FairPoint CEO David Hauser Asked to Resign

The CEO of FairPoint Communications likely will resign now that the bankrupt LECs secured creditors have asked him to do so.

David Hauser, who took over as head of FairPoint last year, said the creditor request isnt unusual. Secured lenders like to put in their own person,” he told The Associated Press on Monday.

The creditors have asked a bankruptcy judge to sign off on the CEO change.

Hauser came out of retirement last year he had been CFO at Duke Energy to try to keep FairPoint from becoming insolvent. FairPoint, burdened by the $2.3 billion purchase of Verizon Communications Inc. landline assets in New England, was struggling with customer service and billing problems, troubles that led to the October 2009 bankruptcy filing. 

Paul H. Sunu is Hausers reported successor. Sunu most recently served as CFO of Hargray Communications Group. Prior to that, he was CFO at Hawaiian Telcom, another LEC that, like FairPoint, went bankrupt after buying landline assets from Verizon.

Hauser will remain at FairPoint as a consultant to Sunu while the company emerges from bankruptcy, The AP reported. That reorganization plan calls for FairPoint to cut debt from $2.7 billion to $1 billion. Regulators in Maine and New Hampshire have agreed to the proposal but officials in Vermont have rejected the plan; they remain unconvinced of FairPoints financial projections. FairPoint said last week it will try again for Vermont approvals.