CHICAGO, April 6, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- United States
Cellular Corporation (NYSE:USM) today announced that the Board of
Directors has nominated Deirdre C.
Drake, UScellular executive vice president -- chief people
officer, to serve on the UScellular Board. Ms. Drake will stand for
election at the company's annual meeting of shareholders on
May 18, 2021. She replaces
Kurt B. Thaus, TDS senior vice
president, technology services, who has served with distinction for
seven years.
"We believe good governance involves continuous review of Board
composition and the skill sets required to oversee our long-term
strategies. The culture at UScellular, known as the Dynamic
Organization, has always been a competitive advantage, and
nominating Ms. Drake to the Board recognizes her significant
contributions to driving improved associate engagement, talent
development, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion focus and succession
planning – all topics the Board is very intent on," said
LeRoy T. Carlson, Jr., UScellular
Board chairman.
As executive vice president – chief people officer, Ms. Drake
leads the human resources and corporate communications functions
at UScellular and is responsible for delivering integrated
human resources solutions that directly enable the achievement of
UScellular's strategic objectives. She collaborates with various
teams to ensure there is appropriate support for and communications
about the organization's mission and vision of providing an
excellent customer experience. Ms. Drake joined UScellular in
April 2014.
Ms. Drake began her career in human resources in 1989 with
Marathon Oil Company. She also held increasingly senior leadership
positions in human resources with Kraft Foods, ARAMARK Corporation
and The Bank of Montreal Financial Group. Prior to joining
UScellular, she was managing director and chief human resources
officer for the Bank of Montreal Financial Group-Capital Markets
Division.
Ms. Drake earned a bachelor's degree in human resources from
Central Michigan University in
Mount Pleasant, Mich., and a
master's degree in business administration from St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia. She also received an honorary
doctorate in commercial science from Central
Michigan University. She is a lifetime member of the
National Black MBA Association, serves as a board member with the
Chicago Public Library Foundation and American Red Cross of
Greater Chicago, and is actively
involved in a number of local and national not-for profit
organizations.
About UScellular
United States Cellular Corporation
provides a comprehensive range of wireless products and services,
excellent customer support, and a high-quality network to customers
with 5.0 million connections in 21 states. The Chicago-based company had 5,300 full- and
part-time associates as of December 31,
2020. At the end of the fourth quarter of 2020, Telephone
and Data Systems, Inc. owned 82 percent of UScellular. For more
information about UScellular, visit uscellular.com.
Safe Harbor Statement Under the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995: All information set forth in
this news release, except historical and factual information,
represents forward-looking statements. This includes all statements
about the company's plans, beliefs, estimates, and expectations.
These statements are based on current estimates, projections, and
assumptions, which involve certain risks and uncertainties that
could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the
forward-looking statements. Important factors that may affect these
forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to: intense
competition; the ability to obtain or maintain roaming arrangements
with other carriers on acceptable terms; the ability to obtain
access to adequate radio spectrum to meet current or anticipated
future needs, including participation in FCC auctions; the ability
to attract people of outstanding talent throughout all levels of
the organization; UScellular's smaller scale relative to larger
competitors; changes in demand, consumer preferences and
perceptions, price competition, or churn rates; advances in
technology; impacts of costs, integration problems or other factors
associated with acquisitions, divestitures or exchanges of
properties or wireless spectrum licenses and/or expansion of
UScellular's businesses; the ability of the company to successfully
construct and manage its networks; difficulties involving third
parties; uncertainties in UScellular's future cash flows and
liquidity and access to the capital markets; the ability to make
payments on UScellular indebtedness or comply with the terms of
debt covenants; conditions in the U.S. telecommunications industry;
the value of assets and investments; the state and federal
regulatory environment; pending and future litigation; potential
conflicts of interests between TDS and UScellular; cyber-attacks or
other breaches of network or information technology security;
disruption in credit or other financial markets; deterioration of
U.S. or global economic conditions; the impact, duration and
severity of public health emergencies, such as the COVID-19
pandemic. Investors are encouraged to consider these and other
risks and uncertainties that are more fully described under "Risk
Factors" in the most recent filing of UScellular's Form 10-K.
For more information about UScellular, visit:
www.uscellular.com
View original content to download
multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/uscellular-board-of-directors-nominates-deirdre-c-drake-301263051.html
SOURCE United States Cellular Corporation