Technology >> CEO Interviews >> September 2, 2002

John Stanton – Western Wireless Corporation (wwca)

JOHN W. STANTON currently serves as Chairman, Director, and Chief Executive Officer of VoiceStream Wireless Corp., and Western Wireless Corporation. On May 31, 2001, VoiceStream Wireless merged with Deutsche Telekom AG, Europe's largest communications company. Mr. Stanton heads Deutsche Telekom's North American operations. He has led VoiceStream Wireless's growth from a small regional wireless company, started as a subsidiary of Western Wireless in 1996. Mr. Stanton co-founded the first large wireless communications company in the United States, McCaw Cellular Communications, where he served as Chief Operating Officer (1985-1988) and Vice Chairman (1988-1991) until forming his own wireless companies. Mr. Stanton served as a Director of McCaw Cellular from 1986-1994, and as a Director of LIN Broadcasting from 1990-1994. Mr. Stanton founded and served as Chairman and CEO of Pacific Northwest Cellular from 1992-1994 and served as Chairman and CEO of General Cellular from 1992-1994. General Cellular and Pacific Northwest Cellular were combined to form Western Wireless Corporation in 1994. Under his leadership, Western Wireless completed its initial public offering in 1996. In 1994, Western Wireless formed VoiceStream Wireless, its personal communications services (PCS) subsidiary. VoiceStream became a separate publicly traded company in May 1999, and he has served as its Chairman and CEO from inception. The company was sold to Deutsche Telekom in May 2001. Mr. Stanton served as Chairman of the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association from 1998-1999 and 2000-2001. Mr. Stanton serves as a Board member of Advanced Digital Information Corporation and Columbia Sportswear, and as a Trustee of Whitman College. He received a BA in Political Science from Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington, and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Profile
TWST: Could we begin with a brief historical sketch of Western

Wireless Corporation and a picture of things as they are now?

Mr. Stanton: The business was originally founded in the late

1980s