Mike Sievert

Last updated
Mike Sievert
Mike Sievert 2021.png
Sievert in 2021
Born (1969-05-10) May 10, 1969 (age 56) [1] [2] [3]
Education University of Pennsylvania (BA)
Employer T-Mobile US
TitleCEO of T-Mobile
TermApril 1, 2020 – October 31, 2025
PredecessorJohn Legere
Successor Srini Gopalan
Board member of Starbucks [4]
Website www.linkedin.com/in/sievert

Michael Sievert (born 1969) is an American business executive. He is the former chief executive officer (CEO) and current vice chairman of T-Mobile US. [5] [6] [7] [8] In November 2019, T-Mobile announced that Sievert would be promoted from chief operating officer (COO) to CEO in May 2020 when John Legere stepped down. [6] Sievert took control a month earlier than planned, in April 2020, the same day T-Mobile closed its merger with Sprint. [9]

Contents

Early life and education

Sievert was born in Canton, Ohio. At age ten, he became a paper carrier for The Repository , using his earnings to buy a Radio Shack TRS-80 and, later, a Commodore 64. He graduated from GlenOak High School in 1987 [7] and received a bachelor's degree in economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1991. [10] [11]

Career

Sievert started his career at Procter & Gamble, [7] where he oversaw brands such as Pepto-Bismol and Crest. [12] He subsequently worked at IBM [7] and Clearwire. [13] He was also executive vice president (EVP) and chief global marketing and sales officer at E-Trade [14] [15] and CEO of tablet gaming company Discovery Bay Games. [16] From 2002 to 2005, Sievert was EVP and CMO of AT&T Wireless. [17] He joined Microsoft's Global Windows Group as corporate vice president of product management in 2005, leading preparations for the release of Longhorn (later called Windows Vista). [18] [14] In 2008 he co-founded Switchbox Labs, [17] a startup acquired by Lenovo in 2009. [19] In 2012, John Legere, T-Mobile's then-new CEO, hired Sievert as CMO. [20]

Sievert became COO of T-Mobile in 2015, [21] then became the company's president in 2018. [8] [22] He also joined T-Mobile's board of directors in 2018. [23] During this time, Sievert oversaw the "Un-carrier" marketing campaign, which sought to rebrand T-Mobile's public image [24] with a focus on no overage charges, [12] no contracts, unlimited data, and other offerings. [25] In April 2020, on the day T-Mobile's merger with Sprint closed, Sievert succeeded Legere as CEO. [26] At the time, T-Mobile and Sprint were the third- and fourth-largest wireless carriers in the U.S., respectively. [27] Under Sievert's leadership, T-Mobile surpassed 100 million total customers, [28] and created the first nationwide standalone 5G network in the U.S. [29] [30] Sievert has declared his strategy of focusing on dominating in 5G, saying "We're making the rules for the 5G era because we're way ahead — and I mean miles ahead." [31]

In 2017, Sievert joined the board of Canadian company Shaw Communications. [32]

In June 2020, Sievert decided to pull all T-Mobile advertisements from Tucker Carlson Tonight because of rhetoric that criticized the Black Lives Matter movement. When announcing the move, Sievert tweeted, "Bye-bye, Tucker Carlson!" [33] [34] Sievert also published an open letter about T-Mobile's diversity, equity and inclusion programs. [35]

In 2023, Sievert and Mint Mobile owner Ryan Reynolds announced T-Mobile's plans to acquire both Ultra Mobile and Mint Mobile. [36] That same year, Sievert's total compensation at T-Mobile was $37.5 million, up 29% from the previous year and representing a CEO-to-median worker pay ratio of 521-to-1. [37]

In 2024, Starbucks added Sievert to its board of directors. [4] He also delivered the commencement speech at the Wharton School Master of Business Administration graduation ceremony in May 2024. [38]

