Dan Hesse served as President and CEO of Sprint Corporation from December 2007 to August 2014. Previously, Hesse was the Chairman and CEO of Embarq Corporation, a $6 billion telecommunications services company. From 2000 – 2004, he served as Chairman, President and CEO of Terabeam Corporation, a wireless telecommunications technology company. Hesse spent 23 years at AT&T. From 1997 – 2000, he served as the President and CEO of AT&T Wireless Services, at the time the United States’ largest wireless carrier. He served on the board of directors of VF Corporation from 1999-2008 and of Nokia from 2005-2007.
He received a BA from Notre Dame, an MBA from Cornell, and an MS from MIT where he was awarded the Brooks Thesis Prize.
In addition to receiving Corporate Responsibility Magazine’s Lifetime Achievement Award, he has been named “Most Influential Person in Mobile Technology” by LAPTOP magazine (Steve Jobs was #2), Wireless Industry “Person of the Year” by RCR magazine, “Executive of the Year” by Wireless Business and Technology magazine, “CEO of the Year” by the National Eagle Leadership Institute, one of the five “Best Turnaround CEO’s of All Time” by Fierce Wireless, one of “10 Inspirational Leaders who Turned Around Their Companies” by Entrepreneur magazine, and he has twice received Wireless Week magazine’s Leadership Award. Glassdoor named Hesse one of 2014’s highest rated CEO’s by employees. Hesse received the American India Foundation’s 2014 award for excellence in corporate leadership and philanthropy. He serves on the National Board of Governors of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America.
The 2014 American Customer Satisfaction Index recognized Sprint as the most improved U.S. company in overall customer satisfaction, across all 43 industries, over the previous six years. For Mr. Hesse’s last two full calendar years as CEO, Sprint’s Total Shareholder Return (assuming reinvested dividends) ranked #1 among all S&P 500 companies.
