Tom Sawanobori

Thomas (Tom) Sawanobori is CTIA’s Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer. He is responsible for technology and technical matters concerning spectrum, network evolution, cybersecurity and device certification to benefit CTIA’s members and to serve as a technical resource to policymakers. He has 22 years of technology planning, network engineering and operational experience for Verizon, including lead planner for Verizon Wireless’ 4G LTE network.

He was Vice President of Network Planning at Verizon, where he was responsible for technology planning and capital budget management. He led the technology evolution of the network including spectrum planning, 3G/4G technology, LTE and LTE-Advanced, and core network evolution. In addition to his career at Verizon, Mr. Sawanobori worked at Hughes Electronics on Navy Communications and Combat Systems. He served 5 years in the US Navy as a Submarine Warfare Officer and went on to complete 20 years total, retiring as a Commander in the Naval Reserve.

Mr. Sawanobori holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Duke University and a Master of Engineering from California State University-Fullerton.