Telecom Executive Moves – Second Half of May

TELCO MOVES END OF MAY

Welcome to another installment of Telco Moves!

Your biweekly guide to the notable hires, promotions and leadership changes in the global Telecom and ICT community.

Here are some of the major executive moves announcements from the second half of May 2020.

You can review the leadership announcements from the first half of May 2020 via this link. 

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Wipro

Wipro Limited announced the appointment of Thierry Delaporte as the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of the company, effective July 6, 2020.

Until recently, Thierry Delaporte was the Chief Operating Officer of Capgemini Group and a member of its Group Executive Board. During his twenty-five year career with Capgemini, he held several leadership roles including that of Chief Executive Officer of the Global Financial Services Strategic Business Unit, and head of all global service lines. He also oversaw Capgemini’s India operations, and led the group’s transformation agenda, conceptualizing and driving several strategic programs across various business units.

In addition, Wipro announced the appointment of Deepak M Satwalekar, a widely respected financial services professional, to its Board of Directors for five years effective July 1, 2020, subject to the approval of the shareholders.

 

Etisalat

UAE telecoms operator Etisalat announced that its CEO Saleh Al Abdooli has resigned for personal reasons.

The board of directors has accepted his resignation and appointed Hatem Dowidar as acting CEO for the group, a statement said.

Al Abdooli, who has been associated with Etisalat since 1992, was appointed as the group chief executive in March 2016. Dowidar has been serving as Etisalat International’s CEO since March 2016.

In November last year, Etisalat’s chairman Eissa Al Suwaidi also resigned for personal reasons, with Obaid Humaid Al Tayer appointed as his replacement.

 

Colt

Colt Technology Services has announced the appointment of Keri Gilder (current Chief Commercial Officer) as the company’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

Gilder replaces current CEO Carl Grivner, who after five years with Colt, has decided to step down.

Grivner has led a period of immense growth and transformation at Colt, with his tenure centring around investing heavily in Colt’s IQ Network, with a particular focus on ensuring Colt can facilitate the high bandwidth connectivity requirements of today.

 

Three UK

Three UK announces the appointment of Carlo Melis as Chief Network Officer. He will be responsible for the continuing transformation of Three’s network that will deliver major 4G enhancements and 5G for its customers.

Carlo joins Three UK from Wind Tre in Italy, where he has held several senior roles across network and technology integration for the past 14 years. During this time, he was responsible for the network integration following the merger of Wind and 3 Italia, implementing a new telco cloud core and the radio access network.

Three UK also announced the appointment of Elaine Carey as chief commercial officer for Three UK and Ireland.

At Three Ireland, Elaine Carey has driven the strategic commercial agenda over the last 13 years to build a financially sustainable business. She has spearheaded all of the business’ consumer commercial activities, During Elaine’s time as CCO for Three Ireland, the company’s market share has grown from 1 percent to 36 percent. 

Prior to joining Three, she has also held senior roles at Eircom and Digicel.

 

9mobile

Seasoned telecoms expert, Alan Sinfield has been named as new CEO of 9mobile by the Board of Directors of Emerging Markets Telecommunication Services Limited (EMTS), trading as 9mobile. 

He succeeds Stephane Beuvelet, who held the position in an acting capacity when the new board took over the company’s management in November 2018.

Sinfield brings a wealth of global operational expertise having held leadership roles at numerous mobile, fixed-line and broadband data operators as well as retail, media, and wholesale distribution businesses across emerging markets in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. 

He has been chief executive officer since 2006.He was previously the Chief Executive Officer at Amara Communications Co. (ananda), a 4G LTE mobile broadband operator in Myanmar.  Before now he was the Chief Executive Officer of Cadcomms (qb), in Cambodia. His other earlier roles included being CEO at Ooredoo (Starlink) and also as Chief Information Officer and Chief Customer Services Officer at Orascom Telecom (IraQna).

 

NTT Australia

NTT Australia has announced chief executive Steve Nola will retire from his role in September 2020 after 30 years in the IT industry. A replacement is yet to be named.

Steve Nola kicked off his career as an electrical engineering graduate deploying Australia’s first fibre optic networks in the mid-1980s for Telecom (now Telstra) in Sydney and Melbourne, and joined Australian networking distribution company ComTech Communications in 1989.

In 2011, Nola took on a new role as global CEO for the Dimension Data Cloud Solutions business unit. He returned to the top Australian role in 2016 subsequently taking up the CEO role for NTT Australia when NTT Group brought 31 companies and brands together in October 2019 to form the new operating company.

 

NTT DATA

NTT DATA Corporation announced  the implementation of personnel change in executive officers to be appointed on June 17, 2020 and new allocation of organizational responsibilities. As announced on March 27, 2020, the Company plans to shift to a company with an Audit and Supervisory Committee. This personnel change is subject to approval of related proposals at the 32nd Ordinary General Meeting of Shareholders.

The list of personnel changes and shifts in organizational responsibilities can be reviewed here.

 

Telenor

Telenor Group announced the creation of a Nordic Hub focusing on growth segments and increasing collaboration across its individual operations, as it also reduced the size of its senior management team.

