West Jefferson, N.C.—The Board of Directors of SkyLine Membership Corporation has named Jimmy Blevins Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the company following the June 30 retirement of CEO John Dixon.

"We are pleased to announce that Jimmy Blevins will assume this leadership role at SkyLine during one of the most dynamic periods in the company's history," said SkyLine President R.C. Mitchell. "Jimmy has played a crucial role in keeping the company's network infrastructure at the cutting edge of technology, having led our engineering and plant operations for the past several years." More recently, SkyLine has begun deployment of fiber-to-the-premise (FTTP) technology to its first communities, which enables the company to offer advanced broadband services and positions it to introduce digital TV services and other next-step technologies.

Blevins is a 23-year employee of SkyLine, having served as Staff Engineer, Chief Technology Officer and most recently as Chief Management Officer. Before joining SkyLine, he was a project engineer with the consulting firm, Black & Veatch Corporation, in Asheboro.

A native of Ashe County, Blevins is a 1980 graduate of Ashe Central High School and a 1984 graduate of N.C. State University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in civil engineering. He also holds a Professional Engineering (PE) license for the state of North Carolina.

In his role as Skyline CEO, Blevins also is President of SkyBest Communications, SkyLine's wholly-owned subsidiary, and he is a board member of Carolina West Wireless, a regional wireless company based in Wilkesboro. In the telecommunications industry, he is Board Secretary/Treasurer of Access/On Multimedia. Inc., a regional fiber transport carrier, and serves on the Carolina/Virginias Telephone Membership Association (CVTMA) Board of Directors, the VisionsWest Board of Managers, a regional video head-end operation; the North Carolina Telecommunications Industry Association (NCTIA) Board of Directors and the North Carolina Telephone Cooperative Coalition (NCTCC) Board of Directors. He is a past member of the Network Operations Committee of the N.C. Telecommunications Industry Association (NCTIA), where he served as chairman, and is a past member of the advisory committee of Spirit Telecom, a regional Internet Service Provider. Blevins has held memberships in the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers (SCTE), Professional Engineers of North Carolina (PENC) and the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). Locally, he is involved in coaching youth sports teams, and he is a member of Friendship Baptist Church. He and his wife Judy have an 11-year-old son, Jacob.

The company also recognized John Dixon for his 34 years of service at a special reception on June 27 at the company's corporate offices. Dixon has served in various positions with the company, including information technology and business operations, overseeing customer service, accounting, procurement and marketing/public relations. He has been the company's CEO since November 2003.

"We extend our deepest appreciation to John for his leadership and service to SkyLine these many years and offer our best wishes for a long and happy retirement," said Mr. Mitchell.

SkyLine is a member-owned cooperative, providing a variety of telecommunications services to its members in Alleghany, Ashe, Avery and Watauga counties in North Carolina, and Johnson County in east Tennessee. Along with its current focus of building a fiber-to-the-premise (FTTP) network, SkyLine is committed to enhancing the quality of life across the region through various charitable, educational and economic development programs. Its wholly-owned subsidiary, SkyBest Communications, offers deregulated products and services, including local calling services, business systems and networking solutions, broadband Internet services and long-distance.