Homes in the historic Battery Street area of Charleston is less than a mile from Elauwit's new corporate office.

As of May 1, 2012, Elauwit’s new corporate office has relocated to the lovely, vibrant, happening city of Charleston, South Carolina. The beach, the dining, the history…what’s not to love? And, apparently, our executives are not the only ones that think Charleston is top notch.

The readers of Conde-Nast Traveler magazine spoke up last year to award the Top City in the U.S. to Charleston. Consistently a Top 10 finisher, the new ranking was a first for the popular travel destination.

Readers were asked to rank their favorite cities based on six categories: ambiance, friendliness, lodging, restaurants, culture and shopping.

It was a close race, but Charleston eked out San Fransisco, Santa Fe, Chicago and even Honolulu for the number one spot.

It should come at no surprise to customers and fans of Elauwit that our executive team had an eye on Charleston for a while. With operations offices already in Columbia, SC, (just a 2-hour drive) and Charlotte, NC ,(about a 4-hour drive) Charleston has long been a favorite destination for many of Elauwit’s top leaders.

Now, the majority of the executive team will be calling Charleston home.

The new headquarters replaces the former Wall Street address in New York with that of the popular Meeting Street in Charleston. The centralized office space is neighbors with the historic Charleston Market, glorious water views from East Bay Street, and even a few College of Charleston students and professors.

Already, Elauwit’s felt the warm welcome that the Holy City has to offer its residents and businesses. Even the mayor has taken note.

“I am pleased to welcome Elauwit to Charleston, and we are excited that such a well-established company is moving its headquarters from New York and consolidating its operations in Charleston,” said Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley. “This is a strong testament to the attractiveness of our city as a place to do business.”

Along with the team of executives that will be in Charleston regularly, Elauwit also will be housing its corporate marketing team in Charleston. The newly instated technology corridor will prove to be a great opportunity for Elauwit’s growing telecom business.

“We chose Charleston for its vibrant atmosphere and long-standing rapport with residents, businesses, and tourists. We are thrilled to call it our new home and look forward to developing many outstanding relationships here just as we have in New York,” said Elauwit Chief Executive Barry Rubens.

“Elauwit will be a wonderful addition to Charleston’s business community, and I look forward to working with our newest corporate citizen,” Mayor Riley said.

Starting from the top, Dan McDonough, Jr, has stepped down as CEO. Dan has led our company through a very difficult economic period in our nation’s history and did a fantastic job!

The company more than doubled its revenues under Dan’s watch and, more importantly, we survived a difficult economic time and have come out of it a much stronger company. Our revenue and profitably growth rate under his leadership is indeed the major stepping off point for our future expansion.

“There were times that I think he kept the company going with nothing more than his willpower! Those times are past us now and the company is on strong footing – and in large part that is due to his efforts and leadership,” said Chairman, Russell Cann.

Dan is not leaving Elauwit, only changing roles. He will lead major revenue initiatives while Barry Rubens, our former CFO and our new CEO, concentrates on day-to-day management of the company.

Ed Lynes, former Vice President of Sales at Elauwit Media, will move over to a lead sales role at Elauwit Networks, and Joe Eisele will be replacing him as Elauwit Media’s Vice President of Sales.

Joe has been with Elauwit since December 2010. In the past 15 months, he’s provided key leadership to the sales department’s two most ambitious projects: customer retention and growth into the Princeton, N.J. market. Under Joe, account retention doubled during 2011.

“His success in Princeton should be known to everyone. There’s no doubt that under his guidance, Elauwit Media will continue to grow in 2012 and beyond,” said Lynes.

Alan Bauer, an integral part of Elauwit Media from its inception, has been promoted to Vice Chairman of Elauwit Media. He will maintain his former roles of General Manager and Editor.

Steve Miller will be taking on the new role as publisher, responsible for sales, community relations and customer service. Steve has been with Elauwit Media since 2005, serving first as vice president of sales. Steve has helped see the company through the launch of newspapers in more than 10 communities.

Bruce Sanders will take on the role of Executive Vice President of Elauwit, with his focus being on marketing the entire company and its many valuable assets. Bruce joined Elauwit Networks in 2010 as the Vice President of Sales. Under his leadership, Networks has been chosen as the provider of choice for nearly all of the Top 5 student housing companies in the U.S.

Dan, Barry, and Bruce will all relocate their main offices to Charleston, SC, where Elauwit’s main headquarters will soon be located. But, more on that next week!

Take a look at the latest 3M national advertising campaign. Recognize anything? Yup. That’s Grandview Condominiums they are talking about. You’ll remember that Elauwit is the data, television, and telephone provider for the high-end condo building.

During the installation process, our reps looked to 3M for a solution to get the fiber through the building’s hallways and units that would match the caliber of the building’s modern design. Basically, they needed a better way to hide the stuff.

3M’s One Pass products were that solution. And, when it came time to promote the product, the execs at 3M couldn’t think of a better example to show off the One Pass product’s value than the Grandview installation.

