SurgePays, Inc (SURG) appoints Derron Winfrey to President, Sales and Operations

SurgePays, Inc. (Nasdaq: SURG), a leading technology and wireless telecommunications company, today announced the promotion of Derron Winfrey to the role of President, Sales and Operations.

Winfrey will oversee SurgePays' expanding sales organization with a focus on scaling the Company's core offerings: LinkUp Mobile prepaid wireless service, prepaid top-ups and financial services, federal Lifeline programs, and the Clearline marketing and customer engagement platform. He will also lead the operational buildout of the Company's new sales center in El Salvador and drive enhancements to customer onboarding and experience by leveraging data intelligence across the organization.

A fintech and wireless industry pioneer with over 25 years of experience, Winfrey joined SurgePays through its 2019 acquisition of ECS Prepaid, a company he founded. Since then, he has helped transform SurgePays' go-to-market strategy, building out the prepaid business platform, scaling the ISO channel, and preparing the Company's LinkUp Mobile MVNO for direct market launch with AT&T.

"Derron has been an intrapreneur on steroids for SurgePays," said Brian Cox, Chairman and CEO of SurgePays. "He's been instrumental in expanding our sales team, strengthening our ISO partnerships and positioning SurgePays for our next wave of growth. With him fully focused on sales and operations, we are raising the bar even higher for execution, scale and shareholder value creation."

Winfrey's leadership philosophy centers on investing in people and building high-performing teams.

"Simply put, I believe it's critical to take care of the people who take care of the people. We expect a great deal from the SurgePays team, all of whom are highly motivated, results-oriented professionals built to win – and win now," said Winfrey. "Indeed, it takes a special team to launch and expand market share with multiple product lines simultaneously. We have that exceptional team in place; watch them go as we hit the market running with our LinkUp Mobile direct MVNO, nationwide Lifeline service and top-up platform services – all supported by our Clearline POS services."

Prior to joining SurgePays, Winfrey was president of Electronic Check Services (ECS), a company offering merchants and ISO channel partners a full suite of check processing services. He also founded and served as president of ECS Prepaid, a business providing prepaid cellular phone reloads, bill payments, gift cards and loyalty programs. To power the processing of ECS Prepaid, Mr. Winfrey created the concept and helped launch Softgate Systems, a fintech product processing company, in 2007, where he served as president until 2009. During that time, Softgate grew in volume by nearly 110% by providing processing services for 12 other companies in addition to both ECS and ECS Prepaid. Softgate Systems was acquired in 2009 by In Person Payments (IPP).

In 2011, under Winfrey's leadership, ECS Prepaid earned several honors, including ranking 69 in Inc. Magazine's List of Fastest Growing Companies in North America and being named the Fastest Growing Company in Southwest Missouri by the Springfield Business Journal. He served for six years on the Petroleum Marketers Advisory Council, including two years as vice president and two years as president, for a four-state Midwest region creating market concepts for the Midwest convenience store industry. In 2012, Winfrey was named top entrepreneur business person in Springfield, Mo. by the Springfield Business Journal. He is a member of the Springfield Business Journal's 40 Under 40 Class of 2009 and has been honored in the publication's list of 12 People You Should Know and Top 12 Businesspeople in Southwest Missouri.

Born in Oklahoma City, Okla., Winfrey earned his bachelor's degree in communications at Wichita State University. He resides in Springfield with his wife, Paula. He enjoys cheering for the Kansas State University football team and spends quality time with his three children and six grandchildren.

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