About Us

Marc Ganzi is a successful real estate and telecommunications entrepreneur. In addition to serving as Vice Chairman of Vertical Bridge, he is Chief Executive Officer of DigitalBridge (NYSE: DBRG), a leading global alternative asset manager dedicated to investing in digital infrastructure. He previously co-founded Global Tower Partners (GTP), an owner and operator of communications, real estate and related companies, where he played an instrumental role in building the business, which was ultimately sold in 2013 for over $4.8 billion.

Prior to GTP, Mr. Ganzi was a consulting partner at Deutsche Bank’s DB Capital Partners overseeing the institution’s radio tower sector investments in Latin and North America. His other earlier experience includes Apex Site Management and the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Foreign Commercial Service Department.

Mr. Ganzi is a member of Young Presidents’ Organization and the Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee of the Federal Communications Commission. He is a graduate of Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.

Alex Gellman is the Executive Chairman and Co-Founder of Vertical Bridge, the largest private owner and operator of wireless communications infrastructure in the U.S.

Mr. Gellman is also a Senior Advisor and Co-Founder of DigitalBridge (NYSE: DBRG), a leading global alternative asset manager dedicated to investing in digital infrastructure.

He currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Wireless Infrastructure Association, and on the Boards of EdgePoint Infrastructure and Highline do Brasil, leading private tower companies serving Southeast Asia and Latin America, respectively.

Prior to co-founding Vertical Bridge, Mr. Gellman was President and COO of Global Tower Partners and was instrumental in growing the company into the largest privately-held tower company in the U.S. at the time of its sale to American Tower Corporation in 2013. Previously, Mr. Gellman served as President and COO of Sonitrol Corporation, a leading provider of verified electronic security solutions in North America, which sold to Stanley Works (NYSE: SWK) in 2008.

Earlier in his career, Mr. Gellman co-founded Apex Site Management, the largest third-party manager of wireless and wireline communications sites in the U.S., which merged with SpectraSite Communications in 2000 to create the largest telecommunications site portfolio in the country. He also co-founded and served as VP of Development of Horizon Cellular Group, a McCaw Cellular-backed company that acquired, developed and operated rural cellular franchises across the eastern U.S.

For his decades of service to the wireless industry, Mr. Gellman was named as a 2023 inductee into the Wireless History Foundation’s Wireless Hall of Fame.

Mr. Gellman is a graduate of The Wharton School of Business with a Master of Business Administration degree in Finance and Accounting and holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Tufts University.

Ron Bizick is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Vertical Bridge. He has more than 35 years of telecommunications industry experience and oversees the firm’s day-to-day operations, as well as overall strategy and growth initiatives.

Prior to joining Vertical Bridge, Mr. Bizick co-founded and served as the Chief Executive Officer of Tarpon Towers, LLC, which develops, acquires, and manages wireless communication sites throughout the United States. Earlier in his career, he served as the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Global Signal, Inc., before its acquisition by Crown Castle in 2007. During his tenure at Global Signal, the company completed a successful IPO and tripled its portfolio from 3,500 to over 11,000 owned and managed communication sites. Prior to Global Signal, Mr. Bizick was the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of SBA Communications, where he played a significant role in its growth from a start-up to a nationwide public company.

He received his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Pittsburgh and completed executive education programs at The Wharton School and Harvard Business School.

Bob Glosson is the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Vertical Bridge. Mr. Glosson is responsible for overseeing all engineering, operations, real estate, and information technology for the company.

Prior to joining Vertical Bridge, Mr. Glosson was the President and Chief Operating Officer of Eco-Site, a leading developer of wireless communication, tower sites, and infrastructure. As President and COO of Eco-Site, Mr. Glosson was responsible for nationwide sales, tower development, and operations. Earlier, Mr. Glosson served as Senior Vice President of Global Sales at Bandwidth.com, an enterprise cloud communications company, and as Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Shared Access, a wireless tower operator in the U.K. and Ireland. Before Shared Access, Mr. Glosson held increasing roles of responsibility at SpectraSite Communications, including Vice President of Business Development for its Building division and Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing for the Tower, Rooftop and In-Building division.

Mr. Glosson received a Bachelor of Science from Drexel University and a Master of Business Administration from Temple University.

Mike Romaniw is the Chief Financial Officer of Vertical Bridge. Mr. Romaniw is responsible for all financial aspects of the company including accounting, finance, tax, treasury, budgeting, forecasting, and investor relations. 

Prior to joining Vertical Bridge, Mr. Romaniw was Chief Financial Officer of the Sterling Organization, a vertically integrated private equity real estate firm. Earlier in his career, Mr. Romaniw served as the Senior Vice President of Finance for Parmenter Realty Partners, where he was responsible for all accounting, finance, tax, investor relations, banking/treasury, and debt financing. Additionally, he spent 7 years at The AES Corporation, where he held various tax and financial management roles. Mr. Romaniw started his career with Ernst &Young.  

