Windstream CEO Tony Thomas is an avid hiker who has led his company through peaks and valleys. Now his view from the top shows a bright future ahead.
He has a head for numbers, but Thomas can light up a room in an instant. He embraces the fun of his work and emanates a kind of optimism grounded in experience. Similarly to the high-speed fiber optic internet his company provides, it takes no time at all for bright enthusiasm to flash across his face. And he's enthusiastic about a lot of things. At the top of the list: his family, his work, his state and helping the people within it.
This year Thomas and his wife, Audra, are chairing the Arkansas Food Bank's 20th annual Empty Bowls event May 6 at Robinson Center Performance Hall.
"Food insecurity for many communities, including here in Arkansas, is a challenge. But the Arkansas Food Bank is action-oriented; they run to the problems and find ways to solve them. It's great to see that mindset," Thomas says. "Anything Audra and I can do to help them fulfill their mission, we're honored and humbled to do."
Windstream is a telecommunications and offspring of Alltel. Thomas oversees 11,000 employees in 18 states and manages the nation's fifth-largest fiber network, the optical leader in North America. Thanks to technological innovations, Windstream now provides more gigabits of throughput over enormous distances than any of its competitors.
"I think a lot of people don't realize that in the U.S., we've surpassed companies 15 times our size in terms of our capabilities," Thomas says. "It's great to see Windstream's evolution from doing a few things -- we were kind of a fast follower -- to now being a technology leader."
John Fletcher, Windstream's former general counsel and chief human resources officer, calls Thomas a "strong visionary" whose focus on the future reinvigorated the company and accelerated its transformation at a key time, putting Windstream technologically far ahead of its competitors.
"He saw the imperative for the type of telephone and broadband company Windstream was, with a legacy landline and copper distribution network, to transform into an advanced communications company in a fiber optic-centric business," Fletcher says.
"Tony's incredibly talented, incredibly smart. He's got an amazing ability to think broadly while also getting into incredible detail. He combines that in a way I've seen few others do."
SMALL TOWN BOYHOOD
There are 459 miles between Little Rock and Thomas' hometown, which is roughly the same number as its population. He grew up the oldest of three kids in Strasburg, Ill., surrounded by corn, soybeans and extended family who comprised a sizable percentage of Strasburg's residents (one part of town is called "Thomasville").
Growing up, he got much experience doing things like baling hay and -- his least favorite task -- detasseling corn for arduous hours in the summer heat. He didn't mind the manual labor, but knew he wanted something different, starting with going to college. His parents were factory workers who often took on second and third shifts so their children could go to college, an opportunity they hadn't had. "Still, they prioritized finding ways to spend time with us," he says. "It was a deft balancing act and a formative influence on me."
Thomas tells a story about a characteristic his family shared. When his grandmother was in labor with his father, a friend took the family car to drive her to the hospital more than 20 miles away. Arriving too late to go with them, his grandfather decided to walk the distance. Hours into it, someone offered him a ride. "He goes, 'No, I've walked 20 miles, I'm walking the last two to see my son born!" Thomas laughs. "That describes a lot about the Thomases. We see a job through, even at times when you think, 'Really? I would have taken the lift.'"
Despite his hometown's remoteness, Thomas says by the time he got to college at the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana, he was "extremely well-prepared" academically, thanks to his "absolutely first-rate" rural teachers. Getting a rural education didn't shortchange him at all, though he wasn't sure what he wanted to pursue as a career.
"Then, in high school someone advised me, "Go do business. Get an accounting degree, and that will be able to launch you into a lot of different things.'" Thomas says, emphasizing "lot." It was advice he has never regretted taking.
He and his highschool sweetheart, Audra Manhart, maintained a long-difference relationship while attending different universities, then married in 1996. She earned a doctorate in pharmacology, and he went to work for 360 Communications in Chicago. On St. Patrick's Day, 1998, they were happily living in Lincoln Park when the Wall Street Journal published news that Tony's employer was about to be acquired by Alltel. The news meant the Thomases would be moving to, of all places, Little Rock.
BLOWN AWAY
While they embraced the opportunity with open minds, they didn't know quite what to expect.
"We stepped into the state and were just blown away," Thomas says. "I did not understand just how beautiful Little Rock was. You go to west Little Rock and you see the foothills of the Ouachita and Ozark mountains. You couldn't pull us away from Little Rock now."
Perhaps because he came from agricultural flatlands, scenic hiking is Thomas' passion. He's up for outdoor adventures any time. "I take full advantage of the state's assets. The Buffalo National River is a complete treasure," he says, going on to effuse about other favorite spots including Pinnacle Mountain and Petit Jean State Parks, Rattlesnake Ridge and the Ouachita Trail. When the family takes vacations, they tend to travel to hiking destinations and national parks.
Among his hiking pals is U.S. Rep. French Hill, who has known the Thomases personally and professionally much of their time in Arkansas.
