Distinguished Engineer Citations

                 

Mary Anne Hicks, P.E.

Distinguished Engineer

2011

Degree

B.S., Industrial Engineering – 1979

 

Citation

At Time of Nomination in 2011

Mary Anne Hicks is the vice president of infrastructure program management at AT&T, a global telecommunications company based in Dallas, Texas. In this role, Hicks is responsible for the introduction of new technology into AT&T's global network and managing large scale network deployments.

Hicks received a bachelor of science in industrial engineering from Texas Tech in 1979. She began her career at Southwestern Bell Telephone Company as a transmission equipment engineer in Dallas. During the first 12 years of her career, Hicks held a variety of engineering and planning assignments.

In 1991, Hicks joined SBC's integrated marketing team to establish a custom proposal center for sales. In 1993, Hicks returned to the network organization and led the planning activities for the 713, 214, and 314 area code splits. As director of network planning, she was responsible for Southwestern Bell's five state network including switching and transport. After the SBC/Pacific Bell merger, Hicks served as the SBC lead to set merger initiative goals for network. In 1997, she was named director of switching engineering for the seven state network.

In 1999, Hicks was named executive director of network engineering for SBC Telecom. She planned, designed, and implemented a 30-city out-of-region network ahead of schedule, meeting all FCC due dates and avoiding $1.2B in penalties for SBC/Ameritech merger commitments. In 2001, Hicks led the SBC data services team for SBC's 13 state Digital Subscriber Loop (DSL) and ATM/Frame Relay network. She also implemented and led SBC's access management team, responsible for acquiring network access through effective supplier negotiation and mechanized cost models that reduced SBC's cost of access by eight percent on a multi-billion dollar cost stream. Hicks also led the engineering team for SBC's internet network during this timeframe.

In February 2006, Hicks was appointed lead for the network merger synergy team as a result of the AT&T and SBC merger. In this role, she assembled a start-up team and program managed the various merger initiatives resulting in significant cost savings for the combined companies. After the BellSouth/Cingular merger, Hicks assumed the lead network role again achieving significant merger savings. In January 2008, she led the U.S. transport engineering team for AT&T and was responsible for implementing transport strategies that reduce cost, improve service, and support AT&T revenue generation.

In July 2008, Hicks was named vice president of international engineering for AT&T in San Antonio, Texas. In this role, she managed an engineering team located in 15 countries around the world. She was responsible for planning, expanding, and implementing network equipment in support of AT&T's international data and transport products. Key projects included implementing lawful intercept in India. In 2010, Hicks moved back to Dallas and assumed her current role.

Hicks is active in her community, including support for Habitat for Humanity and Women of AT&T. She leads several mentoring circles and is passionate about encouraging young women to pursue their career dreams. She served on the Texas Tech Industrial Advisory Board from 1999 to 2005 and currently serves on the Texas Tech Whitacre College of Engineering Dean's Council. She resides in Dallas, Texas with her husband Gary and has two grown children, Carolyn and Robert, one son-in-law, John, and one grandson, Jacob.

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