AT&T names new Tennessee president

Telecom giant's new champion will be expected to win friends and influence enemies after he steps into Marty Dickens' shoes

Email | Print By Milt Capps

Gregg Morton

UPDATED Sept. 5, 2007 5:23 P.M.

AT&T today announced the appointment of Gregg Morton to the post of president of AT&T Tennessee, one of the state's most influential corporate actors.

Morton previously served as president of AT&T South Carolina. The Palmetto State was the first of the states in the territory of the former BellSouth in which the telco won video-franchise reform and made commitments to introduce U-verse Internet Protocol video services.

AT&T failed to gain similar support in the Tennessee General Assembly earlier this year after a bruising battle on Capitol Hill.  The issue is expected to resurface in next year's legislative session.

Earlier in his 29-year telecommunications career, Morton served as AT&T's vice president of legislation and chief of staff for government relations, based in Washington, D.C.

Morton will succeed Marty Dickens, who recently announced plans to retire, effective Oct. 1.

Morton, a native of Aiken, S.C., began his career with BellSouth in South Carolina as a manager in Charleston. In the 1980's he went to Washington, D.C., as the company's director of legislative affairs. He returned to Columbia, S.C., in the 1990s and advanced to become BellSouth liaison to the U.S. Telecom Association.

An administrative-management graduate of Clemson University and former chairman of the school's board of visitors, Morton has, in keeping with AT&T-BellSouth tradition, been highly visible in South Carolina.  Among other posts, he is a former chairman of the Board of Regents for Leadership South Carolina.

Note: In this updated version, Morton's hometown is corrected to read Aiken, S.C.