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Sol Trujillo

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Sol Trujillo
Born
Solomon Dennis Trujillo

(1951-11-17) November 17, 1951 (age 73)
Cheyenne, Wyoming, USA
NationalityAmerican
OccupationChief executive officer
EmployerPreviously Telstra
PredecessorZiggy Switkowski
SuccessorDavid Thodey
WebsiteSolTrujillo.com

Solomon Dennis "Sol" Trujillo (born November 17, 1951) is an American businessman, global media-communications and technology executive.[2] He has served as the CEO of Telstra, US West, Orange S.A. and has held executive positions in United States Federal government and state governments.

Trujillo served as a trade policy advisor to both the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations.[3]

Early life

Trujillo was born in Cheyenne, Wyoming to Solomon and Theresa (née Lujan) Trujillo.[4] Trujillo attended Cheyenne's East High School and the University of Wyoming, where he earned his Bachelor of Business degree (BBus) and an MBA.[5]

In 1973, Trujillo married Corine (née Fresquez) Trujillo. He currently lives with his wife near San Diego, in Dana Point, California and has three adult daughters.[5]

Career

AT&T/Mountain Bell/US West

Trujillo began his business career in 1974 as an economic forecaster in the Mountain Bell division of AT&T. At 32, Trujillo was selected State Vice-President, serving as chief executive of Mountain Bell’s operations in New Mexico, making him the youngest officer in the history of AT&T.[6]

In 1996, Trujillo was named president of US West. He advanced to president and CEO in 1998, becoming America's fist native-born Latino to serve as CEO of a Fortune 200 company.[7][5]

Trujillo stepped down as CEO of US West in 2002, following the company's merger with Qwest Communications CEO Joe Nacchio, citing differences in vision between the two. During his time at the company, Trujillo was credited with shifting US West's reputation as the "smallest local phone network" into one focused on high-speed Internet and other technology, such as Voice over IP.[8]

Graviton

In November 2000, Trujillo became chairman and CEO of Graviton, a La Jolla-based startup that produced wirelessly-connected sensor technology for public and private applications.[9] He was recruited by director Brook Byers, of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. In addition to Kleiner Perkins, other investors in the startup, which raised more than $60 million, included Qualcomm, Siemens, Royal Dutch/Shell GroupIn-Q-Tel, and Sun Microsystems. [10][11]

Trujillo left the company shortly before its sale to Xsilogy, another wireless sensor and monitoring company, for an undisclosed sum.[12][13][14]

Orange S.A.

After two years as a member of the Orange S.A. board of directors, Trujillo was tapped to serve as CEO of the company in 2003. He was the first American to lead a CAC 40 company.[5]

At Orange, Trujillo pursued, "an aggressive growth strategy," to combat the large debt load that he inherited.[15][16] This clashed with the business direction of state-owned France Telecom, Orange's parent, which eventually bought out minority shareholders and absorbed the company.[17]

Trujillo stepped down as CEO of Orange in March 2004, having "accomplished his mandate," and returning to the US. Under his leadership, Orange added five million new customers and grew its revenue profit margins by 10 and 7 percent, respectively.[17]

Telstra

Trujillo was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Telstra Communications, Australia's largest telecommunications and media company, on July 1, 2005.[18] Amid news of his appointment, The Economist named the position "Australia's toughest corporate job," as Trujillo's mandate was to prepare the firm for Australia's largest public offering in history.[19] The firm, formerly Telecom Australia, was originally state-owned, but saw a minority stake sold off between 1997 and 1999, raising about A$30 billion. Approximately 51.8 percent of the company remained at the time of Trujillo's appointment, which was successfully concluded for A$15.5 billion in 2006.[19]

Telstra's share price had underperformed due to poorly-calculated bids during the tenure of the firm's previous CEO, Ziggy Switkowski, including the purchase of Hong Kong mobile communications operator CSL and the attempted purchase of John Fairfax Holdings, a large Australian newspaper.[19] The state-run telecom business was described as "lumbering," and falling behind its competition prior to its complete privatization.[20]

Following his appointment, Trujillo announced a five-year turnaround plan based on "principles" to make the company more responsive to shareholder concerns.[21] A major element of the Telstra transformation included the deployment of a nationwide 3G, 850 MHz mobile Internet to replace the then-current CDMA mobile network, part of a comprehensive plan to upgrade aging networks and systems.[22]

During the period of Trujillo's tenure, Telstra's share price underperformed the market by around twenty percent, losing over $25 billion in value[23][24] while customer complaints rose 300 percent.[25] Major factors in the company's share price decline were the global financial crisis of 2008–2009[26] and being disqualified for submitting a non-compliant bid to the National Broadband Network tender issued by the Rudd Government.[27][28] In February 2009, Trujillo announced he would stand down as Telstra's CEO and return to the United States.[29] He was replaced as CEO by David Thodey.[30]

Trujillo is recognized as a divisive CEO who frequently locked horns with Australia's government, but was pivotal in shifting Telstra's position from a government-run monopoly to a more nimble, competitive company.[31][32]

Unlockd

Trujillo has since "buried the hatchet" with detractors in Australia and joined a team of directors at Australian mobile phone startup Unlockd.[33]

