Newly appointed Qwest chairman and chief executive Ed Mueller was on the company’s radar even before outgoing CEO Dick Notebaert announced his retirement plans in June.
“He had been in an envelope that we look at once a year as part of good governance that says if something happens to Dick Notebaert – death, disability, whatever – we need to come up with someone in a hurry,” said Frank Popoff, the lead director on Qwest’s board. “He’s been that man for the last couple of years.”
Mueller replaced Notebaert on Friday and met with rank-and-file employees for the first time Monday amid much buzz and eagerness. Workers said Mueller appeared friendly and engaging.
Friends and former colleagues, who call him “Eddie,” said he is a focused leader with a great sense of humor.
“He’s not so serious that he’s not capable of defusing tension in a meeting,” said former AT&T senior executive vice president Jim Kahan, who has known Mueller for more than 20 years.
Some analysts were surprised by Mueller’s appointment but welcomed his 34 years of telecom experience.
“He’s not a name that would’ve popped into my head,” said Todd Rosenbluth, an analyst with Standard & Poor’s. “But he’s a reasonable selection.”
Investors took the selection in stride as Qwest’s stock price rose 13 cents, or 1.5 percent, to close Monday at $8.50. The announcement was made late Sunday.
Mueller, 60, began his career with SBC Communications in 1968. He held a number of positions with the company, including CEO of Ameritech after SBC acquired it in 1999.
His career took a detour in 2003 when he was appointed CEO of cookware company Williams-Sonoma, which operates retail chains such as Pottery Barn. Mueller had served on the company’s board for a few years and was tapped by chairman Howard Lester.
Laura Champine, a retail analyst with Morgan Keegan, said Williams-Sonoma performed well during Mueller’s tenure but that the CEO didn’t leave a lasting impression.
“He was a little bit of a behind-the-scenes-type CEO,” Champine said. “It’s tough to tell where he put his stamp on the company.”
“It was time to leave”
His resignation from the company was a surprise to some, and it was reported that Mueller may have left because he never received “real CEO” status because Lester held on to the role of chairman.
“I went in there and did what I had to do, and it was time to leave,” said Mueller. “It was a great experience.”
During his three-year tenure, the stock gained about 25 percent, climbing from about $27 to $34.
At Denver-based Qwest, analysts and the board clearly expect Mueller to lead the company, which has roughly 37,500 employees nationwide and 9,200 in Colorado.
“This is a new CEO walking in the door that’s also chairman of the board of directors who we expect at some point will put his stamp on the company,” Rosenbluth said.
Mueller describes his leadership style as inclusive and decisive. For now, his focus will be on learning about Qwest, which provides local-phone service in 14 states and operates a nationwide fiber-optic communications network.
“I just have to catch up on the details because you can’t do the due diligence like that while you’re in the process of getting on board,” Mueller said. “Right now, it’s total immersion.”
He addressed a number of key issues Monday, and it’s clear he has no plans for a drastic change from Notebaert’s strategy.
Qwest will continue to take a wait-and-see approach on video, monitoring the progress of efforts by AT&T and Verizon.
“We have great interest in it. It’s a heavily capital-intensive strategy,” Mueller said. “We have taken a different path, and it’s prudent for us to continue to watch.”
He said he’ll get up to speed quickly on whether Qwest will return cash to shareholders in the form of a dividend or will initiate a stock buyback. Analysts anticipate a decision this quarter.
Mueller will stay focused on customer service, one of Notebaert’s trademarks.
“I do think we win at the end of the day not through technology but through people and service,” he told analysts Monday.
Mueller said he’s happy with the senior management team that’s in place. Notebaert’s top two executives, former chief financial officer Oren Shaffer and former operations chief Barry Allen, retired this year. Mueller said he has known Notebaert, whose retirement is effective Wednesday, for about 15 years, but has never officially worked with him.
Mueller is moving from San Francisco to the Denver area, having already eyed a couple of homes in the area.
He will move here with his wife, Susan. He has seven grown children and five grandchildren. In his free time, he enjoys reading, fishing and golfing.
In fact, Mueller joked that he was probably hitting a golf ball when he first received a call about the Qwest job in June.
But don’t expect Qwest to win any corporate tournaments any time soon, said longtime friend Kahan, who worked with Mueller at SBC.
“SBC had one of the worst corporate golf teams in the U.S., and unless his golf game has improved significantly since then, Qwest won’t be known for its golfing acumen,” Kahan said.
For the record, Mueller said Monday he has an 11 handicap.
Staff writer Andy Vuong can be reached at 303-954-1209 or avuong@denverpost.com.
What he’ll make
$1.2 MILLION
Ed Mueller’s annual salary
$2.4 MILLION
Target bonus (minimum of $947,000 in 2007)
2 MILLION
Stock options, with a strike price of $8.37, and 896,000 restricted shares; stock awards vest in August 2010 if Qwest’s share closing price has averaged $11.50 for 90 consecutive trading days before then
$75,000
Annual cash payment in lieu of various perquisites commonly paid to executives
Qwest chronology | US West and six other Baby Bells were created from the breakup of AT&T in 1984. US West was bought out by Qwest in 2000. Over the course of more than two decades, the Denver-based company has had six chief executives:
JACK MacALLISTER 1984-86 | DICK McCORMICK 1986-95 | SOL TRUJILLO 1995-97 | JOE NACCHIO 1997-2002 | DICK NOTEBAERT 2002-07 | ED MUELLER present
Ed Mueller file
Position: Qwest’s new
chairman and chief executive, replacing the retiring Dick Notebaert
Age: 60
Education: Bachelor of science, civil engineering, University of Missouri; executive MBA, Washington University
Career: Chief executive, Wil liams-Sonoma, 2003-06; chief executive, Ameritech, 2000-02; president, SBC International Operations, 1999- 2000; president and chief executive, Pacific Bell, 1997-99; joined SBC in 1968
Board memberships: Verisign, Clorox Co. and GSC Acquisition Co.
Family: Wife Susan, seven children, five grandchildren
What he reads: “Lonesome Dove,” Larry McMurtry; “Atlas Shrugged,” Ayn Rand
Now you know: Mueller is pronounced “Miller”
