John W. Stanton

Stanton was born in 1955.{{cite news |last=Soper |first=Taylor |date=July 20, 2020|title=Mariners owner and wireless industry vet John Stanton on T-Mobile/Sprint, future of retail, more |url=https://www.geekwire.com/2020/mariners-owner-wireless-industry-vet-john-stanton-t-mobile-sprint-future-retail/ |work=Geekwire }} A lifelong resident of the Seattle area, John Stanton went to Newport High School in Bellevue, Washington. He earned his undergraduate degree in Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington. He earned an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Stanton was the founder and former CEO of Western Wireless Corporation, former chairman and CEO of VoiceStream Wireless, and former chairman of the CTIA.{{cite web|url=http://www.wwireless.com/Default.asp?pid=12&xdir=AB|title=Western Wireless Corporate Officers|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050306001935/http://www.wwireless.com/Default.asp?pid=12&xdir=AB|archive-date=March 6, 2005}}{{cite news|url=https://www.forbes.com/lists/2007/10/07billionaires_John-Stanton_WGEH.html|title=The World's Billionaires — John Stanton|work=Forbes|date=March 8, 2007|access-date=2012-02-27}}

He became the first employee of McCaw Cellular Communications in the early 1980s.{{cite news |last=Stewart |first=Ashley |date=April 27, 2016|title=New Mariners CEO John Stanton is a 'shrewd and tough negotiator' who loves Seattle |url=https://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/blog/techflash/2016/04/new-mariners-ceo-john-stanton-is-a-shrewd-and.html |work=Puget Sound Business Journal }} He was COO and vice chairman of McCaw Cellular in the 1980s.

After he left McCaw he founded the company that became Western Wireless Corp in 1992. From 1992 to 2005, he was at Western Wireless Corp. as CEO and chairman. He was the founder of Voicestream Wireless Corp. Between 1995 and 2003, VoiceStream Wireless had him as chairman and CEO as well, with that company renamed T-Mobile USA after an acquisition.

In 2004, Stanton was inducted into the Wireless Hall of Fame for his devotion to the industry.{{cite news|last1=Wireless History Foundation |title= John W. Stanton|url=https://wirelesshistoryfoundation.org/john-stanton/|accessdate=March 19, 2024|work=WHF Hall of Fame|date= 2010}}

From 2008 until 2013 he was director and then chairman of Clearwire Corp.

In 2005, he, Strive Masiyiwa, Bradley Horwitz, and others formed Trilogy International Partners.{{cite news|url=http://zimbabwe-today.com/strive-masiyiwa-zimbabwe-businessman-2/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180918054329/http://zimbabwe-today.com/strive-masiyiwa-zimbabwe-businessman-2/|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 18, 2018|title=Strive Masiyiwa Zimbabwe Businessman|date=April 23, 2017|work=Zimbabwe Today|access-date=September 17, 2018}}{{cite news|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/telecom-that-runs-networks-in-new-zealand-and-bolivia-comes-to-canada-in-spac-deal/article32640175/|title=Telecom company Trilogy coming to Canada in Alignvest deal|date=November 1, 2016|work=The Globe and Mail|last=Willis|first=Andrew|access-date=September 17, 2018}}{{cite web|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/profiles/people/1534455-bradley-jay-horwitz|title=Bradley Jay Horwitz|work=Bloomberg|access-date=September 17, 2018}} At the start, Stanton had a $295 million equity stake in Trilogy. In 2006, his net worth was $1 billion.{{cite news |title=#746 John Stanton |url=https://images.forbes.com/lists/2006/10/WGEH.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060318201526/http://images.forbes.com/lists/2006/10/WGEH.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 18, 2006 |work=Forbes }} Stanton was listed as #840 in the Forbes 2007 "Richest People" study. His net worth was estimated at US$1.1 billion.

By 2014, he had held executive roles at McCaw Cellular, Western Wireless and VoiceStream Wireless. He had also previously been chairman of Clearwire.

Stanton joined Microsoft's board of directors in July 2014.{{cite news |last=Cook |first=John |date=July 30, 2014|title=Wireless pioneer John Stanton named to Microsoft board in latest bid by software giant to gain ground in mobile |url=http://www.geekwire.com/2014/wireless-pioneer-john-stanton-named-microsoft-board-latest-bid-software-giant-gain-ground-mobile/ |work=Geekwire |access-date=December 5, 2020 }}[https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-07-30/microsoft-names-former-wireless-executive-john-stanton-to-board.html Profile], bloomberg.com; accessed September 22, 2014.[https://web.archive.org/web/20140812233614/http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2014-07-31/news/52285002_1_microsoft-ceo-satya-nadella-handset-business-mason-morfit Profile]; accessed September 22, 2014. He joined the Compensation Committee of the board. He was also a director at Columbia Sportswear.

