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Ivan G. Seidenberg (born December 10, 1946) is the Chairman and CEO of Verizon Communications.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 3 Personal life 4 References

[edit] Early life

Seidenberg began his career in telecommunications as a lineman's assistant straight from high school, and is one of the few Fortune 500 CEOs to have worked his way from the very bottom to the very top. He studied part-time and is a graduate of Lehman College of the City University of New York (1972), earning a B.A. in mathematics, and received his MBA in Marketing from Pace University (1981).

[edit] Career

As chairman and chief executive officer of Verizon Communications Inc., formerly Bell Atlantic and previously NYNEX, Seidenberg steered those companies through two of the largest telecommunications mergers in history: the merger of Bell Atlantic and NYNEX in 1997 and the Bell Atlantic merger with GTE in 2000. He also led efforts in September 1999 to form Verizon Wireless, the nation's largest (at the time) wireless communications business composed of the wireless assets of Bell Atlantic, GTE and Vodafone Airtouch. Verizon now operates an advanced global Internet backbone, a premier national wireless network, and -- with the company's deployment of its high-speed fiber-optic FiOS technology -- a next-generation broadband network.

In 2006, Seidenberg donated $15 million to Pace University. Pace’s School of Computer Science and Information Systems was officially renamed the Ivan G. Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems.

In 2007, President George W. Bush named Seidenberg to the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee, which advises the president on communications issues related to national security, emergency preparedness and the protection of critical infrastructure.

Seidenberg is chairman of the Business Roundtable. He also serves on the board of directors/trustees of The Paley Center for Media, The New York Hall of Science, Pace University, The New York-Presbyterian Hospital and the Verizon Foundation. He is also a member of the President's Council of the New York Academy of Sciences.

[edit] Personal life

Seidenberg and his wife, Phyllis, have two adult children and reside in New York.

[edit] References