By DENIS PAISTE
Union Leader Staff

MANCHESTER — Verizon New Hampshire entered a new era last month when the position of president of the company in New Hampshire was eliminated.

With the departure of J. Michael Hickey, a Boston-based executive was put in charge of the dominant telephone company in the Granite State. Paula „Polly“ Brown, Verizon’s president for northern New England, will handle Hickey’s duties on a regional basis, and the top Verizon corporate officers still based in New Hampshire are now vice presidents Erle Pierce and Lisa Thorne.

„In terms of serving New Hampshire and our commitment to New Hampshire, I don’t think, externally, anybody will see a change,“ Brown said in a recent telephone interview.

Pierce will direct government relations and public affairs in the state, while Thorne, based at 900 Elm St., will focus on regulatory matters. Company officials say they are just as committed to serving their customers and community as before, and the Elm Street offices will remain. Brown will maintain an office here, the company said.

Hickey’s position of state president was eliminated as part of a corporate reorganization, the company said. He began his new job for Verizon on July 1 as vice president of government affairs for national security policy, a new position based in Washington, D.C.
‘Bittersweet’

Although Verizon, which earned a $1.8 billion profit in the second quarter, is still the single largest provider of local telephone service in New Hampshire with 700,000 access lines and 1,800 employees, it faces competition on a multitude of fronts from other land-line carriers to wireless to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP).

In New Hampshire, Verizon reported $450 million in revenue from traditional, land-line telephone business in 2003.

Besides being state president for Verizon, Hickey 52, held positions on boards of non-profit and business-advocacy organizations such as the Currier Museum of Art, the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce and state Business and Industry Association.

In March, Hickey was named one of two Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce Citizens of the Year, sharing the honor with Richard A. Gustafson, president emeritus of Southern New Hampshire University.

„It’s bittersweet for us to have Mike gone,“ Pierce said. He noted Hickey was in charge of the telephone company in the state for seven years and assumed the title of state president in 2000 with the merger of Bell Atlantic and GTE that created Verizon.

Previously, the men who headed New England Telephone, NYNEX and Bell Atlantic in the state had been vice presidents, including Mike McCluskey, Patrick Duffy, Allen Pattee and Don Reed.

Access

State Consumer Advocate F. Anne Ross said there is a concern that there will be less access to Verizon management and Verizon leadership with Hickey gone.

She noted that Hickey played a crucial role in winning approval in New Hampshire for Verizon to offer long distance services. Verizon won approval from the Federal Communications Commission in September 2002 to offer interstate long-distance service in New Hampshire, but first it had to convince the Public Utilities Commission that Verizon’s lines in the state truly were open to competition.

In June 2002, the PUC backed Verizon’s application after issuing a conditional approval in March that the company found unacceptable. Some of the companies that opposed Verizon’s application in New Hampshire also opposed it before the FCC. In one filing to the FCC, BayRing Communications of Portsmouth claimed Verizon used legislative influence and a public relations campaign to pressure the PUC to change its original ruling on Verizon’s request.

The Office of Consumer Advocate also opposed the deal. „We opposed the compromise that was kind of brokered by Mike Hickey because it was less favorable to consumers than the original PUC decision,“ Ross said.

Hickey, in a telephone interview, said, „Doing business in New Hampshire relies very much on trust and building good working relationships and I think that the team that carries on brings all of that to the table.

„It’s a small community in one sense and our relationships are very intertwined and on any public policy issue that’s important to the citizens of the state, you’re going to have many players involved from the PUC to the legislators to the governor’s office,“ he said.

Policy makers in the state take a personal interest in issues and rely on trusted relationships with folks in industry, he said. „My leaving will not disrupt the level of trust that legislators and the PUC have with experts in my company,“ Hickey said. Pierce, Brown, Thorne and Verizon attorney Victor Del Vecchio brings decades of experience to the table, he noted.

Hickey and his wife, Marilyn, will retain their home in New Hampshire and expect to be frequent visitors, he said.
Local presence

Brian Susnock, president of Desktek, was often at odds with Verizon in matters before the PUC.

Nevertheless, Susnock said, „It’s a shame to see (Hickey) go.

