Meet the Telegration Management Team

Denis V. Raue, President and CEO

Denis Raue portraitDenis Vincent Raue is President and CEO of Telegration, Inc. Raue oversees the direct strategic success path of the company and day-to-day management of Telegration's financial, marketing, technology, and sales support processes. He is also responsible for developing and managing partnerships and agreements with providers of local, long distance, usage, access, mobility, data and Internet services. In addition, Raue's responsibilities include product development, pricing, compensation, and implementation, as well as managing the growth of the company's alternate channel sales program. Raue currently serves on Advisory Boards for AT&T, AT&T Mobility, Time Warner and Masergy.

Prior to founding Telegration, Raue was Area Manager at Telecom USA, Tyson's Corner, VA serving the Baltimore, Washington D.C., Maryland, and northern Virginia regions. He was responsible for sales and regional customer and sales support. Telecom USA was purchased by MCI in the early 1990s before the merger with WorldCom. Before coming to Telecom USA, he served as manager of major accounts, Michigan and Ohio territories, for LCI International, Inc., Birmingham, MI. LCI later merged with US West to form Qwest.

Raue holds a BA in Economics from The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He is an avid single-digit handicap golfer and a member of Oakhurst Golf & Country Club in Clarkston, MI. He resides in Clarkston, MI with his wife Brenda, children Kristen and Michelle, and dogs Lucky and Coconut. The family spends their time traveling and vacationing at their Torch Lake, MI log home during the children’s breaks from concentrating on school and from the children’s Hunter and Equitation practice and competition on their horses Limited Edition and Sunkist.

Daniel G. Williamson, Vice President of Sales & General Manager

Dan Williamson portraitDaniel Williamson is Vice President of Sales/General Manager for Telegration, Inc. Williamson oversees the direct and agent sales channels for the company. He is chartered to control the day-to-day activities of these channels and ensures all personnel are carrying out the sales management process. His main areas of concentration in this process are product and skills training, activity performance and revenue performance for the channels. In addition, Customer Service, Finance, Human Resources, Commissions, and Technology divisions all report to Williamson.

Before joining Telegration, Williamson spent 13 years at Sprint in numerous roles, including direct sales, branch management, national account management and regional management. He also spent three years as the Director of Local Services at MCI where he led a team of 10 managers in the Midwest market.

Williamson holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing from Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, MI. He resides in Milford, MI with his wife Joanne, and children Cory, Joey and Drew. He will celebrate 14 years with Telegration in October 2011.

Jeremi Hunter, Director Of Sales

Jeremi Hunter portraitJeremi Hunter is the Director Of Sales and responsible for overseeing the Direct Sales Force as well as working with assigned Agents from across the Midwest. He is also responsible for developing and managing partnerships with the President and Vice President/GM Executive Management with new and existing providers of usage, access, data and Internet services. In addition, Hunter’s areas of concentration in the day-to-day activities are product and skills training, activity performance, and assisting in revenue performance for the channel.

Joining Telegration in 1998, after attending Michigan State University, Hunter started as a Senior Account Executive and was promoted to Director of Sales in 2005 and continues to strive to exceed and continue building one the Largest Master Agencies in the Midwest with Denis Raue and Dan Williamson. He resides in Eastpointe with his wife Lorena.

Lynette Jones, Director of Customer Service

Lynette Jones portraitLynette Jones is Director of Customer Service at Telegration, Inc. She was promoted to this position after two years as a Senior Account Sales Executive. Lynette is responsible for overseeing all phases of this department with the primary goal of providing superior Customer Service through thorough Project Management. Lynette manages five Customer Service Reps, oversees the implementation of all orders, trouble shoots and expedites, assists in repair diagnostics and billing matters when higher levels of attention are needed.

Lynette also participates in developing new order processes at Telegration and advocates for new methods and procedures with AT&T for the benefit of their customers. Her fifteen years of sales experience combined with many years of project management experience bring unique advantages to the Director position.

Lynette has been certified in most voice and data services with AT&T and has a broad background in the telecommunication industry. She attended Michigan State, Oakland Community College and Walsh College of Business. She lives in White Lake, MI with her family.

Ian Branam, Alliance Partner Support Manager- Mobility

Ian Branam Ian Branam is the Mobility Specialist for Telegration Inc. Direct & Agent Sales Channel, having extensive training in the wireless portfolios of all major carriers to fulfill nearly all clients’ wireless needs to make sure they get the best pricing and service available. Ian’s has nearly 10 years with Telegration and performed several duties over the years, starting in the Customer Care Dept supporting and resolving specific issues for the multiable LEC & CLEC carriers supported by Telegration. From there Ian aggressively moved into a Corporate Account Management team, as the primary contact for the client meeting and growing revenue goals for assigned accounts negotiation and maintenance of sales or service contracts.