Telenor Denmark CEO Jesper Hansen will become COO of the Nordic Hub from the start of August, with the new division led by Telenor head of Nordics and DNA Finland CEO Jukka Leinonen, who retains his current job titles.

Telenor Group’s acting head of commercial and strategy Lars Thomsen will take over at the helm of its Danish operation and step down from the central executive management team. Its head of corporate affairs Anne Kvam will also leave its top team to lead the company’s climate initiatives.

The changes to the group’s executive management team take effect on 1 June and reduce the number of members from nine to seven.

 

Vodacom Group

Vodacom Group has simplified its structure following the recent expansion of its African portfolio and accelerated growth ambitions on the continent, including financial and digital services, positioning it as a leading Pan African technology company.

Vodacom Group has named Balesh Sharma as the managing director and CEO of its newly-carved out standalone South African operating company — Vodacom South Africa.

Balesh will report directly to Shameel and will join the reconstituted Vodacom Group executive committee (Exco) with effect from 1 July 2020.

Balesh is currently the Director of Special Projects for the Vodafone Group. Previously, he was CEO of Vodafone Idea and the Chief Operating Officer of Vodafone India. 

With effect from 1 July 2020, Beverly Ngwenya and Sitho Mdlalose will join the new Vodacom South Africa Exco as Technology Director and Financial Director respectively, reporting into Balesh.  

 

Vodafone

Vodafone, the world’s second-biggest mobile operator, has recruited Jean-Francois Van Boxmeer, the current CEO of brewer Heineken, to succeed Gerard Kleisterlee as chairman from November this year.

The British company said Van Boxmeer, a Belgian, will join as a non-executive director on July 28.

He has been Heineken’s CEO since 2005, presiding over a nearly threefold increase in its share price through a combination of strategic transactions and organic growth. 

 

Huawei

Huawei’s Australian business unit has announced the appointment of Theodore Shao to the role of head of Huawei Australia Enterprise Business Group (EBG).

The news follows the exit of outgoing managing director for enterprise, Huawei Australia Colin Hu.

Mr. Shao has held a number of different roles at Huawei Australia since joining the company in 2002, including roles as state manager of Western Australia, as well as his most recent role as solution director of EBG. The appointment of Shao to the position is the first time that Huawei Australia has appointed a locally based employee in this role, the company says.

In addition, Huawei has announced the appointment of Sun Baocheng as the new chief executive for its Brazilian operations.

The new chief of the technology giant’s Brazil business has been working in the country over the last six years. Prior to being promoted to the top role in Brazil, he had been serving as president of the company’s carrier business group since 2017.

Baocheng, an automation specialist, has been working at Huawei since 2005 and held various senior roles at the company’s operations in China.

 

Pegasystems

Pegasystems announced two new leaders to its alliances leadership team, Carola Cazenave, vice president, global partner ecosystem, and Daniel Österberg-Holm, vice president, alliances, channels, and specialist sales, EMEA.  

Ms. Cazenave joins Pega from IBM where she was vice president, NA business partner ecosystem. Ms. Cazenave has held executive leadership roles in sales, cybersecurity, digital, marketing, go-to-market development, and service centers. 

Mr. Österberg-Holm was most recently at ServiceNow, where he served as area vice president for EMEA alliances and channels, and area vice president of EMEA specialist sales. He has more than 25 years of experience in EMEA sales and partner leadership roles at leading technology providers including EMC and Avaya.  

 

Aviat Networks 

Aviat Networks announced the appointment of Ms. Dahlia Loeb, a managing director of Arcadia Investment Partners, to its board of directors effective May 19, 2020.

Ms. Loeb has been a managing director of Arcadia Investment Partners (“Arcadia“), an investment firm, since May 2016. She has also been a managing partner at Reveille Capital Management, an investment firm, since February 2008. Before Arcadia, Ms. Loeb was a portfolio manager at Arrowgrass Capital Partners LLP, a hedge fund sponsor, and was a managing director and portfolio manager at Intrepid Capital Management, a hedge fund sponsor.

 

Ringcentral

Another Microsoft corporate VP has joined the RingCentral executive team. Former channel chief Phil Sorgen is now the UCaaS provider’s chief revenue officer.

At RingCentral, Sorgen reports to his former Microsoft colleague, Anand Eswaran, who RingCentral recruited as president and COO in January. Eswaran was corporate VP for Microsoft’s global enterprise business before joining RingCentral’s executive suite as the No. 2, reporting to CEO Vlad Shmunis.

Sorgen, Microsoft’s former channel chief from 2013-2016 until Gavriella Schuster stepped into that role, joined RingCentral in May. A 24-year Microsoft veteran, Sorgen was corporate VP for Microsoft’s enterprise commercial group before arriving at RingCentral.

 

F5

F5 announced the appointment of Tom Fountain as Executive Vice President of Global Services and Chief Strategy Officer. 

Fountain will succeed Steve McMillan, who was recently named President and CEO of Teradata, beginning June 8, 2020.

