FiberLight Appoints Colt, Cogent, Level 3 Vet as New Channel Chief

**Editor’s Note: Click here to see which channel people were on the move in March or here for our most recent list of important channel-program changes you should know.**

FiberLight, a provider of high-capacity fiber-based network connectivity, has appointed Mike Kopp as vice president of channel.

As part of the company’s growth strategy, FiberLight is introducing a new channel-partner program to function as its own department within the sales team. Upon completion, this will be Kopp’s third channel program build, in addition to Colt and Cogent.

FiberLight’s Mike Kopp

Kopp tells Channel Partners the revamped partner program is being designed around a “tried and true model that is familiar to the community.” He previously was Colt’s vice president of channel sales and Cogent’s director of channel sales, and also was partner sales manager at Level 3 Communications.

“We are building the program similarly to ones I created with other successful service provider channel programs in the past,” he said. “What’s different at FiberLight is its bandwidth-focused dark fiber offerings, which are truly unique in the market and are a huge part of the reason I wanted to build a program here. Of course, feedback from our peers in the partner community is and always will be critical to refining and improving our team.”

FiberLight’s channel will center around the agent community. In a previous role, Kopp increased a master agent’s channel program to $100,000 in monthly recurring charge (MRC) in one year.

“Our new program features regional channel support, dedicated service delivery and engineering support, competitive and equitable commission for all channel partners, pricing parity with our enterprise teams and partner-focused marketing strategies,” he said. “I believe executive level support is the key to a successful partner program, and we truly have that at FiberLight.”

Kopp said he understands that his success is directly tied partners’ success.

“I’m very sensitive to the fact that our partners’ reputations with their customers can be impacted by the FiberLight services they recommend; so, of course, we want to ensure we’re offering value-add services to make end users happy,” he said. “Lastly, I consider myself to be very fair and I’m always looking out for my partners’ best interest.”

FiberLight owns more than 1.9 million miles of fiber networks in more than 44 key growth areas in U.S. cities and towns within Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Texas, Virginia and Washington, D.C., offering WAN options at layers 1, 2 and 3 to major commercial hubs throughout the country.

“It’s our vision for this channel partner program to become a viable alternative to local exchange carriers and cable operators by offering customers diverse fiber options,” Dyman said. “As a successful network infrastructure provider, we are able to deliver custom fiber solutions designed to suit customer needs throughout the life cycle of their business. In hiring Mike Kopp … we are investing in a trusted and experienced channel veteran that has successfully built programs from the ground floor, creating new revenue streams for multiple organizations. With his help, we expect the channel to become a key enabler of FiberLight’s go-to-market strategy, expanding our reach and service to a new pool of customers.”