Read the full story that 3M wrote up about the process, complete with a full interview and many quotes from our own Chief Technology Officer, Taylor Jones.

The whole thing…Grandview, our Triple Play package, and 3M…have caught the eye of at least one technology publication, Broadband Communities Magazine, which has reprinted the story in their digital magazine.

We are truly honored to be highlighted in such a way alongside a mega brand like 3M, and to be recognized for our out-of-the box plan for the Grandview upgrade.

Look out, Princeton! We're on the way!

The residents of Princeton, NJ will notice a new addition to their mailbox this week – a Sun newspaper.

Elauwit Media has added the Central Jersey town to their long list of community papers in the South and Central New Jersey markets. The Princeton Sun will join five other Central Jersey communities, including Montgomery, Hopewell, West Windsor, Robbinsville and Lawrence that receive a Sun newspaper each week.

Elauwit recently opened a new office in Princeton to accommodate customers, clients and constituents of its Central New Jersey newspaper market.

“We’re very excited to expand our footprint in the Central New Jersey market,” CEO Dan McDonough, Jr. said. “With the recent expansion into Princeton, West Windsor and Robbinsville, and the opening of a new office in Princeton, Elauwit is poised to continue to grow.”

Residents of Princeton can look forward to community news content that is unmatched against our competitors. We’ll provide local news about your town including government, schools and your neighbors, delivered for free each week right to your mailbox.

The new print publication is not all Elauwit will bring to the new market. There will also be a significant online presence. There is a supplemental web site for residents who live in Princeton. The Princeton Sun web site will include some information from the weekly print publication, but will also include exclusive local news that will only be found online. In addition, there will be a Princeton Sun Facebook and Twitter pages, where residents can voice their opinions about what’s going on in their community.

As you can see, we are fully submerged in the new communities we serve. If you have news, specific questions or would like to advertise in any of Elauwit’s newspapers, please call us. We are here to serve you…the residents, business people, movers and shakers of our area publications.

UL Freshman Whitney Arion lounging around watching MTV.

The folks at NPR have caught wind of the new way of college living. It’s not the cinder block, institution-like hole out of which many of us may have graduated. Instead, it’s real apartment living with private bathrooms, roomy living spaces and multiple windows. One thing they barely touched on, though, was the one thing that college students say is the most important…

Their data and TV services.

In their report, NPR stopped in Bettie Johnson Hall at the University of Louisville in Kentucky. Managed by Education Realty Trust, the property has all the bells and whistles…including super-fast and reliable internet and television services. The freshman student they interviewed there was “sprawled on a couch watching MTV.”

To the quality of living point that NPR hones in on in their report, Elauwit Chairman, Russell Cann, points out some critical points, specifically regarding internet and TV as it relates to the college student. In off-campus housing, the number one important amenity across the board is data access – how much internet do you have, how much of it can the student use and how reliable it is. Further:

• Students have said they will move to a different complex if the place they are living at does not have decent internet access.
• A big part of student life – classes, group interaction, professor conferences, report submissions, etc – happens online. Therefore, data capacity is key.
• Private developers – who the universities are turning to to develop housing — know that students have the highest demand for data of any population segment in America.

So, many private developers, including EdR, are turning to Elauwit to bring their customers, the students, the best quality, service and products they can.

Responsibilities include covering and writing news stories, taking photos, managing story budgets and working with the public to gather community news for our weekly newspapers.

Night work is involved, and you must have your own transportation.

Reporting and editing experience is preferred. You will work out of our Princeton office.

Compensation is $500 a week, with the opportunity to earn an additional $100 per week through performance bonuses. After a trial period, you will be eligible to join Elauwit’s 401k plan (which includes a company match) and our health insurance plan. Paid time off begins to accrue after six months on the job.

Please send a letter, resume and samples of your work to alan@elauwit.com. No phone calls.

Barry Rubens spoke mostly of the focus on quality of service for Elauwit’s employees. In the Media division, that means customer service for our advertisers as well as production quality for our readers. At the Networks meeting, Barry’s quality of service focus applied to employees in the call center dealing with residents as well as folks out in the field who build and construct the back-end for  data and television services. Barry honed in on the fact that in each category, relationships are fragile, and each employee needs to remember that when dealing with them.

Next up was the topic of diversification. The Media division got a great jump start on this in 2011 when they launched a cluster of newspapers in the Princeton, NJ market. A new area of focus for Media was also in its online presence. Rittenhoused, Elauwit’s online publication for the Philadelphia, PA market, is a major focus as it continues to produce engaging, original content for Philly’s hippest, hottest, most social web users.

For Networks, diversification will include providing premiere services and support to industries requiring mission critical telecommunications capabilities similar to student housing development companies. Through the course of a severe recession, Rubens says that Elauwit has proven itself to be a responsive, strategic service and support element for student housing development companies and he would like to translate those very valued characteristics to other industries as well. The resiliency of Elauwit to weather tough economic conditions while maintaining strength of service only boosts the prospects for the company to accelerate market share into the future.

