Cathy Coughlin, appointed president and CEO of SBC Midwest in June 2005, is responsible for the leadership of more than 52,000 employees delivering SBC products and services throughout Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin.

A career telecommunications industry executive who recently celebrated her 25th service anniversary with the company, Ms. Coughlin has held several top positions in the organization including senior vice president of Marketing for Southwestern Bell Yellow Pages; and vice president of Consumer and Business Marketing for SBC Operations.

Most recently, Ms. Coughlin served as president of SBC Midwest Business Communication Services, where she was responsible for a multi-billion dollar portfolio with nearly 500,000 customers and more than 3,500 employees. Ms. Coughlin and her team provided communications products ranging from basic telephone service to complex data and transport services to both small and mid-size businesses and larger government, education and medical customers.

Ms. Coughlin also previously served as president of Ameritech Consumer Services, where she was responsible for communications sales to more than 11 million residential customers across five states.

Ms. Coughlin earned a B.A. in economics from Northwestern University and an M.A. in finance from Saint Louis University. She serves on the board of directors of several organizations, including the Associated Colleges of Illinois, the College of DuPage Foundation, Junior Achievement, and currently acts as the Leadership Workplace Giving Chair for United Way of Metropolitan Chicago. In addition, she is a member of the Economic Club of Chicago and The Commercial Club.

A St. Louis native, Ms. Coughlin resides in Chicago's northwest suburbs, where she enjoys partaking in many of Chicago's cultural experiences including the theater, museums and the art scene.