From 1999 to 2002, Steve Strong served as VP of international business development for Universal Access, a wholesale bandwidth provider to carriers and ISPs worldwide. There he launched the company's international line of business, recruiting an executive team and building all strategic customer and carrier relationships.

As cofounder of RateXchange, the first online business-to-business exchange for wholesale telecom services, he developed an extensive online B-to-B portal and oversaw two successful rounds of financing. Simultaneously, he acted as VP of business development for a telephony consulting firm, where he managed contracts with all of the top 20 global carriers, including AT&T, Bell Canada, Sprint, and WorldCom. For AT&T alone, he reduced the carrier's voice termination costs by more than $100 million in just two years.

At Teleport Communications Group, Mr. Strong managed strategic and government accounts, developing broadband networks and access for GTE Mobilnet, Charles Schwab, Lawrence Livermore and Lawrence Berkeley Labs, and many others. At UCLA, he earned a B.A. with honors in political science, with a minor in economics.