AT&T Inc., the company set to burst forth from the merger of SBC Communications Inc. and AT&T Corp., will be led mostly by long-time SBC executives, according to a management lineup announced Thursday.
SBC Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Edward Whitacre Jr. will keep those titles following approval of SBC's $16 billion merger deal with AT&T, which may be finalized later this month.
Whitacre, 64, joined Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. in 1963 as a facility engineer in Lubbock, Texas, and has held his current job since 1990, according to SBC's Web site. Southwestern Bell was one of the regional Bell operating companies that emerged as separate companies from the breakup of AT&T in 1984. Through a series of acquisitions, it expanded its service area into 13 states and now serves 51 million access lines nationwide. Following the merger, it will be the largest telecommunications company in the U.S., according to SBC.
The merger transition will be led by James Callaway, 59, who has held the title of group president, AT&T integration, since February. He worked his way up to group president at SBC, having joined Southwestern Bell in 1968.
The San Antonio, Texas, carrier also will retain its senior executive vice president and general counsel, James Ellis, 62, who has worked for a variety of Bell companies and has been at SBC since 1984. SBC Chief Operating Officer Randall Stephenson, 45, who joined Southwestern Bell in 1982, also will hold the same position in the merged company.
Rick Lindner, 50, will continue as senior executive vice president and chief financial officer. Also a Southwestern Bell veteran, he was chief financial officer at Cingular Wireless LLC, SBC's joint venture with BellSouth Corp., before taking his current job last year.
David Dorman, 51, the current chairman and CEO of AT&T, will become president of the new company and a member of the board of directors for a brief transition period before resigning from both positions, SBC said.
Completion of the deal now hangs on approval by the California Public Utilities Commission, the last of 36 states that needs to sign off on it, according to SBC. That agency is expected to vote on the issue Nov. 18.