Jay Brown, CEO of Crown Castle, recently announced to the company’s board that he would retire effective January 16, 2024.
Crown Castle’s board appointed Anthony Melone, a Crown Castle’s Board member, as interim CEO. The board will conduct a search process to identify a permanent CEO.
Melone comes to the CEO role with over three decades of experience in the telecommunications industry, including having served as Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for Verizon Communications from December 2010 to April 2015. In addition, Melone served in various positions with Verizon Wireless from 2000 to December 2010, including as Senior Vice President and CTO from 2007 to December 2010.
“On behalf of the Board, I want to thank Jay for his nearly 25 years of service at Crown Castle, including over seven years as CEO,” said P. Robert Bartolo, Chair of the Crown Castle Board. “Since joining our company, Jay has helped establish Crown Castle as the nation’s leading provider of shared communications infrastructure, connecting thousands of cities and communities to essential data. We are grateful for his contributions and unwavering commitment to our people, and we wish him the very best.”
Bartolo added that the “Board is confident that Tony is the right person to serve as interim CEO while we search for a permanent successor.”
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About the Author
Sean BuckleySean Buckley
Sean is the Editor-in-Chief of Lightwave. He establishes and executes Lightwave's editorial strategy across its website, email newsletters, events, and other information products. Before coming to Lightwave in July 2023, he served as editor of Broadband Communities. Earlier, he served as senior editor of FierceTelecom and the editor of the former Telecommunications Magazine. He got his start in the optical industry in 1998 when he became the editor of enterprise and optical networks at Information Gatekeepers. He has a BA in English from the University of Massachusetts, Boston, and lives in Dracut, Mass, with his wife, two sons, and his cat, Dove.
