Verizon Wireless Names Garwood to Head Midwest Region

Minneapolis, MN — Verizon Wireless has named Rich Garwood president of its Midwest Region markets, including Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota. In his new role, Garwood will be responsible for the regions' sales and financial performance.

Garwood is an 11-year veteran of the wireless industry. He began his career as a sales representative for Bell Atlantic Paging and held several positions with Bell Atlantic Mobile including General Manager of National Accounts and Director of Sales. Garwood was most recently the Vice President of Sales for Verizon Wireless Messaging Services in Dallas.

Garwood, a native of Virginia, holds a bachelor's degree from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virgina and is currently pursuing his MBA from the University of Phoenix. He will reside in Minneapolis with his wife and two sons.

About Verizon Wireless

Verizon Wireless is the largest wireless communications provider in the U.S. with more than 25 million wireless voice and data customers and nearly 3.4 million paging customers. The new coast-to-coast wireless provider was formed by the combination of the U.S. wireless businesses of Bell Atlantic Corp. and GTE Corp --now Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) -- and Vodafone Plc (LSE:VOD; NYSE:VOD). The new company includes the assets of Bell Atlantic Mobile, AirTouch Cellular, GTE Wireless, PrimeCo Personal Communications and AirTouch Paging. The new company has a footprint covering nearly 90 percent of the U.S. population, 49 of the top 50 and 96 of the top 100 U.S. markets. Verizon Wireless, headquartered in New York City and Bedminster, NJ, is 30,000 employees strong. Reporters and editors can find more information about the company in its Media Center on the Web at: http://www.verizonwireless.com/mediacenter.

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