Your customers are at the heart of everything we do

Steve Walton is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at USAN. Since taking on this position in 1999, Steve has transformed USAN from a network-based telecom services provider to a highly profitable technology innovator and leader in cloud-based contact center solutions. As part of this shift, he spearheaded the acquisition of Interactive Softworks and its customer engagement platform, setting the stage for USAN to revolutionize the way companies communicate with and serve their customers. Under Steve’s guidance, USAN has become a leader in omnichannel customer engagement solutions and has forged strategic relationships with partners such as Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud.

Steve joined USAN in 1994 as vice president of sales and marketing, during which time he successfully launched a retail carrier division, and USAN delivered a streak of consecutive quarters of profitable revenue growth.

Before USAN, Steve served in various senior management positions in finance, partner marketing, and corporate product marketing for MCI (now Verizon). He holds a bachelor of science degree in finance from Virginia Tech.

Paul Soligon is USAN’s President and Chief Revenue Officer (CRO). In this role, Paul is focused on driving new business and growing USAN’s footprint in the CCaaS space. Prior to his role, Paul spent a decade at Amazon in Commercial Sales leadership, where he led the strategic planning and go-to-market execution strategies focused on building out and expanding Amazon Web Services market share across the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast United States.

Prior to Amazon, Paul spent over 20 years at EMC, serving as the Mid-Tier Business Director, specializing in sales, sales management, and direct marketing of storage hardware, applications, software management, and virtualization solutions in multiple industries and verticals, including enterprise, commercial, telecommunications, healthcare, and service providers.

Paul holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration and Marketing from Providence College.

Loyd Olson is the Chief Operating Officer (COO) at USAN. He is responsible for delivering competitive, feature-rich products and services to USAN customers while ensuring that day-to-day operations are aligned with corporate objectives.

Loyd joined USAN in 2011 as Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing. Before USAN, Loyd spent 10 years with Interactive Softworks as an Equity Partner and COO. He also served as CMO at eShare Technologies, Melita International, and Fourth Shift. He held sales positions at General Electric (GE) and was a process engineer at Rockwell International.

He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Manufacturing Engineering from the University of Wisconsin and a Master of Business Administration degree in Business Marketing from the University of Iowa.

Farid Shenassa is the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at USAN. He developed many of the company’s key intellectual property assets, including a unique call-flow scripting language and environment, distributed switch and VRU independent platforms, and an SS7 protocol and middle layer. Additionally, Farid has been instrumental in the delivery of other strategic offerings, including Fraud Vision for early detection of non-monetary fraud activity, Positive ANI Signature for auto-identification and authentication of callers, and USAN’s omnichannel customer engagement platform.

Farid joined USAN in 1990 as a software developer and eventually was responsible for the company’s overall technology direction. In his executive position, Farid continues to take a hands-on approach to all aspects of platform architecture, software design, and vendor product integration.

Prior to joining USAN, Farid held key roles in computer science and software development. At CARD*Tel, he developed a real-time calling card and credit card authorization hub. Before that, Farid developed a manufacturing control and inventory tracking system for Johnson WireWorks. He holds Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Information and Computer Science from The Georgia Institute of Technology.

Donny Jackson is Senior Vice President of Software Development, overseeing interactive voice response software development, technical consulting, business analysis, and project management. Donny joined USAN in 1992, with responsibilities including delivering state-of-the-art speech and touchtone IVR applications and digital assistant (chatbot) solutions.

Donny has helped USAN establish itself as the industry leader in digital self-service solutions. He is the preeminent expert in IVR technology, having overseen the design and implementation of thousands of complex service automation applications for numerous Fortune 100 companies.

Prior to USAN, Donny developed one of the first PC-based CAD systems for Byers Engineering, a technical services firm in the telecom and utility industries. He was also a software programmer at National Data Corporation, then one of the world’s largest credit card processing houses. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from Eastern Kentucky University.

Michelle Clendenen-Shaw is the Vice President of Finance and Administration at USAN. She is responsible for all aspects of corporate financial management and plays a central role in helping USAN maintain its current, uninterrupted streak of consecutive quarters of profitability.

Michelle joined USAN in 2000 as an analyst and consultant before her promotion to director and executive roles. Prior to USAN, she served abroad as an independent financial consultant for manufacturer Jacob-Holm Industries France SAS, with whom she helped achieve profitability and significant growth in less than one year. Michelle’s extensive career also includes financial management positions with CertainTeed Corporation, Oliver Rubber Company, and Danaklon Americas.

She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration from the University of Georgia.

Steve Herlocher joined USAN in 2015 and is Senior Vice President (SVP) of Product. His responsibilities include leading USAN’s omnichannel customer engagement unit, product management, business development, and strategy. Steve is also responsible for driving next-generation cloud offerings with strategic partners, including Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud.

Steve was previously CMO at Jacada, Inc., leading the creation and launch of Visual IVR as a recognized and successful product in the contact center space. Prior to that, he was CTO and Senior Vice President of Product Delivery at Jacada, Ltd. Steve also served as Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Interactive Softworks.

Steve holds a Bachelor of Computer Engineering degree from the University of Michigan.