Long-time AT&T chief financial officer John Stephens said Tuesday that he will retire in March. Current WarnerMedia CFO Pascal Desroches has been named to succeed him on April 1. During the transition period Desroches will serve as AT&T senior executive vice president -- finance.
Stephens was named CFO of AT&T in 2011 -- he joined the company in 1992 as a director-Federal Taxes in St. Louis -- and helped lead the company through its aggressive entrance in the media business, first with the 2015 purchase of DirecTV and culminating with the buy of Time Warner Inc. in 2019.
“I greatly appreciate John’s outstanding leadership, tireless dedication and many significant contributions to AT&T over the years,” AT&T CEO John Stankey said in a press release. “His financial expertise and strong commitment to our investors, employees and customers have been invaluable as we invested to become a leader in connectivity and content. He has helped us maintain the financial strength and flexibility needed to create long-term value for shareowners. While he won’t be retiring until next spring, I want to take this opportunity to wish John and his family all our best in the years ahead.”
Desroches has served as CFO of WarnerMedia since 2018. Prior to that he was CFO at Turner and global controller at Time Warner Inc. Before he joined Time Warner, Desroches was a partner at KPMG and served as a senior advisor to the chief accountant of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
“Pascal is an impressive financial executive whose strategic thinking and leadership I’ve seen first-hand at WarnerMedia. His deep and broad experience spans media and telecom, as well as corporate finance, public accounting and regulatory compliance,” Stankey added in the . “I look forward to working closely with him again as we execute on our plans across AT&T to invest in our growth platforms, operate effectively and efficiently, and deliver value to our investors and customers.”
