Peter W. Thonis

PETER W. THONIS is Senior Vice President, External Communications
at Verizon Communications. He is responsible for all external
communications and media relations strategy across the
corporation, both domestic and international. Prior to the Bell
Atlantic/GTE merger, Mr. Thonis was Vice President, External
Communications for GTE, a position he held since September 1997.
He was responsible for managing media relations, spokesmanship
and regulatory advocacy to the business, general and trade media
as well as industry analysts. He also was responsible for GTE’s
annual report. Mr. Thonis began his GTE career in September 1997
as Vice President, Public Affairs and Communications for GTE
Internetworking, the company’s data unit. GTE Internetworking
included GTE Intelligent Network Services and BBN Corp., which
GTE purchased in 1997. From 1995 to 1997, Mr. Thonis worked for
BBN Corp. He was Vice President of Communications when GTE
purchased the company, and also was Vice President of Marketing
in 1996. Before joining BBN, Mr. Thonis spent 14 years with IBM,
where he held several senior communications management positions,
including Director of IBM’s worldwide public relations for PC
business units. Mr. Thonis has a Bachelor’s degree in
Communications and English Literature from Syracuse University
and a Master’s degree in Journalism from the University of
Missouri.