OUR TEAM
Fred Lutz, CEO
Fred Lutz brings 30 years of telecom, content and digital experience to BAI Connect. Fred began his career in the Tele-Communications, Inc. “TCI” management training program, and ascended through operational leadership positions with AT&T and Charter Communications. Fred managed operations for Charter in the State of West Virginia, Tennessee, southern California, and ultimately Denver, where he led the West Division with approximately 1 million customers in 5 western states. After leaving Charter, Fred led a content asset owned by Mark Cuban called AXT TV and later was the COO of Digital Globes Services, Inc. “DGS” traded publicly in the UK, helped large brands acquire customers through efficient digital technology. Most recently, Fred ran the Washington assets of Wave Broadband (now Astound) for Patriot Media and their private equity partner TPG. Initially joining BAI Connect as a board member, Fred has served as CEO since January 2022.
Kevin Connor, CFO
With more than a decade of telecom and finance leadership, Kevin excels in change management and solving complex finance challenges. Prior to joining BAI Connect, he served as CFO at Broadvoice, a prominent provider of cloud-based contact center and business communications platforms. Over the course of his career, he has held multiple executive roles specializing in financial planning and reporting, analysis, treasury, cash management, M&A and business strategy for companies in the telecom sector. His extensive expertise and strategic acumen play a crucial role in ensuring BAI Connect’s continuous growth and success as he oversees the company’s financial planning, reporting, accounting, regulatory, tax and treasury operations.
Rafa Domingo Diaz, CIO
Rafa Diaz brings over 20 years’ experience in the telecom BSS/OSS world to BAI Connect. He is an Operations, Compliance and Technology leader with expertise in financial solutions, program management and systems integration projects. Rafa has a hands-on approach and is a data-driven professional who sees data management systems as a key resource for helping the organization make better decisions. His work ensures predictable, consistent, and successful program delivery, and the coordination of effort across all teams. Rafa also brings a multinational and multicultural background to BAI Connect, having worked in five countries where he held different technical and operational roles.
Diego Salas, CTO
As Chief Technology Officer, Diego Salas is a seasoned IT executive with 20 years of experience, with particular strength in Engineering, IT Management, Infrastructure and Operations. Diego combines leadership and project management skills with hands-on technical expertise, allowing him to simultaneously architect, lead and implement mission-critical projects while lowering costs, improving efficiencies and introducing innovative technologies. He has a strong understanding with multiple compliance and regulatory agencies and is driven by a desire to align technology with a company’s mission, vision and culture.
Bill Bartlow, COO
Bill Bartlow has over 20 years of telecom operations experience having held senior positions at companies in various growth stages including startups and mature national service providers. Bill co-founded Spectrum Networks and CondoInternet, the first ISP to offer gigabit services to residences in the Pacific Northwest. After Spectrum/CondoInternet was successfully acquired by Wave Broadband (now Astound) in 2013, Bill continued with Wave supporting several operations teams including the Network Operations Center, Commercial Field Techs, Critical Infrastructure teams, and Workforce Management/ Dispatch. Most recently, Bill led the national Implementation and Project Management teams at Astound, supporting contract to billing implementation processes for commercial fiber services.
LJ Wilson-Knight, CMO
LJ Wilson-Knight is an experienced marketing strategist known for her customer-centric approach driven by data insights. With more than two decades of experience in telecommunications, her expertise spans all aspects of consumer and B2B including go-to-market planning, product launches, branding, e-commerce, digital marketing and team leadership, consistently delivering key business results. At Wave Broadband, she developed a fresh website presence and eCommerce channel, making it one of the company’s most productive sales channels. As Vice President of Marketing, at AT&T/Cingular, she led teams in data services, customer acquisition and retention, channel marketing and core wireless offer portfolio management. Now at BAI Connect, LJ is driving marketing and inside sales, collaborating with cross functional teams for optimal performance to the benefit of the customer and related company KPIs.