In a sad turn of events at the beginning of the conference, CTIA vice president of wireless Internet development Mark Desautels died of an apparent heart attack on Monday afternoon, CTIA officials confirmed today. Desautels was 56.
“Mark has been an outstanding employee since joining the association in 1998, and was a dear friend and valuable colleague to all of us here at CTIA and to many in the wireless industry,” CTIA president and CEO Steve Largent said in a statement. “His insight and forward-thinking were tremendous assets as he led several key industry business development initiatives, and I know he will be missed terribly. On behalf of CTIA—The Wireless Association’s staff and our members, we send our condolences to his family, especially his three daughters Alexandra, Meredith, and Theresa. They will be in our thoughts and prayers.”
Desautels was a pioneer in the wireless data field long before the long before the mobile Internet and exploded into the marketplace. Before joining CTIA in 1998, Desautels was president of the Wireless Data Forum, at a time when the wireless Internet consisted of WAP text pages on a two-tone screen. After joining CTIA he oversaw the wireless Internet caucus and developed the educational sessions and speaking programs for CTIA’s two main trade shows: CTIA Wireless and CTIA Wireless IT & Entertainment, which started as a smaller event but turned into a major trade show in its own right.