Mr. Romaniw received his Master of Business Administration in Professional Accounting and Master of Science in Taxation from Canisius College. He also holds a Bachelor of Arts from McMaster University. Mr. Romaniw is a Certified Public Accountant.

Allison Cannella is Senior Vice President and General Counsel at Vertical Bridge. Ms. Cannella is responsible for leading the legal and compliance functions and oversees legal matters across company operations. Ms. Cannella brings 15 years of real estate and legal experience to Vertical Bridge and has played a leading role in the negotiation, drafting, due diligence, analysis, and consummation of more than $20 billion in real estate, corporate and other strategic transactions.    

Prior to joining Vertical Bridge, Ms. Cannella was the Associate General Counsel at Kayne Anderson Real Estate, where she led a variety of complex commercial real estate and corporate transactions, including mergers, acquisitions and dispositions, joint ventures, and financings. Previously, Ms. Cannella was an associate at Holland & Knight, where she represented clients in all phases of commercial real estate and corporate transactions.

Ms. Cannella graduated summa cum laude from the University of Florida with a Bachelor of Science and a Bachelor of Arts degree. She also earned her Juris Doctor degree, magna cum laude, from the University of Florida Levin College of Law, where she was inducted into the University of Florida Hall of Fame.  

Blair Crawford is the Executive Vice President of Leasing & Marketing at Vertical Bridge. Ms. Crawford oversees all leasing, sales, marketing, site administration and asset management activities for the company.

Prior to joining Vertical Bridge, Ms. Crawford started her career with Kineticom, Inc., a consulting and staffing firm in the telecom, tower and renewable energy sectors. Ms. Crawford held multiple roles, eventually serving as the Vice President of Business Development, where she built effective, flexible workforces for enterprises in the wireless industry. She is a Tennessee Wireless Association board member and Co-Chair of the South Wireless Summit.

Ms. Crawford holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of San Diego, where she was a member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars.

Bob Paige is the Executive Vice President of Mergers & Acquisitions and Corporate Development of Vertical Bridge. Mr. Paige is responsible for all portfolio acquisitions, joint ventures, and other strategic transactions.

Prior to joining Vertical Bridge, Mr. Paige was a Principal and Telecom M&A Group Head at Brown Brothers Harriman, where he led all assignments for companies in the telecommunications industry with a specific focus on the wireline and wireless sector. Previously he served as the Managing Director at Falkenberg Capital Corporation where he advised wireline and wireless companies in M&A transactions. Prior to Falkenberg, Mr. Paige served as the Chief Executive Officer of a high-tech wireless equipment company, Superconducting Core Technologies. He started his career as a telecommunication lending executive with Northern Telecom and GE Capital.

Mr. Paige is a board member for Boingo Wireless, a company that simplifies complex wireless challenges to connect people, business, and things.

Mr. Paige graduated from Franklin & Marshall College with a Bachelor of Arts degree and Executive Master of Business Administration degree from Southern Methodist University.  

Dale Carey is the Executive Vice President of Strategy & Convergence at Vertical Bridge. Mr. Carey is responsible for identifying new convergence opportunities across the digital infrastructure ecosystem and coordinating with other providers to bring new infrastructure offerings to our customers, particularly those within the Digital Bridge portfolio.

Prior to joining Vertical Bridge, Mr. Carey was Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Eco-Site, a leading developer of wireless communication, tower sites, and infrastructure. As CEO of Eco-Site, Mr. Carey led the firm from its inception to become the sixth largest privately held tower company in the U.S. Before Eco-Site, Mr. Carey was President and COO of Shared Access, a wireless tower operator in the U.K. and Ireland. He also served as President of SpectraSite Communications’ U.S. Wireless division and was also President of its Building division, where he pioneered the firm’s use of the neutral host distributed antenna system model. Earlier in his career, Mr. Carey spent 11 years at AT&T/Vanguard Cellular Systems, most recently serving as Vice President for the mid-Atlantic region.

He serves on the Board of Directors at GridSource, Inc., a utility and fiber construction company, and the Board of Trustees at York College of Pennsylvania.

Mr. Carey received a Bachelor of Arts from Temple University.  

David Tripp is the Senior Vice President of Human Resources at Vertical Bridge. He brings over 30 years of Human Resource leadership experience focused on leveraging innovative human strategies that influence business strategy and deliver results. Mr. Tripp thrives on developing winning teams and partnerships centered on value creation and trust. In his role, he is responsible for the organization’s talent management practices and fostering an engaging work culture, including leadership and learning, total rewards, and diversity and inclusion initiatives.  

Mr. Tripp has worked with large and midsize companies in insurance, communication, customer service, healthcare, financial services, manufacturing, education, and athletics. Before joining Vertical Bridge, he was the Head of Human Resources at Sage Dental, a leading dental service organization, and Vision Group Holdings, the world’s leading laser eye surgery company.  

Mr. Tripp received his Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science in Human Resource Development from Clemson University.

Johnny Crawford is the Executive Vice President of Tower Development at Vertical Bridge. Mr. Crawford is responsible for overseeing all sales and delivery of build-to-suit opportunities for the company.

