MCI names industry vet as COO

Telecommunication industry veteran Rick Roscitt joined MCI last week as the company’s president and COO.

Roscitt spent 28 years at AT&T, where he was president AT&T Business Services before leaving in 2001 to join ADC as president and CEO.

While Michael Capellas, CEO at MCI says the carrier was not specifically looking for a new executive Roscitt’s experience was a key motivating factor.

“We did not have a search open for a COO. This is an exceptional man and this is an exceptional job,” Capellas, says. “There was no other candidate considered. This was one of those sort of things that started as a conversation and ended up where it ended up.”

“But 30 years of telecom experience with a guy of Rick’s capabilities … you bet we’re happy about that,” Capellas says.

And they should be. MCI’s top executives, including Capellas, had no telecom experience prior to joining the company.

Roscitt’s presence at MCI will likely bring an added level of integrity to the carrier, which is working to rebuild trust and respectability throughout the industry.

Roscitt said at an employee meeting last week which was broadcast on the carrier’s Web site, that he was “fascinated by the struggle,” at MCI. “I’m a sucker for a good fight and this seems to be the best fight around.”

Then he joined the right company.

When asked if he planned all along to return to the service provider market during a press conference last week, Roscitt chuckled. “If you would have said to me three-years ago that I would wake-up three-years later and be the president and COO at MCI, you would have gotten a good belly laugh out of me. I never imagined that that was going to be the case,” he says. 

Check out the ISP News Report newsletter later in the week for an update on MCI’s financials.