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MEET OUR TEAM
Ellis Hill
President & CEO
Ellis Hill founded ResearchFirst, Inc in 1987 after spending 12 years at AT&T, SCB, and BellSouth. While at BellSouth, Ellis served as a Group Product Manager and Director supporting all residential Lines of Business and market research. Prior to that, he served as the Business Product Manager, District Public Relations Manager, and Residential Product Manager.
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Prior to joining AT&T in 1976, Ellis served 5 years in the US Army. He has spent over 40 years in the telecommunications industry.
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Ellis received a M.S. Degree in Business Administration from Boston University and a BSBA degree from the University of Southern Mississippi. Ellis and his wife Lynn live in Gulfport, MS.
Charlie Conway
Chief Operating Officer
Updates Coming Soon
Stan Romero
Vice President
Stan Romero joined ResearchFirst in 2003 as the Vice President of Broadband. His career in telecom spans over 30 years and several positions in engineering, product development, and marketing at BellSouth. In his various roles, Stan was responsible for new product development, advertising and promotions, marketing, cost control, financial performance, strategy and market research.
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His current work at ResearchFirst includes research design, execution, and analysis; results benchmarking and analysis, and organization management.
Stan received a B.S. in Chemistry from Harding University and an MBA from the University of New Orleans. He lives in Sarasota, FL with his wife, June.
Lauren Roux
Staff Director
Lauren leads the planning, coordination, and execution of all ResearchFirst events including the BMMA and CETS seminar networking events. Lauren assists in market research projects from the beginning stages of survey development to the final results presentations.
Prior to ResearchFirst, Lauren worked in the casino and hospitality industry and at The Walt Disney World Resort in Florida.
Lauren earned a BA degree in Business Administration with a Concentration in Marketing from the University of Southern Mississippi. She lives in Gulfport, MS.
Ron Andrews
Team Director
Ron supports telecom and internet providers with selling DIRECTV video services. He manages internet service provider accounts and emerging markets.
Ron has previous experience working for AT&T as a Retail Account Executive where he managed indirect retail locations. He began his telco career supporting wireless sales for AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, T-Mobile, DIRECTV, and Dish Network.
Ron earned his BA in Marketing. from Saint Joseph’s College. He lives in Portland, ME.
Awards:
AT&T Summit Award for Outstanding Sales Performance - 2009
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AT&T Circle of Excellence Award for Outstanding Sales Performance - 2003
Justin Roland
Senior Director
Justin Roland is a Senior Director for ResearchFirst, Inc. with responsibility for Internet Service Provider and MDU relationships. Justin has over 15 years of experience in customer service, sales, marketing, and employee management. Prior to joining RFI, Justin owned and operated two successful small businesses giving him extensive knowledge of management and business best practices. Since his time at RFI, Justin and his team have successfully launched and onboarded multiple video products for a Fortune 500 company.
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Justin holds a BSBA degree from the University of Southern Mississippi. He lives in Gulfport, MS with his wife Laura.
Leighann Troino
Manager
RFIAcademy & MDU
As our RFIAcademy and MDU Manager, Leighann supports training development and delivery, and identifying key insights into the business. She evaluates training requirements and works alongside subject matter experts to design solutions in optimizing the services provided to align with the strategic vision of RFI. Leighann also oversees reporting, data driven projects and compliance validation.
Prior to joining ResearchFirst, Leighann served as a special education teacher for 6 years and acted as a technology consultant and training facilitator. She also worked as an event planner for Lane Two Entertainment, LLC.
Leighann graduated from Georgia Gwinnett College with a Bachelors in Developmental Psychology. She currently resides in Georgia.
Chantele Lee
Human Resources
Admin
Chantele joined our team in January of 2022 as our HR Admin. She is responsible for various HR duties, including payroll, benefits, onboarding, and employee travel management.
Chantele graduated from William Carey College with honors in Business Administration, emphasis in Marketing and Management. Upon graduation, she worked for Triton Systems as an Account Manager responsible for building sales and maintaining customer relationships.
Following her career at Triton, she provided sales and marketing to the medical community. She won various sales awards during this time.
Today, Chantele is not only a member of our ResearchFirst team, but she and her husband also run a small construction business in Gulfport, MS. They have a daughter in her sophomore year at Mississippi State University.
Margaret Raines
Staff Manager
As the RFI Staff Manager, Margaret works on government and client contracts for ResearchFirst. She assists in primary and secondary market research, benchmarking reports, business development, & contract review.
Margaret brings extensive experience from marketing and consulting firms, where she performed both primary and secondary market research, relationship management promotions, and strategy development.
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She holds a Master's degree in Business Administration from Tulane University with a concentration in Consumer Behavior and a supporting concentration in International Business. She received a BS in Economics from Louisiana State University. She lives in Gulfport, MS.
Dana Gill
Lead Client Account Manager
Dana supports broadband and telecom providers selling DIRECTV video services in national and international call centers and retail markets. Dana brings experience in hiring, training, and managing sales teams.
Before joining RFI, she was the Director of Resource Development at TeleNet Marketing Solutions where she was responsible for all new hire training and talent development. Dana holds certification as a Call Technique and Sales Skills instructor.
