New Fusion Channel Chief Worked at Charter, EarthLink, Qwest

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

Cloud-services provider Fusion Connect has a new channel boss, and he’s a familiar face.

Fusion’s Michael Fair

Michael Fair takes the role of senior vice president of channel sales and alliances, from which Stacy Conrad departed two months ago. Fair will lead the company’s partner programs and work to harmonize Fusion’s channel strategy following its purchases of Birch Communications and MegaPath.

Fusion finalized its acquisition of Birch in May at around the same time it announced plans to buy MegaPath. Dan Foster, the company’s chief revenue officer, said the channel will be important for Fusion’s “ambitious plan to scale.”

The purchases of Birch and MegaPath bolster the company’s fiber route, unified communications, SD-WAN and other cloud-friendly technologies.

Fusion’s Dan Foster

“As we combine our offerings, teams and programs following the recent acquisitions of MegaPath and Birch, it is essential that we build on each company’s existing success in the channel to create a unified sales and marketing organization with expertise that spans our combined companies,” said Foster, to whom Fair will report. “Michael’s experience and knowledge of the industry make him perfectly suited to lead this effort and I am excited to welcome him to our sales team.”

Fair has led multiple channel organizations. He was vice president of channel alliances and national accounts for Charter Communications, vice president of partner programs for EarthLink and vice president of strategic partners for Qwest. He also co-founded a channel consulting practice called MarketRace.

Fair should be well-equipped to lead the channel integration for Fusion, having seen his fair share of M&A in the industry over the last 30 years. He penned a blog last year about the increasing amount of consolidation that channel-facing companies are undergoing.

“This is an exciting time to join the Fusion team,” he said. “Fusion’s partners continue to be at the forefront of our go-to-market strategy. I look forward to integrating Fusion’s partner program to deliver on our vision to serve as the industry’s most successful single-source cloud provider.”

Stacy Conrad left Fusion in June to direct channel sales in the Southeast for TPx Communications.