Fountain joined F5 in 2018 from the security company McAfee, where he was Senior Vice President of Strategy and Corporate Development. Prior to McAfee, Fountain held multiple leadership roles at Juniper Networks, including General Manager of the company’s Content & Media Business Unit and Vice President of Corporate Strategy. 

 

Optus

Optus has strengthened its executive leadership team with the appointment of Kate Aitken, Libby Roy and Poppy Fassos.

Kate Aitken is set to join Optus as Vice President, Human Resources in August responsible for end-to-end HR at Optus and aligning HR initiatives across the Singtel Group.

Kate brings a wealth of HR experience to Optus from financial services, serving in a number of senior regional and global Human Resources and business roles at Goldman Sachs, Macquarie and most recently, with Westpac, where she was General Manager of Rewards, Culture and Capability.

Libby Roy has joined Optus as Managing Director SMB having recently been PayPal’s Managing Director in Australia. 

Poppy Fassos has joined Optus as Head of Business Risk Management, responsible for Business Risk Management for Consumer Australia. Poppy previously held roles across risk management, strategy and transformation, corporate affairs, and marketing and was most recently at NBN Co Australia.

Each of the three new executive appointments will report directly to Optus Chief Executive Kelly Bayer Rosmarin.

 

Siklu

Siklu announced the appointment of Ilana Lurie as New Chief Financial & Chief Operations Officer and Secretary of the Board and Itzik Marcovich as Vice President of Operations of the company. 

Ilana is joining Siklu after her latest position at NovelSat, a leader in satellite communication technology, where she served as CFO, responsible for all financial aspects and operations oversight and serving as Secretary of the Board, leading a major debt restructuring process which significantly improved NovelSat financial health. 

Itzik joined Siklu in 2011 as Director of Supply Chain.  Prior to joining Siklu, Itzik was the head of subcontracting management in AudioCodes Ltd. Previous to AudioCodes Itzik served as the head of subcontracting purchasing department at ’Israel Aerospace Industries’ (IAI) (NASDAQ:ISRAI.UL).

 

Nashua Mobile

Nashua Group has appointed a long-time company executive, Barry Venter, as its new CEO, replacing Mark Taylor at the Reunert-owned technology provider.

Venter, who has been with Nashua for 22 years, started as a contractor, worked in the company’s warehouse, packed Sim cards and sold second-hand phones to dealers before working his way up into management roles, including as GM of operations and later as chief operating officer of Nashua Mobile.

 

Ritter Communications

Heath Simpson has been named as chief financial officer for Ritter Communications, the Jonesboro-based broadband and communications firm. 

Simpson brings 25 years of extensive financial and operational experience. Simpson participated in industry transformative transactions during his over 10 years at AT&T. He also served as a senior executive with Frontier Communications, leading Corporate Development, Strategy and Financial Planning and Analysis.

More recently, Simpson served as CFO of BACOM, Inc., a privately-held telecom infrastructure company. 

 

Eurofiber

Eurofiber has appointed Chris Bakx as Managing Director Group Marketing effective June 1.

Chris Bakx started his career as a consultant, after which he made the switch to the telecom sector. From 2005 Bakx worked at Liberty Global, where he held a variety of international senior management and executive positions, including product management, pricing, and commercial development. Until recently he held the position of Chief Marketing Officer Central & Eastern Europe.

 

Megafon

The director for innovations and infrastructure at Russian mobile operator Megafon, Frederic Vanoosthuyze, has been appointed an advisor for strategic infrastructure projects to the CEO of the company, effective from 01 July.

Pavel Korchagin will replace Vanoosthuyze in his current position. Korchagin presently works as CEO of New Digital Solutions, a joint venture by Megafon and Rostelecom to develop 5G networks. 
 
 

Hitachi Vantara

Hitachi Vantara, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hitachi, has appointed Dennis Naidoo as GM and sales director of Hitachi Vantara South Africa.

Naidoo has been with Hitachi Vantara since October 2017, with previous roles within the company as director of Professional Services (2018) and director of Global Solutions Services Business for Sub-Saharan Africa (2017).

 

HMD Global

Finnish mobile company HMD Global said it has appointed Adam Ferguson as Head of Product Marketing. Adam will report directly into Chief Marketing Officer Stephen Taylor.

Adam’s appointment comes close on the heels of Stephen Taylor joining the company as Chief Marketing Officer,

Ferguson has been the former Head of Marketing for OnePlus in Europe. He has also held senior marketing positions at EE, Nestle, and Unilever.

 

Paessler

Network monitoring provider Paessler has expanded its Asia Pacific leadership team with the appointment of 20-year IT industry veteran TeeHaw Pang as Asia Pacific Regional Director.

Based in Kuala Lumpur, Pang joins Paessler from digital infrastructure provider Tata Communications, where he held the position of Director of Partner Sales.

Paessler says Pang will be working alongside Daniel Sultana, who has recently been promoted to Asia Pacific Regional Director, based out of Sydney, and whose most recent role with the Paessler was as APAC Business Development Director.

 

Thanks for reading and feel free to check in with us again in 2 weeks’ time!

 

 

 

Have we missed anything? Email us at info@phoenixcareer.co.uk or comment directly under this post if there is a leadership announcement we should have included in our weekly roundups.

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