Sprint PCS
Sprint PCS named Steve Geldmacher president of its new north central region. Prior to this position, Geldmacher was area vice president for north Texas and Oklahoma. He joined Sprint PCS as the company’s first area vice president in 1996, having just served as president of Cellular One in Boston. With Sprint PCS, Geldmacher helped develop the company’s field operations structure, including staffing, compensation, processing and national third-party distribution. Geldmacher has more than 19 years experience in the wireless industry.
Sprint PCS named Jayna Anderson Sprint PCS area vice president for the north Texas and Oklahoma markets. Anderson was the west Texas area vice president/general manager for Southwestern Bell Mobile Systems prior to joining Sprint PCS as a district sales director. In her new position, Anderson will oversee all sales and operation functions for the Dallas, Fort Worth, Tulsa and Oklahoma City markets.
The company also announced a series of changes in its technical services and network operations organization. Michael Robinson, former vice president of network operations, was appointed vice president and general manager of network services. Robinson has been with the company since 1973. He will be responsible for the engineering, design and operations of the Sprint PCS network.
Former director of the network management center, Robert Groom, has been appointed assistant vice president of centralized network services. He will be in charge of the national technical assistance center, the national operations control center, the operational support systems center, national translations and network performance and analysis. Groom joined Sprint in 1972.
Sprint PCS also appointed Mike Hennigan vice president of network field operations. He formerly served as vice president of service integration. Hennigan will be responsible for the five Sprint PCS network regional operations areas, vendor contracts and management, and the Washington, D.C./Baltimore and Hawaii technical services and network operations teams. Hennigan joined Sprint PCS in 1995 as a director in the technical services and network operations division.
PageNet
Paging Network Inc. announced several personnel appointments. The company created two new positions and named Kirk Brewer vice president of investor relations and Scott Baradell vice president of corporate communications. Both will report to Mark Knickrehm, executive vice president and chief financial officer. Brewer joined the company from the consulting firm Burson-Marsteller, while Baradell has been with the company since 1994.
PageNet also elected Bob Miller, former Nevada governor, and Gary J. Fernandes to its board of directors. Fernandes is the former vice chairman of Electronic Data Systems and the current managing general partner of private equity capital firm Convergent Partners. He fills the seat vacated by Bryan Cressey, who resigned. Current board member Roy Wilkins announced he will not seek re-election when his term expires in May, said the company.
Conti
The Conti Co. Inc. promoted John J. McCann to general manager of Conti Communications, the company’s wireless communications construction division. McCann will oversee operations of the entire company. He formerly served as its operations manager, directing the construction of more than 400 sites. He has more than 20 years experience in the building of civil, industrial and wireless construction projects.
Cable & Wireless
Cable & Wireless plc appointed Graham Wallace to chief executive. Wallace previously was chief executive of Cable & Wireless Communications plc and an executive director of Cable & Wireless plc. Prior to joining Cable & Wireless, Wallace worked with the Granada Group for more than 10 years, where he held the positions of financial director and chief executive of the group’s TV and video rental business.
Greg Clarke, chief operating officer for Cable & Wireless Communications, will succeed Wallace as that company’s chief executive.
CTIA
The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association announced Christina Martin, former press secretary to Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, has been promoted to vice president of communications for CTIA. Prior to beginning work for Gingrich in 1997, Martin served in a variety of communication roles, including deputy press secretary to the Dole-Kemp ’96 presidential ticket, press secretary to Iowa Gov. Terry E. Branstad and as administrative assistant and press secretary to Rep. Michael Huffington of California.
Microwave Power Devices
Microwave Power Devices Inc. appointed its chief financial officer, Paul E. Donofrio, to the newly-created position of executive vice president and chief operating officer. In his new role, Donofrio will oversee manufacturing and human resources. He came to Microwave Power in 1991 from AIL Systems Inc.-Eaton Corp., where he was a finance and accounting manager.
General Magic
General Magic Inc. appointed James McCormick chief operating officer in addition to his current duties as chief financial officer. General Magic created the new position to help oversee the planned expansion of its network operations center, expected later this year.
AMSC
American Mobile Satellite Corp. appointed W. Bartlett Snell its new chief financial officer, replacing Steve Peck, who left the company. Snell was previously senior vice president and CFO at Orbcomm Global L.P., leading the company’s public financing efforts. He also spent 16 years at IBM Corp. in various management positions.
Conductus
As part of its strategy to increase awareness and sales of its ClearSite line of front-end receiver systems for cellular and personal communications service base stations, Conductus Inc. hired two regional sales managers.
Hitesh Shah is the new regional sales manager, Midwest region. Shah previously was a regional sales manager at Superconductor Technologies Inc. and has held positions with Allen Telecom Group and Sprint Cellular as well. He has more than 10 years experience in the telecommunications industry.
Conductus named James Mendoza the western regional sales manager. Mendoza possesses more than 25 years experience in the wireless industry, where he has worked for Sprint PCS, Allgon Inc. and Andrew Corp.
Wireless Data Solutions
Wireless Data Solutions Inc. announced it removed Mike McLaughlin from his roles as chief executive officer and chairman of the board for both WDS and its subsidiary Distributed Networks, as of March 3. The company’s board of directors said the decision was based on the under-performance of the SOLU product and philosophical differences toward new growth strategies.
In his place, the board elected Patrick Makovec chairman, and Distributed Networks President Brian Blankenburg president of WDS.
Omnipoint Communications Inc. announced several new appointments. Jerry Rowlinski was named a network operations manager. His responsibilities will include overseeing the primary switching system that routes all Omnipoint calls in the Midwest region. Before joining Omnipoint, Rowlinski worked at GTE Corp. and Ameritech Corp. for more than 30 years.
Omnipoint appointed Tim Haley a site acquisition/zoning manager and will be responsible for acquiring tower sites, getting them zoned and coordinating the process with the site acquisition companies. Haley was previously with Dickson Hughes Group and with IBM Corp. for more than 20 years.
Tim Stewart was named marketing, planning and operations manager. He will oversee product forecasts, supervise regional inventory control and systems training and management. Stewart was the marketing operations manager for AllCall Inc. and a consumer support specialist for AT&T Corp. prior to joining Omnipoint.
