Jeffery R Gardner

Jeffery R. Gardner President and Chief Executive Officer of Windstream since July 2006. Mr. Gardner has been a director of Windstream since July 2006 and was a director of Alltel Holding Corp. from December 2005 to July 2006. Alltel appointed Mr. Gardner in December 2005 to serve as President and Chief Executive Officer of Alltel Holding Corp. Prior to January 2006, Mr. Gardner was the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Alltel. Mr. Gardner has been in the communications industry since 1986 and joined Alltel in 1998 when Alltel and 360º Communications merged. While with 360° Communications, he held a variety of other senior management positions such as Senior Vice President of Finance, President of the Mid-Atlantic Region, Vice President and General Manager of Las Vegas and director of finance. He is a director and a member of the Audit Committee of RF Micro Devices, based in Greensboro, North Carolina.