T-Mobile - Achievement in Management

Company: T-Mobile , Bellevue, WA
Company Description: As America's Un-Carrier the new T-Mobile is redefining the way consumers and businesses buy wireless services through leading product and innovation. Since merging with Sprint in 2020, the Company also has the first & largest 5G network available, delivering outstanding wireless experiences for customers unwilling to compromise on quality and value. Headquarters are based in Bellevue, WA.
Nomination Category: Management Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Achievement in Management - Telecommunications

Nomination Title: Nomination for T-Mobile's Mike Katz, Achievement in Management – Telecom

Mike Katz joined T-Mobile in 2001, building retail distribution networks in large markets like Chicago and Denver. Over the next 15 years, he rose through marketing and corporate strategy roles while developing the strategy behind T-Mobile’s Un-carrier Revolution, a radical reinvention of the wireless industry centered oncustomer experience and disrupting longstanding norms.

Mike’s creativity, leadership and drive sent ripples through the company, and in 2015, he was named Executive Vice President of T-Mobile for Business. Under his leadership, T-Mobile for Business has become T-Mobile’s fastest-growing business unit. In 2020 alone, Mike more than tripled net customer additions and drove double-digit-percentage service revenue growth. He’s signed three-quarters of the Fortune500 organizations as T-Mobile customers. And he has led wins in the J.D. Power U.S. Business Wireless Satisfaction study for large enterprise and small/medium size businesses for four consecutive years, including 2020, when T-Mobile achieved the highest-possible score in all study factors.

By navigating T-Mobile’s merger with Sprint in 2020, Mike was a major force in landing the largest telecommunications merger in history. As a result, Mike’s team tripled in size to over 4,100 employees, and he took ownership of T-Mobile’s Internet of Things business and Sprint’s wireline business.

Throughout 2020, Mike was focused on connecting communities that were most impacted by the fallout of COVID-19. Before the pandemic, more than 9millionof America’s 56 million school-age kids had no access toreliableinternet, preventing them from completing after-school assignments. Known as homework/schoolwork gap, this issueexerts destructive short- and long-term impacts: lower test scores, lower grades and limited opportunities after graduation.

To bridge this divide, Mike launched Project 10Million, working with state superintendents and underserved school districts to connect millions of students over the next five years. In 2020 alone, T-Mobile connected 2.5 million students nationally — including hundreds of thousands of Project 10Million participants — via mobile devices and unlimited high-speed internet.

Mike also launched Connecting Heroes, T-Mobile’s 10-year commitment to connecting more than 10,000 first responders — public and nonprofit state and local fire, police and EMS departments — with no-cost, unlimited high-speed internet. The move saves these agencies an estimated $7 billion that they can put toward saving lives and responding to natural disasters.

Additionally, Mike attended to other communities affected by the impacts of COVID-19. For instance, U.S. combat veterans increased remote visits to medical professionals by 1,000% during the pandemic. In partnering with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, T-Mobile for Business provided more than 34,000 veterans — including 21,000 homeless vets — with voice and data connectivity.

Recognizing that Black-owned businesses were disproportionally impacted by the pandemic-related economic downturn, Mike launched a multi-year program to provide business support and education to underserved populations. He also hosted educational podcasts for Black business owners.

Throughout the pandemic, Mike addressed drastically changing needs of business customers and quickly adapted the way T-Mobile supports and sells to businesses, achieving record growth. The synergy between T-Mobile’s B2B salesforce, retail backbone and award-winning customer care model delivered an exceptionally personalized end-to-end experience, with care reps focusing efforts not only on market segments, but also industry verticals like healthcare.

As businesses shifted to remote work, Mike introduced work-from-anywhere solutions for enterprises and government organizations and their employees to help them adapt to the new, radically transformed post-pandemic workplace. Mike introduced the country’s first and only nationwide Internet Service Provider for businesses, simplifying complexities of businesses needing to manage different local ISPs and paving the way for the future of work-from-anywhere.

Through leadership, Mike has shaken up business wireless and alleviated the stranglehold that competitors have long had on the market. Heapplied his enterprise approach to systemic social ills that have plagued American infrastructure, achieving rapid results at large. Mike's singular focus on expanding T-Mobile's B2B segment stems from his understanding that when businesses win, all Americans win with them.

-Oversaw largest merger in telecommunications history with Sprint, with Mike’s team tripling in size to 4,100+ employees.
-Led fastest growing business unit within T-Mobile and signed three-quarters of Fortune 500 companies as customers. In 2020 alone, Mike tripled net customer additions and drove double-digit percentage service revenue growth.
-Led T-Mobile to win the J.D. Power U.S. Business Wireless Satisfaction Study for the last four consecutive years. In 2020, T-Mobile achieved the highest score across large enterprise and small/medium size businesses in all six study factors: performance and reliability, customer service, sales representatives and account executives, offerings and promotions, cost of service and billing.
-In 2020, connected 2.5 million students across the country — including hundreds of thousands of Project 10Million participants — via mobile devices and unlimited high-speed internet. Launched Project 10Million, which aims to bridge the homework/schoolwork gap and digital divide.
-Connected over 10,000 First Responders with no-cost, unlimited high-speed internet through the Connecting Heroes program and is prepared to serve nearly 87,000 more who are in a final review of implementing this technology.
-Connected over 34,000 veterans with voice and data connectivity, including 21,000 homeless veterans. Raised telehealth awareness for U.S. combat veterans by an 18X increase in usage via a national campaign to create accessibility and awareness of the VA’s telehealth initiative.
-Provided educational programs to Black business owners who have been disproportionally impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic on how to navigate the new normal and adapt their businesses to the current environment.
-Reinvented the way T-Mobile engages and sells to businesses by developing specialized care reps based on industry verticals as opposed to market segments, while sustaining growth leadership and delivering a record year for T-Mobile for Business.
-Introduced work-from-anywhere solutions for enterprises and government organizations and their employees to help them navigate unprecedented change in a radically transformed workplace.
-Introduced the country’s first and only nationwide Internet Service Provider for business simplifying the complexities of businesses needing to manage different local ISPs and paving the way for the future of work-from-anywhere.