Jeffrey K. Storey (born May 12, 1960) is an American business executive whose career has focused on the

telecommunication Telecommunication, often used in its plural form or abbreviated as telecom, is the transmission of information over a distance using electronic means, typically through cables, radio waves, or other communication technologies. These means of ...

s industry. He was the president and

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

Level 3 Communications Level 3 Communications, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications and Internet service provider company headquartered in Broomfield, Colorado. It ultimately became a part of CenturyLink (now Lumen Technologies), where Level 3 Pres ...

between April 11, 2013, and the company's acquisition by

CenturyLink Lumen Technologies, Inc. (formerly CenturyLink, Inc.) is an American telecommunications company headquartered in Monroe, Louisiana, which offers communications, network services, security, cloud solutions, voice and managed services through it ...

in 2017, at which point he became president and COO of the combined company. He became CEO of CenturyLink on June 1, 2018. On September 13, 2022, Lumen announced that Kate Johnson had been appointed CEO and president by the company's board of directors, and that Storey would retire on November 7, 2022.

Life and career

Storey, whose parents worked in the construction and airline industries, grew up in

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

and eastern

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

. He was educated at

Northeastern State University Northeastern State University (NSU) is a public university with its main campus in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. The university also has two other campuses in Muskogee and Broken Arrow as well as online. Northeastern is the oldest institution of hig ...

where he received a bachelor's degree with a major in engineering, physics and mathematics and at

Southern Methodist University Southern Methodist University (SMU) is a Private university, private research university in Dallas, Texas, United States, with a satellite campus in Taos County, New Mexico. SMU was founded on April 17, 1911, by the Methodist Episcopal Church, ...

where he received a

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

in telecommunications systems. He began his career in telecommunications in 1983 at Southwestern Bell Telephone. During the 1990s Storey worked for

Cox Communications Cox Communications, Inc. (also known as Cox Cable and formerly Cox Broadcasting Corporation, Dimension Cable Services and Times-Mirror Cable), is an American digital cable television provider, telecommunications and home automation services comp ...

in a variety of positions including vice president of commercial services and vice president and general manager of Cox Fibernet. In 1999 he joined WilTel Communications, eventually becoming its president and CEO in 2002. He remained in that position until 2005 when the company was sold to Level 3 Communications. He was brought into Level 3 Communications by its long-time CEO Jim Crowe in 2008 to serve as its president and chief operating officer (COO) and was the architect of the company's 2011 acquisition of

Global Crossing Global Crossing Limited was a telecommunications company that provided computer networking services and operated a tier 1 carrier. It maintained a large backbone network and offered peering, virtual private networks, leased lines, audio and vid ...

. When Crowe stepped down in 2013, Storey succeeded him as CEO.Fierce Wireless (13 November 2013). "Jeff Storey, CEO and President, Level 3 - Most Powerful Person in Wireless and Wireline". (archived from th
original
Storey, who also owns a ranch in Oklahoma, is married with six children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Storey, Jeff American chief executives Southern Methodist University alumni Northeastern State University alumni American chief operating officers Living people 1960 births