Execs

Sprint Nextel CEO Dan Hesse sat down last week for a 35-minute interview with Charlie Rose in which he discusses the future of wireless.

Hesse discusses the evolution of wireless technology, the idea of a portable “hockey puck” that broadcasts high-speed broadband to various electronic devices, the Nextel merger and other topics.

A few interesting snippets from the interview:

On Sprint’s future: “You look at the rest-of-world and you see where customers are going. People are interested in paying cash and having less of a commitment.

Former Apple executive Jon Rubinstein was named Wednesday chief executive of Smartphone maker Palm Inc.

The appointment of one of the key execs behind Apple iPod comes days after Palm launched its $200 Pre, a rival to Apple's iPhone.

Rubinstein was named executive chairman of Palm in 2007 to help bring innovation back to the company. He replaces Ed Colligan, who is stepping down after 16 years with the company.

CEO Dan Hesse took his Palm Pre roadshow to New York this morning and said Saturday's official release of the smart phone "represents a coming out party for Sprint."

Hesse said the device could capture both consumer and business users, and that the Pre's launch will show off Sprint's competitive pricing plans.

In an interview with Fierce Wireless, Sprint executives called inaccurate the reports that Verizon will begin selling the Pre in six months.

Sprint's annual meeting Tuesday will be back in Kansas for the first time since 2005 when shareholders approved the takeover of Nextel Corp.

Shareholders have met the last three years in Reston, Va., Nextel's old home.

Tuesday's meeting is set for 10 a.m. at the Overland Park Convention Center.

This will be the final annual meeting for Kansas City businessman,civic leader, and long-time director Irvine O. Hockaday Jr., who is not standing for re-election. Hockaday, the retired president and chief executive officer of Hallmark Cards, joined Sprint's board in 1997.

Both AT&T and Sprint Nextel are declaring their belief in pay for performance this Spring.

But sometimes, according to Randall Stephenson, AT&T's chairman, chief executive officer and president, it's right to turn down even bonuses that you earned.

"Mr. Stephenson asked the Committee not to pay him an earned or discretionary bonus for 2008 in light of the economic environment and the workforce reductions," AT&T stated in its recently published proxy. "While the Committee believes in pay for performance and recognized that Mr. Stephenson had earned a bonus, it honored his request."

When public companies issue their proxies, it often unleashes a mad dash for the big tables detailing the big numbers in pay, stock awards and bonuses going to the top executives.

And Sprint's newly filed document does indeed include some big numbers.

CEO Dan Hesse, for example, received about $15.5 million in total compensation. CFO Bob Brust received $10.6 million, Keith Cowan, president of strategy and corporate development and acting president of the CDMA business unit, received $8.2 million and Steven Elfman, president of network operations and wholesale, also received an $8 million package.

To paraphrase another company’s marketing message, “What’s in your wallet, Dan Hesse?”

How about $15.4 million, or, depending on how you look at it, $7.4 million.

Sprint Nextel put out its proxy this morning, noting, among other things, that it will bring its annual shareholder meeting back from the East Coast to Overland Park on May 12 and how much it pays its top executives.

Hesse, Sprint’s CEO, received a total of $19.2 million in 2008, according to the 88-page document’s “Summary Compensation Table.”

That number, however, represents a variety of cash, stock and other benefits that went to Hesse for performance over a number of years. In Sprint’s view, a more accurate figure reflecting Hesse’s 2008 compensation for his performance in guiding the nation’s No. 3 wireless company in the same year is about $15.5 million.

Irvine O. Hockaday, Jr., the retired president and CEO of Hallmark Cards, is leaving Sprint Nextel.

Hockaday has notified the company that he will not stand for re-election at the next annual shareholder’s meeting on May 12.

This was Hockaday’s decision and not the result of any request coming from Sprint, stated a company spokesman. Or as Sprint stated in a document filed today with the Securities and Exchange Commission, “His decision is not as the result of any disagreement with the Company on any matter relating to the Company's operations, policies or practices.”

Dan Hesse says he works 12 hours a day, six days a week. Maybe his schedule could ease up a bit, though, in the future as he takes television star off his list of duties -- at least for a little while.

Hesse told the Wall Street Journal that Sprint would roll out a new series of commercials without him touting the wonders of wireless.

When President Obama heard of the billions of dollars in bonuses going to the Wall Street kings even as they wore battered and tarnished crowns, he rebuked the "shameful" behavior.

Passing out that kind of dough as their financial houses were imploding -- and as they had their hands out for government bailouts -- just didn't seem right to theUSA's new CEO.

News is emerging today that Obama is following up with a move to cap pay of top executives at about half a million dollars if their company is expecting the feds to clink a pile of taxpayer coins into their corporate cup.

Now the telecom industry appears to have some hope of snagging its share of various multi-billion-dollar stimulate-the-economy initiatives, but so far isn't pursuing a direct federal bailout like the banks andcarmakers.

So maybe AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson was just getting ahead of the curve in case it gets that bad. Or maybe he was just trying to send a message to his troops. Or maybe he just wanted to do what he thought was the right thing.

We now know at least one high-profile name included in the 8,000 upcoming job cuts at Sprint.

Kathy Walker, Sprint’s chief information and network officer, is leaving the company by the end of March.

"On January 23, 2009, in connection with the Company's work force reduction, it was determined that Kathy Walker, Chief information and Network Officer, will
be terminated without cause effective March 31, 2009," Sprint told the Securities and Exchange Commission.

(Jan. 26, 2009 Video by Keith Myers)

Dan Hesse, Sprint's CEO, sought to explain why he was cutting 8,000 jobs and taking other steps in the following employee announcement Monday:

Dear Sprint Teammates,

Today, we announced a series of actions to make Sprint a more competitive company and one positioned to survive a very challenging economic climate.

We will reduce our internal and external labor costs by approximately $1.2 billion this year. This will eliminate 8,000 employees within the company, largely by March 31.

Sprint is going to cut costs, possibly more jobs, but is not going to panic, Dan Hesse said Wednesday.

Speaking at Citi’s Annual Global Entertainment, Media and Telecommunications Conference in Phoenix, Sprint CEO Hesse said the company closed nearly a dozen call centers in 2008 and could close far more this year.

“We could close potentially as many as 20 in 2009,” Hesse said.

Sprint has been improving the service it provides to customers, which has been reducing the number of calls coming in from customers with questions or complaints. Clerks are improving their efficiency, solving problems more frequently on the first call, which also reduces the number of call centers needed, he said.

There is under water. There is deep below the surface. There is 20,000 leagues under the sea. And then there is Dan Hesse’s stock options.

Just a couple days after Hesse marked his one-year anniversary as Captain of the USS Sprint, the company filed a little 'ol 8-K with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The 71-page document included revised employment contracts for Hesse, Sprint's CEO, and Kathryn Walker, chief information and network officer.

Tom Gerke, who now serves as Embarq’s CEO, will get a new job in charge of human resources.

The news of Gerke’s new duties came in documents filed today with the Securities and Exchange Commission concerning the pending acquisition of Overland Park’s Embarq by CenturyTel of Monroe, Louisiana.

Sprint Nextel spun off its local telephone unit in 2006, creating the stand-alone company known, at least for now, as Embarq. Dan Hesse, Sprint’s CEO, left Embarq’s top post about a year ago to take charge of Sprint.