New bosses for Telstra

TELSTRA has replaced its two leaders, appointing current senior executive David Thodey as chief executive officer and current board member Catherine Livingstone as chair.

Ms Livingstone replaces Don McGauchie effective immediately. Mr Thodey's appointment takes effect when incumbent CEO Sol Trujillo leaves Telstra to return to the United States.

Mr Thodey said he was delighted to be appointed chief executive of Telstra and looked forward to building on the strong foundation left by Mr Trujillo's four years at the helm.

"Our strategy remains unchanged: to continue to provide customers with world-class products and services," he said. [World class bullsh*t, he means]

The key to Telstra continuing to win and to serve customers will be finishing our transformation that started nearly four years ago. [It sure needs a lot of finishing]

"Completing the transformation will enable us to deliver a superior customer experience [How about putting enough people on the helpline so customers aren't told to ring back later? That should be easy even for a Telstra CEO] and the financial outcomes that our shareholders expect."

Mr Thodey, 54, has been a senior executive at Telstra for eight years. He joined Telstra from IBM where he was chief executive of IBM's Australian and New Zealand operations. In his current position, he has been responsible for Telstra's corporate, government and large business customers in Australia, TelstraClear in New Zealand and Telstra's international sales division.

McGauchie quits, 'speculation a distraction'

With the chief executive selection process complete, Mr McGauchie resigned as Telstra Chairman and said he would leave the board immediately. "Telstra's strength and ongoing performance are the paramount priority," Mr McGauchie said. "It is my view that speculation on my tenure was a distraction to the business. "Nothing should be allowed to get in the way of David and the management team getting on with the important job ahead of them." [He means that he knows he was a deadhead who was no check on the slimy Trujillo]

The Telstra board also has appointed Telstra's chief financial officer John Stanhope, a contender for the CEO's position, as an executive director of the Telstra board.

The controversy surrounding building materials supplier James Hardie Industries' handling of its responsibilities to the asbestos diseases fund claimed another casualty when Telstra said another director, Peter Wilcox, also was leaving the board, "due to his concern that the James Hardie judgment may cause embarrassment to the company".

The Telstra board had asked Mr Willcox to stay on until the telco's annual general meeting in November, which he had agreed to do. Mr McGauchie also is a director of James Hardie.

Telstra's new chair, Ms Livingstone, has been a director of the company since 2000. [Is that all they can say about her? Sounds like she is a nothing too]

SOURCE