Randall Lynn Stephenson (born April 22, 1960) is a retired American telecommunications executive. He served as chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of AT&T Inc. from May 9, 2007 – June 30, 2020 and as executive chairman of AT&T Inc. from July 1 until December 31, 2020. He served as National President of the

Boy Scouts of America The Boy Scouts of America (BSA, colloquially the Boy Scouts) is one of the largest scouting organizations and one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with about 1.2 million youth participants. The BSA was founded i ...

from 2016 to 2018. In April 2020, Stephenson announced he would step down as CEO of AT&T effective July 1, 2020, replaced by

John Stankey John T. Stankey (born 1962) is an American businessman currently serving as CEO of AT&T Inc. and as a member of AT&T Inc.’s board of directors. He previously served as AT&T’s president and COO and was former CEO of WarnerMedia. Stankey led ...

. In November 2020, Stephenson announced he would step down as executive chairman of AT&T effective January 2021, replaced by

William Kennard William Earl Kennard (born January 19, 1957) is an American attorney and former government official. Kennard served as List of chairmen of the Federal Communications Commission, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from 1997 t ...

Biography

Stephenson earned a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

Accounting Accounting, also known as accountancy, is the measurement, processing, and communication of financial and non financial information about economic entities such as businesses and corporations. Accounting, which has been called the "languag ...

from the

University of Central Oklahoma The University of Central Oklahoma (UCO or Central State) is a public university in Edmond, Oklahoma. It is the third largest university in Oklahoma, with more than 17,000 students and approximately 434 full-time and 400 adjunct faculty. Founde ...

and a

Master of Accountancy The Master of Accountancy (MAcc, MAcy, or MAccy), alternatively Master of Science in Accounting (MSA or MSAcy) or Master of Professional Accountancy (MPAcy, MPAcc or MPAc), is a graduate professional degree designed to prepare students for public ...

from the

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two Territories became the state of Oklahom ...

, then began his career in 1982 with

Southwestern Bell Telephone Southwestern Bell Telephone Company is a wholly owned subsidiary of AT&T. It does business as other d.b.a. names in its operating region, which includes Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, and portions of Illinois. The company is cu ...

in the information-technology organization in Oklahoma. Late in the 1980s through 1990s, he progressed through a series of leadership positions in finance, including an international assignment in Mexico City overseeing SBC's investment in Telefonos de Mexico (Telmex), where, according to Bloomberg, he was mentored by

Carlos Slim Carlos Slim Helú (; born 28 January 1940) is a Mexican business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. From 2010 to 2013, Slim was ranked as the richest person in the world by the ''Forbes'' business magazine. He derived his fortune from hi ...

. In July 2001, he was appointed senior vice president and

chief financial officer The chief financial officer (CFO) is an officer of a company or organization that is assigned the primary responsibility for managing the company's finances, including financial planning, management of financial risks, record-keeping, and financ ...

for SBC, helping the company reduce its net debt from $30 billion to near zero by early 2004. From 2003 to 2004, Stephenson served as chairman of the

board of directors A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

for

Cingular Wireless AT&T Mobility LLC, also known as AT&T Wireless and marketed as simply AT&T, is an American telecommunications company. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of AT&T Inc. and provides wireless services in the United States. AT&T Mobility is the thi ...

. In 2004, he was named

chief operating officer A chief operating officer or chief operations officer, also called a COO, is one of the highest-ranking executive positions in an organization, composing part of the "C-suite". The COO is usually the second-in-command at the firm, especially if t ...

of SBC and also appointed by President Bush as National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee. Stephenson continued as COO following SBC's acquisition of

AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile tel ...

in 2005, responsible for all wireless and wireline operations at AT&T. In April 2007, AT&T announced Stephenson would succeed retiring

Edward Whitacre Edward Earl Whitacre Jr. (born November 4, 1941) is the former Chairman and chief executive officer, CEO of General Motors. He is also a former chairman of the board and chief executive officer of AT&T, previously Southwestern Bell, Southwestern ...

as CEO and serve as chairman and CEO of AT&T Inc.. In 2008 Randall Stephenson helped AT&T launch AT&T Aspire and led their "It Can Wait" campaign. Stephenson was chairman of the Business Roundtable from 2014 to 2016. In September 2016, Stephenson gave a speech regarding race relations at

’s annual Employee Resource Group conference in

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

. An employee posted a video of the speech to

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

, in which Stephenson asked attendees to make a greater effort to understand each other and communicate better through a compelling witness defending Black Lives Matter despite racial tensions in the United States. During his tenure as CEO,

acquired

DirecTV DirecTV (trademarked as DIRECTV) is an American multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary service is a digital satellite service serving the United States. It ...

for $49 billion in July 2015 and

Time Warner Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States. It was originally established in 1972 by ...

for $85 billion in June 2018. According to Drew FitzGerald of

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

, Stephenson has "transformed the phone company he inherited into one of the world's biggest entertainment companies." On July 1, 2020, Stephenson retired as CEO of AT&T. He was succeeded by then-COO

. At the time Stephenson announced his departure, it was acknowledged that the acquisitions of DirectTV and Time Warner had by this point resulted in a massive debt burden of $200 billion for the company, forcing the company to cut back on its capital investments.

Scouting

He was the 36th National President of the

, serving from 2016 until 2018. Stephenson, as well as fellow board member

Jim Turley James S. Turley is an American business executive. He was chairman and chief executive officer of Ernst & Young from 2001 to 2013. He was the National President of the Boy Scouts of America from 2018 to 2019. Early life and education Turley r ...

, CEO of

Ernst & Young Ernst & Young Global Limited, trade name EY, is a multinational professional services partnership headquartered in London, England. EY is one of the largest professional services networks in the world. Along with Deloitte, KPMG and Pricewaterh ...

, publicly opposed the BSA's practice of banning openly gay Scouts and stated their intention "to work from within the BSA Board to actively encourage dialogue and sustainable progress."

Personal life

Stephenson maintains homes in

Preston Hollow, Dallas Preston Hollow is a neighborhood in north Dallas, Texas, USA. It is bordered on the south by the city of University Park, Texas. History Beginning in the 1850s, the first settlers began receiving land grants for Preston Hollow’s land. Amon ...

and

Olmos Park Olmos Park is a city in Bexar County, Texas, United States. The population was 2,237 at the 2010 census. The town is noted for its park-like setting, oak-tree lined streets, and large estates, many of which were constructed during the 1920s. The ...

, San Antonio, Texas, and Teton Village, WY. Stephenson is a member of the

Council on Foreign Relations The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, mi ...

References

External links

Official AT&T Bio
*
2016 CEO of the Year award
given by ''

Chief Executive A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

'' magazine {{DEFAULTSORT:Stephenson, Randall 1960 births Living people American chief executives American chief financial officers American telecommunications industry businesspeople AT&T people National Executive Board of the Boy Scouts of America members Businesspeople from Oklahoma City University of Central Oklahoma alumni University of Oklahoma alumni American chief operating officers Presidents of the Boy Scouts of America

Biography

Scouting

Personal life

See also

References

External links