LOS ANGELES, Oct. 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Today, AT&T California announced the appointment of Denita Willoughby as vice president, External Affairs-Los Angeles. She will lead the company's local government and community affairs activities in the Los Angeles area where her team will serve as the face of the company in the community. Ms. Willoughby will be responsible for local policy and philanthropic initiatives and will report to Dave Nichols, AT&T senior vice president, External Affairs, California.

Ms. Willoughby previously served as Vice President of Programming where she was responsible for acquiring content for AT&T's new Internet Protocol (IP) television venture, known as Project Lightspeed. She also has held other leadership roles at AT&T including acting as the Regional Vice President for SBC-West with responsibility for healthcare related business customers.

"With more than a decade of work in the telecommunications industry and her ties to the Los Angeles area, Denita is the perfect choice to lead our external affairs efforts in Los Angeles," said Nichols. "Denita brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to this new role, and we are thrilled to welcome her back to the External Affairs organization."

Ms. Willoughby holds an engineering degree from the University of Wisconsin - Madison and a MBA from Harvard University. She is the President and Founder of the Hi-Beta Investment Club, and a member of organizations including: Digital Coast Roundtable and Women's Donor Circle. She was selected by the NAACP as the recipient of the "Black Woman of Achievement" award, and received the Black Business Association's Leadership Award. Ms. Willoughby has been featured in USA Today, Fortune and Today's Black Woman. She is a former advisory board member for the Los Angeles Airport Business Council, the United Way Team Tech, the South Bay Economic Development Partnership, and the Watts Cinema and Education Center.

About AT&T

AT&T Inc. is one of the world's largest telecommunications holding companies and is the largest in the United States. Operating globally under the AT&T brand, AT&T companies are recognized as the leading worldwide providers of IP-based communications services to business and as leading U.S. providers of high speed DSL Internet, local and long distance voice, and directory publishing and advertising services. AT&T Inc. holds a 60 percent ownership interest in Cingular Wireless, which is the No. 1 U.S. wireless services provider with 57.3 million wireless customers. Additional information about AT&T Inc. and AT&T products and services is available at http://www.att.com/ .

CONTACT: H. Gordon Diamond of AT&T, +1-415-778-1230, or
hgdiamond@att.com

Web site: http://www.att.com/