Sprint hires ex-Comcast executive after court battle is resolved

Sprint has hired a former Comcast digital executive who battled in court against a noncompete clause in his employment contract at the cable giant.

Robert Roy originally planned to join Sprint over the summer, according to the website Law360 that has tracked a legal battle between the executive and Comcast. Another website said in September that the two sides were “finalizing a settlement,” and Sprint said Monday that the issue was resolved.

Sprint said it hired Roy to be its chief digital officer. Noncompete clauses restrict, for several months or more, the type of jobs or employers an executive can go to after leaving a current employer.

Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure has said previously that noncompete clauses, which are common in the United States, were one reason the wireless company had recruited and hired several senior executives from outside the United States.

At Comcast, Roy had been a senior vice president for digital revenue, which involved running its e-commerce and digital businesses, Sprint said. He previously had worked for Time Warner Cable.

Roy’s new job puts him in charge of a push within Overland Park-based Sprint to engage with customers and potential customers on digital fronts online and on mobile devices when possible. He’ll be in charge of building an “end-to-end digital customer journey” to help acquire “the always-connected customer,” boost sales and provide customer support, the company’s announcement said.

Sprint has said that helping customers find answers to questions, consider sales choices and other service is less expensive for the company when done digitally.

Roy reports to Kevin Crull, who has taken a new position overseeing Sprint’s sales efforts through its digital sales, 1,100 retail stores, 1,500 Sprint outlets in RadioShack stores, telephone sales and its Direct 2 You service for device set-up and upgrades.

Crull had been named president of Sprint’s central area under its One Sprint reorganization announced in November 2015. More recently, he was over its central and northeast areas. Pat Devlin, a former Verizon executive, previously headed the northeast area but left Sprint a few months ago.

Sprint has recently divided the nation into only two areas and named longtime Sprint executive Jaime Jones to head the east area and Jerry Gallegos to lead the west area. Jones previously lead the south area. Gallegos joined Sprint in April.

“We are moving from four areas to two areas because we have two strong leaders who can help us achieve the same results. We can become more efficient, make faster decisions and take action more quickly,” Sprint spokesman Dave Tovar said in an email Monday.

Sprint kept its 19 smaller regional designations under the two national areas. Missouri and Kansas, originally in Crull’s central area, are now in the west area.

This story was originally published December 5, 2016 at 4:04 PM with the headline "Sprint hires ex-Comcast executive after court battle is resolved."