Verizon's Chief Operating Officer Dennis Strigl announced this week that he will retire at the end of the year. His departure, the second major executive exit from the company this year, leaves the door open for a new recruit to become the second in command at the telco. Any candidate would then potentially be in line to take over current Chairman and CEO Ivan Seidenberg's spot when he eventually retires.
Although Verizon would not reveal any potential replacements, Strigl said that he felt he was leaving the company in good hands. "We have a sound strategy moving forward," he told Dow Jones Newswires Thursday. "The senior executive team in my mind is the best bar none."
Strigl's departure is just one of many management changes that have happened at Verizon over the past year. Earlier this year, John Killian, who became the president of Verizon Business when Verizon completed its acquisition of the former MCI, became the company's Chief Financial Officer when Doreen Toben retired after more than 20 years with the company.
Strigl's retirement comes after spending 41 years in the telecom industry, a tour that started at the former New York Telephone, now Verizon. Strigl's pioneering efforts to roll out wireless services as the president of both the former Ameritech Mobile Communications and Bell Atlantic Mobile perhaps could be his crowning achievement. In addition, Strigl served a major role in the various mergers and acquisitions that created the current Verizon Business and Verizon Communications.
And as cable operators and other competitive providers continued to gnaw at Verizon's landline empire, Strigl helped the company realign its competitive footing by enhancing its wireless services suite and launching a new set of TV and Internet services via its FiOS Fiber to the Premise (FTTP) rollout.
For more:
- here's the official release
- Wall Street Journal via Dow Jones has this article
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