ATLANTA – Cox Communications today announced the promotion of two senior Cox Business leaders, Phil Meeks and Kristine Faulkner.

Meeks, who oversees the strategic direction of Cox Communication’s fastest growing business unit, has been promoted to senior vice president of Cox Business. In the 18 months he has been with the company, Meeks has aggressively implemented operational standards across markets, launched a base management center and driven the exploration of managed services.

Prior to joining Cox, Meeks spent 20 years at MCI, where he most recently developed $200 million in new revenue as senior vice president of strategic ventures and alliances in two years.

Kristine Faulkner has been named a corporate officer and will continue her role as vice president of product development and management for Cox Business. Faulkner has led the deployment of Cox Business VoiceManager, a hosted IP voice service available in 12 markets that delivers features such as disaster recovery, remote office and unified messaging, to small and medium businesses. Her team has also enhanced the capabilities of the hybrid fiber coaxial (HFC) network to extend the addressable base for advanced voice and data services by 80 percent.

Faulkner, a nine-year cable veteran, recently received the 2009 Catalyst Award from the Atlanta chapter of Women in Cable Telecommunications (WICT) and was named one of Multichannel News’ 2010 Wonder Women.

“Despite a challenging economy, Cox Business has continued to aggressively grow and this is a testament to its leaders,” said Leo Brennan, chief operating officer, Cox Communications. “Demand for an alternative business provider exists, but the effective leadership of Phil, Kristine and their teams ensures the sales execution and reliable service delivery that attract those customers to Cox.” 

Cox Business will realize revenue growth in the mid-teens for 2009 and remains on track to exceed $1 billion in revenue in 2010.

In 2009, Cox Business extended high definition free to guest video capabilities to all its markets, allowing regional and smaller hotels to deliver in-room amenities that rival large properties in Las Vegas. Cox Business will also launch Cox Business Online Backup this month, a capability that will be offered in all markets in 2010 and is indicative of the provider’s intent to further explore managed services beyond voice, data and video transport. With its dense regional network, Cox Business is well positioned to serve vertical industries such as healthcare, education, government and finance and plans to more specifically customize products to address these needs in 2010.

Cox Business provides voice, data and video services for nearly 250,000 small and regional businesses, including healthcare providers, K-12 and higher education, financial institutions and federal, state and local government organizations. According to Vertical Systems Group, Cox Business is the fourth largest provider of business Ethernet services in the U.S. based on customer ports. Cox is currently the seventh largest voice service provider in the U.S. and supports more than 650,000 business phone lines. For more information about Cox Business, Click Here or call 1-800-396-1609.

About Cox Communications

Cox Communications is a broadband communications and entertainment company, providing advanced digital video, Internet, telephone and wireless services over its own nationwide IP network. The third-largest U.S. cable TV company, Cox serves 6.2 million residences and businesses. Cox Business is a facilities-based provider of voice, video and data solutions for commercial customers and Cox Media is a full-service provider of national and local cable spot and new media advertising. Cox Communications wholly owns and operates Travel Channel. Cox is known for pioneering efforts in cable telephone and commercial services, industry-leading customer care and its outstanding workplaces. For six years, Cox has been recognized as the top operator for women by Women in Cable Telecommunication; for four years, Cox has ranked among DiversityInc's Top 50 Companies for Diversity; and the company holds a perfect score in the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index. More information about Cox Communications, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cox Enterprises, is available at www.cox.com and www.coxmedia.com.

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