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Dana has a degree in Political Science from the University of Georgia. She lives in Greenville, SC.
Christina Wheeler
Lead Client Account Manager
Christina is a Lead Client Account Manager with ResearchFirst, Inc. She supports broadband and telecom providers selling DIRECTV video services in national and international call centers and retail markets.
Before joining RFI, Christina worked for five years with Verizon Wireless in retail management. Her responsibilities included leading and developing a dynamic sales force, overseeing training, managing inventory, and tracking KPIs to improve monthly performance. She also served eight years on active duty in the USAF, working in logistics and the medical field, while stationed in Alaska, Turkey, and the Pentagon in Washington D.C.
She earned her BA degree in Business from Husson University. She was born in Arizona, raised in Maine, but now calls North Myrtle Beach, SC home.
Gennaro Condemi
Lead Client Account Manager
Gennaro (Genn) supports broadband and telecom providers selling DIRECTV video services in national and international call centers and retail markets.
Prior to coming to the U.S. in 2013, Genn worked as an Account Manager in Italy, while gaining experience across multiple industries in areas of finance, international marketing, sales, and customer service.
He graduated from the University of Florence School of Law in Italy. Genn was born and raised in Italy but now lives in Altamonte Springs, FL.
Clarissa Harms
Client Account Manager
Clarissa Harms is a Client Account Manager on the Emerging ISP Team. She supports broadband and telecom providers, helping them increase their video attachment rates by providing training in product knowledge and professional development, creating customer-focused communications, and supporting growth initiatives. She also supports contract review, MDU initiatives, and the social media content and strategy for ResearchFirst.
Prior to joining ResearchFirst, Clarissa’s career included roles in audit review, administration, product, sales, and employee training, customer and community relations, and sales optimization. Her experience includes working for a Fortune 500 multinational company, a regional multi-systems operator, family-owned businesses, and community-based non-profits.
Clarissa graduated from the University of Georgia with honors, majoring in Business Administration and now calls Alabama home.
Nick Troino
Lead Client Production Manager
Updates Coming Soon
John Porter
Lead Client Account Manager
John supports Lumen/CenturyLink. John Porter is the driver of dealer activation performance through alignment and execution with dealer leadership, including driving sales activity, improving sales skills and agent behavior, delivering product and process training, and sharing areas of opportunity through in-depth data analysis.
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John has 19 years of experience in customer service and sales through various roles and 7 years of experience in management as a supervisor at CenturyLink and as a sales manager for DIRECTV.
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John received a Bachelors degree in Business Administration from the University of Arizona- global campus and an Associate of Science in Psychology from Northeast State Technical Community College - Blountville, TN.
He resides in Tennessee.
Nicole Vincent
Assistant Client Production Manager
Nicole serves as our Digital Support Specialist, providing IT support to the RFI team, maintaining the IT infrastructure, and web related systems within the organization. She also is the UX/UI designer & developer for ResearchFirst, Inc. Academy (RFIA), MDU, & BMMA.
She joined the team in February 2022. In her first several months, Niki has improved ResearchFirst’s digital learning platform (RFIAcademy) and created branding and visuals for internal and external projects. In addition, she has strengthened our company’s awareness and response to security threats and social media policies.
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Nicole received an Associate's degree in Information Systems Technology with a concentration in Cloud Computing & Certificate in Graphic Communications from Germanna Community College. She resides in Northern Virginia.
Gabe Blevins
Client Account Assistant
Gabe serves as our Client Account Assistant, providing the ResearchFirst, Inc. Academy (RFIA) support with content management, tracking and reporting, and the LiveChat feature.
Gabe graduated from The University of Southern Mississippi in May 2022 with a BSBA in Marketing. He was an active leader in his fraternity, Kappa Sigma. He lives in Mississippi.
Lydia Gary
Client Account Manager
Lydia supports broadband and telecom providers selling DIRECTV video services in national and international call centers and retail markets.
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She joined the RFI team in January 2023 after a diverse career in customer relations, education, and curriculum development. During her time in education, she received her certificate in Social-Emotional Learning and Character Development.
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Lydia graduated from Liberty University in December 2018 with a Bachelor of Science in Interdisciplinary Studies. She currently lives in South Carolina.
Joshua Brown
Lead Client Account Manager
Joshua Brown supports Lumen. Joshua is the driver of dealer activation performance through alignment and execution with dealer leadership, including driving sales activity, improving sales skills and agent behavior, delivering product and process training, and sharing areas of opportunity through in-depth data analysis.
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Joshua has 7 plus years of experience in sales management. He currently resides in Idaho.
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Brad Powicki
Client Account Manager
Brad provides DIRECTV support within the Emerging ISP channel. His responsibilities include providing sales support, training and guidance to broadband & telecom partners.
He joined the RFI team in June of 2023 with a business background anchored heavily in the telecommunications industry. Brad has previously worked for AT&T as both a Business Account Manager and Retail Account Executive for over 20 years. He also has maintained his entrepreneurship in an entertainment business he has had for over 25 years.
Brad graduated from the University of New Hampshire with a Bachelor of Arts Degree, Majoring in Communication with a Minor in Classics. He is from Massachusetts but now lives in New Hampshire and is a father to one son.
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James King
Client Account Manager
Updates Coming Soon