T-Mobile US names next general counsel

T-Mobile US has hired Mark Nelson as executive vice president and general counsel, effective October 11.

Nelson will succeed Dave Miller, who has announced his retirement from T-Mobile after 26 years with the company. Miller will stay on as executive vice president and strategic adviser to help support the transition until April 1, 2022.

Nelson will join T-Mobile from law firm Clearly Gottlieb, where he has been a partner since 2002. He will report to CEO Mike Sievert and have offices in Bellevue, Washington, and Washington, DC. He has advised T-Mobile for the past two decades on matters such as its acquisition of MetroPCS (now Metro by T-Mobile) and its merger with Sprint.

Nelson’s work at Cleary Gottlieb includes M&A and antitrust work. He has litigation experience in both civil and criminal matters, as well as in Federal Trade Commission administrative proceedings. He has worked on merger cases before the European Commission and national authorities in Europe, Asia and South America. He has also been engaged in litigation, investigations and counseling in matters involving the intersection of antitrust and intellectual property law.

He began his career in the industry at Western Wireless in 1995, where he was involved in its IPO, the spin-off of its VoiceStream subsidiary and the acquisition of VoiceStream by Deutsche Telekom in 2001. That year he was named senior vice president and general counsel and was involved in introducing the T-Mobile brand in the US.

Sievert says in a statement: ‘When Dave approached me about his retirement, I knew we had incredibly big shoes to fill and with Mark we have definitely found the right legal mind for the job. He has been a trusted partner and counselor for many of us at T-Mobile for years, and we are thrilled he’ll be bringing his years of experience supporting our business and others in-house to T-Mobile as a member of our senior leadership team during this exciting growth period for the company.

‘Over the 26 years he’s served as our trusted adviser, expert counsel and strategic thinker on everything from day-to-day issues to massive transactions, Dave Miller has helped write the T-Mobile story… I want to share my heartfelt thanks with [him] for everything he’s done for me and this company. We’ll miss him but we wish him well in a much-earned retirement.’

T-Mobile has also appointed Broady Hodder, senior vice president of corporate governance and strategic transactions with the company, as corporate secretary, reporting to Nelson.

Hodder joined T-Mobile’s legal team in early 2018 and will continue to be responsible for corporate and securities law compliance and managing legal teams representing the company in capital markets transactions, executive compensation matters, M&A and other transactions. He was previously senior vice president, general counsel and secretary of Clearwire Corporation, now part of T-Mobile.