Ivan Seidenberg

Ivan G. Seidenberg (born December 10, 1946) is the Chairman and CEO of Verizon Communications.

As chairman and chief executive officer of Verizon Communications Inc., formerly Bell Atlantic and previously NYNEX, Seidenberg steered those companies through two of the largest telecommunications mergers in history: the merger of Bell Atlantic and NYNEX in 1997 and the Bell Atlantic merger with GTE in 2000. He also led efforts in September 1999 to form Verizon Wireless, the nation's largest (at the time) wireless communications business composed of the wireless assets of Bell Atlantic, GTE and Vodafone Airtouch. In 2005, his total compensation was $19.4m and in 2006 it was estimated at $23.6m.

Seidenberg began his career in telecommunications as a lineman's assistant straight from high school, and is one of the few Fortune 500 CEOs to have worked his way from the very bottom to the very top. He served a tour of duty in the Vietnam War as a tail gunner. He studied part-time and is a graduate of Lehman College of the City University of New York (1972), earning a B.A. in mathematics, and received his MBA in Marketing from Pace University (1981).

In 2006 Mr. Seidenberg donated $15 million dollars to Pace University. Pace’s School of Computer Science and Information Systems was officially renamed the Ivan G. Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems.

Mr. Seidenberg serves on the board of directors/trustees of Honeywell, the Museum of Television and Radio, The New York Hall of Science, Pace University, Verizon Foundation, and Wyeth.

Mr. Seidenberg has a second residence in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida (Old Marsh Golf Club)