Including every employee in on the meetings is something that Barry says he will continue to focus on through his transition to CEO in April. Communication is something that each executive feels is critical as Elauwit begins to push past the recession and into a growth trend that many of them may not see coming. According to Rubens, the all-hands meetings were the first step in that.

“The employees at Elauwit have worked incredibly hard to put us in the position we are now. Their dedication and loyalty to the company through the tough times makes us want even more to include each of them in on the good times as well. The all-hands meeting was one way to do that,” said Rubens.

“This is an exciting moment for Elauwit,” Chairman of the Board Russell Cann said of Rubens’ promotion from his current role as chief financial officer. “Barry has brought a wealth of experience and wisdom to Elauwit, and we are all excited to see him use that knowledge to lead our company.”

Rubens succeeds Dan McDonough, Jr., who steps down as chief executive March 31. McDonough has run the company for the past three years and will continue to serve on Elauwit’s board of directors and on its executive committee.

“Barry has been a trusted teammate, a mentor and a friend for the last three years,” McDonough said. “He is perfectly suited to take Elauwit to the next level and I am excited to support his efforts to do just that.”

In addition to serving as chief financial officer, Rubens, 51, has served on the board of directors of Elauwit. Prior to joining Elauwit’s board in 2009, he founded Davidson Telecom to provide telecommunications services to large shopping mall developers. He continues to be the majority shareowner of Davidson.

Previously, Rubens served as the senior vice president and chief financial officer of CT Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: CTCI). During this period (1993-2002), CTCI successfully grew revenues from $40 million to $160 million. In his role as chief financial officer for CTCI, Rubens led the company into new business ventures including a partnership with Cingular wireless and a “greenfield” initiative providing telecommunications services to developers in the Southeast. Rubens also had responsibility for leading the company’s public offering and listing on the Nasdaq.

Rubens serves or has served as a director or officer for BellSouth Mobility’s Carolinas PCS Partnership, Access/On, Carolinas FiberNet, DDR Broadband, Maxcom Telefonia, and AvidExchange.

Prior to joining CTCI, Rubens was with the Washington, DC, telecommunications consulting practice of Ernst & Young where he spent 10 years working on the financial, strategic, corporate development and regulatory initiatives for a variety of major telecommunications carriers. He is married with two children and lives in Davidson, N.C. He serves or has served as a director for Cannon School, United Way and the Boy Scouts of America.

Headquartered in New York with operations in 27 states, Elauwit delivers the information you want, focusing the best products and technologies on communities with unique needs and interests. It’s core businesses deliver broadband and television to the residents of multiple dwelling units and publish newspapers in affluent markets. Elauwit is privately and closely held, with the operating executives and founding entrepreneurs holding more than 90 percent of the interests of the company.

Stanley M. Friedman

Stanley M. Friedman was named to the Elauwit Board of Directors at the company’s Feb. 28, board meeting. Friedman, currently the acting general manager of The Alexander Hotel in Miami Beach, Fla., has been a consultant to Elauwit for four years and has developed a strong understanding of the company’s operations and opportunities.

“I am honored that Stanley accepted our invitation to serve on our board,” Elauwit Chairman Russell Cann said. “We are lucky to have somebody with such wisdom and experience helping to guide the company’s strategic vision.”

Friedman, a practicing attorney from 1961 to 1986, was Deputy Mayor for Intergovernmental Affairs in New York City under Mayor Abraham Beame, and was the Chairman of the Bronx Democratic Party in the 1970s and 1980s. Before taking the helm at the Alexander Hotel, he served as general manager of the Staten Island Hotel in Staten Island, NY, for more than a decade. He is the senior executive vice chairman of the Staten Island Economic Development Corp., a member of the board of trustees of the Daytop Village charity, and a member of the boards of the College of Staten Island Foundation and the Boy Scouts of America (Staten Island Council), where he was honored as the distinguished citizen of the year in 2006.

“Stanley is a trusted adviser and more importantly a great friend,” Elauwit Chief Executive Dan McDonough, Jr. said. “I’m excited about his continuing contribution to the Elauwit team from a board level.”

An example of one of The Grove's fine communities.

We are thrilled to announce that Elauwit has been selected by Campus Crest Communities to provide turnkey technology services to six new student housing properties under construction this year.

Campus Crest will welcome new residents at Auburn University, University of Arkansas, Northern Arizona University, University of Wyoming, University of Maine and Oklahoma State University in August.

“We are so honored to be the provider of choice for these student housing projects at such notable universities. We can’t wait to bring the students our stellar services and exceptional products to better their studies and their extra-curriculars, too,” said Bruce Sanders, president of sales for Elauwit’s Networks division.

Over the course of the next few months, our technicians will be hard at work at the low-voltage cable plant, video and Internet headend networks. Come August, we will provide and manage TV and data services for all of the properties, adding another 3,660 satisfied users to the Elauwit Networks family.

With 32 properties currently operating and the six under construction, Campus Crest (NYSE: CCG) is a leading developer, builder, owner and manager of high-quality, purpose-built student housing under the banner “The Grove.”

We look forward to growing with The Grove as they continue to expand to more college campuses across the country.