Cablefax The Magazine August 2022 - 14

FINANCE
EXECUTIVE
OF THE YEAR
Overseeing finance, accounting and investor
relations in an ever-changing economic
landscape requires one to be nimble in their
approach. For WOW! CFO John Rego, the
need for fluidity was amplified when he first
took the job in June 2020 during the early
months of the COVID-19 pandemic.
When he joined, the company had $2.3
billion in debt. He recognized in order for the
company to move forward and grow, that
number needed to be chipped away. Major
progress was achieved in 2021 when the
operator paid down about $1 billion in debt
following the $1.125 billion sale of WOW!'s
Ohio systems to Breezeline. WOW! also sold
three service areas to Astound Broadband for
$661 million and refinanced debt by closing
a credit facility that had a new term loan B in
the amount of $730 million.
Those types of deals are " the really oncein-a-while,
kind of fun thing to do, " Rego
says, but they are only a small part of the
day-to-day. " The sort of daily interactions
and little bits and pieces-helping the entity
become better at what it does-is really rewarding. "
Before
joining WOW!, Rego held senior
roles at Telaria, Virgin Galactic and Vonage.
His regular routine was to roam around the
office and engage with coworkers. It gave
him a chance to not only teach younger
employees, but also learn from them. WOW!
Head of Investor Relations Andrew Posen,
who has worked with Rego for seven years
across two companies, says Rego's charming
humor and sociable presence is something
colleagues miss now that the CFO is
John Rego
CFO, WOW! Internet,
Cable & Phone
By Noah Ziegler
working remotely in New York City.
" I've heard him say to me before: One of
the things that's most challenging is the desire
to be able to take a colleague and go into
a conference room and start mapping things
out on a whiteboard, so that you can think
[together], " Posen says. " It's also a way to
engage with younger employees who don't
have the benefit of being able to learn in person. "
While
Rego misses those daily encounters,
he has adapted and flourished in his new work
structure. Having helped WOW! drop its leverage
ratio to the 2.5x range, he's championing
a new motto for the company: low leverage,
high growth. That keeps the door open for
possible M&A if the price is right. " There's no
tuck-in that makes sense right now, but, you
know, never say never with these things. If we
could do something really transformative, and
I've got to go up to 4x levered or 4.5x, we'll talk
about that at the time, " he said at an investor
conference this spring.
While admirers view Rego as a numbers
whiz, he's a bit humbler. " I was kind of a Lone
Wolf McQuade when I was a young guy, "
Rego says. " I just was trying to prove myself
and doing a lot of stuff. But this idea of working,
you know, as a team to accomplish these
bigger things is a lesson I keep learning, and
I'm 60. I keep learning the same lesson, but
I'll get it one day. "
Outside of work, Rego and his family are
supporters of the arts and theatre. He previously
relied on books and crosswords to
help pass the time during what used to be
his daily commute. Those activities still help
him relax and get away from crunching numbers
before going back to creating WOW!'s
story. Rego continues looking for the best
markets-high return, low competition-to
expand into with greenfield deployments.
Earlier this year, WOW! announced plans
to double plans for greenfield expansion to
400,000 homes passed by 2027-with the
plan to utilize cash from operations instead
of increasing leverage. 
FAST
FACTS
14
38
years of experience
in finance,
accounting and
operations
10
companies make up
Rego's resume. They span
a wide-range of industries,
including cable, renewable
energy and aerospace
$9.2 billion
is how much money
Rego has raised in
capital over the years.
August 2022
CablefaxTopOps.com
http://www.CablefaxTopOps.com
Cablefax The Magazine August 2022

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