• by Arun

April 23

In this episode, host Jon Horovitz sits down with Rich Balot, founder of Victra (originally BC Phones Now) and Verizon's largest authorized retail partner. Rich's story is unlike anything in the telecom industry. He started as a teenage mobile DJ, opened his first US Cellular store in college to give his father employment, and grew through decades of expansion, acquisitions, and reinvention. He navigated the carrier switch from US Cellular to Alltel, survived the disruption when Verizon acquired Alltel, sold majority ownership to private equity, returned as CEO in 2019, and then bought the company back in 2021 — including a 650-store acquisition of Go Wireless.