Technology >> CEO Interviews >> May 27, 2003
CHRIS ALLISON is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of
Tollgrade Communications, Inc. He joined Tollgrade as Divisional
Manager when the company was founded in 1988. Since then, he has
served in numerous capacities including Chief Operating Officer
and President. Mr. Allison has served as Tollgrade's CEO since
1995, and its Chairman since 1998. Mr. Allison has played an
integral role in developing the company's marketing strategies
for its core products including the introduction of its patented
MCU' technology for emulated metallic by-pass in 1993, the
development of DigiTest', its next generation centralized
solution for DSL testing in 1999, in the acquisition of
LoopCare_, the world's premiere Consumer Access Operations
Support System from Lucent Technologies in 2001 and in the
acquisition of the Cheetah_ cable status and performance
monitoring product line from Acterna, LLC in February of 2003. In
2001, the Pittsburgh Chapter of the Public Relations Society of
America named him 'CEO Communicator of the Year.' Also in 2001,
the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette rated him eighth on a list of the
region's top 50 business leaders. The criteria for this ranking
were Business Leadership, Community Impact and Timeliness. In
addition, since he assumed responsibility for the day-to-day
operations of the company, Forbes Magazine has ranked Tollgrade
31st, 78th, 21st, 41st and 31st, in 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001 and
2002, respectively, on its list of the 'Best 200 Small Companies
in America.' He has a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from
Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania. Profile
Communications is?
Mr. Allison: Tollgrade provides centralized and remote test and
measurement systems to telephone companies
