Former BellSouth exec named CEO at fastmobile

Fastmobile, a provider of instant communication applications that was among the first companies to launch a competitive push-to-talk-like instant messaging service usable on GSM phones, announced that John Hoffman, who formerly held executive positions at BellSouth and the GSM Association, has been named CEO of fastmobile.

Kang Lee, fastmobile’s founding CEO and President, retains his position as president and takes up the duties of the newly-created position of chief operating officer. Lee also will remain a member of the Board. In additition to placing Hoffman as CEO, fastmobile also has hired Joe Woods as executive vice president of sales and marketing The addition of the new executives follows fastmobile’s recent announcement of an additional $12 million in Series B financing. The company also recently joined the GSM Association, where company executives will work with wireless operators on initiatives including optimizing the messaging user interface in handsets.

Hoffman has more than 20 years experience in the global wireless industry, most recently having served as president and CEO of Roamware. He also worked as a consultant with several wireless companies, including BellSouth Mobility DCS, Palm, TWS Incorporated, PCSOne and others. In addition, he served on the Board of Advisors for several companies, including Megisto and SoloMio. Hoffman also is a member of the Future Trends Forum, a Spanish global think tank.

Woods was most recently vice president product operations, and strategy and market development, for Motorola’s Personal Communications Sector in North America.