Leadership Profile: Maggie Wilderotter (Part 2)

Here we trace some of Maggie’s early career steps, most notably her entrance into software and cable service industries when they were both in their infancy.

What were some of your early career steps? Would you walk through them quickly and then come to McCaw Cellular? MW: When I graduated form college I got married that same weakened to my Junior High School sweetheart. Jay and I are still married and will have our 30th wedding anniversary this year. He was an Air Force Academy grad and he was assigned to pilot training out west. I flew out to Phoenix AZ where my husband was completing pilot training. My first couple jobs, we moved from Arizona to California when Jay was assigned to a full time assignment in the Air Force, I worked in banking.

Then I answered an ad in the paper in Sacramento, California where we were stationed for his seven years of Active duty, and went to work for a software company called CableData. This was in 1978 at a time where the cable industry was just starting. I began working for a software company, and that was before software and technology was cool. This gave me a great opportunity to get in on the ground floor of a startup company in the convergence of both telecommunications and software technology. I wish I had been smart enough to chart that course, but it was really more about luck and timing.

Ultimately I managed to stay at CableData for 12 years. I held 14 different jobs in that company. Where a lot of folks in their careers have to move around among many different companies, I had one company to stay in and get experience with. I started in accounting and went to sales, marketing, and then regional operations.

SM: How big was CableData? MW: When I left it was about $150M in sales. When I left I was running the US, Canadian, and European operations for the company. I managed not only to get experience in many functional areas, but obtained General Management experience as well.

(to be continued)

[Part 1]

This segment is part 2 in the series : Leadership Profile: Maggie Wilderotter
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