BellSouth's Ackerman Nominated for Council of Advisors on Science and Technology

[SOURCE: White House]
The President intends to appoint the following individuals to be Members of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology:

F. Duane Ackerman, of Georgia
Paul M. Anderson, of Washington
Robert A. Brown, of Massachusetts
Nance K. Dicciani, of Pennsylvania
Richard H. Herman, of Illinois
Martin C. Jischke, of Illinois
Fred Kavli, of California
Daniel A. Reed, of Illinois
Hector de Jesus Ruiz, of Texas
Stratton D. Sclavos, of California
John Brooks Slaughter, of Connecticut
Joseph M. Tucci, of New Hampshire
Robert E. Witt, of Alabama
Tadataka Yamada, of Pennsylvania

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

F. Duane Ackerman is the chairman and chief executive officer of Atlanta-based BellSouth Corporation.

A native of Plant City, FL, Mr. Ackerman holds a B.S. in physics and an M.S. from Rollins College, and earned a Master's degree in Management Science from the Sloan Fellows program of the MIT Sloan School of Management. Latest estimates put his total annual compensation at approximately $11.3 million.

Under Ackerman's stewardship, BellSouth has continued to produce relatively consistent financial results. However, the company has also continued to lose landline customers, has been slow to develop fully the DSL market potential in its markets, and has very little in the product/service pipeline to drive new growth. The company is dependent upon its Cingular joint venture for a disproportionate percentage of its net income.

Ackerman is criticized by some camps for having missed several recent opportunities to acquire or merge with other telecommunications providers. These missed opportunities have left BellSouth positioned as a regional telecom island, a perceived disadvantage relative to larger national players such as Verizon or AT&T (formed by the recent merger of SBC and AT&T).

The SBC-AT&T merger creates a uniquely complex situation for Ackerman with regards to Cingular Wireless, a joint venture between BellSouth and SBC. Now that SBC and AT&T have merged, the new AT&T is competing with BellSouth for lucrative business landline customers in BellSouth's own backyard, disturbing the historical territorial lines between the former Regional Bell Operating Companies or RBOCs (SBC and BellSouth). Many analysts question how long the Cingular "partnership" can last, given that one of the partners has begun "stepping out".

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/02/20060227-7.html