Evans to begin phased retirement; changes effective January 1

Dan Pecarina will assume the position of president and CEO of Winona-based Hiawatha Broadband Communications (HBC) on January 1, 2013.  Pecarina will succeed Gary W. Evans, who has served as president and CEO since 1998.

HBC provides telecommunications services to more than 13,000 subscribers in southeastern Minnesota. HBC is currently completing its most ambitious expansion project to improve regional connectivity.  New fiber-to-the-home networks have been constructed in Dover, Eyota, Elgin and Plainview.  Work continues in Lake City, where a new network will be completed this year, and in Red Wing, which is scheduled for completion in 2013.

The announcement was made today by HBC Chairman Bob Kierlin, who said the firm’s 10-member board of directors voted unanimously to approve Pecarina’s appointment.  As part of the leadership transition, Chief Finance Officer Manuel de Angel will also assume additional responsibilities.

“Gary told us a month ago that he would like to step down from his position and begin a phased retirement,” said Kierlin, noting that Evans will continue to serve the company as a senior consultant for the “next year or two.”

As successors were considered, Kierlin said, it was apparent that Pecarina was an outstanding choice for the rapidly expanding company.

“Dan has been involved with our broadband efforts since the very beginning,” said Kierlin, “and since joining the company in 1999 he has been responsible for the technology decisions that have made HBC a well-respected U.S. broadband leader.”

Kierlin was referring to 1993 and the early days of broadband in Winona, Minnesota, when a feasibility study performed by Bud Baechler and Evans led to a decision by Kierlin and his Hiawatha Education Foundation colleagues to fund an initiative known as Luminet.  Pecarina, who was then Winona State University’s chief technical officer, was chosen to head the data/Internet user group.  At the urging of Pecarina’s group, Luminet became one of the nation’s first small-town Internet service providers.

Pecarina became HBC’s vice president for technical operations in 1999 and in 2010 was named executive vice president for corporate development.

Pecarina was born in Virginia, Minnesota, and lived on Minnesota’s Iron Range until graduating from Mountain Iron High School, where he excelled as an athlete.

He continued his education at the University of Minnesota-Crookston, where he also was a member of the basketball and baseball teams.  He graduated in 1980 with a degree in business computer systems and joined Buhler-Miag, a Minneapolis industrial equipment manufacturer, as a programmer-analyst.

He then served as a programmer-analyst at Hartzell Corporation, a plastics and electronics manufacturer in St. Paul, before joining M.A. Mortensen, a nationwide construction and project management firm, as programming manager.  In 1987, he became chief technology officer at Winona State, where he was instrumental in consolidating academic and administrative computing areas and implementing the laptop university program.

In addition to his work at HBC, Pecarina serves as assistant girls’ basketball coach at Cotter High School and from 2006 through 2009 also served as Cotter’s head girls’ soccer coach.

Pecarina is married.  He and his wife Mary Kaye reside in Winona.  They are the parents of Matthew Pecarina, a member of the technical support staff at HBC, and Renee Pecarina, a student at St. Mary’s University of Minnesota.  Both Matthew and Renee are Cotter graduates.

De Angel, a resident of Wabasha, joined HBC in 2010 after working with international firms Deloitte and Touche and McGladrey as an executive CPA. In his new assignments, de Angel will oversee HBC’s offices in St. Charles, Plainview, Wabasha and Red Wing, in addition to his financial responsibilities.

A native of Puerto Rico and a graduate of the University of Puerto Rico with a bachelor’s degree in business and accounting, de Angel is married to Heidi Edelbach of Wabasha.  They are the parents of three children, Alana, Manuel (Lito) and Ileana de Angel.

As senior consultant, Evans will work with Pecarina and de Angel in a variety of capacities. He will be the chief liaison for the U S Ignite project, and he will continue working with the Federal Communications Commission, the Fiber to the Home Council and the American Cable Association.  He will also assist in the early management of RS Fiber, a two-county, 11-community all-fiber project that will bring wired broadband services to communities and farmsteads in Renville and Sibley counties.  HBC has signed a contract with RS Fiber to manage the project.  Evans will continue to serve on the Minnesota Governor’s Broadband Task Force and the Blandin Foundation’s Broadband Strategy Board.

While serving as a Vice President of Winona State, Evans was an early advocate of broadband education.  He co-led Luminet, a nonprofit initiative that connected Winona’s schools, City government and health care providers.  Evans left his position at Winona State in 1998 to become president and CEO of HBC.  Previously he had spent 30 years as a journalist, editor and publisher for three Minnesota newspapers, the Winona Daily News, Albert Lea Tribune and Minneapolis Tribune.

In 1997, HBC succeeded Luminet, and its participating schools and other institutions became shareholders in the new company through stock gifts .  HBC today serves customers in 16 communities in Southeastern Minnesota.  The company provides cable and landline and wireless Internet and telephone services.

“I am very satisfied with what HBC has become,” said Evans, “and I know that Dan and his team will take it to new levels of success.  It has been a very good 15 years for the company, but the next 15 will be even better.”

(For additional information, contact Gary Evans [507-474-5800] or Dan Pecarina [507-474-5805]