The New Class of CEOs at Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile

There's been a sweeping change across the United States’ biggest wireless carriers. Over the past decade, the leaders of Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T oversaw a shift from simplistic feature phones into the era of smartphones and streaming. After early iPhones and Android devices strained their cellular networks, the major carriers gradually evolved their infrastructure to provide the robust, nationwide LTE coverage on offer today. Unlimited data plans came, went, and came again, and the carriers eventually sought to carve out their own stake in content and media, to varying degrees of success.

But two of the telecom CEOs who oversaw that shift — Lowell McAdam at Verizon and John Legere at T-Mobile — have now left (McAdam in July 2018 and Legere in April 2020), and AT&T’s Randall Stephenson will step down in June 2020. The new faces of these powerful companies are Hans Vestberg, Mike Sievert, and John Stankey, and they’ll be taking on some herculean tasks of their own. Topping that list is the ongoing buildout of 5G technology across the United States. They’ll also take another shot at something their companies have continually struggled to do: break into the media and entertainment industry.