Lumen CEO Kate Johnson: Seattle tech, AI, Microsoft, and 'cloudifying' telecom

Kate Johnson is based in Denver in her role as Lumen Technologies CEO and president, but she has been spending a lot of time in the Seattle area recently, and not just because one of the local stadiums bears the company's name.

Johnson sees the Seattle region an ideal test bed and proving ground for Lumen's offerings, including consumer and business broadband, voice, and data services.

Yes, it helps that she has a home here, as a holdover from her prior role as Microsoft's U.S. president. But beyond that, she cites the region's importance as a major U.S. tech hub, the home of the biggest cloud platforms, a strong community of tech companies, and tech-savvy families who understand the appeal of fiber internet service.

"The market is growing, and we are well-positioned to serve it," she said. "I've been spending time making sure we're making the appropriate investments, that I'm understanding our opportunities, and that we're capitalizing on them."

It's part of a broader effort by Johnson and her team to reinvent the publicly traded telecommunications company, which was formed by the combination of Level 3 Communications and CenturyLink in 2017 and rebranded as Lumen in 2020. Johnson was named Lumen CEO a year ago and took over the role in November 2022.

Educated as an engineer, with past experience at companies including Oracle, Red Hat, and Deloitte, Johnson is one of 53 female CEOs of Fortune 500 companies. She is charged with sparking new growth at a company that reported a net loss of $1.5 billion last year, after special charges, on revenue of $17.5 billion, down 11% year-over-year.

In a recent podcast interview at Seattle's Lumen Field, she discussed topics including:

The evolution of the telecommunications industry and the need to reinvent the classic telecom business model amid the rapid increase in data and the rise of generative artificial intelligence.

Her ongoing efforts to change Lumen's culture, including an unusual series of internal meetings that have been ultimately constructive but initially unsettling for some longtime employees and executives. 

Her tenure at Microsoft, and her recent experiences using Microsoft 365 Copilot as part of her work. Lumen has been one of the companies piloting Microsoft's corporate AI tools prior to their broader release in November.

Audio editing by Curt Milton. Hosted by Todd Bishop. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.