Changes at Alaska Communications: Anand Vadapalli takes the helm.

• Author: Bohi, Heidi
• Position: TELECOMUNICATIONS

After less than six months in his first professional position right out of college, Anand Vadapalli, the new CEO and president of Alaska Communications, left the promising job to start his own technology and management consulting business. His parents and fiancee were skeptical, but he knew if he was going to take a professional risk, he needed to do it while he was still young enough to be motivated by fear.

Also not convinced the young man was making the right decision, Vadapalli's boss sent him off with cautionary advice that continues to resound with him more than two decades later, as he settles into one of the telecommunications industry's top positions.

"If you continue to work here, you will learn at my expense," the mentor told him. "If you go out on your own, you will learn at your expense and you will learn much faster."

Predictably, he had his ups and downs in those three-and-a-half years of being self-employed, Vadapalli says. But the lessons learned early on have stuck with him, along with the memories of getting his first contract and first check from a customer.

"One of the reasons I believe I have been able to grow the way I have is that I've never lost sight of the fact that it is growing and winning and keeping customers that keeps businesses successful," he says. "And I've learned this at my own expense."

EXTENSIVE BACKGROUND

Originally from Hyderabad, India--a major hub for the information technology industry in the country Vadapalli, 45, earned his degree in mechanical engineering from Osmania University in Hyderabad, as well as a post graduate diploma in management (P.G.D.M.) from the Indian Institute of Management in Calcutta, India. After a brief time in Bombay and then Hyderabad, he moved to the United States in 1994 to start on his Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, which he put aside to join Cincinnati Bell in 1996, launching his career in telecommunications. He held various positions there through 2003, including vice president of information technology, before serving as executive vice president and chief information officer for Network Telephone Corp., a position he held for one year.

In 2004, he joined Valor Telecom as vice president of information technology, where he worked until joining Alaska Communications as senior vice president of network and IT in 2006. His first years at the company were focused on building the technological infrastructure. As executive vice president of technology...