Mike Sievert
Mike Sievert | |
---|---|
Born | 1968 or 1969 (age 54–55)[1] Canton, Ohio, U.S. |
Education | University of Pennsylvania (BA) |
Employer | T-Mobile US |
Title | Chief executive officer (CEO) |
Term | April 1, 2020 – present |
Michael Sievert is an American business executive, currently the president and CEO of T-Mobile US, and a member of the company's board of directors.[1][2][3] In November 2019, T-Mobile announced that Sievert would be promoted from chief operating officer (COO) to CEO in May 2020 when John Legere stepped down.[1] Sievert took control a month earlier than planned, on April 1, 2020, the same day T-Mobile closed its merger with Sprint.[4]
Early life and education
Sievert was born in Canton, Ohio. At age 10, he became a paper carrier for The Repository, using his earnings to buy a Radio Shack TRS-80 and, later, a Commodore 64. He graduated from GlenOak High School in 1987[2] and received a bachelor's degree in economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1991.[5][6]
Career
Sievert started his career at Procter & Gamble,[2] where he oversaw brands such as Pepto-Bismol and Crest.[7] He subsequently worked at IBM[2] and Clearwire.[8] He was also executive vice president (EVP) and chief global marketing and sales officer at E-Trade[9][10] and CEO of tablet gaming company Discovery Bay Games.[11] From 2002 to 2005, Sievert was EVP and CMO of AT&T Wireless.[12] He joined Microsoft's Global Windows Group as corporate vice president of product management in 2005, leading preparations for the release of Longhorn (later called Windows Vista).[13][9] In 2008 he co-founded Switchbox Labs,[12] a startup acquired by Lenovo in 2009.[14] In 2012, John Legere, T-Mobile's then-new CEO, hired Sievert as CMO.[15]
Sievert became COO of T-Mobile in 2015,[16] then became the company's president in 2018.[3][17] During this time, Sievert oversaw the "Un-carrier" marketing campaign, which sought to rebrand T-Mobile's public image[18] with a focus on no overage charges,[7] no contracts, unlimited data, and other offerings.[19] In April 2020, Sievert succeeded Legere as CEO of T-Mobile.[4] Under Sievert's leadership, T-Mobile overtook AT&T in total customers to become the #2 wireless provider in the U.S. (behind Verizon),[20] surpassed 100 million total customers,[21] and created the first nationwide standalone 5G network in the U.S.[22][23] Sievert has declared his strategy of focusing on dominating in 5G, saying “We’re making the rules for the 5G era because we’re way ahead — and I mean miles ahead."[24]
In October 2017, he joined the board of Canadian company Shaw Communications.[25]
Political issues
In June 2020, Sievert decided to pull all T-Mobile advertisements from Tucker Carlson Tonight because of rhetoric that criticized the Black Lives Matter movement. When announcing the move, Sievert tweeted, "Bye-bye, Tucker Carlson!"[26][27] Sievert also published an open letter about T-Mobile's diversity, equity and inclusion programs.[28]
Personal life
Sievert has a private pilot's license and flies a seaplane as a hobby.[29]
References
- ^ a b c FitzGerald, Drew (18 November 2019). "T-Mobile CEO John Legere to Step Down Next Year". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
- ^ a b c d Pritchard, Edd (29 November 2019). "T-Mobile's next CEO, Mike Sievert, is a Canton native". CantonRep. Gannett. Retrieved 9 December 2019.
- ^ a b Levy, Nat (14 June 2018). "T-Mobile promotes Mike Sievert to president as Sprint acquisition process continues". GeekWire. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
- ^ a b Lee, Edmund (1 April 2020). "T-Mobile Closes Merger With Sprint, and a Wireless Giant Is Born". The New York Times. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
- ^ Menear, Harry (3 March 2021). "The top 10 telecom CEOs worldwide - Mike Sievert". Mobile Magazine. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
- ^ Lee, Allen (27 November 2019). "20 Things You Didn't Know About Mike Sievert". Money Inc.
- ^ a b Pressman, Aaron (5 February 2021). "T-Mobile's new CEO answers the call". Fortune. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
- ^ Frank, Blair Hanley (18 February 2015). "T-Mobile names Mike Sievert Chief Operating Officer". GeekWire. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
- ^ a b Rohde, Laura (1 March 2005). "Microsoft hires AT&T executive to manage Windows". Network World. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
- ^ Brooks, Khristopher J. (18 November 2019). "John Legere, colorful CEO of T-Mobile, to step down next year". CBS News. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
- ^ McDermott, John (20 November 2012). "T-Mobile Names Tech-Marketing Veteran as CMO". AdAge. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
- ^ a b DeGrasse, Martha (15 June 2018). "T-Mobile promotes Mike Sievert to president". FierceWireless. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
- ^ Orlowski, Andrew (18 March 2005). "New Microsoft Longhorn chief is indigestion expert". The Register. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
- ^ Shah, Agam (28 January 2009). "Lenovo buys mystery start-up company". Computerworld. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
- ^ Manskar, Noah (18 November 2019). "T-Mobile CEO John Legere is stepping down". New York Post. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
- ^ Fried, Ina (18 February 2015). "T-Mobile Promotes Mike Sievert to COO, Andrew Sherrard to Marketing Chief". Vox. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
- ^ Kastrenakes, Jacob (18 November 2019). "John Legere will step down as T-Mobile CEO next year". The Verge. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
- ^ Bergen, Mark (11 August 2014). "Pretty in Pink: How the CMO and the Un-CEO Roused T-Mobile". AdAge. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
- ^ Moritz, Scott (18 November 2019). "T-Mobile Taps Sievert to Succeed Turnaround CEO John Legere". Bloomberg. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
In his seven years at T-Mobile, the 49-year-old executive ran the "uncarrier" campaign, which featured no contracts, unlimited data plans and free taco Tuesdays.
- ^ FitzGerald, Drew (6 August 2020). "T-Mobile Overtakes AT&T to Become No. 2 Carrier". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
- ^ Bishop, Todd (5 November 2020). "T-Mobile tops 100M customers, posts $1.3B in quarterly profit six months after Sprint merger". GeekWire. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
- ^ Horwitz, Jeremy (4 August 2020). "T-Mobile launches world's first nationwide standalone 5G network". VentureBeat. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
- ^ Jasinski, Nicholas (17 September 2020). "T-Mobile Is 'Way Out in Front for the 5G Era,' Says Its CEO. Wall Street Agrees". Barron's. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
- ^ Clifford, Tyler (2021-06-07). "T-Mobile CEO says company is poised to dominate 5G for the next decade". CNBC. Retrieved 2021-06-08.
- ^ Aycock, Jason (26 October 2017). "Shaw adds to wireless focus, adding T-Mobile's Sievert to board". Seeking Alpha. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
- ^ Sievert, Mike [@MikeSievert] (9 June 2020). "Same. We aren't running ads on that show and we won't be running ads on that show in the future. Bye-bye, Tucker Carlson!" (Tweet). Retrieved 12 June 2020 – via Twitter.
- ^ Gibson, Kate (12 June 2020). ""Bye-bye Tucker Carlson!" T-Mobile CEO says as advertisers drop Fox News show". CBS News. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
- ^ Wagner, Alex (10 June 2020). "T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert commits to 'significant changes' to increase diversity". TmoNews. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
- ^ "The New Mr. Magenta". 425 Business. 2021-04-01. Retrieved 2021-04-16.