Jim Geist, 'CEO of the people,' dies at 78
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By RICHARD PIERSOL/Lincoln Journal Star
He started with the local phone company in 1947, working in a shop.
For almost 50 years, except for time spent with the Air Force, Jim Geist was a working man for the phone company known first as Lincoln Telephone and Telegraph, and as Lincoln Telecommunications Co. when he retired as CEO in 1993.
Geist died Sunday at age 78 of cancer.
He was one of those rare people who rose from entry-level blue-collar to chief executive.
Geist saw and helped guide his company’s evolution from the shop to the boardroom, from analog to digital and hard-wire to wireless.
He went from shop to switchman, to installer and repairman, and in 1960 became a personnel man, then supervisor, then director of personnel in 1964, assistant to the vice president, VP of operations in 1973, executive VP in 1976 and CEO in 1983.
More than anyone else, he personified LT&T, one of the biggest independent telephone companies in the country, when independent meant it was not part of the old Bell System or any other bigger phone company.
Jack Geist, his brother, who is also retired from the company, recalled Jim’s devotion to his employees.
“One of the best recollections I have of him was, he was a president or CEO of the people,” Jack said. “He always had his employees at heart.
“I was given the task of calling some of his old telephone cronies in the industry, and without exception, they had always had good things to say about Jim.”
Jim Geist presided, not always happily, over enormous changes in his industry and company, as the Bell System was broken up by the federal government, competition entered the local and long-distance phone market and hard-wire customers started migrating to cellular service.
In an industry increasingly focused on profit, Geist was among those who, while answering to shareholders, still viewed the telephone company as a public service.
“He was extremely concerned about what’s happening in the industry today,” said Jack Geist.
And when Jim Geist was unhappy, you knew it.
“Even within the family, you know, he certainly was outspoken,” Jack said. “It was all for the good of the order, so to speak.”
Brad Hedrick, now Windstream’s vice president of operations for the Nebraska market, was schooled under Jim Geist.
“I actually kept in contact with him,” Hedrick said. “He called me on an issue a couple of weeks ago. It was an honor he asked me if I could help him out.”
“Jim Geist was respected as a strong leader, committed to excellence and service,” Hedrick said. “He had the foresight to make investments in the network that led to many innovations.”
Hedrick listed them: conversion to 100 percent digital switching systems that allow custom calling features, caller ID and voice mail; conversion of aerial cables and party-line service to buried cable and single-line service throughout the 22 counties of the company’s territory; one of the first companies to implement direct long-distance dialing, when most calls still had to go through an operator; the first company in the United States to implement 911 service, in Hebron; fiber-optical transport networks; cellular service in Lincoln; and the first frame-relay data service in Nebraska, the forerunner of broadband Internet access service.
“He really laid the foundation of many services in Southeast Nebraska we just take for granted,” Hedrick said.
Paul Schudel, a Woods & Aitken partner who used to work on regulatory matters for Jim Geist, recalled Geist’s commitment to the phone company’s independence.
“That was not to be,” Schudel said. After Geist retired, the company changed its name to Aliant, then was acquired by Alltel, with much public dissatisfaction. Alltel then spun off its wire-line telephone service, which merged with a Texas company, Valor Comunications to become Windstream.
Active in a variety of community, industry and local business organizations, Geist believed those duties were part of his responsibility, Hedrick said.
“I would sum up Jim Geist as old-school in the most complimentary way, a stand-up guy,” Hedrick said. “He believed in doing the right thing, even if it wasn’t popular or politically correct.
“You knew where he stood on an issue and he expected you would do the right thing.”
Geist’s funeral is scheduled for 1 p.m. Friday at First-Plymouth Congregational Church, 2000 D St.
Reach Richard Piersol at 473-7241 or at dpiersol@journalstar.com
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