ROYALTON — Chris Recchia, former commissioner of the Vermont Department of Public Service, has been named the new head of ValleyNet, replacing an Oklahoma telecommunications consultant who was hired for the job only three months ago and has since left the organization.
In February, David Rottmayer had been named managing director of ValleyNet. He succeeded chief executive Carole Monroe, who was retiring.
Stan Williams, board chairman of ValleyNet, which runs the nonprofit fiber-to-the-home telecom provider ECFiber, confirmed that Rottmayer is no longer working at ValleyNet. Williams declined to give the reason for Rottmayer’s departure, saying he couldn’t comment on private personnel matters.
Recchia, who lives in Randolph, spent four years at DPS before stepping down in 2017 and has since been a principal in his own energy and environment consulting firm. Williams cited Recchia’s background in nonprofits and experience in dealing with telecommunications issues as reasons he will be an asset to the organization.
ValleyNet, a nonprofit based in Royalton, has more than 20 employees and runs the system for ECFiber, which has no employees of its own. ECFiber currently has more than 700 miles of optical fiber network and more than 3,400 customers as it continues to expand in the Upper Valley. ValleyNet said in a news release that it also is assisting other groups in the Upper Valley trying to obtain universal broadband coverage, including in Lyme.
John Lippman can be reached at jlippman@vnews.com.
