Warwick Valley Telephone Co. hires new CEO

Warwick - Warwick Valley Communications (WVT), formerly known as The Warwick Valley Telephone Co., announced Monday that it had entered into an employment agreement with Duane W. Albro, 60, to serve as President & Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Albro will replace Interim President and Chief Executive Tom Gray who stepped in after the retirement of Herb Gareiss. Albro has 35 years of telecommunications experience. Starting out as a service technician in 1966 for New York Telephone, he progressed to the level of group vice president for NYNEX and Bell Atlantic. From 1997 to 2000, he was in charge of all New York operations as the designated operations vice president. Since then he has worked as an industry and investment consultant and was president and CEO of Refinish, a Fort Worth, Texas, cell phone recycling company from 2005 to 2007. Albro served as operations vice president for Cablevision Systems Corporation in 2002 and 2003, and from 2001 to 2002 he was President of Net 2000 Communications, a competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC) providing services to business customers. “Duane Albro has what Warwick Valley needs: deep telecom background, thorough knowledge of the competitive situation, demonstrated leadership skills, and New York roots,” said Gray. “In addition, his compensation has strong pay-for-performance elements, with incentives tied to stock price performance, operating income performance, and implementation of the Company’s Strategic Plan.” Warwick Valley Telephone’s common stock (Nasdaq: WWVY) has been trading recently around $14.70.