Gabriel A. Battista, former executive chairman of Talk America, currently serves as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of The American University of Rome.

Mr. Battista’s experience in telecommunications spans more than four decades. He has served on the board of six publicly traded companies and recently engineered the sale of Talk America to Cavalier Telephone, LLC. He also served as president, chairman, and CEO of Talk America for six years, transforming the company into a profitable telecommunications provider.

His career began with General Electric as a senior manager. He later served as president of Sprint’s Eastern Group. In 1991, he joined Cable & Wireless, Inc. as president and became the CEO of North America. Mr. Battista is credited with leading the company’s development of a global Internet infrastructure. He joined Network Solutions, Inc. in 1996, as the company’s CEO. At Network Solutions, Inc. he led the company’s initial public offering on the NASDAQ in 1997.

Mr. Battista received electrical engineering degrees from Villanova University and Drexel University, and an MBA from Temple University. Today, he serves on the board of trustees for Capitol College and American University of Rome. He is a member of the board of directors for Sentrillion Inc., TEOCO, a software company, and the Network Alliance. In 2004, Ernst & Young named Mr. Battista the Greater Washington Area Communications Entrepreneur of the Year.