T-Mobile reshuffles executive ranks as Mike Katz exits

- Mike Katz is stepping away from T-Mobile after more than two decades with the company - Chris Sambar, formerly of AT&T, is joining T-Mobile as chief enterprise officer - André Almeida is getting an expanded role overseeing marketing, brand and broadband The executive shuffle is in full swing at T-Mobile today. Mike Katz, chief business and product officer, is stepping away to pursue “new professional interests,” remaining in a strategic advisory role through December 2026. The company didn’t say what Katz expects to do next. He’s been in a prominent role at T-Mobile for many years, having worked there for more than two decades, leading marketing, strategy, product, brand and communications. Elsewhere, wireless industry veteran Chris Sambar is joining the company as chief enterprise officer, effective no later than October 14, 2026. Among his duties will be leading T-Mobile’s SMB, enterprise and government businesses and helping scale emerging growth opportunities, like T-Ads and Physical AI. He will report directly to T-Mobile CEO Srini Gopalan. Sambar previously spent two decades at AT&T, where he led the company’s 5G mobile network deployment and led enterprise sales, including the design and deployment of the FirstNet public safety network. He left AT&T in October 2024. What else do we know about Sambar? He’s most recently been chief operating officer at Public Storage, which is a far cry from the mobile business. He served more than 20 years in the U.S. Navy, including seven years on active duty, and he really is not a fan of CBRS. André Almeida's new role The executive changes also include Chief Broadband, Enterprise & Emerging Business Officer André Almeida being appointed to an expanded position as Chief Marketing, Brand & Broadband Officer. Almeida will partner with Chief Operating Officer Jon Freier to oversee T-Mobile’s consumer wireless and broadband businesses. T-Mobile’s network, technology, product engineering and cyber are being integrated under the leadership of Chief Technology Officer John Saw, whose title is not changing. Part of Saw’s job is to advance seamless connected experiences for consumers and build the next generation of AI and 6G experiences. Gopalan became CEO of T-Mobile in November after many years at T-Mobile parent company Deutsche Telekom and apparently he wasn’t done picking his team. “With these appointments, I am confident T-Mobile’s leadership team has the speed, focus and expertise to shape the next generation of our industry as we continue to innovate and disrupt with a truly differentiated offering for our customers,” Gopalan said in a statement. Sambar brings D2D energy In Sambar, T-Mobile will be getting a mobile network veteran familiar with differentiated services in the form of AT&T FirstNet, which aligns well with T-Mobile's own much vaunted T-Priority service built on their 5G slicing, according to Roy Chua, principal of AvidThink. Likewise, Sambar is one who was bullish on direct-to-device (D2D) and non-terrestrial network (NTN) markets prior to his departure from AT&T. He’ll likely be able to understand how to continue to grow and leverage T-Satellite, T-Mobile's partnership with Starlink/SpaceX, Chua said. As for Almeida, he’s getting more responsibilities in the mainstream B2C business and T-Mobile's brand marketing (which Katz had been running) is a critical asset to the business and has been since the days of former CEO John Legere. Chua said Katz and Almeida have quite different styles and personalities and he’s looking forward to seeing if the tone of the brand changes in any way with Gopalan’s focus on operations, Sambar focusing on B2B in SMB and beyond and Almeida taking the branding helm. That said, Katz’s energy and enthusiasm when he ran T-Mobile for Business and later as CMO will be missed. “He represented a good blend of marketing savvy with a strong strategic component. It's too bad that he's headed out,” Chua said. More on T-Mobile and executive leadership changes: T-Mobile names Srini Gopalan as CEO T-Mobile's Ewaldsson retires amid new leadership changes Chris Sambar to depart AT&T after 22 years