TopVet: Wharton B. Rivers, Jr., Advanced Radio Telecom

Wharton B. “Zie” Rivers, Jr., a retired Army Officer, joined Advanced Radio Telecom in November 2000 as Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Rivers spent 20 years in the Army, serving - and excelling - in a variety of command and high-level staff positions, culminating in his assignment as a strategic policy specialist for the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the Pentagon. Prior to joining Advanced Radio, he had more than a decade of experience in executive management roles for some of the most prominent telecommunications companies in the U. S.

Mr. Rivers was president of Cable & Wireless North America and held executive positions with Ameritech and MCI, where he earned his spurs. Relying in many ways on the skills he acquired in the military, he was unfazed by the "aggressive" culture at MCI because, like the Army, he told the Wall Street Journal, MCI was a results-driven industry. 

Mr. Rivers holds a master’s degree in international relations from Boston University; a Bachelor of Arts from Columbia College in Columbia, Missouri; and completed advanced graduate study and research as a National Security Fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Advanced Radio Telecom, based in Bellevue, Washington, is a provider of broadband Internet-protocol access services.

Photo Credit: http://www.jmu.edu/jmuweb/general/news/general11826.shtml