T-Mobile - Maverick of the Year

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: Maverick of the Year - Consumer Services

Nomination Title: Jon Freier

Jon Freier started his career at T-Mobile 25 years ago, back when the company had fewer than 75,000 customers. He worked his way up the frontline ranks, serving in leadership roles in regional sales and operations across the U.S. and in 2019, became Executive Vice President of Consumer Markets. Today, he leads over 35,000 employees in T-Mobile’s mission to be the best in the world at connecting customers to their worlds. His upward trajectory culminated last year when Jon oversaw the largest physical integration in the history of U.S. retail through T-Mobile’s merger with Sprint, combining 35,000 frontline employees and 15,000 T-Mobile-owned and licensed retail stores.

Today Jon oversees the largest, most diverse, and most distributed organization within T-Mobile that is reflective of the diverse communities the company serves. T-Mobile’s enormous growth in 2020 was largely attributed to the addition of new consumer customers under Jon’s leadership, with the company surpassing the 100 million-customer milestone last year and beating out AT&T to become the second-largest wireless provider in America. His team has earned the No. 1 spot in J.D. Power’s Wireless Purchase Experience study for the last seven consecutive years, a record-setting run that underscores T-Mobile’s dedication to delivering the best customer experience in the industry.

All of this growth was achieved in the midst of a global pandemic that shocked the retail industry and saw tens of thousands of retail doors closed throughout 2020. Jon made courageous decisions without any sort of playbook throughout the length of the pandemic, such as announcing mass store closures. At the height of COVID-19, Jon temporarily closed ~300 stores a day, strategically keeping select stores open to ensure that all customers could access a store within a 15-minute drive.He introduced low-code technology tools to create an in-house mobile app for retail managers to manage staffing resources more effectively in real time. He also introduced innovative store formats at a massive scale, including curbside pickup and virtual retail, to balance customer expectations, business needs and employee safety.

With empathy and vision, Jon has pioneered a strategy to deliver wireless needs to small towns and rural communities across the nation in response to the country’s growing digital divide – which has grown worse in the COVID-19 pandemic. His plans include enhanced distribution opportunities and plans to open 600 new stores in underserved areas in the next five years.

This demographic represents more than 130 million people, 39% of whom have no access to high-speed broadband (compared with 4% of urban Americans, according to 2020 data from the FCC).

With an employee base that spans the entire United States, Jon’s work often touches on the country’s most pressing social and environmental issues, such as natural disasters, mental health, racial and gender inequality, and more. In response, Jon has deployed nearly 40 community assistance trucks with support staff to provide relief and essential wireless services to people impacted by 37 natural disasters between 2019-2020. In addition, he serves as the executive sponsor for two of T-Mobile’s Employee Resource Groups, the Veterans & Allies Network and the Accessibility at T-Mobile Network, which comprise more than 23,000 employees. He leverages his platform to have regular, meaningful discussions on important topics and hosted the company’s first internal conversation on the death of George Floyd. In 2019, Jon encouraged T-Mobile’s retail employees to add genderpronounsto their name tags at their discretion, fostering a stronger company culture of acceptance and inclusion.

He’s a truly authentic leader who puts his employees first – traveling weekly (pre-COVID) to visit with retail employees, whether for work trips or making stops on personal trips, to understand their concerns and hear their innovative ideas. These days, he instead engages in virtual meetups through calls, video or email. Either way, he maintains authentic human connection with his employees, in the process benefiting them and the entire business.

-Oversaw largest retail integration in U.S. history through merger with Sprint, combining over 35,000 frontline employees and over 15,000 T-Mobile-owned and licensed retail stores.
-Overtook AT&T to become second largest wireless provider in the country by delivering record-breaking financial performance ($68.4B revenue) and customer growth (crossed 100M customer milestone) in 2020, in large part due to the contributions from the team Jon leads.
-Led team to earn the No. 1 spot in J.D. Power’s Wireless Purchase Experience study for last seven consecutive years.
-Deployed ~40 community assistance trucks providing essential wireless services through 37 natural disasters between 2019 – 2020.
-Introduced a new strategy to bridge the growing digital divide in America, with plans to add 600 new stores in underserved areas between 2020 and 2025.
-Made courageous decisions throughout the pandemic without a playbook. Freier also introduced at-scale innovative store formats like curbside pickup and virtual retail to balance customer expectations, business needs and employee safety.
-Exemplifies allyship in action through serving as the executive sponsor for two of T-Mobile’s Employee Resource Groups, Veterans & Allies Network and Accessibility at T-Mobile Network, which comprise more than 23,000 employees.
-Completed the integration of the Metro by T-Mobile prepaid brand into T-Mobile enterprise operations, growing his organization from 21,000 to 24,000 before the Sprint merger.