Frontier Communications has hired former Google Fiber head Chris Levendos as executive vice president of Field Operations.

At Google Fiber, Chris Levendos was the head of the Network Deployment and Operations organization. Earlier, he had also worked with Verizon Wireless for 26 years.

Chris Levendos will replace John Lass, who’s retiring, and will report to Frontier Communications  CEO Dan McCarthy.

Chris Levendos will focus on better serving customer needs by maximizing the effectiveness of Frontier’s fiber-optic and copper networks to expand reach and increase speed capabilities.

At Google Fiber, Chris Levendos led network planning, expansion, design, and operations for fiber-to-the-home infrastructure. At Verizon, Chris Levendos was region president and vice president in the Wireline Transformation group. Frontier has telecom operations in 29 states.

Before joining Google Fiber, Chris Levendos spent 26 years at Verizon, last serving as region president for its New York City wireline operations. Chris Levendos began his career with Verizon in 1989 and held positions with increasing operational and engineering responsibility.

Chris Levendos led the restoration of Verizon’s network infrastructure in lower Manhattan that was destroyed in Superstorm Sandy. His knowledge and expertise was critical to the network upgrade to fiber and the restoration of services in record time.

Chris Levendos is a graduate of the State University of New York at Plattsburgh and earned a Master’s degree in Urban Planning from New York University and a Master’s degree in Telecommunications Management from Stevens Institute of Technology.