AT&T president resigns

AT&T President Betsy Bernard is leaving the company to pursue other career options and will be replaced, effective immediately, with William Hannigan, who had been serving as chairman and CEO of travel industry services company Sabre Holdings, AT&T announced Tuesday.

AT&T President Betsy Bernard is leaving the company to pursue other career options and will be replaced, effective immediately, with William Hannigan, who had been serving as chairman and CEO of travel industry services company Sabre Holdings, AT&T announced Tuesday.

Bernard spent nearly two decades working in various positions at AT&T before leaving the company for several years in the late 1990s. She rejoined in 2001 as head of AT&T’s consumer services unit, and was promoted in late 2002 as the company underwent a series of organizational changes, including the sale of AT&T Broadband and the appointment of a new chairman and CEO, David Dorman.

Bernard, 48, hasn’t yet decided what her next position will be, but she is looking to move up the executive ladder, AT&T spokesman Jim Byrnes said.

“She has aspirations to run her own business as a CEO,” he said.

Hannigan will assume Bernard’s responsibilities for running AT&T Business, the Bedminster, N.J.-based company’s largest unit. In 2002 AT&T Business had revenue of $26.6 billion, down 4% from the previous year.

Before joining Sabre Holdings in 1999, Hannigan, 44, worked for more than a decade in the telecommunication industry, holding executive positions at SBC Communications, Pacific Bell and Sprint.