Technology >> CEO Interviews >> September 8, 2004
CHARLES E. HOFFMAN is President and Chief Executive Officer of Covad
Communications Group, Inc. A 25-year telecommunications veteran, Mr.
Hoffman brings telecom and broadband experience to Covad from the
wireless, cable, local and long-distance sectors. Since joining Covad in
June 2001, Mr. Hoffman has successfully restructured the company and
dramatically reduced expenses while achieving 36% growth in subscriber
lines and EBITDA profitability during 2003. Covad is on track to become
cash-flow positive in midyear 2004. Prior to joining Covad, Mr. Hoffman
was President and Chief Executive Officer of Rogers AT&T, Canada's
largest national wireless service provider. While at Rogers, Mr. Hoffman
also served as a Senior Vice President of Rogers Communications, where
he gained extensive experience with Rogers Cable, Canada's largest cable
company, a leader in the rollout of high speed Internet service. Prior
to his years at Rogers, Mr. Hoffman served as President, Northeast
region for Sprint PCS. He was responsible for operations in the largest
region in the US, and, with offices in New York City, Philadelphia,
Boston, Pittsburgh, Hartford, Albany, and Washington, DC, he
successfully launched PCS wireless service in nine markets. Mr. Hoffman
also spent 16 years at SBC Communications in various senior management
positions. While leading SBC's Cellular One operations, he turned around
the second and fourth largest SBC markets, Washington/Baltimore and
Boston, from underperformers to market leaders in record time. Mr.
Hoffman also spent two years leading SBC's wireless operations in
Mexico. In addition to running Radiomovil DIPSA, S.A. de C.V. (Telcel),
the national wireless carrier, as Director General, he was also Managing
Director-Wireless for SBC International. Prior to beginning his career
in wireless, he also spent two years at Southwestern Bell Telephone Co.
and two years as a national account manager for AT&T. Mr. Hoffman began
his career at IBM in 1976 in marketing. Profile
Mr. Hoffman: Covad is about seven years old now, and we were started
after the Telecom Act of 1996 with the idea of using the last mile from
the
