TSTC alumnus takes charge as director of project management for telecoms service provider

(MARSHALL, Texas) – Jason Samford co-owned his father’s roofing company until his father encouraged him to pursue his own path. That was when Samford enrolled in Texas State Technical College’s former Telecommunications Technology program. 

“The reason I wanted to get a telecoms degree was everything was converting from analog to digital and there were a lot of tech jobs at the time,” Samford said.

Despite juggling a full-time job and family responsibilities, Samford excelled as a student, earning a 4.0 GPA and membership in the Phi Theta Kappa honor society. He remembered contributing to the construction of several dormitories on the Marshall campus in the early 2000s.

“I ran all the fiber(-optic cable) in the dorms, terminated all of the fiber in the dorms, and got to do all of those cool projects while I was working as a student,” Samford said.

Samford said that graduating from TSTC was the most rewarding part of his education. He earned his Associate of Applied Science degree in 2003, graduating at the top of his class.

Afterward, Samford worked for H.C. Jeffries Tower Company Inc., a company that specializes in broadcast tower manufacturing and maintenance, for 20 years. 

“I started out as the lowest guy on the totem pole, worked my way up to a foreman, then worked my way up to a project manager, then the director of operations,” he said. “The coaching that we had at TSTC, it set me up for success.”

After gaining more experience from a few different companies, Samford is currently director of project management for telecommunications service provider Advanced Tower Services LLC in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He works remotely from Houston.

“We turn over hundreds of jobs a month, and I have to know what’s going on with each and every one of them and keep my employees happy and motivated,” Samford said.

Samford said his TSTC instructors pushed him to be the best he could be and now he does the same for his employees.

“I like being able to mentor some of these younger generations; I bring an old-school mentality to the table,” he said. “Being able to mentor them and watch them grow is the most rewarding part of my career. I have a mindset of, ‘If you don’t teach them, you don’t grow.’”

Samford said he is grateful for the foundation that TSTC provided him with.

“Without TSTC, I don’t feel like I would have ever taken the steps I took to be where I’m at today,” he said.

For more information on TSTC, go to tstc.edu.