Theodore Newton Vail

Theodore Newton Vail was an American businessman who served as the general manager of the Bell Telephone Company from 1878 to 1887 and became the founding president of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) in 1885. Vail viewed telephone service as a public utility and moved to consolidate telephone networks under the Bell system. In 1913, he oversaw the Kingsbury Commitment that led to a more open system for connection.