David W. Dorman (born 1954) is an American Telecommunications executive and founding partner of Centerview Capital Technology Partners. Dorman is currently Non-Executive Chairman of the Board of CVS Health Corporation and serves on the boards of
PayPal
PayPal Holdings, Inc. is an American multinational financial technology company operating an online payments system in the majority of countries that support online money transfers, and serves as an electronic alternative to traditional paper ...
Holdings, Inc.,
Yum! Brands
Yum! Brands, Inc. (or Yum!), formerly Tricon Global Restaurants, Inc., is an American fast food corporation listed on the Fortune 1000. Yum! operates the brands KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and The Habit Burger Grill, except in China, where the ...
, Inc. and the
Georgia Tech Foundation The Georgia Tech Foundation provides financial assistance to the Georgia Institute of Technology. It was founded in 1932 and chartered under the tax laws of the United States as a non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation. In 2013, the Foundation provided $1 ...
. Dorman was a board member of Motorola, Inc. since 2006, was elected Non-Executive Chairman of the Board in 2008 and retired from his board position in May 2015. Dorman also was a board member of
Scientific Atlanta
Scientific Atlanta, Inc. was a Georgia, United States-based manufacturer of cable television, telecommunications, and broadband equipment. Scientific Atlanta was founded in 1951 by a group of engineers from the Georgia Institute of Technology, a ...
until the company was acquired by Cisco Systems in 2006.
Early life and education
Dorman was born in Georgia, and graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1975 with a bachelor's degree in industrial management.
Early career
Dorman joined a company that was to become
Sprint Communications
Sprint Corporation was an American telecommunications company. Before it merged with T-Mobile US on April 1, 2020, it was the fourth-largest mobile network operator in the United States, serving 54.3 million customers as of June 30, 2019. The co ...
in 1981 as employee number 55. He climbed the corporate ladder to become President of Sprint Business - with 10,000 employees and revenues of $4.5Bn by the time he was 35.
Dorman became the youngest CEO of a Baby Bell company at the age of 39 following the decision to join Pacific Bell as President & CEO in 1994. The company was acquired by SBC Communications in 1997, and Dorman resigned shortly thereafter to join early news aggregation service
PointCast
PointCast was a dot-com company founded in 1992 by Christopher R. Hassett in Sunnyvale, California.
PointCast Network
The company's initial product amounted to a screensaver that displayed news and other information, delivered live over the Inter ...
as CEO. Despite lofty expectations PointCast failed to deliver on its potential, and Dorman subsequently left to become CEO of
Concert Communications Services Concert Communications Services was a $1 billion joint venture, originally launched June 1994 by BT Group and MCI Communications. Portugal Telecom became a partner in 1997.BT and
AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile te ...
.
Tenure at AT&T
Dorman became CEO of AT&T after his predecessor, C. Michael Armstrong, joined Comcast as part of the company's acquisition of AT&T's broadband assets during the summer of 2002. The broadband disposition was one of many high-profile transactions made during Armstrong's tenure. Other notable moves include the acquisition of TCI, Inc in 1998 for $48 billion, and the spin-off of the wireless business into Cingular in 2001.
The early part of Dorman's tenure as CEO was spent restructuring a stressed balance sheet, and re-positioning the company's product mix in response to dramatic changes in the competitive environment. Ultimately, the decision was made to position AT&T as an enterprise services company in the hope that such a move would make the business more attractive to potential acquirers. After an attempt to sell the business to BellSouth fell through, Dorman was able to reach terms with SBC to acquire AT&T during late 2004. Although he initially agreed to join SBC as a President, Dorman ultimately elected to pursue other opportunities and parted ways with the business shortly after the acquisition was finalized.