Our Team

Russ Patridge, Principal
Russ Patridge is a principal of Ridge Communications, Inc. as well as a 35-year veteran of the telecommunications industry. Since 1986, he has held senior management positions, deploying and operating networks in domestic and international environments. Russ' experience managing network deployments and operations is twofold. He gained valuable insight into the operations of traditional carriers and then went on to form his own consulting start up organization. This rare combination of long-term experience and knowledge of available industry resources has enabled Ridge Communications, Inc. to "partner" with clients to provide a unique grouping of services in the most effective and efficient manner possible. Russ holds a MBA from the University of Illinois.


Mike Patridge, Principal
Even prior to acquiring his Electrical Engineering degree at Ohio State University, Mike gained valuable wireless telecom experience during the summers as a Field Engineer in Argentina and RF Engineer working for Ameritech in Columbus, Ohio.   After graduation, Mike was employed by GTE (now Verizon) as a Radio Frequency (RF) Engineer before moving on to start-up company Alpine Cellular as the RF Director.  Mike then transitioned to another start-up company, Tacit Communications, where he continued to manage RF while also performing Project Management as well as Site and Infrastructure deployment.  In 2002, Mike was one of two Principles to start Ridge Communications.

 
Ken Fattlar, VP/GM of Operations
Ken has been in the wireless industry for more than 28 years.  As well as holding senior management positions in Network Engineering and Operations for a major wireless carrier, Ken’s diverse background also includes Site Development, Transport Engineering, Project Management,  Network Planning, Marketing, Regulatory and Finance.  This experience gives Ken the ability to better understand the perspective of the client resulting in highly successful projects.  Ken holds a BSEE from Northwestern University, an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin and Masters in Strategic Planning of Critical Infrastructures from the University of Washington.


Wes Rigsby, General Manager Southeast
Wes began his career as an installer of telecommunications equipment for GTE in Florida.  From there he moved in to Operations Supervision of Microwave Networks.  Later as fiber optics began to replace microwave, Wes followed the technology to fiber optics network design.  GTE then took advantage of his expertise in both Operations and Engineering and Wes became an Account Manager working with Interexchange carriers and Fortune 500 Companies.  In 2001, Wes retired from Verizon (GTE was merged into Verizon) but then began working for Ridge Communications where be eventually became the General Manager responsible for the South East Engineering and Installation.