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Who We Are

Peter Hilliard, Partner

Since joining the wireless industry in early 1995, Peter has developed a strong reputation as a developer of "on air" sites.  His eleven-year background in oil and gas exploration in Texas and California provided him a comprehensive foundation in real estate, contract negotiation, entitlement issues, vendor management and business arrangements that smoothly segued into the wireless telecommunications industry.

 

As a leasing and permitting consultant for Pacific Bell Mobile Services (Cingular), SkyTel, American Tower, Nextel Communications, AT&T Wireless, and Verizon Wireless, he demonstrated his ability as a top producer and team leader.  Peter's understanding and comprehension of the disciplines of leasing, permitting, construction, RF, property management and utility interconnect have proven to be invaluable to the client.  He has worked on multiple polygon, small cell, add/mods, microwave and fiber optic projects in Sacramento Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area and is experienced with BOMA and riser management contracts.  Peter has been successful in creatively meeting and exceeding project milestones and has proven his ability to manage all projects within tight time constraints.

 

“We started On Air, LLC, not as a telecommunications staffing company, but as a highly experienced, conscientious group of professionals who know how extremely important site development is to the establishment, growth and maintenance of a successful network.”

 

Peter graduated from the University of Colorado with a BA degree in History.  He is a California Licensed Real Estate Salesperson since 1995.

Christopher Fowler, Partner

Chris has been with On Air, LLC since 2004 and enjoys a successful history negotiating leases, expediting zoning approvals, working with architectural firms, construction companies and RF engineering groups to meet aggressive project timelines while staying within budget.  He has successfully implemented strategies to anticipate and address issues before they develop into problems and has a reputation as the “fix it man”.

 

He has developed ODAS and IDAS systems for various venues and clients.  Chris works closely with property management on lease defaults, relocations and landlord relations and has deployed several temporary cell sites for special events (i.e. various concerts and Men’s and Women’s U.S. Opens).  Over the years Chris has overseen the companies financial affairs.  Currently, he is focused on small cell deployments in several jurisdictions for both 4G and 5G.  The small cell deployments include working with local utilities on brown poles installations following GO95 guidelines and local jurisdictions on light pole installations.  

 

Chris has a BS Business with an emphasis in Finance from the University of Colorado and is a California Real Estate Broker since 1998.

Aaron Salars, Partner

Aaron has over 15 years experience in wireless site acquisition work and has built a reputation of delivering quality results to his clients.  We at On Air are pleased to share that he came aboard as a owning partner in 2020 having been with the company since 2004.

 

He has skills and multi-disciplined talents that allow for complete development of a site from candidate search through site completion. Aaron’s responsibility’s include analyzing site viability including interaction with client radio frequency engineers, real estate specialists and construction managers to fairly assess and recommend sites with the highest probability of success which when done correctly, leads to maximum efficiency of client capital expenditures. Once the candidate has been established Aaron has demonstrated a successful ability to obtain positive leasing and entitlement outcomes. He has proven that he can manage a variety of vendors from surveyors, A&E companies, geotechnical engineers, etc. to keep projects on budget and on schedule. He also has experience negotiating with a variety of types of property owners from city, state and federal public entities to a vast variety of private property owners. Aaron has worked in nearly every jurisdiction in the Bay Area for both planning and building entitlements. That experience has given him the relationships and knowledge to be able to quickly file and receive any approvals the project might require.

Aaron has a BS Business with Marketing emphasis from the University of New Mexico, and has had his California Real Estate Salesperson license since 2004 and is a California Real Estate Broker since 2017.

Chris Durand, Partner

Chris has over 23 years of experience in the wireless communications industry. He is a talented site acquisition and land development professional who drives profitable commercial wireless land use projects from inception to completion.   His experience also includes project oversight, due diligence and stakeholder engagement.

Chris has been in the wireless communications industry since 1995.  Prior to joining On Air as an owning partner in 2020, he worked as Senior Land Use Planner and Project Manager, then as Vice President and Senior Project Manager, where he grew that company's Western Region business from $3M to $10M by increasing internal capability and expanding from site acquisition company to turnkey in-house construction for major wireless carriers including Verizon Wireless, Sprint and AT&T.  He conducted client deployment and development status meetings to report progress updates, work orders, design changes, site landlord and municipal jurisdiction to ensure milestone deliverables completed on time and on budget. Analyzed project status and progress to milestones with weekly tracker using Excel spreadsheets and software reporting tools.  He prepared land use applications and materials, drawings and photo simulations for wireless base stations for submission and review by jurisdictions throughout N. California.  He has collaborated with 96 planning departments in city and county jurisdictions on design and processing of applications and presented project concept plans at public hearings to community groups, planning commissions and city council meetings; responded to staff and public questions and concerns.  

Chris earned a BA Degree in Public Administration, emphasizing in Urban Planning Studies from San Diego State University. 

Julie Boles, Finance

Julie has been with On Air since 2016, where she manages accounting and contract finance. She oversees the bookkeeping and budget for all real estate and construction management projects, as well as monitors subcontractor fees and expenses.

 

With over thirty years in business and administration, Julie’s background reflects her energy: she has provided executive and editorial support to medical and scientific leaders at UCSF and Harvard as well as franchising and finance project management for national greeting card and benefits consulting firms.  She also managed the food safety and training program at her husband’s specialty food packing enterprise, whose clients included national candy and sauce brands.  Before all of this, she grew up in her father’s accounting practice, where she still occasionally lends a hand, especially during tax season.

 

Julie earned her BA and MA in English at San Francisco State University.

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