Dan Hesse

Dan Hesse took over the reins of Sprint in 2007, when the company was almost on the verge of sinking. It lost more than 5.1 million subscribers in 2008 and its revenues fell by $3.1 billion, but Hesse with his strategy to cut the losses made the company win back its customers, get more usage for the prepaid mobile phones and made its presence felt in 4G with an ownership stake in WiMax-provider Clearwire.

Under Hesse’s leadership Sprint acquired Virgin Mobile, re-packaged its prepaid offering and launched a multi-brand strategy in 2010. Hessen to only doubled the prepaid subscriber base, but also launched the Assurance Wireless for low-income customers. It also launched its unlimited calling to any mobile number plan, slowing down the losses. By the second quarter, Sprint was bang on with a growing subscriber base including the prepaid, postpaid, and net wireless subscribers. Hesse’s biggest achievement was to lead Sprint to grab Apple’s iPhone through the Now Network.