Leigh Anne Lanier, SVP – Customer Success, Verizon

Invest: sat down with Leigh Anne Lanier, SVP of customer success for Verizon, to discuss how the company is supporting growth across the Triangle through network expansion, local partnerships, and a tailored approach to community needs. “Change energizes us, and we’ll make sure we’re at the forefront from a leadership perspective,” Lanier said.

How would you describe the current business environment in Raleigh-Durham and how are those changes shaping Verizon’s strategy?

It has been a great privilege for me to see how different communities thrive and then think about how we, from a Verizon perspective, can have more of a curated approach to the communities that we serve, because we also want to recognize the diversity of the communities that we serve.

In Raleigh-Durham specifically, this is home to me. So, I have skin in the game to make sure that we are showing up strong. For the people who live here in the Triangle, I want to make sure that our communities remain connected, but also that they have the best-in-class experience on the network, in our customer service, and in the distribution that we offer.

What I am proud of, being a resident of this area, is the fact that it just continues to grow, and our brand of the Triangle continues to grow as a world-class innovation hub. We know there are growing pains that come with that, whether it is infrastructure or affordability concerns. So, we understand, as a community partner, as Verizon, that we need to focus on connectivity, speed, value, convenience, and a personalized approach for the best customer experiences.

How is the Triangle’s growth influencing your strategy and day-to-day priorities in the region?

We have network growth, but it is also about the people, the talent, and the infrastructure. In 2026, I think the word is AI. When you think about the AI tools that are required to serve the community and the collaboration tools needed by remote workers, we have to have a world-class infrastructure to support that.

Whether people are working from home or from one of our local businesses, they need high-speed access where they live. So, we are always upgrading our network and expanding capacity. Now, with mobile and home, we are going to have new converging products as well. That gives us a full range and suite of value for the local area.

As demand continues to rise, how are you maintaining reliability, resilience, and customer trust?

From a network perspective, it goes back to the upgrades we just talked about. But specifically for Raleigh-Durham, it is not just network coverage. It is also what we have invested in on the distribution side.

If you look specifically at Raleigh-Durham, we employ around 1,200 people and have 11 retail stores. What is really important is that we have put a lot of time into making sure our stores reflect the diversity of the community, so about a quarter of our employees are bilingual. As this area continues to diversify, we want to be the carrier of choice for all of the communities we serve.

In addition to our 11 retail stores, we also have around 27 agent partner locations. That filters into some of those smaller, more suburban areas around RDU. When you think about the investment in this area, we have about 40 points of brick-and-mortar distribution just in this market. We take a lot of pride in consumer choice and convenience in doing business with us.

How is Verizon working with local businesses, government, and academic institutions to support the region’s growth?

We have several initiatives in play specific to our area that we are proud of, and they affect all demographics and ages, which is important as a reflection of the communities we serve.

We are a proud partner of the University of North Carolina. We kicked that off in 2025. That partnership helps create a stronger game-day experience through our technology, whether you are in Kenan Stadium or the Dean E. Smith Center. We are really proud of what we have been able to do there from an experience standpoint.

We have also done give-back initiatives with UNC. Last October, we announced support tied to debt relief and partnered with Coach Roy Williams. We announced that we were going to relieve $5 million in debt to support North Carolinians recovering from Hurricane Helene. Verizon led from the front, and, in total since the storm hit, we were able to provide over $15 million in debt relief for those affected by the hurricane. What we are trying to do is leverage our partnerships to create a positive impact in the communities we serve.

We are also always evaluating connectivity needs and working with state and local governments. We are who the government turns to in times of crisis, so we will continue to make sure we show up responsibly. In 2025, the Verizon Frontline Crisis Response Team supported more than 23 different public safety agencies in North Carolina for emergency response operations. That included more than 346 mission-critical communication solutions at no cost to the community. Being from eastern North Carolina, I know hurricanes are a reality, so anytime there is a disaster relief opportunity, we want to make sure that we are showing up front and center.

How are you approaching recruitment, retention, and workforce development in the community?

Fueling talent is just as important as keeping our communities connected. We have around 11 direct retail stores that we staff specifically in this area, and we also help our partners staff their locations, too, so it is a unified approach to talent.

To be the best, you have to attract and develop the best talent. People used to see us as a telephone company. Now we are a technology company, and we want to make sure we have both the hard skills and the soft skills needed to keep our communities connected.

AI is definitely the word of 2026, and it will disrupt the workforce. Our approach at Verizon is to make AI more practical and help employees understand what it is, how to use it responsibly, and where we can gain efficiencies. AI is not necessarily a talent replacement. It is more about efficiency and how we eliminate some of the busy work so we can focus on the important work. We need to make sure our workforce has the soft skills, the technical knowledge and the ability to build relationships across the functions and technologies we serve.

Looking ahead three to five years, how are you positioning Verizon for growth in the Triangle?

We know that AI is going to impact everything in this region. We are going to make sure we are prepared for the speed and transformation that we know the Triangle is going to have. The AI models we are using today are the worst they will ever be because they are going to continuously improve. We need to make sure that we are at the forefront to help local businesses and communities adapt. If not, they will be left behind. So, we see our role as helping communities prepare.

AI can be overwhelming to some. We are serving five generations in our workforce, so as we prepare for what is ahead, we need to make sure that we are ready for the upskilling and reskilling needed to stay ahead of the curve.

One thing we are really proud of is the fact that the Triangle is going to continue to be a global leader in technology, AI, and talent, and we want to be a cornerstone of that. As the Triangle continues to grow, we want to be at the table with the planners to provide the technology to help bring that growth to life.

We want to be a true community partner, and it is not just about infrastructure. It is also about local causes. As we continue to evolve over the next three to five years, we want to think about the role Verizon can play as a socially responsible local partner. Change energizes us, and we’ll make sure we’re at the forefront from a leadership perspective.