Before joining Telegration, Ian was a Purchasing & Quality Control Manager for 6yrs at a Michigan based Computer Wholesale Distributor Co. called Micro America. His duties consisted of product research, market trend analysis, and quality & inventory control. Prior work experience includes 8 years in the US Navy NARA Division assigned to the USS Eisenhower Aircraft Carrier as Aviation Hydraulic Mechanic, active duty stationed in North Folk VA, & Reserve Duty at Selfridge ANG Base in MI.

Ian resides in W Bloomfield, MI with his wife Barbara, and children (sons) Ian Jr., Amere, Elijah, and (daughters) Asia, Nialle, and Julie. He joined the Telegration team in April 2001.

Brandon Burchard, Director of Sales Engineering

Brandon BurchardBrandon’s first role at Telegration, Inc. was a telemarketer setting appointments for outside sales reps, and over the years Brandon acquired the skill set to make him an outstanding leader and engineer. It’s not often you find a Sale Engineer that can lead your sales presentation or make intelligent recommendations that won’t kill your sale. Brandon Burchard is truly a one-of-a-kind when it comes to application selling and sales engineering.

Brandon began his Telecom career in 1999 with Telegration as a Customer Outreach Coordinator. Making hundreds of contact per week and scheduling up to 10 appointments per day, he soon realized the value of the services he was recommending, but wanted to offer more. Self taught he spent countless hours studying and researching the latest technologies and how these could benefit his clients. Staying ahead of the technology curve has always let Brandon lead the pack in sales and customer loyalty. Brandon’s sales success has earned him many awards over his career, including several AT&T Presidents Club award trips.

After perfecting his sales strategy and managing Telegration’s largest clients Brandon was promoted to Sales Engineer in 2005. As sales engineer Brandon is responsible for designing, pricing, and proposing voice and data solutions for you and your clients.

Brandon Burchard was promoted to Director of Sales Engineering in 2011 after exceeding his sales goals the past 5 years to lead the expansion of the sales engineering team and take the lead on large projects and keeping the company at the leading edge in application selling and sales support.

Russell E. Ruebensaal, Senior Sales Engineer

Russ Ruebensaal Russ Ruebensaal is responsible for providing pre and post sales support to the Alliance Partner Channel, as well as Telegration’s Direct Sales Force.  Pre-sale functions include responding to sales engineering requests, researching multiple carrier solutions, and providing application and sales support with the primary focus of revenue generation.  Other sales engineering activities address proposal pricing, contract development, sales funnel management, and maintaining a positive business relationship with Telegration business partners and agents.

Post sale activities include interfacing with the Alliance Channel Partner or Direct Sales Force Account Executive and the Telegration Order Fulfillment Department and the carrier to insure the successful provisioning and billing of a solution.

Prior to joining Telegration in November, 1999, Russ held numerous management level positions with Ameritech, Ameritech Services, and Ameritech New Media.  These positions included assignments in Market Management for the Health Care Industry and Product Management for High Capacity Digital Services, ISDN Primary and Basic Rate Services, and X.25 Packet Switching.

Russ has earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Industrial Management (BSIM) from Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana.  Russ and his wife, Janet, reside in Strongsville, Ohio and have two adult children, Brad and Leigh.

Craig Goins, Sales Engineer

Craig GoinsCraig Goins is a Sales Engineer for Telegration, his responsibilities include supporting a team of 12 direct account executives and numerous outside agents with evaluating, designing, quoting communications solutions to meet customer needs, increasing efficiency and/or providing cost savings. Working with various LECs, CLECs and Resellers to identify voice and data solutions range from POTS, PRI, Integrated Voice, Internet and Private Networking (point to point and MPLS).

Before joining Telegration, Goins spent 9 years at Technology Solutions in numerous roles, including sales, project management and customer advocacy, supporting PBX, VoIP and structured cabling projects, as well as carrier services analysis for their customers. Over the past five years, he has been an Adjunct Instructor at Eastern Michigan University for their Telephony Technology class. Prior work experience includes ten years at Kelly Services in call center, call center management and project management roles.

Goins holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, MI. He resides in Waterford, MI with his wife Sharon, and children Adam, Andrew, Elizabeth and Emily. He joined the Telegration team as a Sales Engineer in January 2009.

