Opportunity Hall of Fame Inductee

John Stanton and Theresa Gillespie

John Stanton is a pioneer of the wireless industry and led four of the top wireless operators in the United States over the last three decades. During the 1980s, John served as Chief Operating Officer and Vice Chairman of McCaw Cellular, which became the largest wireless operator in the US. In the late 1980s, John began acquiring rural wireless properties with partners Mikal Thomsen and Terry Gillespie.  These properties, along with other merged entities, formed Western Wireless Corporation, which John led as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer through 2005. He also served as chairman and CEO of VoiceStream Wireless, which was spun out of Western Wireless and eventually acquired by Deutsche Telecom in 2001 and renamed T-Mobile USA. Most recently, John served as a director, Chairman and interim CEO of Clearwire Corporation.

John is Chairman of Trilogy International Partners and co-founder of Trilogy Search Partners. John also serves on the board of directors of Microsoft Corporation and Costco Wholesale and previously served on the board of Columbia Sportswear Co. In addition, John serves as Chairman and Managing Partner of the partnership that owns the Seattle Mariners. He previously served on the  boards of Trilogy Equity portfolio companies Immobli, Firethorn, PrePlay and GameChanger Media.  

In the last decade, John has chaired or co-chaired the Business Partnership for Early Learning, the United Way of King County campaign, Whitman College, the Washington Roundtable and the Regional Transportation Commission. He currently serves as the Chairman of Year Up of Puget Sound and a board member at the Institute for Health Metrics Evaluation.

John received his BA in political science from Whitman College and an MBA from Harvard Business School. John and his wife Terry Gillespie have two sons.

Terry Gillespie held several executive titles over the course of nearly 15 years at Western Wireless Corporation, including Vice Chairman, Director, Executive Vice President, Senior Vice President, and Chief Financial Officer. Prior to that, Terry was Chief Financial Officer at a Western Wireless predecessor and Senior Vice President and Controller of McCaw Cellular. She started her career at a national public accounting firm.

Terry received her BA in Accounting from the University of Washington. She serves on the Board of Trustees of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. She is also a co-founder and director of Trilogy International Partners.