Blackfoot’s Chief Executive Officer, Bill Squires, passed away from a brief illness Friday, November 18. Bill’s career started with Blackfoot in April 2001, as Sr. Vice President and General Counsel. He was named CEO in January of 2012. Bill’s leadership plus his energy and commitment to Blackfoot’s customers have built Blackfoot into a leading, regional service provider of voice, data, cloud and IT services.
Bill was both a visionary and a leader in the telecommunications industry, serving for years as President of the Montana Telecommunications Association, the US Telecom Association’s Leadership Committee, and the Industry & Policy Committee of NTCA – The Rural Broadband Association. He also had incredible business acumen which served him well on a wide variety of boards, including: Missoula Economic Partnership, Vision Net (Great Falls), Syringa Networks (Boise), Alaska Power and Telephone, and CoBank (Denver). He was a trusted voice with state and federal policy makers and was a passionate advocate for Blackfoot.
“We are devastated by this loss,” said Tom Eggensperger, President of Blackfoot’s Board of Trustees. “Bill’s leadership helped Blackfoot grow to its position of prominence and success, and he will be greatly missed.”
Jason Williams, Blackfoot’s Chief Operating Officer, has been named the interim CEO. Williams, who has been with Blackfoot since September 2012, brings 20 years of telecommunications, business and legal experience to this role. “With Jason’s leadership, Blackfoot won’t miss a beat in continuing to provide excellent technology solutions and services to its customers,” Eggensperger said.