From 2024 to 2025, Sievert led T‑Mobile in its $4.4 billion acquisition of U.S. Cellular's wireless operations, including more than four million customers and 2,600 towers. [39] [40] In a July 2025 earnings call, the company reported 132.8 million total customers, [41] up from 86 million in 2019, the year before Sievert became CEO. Annual revenue increased from $45 billion in 2019 [42] to $81.4 billion in 2024. [43] In September 2025, T-Mobile announced Sievert would step down as CEO and become vice chairman. T-Mobile COO Srini Gopalan became CEO on November 1. [44]

Sievert is a member of The Business Council. [45]

Personal life

Sievert is married [46] and has two adult sons. He lives in Kirkland, Washington. [47]

References

  1. ↑ "Family tree of Mike SIEVERT". Geneanet. Retrieved 2023-01-18.
  2. ↑ "Mike Sievert on Twitter: "Today's my birthday. I'm celebrating by sitting in a 6-hour @TMobile senior leadership meeting! #tuesdaysamiright ?!"". Twitter. Retrieved 2023-01-18.
  3. ↑ "Mike Sievert on Twitter: "After 50 years, it's official: I've made it! That's what getting your own bobblehead..." Twitter. Retrieved 2023-01-18.
  4. 1 2 Thompson, Joey (10 January 2024). "Starbucks appoints T-Mobile and YouTube CEOs to its board". Puget Sound Business Journal. Retrieved 13 January 2024.
  5. ↑ "Mike Sievert". t-mobile.com. Retrieved 2 November 2025.
  6. 1 2 FitzGerald, Drew (18 November 2019). "T-Mobile CEO John Legere to Step Down Next Year". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Pritchard, Edd (29 November 2019). "T-Mobile's next CEO, Mike Sievert, is a Canton native". CantonRep. Gannett. Retrieved 9 December 2019.
  8. 1 2 Levy, Nat (14 June 2018). "T-Mobile promotes Mike Sievert to president as Sprint acquisition process continues". GeekWire. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  9. ↑ Lee, Edmund (1 April 2020). "T-Mobile Closes Merger With Sprint, and a Wireless Giant Is Born". The New York Times. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
  10. ↑ Menear, Harry (3 March 2021). "The top 10 telecom CEOs worldwide - Mike Sievert". Mobile Magazine. Archived from the original on 5 September 2021. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
  11. ↑ Lee, Allen (27 November 2019). "20 Things You Didn't Know About Mike Sievert". Money Inc.
  12. 1 2 Pressman, Aaron (5 February 2021). "T-Mobile's new CEO answers the call". Fortune. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
  13. ↑ Frank, Blair Hanley (18 February 2015). "T-Mobile names Mike Sievert Chief Operating Officer". GeekWire. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  14. 1 2 Rohde, Laura (1 March 2005). "Microsoft hires AT&T executive to manage Windows". Network World. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  15. ↑ Brooks, Khristopher J. (18 November 2019). "John Legere, colorful CEO of T-Mobile, to step down next year". CBS News. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  16. ↑ McDermott, John (20 November 2012). "T-Mobile Names Tech-Marketing Veteran as CMO" . AdAge. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  17. 1 2 DeGrasse, Martha (15 June 2018). "T-Mobile promotes Mike Sievert to president". FierceWireless. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  18. ↑ Orlowski, Andrew (18 March 2005). "New Microsoft Longhorn chief is indigestion expert". The Register. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  19. ↑ Shah, Agam (28 January 2009). "Lenovo buys mystery start-up company". Computerworld. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  20. ↑ Manskar, Noah (18 November 2019). "T-Mobile CEO John Legere is stepping down". New York Post. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  21. ↑ Fried, Ina (18 February 2015). "T-Mobile Promotes Mike Sievert to COO, Andrew Sherrard to Marketing Chief". Vox. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  22. ↑ Kastrenakes, Jacob (18 November 2019). "John Legere will step down as T-Mobile CEO next year". The Verge. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  23. ↑ Jasinski, Nicholas. "CEO Mike Sievert Delivers the Right Message at T-Mobile US". barrons. Retrieved 2025-12-29.
