Daniel Hesse


Daniel R. Hesse is the former chief executive officer of Sprint Corporation. Hesse's tenure at Sprint focused on improved customer service, and he served as the spokesperson in Sprint's “Simply Everything" commercials.
In January 2016, Hesse joined the board of directors for PNC Financial Services where he chairs the Technology Subcommittee. He was elected to the board of directors for Akamai Technologies, Inc. in August 2016.

Early Life

Hesse's father was a career army officer. As a result, Hesse attended 8 different schools between first grade in Italy and graduating from Stuttgart American High School in Germany. He received a bachelor's degree from the University of Notre Dame in government and international studies in 1975, an MBA from the Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University in 1977, and Master's of Science from the MIT Sloan School of Management as a Sloan Fellow in 1989.

In Telecommunications

AT&T

Hesse spent 23 years at AT&T where he started out as an intern.
From 1991–1995, he was President and CEO of AT&T Network Systems International based in the Netherlands.
He launched the online division's AT&T Worldnet service in February 1996, which introduced unlimited internet dial up for $20/month for subscribers to AT&T's long distance services.
In May 1997, he became chief executive officer of AT&T Wireless. In 1998, Hesse oversaw the launch of AT&T's Digital One Rate.

Terabeam Corporation

From March 2000 to June 2004, Hesse served as CEO and chairman of Terabeam Corporation.

Embarq Corporation

In June 2005, Hesse joined Sprint and oversaw the spinoff of its landline division into a separate public company– Embarq Corporation. Hesse served as the President and CEO of Embarq from May 2006 until December 2007.

Sprint

On December 17, 2007 he became CEO of Sprint Nextel.
During his tenure, Hesse appeared in ten television commercials for the company. The black and white ads, created by Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, were filmed in New York City.
When Hesse took over at Sprint, the company was losing customers. His strategy to stem further losses included improved customer service, an increased emphasis on prepaid cell phones, a deal with Apple to sell iPhones, and a 4G presence investment/ownership stake in WiMAX-provider Clearwire. He also added retail stores across the nation in an attempt for increased in-person customer service.
During Hesse's tenure, Sprint went from last place to first in the wireless industry in customer satisfaction according to JD Power and JD Power and the American Customer Satisfaction Index. During this period, Sprint was recognized 20 times for excellence in customer service by JD Power. In 2014 the ACSI recognized Sprint as the most improved US company in customer satisfaction over the previous six years among all 43 industries studied.
Hesse led the acquisition of 80 percent of Sprint by Softbank in July 2013 and remained for a year to complete the transition. On August 6, 2014 Sprint announced that Hesse would be succeeded by Marcelo Claure, founder of Brightstar Corporation.

Outside Telecommunications

Hesse currently serves on the boards of directors for the following organizations: