Englewood, Colo. − Dish Network today announced that president/CEO Joe Clayton will retire from his position effective March 31. Dish co-founder and chairman Charlie Ergen, who preceded Clayton as president and CEO, will resume both positions.
Clayton, a 42-year veteran of the consumer electronics industry, leaves the post he assumed in June 2011. Clayton will also retire from Dish’s board.
Prior to his appointment at Dish, Clayton served as chairman of Sirius Satellite Radio from November 2004 through July 2008 and was CEO of Sirius from November 2001 through November 2004. Before joining Sirius, Clayton was president of Global Crossing North America, president and CEO of Frontier Corp., and executive marketing and sales VP for the Americas and Asia at Thomson.
Clayton was inducted into the Consumer Electronics Hall of Fame in 2008.
He served on EchoStar’s board of directors and is a former chairman of the Consumer Electronics Association.
Currently, Clayton is a trustee for Bellarmine University in Kentucky, his alma mater. He earned an MBA from Indiana University where he sits on the Dean’s Advisory Board for the Indiana School of Business.
A man of many interests, Clayton has won the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award. He is an avid traveler, hunter and University of Kentucky basketball fan.
“Over the last four years, Joe’s leadership has been instrumental to Dish as we have worked to engineer a fundamental transformation of our business,” said Ergen. “He has set the stage for what will become a new company, and with that he has prepared a new class of management to address the adventures coming our way.”
“This team has done what it said it would – our operations are stronger, our leadership is deeper, our outlook is as positive as it ever has been,” said Clayton. “We were able to launch the Hopper, dishNet and Sling TV, navigate two spectrum auctions, and deliver for our customers throughout. All of it was with great success – I am proud to have served with such a remarkable team.”
Ergen co-founded Dish more than 30 years ago and currently acts as chairman of both Dish and EchoStar. In June 2011, he stepped down from his role as Dish president/CEO to focus on long-term business development and acquisitions.
Ergen was inducted into the Consumer Electronics Hall of Fame in 2012.
Look for a career retrospective and a special interview with Joe Clayton by TWICE editor-at-large Steve Smith in the April 6 issue of TWICE.
