Shelby Bryan

John Shelby Bryan (born March 21, 1946) is an American telecommunications pioneer, futurist, business executive, entrepreneur, and venture capitalist. Early life Bryan was born in Houston, Texas on March 21, 1946. He attended Mirabeau B. Lamar High School in Houston where he excelled in football and boxing. At the age of 16 he became one of the youngest Golden Gloves contenders. Bryan received from the University of Texas a B.A. in 1968 and a J.D. degree, graduating Phi Delta Phi in 1970. He was one of two law graduates in the United States chosen to work in Washington, DC for Ralph Nader, focusing on the passage of the Clean Water Act. In 1973, Bryan received an MBA from Harvard Business School. Career In 1973, Bryan joined Morgan Stanley in the mergers and acquisitions department. He left in 1977 and moved to Houston to form an oil and gas company, Austin Resources Corporation, and a bank holding company, with Ned Holmes, which became Prosperity Bank, one of the largest Texas-based banks. In 1980, Bryan moved back to New York to partner with Jan Stenbeck and set up a company, Millicom, to operate voice and data distribution which became cellular telephony. Bryan served as president of Millicom from 1981-1994. Millicom received one of the first three US cellular developmental licenses in 1981. In addition to operations in the United States, Millicom went on to form cellular joint ventures in over 20 countries throughout the world including Mexico, Hong Kong, the Soviet Union, the Philippines and Pakistan. One of the companies, Vodafone, was formed in partnership with the British company, Racal Electronics.