Bill Daniels

Founder, former President, CEO and Chairman, Daniels & Associates, 1998 Cable Hall of Fame

danielsBill

If there is any reason for them to call me the ‘Father of Cable Television,’ I would think it would be because I was the first guy to recognize it as a hell of a potential business, and I brought the financial community in to really make it a business…

Bill Daniels brought TV to Casper, Wyoming becoming the first community antenna operator to use microwave links to import signals from a distant city, in this case Denver, 200 miles away. He would build more systems and serve for a year as president of the National Cable Television Association (NCTA), an organization he’d helped found.

During his travels as NCTA president, Bill Daniels would realize that community antenna operators all over the U.S. needed two things: help starting, buying and selling systems, and financing to accomplish their goals. In 1958, after settling in Denver, he formed Daniels & Associates, a company that not only brokered cable systems, but also helped entrepreneurs get started in the business, providing management and engineering expertise in exchange for a percentage of the system’s equity.

By 1988, Daniels’ cable operating company ranked among the top 25 multiple system operators in the United States. Daniels merged all but two of the systems, both located in California, with United Artists Communications in order to focus on his brokerage and investment banking businesses and on Prime Ticket Network, a Los Angeles regional sports service. He would later partner with Tele-Communications Inc., in creating Prime Network, owner of a string of regional sports networks around the U.S.

Later in his career, Daniels would pursue a variety of philanthropic ventures, including establishment of the Young Americans Bank, the first chartered bank in the U.S. dedicated to providing a hands-on learning experience to children and young adults. In November 1988, he presented the largest gift ever awarded to the University of Denver, an $11 million grant to help revamp the school’s master of business program to include new required courses on ethics, integrity, demeanor, communications, negotiations, manners and social involvement. At Daniels’ suggestion, the school polled U.S. businesses, asking for feedback on the graduates it was turning out. Poll results convinced the university to revamp its business curriculum, integrating courses on marketing, finance, accounting and other disciplines so students graduating in any one field would be conversant in the others.

Today, Daniels & Associates continues to rank as one of the leading media brokerage/investment banks in the United States.

Syndeo_logomark
Syndeo logomark Color

Gibbs Jones

C5 Emeritus
Owner (Spartanburg)

ARCpoint Labs

Gibbs is a customer experience executive with over 25 years of customer experience leadership and expertise in the design, optimization and implementation of customer contact operations. Gibbs has combined skill in the human and technology side of customer contact operations, including the procurement and installation of ACD equipment, workforce management and CRM systems. He has directed the start-up of multiple customer contact operations, with industry expertise in consumer electronics, communications, retail, manufacturing, financial services, banking, and direct sales.

Gibbs has over ten years experience in the Cable Industry. Most recently Gibbs was the Senior Vice President of Customer Experience for Suddenlink Communications. Gibbs worked with Suddenlink’s six regional senior vice presidents and the managers of its customer-contact call centers in Arizona, Missouri, North Carolina, Texas and West Virginia to measure and improve Customer Satisfaction through transactional and relationship Net Promoter Programs and JD Power Research Studies.

Gibbs was also responsible for the company’s social media strategy where he made sure Suddenlink was active in the major social networking channels and found new ways to improve customer loyalty in this space.

Currently Gibbs owns two ARCpoint Labs locations. ARCpoint is a leader in the B to C and B to B drug and alcohol testing industry. Additionally, Gibbs has a consulting practice that helps companies improve their customer experience.

Gibbs is a Certified Net Promoter® Associate and has been a speaker at various conferences and is frequently called upon to discuss considerations related to measuring and improving the customer experience, exceptional contact center management, and optimizing the employee experience.

 

Skip to content