Getting to Know NTCA Member Relations Manager Dennis Renowski
Dennis Renowski serves members in Wisconsin, Illinois, and Minnesota. He has a long history in the independent telecommunications industry. Previously, he held sales and marketing management roles with independent telephone cooperatives in the state of Minnesota and was a regional business manager for NRTC. He has been a member relations manager with NTCA for nearly ten years.
Where'd you grow up?
I grew up in Walker, Minnesota, a small tourist town in the northern part of the state. In fact, the school in my small town was so small that one could go from my Kindergarten classroom to my senior high classroom without ever stepping outside.
Tell us about your family.
My late wife Lori passed away ten years ago, and we have two awesome sons. The oldest was in the Navy for ten years and now works as an IT consultant. His wife recently graduated from law school at the University of Maine. My other son works at a resort in Northern Minnesota, and he and his wife recently had a daughter, who is quite literally the best!
How’d you get into the telco/broadband industry?
I was born into it, as my father was an area manager with Arvig Communications for over 35 years. He always told my brothers and me that we should get jobs at either a telephone or electric company because they always had the best benefits. Surprisingly, we must have been paying attention, as my oldest brother has worked as a Central Office Technician for a broadband company for over thirty years, and I have been in the rural telecom industry for over thirty years.
What do you like about being a member relations manager (MRM) with NTCA?
Being an MRM at NTCA allows me to use my experience and relationships in the industry to help both individuals and companies navigate benefits, membership, and all things NTCA, and I love that. I never know what each day will bring, which always keeps me on my toes. Having had an immediate family member battle a fatal illness gave me empathy and insight into the stress and helplessness that can come with dealing with medical issues and insurance. Being able to help participants navigate that process fulfills me and allows me to put that experience to use to help others.
Any hobbies? And do you have any pets?
Even though I travel a lot for work, my passion outside of work remains travel. I have been to 45 of the 50 U.S. states, and in recent years, I have visited Denmark, Sweden, Japan, Poland, Mexico City, Portugal, Hungary, and Austria. I am a big animal person and currently have two cats: Willie and Spaghetti. They keep me entertained, and if you have been on a Teams/Zoom call with me, you have seen me get up from my desk to let them out onto my deck. And back in. Repeatedly.
Any interesting fact about yourself that you'd be willing to share?
Back in the early days of the internet, most people surfing the web were flooded with pop-up ads. Anytime you would access virtually any website, those websites would increase their revenues by selling these pop-up ads to all kinds of companies. You would then have to click on each ad individually before you could eventually access the page you were trying to visit. Everyone hated pop-up ads. Everyone but me. That’s because in the late '90s and early 2000s, I worked as a freelance writer for the company that created those pop-up ads, and I was paid pretty good money to write them. Sorry about that!