"Tony and Audra are terrific, committed parents and devoted to their adopted community of Little Rock," Hill says. "They've been here long enough to almost be natives, and they've been so supportive of our nonprofit sector as well as leaders in the business community."
Besides the Arkansas Food Bank, Thomas is an enthusiastic supporter of the Nature Conservancy and served on the board of Goodwill Industries. "It's awesome to see the amazing dedication of the people who make those organizations happen, filling needs in the state," he says. Another organization Thomas calls "tremendous" is the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, where Audra accepted an assistant professorship after moving to Arkansas and now volunteers.
HARD, COMPLEX THINGS
Thomas says those first years in Little Rock were special because the new field of wireless was growing so fast. "It was an emerging industry, so everything was constantly morphing and changing. I've always loved that about telecommunications."
His first job with the company was helming its accounting organization, but he loved learning about it all, especially when engineers would break down for him how things worked.
"Alltel was a very inquisitive company," he says, "And the Fords, Scott and Joe, were incredibly generous," he says. "I got to see a lot of acquisitions, have a lot of interesting experiences, and get exposed to a lot of really smart people. We did hard, complex things, but it was fun to work with the team."
Thomas advanced through the company, eventually transferring to Charlotte, N.C., for several years. While in Charlotte, he earned an MBA from Wake Forest, and the couple had their first child, Georgia Ann. When they returned to Little Rock six months after Georgia's birth, Audra began working for UAMS part time. Their son, Wyatt, was born a few years later.
Thomas' career continued to grow, from Alltel to Windstream. He accepted more senior roles, including five years as chief financial officer. Then, in December 2014, he became CEO.
It was a happy and popular development, but Fletcher says Thomas did not become CEO in their industry's steadiest of times. "To be a CEO in the telecom market during Tony's tenure has been very difficult," he says. "He's done an incredible job."
To reach all the success the company is having today, Windstream first had to get through a challenging time of fiscal disruption and bankruptcy. But there are few things Thomas, ever the hiker, likes more than a hard hill to climb.
Hill gives Thomas' leadership skills through Windstream's peaks and valleys high marks. "Taking the company through bankruptcy and protecting the interests of its mission, its employees, as well as settling and restructuring debt is a very complex and emotionally charged matter," he says. "Tony's leadership coming through that so well is a real tribute to his work ethic and character."
Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott says Thomas is "deliberate and focused" about his company's mission. While Little Rock has widespread connectivity, Scott says access to reliable internet is also about affordability, something he says Windstream prioritizes. He says it's important to Thomas that every area, no matter its income, has accessibility and affordability to connect to the digital world.
Thomas says Windstream's mission is why he finds his role not just intellectually satisfying, but meaningful. "As someone who grew up in a small town, I know the impact the internet can have to help sustain those communities," he says. "If you don't have internet, you really can't participate in the modern economy. Where's the biggest job opportunity now? Virtual. And broadband is essential for those people."
HERE COMES THE ... PANDEMIC
The company emerged from the cloud of bankruptcy in 2019. And just as it emerged in a stronger position, 2020 arrived.
"When you take on the role of CEO, you expect certain challenges," Thomas says, pausing a beat. "You know there will be ups and downs on the finances, sure. You don't expect a pandemic. That was not in the CEO handbook!"
But he says with pride, Windstream's employees were ready and able to adapt quickly. Within 96 hours, more than 6,000 in-office employees transitioned to working from home "without missing a beat." He calls the leaders of the remaining 5,000 technicians who continued working in the field "unsung heroes" for staying flexible and "just making all the right decisions."
Thomas says two elements of his management philosophy are constant communication, including giving decisions context, and empowering small teams that are closely aligned to the strategic priorities to make decisions. That approach proved essential during the past two years of vast uncertainty.
"All those things we went through. It made us a better company, and I would have never anticipated that," Thomas admits. "Frankly, it vividly reinforced something we already knew. We all knew what we did was important for our customers. But boy. After having lived through the pandemic, our people feel the mission now. We've all got absolute commitment to providing broadband to the communities we serve and finding creative ways to get it to them."
In September, Thomas will mark 25 years in his industry, and last year he and Audra celebrated their 25th anniversary. Thomas says lately Audra has been doing a lot of volunteer work on vaccines at UAMS, and enjoys her just-for-fun job as a tour guide at Moss Mountain Farm. Georgia Ann, 21, is attending Northeastern University in Boston. And Wyatt is wrapping up his senior year at Little Rock Christian Academy; Tony and Audra are about to be empty nesters. Thomas laughs, "It's transition time for the Thomases!"
His company, too, is in transition, and he couldn't be happier about it; Windstream is in the second year of a $2 billion residential fiber broadband buildout.
"It's a lot of fun. It's not every day you get a chance to bring fiber broadband to more than 2 million homes," Thomas says, enthusiasm lighting his face. "I'm more excited to come in today than at any point in my career. I love what we do. Love the people. Love the challenges. We have fun solving them."