Stump Entrepreneurship Lecture

Birmingham-Southern alumnus Andy Newton, co-founder of Southern Light LLC, will deliver the college’s annual Stump Entrepreneurship Lecture on Wednesday, March 14.

Southern Light was purchased for $700 million in 2017 by Uniti Fiber. Newton is currently the president of infrastructure and operations at Uniti, a leading provider of infrastructure solutions. He will speak at 7 p.m. in the Norton Campus Center’s Bruno Great Hall. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Newton stewards Uniti’s efforts to design, build, and operate its fiber network infrastructure since fiber is now becoming the mission-critical focal point in communications.

He led the overall operations, strategic guidance, and culture of Southern Light since its 1998 founding in Mobile. Under his direction, Southern Light grew to become one of the top 10 largest pure fiber optic providers in the country; it was listed in Inc. magazine’s “America’s Fastest Growing Private Companies” many years in a row. Before its acquisition by Uniti Fiber, Southern Light won a 20-year contract to install 1,650 route miles and 14,000 fiber miles to connect 446 tower sites in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida.

Newton graduated from BSC in 1994 with a degree in economics. His classmate, Paul Bullington ’94, serves as Uniti’s chief financial officer. An Alabama native, Newton is active in the Gulf Coast community, having served on several boards including the Alabama School of Math and Science Foundation Board, Downtown Mobile Alliance, University of South Alabama School of Computing, and UMS-Wright Preparatory School.

The Stump Entrepreneurship Lecture is part of the Birmingham-Southern College Entrepreneurship Program, endowed by Jane and Kevin Stump of Birmingham, both graduates of BSC. Kevin Stump is founder, chair, and CEO of Interconn Resources Inc. This is the eighth annual Stump Lecture.