OVERLAND PARK, Kan. -- Sprint (NYSE: FON - News, PCS - News) announced today the appointment of Gary D. Forsee to chairman of Sprint's Board of Directors, effective immediately. Forsee, 53, will continue to serve as Sprint's president and chief executive officer.

William T. Esrey will retire today as chairman and leave the company's board of directors. Esrey, 63, joined Sprint in 1980. He was elected chief executive officer of Sprint in 1985 and Chairman in 1990.

"It is both humbling and inspiring to follow in the footsteps of an exceptional leader like Bill Esrey. I am honored to assume the role of chairman," Forsee said.

He added, "Bill Esrey's contributions to Sprint are immeasurable. His vision and dedication through more than two decades at Sprint has transformed the company into the global telecom leader that it is today."

In recognition of his contribution to Sprint, the company's Board of Directors has granted the distinction of Chairman Emeritus to Esrey.

"Under Bill's leadership, Sprint has grown due to a solid combination of strategic vision and commitment to excellence. From a personal standpoint, I want to thank Bill for his friendship, guidance and support. He and his wife, Julie, will continue to be a part of the Sprint family. I know that countless others extend their thanks as well, both here at Sprint and across the industry."

Esrey said, "I am honored to have worked for a great company and to be a part of the Sprint family for so long. I will miss the many people with whom I have worked at Sprint over the years. Sprint, I'm confident, will continue to grow under the direction of Gary Forsee. As Gary has said on many occasions already, this is Sprint's time, and I believe it can be Sprint's finest because of the dedication of its 72,000 employees."

In a separate release:

Sprint (NYSE: FON - News, PCS - News) chairman, president and chief executive officer Gary Forsee today outlined for shareholders his top five priorities for the company, described his vision of Sprint as the premier integrated communications company and explained a disciplined course for company expansion through increased sales penetration into Sprint's existing customer base.

Forsee said, "It is clear that for Sprint to continue to effectively compete and succeed, our top priorities must be:

"As the 54th largest company in the Fortune 500, we have scope, name recognition and market presence," Forsee said. "Selling into our existing base of PCS, local and long distance customers is a powerful recipe for revenue growth. We've already had notable success in offering bundled products."

Currently, 49 percent of Sprint's residential local customers subscribe to Sprint long distance, around 30 percent of Sprint's residential long distance customers also buy Sprint's PCS service, and about 18 percent of Sprint's PCS consumer customers also buy long distance from Sprint.

"The permutations are many when you start playing with the combinations, and just slight increases in penetration of sales into our existing customer bases -- whether local, long distance or wireless -- could add millions of dollars of revenue to Sprint's equation," he said. "Our cross- selling advantages grow exponentially on the business side. Consider that today Sprint receives a little under 19 percent of what our corporate customers spend on telecom services individually. If we push that up 1 percent -- only 1 percent -- we could increase incremental annual revenue by nearly $400 million."

Forsee was emphatic, however, that growing the business and improving customer service would share equal attention from Sprint's management team.

"Our goal in this regard is simple -- to be the best and achieve the highest level of customer satisfaction, as we benchmark against others. We can have the newest technology, the finest networks or the best products, but if we don't deliver the highest and most sustained level of customer service, then customers will leave, and our company will fall behind."

During his remarks, Forsee noted achievements and challenges facing Sprint's local, long distance and wireless business units, saying he was optimistic about the prospects of each operation individually.

"But once you start putting these separate parts together, Sprint can provide a level of integrated offers difficult to match," he said.

He illustrated how integrated offers were already benefiting Sprint customers, highlighting recent customer win SchlumbergerSema. The company is a $13 billion, multinational company involved in a variety of businesses with demanding requirements for both wireline and wireless telecommunications in the U.S.

"Sprint is serving their needs on both sides of the equation," he said. "On the wireless side, we link their employees across the country with PCS phones and data services. On the wireline side, we will serve them with a nationwide Frame Relay data network. These are both major opportunities for Sprint -- and they also open doors to creative new applications. For example, SchlumbergerSema supports utilities across the country with the ability to read gas and electric meters remotely. We are currently exploring how Sprint's wireless and wireline networks can help carry that telemetry. If our technology can reduce SchlumbergerSema's operating costs and expand their market opportunities, it is a true 'win-win' situation for a highly valued customer and for Sprint."

The value proposition of an integrated offer, he said, "will become even more compelling as Sprint brings more advanced capabilities and a seamless customer experience across the wireline and wireless network environments.

"It is an evolutionary process, but the end goal is to generate sustained revenue growth and distinguish Sprint as the leading integrated communications company."

