Oren Shaffer worked in the basement of the White House during the Kennedy
and Johnson administrations installing critical “red phones” between
Washington and Moscow and other foreign capitals during the Cold War.
“That was a group of people who were very driven knowing they had a single
objective,” said Shaffer, who now is Qwest Communications International Inc.’s chief financial officer.
In a way, when Shaffer came out of retirement in 2002 to become Qwest’s CFO,
he was answering another critical call.
Qwest Chairman and CEO Richard Notebaert, whom Shaffer served for six years
as CFO when Notebaert was chairman of Chicago-based Ameritech Corp., called
on Shaffer to help him steer Denver-based Qwest clear of almost certain
financial ruin.
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