The wireless industry has seen more executive changes recently than it has in a decade.
Today’s big move comes from AT&T, which is promoting Glenn Lurie to the position of president and CEO of AT&T Mobility. Lurie will continue to report to Ralph de la Vega, who is taking on an even larger role than before. He will become CEO of the company’s new Mobile & Business Solutions organization.
Prior to Lurie’s new role, the Seattle Pacific University alum was president of the emerging devices division focused on coming up with nifty new uses of wireless technology, like home monitoring solutions, or a pill bottle that reports back whether your grandmother has taken her medication.
And before that, Lurie was likely better known for being the go-between for AT&T and Apple leading up to the historic launch of the original iPhone.
De la Vega may be recognized for recently appearing onstage with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos to pitch the Fire Phone.
In a statement, originally obtained by Engadget, AT&T explains that integrating business solutions with Mobility makes sense because business-related customers represent more than 50 percent of its mobile revenues. The company has been working for the past several years on integrating its wireline and wireless functions, which were no doubt a tangled mess given its history of growth by acquisition.
Other big management moves on the wireless scene recently were made at Sprint after the merger with T-Mobile fell apart. Sprint’s long-time CEO Dan Hesse, the former Seattle-area wireless veteran who previously led AT&T Wireless and Terabeam, was replaced by Marcelo Claure, the founder of Brightstar. Of course, it almost seems like ancient news now that John Legere joined T-Mobile as CEO in September 2012.
With all carriers in a mad rush to lure customers with cheaper and more robust data offerings, perhaps there will be more changes to come.
Here’s AT&T’s whole statement, also sent to GeekWire:
“We’ve been integrating various functions of our wireline and wireless operations for several years now, including our network, technology and customer care operations. Now, we’re taking the next natural step by integrating our marketing and distribution for Business Solutions into our Mobility group. Ralph de la Vega’s responsibilities have been expanded and now he is CEO of our new Mobile & Business Solutions organization.
Integrating Business Solutions into Mobility is a great fit, because mobility is how businesses do business. In fact, business-related customers represent more than 50% of our mobile revenues and it’s growing. This new group will focus on delivering integrated solutions for business customers that are first and foremost mobile, and also secure, reliable, ultra-fast and effortless.
With Ralph’s role expanding, Glenn Lurie has been named president and CEO of AT&T Mobility, and continues to report into Ralph. Previously, Glenn was president of Mobility’s Emerging Enterprises and Partnerships group.”
