Vernon Irvin

Vernon L Irvin is a distinguished corporate leader renowned for revitalizing businesses and rapidly scaling sales organizations. Recognized as the "2022 Most Influential Black Executive in Corporate America" by Savoy Magazine, Irvin recently joined Ariel Alternatives as the Head of Go-To-Market and Value Creation.

Recognizing the potential of science and technology as a catalyst for positive social change, Irvin is deeply committed to promoting diversity in technology. He is a proactive member of numerous boards, including the National Black MBA Association and IntelePeer, a pioneer in AI-powered communications automation.

Biography

Born in the Pittsburgh suburb of Braddock, Pennsylvania, Irvin is one of three children. His father was a steelworker and his mother was a beauty care lecturer. Irvin earned a BS in Information Sciences from the University of Cincinnati and completed the Executive Development program at the prestigious Kenan-Flagler School of Business at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He currently lives in Denver, Colorado.

Career

Irvin moved into computing and senior management positions in the telecommunications industry with several major communications companies, including MFS UUNET (now part of Verizon), Ameritech (now AT&T), and MCI. At MCI, Irvin made the transition from sales to marketing, where he helped create the "Friends & Family" program as an economical solution to drive revenue at MCI's relatively unknown network against AT&T. He then moved back to Ameritech before a brief stint at WorldCom.

While working as EVP at e.spire Communications, Irvin was approached by BT Ignite President and CEO Alfred Mockett to join British Telecommunications, plc.’s broadband and internet services business. Irvin joined BT Ignite in 1999 as President of the Content and Media Hosting division with the task of building a content hosting and media proposition from a poorly developed and wholly UK-centric base. Irvin divided a $500 million applications infrastructure business with more than 2,000 employees by buying critical assets in France and Germany and creating a set of world-class standards.

In February 2001, he again joined Mockett at American Management Systems (AMS), a business and IT consulting firm whose business was mainly US government-driven, where he was the EVP of the global communications, media, and entertainment division. Irvin was tasked with curtailing the company's declining revenues in its communications practice, where he commented at the time: "I believe that the victors in this new challenge will be the ones that understand how to evolve from traditional long-distance revenues into a more internet-centric, wireless-centric, content-centric world."

In 2004, Irvin was hired as EVP and GM of VeriSign's Communications Services division. The next year, VeriSign bought a relatively small Berlin-based company called Jamba for $270 million. Jamba built mobile applications, games, ringtones, and wallpaper in over 40 countries worldwide. While Irvin sourced content, Jamba became Jamster in the United States. Irvin struck a deal with Kevin Liles, President of Warner Music Group, to provide mobile consumers with early access to hip-hop artist Mike Jones' debut album "Who Is Mike Jones?" In return, Jones created the first artist-endorsed Jamster ringtone advertisement in the US.

Within a year, Jamba/Jamster grew to $150 million in quarterly revenue, up from $15 million at the time of the acquisition. By 2005, the company made close to $600 million in revenue.

In 2006, News Corporation announced it would pay approximately $188 million for 51% shares in Jamba and combine it with Fox Mobile Entertainment assets. Shortly thereafter, in 2008, Irvin joined XM Satellite Radio as CMO and EVP, overseeing marketing efforts and strategic direction and assisting in the sale of XM Radio to Sirius Radio, creating the giant in Satellite Radio, SiriusXM Radio.

In 2013, Irvin joined Lumen (formerly CenturyLink) as EVP and President, leading a $4.5 billion business operation with over 3,000 employees in 50 markets. He grew profitable revenue through a deep portfolio of partner relationships, communication solutions, security, hosting, cloud computing, managed services, and SaaS-based solutions.

As Co-CEO and CRO at Everbridge, Inc., Irvin led the global go-to-market and services organization through the company's enterprise transition with its market-leading CEM product suite––driving global adoption and revenue and leading a seamless transition through four multimillion-dollar global M&As in 30 countries.

In 2022, Irvin joined G-P as CRO and EVP, and within eight months he had assembled a new senior management team of diverse executives and increased revenue by 22% over the previous year.

In September 2024, Irvin joined Ariel Alternatives to lead Go-To-Market and Value Creation. In this role, he works across the broader Ariel Alternatives portfolio and partners with their deal teams to assist with investment due diligence.

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