Mike Sievert | |
|---|---|
| Born | May 10, 1969 [1] [2] [3] Canton, Ohio, U.S. |
| Education | University of Pennsylvania (BA) |
| Employer | T-Mobile US |
| Title | CEO of T-Mobile |
| Term | April 1, 2020 – October 31, 2025 |
| Predecessor | John Legere |
| Successor | Srini Gopalan |
| Board member of | Starbucks [4] |
| Website | www |
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]
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]
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] During this time, Sievert oversaw the "Un-carrier" marketing campaign, which sought to rebrand T-Mobile's public image [23] with a focus on no overage charges, [12] no contracts, unlimited data, and other offerings. [24] In April 2020, Sievert succeeded Legere as CEO of T-Mobile. [9] Under Sievert's leadership, T-Mobile surpassed 100 million total customers, [25] and created the first nationwide standalone 5G network in the U.S. [26] [27] 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." [28]
In 2017, Sievert joined the board of Canadian company Shaw Communications. [29]
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!" [30] [31] Sievert also published an open letter about T-Mobile's diversity, equity and inclusion programs. [32]
In 2023, Sievert and Mint Mobile owner Ryan Reynolds announced T-Mobile's plans to acquire both Ultra Mobile and Mint Mobile. [33] 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. [34]
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. [35]
Sievert is a member of The Business Council. [36]
Sievert is married [37] and has two adult sons. He lives in Kirkland, Washington. [38]
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.