William T. Esrey honored with alumni citation from Denison University

GRANVILLE, OH (07/15/2011)(readMedia)-- William T. Esrey of Vail, Colo., was honored with an Alumni Citation from Denison University at a ceremony during the University's annual reunion convocation, on Friday, June 3. The Citation is the highest honor Denison bestows upon its most distinguished alumni, recognizing outstanding contributions to the professional, civic, business or religious life of the nation and/or to the advancement of the college.

Esrey, a member of the Denison class of 1961, is an expert and forward thinker in the energy and telecommunications fields. In 1964, after graduating with a master's degree from Harvard Business School, he joined the Bell System and was named president of Empire City Subway Company. From 1970 to 1980, he worked on Wall Street and became a managing director of Dillon Read & Co. Inc.

Esrey joined Sprint (then called United Telecommunications) in 1980, was elected CEO in 1985, and served as CEO for 18 years until 2003. He led the effort to reposition the company from a rural telephone company into an international telecommunications company by entering the long-distance market in 1985 and building the nation's first all-digital fiber-optic network. Under Esrey's leadership, Sprint partnered with several cable companies to build the first nationwide wireless personal communications network, Sprint PCS. In 1997, Esrey was named one of the Top 25 business executives in the world by Business Week.

He was elected Chairman Emeritus upon retirement from Sprint, in 2003. That same year Esrey became the chairman of Japan Telecom in Tokyo, until its sale in 2004. His corporate board of director's experience includes Airvana, Duke Energy Corporation, Earthlink, Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States, Everen Capital Corporation, Exxon Mobil Corp, General Mills, The Vail Valley Foundation and the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Team. He was chairman of the Business Council, a member of the Business Roundtable and the Trilateral Commission, and chairman of the PGA Senior Tour Policy board, now called the Champion Tour Policy Board. He also served as a director of the Jason Foundation for Education, the NCAA Foundation, the Civic Council of Kansas City, the Kansas City Symphony Foundation and served as a trustee of Pembroke Country Day and the University of Kansas City.

Since 2009, Esrey has chaired the board of Houston-based Spectra Energy Corporation, one of the largest natural gas infrastructure companies in North America.

Denison University, founded in 1831, is an independent, residential liberal arts institution located in Granville, Ohio. A highly selective college enrolling 2,100 full-time undergraduate students from all 50 states and dozens of foreign countries, Denison is a place where innovative faculty and motivated students collaborate in rigorous scholarship, civic engagement, and the cultivation of independent thinking.