severe drought, extremely high temperatures and lack of humidity, the fire spread rapidly. On the first night of the fire, notifications from local volunteer fire departments went out asking for donations of bottled water. Paul immediately purchased and donated several cases of water and other drinks, and then led the effort to coordinate other donations. He transported food, water, medication, eye drops, baby wipes and anything else that the fire departments requested.

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