Fran Dramis Leaving BellSouth

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (registration required) reports today on the staggering number of BellSouth executives leaving the company in the aftermath of AT&T’s $85.5 billion purchase of the Baby Bell. One of the many long-time and well-respected BellSouth executives who’s leaving, according to the newspaper, is CIO and E-Commerce and Security Officer Fran Dramis (above). Dramis joined the company in 1998 as its CIO. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution notes that none of the execs reporting to AT&T Chairman and CEO Ed Whitacre is from BellSouth. Jim Senn, a Georgia State University professor, is quoted saying he’s not surprised so many top BellSouth executives don’t have jobs with AT&T since the deal was a pure acquisition, not a merger of equals. The article also quotes an AT&T spokesperson who said all of BellSouth’s executive officers were offered jobs. Yeah, but what kind of jobs were they?!

Dramis has done a lot of good at BellSouth, judging from CIO’s coverage of his work over the years, so I’ve no doubt he’ll get snatched up by another company soon enough.  

In other news, Avnet CIO Steve Phillips is one of four executives who yesterday was named an officer of the Phoenix, Ariz.-based electronic component distributor. Phillips joined Avnet when his previous company, Memec, was acquired in 2005.

Victor Marsh was named VP and CTO for Weather Central and MyWeather.

Steve Smith started a new job with Idearc earlier this week.  He’s the yellow and white pages directory provider’s SVP and CIO.  Smith most recently worked for Travelport as its group vice president and CIO, guiding the development of the company’s products and services for its travel agency and airline customers.