AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) hired veteran public affairs executive Ed Gillespie as Senior Executive Vice President – External and Legislative Affairs, effective April 22. Gillespie will report to AT&T Chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson. Gillespie replaces Jim Cicconi, who is retiring after returning to the company last fall to lead the external and legislative affairs team on an interim basis.
“Ed will be a tremendous addition to our team with his wealth of public affairs experience and deep understanding of the public policy issues important to our customers, our economy and our company,” said Stephenson. “I also want to thank Jim Cicconi for returning to lead the team over the past several months. He is one of the best around, a great friend and we all wish him well in retirement.”
Gillespie was most recently chairman of Sard Verbinnen & Co.’s public affairs group. Previously, he was a longtime top aide on Capitol Hill, serving as Counselor to the President for President George W. Bush in his second term, and chaired the Republican National Committee in 2003-2004. He is on the board of advisors at the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics and on the board of directors of America’s Kids Belong, a charitable organization that encourages adoption and foster care.
Gillespie has had a twenty-year consulting relationship with AT&T. In 2000, he founded Quinn Gillespie & Associates with Jack Quinn, former White House Counsel to President Bill Clinton. In 2009, he formed his own firm, Ed Gillespie Strategies.
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