Amelia S. Dall posted a tweet starting up a discussion about Convo Relay’s current ownership status. One of the reasons some people have continued to utilize Convo’s services is because of their owners being Deaf however this tweet cast a shadow of doubt in the community. Dall stated that she was “Officially “quitting” Convo” because she found out it was no longer Deaf owned.
“found out it is not deaf owned anymore (where’s the news about this?) and the interpreters are so, so constantly rude. You can’t see me? DEAL WITH IT. WAIT. MY SERVICE IS SPOTTY. BE PATIENT. THIS IS MY PHONE CALL NOT YOURS.” (Amelia S. Dall; M.A., RPA)
When inquired by other twitter users how she knew this, she said that a reliable source shared this information with her. They are saying that the current CEO (Jarrod Musano); his family owns the company, not the current CEO. Dall also requested evidence from Convo when they replied that they were still 100% Deaf owned.
She also proceeded to show that Ed Bosson had been an owner along with Wayne Betts Jr; however, he was no longer an owner of Convo Relay as of July 2018 (according to Wikipedia). This raised eyebrows for the Father of VRS is no longer involved. Some people went as far as to assume that venture capitalists were involved in the change of ownership.
According to her account, Amelia is a Deaf archeologist and involved in both the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) and one of the Commissioners of Colorado Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (COCDHH). With this inquiry, The Deaf Report reached out to Convo Relay’s Counsel Jeff Rosen for an official statement about their ownership status.
Jeff Rosen responded with a statement that clarified whether venture capitalists were involved and who the current owners are. With this statement, it was also clarified whether all of the owners were Deaf or if Convo Relay is no longer 100% Deaf owned.
From its inception, Convo has always been owned exclusively by deaf people. There have been a total of 8 different owners of Convo, all deaf people. Five of them are no longer owners of Convo.
Convo is now owned by three people, Jarrod Musano, Wayne Betts Jr and myself, all of us deaf.
We have worked very hard to maintain Convo as a deaf owned company. It has not been an easy task to do without the resources of venture capitalists as with the other VRS providers. However, we have been determined to maintain Convo’s identity as deaf owned so that it’s business decisions are fully controlled by a deaf perspective. Convo’s deaf owners are consumers ourselves who are part of the community, our goal is to do business that is in the best interest of the community. – Email to The Deaf Report from Jeff Rosen
The Deaf Report submitted a request inquiring about supporting documents. Karina Pederson responded to our inquiry and stated it had been determined that the ownership paperwork was too revealing and is not something that can be provided at this time.
Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared on The Deaf Report under the same author. This article has been placed on Deaf Vee Journal for archiving purposes.
