Windstream Names Former Level 3, Integra Executive New CMO

**Editor’s Note: Click here to see which channel people were on the move in December and January.**

Windstream, the communications giant and channel force, has appointed Joseph Harding as its new executive vice president and enterprise chief marketing officer effective Feb. 16.

Harding will have a major influence on how the products and services partners sell are positioned. He’s responsible for all marketing aspects of Windstream’s enterprise business, including strategy, product road map, pricing, brand management and customer insight.

“Joe’s extensive experience in the competitive communications arena developing transformational product and marketing programs will bolster our efforts to drive sales and revenue growth and evolve our brand,” said David Works, president of enterprise at Windstream.

Much of Harding’s 20 years in telecommunications was at Level 3 Communications, where he held leadership positions in product development and management, customer-experience strategy, business-process management and e-commerce. He was there for 13 years after serving as a marketing manager at MCI.

Most recently, Harding was chief marketing officer at Integra, the telecom and cloud-services provider that also is active in the channel.

This is just a flurry of new hires and promotions at Windstream over the past couple of months. The biggest, of course, was the appointment of Tony Thomas as CEO, replacing longtime chief executive Jeff Gardner. Thomas was a good fit because he’s the man behind the company’s effort to spin off wireless assets into a real-estate investment trust.

It’s never a great time to lose a top executive, but Integra, too, is in the midst of a transition. The company last month said that it is separating into two businesses: one that serves large enterprises, and another that aims to meet the needs of midmarket customers. Last fall, Bob Guth was named on an interim basis to replace Kevin O’Hara as CEO.

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