Tillman Fiber has appointed former Verizon technology chief Ed Chan as its CEO.

Chan first announced his appointment on LinkedIn last month, though the move was only announced by Tillman yesterday (June 18).

Chan takes over from acting CEO Tim Salmon, Tillman's chief operating officer.

He will oversee the company's network rollout across Florida.

Founded in 2021, New York-based Tillman designs, builds, and owns high-speed Internet infrastructure. The business is part of the Tillman Global Holdings portfolio, a holding company created by Sanjiv Ahuja.

“Ed’s combination of deep technical expertise and industry leadership makes him well-suited to lead Tillman Fiber as we accelerate our network rollout,” said Ahuja.“His experience in building and scaling some of the largest networks in the country will be instrumental in fulfilling Tillman Fiber’s commitment to delivering best-in-class broadband to communities across the US.”

Chan joins the company from US tower operator Crown Castle. During his 16-month stint at Crown Castle, Chan served as executive vice president and chief information officer.

During his tenure, the company sold its fiber business to Zayo for $4.25 billion.

The vast majority of his career has been spent at US telco giant Verizon, where he spent more than 30 years.

His time at the carrier saw him hold several positions, including CTO, chief network engineering officer, and chief technology architect.

Tillman is backed by Tillman Global Holdings and Northleaf Capital Partners, who have committed more than $500 million of equity capital to fund the Company’s 10,000+ miles fiber network buildout.

On top of this, the company has also secured up to $1 billion in debt financing from a consortium of banks, including Credit Agricole, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Societe Generale, and Banco Santander.

In 2023, the company announced a strategic partnership with private investment firm Northleaf Capital Partners, with an initial investment of $200 million, with the potential to invest up to $300m more for future expansion.

The company paired with T-Mobile last year to expand its Fiber-to-the-Premise (FTTP) network in Florida.