Shreffler Leaving as CEO of Cable Firm Broadstripe

By Kent Gibbons -- Multichannel News, 7/23/2008 7:56:00 PM

Broadstripe said CEO Bill Shreffler has resigned and will leave the cable company later this year after serving as a consultant to the board as it recruits a new CEO.

Shreffler, a former Charter and Cebridge (now called Suddenlink) executive, also in St. Louis, joined the then-called Millennium Digital Media in fall 2006.  He replaced Millennium Digital co-founder Kelvin Westbrook in that position, and Westbrook later left the company.

Shreffler -- who guided the company to a rebranding to Broadstripe -- put a $125 million deal in place for Broadstripe, which is majority owned by funds controlled by Highland Capital Management, to acquire 50,000-subscriber James Cable in November 2007. That deal has not yet closed.

Broadstripe has about 110,000 customers in systems in Maryland, Michigan, Washington and Oregon, including systems that compete with other cable operators.

“My decision to resign in no way takes away from the pride I have for Broadstripe’s accomplishments and for each team member,” Shreffler said in a Broadstripe release. “I have enjoyed helping build the company to what it is today. We have built a quality team and a solid company, and expect the platform and team we built to continue to produce positive growth going forward.”

Broadstripe director Tyler Nau said in the release: “Bill has done a great job of building a customer focused organization and team at Broadstripe and the Company will seek out a leader who we believe will be able to build upon the platform that Bill and the rest of the team has put in place.  We appreciate Bill’s hard work and wish him well in all his endeavors.”

Shreffler also is a director of the National Cable Telecommunications Association.