Free Conferencing Corp. of America

Company: Free Conferencing Corporation of America, Long Beach, California
Company Division/Group: Springboard
Company Description: Free Conferencing Corporation of America, with headquarters in Long Beach, CA, is the industry pioneer and leading provider of FREE collaborative communications solutions. With more than 4 million users per month and more joining daily, the company’s FreeConferenceCall.com flagship solution offers a high-quality, reservation-less conferencing service that is extremely easy to use.
Nomination Category: Individual Awards Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Best Executive

Nomination Title: David Erickson, Founder and CEO of Free Conferencing Corporation of America

1. Tell the story about what this nominee achieved in the past year (up to 500 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:

David Erickson, founder and CEO of Free Conferencing Corporation of America,
drives the vision and strategic initiatives behind the company’s innovative
service model. Throughout the entire organization, he has instilled a strong
sense of commitment by creating long-standing, value-based client and employee
relationships.

As a telecom industry thought leader, Mr. Erickson pioneered
FreeConferenceCall.com’s unique value proposition by forging relationships with
local carriers to deliver a powerful PSTN (public switched telephone network).
Unlike other VoIP-based services, FreeConferenceCall.com uses the PSTN to
deliver unparalleled, high-quality audio conferencing services. The PSTN is the
concentration of the world's public circuit-switched telephone networks.
Originally a network of fixed-line analog telephone systems, the PSTN is now
almost entirely digital, and now includes mobile as well as fixed telephones. 

Mr. Erickson gives new meaning to chronic entrepreneurialism with more than a
decade of telecommunications experience and an unparalleled market vision that
he brings to the company. He designed and implemented FreeConferenceCall.com
from the ground up, including the current network infrastructure that offers
conferencing facilities in 12 cities throughout the United States. Unlike other
competitive offerings from paid and non-paid audio conferencing services,
FreeConferenceCall.com’s pioneering all digital network is built on voice
routers versus analog-based conference bridges that can be prone to static and
other noise. Mr. Erickson’s no nonsense approach to conferencing removes the
hassles created by paid and non-paid providers with FreeConferenceCall.com’s
reservation-less system that opens the doors to new users that are optimizing
this service. 

In 2006 alone, Erickson was a key player in helping the company unveil several
new services that provide customers with a multitude of options for their
conferencing needs. In May, Free Conferencing Corp. announced SimpleVoiceBox
2.0 – the industry’s first free unlimited length voice mailbox system. The
following month, the company introduced the industry’s first free conference
recording service, which can be utilized for free unlimited dial-in playback,
file download, web streaming, RSS and Podcast conversion and much more. In
addition, the company announced the launch of SimpleVoiceCenter 2.0 (free voice
messaging system), SimpleEvent (supports up to 1,000 participants on a single
conference call), and an International Teleconferencing Service (available in 10
European countries) in 2006.

Mr. Erickson is the vision behind Free Conferencing Corp. and sets the pace with
innovative services and focused leadership. His accomplishments have been
documented in both major print publications and online articles.

2. List hyperlinks to any online news stories, press releases, or other documents that support the claims made in the section above. IMPORTANT: Begin each link with http://, and enclose each link in square brackets; for example, [http://www.youraddress.com]:

http://www.smartbiz.com/article/articleview/1611/1/4

http://www.freeconferencecall.com/pr041106.html

http://www.freeconferencecall.com/pr051506.html

http://www.freeconferencecall.com/pr060506.html

http://www.freeconferencecall.com/pr073106.html

http://www.freeconferencecall.com/pr080706.html

http://www.freeconferencecall.com/pr081406.html

3. Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about the nominee:

David Erickson is founder and CEO of Free Conferencing Corp., the leading
provider of FREE collaborative communications solutions.

Erickson gives new meaning to chronic entrepreneurialism with more than a decade of telecommunications experience and an unparalleled market vision that he brings to the company. He designed and implemented FreeConferenceCall.com from the ground up. Prior to FreeConferenceCall.com, Erickson owned and operated over a dozen emerging companies within the construction, financial services and technology sectors. He served as president of ThePacketCenter.com from 1998 to 2006. In 1995, Erickson began a three year stint as president and founder of vDesk Corporation. 

Erickson is also a community activist with his support of the “Children Today”
charity in his hometown of Long Beach, CA.