Kris Rinne, SVP of network technology at AT&T Labs, is reportedly set to retire at the end of November, and will be replaced by Tom Keathley, who was recently appointed SVP of network and product planning. The news was first reported by Fierce Wireless and was confirmed by AT&T.
Rinne is a telecommunications industry veteran, having worked in various capacities across the space for 38 years. That tenure included stints at Southwestern Bell’s wireline operations before landing with the company’s wireless division in 1995. While working with SBC Wireless — where she was eventually named VP of technology strategy — Rinne was quickly introduced to the flexible nature of the wireless business as SBC Wireless undertook a number of merger and acquisitions with PacBell, Ameritech, Comcast and SNET.
In 2000, SBC Wireless made one of its biggest moves when it merged its wireless operations with BellSouth to form Cingular, which at the time became the nation’s second-largest wireless operator. Rinne was eventually named CTO of Cingular, which soon was folded into the current AT&T operations following SBC’s acquisition of AT&T in late 2005. Through her time at those various wireless incarnations, Rinne has steered operations through a multitude of network iterations, including from analog to TDMA to GSM, GPRS, EDGE, W-CDMA, HSPA and the current LTE networks.
In addition to her position at AT&T, Rinne is also chairperson of trade association 4G America’s board of governors and last year was inducted into the Wireless History Foundation’s Wireless Hall of Fame.
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