Andy Abramson

Throughout his career, Andy Abramson has been involved in all facets of marketing communications and the digital world through his marketing services agency, Comunicano, which operates globally as an all virtual agency.  Since 2000, Andy and his company, Comunicano, have propelled 56 company exits in the fintech, web, Internet, mobile, telecom, media, pharma, financial services, and IT infrastructure sectors, generating more than **$6 billion** for the investors, founders, and employees via M&A or IPOs. In addition to leading Comunicano, he most recently served as Global Chief Marketing Officer of AEHRA], the Milan based Italian electric vehicle startup, while also being cofounder of wineTOURia, a wine marketing and communications agency. Some of the other companies that have been acquired or went public include StubHub, GrandCentral, Telesphere, Boingo, CounterPath, GIPS, SimpleSignal, SightSpeed, Dynamicsoft, WebDialogs, HiDef Conferencing, Arcot Systems, BridgePort Networks, Verseon and Comgates. He has previously served as Senior Advisor to Counterpath, Dialpad, AT&T, Nokia, AOL, and many other companies on a global basis on matters related to the telecom industry, marketing, communications and crisis management. More impressive than the numbers are who has done the acquiring. Google and Vonage each have acquired two, while eBay, IBM, Cisco, Nokia, Yahoo, Symantec, Logitech, Citrix, RIM and Computer Associates are some of the more recognizable names. A pioneer in remote work and virtual team leadership, Andy Abramson recently served as the Chief Marketing Officer for Fonative, the Lowell, MA-based CPaaS company focused on compliant communications for regulated industries including healthcare, government, and financial institutions. He joined the company in May 2019. Andy guided the company in strategy and implementation of marketing, demand generation, special events, corporate communications, public relations, influencer development, social media, and reputation management. Additionally, he held a similar CMO role with SkySwitch, the leading white-label and channel only UCaaS provider in North America, redefining their marketing and brand initiatives and serving as Executive Producer of their annual conference, Vectors. SkySwitch was acquired in 2021 by BCMOne. He initially rejoined the agency world in 1992 after guiding sports marketing and public relations for The Upper Deck Company that followed serving within Account Management for Los Angeles based FCB/Impact. There he supervised sports marketing and sponsorship and client account management for leading brands, including Spalding and Dr. Scholls’, while overseeing the Celebrity All Star Hockey Team account as General Manager. In addition to his work with clients, Andy has spent over 24 years in sports marketing and management in a series of executive and managerial positions with The Philadelphia Flyers, Philadelphia Wings, and Denver Nuggets and serving as General Manager of The Celebrity All-Star Hockey Team. He is credited with establishing the Flyers youth hockey and fan development program, Hockey Central in 1976, and over 25 other programs that established a future fan base for the National Hockey League team. He began his sports industry career at age 14 in the Public Relations Department of The Philadelphia Wings Pro Lacrosse Club. An avid wine collector, accidental winemaker, and global traveler Andy is the North American Ambassador for the International Grenache Association. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism from Temple University. In the past he has served as a Commissioner for multiple amateur sports leagues, and was the youngest ever Registrar for the Amateur Hockey Association of the United States. He has also been an appointed Commissioner for both Public Safety and Parks and Recreation in the City of Solana Beach, CA and served as President of The Saratoga West HOA. Currently, Andy is a member of the board of directors of More Too Life, a leading anti-human trafficking organization, and is a Director Emeritus of The Atlantic Amateur Hockey Association, where he is also an honored first-ballot inductee in their Hall of Fame, as well as on the board of advisors of multiple technology startups.

Are the Banks Getting Scared?

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It looks like the major US banks are taking the threat from Apple and PayPal, as well as the neobanks more seriously. If they’re not, why are they planning to roll out a new “wallet” that mimics what Apple Pay and PayPal are doing. Here’s a summary about the new “wallet” the banks want you … Read more

Three Types of Investors in Startups

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Over the years through both my work with startups with Comunicano, as well as in my prior life in pro sports, I’ve seen all types of investors come and go. The good ones make things happen, while the bad ones get in the way. After thinking about it recently, I decided to lay out how … Read more

Getting Visible at ITExpo

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In today’s media-saturated world, it can be tough for brands to get noticed. With so much noise and clutter out there, how can you make sure your brand story is heard? When I host the panel Getting Visible: Telling Your Brand Story at IT Expo on February 13th in Fort Lauderdale, FL, we’ll dve into … Read more

More On AI Writing Tools

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Artificial intelligence is rapidly changing the landscape of many industries, and writing is no exception. There are now a lot of AI tools available that can help writers improve their work, so I decided to take a look at some of them. I also wanted to express how using AI tools has helped me personally … Read more

For Amazon, Its Chime Time

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It’s been a while since Amazon Chime was in mainstream telecom news. Chime is the cloud-based communication service that Amazon acquired in February 2018. Back then, many people in the VoIP world were scratching their heads, wondering what Amazon would do with it, largely thinking it would be a part of Amazon Connect, the customer … Read more

Why Teachers Are Wrong About ChatGPT

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Back in the 80’s when I was in college I was the king of online access for research. While other students were spending time in the libraries researching their papers, gathering information, I was using DIALOG, a service Lockheed-Martin operated, plus a bunch of other services that I had access to. Back then those services … Read more

Wine: Tasting vs. Drinking

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Over the past few months, since returning home from Italy and my extended European work, I realized I’d drifted away from “wine tasting” and moved more into “wine drinking.” For many, the two may appear to be the same on the surface. But they’re not. Tasting wine involves a lot more spitting, far less consumption, … Read more

Traffic Problems for Carriers

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For many years Skype was the alternative to using your regular phone number. While other services like Truphone, Free World Dialup, Gizmo Project and more all were around as VoIP alternatives, millions of people flocked to Skype to call their friends and family, as well as used it internally as their “private” phone service. In … Read more

STIR/SHAKEN Explained

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STIR/SHAKEN has been in the news as the FCC takes a more aggressive posture to prevent the abuse and scams impacting the public. But just what is STIR/SHAKEN? To put it in plain English, STIR/SHAKEN is a technology used to combat robocalls, which are automated phone calls that are often used for scams or spam. … Read more

Wake up and Smell the Coffee

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If you like coffee, like I like coffee, then this story about the best coffee shops in the world in Luxury Columnist is just up your alley. Coffee shops are not just places for espresso and cappuccino anymore. Around the world, coffee shops have become a beacon of hope, relaxation and culture. Each one has … Read more