TPx, Comcast Alums Join PlanetOne

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

PlanetOne Communications has hired channel veterans who previously worked for Navisite and TPx.

PlanetOne’s Lanny Gray

Lanny Gray now serves as vice president of business development for the Scottsdale, Arizona-based master agent. His new employer says he will lead the recruitment of national partners.

Gray has a rich pedigree in the vendor and master agent sides of the channel. His previous company was Navisite, where he directed the company’s partner program. He led sales at Nuvestack for a year and worked at Telarus from 2013 to 2015 as vice president of business development — the same title he now has at PlanetOne.

He has a strong cable background, having worked at Comcast and XO Communications.

“We are thrilled to have Lanny driving our partner-recruitment efforts and working closely with our sales teams to help us identify high-potential channel partners who are serious about expanding their book of business and adding more monthly recurring revenue,” said Ted Schuman, PlanetOne founder and CEO. “Lanny joins PlanetOne with 20-plus years of accomplishments and relationships in the telecom industry. His unique skill set stems from a successful career with a master agent, as well as more recently with Navisite and Comcast.”

PlanetOne`s Tanya Palmateer

PlanetOne also hired Tanya Palmateer as inside sales manager. She previously worked for TPx Communications out of Phoenix as a senior channel manager. The master agent says her experience with partner engagement, customer service and unified communications will help her manage “key strategic accounts.”

“In this new role, she is working closely with many of our top partners across the country to help them drive success through cloud-based connectivity solutions,” said Jonathan Hartman, vice president of sales. “We are excited to welcome Tanya to the PlanetOne team.”

Palmateer worked at ShoreTel from 2012 to 2017. She joined TPx shortly after Mitel acquired ShoreTel.

Gray and Palmateer bring niche expertise in cable and unified communications, respectively. PlanetOne also has been bolstering its talent in other technologies, signing an expert in Microsoft Cloud and partnering with Windstream for SD-WAN and UCaaS.