Verizon Wireless names new president of Florida region

Technology-industry veteran Mariano Legaz has been appointed Florida region president for Verizon Wireless, the nation's largest wireless company.

Legaz will lead one of Verizon's biggest and most populous regions, with 80+ company-owned retail stores, numerous corporate offices, a customer-service call center in Tampa, more than 2,500 employees and network infrastructure located across the state.

Verizon Wireless operates the nation's largest 4G LTE network and offers a broad array of the most advanced 4G LTE devices and technologies for consumers, businesses and institutional customers. In Florida, Verizon 4G LTE covers virtually every market and already is accessible to more than nine out of 10 Floridians where they live and/or work.

"Our collective focus will remain on offering unmatched value for wireless customers across Florida," Legaz said. "That value begins with the quality of the wireless products and services we provide, backed up by the professionalism and knowledge of our people."

Legaz will lead the region from the company's Florida headquarters in Tampa.

He moves into his new position after serving as Verizon's senior vice president-supply chain, where he managed 1,700 employees, 500 contractors and was responsible for procuring more than $20 billion in products and services.

In that leadership role, his responsibilities included procurement, warehouse, transportation, and investment recovery management, sustainability as well as fleet operations. He was also responsible for supplier diversity, supplier relationship management and other strategic supply chain initiatives designed to achieve value, quality, productivity, compliance and efficiency.

Since joining the company nearly 18 years ago, Legaz has held key positions in a broad range of areas, including network planning, engineering, deployment, capital strategy, operations management, network performance, and network capital optimization. As vice president of sourcing, he oversaw Verizon's purchasing activities in the United States, as well as international purchases.

A native of Argentina, Legaz joined Verizon after managing network planning and project management for CTI Movil (now Claro), Argentina's leading wireless company.

Legaz is active in numerous charity and civic organizations, and serves on the board of directors for the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the Quest Forum, the National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC) and the advisory board of Rutgers University Center for Supply Chain Management. Diversity MBA magazine recently selected Legaz as one of the "Top 100 Under 50 Executive Leaders."

"Mariano brings a diverse and dynamic set of expertise and skills to our Florida region," said Roger Tang, Verizon Wireless South area president. "His hands-on leadership is going to greatly serve the company, and especially, our customers."

About Verizon WirelessVerizon Wireless operates the nation's largest 4G LTE network and largest, most reliable 3G network. The company serves 98.9 million retail customers, including 93.2 million retail postpaid customers. Headquartered in Basking Ridge, N.J., with more than 73,000 employees nationwide, Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications (NYSE, NASDAQ: VZ) and Vodafone (LSE, NASDAQ: VOD). For more information, visit www.verizonwireless.com. For the latest news and updates about Verizon Wireless, visit our News Center at http://news.verizonwireless.com or follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/VZWNews.

SOURCE Verizon Wireless

Tags: Technology/Innovation