Dan Hesse, 58, was named chief executive officer of Sprint Nextel on Dec. 18, 2007.

 

Prior to his appointment as Sprint CEO, Hesse was the Chairman and CEO of Embarq Corporation, a $6 billion telecommunications services company. From 2000 – 2004, he served as Chairman, President and CEO of Terabeam Corporation, a wireless telecommunications technology company.

 

Hesse spent 23 years at AT&T.  From 1997 – 2000, he served as the President and CEO of AT&T Wireless Services, at the time the United States’ largest wireless carrier. Previously, Hesse launched AT&T’s global online initiatives as the leader of the Online Services Group, which included the AT&T Worldnet family of internet services. From 1991-1995, he was based in the Netherlands serving as the President and CEO of AT&T Network Systems International, a joint-venture telecommunications technology company with revenues of $2 billion. He also held prior AT&T management assignments in Network Operations, Network Engineering, International Services, Human Resources, Strategic Planning, Product Management and Sales.

 

He received a BA from Notre Dame, an MBA from Cornell, and an MS from MIT where he was awarded the Brooks Thesis Prize.

 

He has been named “Most Influential Person in Mobile Technology” by LAPTOP magazine, Wireless Industry “Person of the Year” by RCR magazine, “Executive of the Year” by Wireless Business and Technology magazine, one of the five “Best Turnaround CEO’s of All Time” by Fierce Wireless, and he received Wireless Week magazine’s Leadership Award and Cornell’s L. Joseph Thomas Leadership Award.  He was appointed by President Obama to the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee and serves on the National Board of Governors of the Boys and Girls Clubs of America.