José Antonio Ríos García (1945), a US citizen, is a proven global business executive with significant experience and reputation at the forefront of the telecommunications and electronics industries in media, content and leading consumer technology businesses. Mr. Rios has over 30 years of sustained leadership at key multinational companies such as Millicom, Global Crossing (Lumen Technologies), Telefonica S.A., Hughes Electronics, DirecTV and the Cisneros Group of Companies.
Mr. Ríos has been the Chairman of Millicom since January 2019 and a member of board since May 2017. Until September 2020, he was Chairman and CEO of Celistics Holdings, a leading mobile payment platform and cellular top-up distribution business, providing intelligent solutions for the consumer electronic technology industry across Latin America.
Prior to joining Celistics, Mr. Ríos was the International President and Corporate VP of Global Crossing, later acquired by Level 3 Communications and then merged with Lumen Technologies. Between 1999 and 2001, Mr. Ríos served as member of the Global Management Committee of Telefónica and President and CEO of Telefónica Media. Prior to joining Telefónica Mr. Ríos served as Vice President of Hughes Electronics Corporation, was the founding President and CEO of Galaxy Latin America (DirecTV Latin America), and served as Chief Operating Officer and Corporate Vice President at the Cisneros Group of Companies for 14 years.
Mr. Ríos holds an Industrial Engineering degree from the Universidad Católica Andrés Bello, Caracas, Venezuela.