Karen A. Puckett, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. Joined CenturyTel: 2000

Joined CenturyLink

2000

Positions Held

  • Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer – 2000
  • President and Chief Operating Officer – 2002
  • Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer – 2009

Education

  • Bachelor's Degree - Indiana State University/Terre Haute, Indiana
  • Master's Degree/Business Administration - Bellarmine College/Louisville, Kentucky

With 28 years of telecommunications experience, Karen Puckett is an industry veteran with proven success in the integration of complex operations and the achievement of industry-leading performance.

As CenturyLink's Chief Operating Officer, Puckett is responsible for the end-to-end customer experience and operational performance across the company's six geographical regions. She is also responsible for marketing, sales and customer care for consumer and business customers located in the CenturyLink service areas in 37 states. Under her leadership, the Network Operations Center, Customer Implementation Assurance and Operational Readiness organizations provide shared services to the organizations serving Enterprise and Wholesale customers.

Puckett led the 2001 companywide realignment to the local operating model and General Manager structure, thus placing decision making closer to the customer and making the company more responsive to the marketplace. The implementation of the model as the company has acquired new markets has consistently resulted in fi nancial and operational improvements in the markets.

After joining the company in 2000, Puckett participated in the integration of nearly 1.5 million access lines acquired from GTE, Verizon and Madison River; the sale of the company's wireless properties to Alltel; and the acquisition of fi ber assets to enhance the LightCore network. In 2009, she had a leading role in the merger of CenturyTel and Embarq, creating CenturyLink, the largest Independent telecommunications company and the fourth largest telecom company in the United States, serving more than 7 million access lines.

And in 2011, Puckett helped lead the combination of CenturyLink and Qwest, creating the third largest telecommunications company in the United States, with more than 15 million access lines, more than 5 million broadband customers and an 180,000-mile fi ber network.