After almost 19 months, uncertainty still hangs over T-Mobile US’ proposed acquisition of Sprint, but questions about who will lead the company going forward have been answered. T-Mobile US today announced that Mike Sievert, who currently serves as president and COO, will assume the position of CEO on May 1, 2020.

The move marks the end of John Legere’s run at the company, which began in September 2012. During the last seven years, he has revitalized the company, lambasted its competitors, and fostered a series of initiatives that changed many long-held practices in the industry.

“When I joined the company, the wireless industry was ripe for real change and we saw an opportunity to disrupt this stupid, broken, arrogant industry,” Legere said during a call with investors, analysts, and media. “We set to work breaking from the industry norm, by putting customers first and empowering customers and changing our culture to be focused on the frontline and on eliminating our customer pain points… We not only completely turned around T-Mobile, but we’ve dramatically changed the wireless industry.”

Legere says he will focus the remainder of his time on ensuring a smooth leadership transition and closing the acquisition of Sprint. He will also remain on T-Mobile’s board, at least for the time being. Legere was recently reported to be in the running to take over embattled WeWork, but he downplayed those rumors today and said he has not had any discussions with the company.

Multi-year succession plan

The widely anticipated decision to elevate Sievert to the top position is the “result of a comprehensive multi-year succession planning process that is focused on ensuring a natural progression of the business to find a next-generation leader for T-Mobile,” Legere said, adding that Sievert was one of his first hires at T-Mobile US.

“We are not done yet. Not by a long shot. This will be the start of T-Mobile’s next chapter,” he said. The carrier also announced that CTO Neville Ray is being promoted to president of technology at the company and CFO Braxton Carter is extending his contract to stay with the company through at least July 1, 2020.

Sievert joined T-Mobile US following multiple executive roles at Microsoft, E-Trade, Clearwire, and AT&T. “These are big shoes to fill, but I believe our future is incredibly bright thanks to the turnaround and success story [Legere’s] led over the past seven years,” he said.

“We are all working on something that really matters — changing wireless for good for millions of consumers everywhere,” Sievert added. “T-Mobile will continue to innovate on behalf of consumers and deliver incredible mobile experiences.”

Sievert takes the helm of a very different company than the one he joined in 2012. The operator has consistently outperformed its larger competitors – AT&T and Verizon – on multiple fronts and is positioned for continued growth in the sector.

T-Mobile US will also have the nation’s largest and most broad 5G network in a few weeks. The operator says its “nationwide” 5G network running on 600 MHz spectrum will go live on Dec. 6, but plans to expand that 5G network are anchored to Sprint.

Confidence in Sprint merger outcome

Indeed, much of T-Mobile US’ roadmap is driven by its desire to combine with Sprint. The company is still fighting to push the long-delayed deal with Sprint through, but it faces a trial against a group of state attorneys general that are trying to block the transaction. Executives at both companies most recently said they now expect the deal to close in early 2020.

“That’s not slowing down any of our progress on the deal, but it’s certainly an area that we’d like to giet secompleted as soon as possible. And if we had that to announce for you today we would, but stay tuned,” he said.ave anything to announce but there’s certainly progress,” Legere said.

“That’s not slowing down any of our progress on the deal, but it’s certainly an area that we’d like to get completed as soon as possible. And if we had that to announce for you today we would, but stay tuned,” he said.

Legere and his team remain confident that the companies will be able to combine after reaching a settlement with the state attorneys general or prevailing in court. “I feel quite good that we have the basis for settling this deal, and I feel equally as good if not better in our ability to win this case in a trial,” he said.