Current local sales, marketing and product director, Nigel Dews, will replace Russell from January 2007, according to a statement issued this afternoon by Hutchison.
Russell has held the top spot in Australia for the last five years, steering Hutchison through the launch and expansion of the nation's first third-generation (3G) mobile network under the "3" brand.
Dews has been in his current spot since 2003, and has previously worked at publisher Fairfax, in addition to consultant McKinsey & Company and the Reserve Bank of Australia. Hutchison claims over one milion customers Down Under.
