By Rajani Baburajan, TMCnet Contributor

Telecom Brokerage (News - Alert), Inc. (TBI), a telecommunications master agent that represents more than 50 providers in the industry, has just made some major changes within some of its senior staff roles with the goal of significantly enhancing partner support.

Ken Mercer, who continues as TBI’s senior vice president, will now focus in on strategic sales and partners of a larger and more technological nature. With over 20 years of experience in the industry, Mercer is capable of increasing the close ratio of partner’s strategic relationships in the enterprise arena, according to TBI officials.

Geoff Yearack, formerly the director of TBI’s Wireless Division, also serves as the head of that department. In addition, Yearack has also been named vice president of Operations, wherein he will oversee TBI’s vendor specialist group, the wireless department, PartneriQ, human resources, and eventually the commissions department.

Mike Saxby, who continues as the master agent’s chief strategy officer, will hold additional responsibilities for TBI’s Channel Sales Management group, which consists of four national channel managers and four inside channel managers. 

“Ken has been a key asset assisting our partners with closing enterprise opportunities, while vendors provide sales engineering support. Having an independent 3rd party expert that can meet face-to-face with a CTO is a resource every master agent should provide,” said Mike Saxby.

The executive role change is in line with TBI’s growth in both the mid-market and enterprises space, following the company’s addition of PartneriQ, cloud services, wireless and mobile device management. These import changes will allow for a much greater focus within every department of TBI and will increase efficiency in resources used.

Commenting on the his new responsibility, Yearack stated, “My most important role is to add value for our partners, to close more business and grow their business. We are more focused than ever on developing tools and systems to support the changing industry and our partners’ needs.”

“Geoff has been a leader in every endeavor he has ever been given the responsibility to do,” Ken Mercer added. “He has owned his own business and respects honesty, frugality, and common sense from his entrepreneurial days; those are three things that we sometimes don't see enough of in this industry.”

In addition to the changes in senior management, the master agent also named former Vendor Specialist Natalia Botti-Rahal, as the partner experience manager. This is a newly created at the company and Botti-Rahal will be handling all new partner contracts, as well as developing relationships and setting expectations for new partners.

Earlier this year, TMCnet reported that TBI had outgrown its old location and moved into a new facility. With its new headquarters located in the Cumberland Metro Office Park near O’Hare Airport in Chicago, which just happens to be less than half a mile from TBI’s former location, TBI can now utilize two conference rooms, 10 executive offices and larger areas for TBI’s back office and channel support teams.

Edited by Jamie Epstein