Top Telecom Exec Takes Over As Qwest CEO

Edward Mueller headed Ameritech, PacBell
By Peter Fearon,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 13, 2007 7:24 AM CDT
Top Telecom Exec Takes Over As Qwest CEO
This file photo shows the Qwest headquarters building in Denver, Monday, Aug. 1, 2005. Concerned about a "lack of production" pulling in donations toward the 2008 Republican National Convention in Saint Paul, Minn., this fall , Gov. Tim Pawlenty and his allies hoped an intimate appeal to high-level...   (Associated Press)

A top telecom veteran has been named CEO of struggling Qwest. Edward Mueller, 60-year-old former chief executive of Ameritech and Williams-Sonoma, takes the reins  from Dick Notebaert, who ran the company for five years, the Wall Street Journal  reports. The country's fourth-largest telephone company, Qwest faces increased pressure from competitors as it struggles to emerge from an accounting scandal.

Qwest stock plummeted after allegations of improper accounting procedures in 2002, and the CEO at the time was recently jailed for insider trading. Mueller declined to specify any changes he has in mind. "Any time new fresh eyes come on the scene you can evaluate everything," Mueller said. (More Ameritech stories.)

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