WASHINGTON-CTIA last week at its fourth annual Cellular Telephone Industry Association Foundation Achievement Awards Dinner paid tribute to Dennis F. Strigl, Newt Gingrich and the 50 winners of its Vita wireless samaritan awards who all used wireless phones to help people in danger or to prevent a crime.
Gingrich (R-Ga.) received an Achievement Award for Outstanding Leadership for his support of the foundations’ ClassLink program, which uses wireless phones to improve education. The speaker of the House of Representatives was scheduled to be the keynote speaker at the banquet, but canceled to attend Barry Goldwater’s memorial service.
Strigl, president and chief executive officer of Bell Atlantic Mobile was honored for his commitment to encouraging competition, using wireless technology to help local communities and his commitment to growing the industry. He also was given an Achievement Award for Outstanding Leadership.
Strigl has been involved in the wireless industry from its beginnings, and served as the chairman of CTIA’s board of directors during 1996 and 1997.
Also in attendance at the industry gala were Stan Hamm, group president, Mobile Systems, BellSouth Corp.; Dan Hesse, president and CEO, AT&T Wireless Services Inc.; Stan Sigman, president and CEO, Southwestern Bell Mobile Systems; Janiece Webb, corporate vice president and general manager, Motorola Inc.; and K-P Wilska, president, Nokia Mobile Phones Inc.
In related news, John W. Stanton, chairman and chief executive officer of Western Wireless Corp., is the new chairman of the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association’s board of directors. Stan Sigman, president and CEO of Southwestern Bell Mobile Systems, was elected first vice chairman. Andrew Sukawaty, CEO of Sprint PCS, was elected second vice chairman.
Rounding out CTIA’s executive board are Burt Pharris, president of Sygnet Communications Inc., who was re-elected treasurer and Don Nelson, president of United States Cellular Corp., who is serving his 10th term as treasurer.
“The wireless industry is now a highly competitive central element of American infrastructure,” Stanton said. “As a group, we must continue educating our members and customers on using the product safely, we must ensure that our customers are treated fairly, and we must ensure that the regulatory and legislative oversight of our industry is appropriate for the degree of competitiveness.”
Stanton was a co-founder of McCaw Cellular Communications, where he served as chief operating officer and then vice chairman until founding his own companies. He co-founded Pacific Northwest Cellular and General Cellular Corp., the two companies that became Western Wireless when combined in 1994.
“At a time when policy makers overlook the competitive nature of the wireless industry and fall back on monopoly-based regulatory concepts, John Stanton is an example of the risk-taking entrepreneurs bringing competition to the telecommunications market,” said Thomas E. Wheeler, president and CEO of CTIA.
