George Burnett: reinventing The Yellow Pages.

• Author: Bronikowski, Lynn
• Position: Executive edge - Dex Media Inc. chief executive officer

TO HEAR GEORGE BURNETT TALK ABOUT THE LATEST VERSION of QwestDex, you'd think he just won the lottery. The president and CEO of Dex Media Inc. gets excited to the say the least, rattling off a host of innovations since he came aboard in 2000. He even occasionally hugs the Yellow Pages, at least for photos. He calls it the "book hug."

"Were launching 16 Hispanic directories--all in Spanish--because were becoming a completely pluralistic society," said Burnett of this summer's innovation. "We have a CD-ROM version that employees can click on from their desktop, and this fall we're offering a completely searchable product."

And that's just for starters.

Burnett heads the $1.6 billion Yellow Pages directory that employs 3,000, serves more than 400,000 businesses and reaches 11 million households in the West. By 2006, he expects the company to grow to $2.2 billion.

Not bad for a company that this year was sold off by Qwest Communications International Inc., in a $7.05 billion deal to help resolve the communications giant's financial woes. The sell-off to Carlyle and Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe was the second largest corporate buyout in U.S. history and the largest since 1989, Burnett is quick to point out.

"That was the most fun I've ever had in my career--selling the investment community on this company," said Burnett. "It was a fantastic time--100 presentations in 14 days all over the country."

And not once did he grow tired.

Burnett came to Dex Media from American Electric Power Consumer Retail where he was president and CEO. Before...