Fusion announced that the company's Board of Directors has appointed Kevin Brand, most recently Fusion's Senior Vice President – Customer Experience, as interim Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Brand succeeds Matthew Rosen, who has resigned as Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Rosen will continue to serve as Chairman of the company's Board of Directors until Fusion has emerged from its chapter 11 process to ensure a smooth transition.

Fusion's board will undertake a search to identify the company's next CEO. Additionally, the Board has promoted Mr. Brand to the position of President and Chief Operating Officer of Fusion, succeeding Russell P. Markman who has resigned as President and COO. Both Mr. Rosen and Mr. Markman will serve as advisors to Fusion's executive management team during a transition period after the company's emergence from chapter 11.

Mr. Brand joined Fusion as part of the company's acquisition of the Cloud and Business Services business of Birch Communications Holdings, Inc. ("Birch") in May 2018. He has more than 30 years of experience in the communications and technology industry, having led businesses through a wide range of lifecycles including those generating mature revenue streams in excess of $700 million annually, while focusing on new product development and cash flow generation. Prior to joining Birch in 2017, Mr. Brand spent 15 years in leadership roles at EarthLink including EVP, Business Services, Consumer Products and Support, where he led the Consumer Internet Business and the Small Business Services Unit, as well as Customer Support and Service Delivery.

Previously, he led EarthLink's Network Operations and Network Engineering teams. Earlier in his career, Mr. Brand held senior roles at AT&T and started his career at Bell Labs. Mr. Brand holds a B.S. in Systems Science and Mathematics from Washington University in St. Louis and an M.S. in Operations Research from the University of California at Berkeley.