Around 2016, he joined the board of Costco. As of August 2016, Stanton was reported to own approximately US$45 million of stock holdings in Columbia Sportswear, General Communication Inc. and other companies.{{Cite web|url=https://www.insidermole.com/insider/stanton-john-w|title=JOHN W STANTON Insider Trading Overview|website=www.insidermole.com|access-date=2016-08-11}}

He is a past chairman of the board of trustees of Whitman College.{{cite web|url=https://www.whitman.edu/about/leadership-and-organization/governing-boards/trustees|access-date=2015-09-21|title=Trustees|publisher=Whitman College}} In 2018, Whitman College elected to name a newly constructed residence hall after Stanton, who had graduated in 1977.{{cite news |date=May 9, 2018|title=New Whitman College residence hall named for Seattle Mariners' Chair John Stanton '77 |url=https://www.whitman.edu/newsroom/archive/2018/john-stanton |work=Whitman College |access-date=December 6, 2020 }}

He is still a member of Trilogy International Partners with Theresa Gillespie and Brad Horwitz. It trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange. He is also chairman of Trilogy Equity and co-founder of Trilogy Search Partners.{{cite news |title=John Stanton |url=https://trilogyequity.com/team/john/ |work=Trilogy Equity }}

As one of 17 minority owners in the team, in April 2016, Stanton was appointed as the new CEO of the Seattle Mariners organization after Nintendo sold its majority stake for $661 million.{{cite news|last=Johns|first=Greg|title=Nintendo selling Mariners to minority owners|url=http://m.mariners.mlb.com/news/article/174893796/nintendo-selling-mariners-to-minority-owners|publisher=Seattle Mariners|date=April 27, 2016|access-date=June 16, 2016|archive-date=April 23, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170423104652/http://m.mariners.mlb.com/news/article/174893796/nintendo-selling-mariners-to-minority-owners/|url-status=dead}}{{cite news|last=Baker|first=Geoff|title=CEO Howard Lincoln leaving Mariners with 'a few regrets'|url=http://www.seattletimes.com/sports/mariners/mariners-ceo-howard-lincoln-to-resign-source-says/|newspaper=The Seattle Times|date=April 27, 2016|access-date=June 16, 2016}} Major League Baseball formally approved the sale of the Mariners to Stanton in August of that year.{{cite news |date=August 18, 2016|title=MLB approves sale of Seattle Mariners, Stanton to take over |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2016/08/18/mlb-approves-sale-of-seattle-mariners-stanton-to-take-over/88958228/ |work=USA Today |access-date=December 5, 2020 }} Stanton took over as control person from retiring chairman Howard Lincoln. Stanton became responsible for the Seattle Mariners day-to-day operations.{{cite news |last=Soper |first=Taylor |date=April 27, 2016|title=Meet John Stanton: What you need to know about the new Mariners CEO |url=https://www.geekwire.com/2016/meet-john-stanton-need-know-new-mariners-ceo/ |work=Geekwire |access-date=December 5, 2020}} In 2019, the team had few wins, with Stanton arguing the metric to look at was player success within a long term plan.{{cite news |last=Divish |first=Ryan |date=June 25, 2019|title=Mariners owner John Stanton's view on the team's 'step-back' plan: Optimistic yet frustrated |url=https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2019/jun/25/mariners-owner-john-stantons-view-on-the-teams-ste/ |work=The Seattle Times |access-date=December 6, 2020 }}

In 2014, he had chaired or co-chaired the Business Partnership for Early Learning, the United Way of King County campaign, the Washington Roundtable, and the Regional Transportation Commission.

He resides in Bellevue, Washington with his wife Theresa Gillespie. They have two sons.

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Category:Businesspeople from Seattle

Category:American billionaires

Category:Whitman College alumni

Category:Living people

Category:Seattle Mariners owners

Category:Harvard Business School alumni

Category:American technology chief executives

Category:Year of birth missing (living people)

Category:Newport High School (Bellevue, Washington) alumni