George Aldea, Sales Engineer

George Aldea portraitGeorge Aldea is a Sales Engineer for Telegration. He is responsible for supporting our Alliance Partner Channel and Telegration’s Direct Sales team with evaluation, design and quoting of voice/data communication solutions. George is an excellent communicator which includes listening to what a client’s concerns are then providing solutions to solve their concerns. He truly believes that technology is a tool that helps make our work and lives more efficient and easier to manage.

George began his telecommunication career in 2000 working as a Senior Account Manager with SBC. Prior to 2000, George owned an insurance agency for over 10 years. At SBC, he quickly ramped up learning how to match the vast portfolio of technology at SBC to a client’s business situation. His effective approach to the market led to success selling advanced networking and VoIP services to some of the largest Enterprise accounts on the books for SBC in the mid-west. He earned Presidents Club numerous times and was considered a main ”go-to” AM on the Michigan team for accounts that required special attention. After SBC/ATT George spent time with a technology consultant firm selling IT implementations including Microsoft products such as Lync Server, Exchange Server, System Center, and Windows Server upgrades.

George graduated from Walsh College with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Finance. He resides in Commerce Twp, MI with his wife Sue and 5 children Jenny, Andrew, Jaclyn, Kaitlin and Matthew. Three of his oldest children are in college. George joined Telegration as a Sales Engineer in 2011.

Heather Conaway, Executive Assistant

Heather Conaway Heather Conaway is the Executive Assistant to Denis Raue, President of Telegration as well as a member of the Alliance Support Team. She is responsible for the day to day support of the President, as well as working with assigned Agents nationwide. In addition to supporting her Agents, Heather is responsible for maintaining portal access for our various carriers, updating our company intranet "Sharepoint" with the latest promotions and pricing. Heather joined the Telegration team in 1996 as Receptionist, has held various roles within the company and continues to grow in her career path at Telegration. Heather resides in Southfield with her husband, Bryan, and their two children; Hailey and Matthew.

Marjorie DeBenedetti, Executive Assistant

Marjoire KastMarjorie DeBenedetti is an Executive Assistant to Denis Raue, President of Telegration and Assistant Alliance Support Manager for the Agent Channel.

She is responsible for the day to day support of the President, as well working with the Agent Channel providing voice and integrated solutions from our nationwide telecom carriers.

Marjorie joined the Telegration team in 2005 and continues to develop her career path at Telegration. She graduated from Oakland Community College in May 2010. She resides in Troy with her husband Vittorio.

Debra Hutcherson, Director of Commissions

Debra Hutcherson portraitDebra Hutcherson is Director of Commissions, responsible for overseeing the payroll and commissions to the sales reps. She is the liaison with the technical team and responsible for maintaining the commission database for all sales personnel to ensure correct and timely payout deadlines are met. In addition, Debra is responsible for communicating and updating all compensation processes to the system as well as to all sales personnel. This is achieved through the reporting process that is managed by Debra and her commission staff. Reports are sent out to the field bi-monthly in accordance with payout guidelines. The Commission Department works in collaboration with various vendors and their respective commission teams to ensure proper payouts are received and investigations are resolved within expected timeframes.

Prior to joining Telegration Debra worked for SBC, formerly known as Ameritech, and was responsible for their commission processes, personnel tracking and paying out commissions to the EBS division, which consisted of approximately 250-300 sales representatives. Prior to her promotion to this position she worked as Accounts Payable Manager.

Hutcherson is a graduate of Wayne County Community College with an Associate Degree in Accounting. She celebrated 13 years at Telegration in March 2011. In her spare time, she enjoys gourmet cooking, bowling and supporting her children in their extra curriculum endeavors.

Carina Woodham, Director of Finance and Human Resources

Carina Woodham portraitCarina Woodham serves as Director of Finance, Technology and Human Resources. She is responsible for overseeing and managing credit analysis and approval, collection efforts for the entire customer base, and resolution of contract matters with customers. Additionally she handles most financial day-to-day operations and processes, including payables and receivables, purchasing, benefits administration and employee issues, as well as execution of various audits and projects as developed by and with the President. She also works with the daily Network Administration operations.

Before coming to Telegration, Ms. Woodham served as Operations Manager for an automotive design engineering firm, where she was responsible for all financial and operational functions. Currently pursuing an MBA, Ms. Woodham holds a degree in Accounting. She has been a member of the Telegration team for 12 years.