Dean Charles E. Hoffman is a native of St. Louis. After graduating from Vianney High School in Kirkwood, MO, he served in the U.S. Air Force as a Russian linguist for four years and was awarded the Vietnam Service Medal and the Air Medal with two Oak Leaf Clusters. After his discharge in 1971, he entered the University of Missouri-St. Louis and graduated with a B.S. in business administration in 1974 and an obtained an M.B.A. in 1976.
Hoffman joined IBM after graduation and began a thirty-seven-year career in business. After IBM, he joined Southwestern Bell Corporation and was the first general manager for the wireless business, launching the network in St. Louis in 1984, the third market in the country to launch cellular service. Subsequently, he served as president and general manager in Boston and Washington, D.C. In 1994, he moved to Mexico City with his family where he served as director general of Telcel, the national wireless carrier in Mexico.
In 1996, he became a regional president for Sprint PCS, building their network and distribution channels in the Northeast. In 1998, he was named President and CEO of Rogers Wireless Inc., Canada's national wireless carrier. In 2001, he moved back to the United States to become President and CEO of Covad Communications, the national broadband carrier. Upon the sale of Covad in 2008, Hoffman continued service on corporate boards until returning to his alma mater and accepting the position of Dean of the College of Business Administration.
He has served on numerous corporate boards, focusing on telecommunications and cloud service companies. Currently, Hoffman serves on the boards of Softlayer Holdings, Dallas, TX and Synchronoss Technologies Inc., Bridgewater, NJ. He is also on the Executive Committee and is Chairman of Advancement at Vianney High School. Past honors and awards include the Cellular Telephone Industry Association's President's award for service to the industry. At UMSL, he is a member of the Auguste Chouteau Society; the Pierre Laclede Society; and Beta Gamma Sigma, the business honor society. He received a Distinguished Alumni award in 2011.