[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 38 (Wednesday, March 10, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Page S2530]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              JOHN HOFFMAN

 Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I rise to honor a very special person 
with whom many of us have worked over the years on a variety of 
technical and important issues. These issues have been and continue to 
be of great importance to the American consumer and the world 
marketplace.
  I learned recently that John Hoffman, currently Senior Vice President 
of Sprint Communications, has decided to leave and remit the ongoing 
telecommunications debate to others. I think that what I, and others, 
will perhaps miss most, is the calm, rational and fair presence that 
John brought to the telecommunications debate here in Congress and 
elsewhere.
  John has spent his entire career, some thirty years, with Sprint, 
helping bring it from a small local exchange company to a major state-
of-the-art communications company providing services to millions of 
businesses and consumers.
  Throughout John's career, which began in 1970 while John was still in 
law school at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and Sprint was 
called United Telecom, he persevered through tough times and retained 
his vision of what the small company could become. I don't think there 
is any doubt that his ideas and efforts were right.
  Sprint, today, is a global communications company at the forefront in 
integrating long distance, local and wireless communications services 
and one of the world's largest carriers of internet traffic. With 
John's help and diligence, Sprint built the nation's only all-digital, 
fiber optic network and is the leader in advanced data communications 
services.
  John has been a good friend to me over the years. He should be very 
proud of his contributions to making Sprint the world class company it 
is today.
  I wish the best to John, his wife Linda and daughter Heather. Good 
luck John, and feel free to call me--I know you have a phone.

                          ____________________