Alumni leading the telecommunications industry

Roy Wilkens, EE’66, and Mario A. Padilla, MetE’60, worked for years to challenge and change the status of the telecommunications industry in the early to mid 1990s. 

Wilkens, founder, president and CEO of telecommunications company WilTel, worked to challenge and outpace the “big three” at the time of AT&T, MCI and Sprint. His 3,500 employees worked with business communications to provide network solutions. “All I had was a gimmick to start out with, and that was putting fiber inside a pipe,” says Wilkens about his fiber-optics cable project that turned into a company. 

Padilla was vice president of new markets business development for AT&T in Morristown, N.J. He stated in 1993 to Missouri S&T Magazine that “we have come to the age of The Jetsons,” when referring to a communications revolution that would affect our life as dramatically as interstate highways or televisions. 

For some, it is hard to imagine a life without the communication devices we have today, but perhaps future Miners can pick up the mantle of the two and continue to develop new technologies. 

Share This Story

Spark a Memory?

Share your story! Fill out the form below to share your fondest memory or anecdote of S&T. If you'd prefer not typing, you can also share by phone at 833-646-3715 (833-Miner150).

Jillian (Estes) and Charlie Stankovic

Jillian (Estes) and Charlie Stankovic

Jillian (Estes) and Charlie Stankovic met in 2013 after overhearing stories about one another. During finals week, they played sand…

Katie (Thompson) and Dan Aiken

Katie (Thompson) and Dan Aiken

Katie (Thompson), a member of Zeta Tau Alpha, and Dan Aiken, a member of Sigma Pi, were living next door…

Hannah Ramsey-Standage and Chayne Standage

Hannah Ramsey-Standage and Chayne Standage

Hannah Ramsey-Standage and Chayne Standage met in 2014 after being cast in a Miner League Theatre Player production of “Grease”…

Kala Longman and Maxwell Rose

Kala Longman and Maxwell Rose

Kala Longman and Maxwell Rose met in 2015 thanks to mutual campus interests and a similar friend group. But it…

Builders of the bomb

Builders of the bomb

The U.S. government’s Manhattan Project, which led to the development of the first nuclear weapons, was a massive but highly…

The sun’s on their side

The sun’s on their side

In 1999, the Missouri S&T Solar Car Team took first place in Sunrayce, now known as the American Solar Challenge….