Cooney named new president of Hylan

Hylan Datacom and Electrical, a market-leading provider of specialized communications engineering and construction services based in Holmdel, has named Joe Cooney its new president, the company announced this week.

The company also announced Leon Markham has been named vice president of business development.

Both men have extensive experience in the industry.

Cooney previously held a variety of executive positions both in New York and New Jersey, including positions with Fortune 500 companies Verizon and Hewlett Packard, as well as Unity Electric NJ.

His experience consists largely of electrical and telecom construction, maintenance and project management, as well as over 20 years of P&L management. As president, Cooney will work closely with HDE leadership in the office and in the field, to continue to find new work and new customers, improve operations and remove administrative burdens from field leaders.

A veteran of more than 30 years in the industry, he succeeds John S. DiLeo Jr., who transitioned into his role as vice chairman of the Hylan board of directors on Feb. 1.

DiLeo said Cooney is a perfect fit for the role.

“When we began the search for my successor, we wanted to be sure that whoever we selected had a long history of executive experience in our industry, as well as experience working in New York,” he said. “After an extensive search, we met Joe, who has all of the relevant experience we were looking for. And, after spending some time with him, we knew he would be an excellent cultural fit as well, able to use his leadership skills to bring Hylan to the next level.”

Cooney said he is grateful for the opportunity.

“I am honored and humbled to join the HDE team as president, following in the great footsteps of John DiLeo, truly a dynamic force in this industry, and continue his legacy of exemplary service, hard work and dedication to his team and customers,” he said.

“With a rich history of over 60 years, Hylan was founded on the principles of a powerful work ethic and strong customer-centric approach, and I look forward to carrying on this tradition of excellence and continuing to grow and improve the company, with a stellar team by my side.”

Joining the team as VP of business development – West, Markham boasts 21 years of telecommunications experience and initially entered the industry working on a construction crew. He has hands-on experience in the field and has also acted as a construction inspector for an engineering firm and a contractor. This has allowed him to develop skills in the design and implementation of copper, coax and fiber networks as well as road, dark fiber, long haul and DAS builds and more.

In his new role, Markham will be responsible for driving new revenue opportunities for Hylan, focused on the western U.S. region.