Arizona-based master agency PlanetOne Communications is making a major expansion into the Northeast with the hire former Level 3 channel exec and 15-year telecom veteran Paige Esposito as director of channel sales for the Northeastern region.
Esposito will also work with PlanetOne president Lauren Shapiro to head up a brand-new regional sales office in New York City, located in the heart of Manhattan at 650 Fifth Avenue.
“I could not be more excited to have Paige on board and to be opening an office in New York, my hometown, so that we can be close to our top sales partners,” said Shapiro. “New York is not only one of the greatest cities on earth, but this region is already home to a talented base of PlanetOne sales partners. We expect to grow that significantly with the addition of Paige to our senior management team, thanks to his laser focus on the unique benefits that PlanetOne can bring to partners in the area.”
Prior to PlanetOne, Esposito most recently served three and a half years as channel manager at Level 3, where he earned the top position for the entire indirect organization in 2012 with double-digit sales revenue growth.
He also has held positions at Verizon Communications, where he finished as one of the top Business Development Managers for all five years he was there. He also won the prestigious Diamond Club award at the telco. In addition, Esposito turned in stints at MCI, where he was a top-ranked Global Account Manager, as well as AT&T and Worldcom.
“This is the largest telecom marketplace in the world, with a range of world-class cities with not only a thriving set of SMBs but also deep vertical markets,” said Esposito. “But to date, very few master agents are focusing attention here. I see a massive opportunity to work with partners to showcase the PlanetOne differentiators, like superior trusted advisor service and a diverse portfolio, and rapidly scale our business in the Northeast.”
In his new role at PlanetOne, Esposito will focus on expanding PlanetOne’s channel program in the Northeast, tapping agents, VARs, integrators and other sales partners to sell everything from hosted and cloud services to multi-layered MPLS solutions to SIP trunking.
“After years of working on the carrier side, I’m really excited to embark on true strategic selling with multi-vendor solutions,” Esposito said. “Together with our sales partners, we can put together a customized solution for the customer based on their real business goals, using a best of breed approach across providers. Offering multivendor, tailored solutions that really help a business achieve its goals will set PlanetOne and its partners apart in this extremely dynamic marketplace.”
Esposito graduated from New Jersey City University (NJCU) with a BS in marketing. In terms of personal highlights, he has been married for 15 years to wife Kerianne, enjoys playing golf and the guitar, and coaches Junior Baseball for both of his sons (Aidan, age 8 and Evan, age 6).