  24. ↑ Bergen, Mark (11 August 2014). "Pretty in Pink: How the CMO and the Un-CEO Roused T-Mobile" . AdAge. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  25. ↑ Moritz, Scott (18 November 2019). "T-Mobile Taps Sievert to Succeed Turnaround CEO John Legere". Bloomberg. Retrieved 26 August 2020. In his seven years at T-Mobile, the 49-year-old executive ran the "uncarrier" campaign, which featured no contracts, unlimited data plans and free taco Tuesdays.
  26. ↑ "T-Mobile Closes Merger With Sprint, and a Wireless Giant Is Born (Published 2020)". 2020-04-01. Archived from the original on 2025-09-18. Retrieved 2025-12-29.
  27. ↑ Reardon, Marguerite; Cheng, Roger (3 April 2020). "T-Mobile and Sprint are one: What you need to know about the mobile mega-merger". CNET. Retrieved 15 September 2025.
  28. ↑ Bishop, Todd (5 November 2020). "T-Mobile tops 100M customers, posts $1.3B in quarterly profit six months after Sprint merger". GeekWire. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
  29. ↑ Horwitz, Jeremy (4 August 2020). "T-Mobile launches world's first nationwide standalone 5G network". VentureBeat. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
  30. ↑ Jasinski, Nicholas (17 September 2020). "T-Mobile Is 'Way Out in Front for the 5G Era,' Says Its CEO. Wall Street Agrees". Barron's. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
  31. ↑ Clifford, Tyler (2021-06-07). "T-Mobile CEO says company is poised to dominate 5G for the next decade". CNBC. Retrieved 2021-06-08.
  32. ↑ Aycock, Jason (26 October 2017). "Shaw adds to wireless focus, adding T-Mobile's Sievert to board". Seeking Alpha. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
  33. ↑ Sievert, Mike [@MikeSievert] (9 June 2020). "Same. We aren't running ads on that show and we won't be running ads on that show in the future. Bye-bye, Tucker Carlson!" (Tweet). Retrieved 12 June 2020– via Twitter.
  34. ↑ Gibson, Kate (12 June 2020). ""Bye-bye Tucker Carlson!" T-Mobile CEO says as advertisers drop Fox News show". CBS News. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
  35. ↑ Wagner, Alex (10 June 2020). "T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert commits to 'significant changes' to increase diversity". TmoNews. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
  36. ↑ "Ryan Reynolds explains sale of Mint Mobile to T-Mobile". CNBC. 15 March 2023. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  37. ↑ "Equilar 100: CEO Pay at the Largest Companies by Revenue". Equilar. 2024-06-07. Archived from the original on 2024-08-15. Retrieved 2024-08-31.
  38. ↑ Burleigh, Emma (21 June 2024). "T-Mobile's CEO shares the mindset shift that vaulted his company from a $6B to $195B giant". Fortune. Retrieved 25 June 2024.
  39. ↑ Chapman, Michelle (28 May 2024). "T-Mobile to buy almost all of U.S Cellular in deal worth $4.4 billion with debt". AP News. Retrieved 29 August 2025.
  40. ↑ Alleven, Monica (4 August 2025). "T-Mobile closes $4.3B acquisition of UScellular". Fierce Network. Retrieved 29 August 2025.
  41. ↑ Sbeglia Nin, Catherine (24 July 2025). "T-Mobile US 'smashed' Q2 — beats across nearly every metric". RCR Wireless. Retrieved 8 September 2025.
  42. ↑ Gagliordi, Natalie (6 February 2020). "T-Mobile adds 7 million net customers in 2019". ZDNET. Retrieved 8 September 2025.
  43. ↑ "T-Mobile US Inc. (TMUS) reports earnings". Quartz. 31 January 2025. Retrieved 8 September 2025.
  44. ↑ Roth, Emma (2025-09-22). "T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert is stepping down". The Verge. Retrieved 2025-12-29.
  45. ↑ Admin. "Active Members". The Business Council. Retrieved 2025-07-11.
  46. ↑ Moritz, Scott (29 July 2021). "No More 'Dumb and Dumber': T-Mobile Is Done Taunting Its Rivals". Bloomberg. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  47. ↑ "OpenSecrets". OpenSecrets. Retrieved 2025-07-11.

Mike Sievert on Twitter