According to a statement from Sprint, a leading mobile operator in US, Marcelo Claure will take over from Dan Hesse as the company's President and Chief Executive Officer effective this August. Claure is the Founder and CEO of Brightstar Corp, a subsidiary of SoftBank Corp.
Sprint said that Claure was the driving force for transforming Brightstar which he founded in 1997 from a small Miami-based distributor into a global business that now makes USD10.5 billion in gross revenues, based on its results for 2013 and making it the world's largest specialized wireless distributor and provider of a wide range of services to the wireless industry. Claure has also won various accolades throughout his career, having been selected as the Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum and receiving several Entreprenuer of the Year and CEO of the Year awards.
Dan Hesse, the outgoing President and CEO, in his statement said that Marcelo has been a great addition to Sprint's Board and that Marcelo's entreprenuerial background, businesses acumen, experience and strong relationship with Masayoshi Son, the Chairman of Sprint, will make his as an excellent choice to lead Sprint. Sprint added that as President and CEO, Claure’s first priority will be to continue the build out of Sprint’s network by leveraging its strong spectrum holdings as well as ensuring that Sprint always maintains truly competitive offers in the marketplace.
"Marcelo is a successful entrepreneur who transformed a start-up into a global telecommunications company. He has the management experience, passion and drive to create the strongest network and offer the best products and services in the wireless industry. While we continue to believe industry consolidation will enhance competitiveness and benefit customers, our focus moving forward will be on making Sprint the most successful carrier.”
- Masayoshi Son, Chairman, Sprint
"I’ve had the unique opportunity to spend the past few months actively engaging with Sprint’s Board, management team and front-line employees. I am honored to have the opportunity to now lead the Sprint team as we mobilize to become the wireless carrier of choice in the U.S. In the short-term, we will focus on becoming extremely cost efficient and competing aggressively in the marketplace. While consolidating makes sense in the long-term, for now, we will focus on growing and repositioning Sprint.”
- Marcelo Claure, President and CEO, Sprint