Benjamin G. Wolff - Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of ICO Global Communications since December 2009. Chairman of DBSD North America since 2008, member of DBSD Board of Directors since 2005. Previously served on the Board of Directors of ICO Global Communications from 2005 to 2008. Mr. Wolff was a Co-Founder of Clearwire Corporation, where he served in a variety of capacities including as a member of the Board of Directors, as Executive Vice President, company President, Co-CEO, CEO and finally Co-Chairman, a position he held until March 2009. Mr. Wolff also serves as the President of the Eagle River group of investment companies, and serves on the board of directors of some of Eagle River’s portfolio companies.
From January 1994 until April 2004, Mr. Wolff was a lawyer with Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, where he became a partner in 1998. Mr. Wolff’s practice focused on mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance and strategic alliance transactions. While with Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, he co-chaired the firm’s Business Transactions Department and served on the firm’s Executive Committee. In 2003, Mr. Wolff was identified as one of the top 45 lawyers in the country under the age of 45 by the American Lawyer magazine.
Craig O. McCaw - Director since May 2000. Mr. McCaw served as a Director and Chairman of ICO North America from September 2005 thru December 16, 2008. Since 1993, Mr. McCaw has been Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, and a member of Eagle River Investments, LLC, a private company formed to focus on strategic investments in the telecommunications industry, and its affiliated companies. Mr. McCaw founded Clearwire Corporation in October 2003 and currently serves as its Chairman of the Board. Mr. McCaw was a director of Nextel Communications, Inc., from July 1995 until December 2003, and a director of XO Communications, Inc. (formerly known as NEXTLINK Communications, Inc.) (“XO”), from January 1997 until January 2002. From September 1994 to July 1997, he was also XO’s Chief Executive Officer. From 1974 to September 1994, Mr. McCaw served as Chairman and CEO of McCaw Cellular Communications, Inc., which he built into the nation’s leading provider of cellular services in more than 100 U.S. cities, until the company was sold to AT&T Corp. in August 1994.
Samuel L. Ginn - Director since May 2006 and from October 2001 to April 2004. Mr. Ginn has over 43 years of experience in the telecommunications industry. Mr. Ginn was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of AirTouch Communications, Inc. from December 1993 until its merger with Vodafone Group Public Limited Company in June 1999. Upon the Vodafone-AirTouch merger, he became Chairman of Vodafone, a position he held until May 2000. Since leaving Vodafone, he has continued to be a private investor and advisor to several startup companies in the telecommunications industry. Mr. Ginn currently serves on the Board of Directors of Chevron Corporation and Franklin Templeton Funds Board. Mr. Ginn is a graduate of the School of Engineering of Auburn University.
Nicolas Kauser - Director since December 2008. Mr. Kauser has spent over 40 years in the communications industry, including President of Clearwire International LLC, and CTO of Clearwire, EVP and CTO for AT&T Wireless Services, Inc. (formerly McCaw Cellular Communications, Inc.), Sr. VP of Operations and VP of Engineering of Cantel, Inc., and 20 years in Venezuela where he first worked for the National Telephone Co. (“CANTV”) and subsequently co-founded two companies in the communications industry. Mr. Kauser is a Director of RadioFrame Networks, Inc. and TriQuint Semiconductors, Inc. He earned his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from McGill University, Montreal, Quebec in 1963 and successfully completed graduate courses in Logic Design and Random Signal and Noise in Telecommunications Systems. In 1998, Mr. Kauser received the prestigious Gold Prize awarded by The Carnegie Melon Institute and American Management Systems for excellence in the application of information technology.
Barry Rowan - Director since June 2006. Barry Rowan has over 25 years of financial and operational experience building technology and communications companies. From August 2005 until June 2006, he was Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer of Nextel Partners and its subsidiaries. Mr. Rowan joined Nextel Partners in August 2003 as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, and from August 2003 to August 2004 he also served as the company's Treasurer. From January 2002 to August 2003, he was a principal at Rowan & Company, LLC, a consulting and private investment firm, and from 1999 to 2001, Mr. Rowan was the Chief Financial Officer at Velocom, Inc., an international communications company, during which time he served as Chief Executive Officer of Vesper, the company's Brazilian subsidiary, for six months. From 1992 until 1999, Mr. Rowan held a number of executive management positions at Fluke Corporation, including Chief Financial Officer, and Senior Vice President and Division General Manager. Mr. Rowan earned his M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School, and his B.S., summa cum laude, in Business Administration and Chemical Biology from The College of Idaho.
H. Brian Thompson - Director since May 2007. Mr. Thompson is Executive Chairman of Global Telecom & Technology (GTT), a global telecommunications network integrator that provides its clients with a broad portfolio of wide-area network and wireless mobility services from its headquarters in Northern Virginia and offices in London and Dusseldorf. Mr. Thompson continues to head his own private equity investment and advisory firm, Universal Telecommunications, Inc. From December 2002 to June 2007, Mr. Thompson was Chairman of Comsat International (CI), one of the largest independent telecommunications operators serving all of Latin America. He also served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Global TeleSystems Group, Inc. from March 1999 through September of 2000. Mr. Thompson was Chairman and CEO of LCI International from 1991 until its merger with Qwest Communications International Inc. in June 1998. Thompson became Vice Chairman of the board for Qwest until his resignation in December 1998. Thompson previously served as Executive Vice President of MCI Communications Corporation from 1981 to 1990, and prior to MCI, was a management consultant with the Washington, DC offices of McKinsey & Company for nine years, where he specialized in the management of telecommunications. He currently serves as a member of the board of directors of Axcelis Technologies, Inc., Penske Automotive Group, and Sonus Networks, Inc. He serves as a member of the Irish Prime Minister's Ireland-America Economic Advisory Board, and from January-March 1999, he served as Non-Executive Chairman of Telecom Eireann, Ireland’s incumbent telephone company. Thompson received his MBA from Harvard’s Graduate School of Business, and holds an undergraduate degree in chemical engineering from the University of Massachusetts.
David Wasserman - Director since April 2002. Mr. Wasserman is a financial principal at Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, Inc., which he joined in 1998. Prior to joining CD&R, he was employed at Goldman, Sachs & Co. in the Principal Investment Area. He has also been employed by Fidelity Capital and as a management consultant. Mr. Wasserman serves on the Board of Directors of Culligan Ltd., Hertz Global Holdings, and ServiceMaster and formerly served as a director of Kinko’s Inc. and Covansys Corporation.