Valente most recently served as senior vice president, product management and development of Sprint Nextel Corporation, where he was responsible for key facets of the company's $13 billion wireless and wireline product and services portfolio. In this capacity, he led all of Sprint's product development, including Sprint Application Developers Program, enterprise program management, product strategy, as well as the company's innovation efforts.

Valente has devoted his career to advancing the strategic direction of wireless and wireline standards, issues and initiatives. He served as president, treasurer and board member of the CDMA Development Group, and as board member for the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions. He is also the recipient of the CDMA Development Group's Industry Leadership Award.

"Oliver has a rare combination of leadership and operational experience with organizations ranging from start-ups to the Fortune 50," said Ross Manire, ExteNet Systems president and chief executive officer. "With nearly two decades in the industry, he is uniquely qualified to champion the large and increasing number of business opportunities we have to build distributed antenna systems (DAS) networks for our customers. His capabilities will help us scale our business for growth."

Valente will have responsibility for network design, implementation activities, network operations center and network maintenance programs. His appointment represents a critical milestone for the company, as it becomes a leading outdoor and in-building DAS network provider.

"As the wireless industry introduces new video and data services and begins offering unlimited usage plans, the need to boost network coverage and capacity accelerates," Mr. Valente noted. "ExteNet Systems' DAS networks just make sense for the wireless providers -- they are easy to deploy, discrete and give great coverage and capacity. I'm delighted to join the ExteNet Systems team at such an exciting time in the evolution of the business."

Valente's employment with Sprint Nextel spanned 16 years, where he began his career as a network engineer. Since that time, he served in several executive leadership positions, including chief technology officer & vice president of engineering and technology development. In that role, he was responsible for leading a team of 1,500 who delivered all new and emerging technologies for Sprint's integrated wireless and wireline network.

Valente received his MBA from the Keller Graduate School of Management, and earned his BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.