Mainstream Fiber invests in Brown County HQ, makes key leadership hires
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Mainstream Fiber Networks on Thursday announced it has completed $1.5 million in renovations at its Brown County headquarters.
As part of the investment, the company says it has added nearly 50 jobs across its Indiana footprint, ranging from frontline to executive positions.
“You can see the tangible investments just by going down to Brown County but also in other parts [of Indiana],” said Jeff Marston, who joined Mainstream Fiber as chief commercial officer in March. “We’re developing operations in a lot of these new markets and footprints that we’re in.”
Marston told Inside INdiana Business Host Gerry Dick that the project is part of a greater investment being made by the company.
“This is a substantial investment…in the hundreds of millions of dollars just in the coming years,” he said. “But our mission hasn’t changed. Our charge is to go into the underserved areas. We’re going right into the areas…where they need the economic development, where the businesses need fiber optic services, where they need those products and services to attract businesses and families into these communities.”
The investment in the Nashville headquarters facility comes less than a year after Mainstream Fiber received an undisclosed investment from New York-based private investment firm Searchlight Capital Partners LP.
The investment, which the company said last October would create more than 200 jobs and support an expansion of broadband access in underserved communities around Indiana.
Marston said the need for high-speed fiber broadband is becoming increasingly apparently, especially for children who rely on it for school and the growing number of remote workers.
“If you have areas that don’t have those services and those capabilities, then it won’t attract that economic development. It’ll be harder for students to do distance learning,” he said. “We saw what happened in COVID, and it really exposed some of the areas that struggled with that.”
Marston joined Mainstream Fiber after 14 years with Comcast, most recently serving as vice president of sales and marketing. He is joined by three other key hires: Jason Korando as director of marketing, Scott Wagner as director of sales, and Mike Wilson as director of public relations.
The company, which currently has about 190 employees, has also hired Troy Johnson to serve as chief operations officer.
Mainstream Fiber said in a news release that in addition to the recent investment in its personnel and headquarters, the company has added nearly 1,500 miles of fiber infrastructure across its footprint.
“Investing in all facets of our business, from executive to frontline, will further improve service and make our company even more nimble,” CEO Bryan Gabriel said in the release. “The success we’ve already enjoyed is going right back into our community. As we expand and grow our business, we will hire more Hoosiers and continue our rapid Indiana expansion efforts.”