Technology >> CEO Interviews >> January 12, 2009
PAUL R. ARENA has served as Chief Executive Officer, Chairman of the Board and
Secretary of i2 Telecom International, Inc., since February 2004. Furthermore,
Mr. Arena served as President of the company from September 2004 to April 2005
and from November 2005 to August 2008. Mr. Arena was the Founder of i2 Telecom
and has served as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of the
company's subsidiary since inception in February 2002. From April 2000 to the
present, Mr. Arena has been Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of AIM Group,
Inc., a holding company specializing in materials for the wire and cable
industry. In July 1994, he founded and was Chairman and CEO of Cereus Technology
Partners, Inc., a publicly traded technology company that achieved a $350
million plus market capitalization. In 1998, Mr. Arena emerged with the vision
to deliver a thin client information technology solution to middle market
companies with sales of $50 to $500 million. He acquired several enterprise
resource planning companies and integrated an Internet service provider to
deliver the product offering. Initially, this was referred to as a total service
provider and later grew to be one of the largest application service providers
in the Southeast. Mr. Arena served in an executive capacity with Cereus and its
predecessor companies, including Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, from May
1991 to April 2000. From June 1990 to May 1991, Mr. Arena was a financial
business consultant. From February 1988 to January 1990, he served as a Senior
Vice President and partner of Gulfstream Financial Associates, Inc., a
subsidiary of the Kemper Group. Through Mr. Arena's entrepreneurial efforts he
performed various corporate finance, syndication and distribution functions that
participated in the successful completion of over $2 billion of combined
financings during his career. Some of these ventures included such technology as
cable television, conversion of black and white motion picture films into color,
mercury detection device for drilling rigs, ATM debit cards, color video
telephones, color fax transmissions and various types of manufacturing,
commercial real estate for hotels and shopping centers, and multi-family housing
projects. Mr. Arena was also a financial advisor to one of the world's largest
paper recycling facilities. Profile
picture of the things you are doing at the present time.
Mr. Arena: We have a seven-year heritage of developing
