I was in the hospitality suite in Caesars Palace, Las Vegas at the Consumer Electronics Show. The suite was filled with senior executives from most of our client companies, AT&T among them. A TV set was playing at one end of the room and the CBS Evening News was coming on.  Suddenly the room became quiet as the anchor announced that AT&T had reached an agreement to divest itself of all of its operating companies. The Bell System was about to be gone forever. The faces of the AT&T and Bell System executives were drained of color.

Two months later I was transferred from out Canadian Headquarters where I handled the marketing communications for five multinational divisions into the line organization in Nashville, Tennessee, Advance Communications Terminals Division (ATPD).  My new job, identify weaknesses in the AT&T product line, monitor all filings with the Department of Justice regarding Computer Inquiry II and advise our public policy liaison in DC of any threats to our forward strategies these might present. And, develop bridge product line strategies to open markets with the Bell Operating properties AT&T was being forced to shed but intended to continue to sell to. Northern Telecom wanted them too.

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