Company Leadership
Edward “Ed” E.Whitacre, Jr. joined AT&T in 1963 as facility engineer. He became chairman and chief executive in 1990 when the company was known as Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. Since then, he presided over numerous acquisitions, including the $67 billion purchase of BellSouth. In this position, he led the company’s transformation into the nation’s largest service provider of wireless, broadband, and telephone service. AT&T’s new headquarters building in Dallas was dubbed “Whitacre Tower” in honor of his 44 years at the company, 17 of which were spent as chairman and CEO. Upon his retirement in 2007, Whitacre was one of the longest-serving CEOs in the country. When asked about future competition, Whitacre responded, “Our big competition in the future is with the cable companies. Verizon’s going to be a player, and certainly I want to complete. And I want our shareowners to do better than anyone else.” He also described the firm’s strategy in terms of customers and competition.