LeRoy Carlson’s life was a shining example of the American dream. He was an entrepreneur who brought modern communications to rural America, and in so doing built a company that created employment, wealth and opportunity. In 2010, his Telephone and Data Systems (TDS)—one of the top US phone companies without a regional Bell lineage—is a Fortune 500 company traded on the New York Stock Exchange that employs 12,300 people and serves more than 7 million customers in 36 states.
Since founding TDS in 1969, LeRoy had overseen its growth from a small, rural telephone company to a holding company that includes more than 90 telephone companies and printing, computer services, paging, and cellular communications subsidiaries for customers across the United States. TDS is divided into seven main operating units, including TDS Telecom, American Paging, and United States Cellular Corporation, and is led by LeRoy’s son Ted Carlson.
In 1950, LeRoy acquired a company that supplied equipment for independent telephone companies which later lead to the purchase of his first rural telephone company—a small operation in Calvert City, KY that served 218 customers. By the late 1950s, LeRoy had acquired an assortment of small telephone companies, a directory publisher, and some manufacturing operations. He assembled them into a minor conglomerate called Telephones, Inc. Driven by the rewards of investment in new technologies and economies of scale, LeRoy purchased telephone properties adjacent to one another that would provide the critical mass for an efficient operation. He was a risk taker and a visionary, acquiring nine more companies over the next 14 months and investing in new technologies. Based in his hometown Chicago, TDS continues to provides wireless, local and long-distance telephone and broadband service nationwide through its wireless and wireline businesses.
In 1986 on his 70th birthday, LeRoy stepped down from his daily TDS managerial duties and son Ted was named President and Chief Executive Officer. In 2002 he was named Chairman Emeritus of the TDS board of directors. LeRoy held a B.S. from the University of Chicago and an MBA from the Harvard Business School. He was a Kentucky Colonel and an International Engineering Consortium Fellow. Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2010, LeRoy “Roy” Carlson died on May 23, 2016, shortly after his 100th birthday.
Inducted into the Wireless Hall of Fame in 2010.