Telstra announced today that it had appointed a new group managing director to head up its wholesale division.
Nerida Caesar (Credit: Telstra)
Nerida Caesar, currently executive director, national sales within Telstra's enterprise and government division, has nabbed the position which had previously been held by Kate McKenzie.
It had been necessary to find a replacement for McKenzie after she was appointed to group managing director, strategic marketing last week, filling the whole left by Bill Stewart who announced his departure earlier this month.
Caesar's appointment is affective 30 March. She joined Telstra in 2006 as executive director of customer management teams. Before starting with the telco, Caesar spent 20 years with IBM, rising to become vice president of IBM Asia-Pacific's Intel Server division.
Caesar said she valued wholesale as a role. "Telstra Wholesale is one of the most exciting and issues-rich parts of the company, and I am very excited to have the opportunity to lead the division at an important time in its history," she said in a statement.
Telstra CEO Sol Trujillo voiced his belief that Caesar's current role, where she is responsible for the relationships with Telstra's biggest enterprise and government customers was "perfect preparation" for the wholesale role.
"Nerida's promotion to GMD of Telstra wholesale is a natural progression for someone who has displayed leadership and vision while consistently delivering results in her sales role with Telstra's biggest customers," he said in a statement.
Any appointments made by the outgoing C.E.O should be watched with great care. His incompetency and destruction of Australia's largest telecommunications company may see this appointment to be a very short stint as mounting speculation rides that the federal government will deem the company under Mr McGauchie and Mr Trujillo's leadership as a failed private venture which in turn will see heaver protected government regulation and control that will serve in the best interests of the shareholders, staff and customers. Oh, what a win-win that would be for everybody. Fingers crossed.