For our 2022 Rising Stars, Fierce Wireless focused on the top U.S. operators. We’ve compiled a slate of impressive up-and-coming executives in the wireless industry from AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon and Dish. Interestingly, four of our Rising Stars this year started their careers through internal leadership development programs. We’re featuring the profiles of these executives, aged 35 or younger, this week, and we hope you enjoy reading them. These are all folks to keep an eye on as they make a mark in wireless.
Nate Zager started his career at Apple as a retail specialist with “hopes and dreams" of advancing his career there. But during an iPhone launch at the Apple Store, he was connected with a recruiter for AT&T’s Business Sales Leadership Development program. Zager applied, got accepted, and ended up graduating at the top of the program.
AT&T offered the upstate New Yorker the chance to move to Denver as a corporate account manager for national business. It was a great opportunity, but Zager knew it was not his dream job. “I knew I didn’t want to be in sales forever,” he said. “Marketing was always appealing to me so I networked and cold-called leaders at AT&T.”
His efforts landed him a role on the carrier’s cybersecurity product marketing team. “I had a blast in that role,” Zager said. “Then we acquired Alien Vault and I got to see how it works when we bring a company into AT&T.”
Zager’s time on the cybersecurity team was educational and humbling. “The more I learned about cybersecurity, the more I realized what I did not know,” he said. “When you work with specialists you have to understand the unique tools, workflows and culture to protect the practice and maximize business impact.”
That mindset served Zager well in his next role: chief of staff for the head of AT&T’s design technology team. Zager knew a chief of staff role offered a front row seat at meetings with leaders from inside and outside the company, so he jumped at the chance to join the design team in this role. He now leads the design operations team, overseeing a team of program managers who work closely with designers on large scale programs which directly impact the AT&T customer experience.
RELATED: AT&T to buy San Mateo, California-based cybersecurity company AlienVault
“Our team works on very large, transformational programs,” he said. “Design is a strategic business function. It amplifies the voice of customers, drives cost out of the business and ensures that products and services are built by people who represent the community.” He said thoughtfully designed user experiences can help limit product investment risk.
Zager’s journey has taken him back to where his career started, as his team looked to the Apple ID as a model of how one login can be the key to an ecosystem of related services. Zager still holds deep admiration for Apple, but is committed to his career at AT&T, which he said offers him a great mix of opportunity, education and work-life balance. This year he was able to take advantage of the company’s 3-month parental leave policy, as he and his wife welcomed their first baby.