September 23, 2008: Meet the Clearwire executive team
All quiet on the WiMAX front? While the news cycle is holding its breath in anticipation of next week's big event, Clearwire snuck in a few announcements via SEC filings.
Not too many surprises here, but Clearwire officially announced the proposed executive team for the new company. The appointments still need to garner approval from the board of directors, but according to this SEC filing, the new Clearwire will be led by:
- Barry West, President and Chief Architect
- Perry Satterlee, SVP - Chief Operating Officer
- Atish Gude, SVP - Chief Marketing Officer
- Broady Hodder, SVP - General Counsel
- Gerry Salemme, EVP - Strategy, Policy & External Affairs
- John Saw, SVP - Chief Technology Officer
- Scott Richardson, SVP - Chief Strategy Officer
- Scott Hopper, SVP - Corporate Development
Noticeably absent from the Clearwire roster is a Chief Financial Officer. In an email to Clearwire employees, CEO Ben Wolffe explained that the current CFO, John Butler had decided to step down from his post after 3.5 years with the company. Butler plans to depart following the close of the Clearwire deal to spend more time with his family. Clearwire is looking outside the company for Butler's successor.
West and Gude agreed to move to Seattle, WA to Clearwire headquarters but the company still plans to have "an important presence" in Herndon, VA.
Clearwire also announced that it would kick off its Xohm network launch in Baltimore on October 8th with presentations by West, Sprint Nextel CEO Dan Hesse and Intel's EVP of sales and marketing, Sean Maloney.
NEXT WEEK: The WiMAX Trends team will be at WiMAX World in Chicago, IL. If you'd like to set-up a meeting at the event, be sure to drop me a note at bdolan@yankeegroup.com. I have some availability left, but slots are filling up fast...
While the world's largest WiMAX centered conference is sure to answer a number of pressing questions--a few are top of mind for me:
- Where are all the WiMAX Forum certified products? We were promised 100 this year and I wonder if Ron Resnick will mention progress on that front during his keynote.
- October 8, 2008 is the launch party for Clearwire in Baltimore, as noted above--wasn't it supposed to be September? Does it really matter at this point?
- Given the recent newscycle, the elephant in the room might be LTE but the real question is--will continuously upgraded 3G networks hamper WiMAX's value-add? The 4G Summit on the pre-conference day looks to tackle that one.
- Also: LTE needs to show it's hand--how far along is it?
- Finally, I'm excited to hear what M2Z Networks has to say. That's the start-up with an executive team full of ex-FCC folks looking to offer free wireless service via unused spectrum--that is, if their old colleagues and the departing FCC chair can make it happen.
Stay tuned for the answers to these questions and many more next week. Have a great show, everyone!
