Samuel L. Ginn (born April, 1937), a native of Anniston, Alabama, received a degree in industrial management from Auburn University in 1959. He is considered a pioneer in the wireless communications industry and is a retired chairman and CEO of Vodafone AirTouch, PLC. Ginn was appointed by Gov. Bob Riley for an at large seat on the Auburn University Board of Trustees in 2005. His term expires on February 16, 2012. His $25 million gift to the AU College of Engineering in 2001 helped fund a wireless engineering degree program and has helped vault Auburn into the nation's elite wireless research and teaching institutions. In recognition of the gift, the college was renamed the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering.
Ginn was elected a director of Chevron Corporation in 1989. He is a private investor and retired chairman of the board of Vodafone AirTouch, PLC. Previously, he was chairman of the board and chief executive officer of AirTouch Communications, Inc., from 1993 to 1999 and chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Pacific Telesis Group from 1988 to 1994. He currently is a director of ICO Global Communications (Holdings) Limited, The Business Council, Templeton Emerging Markets Investment Trust PLC and the Hoover Institution Board of Overseers.