AT&T’s Wes Anderson Bags 4th Wash100 Award for Promoting AI Adoption & Innovation in Defense
Executive Mosaic is pleased to announce that Wes Anderson, the president of public sector and corporate officer of AT&T, has won the Wash100 Award for the fourth time. Anderson joined the company in December 2024 and briefly held the position of senior vice president of federal and corporate officer before taking on his current role. Anderson had previously been part of Microsoft, where his last position was that of vice president of federal defense.
For this year’s iteration of the prestigious government contracting industry award, Anderson is being honored for his excellent leadership, fostering innovation and promoting the adoption of secure technologies to meet the needs of the Department of Defense.
If you think Wes Anderson should win the 2025 Wash100 Award popular vote competition, visit Wash100.com today! You have until April 30 to cast your 10 votes.
The Wash100 Awards are handed only to the most outstanding government and government contracting executives. It celebrates the achievements and impacts of awardees and anticipates their future contributions to the nation.
“2025 marks a new chapter as Wes takes on a fresh challenge at AT&T after nearly two decades at Microsoft Federal. For years, Wes has been a driving force behind federal technology innovation, and now, he’s bringing that expertise to one of the biggest names in communications,” commented Jim Garrettson, CEO of Executive Mosaic and founder of the Wash100 Award. “With his deep industry knowledge and proven leadership, it’ll be exciting to see how he shapes AT&T’s federal strategy in the years ahead.”
Proponent of AI in Defense
Anderson is a leader who understands the importance of adopting advanced technologies to support the missions of various government agencies. During his time as federal defense VP at Microsoft, he pushed for access to artificial intelligence in the defense sector.
In an event held in May, the executive highlighted the potential of AI to strengthen U.S. leadership amid great power competition.
“We all know this is a time of great power competition, one with unprecedented near-peer competitors that have the will, economic means and an industrial base to enable their ambitions,” he stated. “One of the questions I often get is, how can you help the DOD bring innovation to their mission, and how can you help us accelerate pace? An area where we’re seeing that potential is with AI.”
To illustrate his point, he mentioned the rapid evolution and mass adoption of ChatGPT. He noted that while mobile phones took 16 years to reach 100 million users, ChatGPT did it in just 60 days.
Anderson already saw how AI could drive innovation when Microsoft’s Azure Quantum partnered with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to explore possible alternatives to lithium for use in batteries. He shared that, through AI and cloud-based supercomputers, the teams were able to identify a viable electrolyte from 30 million candidate elements in just two weeks.
In September, Microsoft, with Anderson’s help, reached an important milestone. The company announced in September that its Azure OpenAI received Impact Level 4 and Impact Level 5 Provisional Authorization from the Defense Information Systems Agency. Azure OpenAI is available to federal agencies through Azure Government, a cloud platform designed to provide advanced compute and analytics capabilities to the U.S. government.
In a blog post published on Microsoft’s website, Anderson gave more examples of how AI can enhance the nation’s defense operations.
He said AI-powered tools can analyze data and respond to dynamic situations in real time. Anderson also pointed out that intelligent technologies can ensure that critical supplies are delivered to the front lines.
Wes Anderson to Continue Government Service at AT&T
In late 2024, Anderson left Microsoft to join AT&T, where he briefly held the roles of senior vice president of federal and corporate officer
now leads the telecommunication company’s business with the federal government.
“As I step into my new role at AT&T, I am excited to continue supporting our nation by driving innovation and delivering solutions that help our country and advance the mission,” he wrote on a LinkedIn post in January. “Joining an organization that shares my passion for serving customers, making a difference and pursuing excellence in all that we do is truly an honor.”
Executive Mosaic is thrilled to have Anderson as one of the excellent government and government contracting leaders in Wash100’s class of 2025.
Vote for Wes Anderson as your favorite GovCon leader on Wash100.com.