Leadership
Richard Murray
Telarus
Chairman
Richard Murray is a well-known and respected member of the channel community, with strong ties to both telecom and cloud technologies. He was an early supporter of embracing the cloud and is a tireless advocate for the independent channel and end users. Under his leadership, CarrierSales became one of the largest and most respected technology brokers in the nation, including being listed on Inc5000’s fastest growing companies for both 2016 and 2017.
In 2017 Murray entered an agreement with Adam Edwards and Patrick Oborn of Telarus to merge the two companies. The result is the largest privately-held master agency in the US. Murray now serves as chief operating officer of Telarus. He oversees the operations team, specialty practices, marketing, and supplier management.
Murray, who was recognized by Utah Business Magazine as one of the state’s top “Forty under 40,” earned a B.S. in marketing from the University of Utah and started his career in telecommunications by holding sales and marketing positions for Qwest and XO. Richard earned a seat on the board of directors for the Alliance in 2006, and in June 2013, he was named chairman of the board, where he served in that role until March 2015.
Greg Praske
ARG
Vice Chairman and Secretary/Treasurer
As co-founder and CEO at Association Resource Group (ARG), Greg Praske provides the strategic vision for the company, which is built around ARG’s mission to be the most respected telecom consulting agency in the country.
Founded in 1991, ARG became one of the original channel partners in the telecom industry after deregulation. Over the years, the company has expanded from assisting with competitive long-distance service to now consulting on voice and data connectivity, mobile, conferencing and collaboration, data center, hosted cloud services and more. ARG has also been able to recruit, retain, develop and motivate a team that boasts over 600 years of voice- and data-specific experience.
A certified public accountant, Greg spent 15 years in association management prior to starting ARG. In his last position, Greg served as vice president of the National Air Transportation Association, where he helped significantly expand member services, manage a rapidly growing convention and trade show, and oversee critical business management programs to assist members in profitably growing their businesses.
Praske has been named one of the 50 most influential people in the industry. He regularly writes articles in industry publications and speaks at industry events promoting a higher degree of professionalism.
Karin Fields
AppSmart
With more than 20 years in the industry, Karin Fields knows the complete lifecycle of selling telecom and cloud solutions. Working at MicroCorp, she held management positions in sales, support and operations, leading to her current role as CEO/COO. One of her pinnacle contributions was laying the foundation for the company’s proprietary back office tool, Nautilus, which provides users a single source for total order management and collaboration with their end customers.
In addition, she is a founding member of Women in the Channel, a professional organization that supports the development of women within the telecom industry; she continues to participate on various sub-committees, including the mentoring program. She has also been an active member of the Alliance for more than 14 years, and, Fields participates on several Carrier Advisory Boards. She is also a member of several local organizations in Georgia, including Women in Technology and Atlanta Telecom Professionals.
Bill Power
The Alliance Partners
CEO
After a 15-year career as a lobbyist on Capitol Hill, Bill Power joined Greg Praske in founding Association Resource Group in 1991. Also known as ARG, the company initially focused on selling affinity programs to national trade associations headquartered in the Washington D.C. area. Long-distance was just one of several products ARG offered to the marketplace.
As an agent of Allnet, and a subagent of an AT&T SDN contract holder, Power learned the business via the school of hard knocks, and those hard lessons were a catalyst to the formation of the Agent Alliance in the mid-1990s.
That organization was initially created as a very informal “caring and sharing” group, but quickly evolved into a structured collective-buying consortium—and is now known as simply The Alliance Partners.
In 2007, the Alliance determined that its interests would best be served by having a full time CEO, and Power, through a management contract between the Alliance and ARG, took over that role. In 2010, he transitioned out of ARG and currently maintains his role as Alliance CEO. When not engaged in Alliance business, he spends time taking care of his animals and doing other chores at his agritourism farm in South Carolina..
2020-2021 Executive Committee Members
Don Douglas
Liquid Networx
Don Douglas has used an extensive knowledge of Information Technology and Communications to assist companies in various industries around the world such as: IBM, AFCE (Popeyes, Church’s, Cinnabon, Seattle’s Best), Sequa (diversified manufacturing, aerospace, chemical), Weil Gotshal & Manges (legal) and Boeing in a variety of capacities such as Programmer, Project Leader, Network Manager, Manager Enterprise Systems, and Director of IT.
As President and CEO of Liquid Networx, Don’s technical background has helped to craft the company into a telecommunications lifecycle management organization with a vertical focus on IT compliance consulting and solutions. Liquid has helped more than 550 companies in the U.S. and abroad to simplify communications, reduce costs, increase productivity and raise security awareness.
Darcee Nelan
IQ Wired
A Telecommunications Executive with over 30 years of experience, including sales, sales management, general management and operations. Darcee is the Chief Executive Officer at IQ Wired, a Denver-based telecom consulting company assisting businesses with audit, procurement, and management of telecom and IT services.
Darcee was previously the VP of Sales at IQ Wired and grew the company through direct and indirect sales strategies.
2020-2021 Alliance Partners Board of Directors
Don Douglas, Liquid Networx
Karin Fields, AppSmart/Microcorp
Jon Foster, Fostar Inc.
Ian Kieninger, Avant Communications, Inc.
Richard Murray, CarrierSales
Darcee Nelan, IQ Wired, Inc.
Greg Praske, ARG
Tim Basa, AppSmart
Additional Alliance members are:
ECT Telecom and PlanetOne.