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.
When Dean Zigulich moved from the Midwest to Denver to join Dish, the avid hiker and biker was surprised to learn that unlike the Colorado terrain, the Dish organization is fairly flat. “Even as a project coordinator, I got to speak with leadership,” Zigulich remembers. “I saw that even at my level I could make an impact.”
Zigulich made an impact right away. He joined Dish Wireless as a project coordinator for messaging software, and within his first six months he helped finalize a Dish/Mavenir contract, and was a leader of the first automated deployments of the Dish messaging cloud-native function.
Next Zigulich was promoted to project manager, and in this role he owned Dish’s relationship with VMware, one of the first partners Dish announced as it planned its greenfield, cloud-based, open RAN 5G network. VMware plays a critical role in the network’s deployment as the RAN virtualization and platform vendor for the 5G O-RAN components. Zigulich helped coordinate the deployment of Dish’s 5G RAN infrastructure and the automated activation of cell sites, which the company calls zero-touch provisioning.
Zigulich knew his work was directly related to Dish’s ability to hit its 20% coverage goal by June 2022. He said hitting that milestone is his favorite career memory and that everyone at the company was extremely proud of the accomplishment.
In the two years since Zigulich joined Dish Wireless, the company has mushroomed from 300 to 2,000 employees, making the recent college graduate a somewhat senior member of the team. But Zigulich remains humble and eager to learn.
“I want to be a lifelong learner,” he said. “I keep my ears open as much as possible. … The smartest people in the world in the telecom industry work here, and every day there is a teachable moment.”
Zigulich said he’s motivated not only by the brainpower at Dish, but also by the commitment. “I’m impressed by the level of effort and tenacity – the will to win," he said. “People truly care here at Dish.”
Like a number of men at the company, Zigulich has joined the Dish Women’s Network, an organization formed to empower women and create an inclusive work environment. He has volunteered for the group’s poverty fighting fundraisers and has helped plan events.
The next goal for Dish is 70% nationwide coverage by June 14, 2023, and Zigulich wants to be an important part of helping the company hit the target. He now drives the company’s vRAN infrastructure and RAN automation programs and is also eager to dig deeper into open RAN development and implementation with the company’s newest RAN vendor, Samsung.
Zigulich sees Dish as a company blazing a new trail in telecom, and he feels very lucky to be part of it. “It’s a special opportunity every time you walk in the door here at Dish,” he said.