Ex-Wink CEO Wilderotter Joins Citizens

Former Wink Communications Inc. CEO Maggie Wilderotter is back in telecommunications after a stint with Microsoft Corp.

Wilderotter will become president and CEO of wireline-communications company Citizens Communications effective Nov. 1.

Most recently, she had been senior vice president, worldwide public sector at Microsoft.

While she was with Wink, Wilderotter received numerous cable-industry honors and awards, including the “Vanguard Award for Distinguished Leadership” from the National Cable Television Association (now National Cable & Telecommunications Association), the first-ever “Outstanding Mentor Award” from the Women in Cable and Telecommunications Foundation and the “Top 10 Women in Cable and Telecommunications Award” for her support of WICT and advocacy of women in the cable industry.

“I am excited about the opportunity to lead Citizens Communications,” Wilderotter said in a prepared statement. “The company has huge potential to provide enhanced communications services to its customers, and I'm looking forward to helping the company to grow to the next level.”

She added, “Microsoft has been a wonderful experience. I'm only leaving because I couldn't pass up the opportunity to get back to my telecommunications roots as a CEO of a company with great assets and a lot of potential.”