CHARLOTTE — Forbes published its seventh annual list of Best-In-State Employers for 2025 — and Spectrum has been recognized as a leading employer in North Carolina.
“This award not only speaks to the way the company continues to invest in our employees but more so how those benefits are received,” said Doug Davis, regional vice president of Spectrum’s Mid-South Region. “We all know Spectrum is a great place to work and having employees who think so highly of this company that they not only stay but they also recommend us to others is truly special and something for us all to be proud of.”
Davis had no intention of building a career in telecommunications. His first climb wasn’t corporate — it was up a tower in Wichita Falls, Texas, where the U.S. Air Force trained him in the fundamentals of field communications. Now, decades later, he oversees a workforce of 11,000.
Davis enlisted in the Air Force in 1994. After basic training at Lackland and technical training near Dallas, he was deployed to McClellan Air Force Base in California. There, his team traveled from base to base setting up communications infrastructure — installing towers, digging trenches and deploying early telecommunications systems. When he left the Air Force in 1996, he returned to his hometown of Richmond, Virginia, and joined Continental Cablevision as a frontline technician. His role was simple but essential: install services in customers’ homes and troubleshoot technical issues.
Over the years, Davis worked his way up. He became a supervisor, then a manager, eventually moving into director-level roles as the company transitioned through acquisitions — MediaOne, AT&T Broadband, Comcast and later Time Warner Cable. After serving in leadership roles in Richmond, Baltimore, northern Virginia and Maryland, Davis moved to Raleigh in 2009, where he joined Time Warner Cable as director of field operations. A promotion sent him to Columbia, South Carolina, before the 2016 merger with Charter brought him to Charlotte and into his current role with Spectrum.
Throughout, he’s remained focused on building strong field teams and opening doors for internal advancement.
“We really push internal promotion,” he said. “A technician can go through five levels of progression, and we’ve seen people hit the top level in under two years. It’s good for the employees and it’s good for the customer.”
Under Davis’s leadership, Spectrum has expanded its broadband reach into underserved areas across North Carolina. The company operates in 83 of the state’s 100 counties and aims to connect 175,000 homes through its rural expansion initiative. In 2024 alone, Spectrum completed broadband connections to 53,000 homes and laid more than 5,000 miles of cable.
“That’s 53,000 homes who didn’t have broadband before,” Davis said. “We hear it directly — school principals thanking us, homeowners walking out while we build. It makes an impact.”
The competitive landscape has changed significantly since the early days of his career. With players like AT&T, Lumos and Cox now offering fiber options in parts of North Carolina, Spectrum is positioning itself as a full-service provider that combines traditional cable offerings with mobile, wireless and internet services in one integrated platform.
“It’s forced us to simplify technology for customers,” Davis said. “We blend services — mobile, fiber internet, HFC — into seamless experiences. Not every provider can do that, and if they can, I don’t think they do it as well as we do.”
In 2024, Spectrum launched its “Customer Commitment” program, promising same-day call response by 5 p.m. and offering credits to customers if service goals aren’t met.
“We put our money where our mouth is,” Davis said. “We’re trying to win customers by serving them better — not just with products but with accountability.”
While Spectrum’s operational headquarters is based in Charlotte, its employees are spread statewide. Davis says the company’s presence reaches “from Murphy to Manteo.”
“They’re not just in cities,” he said. “They’re embedded in the communities.”
Davis says the most rewarding part of the job is seeing the impact Spectrum’s service has on everyday lives.
“It’s a vital resource — for work, education, families,” he said. “People rely on it to stay connected. We’re proud to be part of that.”