Daniel R. Hesse is the former chief executive officer of Sprint Corporation.
Education
He received a Bachelor"s degree from the University of Notre Dame in government and liberal studies in 1975. An Master of Business Administration from the Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University in 1977. And master"s of science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management as a Sloan Fellow in 1989.
Career
He was also the spokesperson, as the voice in Sprint"s "Simply Everything" commercials. Hesse"s father was a career army officer and he spent his early years going from army base to army base attending 8 different schools between kindergarten in Italy before graduating Stuttgart American High School. American Telephone & Telegraph Company
He spent 23 years at American Telephone & Telegraph Company where he started out as an international
From 1991–1995 he was President and Chief Executive Officer of American Telephone & Telegraph Company Network Systems International based in the Netherlands.
He launched the online division"s American Telephone & Telegraph Company Worldnet service in February 1996 which introduced unlimited internet dial up for $20/month as long as you subscribed to American Telephone & Telegraph Company"s long distance services. In May 1997 he became head of American Telephone & Telegraph Company Wireless.
Terabeam Corporation
From March 2000 to June 2004 he was Chief Executive Officer and chairman of Terabeam Corporation. Embarq Corporation
In June 2005 Hesse joined Sprint and oversaw the spinoff of its landline service – Embarq Corporation.
Sprint
On December 17, 2007 he became Chief Executive Officer of Sprint Nextel.
During his tenure he appeared in numerous television commercials for the company, filmed in black and white, and created by Goodby, Silverstein & Partners. The ads were filmed in New York City. When Hesse took over at Sprint, the company was losing numerous customers.
His strategy to stem further losses included improved customer service, an increased emphasis on prepaid cell phones, striking a deal with Apple to sell iPhones and other Apple products, and a 4G presence investment/ownership stake in WiMAX-provider Clearwire.
He also started adding retail stores across the nation in an attempt for increased in-person customer service.