„Michael has always been a steady force, a consistent presence,“ Susnock said. „He had his family here and he helped take care of New Hampshire. That’s the thing I’m most worried about, not having a local presence to understand the culture of New Hampshire and to be a part of it and to live here, that’s going to be a voice.“

Destek provides a wide array of computer networking services. Susnock said he frequently battled with Verizon over providing cheaper Internet access to schools. „We managed through three years of fighting to (get access to) a type of circuit that’s one-fourteenth the price of T-1 with twice the bandwidth. We provision those only at schools to help to try to save schools money,“ he said.

„I did a study essentially saying copper is copper is copper. In some cases, you’re paying $39 a month, but if you go to buy a T-1, it starts at $450 a month. Pricing is all over the map, frame relay circuits, ATM, they’re essentially the same facilities and yet the prices range from dollars to hundreds of dollars. I always felt that Michael was sensitive to those issues though he was a small part of the large corporation,“ Susnock said.
The PUC

Although telecommunications are in the process of being deregulated, local telephone service is still governed by the PUC.

Former PUC chairman Doug Patch, now a private attorney with Orr & Reno, said regulators are concerned when they are charged with governing a large, multi-state company in which a state like New Hampshire represents only a small fraction of its business.

„I would think that regulators, too, would be kind of cautious to make sure the company is paying as much attention to the state as when Mike Hickey was in that position and all of his predecessors,“ Patch said.

Patch also noted Hickey’s role in winning long-distance approval for Verizon in New Hampshire.

„The PUC kind of balked at giving them that. The legislature got involved, there was quite a to do about that over a fairly long period of time,“ he said. „Ultimately Verizon was able to satisfy the requirements.

„Mike Hickey’s involvement in that is an example of where someone in his position makes a difference,“ Patch said. „The beauty of Mike Hickey being in that position was he knew New Hampshire well, he grew up here, he brought the knowledge of the players as well as the process as to how to make it all work.“
Regional similarities

Verizon Northern New England president Brown is conscious of those concerns and said New Hampshire will benefit from Verizon’s regional approach. „Many of the problems that we deal with are pretty much similar, state to state,“ she said. „You have to be careful that you are addressing the specifics of the state, but my experience is if you can share with others, you come up with a better idea and a better way of doing things.“

On regulatory matters, Brown said, she has been involved in supporting Verizon’s New Hampshire staff since the early 1990s. „Most people probably don’t realize that behind the scenes, I’ve supported the New England states for years. I’m the one who’s supported Mike Hickey on the regulatory side. I’m not a newcomer,“ she said.

Brown has testified before the PUC, she said. „I’m known to probably all of the commissioners and the staff there, so I’m not a new person from their perspective, I’m just somebody from an external perspective who is new.“

In fact, Brown has been through this kind of transition before. About 18 months ago, she took charge of Verizon in Vermont when its state president left and was not replaced.

„The fears are very similar,“ Brown said. „There was a concern there that Verizon was abandoning Vermont and that has not been the case. I understand that concern, and I’m very sensitive to it, and I want to make sure people don’t feel that way.

„We will do everything we can so that the external world is comfortable and is not in any way disrupted by our organizational change and I’m very committed to doing that. I think people will be pleasantly surprised,“ she said.

It is also a transition for regulators, she said. „Our industry is going through a lot of change right now. The commissions are dealing with some tough issues.

„They have been used to regulating us as a monopoly,“ Brown said. „We’re now in a competitive industry. Those are big changes.“

Technology is driving some of those changes, said William Stafford, chief operations officer for Granite State Telephone in Weare.

„Many of the things we deal with Verizon on are pretty much centralized,“ Stafford said. For example, he said, the company’s contract with Verizon for exchange of traffic between the two carriers is handled out of Boston.

„You have to yield to subject matter expertise and that’s who we’re dealing with at Verizon depending on the matter at hand,“ Stafford said.

Like Brown, Stafford drew a distinction between Verizon’s corporate shuffle and the loss of Hickey as an individual.

„Mike was a true leader, and it remains to be seen how the new organization will play out,“ Stafford said. „He had a very fresh perspective, a very upbeat, persuasive individual. I can’t say enough good things about him.“

Stafford said regional president Polly Brown also is an extremely knowledgeable person. „We look forward to working with her,“ he said.

Verizon New Hampshire vice president Pierce said replacing Hickey’s community involvement will not be easy, but he, Thorne and Brown all have boards on which they serve.

„Typically the history of our company is that someone usually steps up and answers the call,“ Pierce said. „We take our commitments very seriously and fully expect things will happen. I’m not trying to downplay that we are losing a good leader, but … we don’t know yet who’s going to step forward. Our business is changing.“