Jay Kitchen, president and chief executive officer of PCIA, plans to retire from the industry trade group he has led for 10 years.
Kitchen expects to stay with the group for a year to head up a transition team that will name his successor. “We will take advantage of Jay’s extensive government relations and association knowledge as we search for a successor,” said John Kelly, president and CEO of Crown Castle International, who serves as chairman of PCIA.
“After 36 years in the wireless industry, it is time for me to do other things,” said Kitchen. “I could not have enjoyed a more fulfilling career or worked for a more inspiring group than the members of PCIA. Our work on issues such as private land mobile radio, paging, PCS and most recently wireless infrastructure has been exciting, rewarding and meaningful to me personally-but I eagerly look forward to my next chapter.”
Kitchen took the reigns at PCIA in 1994 after the group merged with the National Association of Business and Educational Radio (NABER), of which Kitchen was president and CEO.
PCIA, which last year dropped its formal Personal Communications Industry Association moniker, was originally devoted to the paging industry. When the paging business went defunct, the group shifted its focus to the wireless carrier segment. But in 2002, PCIA canceled its annual trade show, ending an ongoing battle with the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association for members and show attendees.
The group again transitioned, this time to focus on the tower sector. Its first tower show was held last fall.
PCIA’s second tower show is scheduled to take place next month in Dallas.
Wireless industry associations are undergoing leadership changes. CTIA President Tom Wheeler stepped down from that group in 2003 after leading it for more than 12 years, and Alan Shark, president of the American Mobile Telecommunications Association, announced he will quit that association, which he had headed since 1991.
