Rick Plugge, President
Rick was born and raised in Blair, NE and is a 1977 graduate of Dana College. Rick started with HunTel Systems in 1980 in their communications engineering department. In 1986, with the help and support of the Hunt family, he started HunTel Engineering. Rick also served as Vice-President of HunTel CableVision, which served over 8,000 customers in Nebraska, from 1999 till 2006 when it was sold as part of the HunTel Systems sale to American Broadband. Rick’s knowledge of outside plant construction and working with customers has always been his strengths. In 1982 Rick helped design and build one of the first fiber optic interconnects for an Independant Telephone Company and in 1999 he helped design and built one of the first FTTH projects.
Rick also has been active over the years in different industry associations including Association of Communication Engineers (ACE), Western Rural Telephone Association (WRTA, now known as WTA), National Telecommunications Cooperative Association (NTCA), United States Telephone Association, (USTA), National Cable and Telecommunications Association (NCTA) and the Organization for the Promotion and Advancement of Small Telecommunications Companies (OPASTCO). Rick has served as the WRTA (Western Rural Tele. Assn.) program chairman for three different terms and is active in many state telephone associations in the Midwest.
Rick has been involved in many local organizations over the years to help bring industry and growth to the Blair area. He currently is serving on the Blair YMCA board of directors and is the former President of the Dana College Booster Club. Rick was instrumental in establishing the Blair Preschool and has served on the Blair Little League Board. Rick was awarded the Key to the City of Blair in 2002.
Rick is married to his wonderful wife of 29 years and has two sons, one who is a middle school English teacher in Omaha, NE and the other a student at the University of Nebraska.
Rich Poland, Vice-President
Rich joined HunTel Engineering as Network Engineer Manager in 1994 and has been in the telecommunications industry since 1968. He was promoted to Vice-President in 1997, but has always stayed in charge of the Network Engineering group.
After graduating from United Electronics Institution of West Des Moines, Iowa in 1968 he worked as a test technician for Collins Radio in Richardson, Texas. After five years Rich was promoted to supervisor over the final production microwave radio system test unit. In 1980 Rockwell/Collins developed one of the first light wave communications operating systems working at 90 MBits. Rich was among those associates selected to work in the engineering group to promote, design, and install these systems for telephone companies. During this time he taught basic electronics and communications systems at Elkins Institute and Dallas County Community College. After four years in engineering Rich was recruited for a Field Sales position covering the five states of Northwestern Bell (now Quest) calling on telephone companies, private networks, and common carriers. In the seven years of field sales Rich helped design and implement over fifty fiber optic transport systems in the Midwest area.
After joining HunTel Engineering, Rich and his staff of network engineers have worked on several major fiber optic networks in Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska. Rich has advised on or designed over forty five rural fiber node systems for non-loaded plant design and/or fiber to the home systems.
Karlin S. Kelley, General Manager
Karlin was raised in Brooklyn, IA where his father was the GM of the local phone company. Karlin worked for the phone company while in high school and on summer breaks while in college. Karlin, his wife and two children have lived in the Blair, NE area since 1990.
In 1990, Karlin took a position with HunTel Engineering as a CAD (Computer Aided Drafter) Tech where he was responsible for the development and implementation of a new CAD system. In 1992 Karlin accepted the position of CAD Manager where he was responsible for all drafting and database administration. While managing the CAD department Karlin developed a tabulation system for use with project contracts which later added Contract Administrator to his title. In 1998 Karlin accepted the position of General Manager where he was responsible for all the CAD, ROW (Right of Way), Contract Administration and Outside Plant personnel. In the spring of 1998 Karlin helped with the design and implementation of the first FTTH (Fiber to the Home) deployment in Nebraska. In 2002 Karlin received his Level Three PON Design Certification for FTTH and has continued to stay current with new technology by attending BICSI Certified course work. Presently, Karlin has worked on over 80 FTTH design and builds in the states of Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas.
Michael A. Hoffman
, Director of Sales & Marketing
Mike joined HunTel Engineering in February of 2010 as the Director of Sales and Marketing. Mike lives in Blair and he has a son, a daughter, a daughter in-law and three wonderful grandchildren. Mike brings more than 26 years of telecom-specific experience including working for operating companies and vendors. His
expertise lies in the areas of OSS/BSS, marketing, sales, product development and customer service.
Prior to joining HunTel Engineering, Mike was the President and CEO of Bolt Data Systems. Mike helped start two International Telecommunications companies in Hungary and Mexico. Mike has also served as the Director of Business development for GVNW Consulting, Inc. and as a Principal at TMNG. Earlier in his career, Mike was the president and managing partner of The Fishing Company, LLC, an independent consulting and systems integration Company.
Mike has also held senior management positions with Integris/Groupe Bull, Highpoint International Telecom, and Mid America Computer Corporation (MACC).