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Denny Strigl    

Former President and COO of Verizon Communications; Former President and CEO of Verizon Wireless; Author of "Managers, Can You Hear Me Now"

Dennis Strigl is the former president and COO of Verizon Communications and the former CEO of Verizon Wireless. He served in the telecommunications world for four decades and is widely recognized as one of the most prominent architects of the wireless communications industry. Strigl addresses telecommunications, leadership, management, and business strategies.

Telecommunications Career Strigl began his career at New York Telephone Company in 1968 after taking a bet to postpone his piloting career. He held positions at AT&T and Wisconsin Telephone Company, before becoming vice president of American Bell, Inc. In 1984, he became president of Ameritech Mobile Communications. He then went to Applied Data Research, Inc., where he served as president and CEO. Strigl joined Bell Atlantic in 1989, rising to the position of chief operating officer of New Jersey Bell, before being named president and CEO of Bell Atlantic Mobile in 1991. He was subsequently named president and CEO of the combined Bell Atlantic Mobile and NYNEX Mobile, after the companies’ merger was completed in 1995.

He went on to become president and CEO of Verizon Wireless and executive vice president of Verizon Communications. On January 1, 2007, Strigl was named president and chief operating officer of Verizon Communications, where he remained until his retirement in December of 2009. In this capacity, he was responsible for all Verizon’s network businesses—Verizon Wireless; Verizon Telecom; Verizon Business; and Verizon Services Operations, which provides financial, real estate, and other functional services to all of the corporation’s operations.

Strigl is the former chairman of the board of directors of the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association and currently serves on the board of directors of Eastman Kodak Company, Anadigics, Inc., PNC Financial Services, and PNC Bank.

Can You Hear Me Now? Strigl was instrumental in launching the nation’s first cellular telephone network in Chicago. Verizon’s very popular “Can you hear me now?” commercials were based on Strigl’s real-life actions. He travelled across Chicago and the surrounding suburbs documenting whether he could get a dial tone in specific areas and recording how long the call lasted before it dropped. This effort and his development of the wireless network earned him the Cellular Industry Achievement Award for engineering advancement and pioneering in marketing programs.

Strigl is the author of Managers, Can You Hear Me Now?, in which he presents the leadership techniques, skills, and strategies used to lead Verizon to the top of the telecommunications industry and the nine reasons most managers fail. He also addresses how to achieve exponential growth despite increasingly globalized competition and the current economic pressures.

Speech Topics

Building a Results-Driven Culture.

During his career, Denny Strigl oversaw more than 50 mergers and acquisitions, so he knows how important managing culture and change can be. Building a results-driven culture starts at the top, and he addresses how managers can effectively lead by example and create an atmosphere of success in their corporations. The author of Managers, Can You Hear Me Now? and a leader at more than seven different telecommunications companies during his career, Strigl is uniquely positioned to address leadership, management, and corporate culture. In his presentations, he also presents the leadership techniques, skills, and strategies he used to lead Verizon to the top of the telecommunications industry, the nine reasons most managers fail, and his field-tested strategies to creating a thriving company culture.

Managing for Results.

The author of Managers, Can You Hear Me Now?, Denny Strigl presents the leadership techniques, skills, and strategies he used to lead Verizon to the top of the telecommunications industry and the nine reasons most managers fail. He also addresses how to achieve exponential growth despite increasingly globalized competition and the current economic pressures. Strigl’s vast success as a manager of the world’s most prolific wireless carrier allows him to address managing for results authoritatively and with field-tested wisdom.

Management Leadership.

With his incredible breadth of experience and having held senior leadership positions at more than seven different telecommunications companies, Dennis Strigl relays the management leadership wisdom he learned in the field. In his presentations, he presents the leadership techniques, skills, and strategies he used to lead Verizon to the top and the most common reasons that managers fail. The author of Managers, Can You Hear Me Now? and the overseer of more than 50 mergers and acquisitions , Strigl also addresses managing culture and change.

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