Verizon operations chief Strigl to retire

Verizon Communications President and Chief Operating Officer Denny Strigl will retire by the end of this year, the company said Friday.

Strigl led Verizon Wireless as president and CEO until 2007, when he took on his current position at the mobile operator's parent company. At Verizon Communications, he has been responsible for running all of the company's network-based businesses, including Verizon Wireless as well as Verizon Telecom and Verizon Business. Verizon Services Operations, a unit that provides real estate, financial and other services to Verizon businesses, is also under his purview.

Strigl has spent 41 years in the communications industry, the company said. In a statement, he said this was an appropriate time to retire because Verizon had the right leadership in place to continue its success. Strigl reports to Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Ivan Seidenberg. Lowell McAdam now heads Verizon Wireless as president and CEO.

Beginning his career with New York Telephone in 1968, Strigl was involved with cellular services from very early on. He became president of Ameritech Mobile Communications in 1984, just months after that company made the first cellular call in the U.S., and led the company as it built out the first U.S. cellular network.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.