The four honorees who will be inducted into The Wireless Hall of Fame this year have diverse backgrounds, but they all share a common history of investing themselves in projects that have advanced the wireless industry.
Wayne Perry, this year’s service provider honoree, was instrumental in forming CTIA and served as its chairman from 1993 to 1994. Perry started working at McCaw Communications in 1976 when it was still a cable company, and became McCaw’s president in 1985. Perry oversaw McCaw’s merger with AT&T Wireless Services in 1994, and then served as vice chairman of AT&T Wireless Services. He joined NEXTLINK Communications as CEO before co-founding Edge Wireless in 1999.
Technology honoree Richard Lynch was instrumental in enabling the industry’s transition from analog to digital technology, and in expanding wireless data capabilities. Lynch began his career in 1972 and held a variety of positions in planning, operations, and engineering with New England Telephone and Bell of Pennsylvania. He joined Bell Atlantic Mobile in 1990 as chief technical officer, and built one of the country’s first wireless data networks based on cellular digital packet data. Lynch went on to become EVP for enterprise-wide strategic technology initiatives at Verizon Communications.
Industry associate honoree Raj Singh is credited with bringing wireless service to Latin America and India. His company, LCC International, provided engineering designs for early cellular networks in more than 30 ountries, including the United States. In addition, Singh co-founded Appex, one of the first wireless roaming clearinghouses in the United States, which was subsequently sold to Electronic Data Systems (EDS).
Amos Joel is being honored posthumously as the pioneer honoree. Joel is known as the “father of switching.” He was an AT&T Bell Labs engineer and inventor who designed and patented the automated mobile switching that made cellular telephone service possible. Joel was granted more than 70 patents in his lifetime. He received the National Technology Medal of Honor in 1993 and was named to the National Inventors’ Hall of Fame in 2008.
The four individuals will be inducted into the Wireless Hall on October 8 at a dinner in San Diego.
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