USIC, the leader in underground infrastructure damage prevention, has announced the appointment of Richard Batelaan as Chief Operating Officer (COO). Richard, who will report directly to President & CEO Mike Ryan, will lead the company’s operations, which span 48 states with a field workforce including over 10,000 locate technicians.

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Richard Batelaan, USIC Chief Operating Officer (Photo: Business Wire)

“Richard’s extensive operational leadership experience in the telecommunications and information technology industries, coupled with his perspective of having come from one of USIC’s major customers, equips him perfectly to lead the development of an even more efficient and customer-focused service model for USIC in our evolving business markets. With the significant increase in infrastructure investment at our doorstep, Richard’s arrival is perfectly timed, for our customers and for USIC,” Mike Ryan, President and CEO of USIC, commented.

In Richard’s most recent role as Executive Vice President of North America Operations for Lumen, he led the implementation of process automation, field mobility tools, and IT transformation initiatives, which resulted in increased operational efficiency, an improved customer experience, and value creation. He previously held leadership positions in wireless engineering and product management with AT&T and served as Chief Operations Officer for Cbeyond, BroadRiver Communications, and BellSouth.net. During his tenure with Cbeyond, he received the Atlanta Telecom Professional of the Year Award for innovation in the data center space.

Richard has a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a master's degree in information networking from Carnegie Mellon University.

About USIC

USIC is North America’s largest provider of utility damage prevention services with operations in 48 states and corporate headquarters located in Indianapolis, IN. The Company, which currently serves over 1,300 customers across the cable, telecommunications, electric, gas, water, and sewer utility markets, performs over 80 million locates each year. Additionally, the Company provides a range of advanced utility solutions and services offered by its affiliates, Blood Hound, LLC; Reconn Utility Services; and On Target Utility Services.

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