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).
From banker to ‘Bachelor’
Aaron Buerge, a 1997 mechanical engineering graduate and president of the First National Bank in Springfield, Missouri, was the focus…
The fine art of tuning a Corvette
Charlie Rusher, a 2011 graduate in mechanical engineering, “makes Corvettes sound like Corvettes.” Rusher was interviewed by The New York…
Suzanna Long: An ‘80s alumna remembers
Engineering management Chair Suzanna Long, who holds four degrees from the university...
Nick Swanson and Julia Ingram
Although Nick Swanson and Julia Ingram met during an informational meeting for FRC Robotics during high school back in 2011,…
David and Karen (Miller) Sorrell
In the spring semester of 1979, David Sorrell was looking for an “easy A” during his senior year at Missouri…
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…