Ralph de la Vega, Former Vice Chairman, AT&T Inc.

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.

He serves on the boards of New York Life Insurance Company, Amdocs Corporation, Outreach, and Ubicquia. He is the former Chairman of the Audit & Compliance Committee at American Express and the former Chairman of Junior Achievement Worldwide.

He served for four years as the Chair of JA Worldwide, a charity that teaches young people in over 100 countries entrepreneurship and financial literacy. JA Worldwide has been recognized as the seventh-best Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) in the world and has been nominated as a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize three years in a row. In 2022, he was named a National Association of Corporate Directors Top 100 honoree (top 100 director out of 23,000 directors in the U.S.).

He has received numerous awards recognizing his leadership, including induction into the U.S. Wireless Hall of Fame, the Atlanta Business Hall of Fame, and the prestigious Global Innovation Award from the Goizueta Business School at Emory University.

Mr. de la Vega has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Florida Atlantic University (FAU) and a master’s degree in business administration from Northern Illinois University.  He completed the Executive Program at the University of Virginia and received a Doctor Honoris Causa from FAU.

He is the author of the book Obstacles Welcome: Turn Adversity to Advantage in Business and Life (Thomas Nelson, 2009).