Michael W. Drake
Mr. Drake has served the cable and broadband communications industry for nearly 40 years. His long career as an advocate for independent cable and broadband operators has touched just about every corner of the independent cable and broadband operator community.
This former CPA planted his cable roots in 1983, when he served as treasurer and chief financial officer for Cardiff Communications, which owned and operated cable systems and published trade magazines. His career would lead to the brokerage firm the Pat Thompson Co., and later to his own brokerage firms Drake Communications and Milestone Communications, Inc., where he is currently president and sole shareholder.
Milestone Communications, Inc. also served as general partner for Milestone Communications, LP, an independent cable operator that at its peak served more then 12,000 subscribers in six eastern states. Mr. Drake was the largest limited partner in this entity when it sold its last systems early in 2007.
Mr. Drake has structured key and numerous transactions within the cable and broadband community, consulted for independent cable and broadband operators and contributed valuable service, as an operator and a broker, to independent cable and broadband operators for over 30 years.
Mr. Drake served on the board of directors, as treasurer and on the executive committee of the American Cable Association from 2003 through 2006, and is the 2006 recipient of the association’s Lyn Simpson Grassroots Spirit Award.
Mr. Drake serves on the board of directors and is Treasurer of Christians in Communications since 2021.
In 2009, Mr. Drake was inducted as a Cable TV Pioneer.
Mr. Drake is a graduate of Iowa State University and an alumnus of KPMG.