Vento has served as managing general partner for several startup companies that developed into $300 million cable television properties in Massachusetts, Puerto Rico, Virginia, New Jersey and Maryland.

In 1990, Vento and The Washington Post Company joined forces to develop cable television and telephone franchises in the United Kingdom. As director and managing partner of this joint venture, Vento oversaw the daily management of a 600-person organization, constructing an underground fiber/coaxial network, with franchises serving Central Scotland–an endeavor completed under budget, and at a cost per mile well below the industry average–while boasting one of the UK’s highest penetrations of subscribing households.

In 1991,The First Union Corporation and Kansallis-Osake-Pankki Bank (KOP) selected Vento’s company to take over the daily management of cable television properties in North Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee. Financed by cable television endeavors, these holdings had been forced into involuntary bankruptcy. Within six months, Vento instituted a comprehensive plan including extensive maintenance; system electronic upgrades; customer communication and quality assurance; and remarketing programs. These improvements resulted in a 25 percent gross increase in the customer base, a 10 percent increase in the operating margin and cash flow and significantly improved employee morale. By the spring of 1992, the cable system had been successfully reorganized.

In 1993, Vento assumed the role of Vice Chairman and CEO of Sprint Spectrum SM/American Personal Communications, where he oversaw the development of the first PCS network in the United States. The system, launched on schedule one year in advance of its competitors, has more than 200,000 subscribers and is widely regarded as providing the template for the new wireless industry.

Vento currently serves on the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association’s (CTIA) board of directors, the Personal Communications Industry Association (PCIA) and the Wireless Foundation’s board of directors.

“Looking east on the map, I saw another exciting wireless company offering the same SunCom service. With so many similarities and a contiguous geographic footprint, I knew it was only a matter of time before we brought the two companies together. Now, we are bigger, stronger, faster…and better.”