Gary Forsee was appointed president of the four-campus University of Missouri on Dec. 20, 2007, with his presidency commencing on Feb. 18, 2008. President Forsee received a three-year appointment from the Board of Curators to lead Missouri’s premier public higher education institution.
Born in Kansas City, Mo., in 1950, President Forsee received an engineering degree from the Missouri University of Science and Technology. He began his telecommunications career with Southwestern Bell in Kansas City in 1972. In addition to living and working in communities large and small throughout Missouri, a series of increasingly visible posts took him to Washington, D.C., New Jersey, Atlanta, Georgia and Brussels, Belgium.
On Monday, April 28, 2008, President Forsee gave a lecture titled Return on Investment: Does public higher education still offer value to its stakeholders? His PowerPoint presentation and lecture notes are available below:
President Forsee moved from Southwestern Bell to its parent company, AT&T, in 1981. He joined Sprint in 1989 in Washington, D.C., as general manager and vice president of the government systems division. Rising through the ranks, he became president and chief operating officer of Sprint’s long-distance division.
Next, Forsee became president and CEO of Global One, a joint venture of Sprint, Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom. Forsee later joined the BellSouth Corp., where he was responsible for all domestic operations. He also chaired the board for Cingular Wireless, a BellSouth-Southwestern Bell joint venture.
He returned to the Kansas City area in 2003 in the dual role of Chairman and CEO of Sprint. President Forsee then became Chairman and CEO of Sprint Nextel in 2005. During his tenure, he established a corporate culture that integrated social responsibility with innovation and performance. Sprint Nextel was named the leading telecom innovator by Fortune in 2006.
Throughout his life, President Forsee has been very involved in the broadest range of community and philanthropic activities. As a University of Missouri-Rolla student, he was on the staff of the school paper and served as president of the Kappa Sigma fraternity. In Charleston, Mo., he was a Scoutmaster and chairman of the Chamber of Commerce. He has since led several major campaigns for the United Way, the March of Dimes and many other charitable and community organizations.
Contact President Forsee
