New Telecom CEO

Telecom announced this morning that Dr Paul Reynolds will replace Theresa Gattung as CEO.

Dr Reynolds is currently CEO of the network access division (called Open Reach) of British Telecom. He should not be confused with local IT personality Paul Reynolds.

I think this is a good appointment as it signifies the Telecom Board has a commitment to making Telecom succeed as an operationally (or structurally) separated company.

Telecom also deserve kudos for releasing now, rather than at annual report time, his salary details. He will get $1.75m a year plus up to another $1.75 million in performance bonuses. And he is guaranteed employment (effectively) for a minimum period of three years and gets 12 months of salary if they ask him to resign at any stage after that. Seems to be what one would expect for NZ’s largest company and about right for what he was on in the UK.