Prior to joining Vertical Bridge, Mr. Crawford was Vice President of Business Development Network Services at SBA Communications Corporation where he was responsible for sales to SBA’s national customers. Additionally, he has served as Vice President of Engineering and Operations for Airgate PCS, a Sprint PCS affiliate, and as Director of Engineering and Operations for Sprint, where he launched one of the first PCS markets. Mr. Crawford was also a co-owner of Optima Towers, a South Carolina-based regional tower owner. Additionally, he was recently appointed as a Board Member for Music-Movement.Org, a 501(c) 3 nonprofit organization that develops and funds music-centric programs for children and young adults living with autism.

Mr. Crawford holds a Bachelor of Science from Greenville Technical College.  

Michael Belski is the Co-Founder and Executive Vice President of Vertical Bridge. He is responsible for creating deep relationships with clients and working with some of the country’s largest carriers to develop leasing contracts.  

Prior to co-founding Vertical Bridge, Mr. Belski was the Senior Vice President of Leasing & Marketing at Global Tower Partners (GTP), where he was responsible for leasing and marketing the company’s portfolio of assets and securing build-to-suit contracts. Earlier in his career, Mr. Belski held senior positions at Morrison Hershfield Corporation and SBA Communications Corporation.  

He is the Chairman and Co-Founder of the Florida Wireless Association and a Warriors4Wireless board member.  

Mr. Belski holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Indiana University of Pennsylvania.  

Michael Taylor is Senior Vice President of Operations and Engineering for Vertical Bridge. Mr. Taylor is responsible for the company’s site operations and leverages his prior carrier experience and long track record as a successful leader to help the firm navigate its continued growth. He brings over 21 years of industry experience to Vertical Bridge.

Prior to joining Vertical Bridge, Mr. Taylor served as Vice President of Critical Infrastructure Procurement and Cost at T-Mobile. As part of the T-Mobile senior team, he was responsible for managing the development, deployment, and expansion of the first and largest 5G network in the U.S., including negotiating network deployment agreements with strategic infrastructure and services companies. He also managed T-Mobile’s fiber, small cell, venues, and long-haul service portfolios.

Before his tenure at T-Mobile, Mr. Taylor served as the Senior Director of Network Operations at Time Warner Cable, and Vice President of Network Operations at DukeNet Communications.

Mr. Taylor earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from East Tennessee State University.

Peter Appel is the Senior Vice President of Mergers & Acquisitions and Corporate Development at Vertical Bridge. Mr. Appel is responsible for all portfolio acquisitions, joint ventures, and other strategic transactions for the company.  

Before joining Vertical Bridge, Mr. Appel was an Investment Banker at Citigroup for ten years covering the digital infrastructure sector, including tower, fiber, and data center operators. During Mr. Appel’s tenure at Citigroup, he closed over $58 billion in M&A transactions. Previously, Mr. Appel co-founded the Valuation & Strategic Analysis group at Providence Equity Partners and worked in the Transaction Advisory Services group at Ernst & Young.  

Mr. Appel received his Master of Business Administration from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, and his Bachelor of Science from Bentley University. Mr. Appel is also a CFA charterholder.

Richard Stern is Senior Vice President of Leasing Operations at Vertical Bridge. Mr. Stern oversees the production, drafting, and negotiation of all Vertical Bridge’s ground, tower,  and rooftop leases. He is also responsible for other property rights agreements, including management agreements with third-party real estate owners.  

Before joining the company, Mr. Stern co-founded and served as Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Eco-Site, a privately-owned independent tower company. Previously, he was the Chief Executive Officer of Access to Money. Mr. Stern began his wireless career as General Counsel for Apex Site Management before its acquisition by SpectraSite in 2000. There, he held the position of Vice President for the building division where he was instrumental in establishing the in-building neutral-host model.  

Mr. Stern graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Arts. He also has a Juris Doctor from The Boston University School of Law and a Master of Laws in Taxation from The New York University School of Law.

Tim Shine is Senior Vice President of Information Technology (IT) at Vertical Bridge. Mr. Shine is responsible for implementing technology-driven solutions across all aspects of Vertical Bridge’s business to deliver more streamlined and efficient processes and solutions for clients. He brings more than 25 years of experience in IT and strategic-technology initiatives to Vertical Bridge.

Prior to joining Vertical Bridge, Mr. Shine served as Vice President of IT at Improving (formerly Innovative Architects). Mr. Shine led Improving’s expansion to South Florida and was responsible for directing IT-focused technology projects across the region. Previously, Mr. Shine served as Vice President of IT at NationsBuilders Insurance Services, where he planned, developed, and led IT initiatives enabling the company to more effectively manage itself. Earlier in his career, Mr. Shine spent 12 years with HomeBanc Mortgage in increasing roles of responsibility, most recently as Vice President of Application Development.

Mr. Shine holds a Bachelor of Science from Florida Atlantic University.