During the meeting, Forsee also addressed the issue and timing of recombining Sprint's PCS and FON Stocks.

"The short answer is, we have not made any decisions in this area, but we do believe a recombination of the stocks is likely at some point," he said. "We continue to assess the advisability of doing so. With the tracking stock structure in place, however, Sprint has obtained cost synergies and aggressively pursued cross sales, bundling and other revenue enhancing activities. These cost reduction and revenue growth activities are clearly in the interest of both sets of shareholders and Sprint as a whole. We will continue to pursue cost reduction and revenue enhancement opportunities. In any case, it is a decision that will be made by the Board of Directors and they will consider all relevant factors."

Forsee stated that Sprint will keep shareholders appropriately informed of any plans in this area as Sprint makes those decisions.

He also addressed the contribution of Bill Esrey, who announced his retirement as chairman and a member of the board prior to the meeting. "Sprint occupies a distinct place in the telecommunications industry. This is a result of more than a century of strong, and often exceptional, leadership. I speak for my whole team when I say it is both humbling and inspiring to follow in the footsteps of exceptional leaders like Bill Esrey, and Paul Henson before him. Under Bill's leadership, Sprint grew from a local telephone company into a worldwide provider of wireless and wireline communications services. Sprint's rise is a testimony to his strategic vision and commitment to excellence.

In a separate release:

Sprint (NYSE: FON, PCS) today announced the appointments of three key senior leaders reporting to Gary Forsee, Sprint chief executive officer.

"I'm pleased that each of these executives has agreed to join Sprint. We wanted them because of their experience, intellect, and leadership skills. The addition of these three leaders is an incredible complement to our existing management team," said Forsee, "and completes the company's senior leadership team."

Howard E. Janzen, 49, has been named president of the Global Markets Group (GMG), responsible for leading the division's domestic and international marketing, product development, sales, and support services. Janzen's responsibilities also will encompass the development and delivery of solutions to enable network-centric applications for the enterprise, small-business and consumer markets. The GMG organization includes Sprint Business (including the government services division), Sprint International and the Mass Markets Organization.

Most recently, Janzen served as chairman, president and chief executive officer of Williams Communications, where he led the company in completing its next-generation fiber network.

"Howard has a proven track record of outstanding leadership in the communications industry," Forsee said. "His ability to build an organization and lead it are well-documented. He is results-oriented, focused and determined to win."

Michael W. Stout, 56, has been named executive vice president, chief information officer, responsible for providing strategic vision to the Information Technology Services organization. His primary focus will be on the development and deployment of the company's information technology resources and positioning the company as an industry leader in technology.

Most recently, Stout served as vice president and chief technology and information officer for GE Capital, where he directed IT development for GE's 25 global financial services businesses consisting of over 8,000 IT resources and an annual IT budget of over $2 billion.

"Mike is a world-class talent who will be a world-class CIO at Sprint," Forsee said. "His strategic skill and mastery of complex projects across diverse business units make him an ideal candidate for the job. His track record of ongoing performance improvement and transformational leadership will be crucial to Sprint's success as it continues to evolve as a leader in integrated communications."

Bruce N. Hawthorne, 53, has been named executive vice president and chief staff officer, responsible for the management and functional integration of all Sprint staff operations including human resources, organizational integration, communications, brand management, strategic planning, corporate security and Sprint Quality. Hawthorne, an attorney and senior partner in King & Spalding comes to Sprint after heading one of the nation's leading telecom practices. He has worked closely with Sprint for almost 15 years as outside legal counsel.

Hawthorne served as Sprint's lead outside counsel for virtually all of its significant transactions since the early 1990's, including the multi-billion dollar domestic alliance to create Sprint PCS; the creation of Sprint's FON and PCS tracking stocks; the $3.5 billion strategic investment in Sprint by France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom and the creation and unwinding of their international alliance; and a multitude of merger and acquisition, joint venture, and debt and equity financing transactions.

"Bruce is a trusted adviser to Sprint who knows our business, has watched it transform and understands the path to the future we're taking," Forsee said. "His knowledge and insight into Sprint and the rest of the telecom industry will be an invaluable asset to the Sprint management team. Further, his ability to direct an organization through the complexities of today's business environment is a critical asset."

In a separate release:

The board of directors of Sprint has declared regular second quarter dividends for the Sprint FON Group (NYSE: FON - News). A dividend of 12.5 cents per share on Sprint FON Common Stock, Series 1 was declared and will be paid June 30, 2003, to shareholders of record at the close of business, June 9, 2003. The FON Group is composed of Sprint's Global Markets Division, Local Telecommunications Division and other operations.

Sprint Corp.