DALLAS -- AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) announced that John Stankey has been appointed president and chief operating officer of AT&T Inc., effective Oct. 1, a new position reporting to Randall Stephenson, AT&T chairman and CEO. Stankey will also continue serving as CEO of WarnerMedia.

The company named AT&T executive Jeff McElfresh CEO of AT&T Communications LLC effective Oct. 1, replacing John Donovan, who earlier announced his retirement. McElfresh will lead AT&T’s largest business unit, AT&T Communications, a global telecom leader serving 100 million mobile, broadband and pay-TV customers in the United States, and millions of business customers, including nearly all of the Fortune 1000.

Reporting to Stankey in his expanded role will be: McElfresh; his current WarnerMedia executive team; and Brian Lesser, CEO of Xandr.

Stankey, 56, joined AT&T in 1985 and has served in a variety of leadership roles, including: corporate strategy and M&A; media and entertainment; operations, IT and technology; consumer mobility, broadband and TV; and enterprise business.

McElfresh, 48, has nearly 25 years of experience with AT&T in a variety of strategic, operational and technology leadership roles. Before being named to lead AT&T Communications, McElfresh was president of AT&T Communications’ Technology and Operations group where he was responsible for the company’s network, technology, cybersecurity, data and labs operations. Prior to that, he served as: CEO of AT&T’s Vrio and its DIRECTV Latin America and SKY Brasil businesses; and President of AT&T Mexico and a member of the board of directors and executive committee of Telmex and América Móvil, overseeing AT&T’s since-divested minority interest in the two companies.

AT&T