John W. Diercksen
Executive Vice President - Strategy, Development and Planning
Verizon Communications

John Diercksen is executive vice president - Strategy, Development and Planning for Verizon, a position he has held since June 2003. He is responsible for corporate strategy, mergers, acquisitions and divestitures, business development, venture investments, strategic alliances, joint ventures and strategic planning company-wide. In this capacity, Diercksen has been instrumental in forging Verizon’s strategy of technology investment and repositioning its assets through the acquisition of spectrum, the merger with MCI, the restructuring of international assets and the spin-off of Verizon’s directories unit.

From 2000 - 2003, Diercksen was senior vice president - Investor Relations for Verizon, He was the corporation's primary liaison with the investment community and Verizon shareholders.

Prior to that, Diercksen served as acting group president - Directory for Bell Atlantic, responsible for the corporation’s $2.4 billion print and online directories business in the United States, and the operations of Global Directory Services in the Czech and Slovak Republics, Gibraltar, Poland, Greece, and China. Prior to that, Diercksen served as chief financial officer and chief information officer of the Directory Group.

Diercksen joined NYNEX in 1986 as vice president - Finance and Administration for Business Information Systems, where he directed all accounting, treasury and human resources functions. In 1991, Diercksen was named vice president - Finance and Treasurer for NYNEX’s Telecommunications Group, responsible for all financial functions, regulatory compliance and resource allocation. In 1997, Diercksen was named chief financial officer of Bell Atlantic’s Directory Group, responsible for the newly merged entity’s financial operations. In 1998, he assumed responsibility for all information systems activities as the chief information officer.

Diercksen began his career in 1971 with the Insurance Company of North America, and held a number of positions of increasing responsibility with Lever Brothers, International Playtex, American Can Co., and Coleco Industries.

An active member of the community, Diercksen is involved with Saint Joseph’s High School, Saint Catherine’s Church, and Saint Catherine’s Visiting Hospital Organizations in Trumbull, CT, and All Hallows High School, and the Archdiocese Inner City Schools in New York City.

Diercksen earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in finance from Iona College, an MBA from Pace University and has completed postgraduate work in financial management.

June 2007