‘It’s all family here.’

It’s not every day that we get an opportunity to meet both our company’s board of directors and a class of brand new V Teamers – the energy in our Basking Ridge office was infectious.

In today’s special edition of Up To Speed Live with host Raquel Wilson:

• Meet members of our Board of Directors
• Hear from Sam Hammock, joined by our brand-new Atlantic North retail class
• Learn about how Hans collaborates with the Board
• Hear from VLC members Sampath and Joe on where we’re at on the consumer and network side.

A few words from Hans [1:25]

Hans introduced the members of our Board of Directors in attendance: Mark Bertolini, Vittorio Colao, Shellye Archambeau, Dan Schulman, Carol Tomé, Rodney Slater, Clarence Otis, Jr. (Lead Director) and Laxman Narasimhan.

As the newest member of the VLC, Hans put Chief Communications Officer Stacy Sharpe in the hot seat to get a quick taste of how she’s enjoying her role so far.

Stacy thanked the V Team for their warm welcome and characterized us as “the team that puts passion into action” – a sentiment that was clear from every speaker in today’s episode.

🎓Our brand-new Atlantic North retail class showed up in full force! [3:10]

Starting a new job can feel nerve wracking and isolating, but by all accounts, our newest Atlantic North retail class felt great about their experience. Our newest team members showed up front-row for today’s episode with enthusiasm and thoughtful insights – even though they’ve only been here for 30 days.

Chief HR Officer, Sam Hammock, described how these new employees have spent their first two weeks in immersive training programs on the sales floor, virtually and at their Hub location today at what’s known as “The Event.”

Sam welcomed to the stage three new V Teamers from this cohort: Jeremi Flores from our NYC location; Cassidy Cannon from Lynchburg, VA; and Ashton Jaramillo, from Mansfield, MA.

Jeremy, a self-described “competitive person by nature,” loves Verizon’s innovation and the “access to wonderful people that we have.” Cassidy echoed that sentiment, saying that the one word she would use to describe Verizon is “family” and that the V Team community, including her managers, treated her like family was one of them from day one. Ashton, a longtime Verizon customer, was drawn to the company because of his previous sales experience and the integrity the company has.

All three reps expressed deep gratitude to their managers, the overall V Team community and the company’s commitment to their growth. Asked if they have any work besties yet, they had too many to count!

Sam’s call to action to the entire V Team: get out to your store, get close to them and get close to our customers.

🙋‍♂️Q&A with the Board [24:55]

It’s understandable that people might be curious about the inner workings of the company board and the role it plays in steering Verizon in the right direction.

Clarence Otis, Jr., the board’s lead director, explained that his role is to ensure the board of directors is “acting as a team.” For any given matter, there might be “5-6 different comments,” and Clarence’s job is to “synthesize” these remarks and explain to Hans what the board means.

Clarence noted that it's important to reinforce that Verizon, at its core, is a “consumer company” that countless people rely on as an essential service, and we need to understand their needs and deliver for them.

🚂Full-steam ahead on the consumer and network side. [27:10]

Before closing out, we heard from CEO of Verizon Consumer Group, Sampath Sowmyanarayan, and GN&T leader Joe Russo. Sampath emphasized that the customer relationship starts with the phone as the primary gateway and that we cannot win this business without positive phone net adds. A few takeaways from Sampath:

• We have good momentum, but we still need to continue to grow.
• Retention is becoming more and more important.
• Personalization is the name of the game, as some customers don’t necessarily want to upgrade their existing phone or plan, and we have to meet customers where they’re at.

A few takeaways from Joe Russo:

• Our 5G strategy is going “full steam ahead” and evolving and moving to “standalone,” which means that it operates independently from the 4G infrastructure.
• We’re crossing 250 million customers who have access to 5G, almost a full year ahead of where we needed to be.
• Once the network moves to “standalone” mode, we can unleash “advanced applications” like slicing and augmented reality. This year, a significant portion of that 250 million will have access to standalone, and hopefully everyone will in the next few years.

🍝 3 Things… [33:08]

When Hans is in the house, you can always count on three things to tell your family and friends at the dinner table. Today, those were:

• The board of directors is incredibly important for the company’s success, and it’s important for the V Team to be informed on the role they play for us.
• Talk about our offerings: myPlan, fixed wireless access, perks, and get feedback from friends and family about how we can make things better. You’re a brand ambassador for us.
• Share some takeaways from your daily work and your experience at Verizon!
• Bonus: If you haven’t already, be sure to follow @hansvestberg on Instagram to get the behind the scenes look at the Board retreat from this week

Click here for a transcript of the webcast.

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