Dave Schaeffer founded Cogent Communications in August 1999 and is the Chief Executive Officer. Under Mr. Schaeffer's leadership, Cogent became a top 10 carrier of Internet traffic within five short years. Mr. Schaeffer has led the efforts of 13 successful acquisitions, propelling Cogent's network into Canada and, most recently, into Europe. Mr. Schaeffer has successfully founded and operated six other businesses prior to Cogent. These businesses span a wide array of industries from communications to commercial real estate. Mr. Schaeffer holds a B.S. in Physics from the University of Maryland, where he was also a Ph.D. candidate in Economics. His diverse background and entrepreneurial successes have enabled him to build management teams that constructed and operate the only facilities-based, non-oversubscribed multinational network of its kind.

Reed Harrison joined Cogent Communications as President and Chief Operating Officer in July 2004. Prior to joining Cogent, he was chief network officer at AT&T, leading the build-out of its greenfield global IP network, significant cost reductions, and enhanced network quality, reliability, and security. Mr. Harrison has over 30 years experience in telecom at AT&T, AT&T Network Systems (now part of Lucent Technologies), and C&P Telephone (now part of Verizon). He has been the general manager of several businesses: a $200M network management software unit which delivered award-winning quality, cycle-time, and innovation to its customers; a $1B optical equipment business, leading its entry into new markets in Asia, Europe, and Mexico; and one of the largest and fastest growing CLECs in the United States. Mr. Harrison holds a BSEE from the University of Maryland at College Park and an MS in Management from Pace University in New York City. He attended the Advanced Management Program at the Harvard Graduate School of Business.

Tad Weed joined Cogent in February 2000 as Controller and now serves as Chief Financial Officer. Previously, Mr. Weed served as Senior Vice President of Finance and Treasurer at Transaction Network Services. At TNS, Mr. Weed undertook a broad range of financial management responsibilities for the NYSE public company, including financial planning, forecasting, budgeting, financial modeling, acquisition and international expansion strategies and pro-forma analyses. He eventually negotiated and completed the sale of the company to PSINet for $720 million. Prior to TNS, Mr. Weed was employed at Arthur Andersen for over ten years, consulting on due diligence and operational improvement issues and working with multiple companies on SEC filings and initial public offerings. Mr. Weed has an M.B.A. from Virginia Polytechnic & State University and a B.B.A. from Roanoke College. He has also fulfilled all requirements for the C.P.A. designation.