2021 – Ralph De La Vega
Ralph de la Vega is the founder and chairman of the De La Vega Group. Mr. de la Vega is the former Vice Chairman of AT&T Inc. and CEO of Business Solutions & International. In that capacity, he had overall responsibility for the company’s integrated Business Solutions group which, at the time served more than 3.5 million business customers in nearly 200 countries and territories, including nearly all of the world’s Fortune 1000 companies. He also had overall responsibility for AT&T’s wireless business operations in
Mexico and DIRECTV in Latin America. Previously, he was President and CEO of AT&T Mobile and Business Solutions, where he had overall responsibility for the company’s wireless and business services operations. Before that, he was President and CEO of AT&T Mobility. Under his leadership, AT&T Mobility became one of the world’s leading smartphone and mobile Internet providers and expanded into new growth areas such as connected cars, and home security and automation.
During his career he has held numerous executive positions, including COO of Cingular Wireless and President of BellSouth Latin America. As the COO of Cingular Wireless, Mr. de la Vega was responsible for the integration of AT&T Wireless and Cingular Wireless, following the largest all-cash merger in U.S. history at the time. As President of BellSouth Latin America, he was responsible for wireless operations in 11 countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela and Uruguay.
2022 – Jeff McElfresh
Jeff McElfresh is the Chief Operating Officer of AT&T, a global communications leader serving more than 100 million mobile and broadband customers in the United States, and millions of business customers, including nearly all of the Fortune 1000.
Jeff has 27 years of experience with AT&T in a variety of strategic, operational and technology leadership roles. Most of his career has been in our Mobility business — the biggest single driver of AT&T’s consolidated revenues.
Jeff most recently served as the Chief Executive Officer of AT&T Communications, where he led nearly 200,000 employees, and prior to that, the president of its Technology and Operations group where he led a team of more than 90,000 employees and was responsible for the company’s network, technology, cybersecurity, data and labs operations. In that role, he led the team that won AT&T recognition for having the best, fastest and most reliable wireless network in the country.
He also previously served as: CEO of AT&T’s Vrio and its DIRECTV Latin America and SKY Brasil businesses from 2015 to 2018; senior vice president in AT&T’s Strategy and Corporate Development group; and president of AT&T Mexico and a member of the board of directors and executive committee of Telmex and América Móvil, overseeing AT&T’s since-divested minority interest in the two companies. Early in his career, he held several operational positions with AT&T’s (BellSouth International) wireless businesses in Latin America.