John D. Zeglis (born May 2, 1947) is an American business executive. He has served as the president of AT&T and the chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of AT&T Wireless.
Video John D. Zeglis
Early life and education
Zeglis grew up in the farming community of Momence, Illinois. His father, Donald, worked as a lawyer. Zeglis played basketball and golf in high school and graduated as valedictorian. He attended the University of Illinois College of Business for his undergraduate studies. Both parents attended the University of Illinois and Zeglis thought it was a perfect fit. While there, he served as the house president of Beta Theta Pi and was a member of Sigma Iota Epsilon. He was admitted to Beta Gamma Sigma and Phi Kappa Phi. He graduated in 1969, with a bachelor of science degree in finance. After attending the University of Illinois, he attended Harvard Law School, where he served as the senior editor of the Harvard Law Review and graduated magna cum laude with a juris doctorate, in 1972.
Maps John D. Zeglis
Law career
Zeglis began his career, in 1973, at the law firm now known as Sidley Austin, in Chicago, Illinois. He became a partner five years later. While there, he worked on the defense of the AT&T account during the antitrust lawsuit United States v. AT&T, and when the case resulted in the breakup of the AT&T/Bell System, he helped restructure the system. With Zeglis' help, AT&T had successfully broken up into the "Baby Bells" by 1984. Soon after, he joined AT&T as a vice-president and general counsel.
Fort Wayne Mad Ants
In 2007, Zeglis helped found the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, an NBA D-League Team. When created, they were the first minor league basketball team in Fort Wayne since the Fort Wayne Fury of the Continental Basketball Association. The Mad Ants play at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Zeglis was a primary shareholder as well as the president of the Mad Ants. The team won an NBA D-League championship title in 2014. In September 2015, the Indiana Pacers bought the Mad Ants, and they became the Pacers' one-on-one affiliate. The D-League is now known as the NBA G League.
Board service
Zeglis has served on a number of corporate, educational and philanthropic boards of trustees and directors, shown below:
- Sara Lee Corporation
- Helmerich and Payne Corporation
- Illinova Corporation
- The Brookings Institution
- Culver Education Foundation
- Kellogg School of Management
- State Farm Mutual Insurance Company
- University of Illinois - Urbana Champaign College of Business
- George Washington University
References
Source of article : Wikipedia