Senior Management

James H. Salter, P.E.
Chairman of the Board, Chief Strategy Officer

Mr. Salter founded Atlantic Engineering Group (AEG) in January, 1996. Prior to that, he served for seven years as the General Manager of a municipal utility that owned and operated a broadband telecommunications system. In addition to providing electricity, natural gas, water, and waste-water services, the Monroe Utilities Network has 30 years’ experience in broadband communications. In the field of telecommunications, Mr. Salter has served in the role of operator, consultant, designer, and contractor. He has served as a past President of the Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) Council. He has 25 years’ experience in utility engineering, having worked with member-owned, investor-owned, and municipal systems. Mr. Salter earned his degree in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Tech and is a registered Professional Engineer in multiple states. Prior to founding Atlantic Engineering Group, he held the positions of System Planning Engineer (Walton EMC), Transmission/Generation Operations Engineer (American Electric Power), and General Manager (Monroe Utilities Network). Mr. Salter is currently responsible for business development and resources.

John Toccalino, PE
Chief Executive Officer

Mr. Toccalino’s 30 year career has it’s foundation in project management developed in the power industry and expanded through entrepreneurial efforts in the telecom industry. Immediately prior to joining AEG, Mr. Toccalino founded DesignLiNK to serve municipal clients interested in advanced broadband networks. DesignLiNK specialized in network planning, detailed design, feasibility analysis and operations/business creation. His career start was with Black and Veatch (B&V). At B&V, he managed multiple power projects in excess of $100 million nationally and internationally. The last 7 years with B&V, he developed the municipal telecommunications business that comprised of telecommunications infrastructure evaluation and engineering services for the municipal government customer base.

James A. Pittman
Chief Operating Officer

Bubba #1 Mr. Pittman enjoys a 27 year history in the telecommunications business. He is well-known throughout the industry and joined Atlantic Engineering Group from Charter Communications. He has served in myriad positions including service manager, plant manager, and operations manager for systems serving over 100,000 customers. Mr. Pittman oversees all construction operations for Atlantic Engineering Group.

Jerry Sharp
Chief Technology Officer

Jerry Sharp 3-13-2008 Mr. Sharp comes to AEG with twenty years of telecommunications Engineering experience. He has designed and deployed telephony solutions including the first stand alone soft-switch on PSTN with full SS-7 signaling support and RUS certified VoIP solutions. He has developed strategy and architectures for convergent telephony networks and rural broadband fiber networks. Mr. Sharp joins AEG as our first CTO.

Chris Smith
Director of Business Development

Mr. Smith’s diverse background in the telecommunications industry provides our clients with a knowledgeable source for understanding how AEG can assist them with their network construction. Chris’ experience range includes fiber to the home network s as well as wireless installations. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Telecommunications Management and is a Cisco Certifed Network Associate (CCNA).

Stacey Richardson
Vice President and Comptroller

Mrs. Richardson joined Atlantic Engineering Group in 1999. She currently serves as Vice President and Comptroller. Stacey has a long administrative and accounting history and has performed myriad jobs over the course of the past nine years including Vice President and Internal Auditor. Mrs. Richardson holds a BS from the University of Georgia and an AS Mathematics from Gainesville College.

Eddie Church
Vice President for Underground Construction

Mr. Church has been working in the telecommunications construction arena for more than 20 years. He has served in numerous operational and managerial positions in telecommunications, cable television, and fiber to the premise network construction. Mr. Church has a reputation in the industry as one of the best ‘underground guys’ in the business. He presently oversees all underground construction policies and procedures, develops guidelines and best practices for boring, trenching, rock cutting, blasting, missile boring, conduit pulls and underground crews.

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