SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Leap Wireless International, Inc. (NASDAQ: LEAP), a leading provider of innovative and value-driven wireless communications services, and its wholly-owned subsidiary Cricket Communications, Inc. today announced a new field organizational structure and the appointments of three area presidents to oversee the Company’s Cricket markets across the country. The new area presidents are David Davis, South area; Glen Flowers, East area; and Annette Jacobs, West area. Each of the area presidents will report to Bob Young, the Company’s executive vice president – field operations, and will be supported by a core team to oversee sales, field marketing, human resources, technical operations and finance.
“The new area president structure we have implemented will further strengthen our field operations by bringing senior leadership and visibility closer to our customers and distribution partners,” said Doug Hutcheson, president and CEO of Leap. “This structure also allows the company to further increase the focus on our customers and on the experience we deliver to them as well as driving stronger performance from our expanding Cricket branded channels. David, Glen, and Annette, along with Bob, bring years of solid operational success to Cricket which will help guide them in their lead roles. We believe that these new appointments are important, additional steps that will allow us to further our positive business transformation and continue to increase the momentum in customer activity we are seeing as ARPU levels increase and churn improves.”
David Davis joined Cricket in 2000 and most recently served as senior vice president and general manager, chief sales officer. Davis has previously served as Cricket’s senior vice president of strategic initiatives, senior vice president of operations and regional vice president for the central region. Prior to joining the Company he spent six years with Cellular One, CMT Kansas/Missouri in various management positions, culminating in his role as vice president and general manager. Prior to Cellular One, Mr. Davis served in various roles, including market manager, for McCaw Communications. He received his bachelor of science from the University of Central Arkansas. Mr. Davis will oversee Cricket markets in Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.
Glen Flowers comes to Cricket with nearly 20 years of experience in the telecommunications industry, most recently from MetroPCS where he was the vice president and general manager responsible for all operations in the Michigan region including sales and distribution, network operations, marketing, public relations, advertising, IT, finance and customer operations. Prior to MetroPCS, Mr. Flowers was with Sprint-Nextel for 11 years holding various executive leadership roles including as Midwest area Vice President. He has a bachelor of arts in marketing from Michigan State University. Mr. Flowers will oversee Cricket markets in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, eastern Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia.
Annette Jacobs joined Cricket in 2010 with more than 25 years of experience in the wireless, telecommunications and technologies industries. Prior to joining Cricket, Ms. Jacobs was president and CEO of Door to Door Storage Inc. Additionally, Ms. Jacobs has held executive management positions at SafeHarbor Technology, Qwest Communications, Inc., Verizon Wireless, GTE Wireless and Contel Cellular. She currently serves as lead independent director for Alaska Communications Systems. Ms. Jacobs holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Management, cum laude, from Jacksonville University in Jacksonville, Florida. She will oversee Cricket markets in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Nebraska, western Missouri, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah and Washington.
About Leap
Leap provides innovative, high-value wireless services to a fast-growing, young and ethnically diverse customer base. With the value of unlimited wireless services as the foundation of its business, Leap pioneered its Cricket® service. The Company and its joint ventures now operate in 35 states and the District of Columbia and hold licenses in 35 of the top 50 U.S. markets. Through its affordable, flat-rate service plans, Cricket offers customers a choice of unlimited voice, text, high-speed data and mobile Web services. Headquartered in San Diego, Calif., Leap is traded on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the ticker symbol "LEAP." For more information, please visit www.leapwireless.com.
About Cricket
Cricket is the pioneer of simple and affordable unlimited wireless services with no long-term commitments or credit checks required serving more than 5 million customers in 35 states and the District of Columbia. Cricket offers wireless voice and broadband Internet services over the latest technology, high-quality, all-digital 3G CDMA2000 1X and 1xEV-DO wireless network. Cricket’s nationwide wireless voice service plans include unlimited anytime minutes, unlimited U.S. long distance, unlimited text and picture messaging, unlimited text to Mexico, unlimited Mobile Web, unlimited directory assistance, as well as a variety of calling features and feature-rich mobile applications such as popular games, ringtones and wallpapers. Cricket Broadband provides unlimited Internet access anywhere within Cricket’s coverage areas at speeds comparable to DSL. For more information on Cricket, visit www.mycricket.com. Cricket is offered by Leap Wireless International, Inc.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements reflect management's current expectations based on currently available operating, financial and competitive information, but are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in or implied by the forward-looking statements. Our forward-looking statements include discussions about customer activity and expected financial and operational performance and are generally identified with words such as "believe," "expect," "intend," "plan," "could," "may" and similar expressions. Risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could affect our forward-looking statements include, among other things:
- our ability to attract and retain customers in an extremely competitive marketplace;
- the duration and severity of the current recession in the United States and changes in economic conditions, including interest rates, consumer credit conditions, consumer debt levels, consumer confidence, unemployment rates, energy costs and other macro-economic factors that could adversely affect demand for the services we provide;
- the impact of competitors' initiatives;
- our ability to successfully implement product and service plan offerings, expand our retail distribution and execute effectively on our other strategic activities;
- our ability to obtain and maintain roaming services from other carriers at cost-effective rates;
- our ability to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting;
- our ability to attract, motivate and retain an experienced workforce, including members of senior management;
- our ability to comply with the covenants in any credit agreement, indenture or similar instrument governing any of our existing or future indebtedness;
- our ability to integrate, manage and operate our new joint venture with Pocket Communications;
- failure of our network or information technology systems to perform according to expectations and risks associated with the upgrade or transition of certain of those systems, including our billing system; and
- other factors detailed in the section entitled "Risk Factors" included in our periodic reports filed with the SEC, including our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2010, filed with the SEC on November 3, 2010.
All forward-looking statements included in this press release should be considered in the context of these risks. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Investors and prospective investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements.