Long-time CTIA veteran Mark Desautels died of an apparent heart attack yesterday afternoon while in Las Vegas preparing for the International CTIA Wireless 2009 conference. Desautels, the association's vice president of wireless Internet development, had been with CTIA since 1998.
"Mark has been an outstanding employee since joining the association in 1998, and was a dear friend and valuable colleague to all of us here at CTIA and to many in the wireless industry," said Steve Largent, CTIA President and CEO. "His insight and forward-thinking were tremendous assets as he led several key industry business development initiatives, and I know he will be missed terribly."
Desautels oversaw the activities of the Wireless Internet Caucus and developed the educational sessions and selected speakers for the association's two annual trade shows. Desautels joined CTIA after serving as president and CEO of the Wireless Data Forum, and prior to that, he was Assistant to the Director, Office of Intergovernmental Relations, Congressional Budget Office (CBO), where he was the agency press spokesperson and chief liaison officer.
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