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The Company Man
Loyalty spurs CEO to turn around AirNet Communications

By Anne Straub
Brevard Technical Journal

When Glenn Ehley's wife was expecting their first child, Ehley found himself at a business convention in Geneva, Switzerland. He recently had started a new job as director of marketing for AirNet Communications Corp. in Melbourne, and he felt loyalty to the company demanded he attend the overseas event.

His boss's wife saw things differently. When she heard Ehley's wife was due to deliver at any time, she ordered him on the next flight home. He left, and his daughter was born the next day.

The same loyalty that had him in Geneva six years ago has taken him to his position today at the helm of the company, which makes equipment for wireless communications companies. Ask Ehley why he took on the perhaps unenviable task of turning around the company last year, and the word loyalty comes up a lot.

"There were two reasons to stick around," Ehley said. "Loyalty to the stakeholders … and loyalty to the 129 families who were depending on AirNet to survive."

A touch of desperation was in play, as well.

"To be honest, I don't think they could have found someone else willing to do it," Ehley said.

Less than a year later, AirNet appears to have a foothold in its climb out of the financial muck. Sales are up, losses have slowed and the stock price has shown signs of life. The American Electronics Association credits Ehley, naming him Florida executive of the year for mid-sized companies.

"They were not in a great position when he came to the helm and said, 'OK, here's the road map,'" said Maryann Fiala, executive director of the Florida Council for the AEA. Since Ehley took over, the company has seen success in new sales, restructuring debt and getting outstanding bills collected.

"They're coming through a bad situation with a plan," Fiala said. "It's working."

The progress is all the more significant considering the difficult economic climate for technology companies, particularly those in telecommunications.

"This year, executive leadership took on a whole new meaning. It's no secret the technology industry had a tough year," Fiala said.

AirNet started as a spinoff of Melbourne-based Harris Corp. in 1994. Five years later, employment had grown to 200 and the company went public. On the first day of trading, its stock closed at $41.06 a share, up 193 percent. The next couple years saw the stock reach a high of $62 and payroll swell by another 100 employees.

Fortunes changed when the telecommunications industry slowdown hit AirNet hard. Sales fell, and the stock price fell faster, sinking below $1 a share. Employment was cut about in half. Former president Lee Hamilton resigned in August, and Ehley moved to the corner office and an uncertain future.

He now calls the time an "unbelievable crossroad" in his life. "Retiring was, at least for a while, my best option," he said. He feared public failure but, in the end, loyalty won out.

Ehley took charge with a couple urgent orders of business: Get costs under control and increase sales. For the former, he fell back on his upbringing.

As the only son of North Dakota farmers, Ehley was accustomed to working hard and stretching resources. "We turned nothing into something," Ehley said of life on the farm with his parents and sister, growing wheat and raising cattle. "For you to get something, you really had to work hard."

The translation to the business world took the form of a slogan: "Doing more with less" was the rallying cry of the early weeks of the new order.

As for sales, Ehley was on familiar ground. Although his education and early work experience focused on technology, Ehley made the switch to marketing while working for Siemens in Boca Raton.

The move was near blasphemy for a former engineer who can list technology giant Bell Labs as his first employer. But he felt his high-energy personality was suited to the marketing end of business, and he had a change of heart. "I no longer think sales are the evil one," Ehley said with a laugh.

The change in career turned out to be a key benefit for AirNet, where Ehley's skill in making sales turned out to be critical to the company's survival.

"Glenn seems to have an ability to bring in deals that just wasn't there before," said Rob Sacco, a patent lawyer for Akerman Senterfitt in West Palm Beach. Sacco, who has served as patent counsel for AirNet since 1998, saw the company's struggles up close and was baffled. AirNet technology was a winner of the GSM World Award for best technical innovation, and yet the sales weren't there.

"This is a company that has some really terrific technology. In spite of the nature of their technology, they weren't succeeding. Glenn came on board, and he seems to have turned it around," said Sacco, who nominated Ehley for the AEA award. "He can bring in the deals the company needed."

A cartoon drawing in Ehley's office, a gift from a co-worker, illustrates his dedication. It pictures a group of tribal leaders around a campfire. One comments, "I think Glenn is still out hunting for customers."

Among recent deals: AirNet is rebuilding Afghanistan's phone system under a $10 million deal with one of its customers, Tecore Wireless Systems.

AirNet's equipment allows operators to provide cost-effective and simultaneous high-speed wireless Internet and voice services to mobile subscribers. Its centerpiece, the AdaptaCell base station, uses software-defined radio technology to increase flexibility without complicated equipment and installation issues. Sacco explains the benefit with this analogy: It's as if you have a car, but when you need a truck, you can easily reconfigure the vehicle into a truck without making hardware changes.

The company's AirSite base stations help operators quickly and cheaply expand service to rural areas.

With a healthier balance sheet, the sleepless nights Ehley spent at the time of the transition have tapered off. He's now confident the company can succeed on its technology and the strength of its team. "Our focus and destiny is more in our control," he said.