"It was too boring with Jim Ginty retired," Whelan joked in a telephone interview yesterday.
He said that, while the two routinely traded barbs in the media about each other's business tactics, they were, and remain, friends.
Whelan said the timing of his decision served two purposes: It met one of his personal goals, which was to retire from Verizon when he reached 58 (he will turn 58 in June); and his preferred successor, O'Rourke, was available to take over the job now. Whelan said that, if he had waited, O'Rourke could have been moved elsewhere in the company.
Whelan graduated from Temple University's law school in 1974, and began his career with Bell of Pennsylvania in 1977. He became president of Bell Atlantic-Maryland in 1995 and president of Bell Atlantic-Pennsylvania in 1997.
He said one of his proudest accomplishments was leading Verizon through the regulatory thicket that resulted in the company's winning the right to offer long-distance service in Pennsylvania last year.
He also helped thwart a plan backed by archrival AT&T to have state regulators split Verizon into two companies - a move that competitors said would lead to more competition in the state's phone market but that Verizon said would cost the state jobs and money. The issue arose as part of a long-running battle over how much Verizon should be allowed to charge competitors for leasing its local-phone lines; state regulators are close to reaching a decision on those wholesale rates.
"It was nice to be part of the time that made it happen," Whelan said.
Verizon's performance during Whelan's tenure has had its detractors.
The Philadelphia-based Citizens for Consumer Justice, for one, says service has gone downhill since 1993, when Pennsylvania removed a cap on how much profit Verizon - then Bell Atlantic - could make.
