DENVER-RCR announced seven inductees into its first annual Wireless Hall of Fame, created to recognize the contributions of those people who have made significant contributions to the advancement of the wireless telecommunications industry. The inductees will be honored in May at a ceremony in Washington, D.C. Complete biographies of the inductees will follow in a later issue of RCR.
Fourteen judges, chosen by representatives from RCR, the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association and the Industrial Telecommunications Association, selected the following wireless innovators, listed in alphabetical order:
Martin Cooper, chairman and chief executive officer of ArrayComm Inc. During his tenure at Motorola Inc., Cooper invented the portable radio system that was later incorporated into cellular.
Robert Galvin, chairman and/or president of Motorola Inc. from 1956-1990.
Dr. Irwin Jacobs, founder, chairman and CEO of Qualcomm Inc.
Fred M. Link, founder of Link Radio Corp., Radio Club of America president, 1968-1992, and president emeritus until his death in 1998.
Craig McCaw, founder of McCaw Cellular Communications Inc. McCaw also is chairman, CEO and founder of Teledesic Corp.; chairman and CEO of Eagle River Inc.; and founder of Nextlink Communications Inc.
William McGowen, founder of MCI Communications Corp. and chairman of the company until his death in 1992. McGowen is credited with breaking up AT&T Corp.
Andrew J. Viterbi, vice chairman and former chief technical officer of Qualcomm.
The judges included:
Mark Crosby, president of ITA.
Tom Wheeler, president of CTIA.
Fred Day, telecommunications attorney at Day & Cukier, Falls Church, Va.
John DeFeo, president, founder and CEO of telecommunications investment firm, Incepta L.L.C., Seattle.
Joe Gallelli, communications system consultant at The Gallelli Group, Geneva, Fla.
Tom Gutierrez, high tech and wireless attorney at Lukas, Nace, Gutierrez & Sachs, Washington, D.C.
Len Kolsky, consultant for Motorola and attorney for Steptoe and Johnson L.L.C., Washington, D.C.
Liz Maxfield, former CTIA executive now consulting in the private sector.
Elizabeth R. Sachs, attorney at Lukas, Nace, Gutierrez & Sachs.
Richard Shiben, former official in the Federal Communications Commission’s private radio bureau.
Richard Siber, associate partner and director of the wireless practice at Andersen Consulting, Wellesley, Mass.
Michael Sullivan, telecommunications attorney at Wilkinson, Barker & Knauer, Washington, D.C.
Bob White, telecommunications consultant and executive recruiter for Pennington Consulting Group, Pennington, N.J.
John Sudmeier, publisher of RCR, a Crain Communications Inc. newspaper.