Views on Australia

During his time in Australia, media commentators and cartoonists repeatedly made reference to Trujillo's Hispanic background. The group of American executives who were recruited to work at Telstra were referred to, along with Trujillo, as the "Three Amigos."[34] When Trujillo's resignation from Telstra was announced, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd responded with "Adios," which Trujillo described as "racism personified."[35]

After Trujillo's departure from Telstra and Australia, he was quoted in a BBC interview describing doing business in Australia to be like "stepping back in time," referring to the country's "very restrictive" immigration policies and rigid rules on company privatization.[33][36]

Personal Life

Trujillo was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Melbourne in 2000.[13]

References

  1. ^ "Trujillo's $11m salary is abuse of system - PM". News.com.au. News Limited. 2007-08-10. Retrieved 2008-06-16.
  2. ^ "Wilson Center Experts". Wilson Center. Wilson Center. Retrieved 16 April 2015.
  3. ^ "Solomon Trujillo". StanfordCenter on Longevity. Stanford University. Retrieved 16 April 2015.
  4. ^ "Say it isn't Sol - and we won't". The Sydney Morning Herald. 16 May 2007. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  5. ^ a b c d "Lessons of Leadership". LATINO Magazine (Fall 2012). 2012. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  6. ^ Soto, Rose (1995). "NHEA Executive of the Year". Hispanic Professional. 2 (1): 14.
  7. ^ Cisneros, Henry (March 13, 2016). "How Latinos power the American economy". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved January 1, 2017.
  8. ^ Borland, John (January 2, 2002). "US West CEO Trujillo to resign". CNET. Retrieved January 4, 2017.
  9. ^ "Solomon D. Trujillo, Former Head of US West, Named Chief Executive Officer of graviton". Business Wire. November 15, 2000.
  10. ^ Kawamoto, Dawn (Jan 2, 2002). "Graviton receives $35 million". CNET. Retrieved Feb 2, 2017. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  11. ^ Gilbert, Alorie (May 12, 2004). "Building a wireless nervous system". CNET. Retrieved Jan 28, 2017. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  12. ^ "Company Overview of Xsilogy, Inc". Bloomberg. Feb 22, 2017. Retrieved Feb 22, 2017. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  13. ^ a b "UW Profiles -- Sol Trujillo". University of Wyoming. Retrieved February 22, 2017. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  14. ^ Prince, Marcello (July 1, 2003). "Tiny Wireless Sensors Are Poised for Market". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved January 31, 2017. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  15. ^ Delaney, Kevin (February 14, 2003). "Orange Hands Top Job to Trujillo Among Turmoil". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved January 18, 2017. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  16. ^ Arnold, Wayne (June 10, 2005). "Ex-Chief of US West to Lead Australian Telephone Giant". The New York Times. Retrieved January 10, 2017.
  17. ^ a b Delaney, Kevin (March 31, 2004). "Orange SA Chief Executive Resigns". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved January 12, 2017.
  18. ^ AAP (2005-06-09). "Trujillo named as new Telstra CEO". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 2008-06-04.
  19. ^ a b c "A wise move?". The Economist. June 23, 2003. Retrieved January 24, 2017.
  20. ^ O'Sullivan, Matt (February 29, 2009). "So long Sol: Trujillo leaves Telstra". Farm Weekly. Retrieved January 29, 2017. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  21. ^ Rossi, Sandra (March 27, 2008). "Telstra's Trujillo says transformation is about principles". Computer World. Retrieved February 22, 2017. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  22. ^ Ferguson, Ian (November 14, 2005). "Telstra to slash tech costs under review". ZD Net. Retrieved January 16, 2017. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  23. ^ Trujillo attacks 'racist' Australia
  24. ^ Thodey looks beyond the Trujillo legacy
  25. ^ Carswell, Andrew (2009-12-01). "Telstra's new man to fix woeful service". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2009-12-01. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |newspaper= (help)
  26. ^ Searching for another Sol Business spectator 22 Jan, 2009
  27. ^ zdnet article
  28. ^ The Australian
  29. ^ O'Sullivan, Matt: Trujillo to leave Telstra in June, The Age, 26 February 2009.
  30. ^ Bingemann, Mitchell: Sol Trujillo departs for US ahead of schedule, The Australian, 19 May 2009.
  31. ^ Braue, David (June 23, 2011). "Why Trujillo was the best CEO for Telstra". ZD Net. Retrieved Feb 2, 2017. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  32. ^ Adhikari, Supratim (July 18, 2016). "Former Telstra boss Sol Trujillo to join board of tech start-up Unlockd". The Australian. Retrieved Feb 22, 2017. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  33. ^ a b Kruger, Colin (July 19, 2016). "Unlockd: the mobile disrupter that lured Sol Trujillo back to corporate Australia". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved December 16, 2016.
  34. ^ http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/2138257/
  35. ^ Carswell, Andrew: Business rejects Sol Trujillo's claims of racism in Australia, The Daily Telegraph, 27 May 2009.
  36. ^ Lane, Sabra (May 25, 2009). "Trujillo's parting shot at 'racist, backward' Australia". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved December 16, 2016.
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