H. I. Romnes

Haakon Ingolf "H. I." Romnes (March 2, 1907 – November 19, 1973) was an American electrical engineer and telecommunications executive. He spent his entire working career in the Bell System, beginning as an engineer at Bell Telephone Laboratories in 1928 and eventually serving as chairman and chief executive officer of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company from 1967 until 1972.

As a young Bell engineer, Romnes worked on long-distance circuits and radio-telephone technology. He and R. R. O'Connor described the Bell System's early general mobile telephone network in a 1947 engineering paper, and AT&T later identified him as a member of the team whose work led to the first commercial mobile telephone call in 1946.

Romnes subsequently held senior engineering, operating and manufacturing posts, including chief engineer of AT&T, vice president for operations, president of Western Electric, vice chairman of AT&T and president of AT&T. As chief executive, he led what was then one of the world's largest corporations during a period of rapid technological change, deteriorating telephone service in several metropolitan areas, major labor disputes, federal rate regulation and increasing competition in telecommunications equipment and data transmission.

Early life and education

Romnes was born in Stoughton, Wisconsin, on March 2, 1907. He was the eldest of five children born to Norwegian immigrants who had settled in Stoughton, a community with a substantial Norwegian-American population. His father operated a bakery, where the young Romnes helped sell the family's products.

He graduated from Stoughton High School in 1924 and enrolled at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. To help pay his expenses, he worked during summers as a telephone lineman and pole climber. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering in 1928.

Bell System career

Engineering work

Romnes joined the technical staff of Bell Telephone Laboratories in New York immediately after graduating in 1928. He initially worked in toll-circuit development and other aspects of long-distance telephone engineering. A 1930 issue of the Bell Laboratories Record reported that he was assisting with tests of long-distance circuits and repeater equipment in North Carolina.

Romnes's engineering research concerned telephone circuits and mobile radio systems. He received six patents in circuit design.

Romnes and fellow Bell engineers Alton Dickieson, D. Mitchell and R. R. O'Connor worked on the radiotelephone equipment and network that preceded modern cellular service. The system was inaugurated in St. Louis on June 17, 1946, when a call was placed from a telephone installed in an automobile. It employed a central transmitter and a small number of radio channels, meaning that only a few subscribers in a city could use it simultaneously.

In 1935, Romnes transferred from Bell Laboratories to AT&T's engineering organization. He subsequently held assignments at both AT&T and the Illinois Bell Telephone Company, including service as Illinois Bell's chief engineer.

In 1955, he was promoted to vice president for operations and engineering.

President of Western Electric

On March 17, 1959, Romnes was elected president of Western Electric, the Bell System's manufacturing and supply subsidiary. He succeeded Arthur B. Goetze. Soon after his appointment, he visited Sandia National Laboratories, whose operations were then managed for the federal government by a Western Electric subsidiary.

Western Electric had three principal responsibilities during his presidency: manufacturing equipment for the Bell telephone companies, distributing and repairing that equipment, and performing national-defense work. Romnes reorganized the company to reflect those missions, creating operating divisions for manufacturing, service and defense work.

Western Electric's defense responsibilities included work connected with the Semi-Automatic Ground Environment, the Nike missile program and the management of Sandia. In 1959 the United States Atomic Energy Commission approved another five-year term for Western Electric's operation of Sandia after Romnes presented the company's proposal.

He remained Western Electric's president through the end of 1963 and was succeeded by Paul A. Gorman in January 1964.

AT&T president and vice chairman

Romnes returned to AT&T as vice chairman of the board in 1964. His first presidency began in January 1965. The company's annual reports document his progression from vice chairman to president and later chairman.

As president, Romnes spoke frequently about technological change, automation and the growth of computer-based communications. His 1967 address "Management and Man in the Computer Age" discussed the responsibilities of business managers as computerized systems increasingly affected employment and corporate decision-making. He also addressed cooperation between industry, education and government at a 1969 conference sponsored by AT&T and the United States Office of Education.

