Following the recent vote made by the Wireless Broadband Alliance Board Directors, the WBA is pleased to announce the continued appointment of Mr. JR Wilson, Vice President of Tower Strategy and Roaming for AT&T Services, as its Chairman, a position for the past 6 years. Dr. Derek Peterson, CTO of Boingo Wireless is newly elected as the Alliance’s Co-Chairman.
Mr. JR Wilson
Chairman
AT&T Services, Inc
Vice President, Tower Strategy and Roaming
Mr. Wilson is responsible for evolving AT&T’s overall tower strategy which includes creating a diverse community of suppliers and tower companies who will help increase market competition, as well as overseeing AT&T’s domestic and international roaming relationships. JR is responsible for developing innovative international roaming products and services that create a seamless global experience. He leads AT&T’s Global Machine-to-Machine strategy, platform development, services contracts, negotiations, and carrier relations function through AT&T’s global SIM Platform.
JR is Chairman of Wireless Maritime Services (WMS), a joint venture of AT&T and MTN Satellite Communications and Chairman of the Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA).
Since joining AT&T Wireless Services (formerly Cingular) in 2001, he has led major wireless development projects in numerous international markets in Asia, Europe, Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean. Prior to his current position, he served in key roles covering corporate development, mergers and acquisitions, joint venture management, international roaming and strategy, and international development.
JR started his career in Seattle with Arthur Anderson after graduating from Syracuse University. He currently lives and works in Atlanta, GA with his wife and three children.
Mr. Derek Peterson, PH.D.
Co-Chairman
Boingo Wireless
CTO
Derek Peterson, Ph. D., is chief technology officer at Boingo Wireless. He is responsible for the company’s technical vision and strategy. Under his leadership, Boingo is pioneering the adoption and deployment of the latest wireless network technologies including 5G, Passpoint, network virtualization and convergence. He is directly responsible for building and operating Boingo’s core technologies and systems, including web applications, client software, networks, authentication, billing, advertising, IPTV, business intelligence and IT infrastructure.
Dr. Peterson has deep telecommunications experience as a consultant, engineer, product manager and executive. Prior to joining Boingo in 2011, he served in strategic product roles at Oracle driving global launch campaigns for LTE adoption and billing software solutions.
He is a Wireless Broadband Alliance, MulteFire Alliance and New IP Agency board member, and a founding member of the Wireless Infrastructure Association’s Innovation & Technology Council. Dr. Peterson was named “CTO of the Year” in 2017 by the Los Angeles Business Journal and a 2015 “Wireless Industry Executive to Watch” by FierceWireless.
Dr. Peterson holds a BS in computer science from the University of Maryland, an MA in education and technology from the American Intercontinental University, and a Doctorate of Computer Science with a focus on enterprise information systems from Colorado Technical University. He is an adjunct professor for Colorado Technical University and an editor for the “International Journal of Strategic Information Technology and Applications.”
The WBA Board includes AT&T, Boingo Wireless, BT, Cisco Systems, Comcast, Intel, KT Corporation, Liberty Global, NTT DOCOMO and Orange. The term served by the elected Chair and Co-Chair shall be for a fixed duration of two years. We would like to congratulate Mr. J.R. Wilson and Dr. Derek Peterson and look forward to continuing the WBA’s progress in the industry for the foreseeable future.
For a complete list of current WBA members, please click here