Chairman and chief executive of AT&T

Romnes became chairman and chief executive officer on February 1, 1967, succeeding Frederick R. Kappel, who had reached AT&T's mandatory retirement age. Ben S. Gilmer succeeded Romnes as president, while John D. deButts became vice chairman. After Gilmer retired in 1970, Romnes again held the presidency in addition to the chairmanship.

At the beginning of Romnes's chairmanship, AT&T had assets of approximately $32.8 billion, around one million employees and more than three million shareholders. Through its operating companies, the Bell System handled approximately 85 percent of telephone communications in the United States.

Technologies introduced or expanded during his senior-management years included the first commercial electronic telephone switching system, Touch-Tone dialing, communications satellites, trans-Pacific telephone cables, the Trimline telephone, Picturephone service and the designation of 9-1-1 as a national emergency number. His background as an engineer influenced his interest in research, manufacturing and network modernization.

Following the Carterfone decision in 1968, Romnes created a senior tariff-review committee to devise rules governing customer-owned terminal equipment. AT&T subsequently filed tariffs permitting such equipment to connect through a Bell-supplied protective connecting arrangement.

The Federal Communications Commission also examined AT&T's interstate earnings and rates. After extensive proceedings, the commission prescribed a lower range of permissible earnings and ordered reductions in interstate charges. Romnes maintained that AT&T required sufficient earnings to finance expansion and encourage technological progress.

Telephone service deteriorated in New York and several other fast-growing metropolitan areas during 1969 and 1970. AT&T and its operating companies increased capital spending, borrowed money and sought rate increases to finance additional switching equipment, cables and maintenance.

Romnes also faced growing competition from specialized carriers and data-communications companies. Historians of telecommunications have described his administration as somewhat more willing than that of his successor to consider limited competition and controlled interconnection while maintaining the Bell System's integrated nationwide network.

Labor and equal-employment controversies

A nationwide Bell System labor dispute occurred in 1971. On July 21, during negotiations, Romnes spoke by telephone with President Richard Nixon about the dispute, its possible settlement and wider questions of productivity, wages and industrial competitiveness. Some local strikes continued for months after the principal settlement.

AT&T was also under pressure from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the FCC over the employment and promotion of women and racial minorities. In December 1970, Romnes issued a statement defending the Bell companies' training and employment programs while acknowledging the limited representation of minorities in management and professional positions.

The dispute continued after his retirement and resulted in a major federal consent decree in 1973. Historians have identified the AT&T proceedings as an important development in the spread of affirmative-action employment programs in the American private sector.

Retirement and later activities

AT&T announced in late 1971 that Romnes would retire after reaching the company's mandatory retirement age of 65. John D. deButts succeeded him as chairman and chief executive on April 1, 1972. Robert D. Lilley became president as the responsibilities formerly held by Romnes were divided among several executives.

After retirement, Romnes remained an AT&T director and chairman of its executive committee. Romnes served as a director of Pacific Telephone and Telegraph, Chemical Bank New York Trust Company, Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, U.S. Steel, the National Safety Council, the American Cancer Society and the Downtown-Lower Manhattan Association.

He was a trustee and president of the board of trustees of the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.

Personal life and death

Romnes was married to Aimee C. Romnes. The family lived for many years in New Jersey.

Romnes died of leukemia in Sarasota, Florida, on November 19, 1973, at the age of 66.

A later New Jersey Supreme Court case concerning his estate dealt with the inheritance-tax valuation of the survivor's annuity payable to his widow under AT&T's pension plan.

In 1974, he was posthumously awarded the John Fritz Medal, an award presented for outstanding scientific or industrial achievement in pure or applied science.

The University of Wisconsin–Madison and WARF established the H. I. Romnes Faculty Fellowships in recognition of his leadership. The program supports recently tenured faculty members who have demonstrated exceptional research contributions. The fellowship has continued to be awarded to scholars throughout the university.

Selected publications