VANCOUVER – Wireless and wireline operations at Telus Corp. will be combined under one executive roof, the company announced this morning.
The integration (which the company had taken stabs at in the past, sources told cartt.ca) really moved forward quickly with the departure of Telus Mobility president George Cope to Bell Canada a month ago, and “is consistent with Telus’ national growth strategy to provide integrated solutions that differentiate Telus from its competitors,” says the press release.
“The change positions Telus to leverage the ongoing convergence between wireless and wireline technology and Telus’ continual focus on operational efficiency and effectiveness.
Telus Mobility and Telus Communications will merge into one structure that incorporates the company’s customer facing business units, technology infrastructure and operations and shared services. Telus will continue its past practice of separate financial reporting of its wireless performance.
“The merger of Telus Mobility and Telus Communications is consistent with the advancement of Telus’ national growth strategy, focused on data and wireless, that we established five years ago," said president and CEO Darren Entwistle. "We are focused on being one team, united behind one strategy and defined by one brand."
As for who’s in charge of what, here’s the list:
Customer facing business units
* Joe Natale, executive vice-president and president of Business Solutions. Natale leads a national team that provides innovative and integrated telecommunications, information technology and wireless solutions to Telus’ small, medium and large private and public sector business customers across Canada and is also responsible for Telus International.
* Karen Radford, executive vice-president and president, Telus Québec and Partner Solutions. Based in Montreal, Radford leads a regional team serving business, consumer and wireless customers in Québec. She retains her role as president, partner solutions, heading a North American team that provides wholesale and carrier services to telecommunications providers, as well as operator services for customers.
After 31 successful years with Québec Tel and Telus Québec, Hugues St-Pierre will retire in his capacity as president, Telus Québec.
* John Watson, executive vice-president and president of consumer solutions. Watson now leads a team responsible for wireless and wireline consumer market growth across Canada by providing innovative and integrated Internet protocol, voice and wireless solutions. In 2004, John was executive vice-president with Telus Mobility, and most recently was responsible for Telus’ consumer wireline services and customer care in B.C. and Alberta.
Business enablers
* Joe Grech, executive vice-president, network planning and operations. Grech’s national team is responsible for Telus’ network planning and assurance, field operations, engineering and logistics support. His team delivers communications solutions including voice, data and Internet protocol services.
* Kevin Salvadori, executive vice-president, business transformation and chief information officer. Salvadori leads the company’s capital management and IT teams and is responsible for all aspects of Telus’ wireless and wireline IT systems architecture, application development and maintenance, technology operations, as well as physical and technology security.
* Eros Spadotto, executive vice-president, technology strategy. Spadotto assumes overall responsibility for Telus’ integrated wireless and wireline technology strategy, network spectrum, development architecture and vendor management. He was Telus Mobility’s executive vice-president of network operations and chief technology officer.
Shared services
* Judy Shuttleworth, executive vice-president, human resources..
* Robert McFarlane, Telus executive vice-president and chief financial officer.
* Janet Yale, executive vice-president, corporate affairs. Yale’s team is responsible for the creation, execution and oversight of all aspects of Telus’ corporate affairs including the areas of public policy, law, regulation, government relations and corporate communications.
"On behalf of the entire Telus team, I would like to applaud Hugues St-Pierre for his significant contributions to Telus’ success over the years," said Mr. Entwistle. "I have enjoyed working with Hugues, and am sincerely grateful for the important role he played in the execution of our national growth strategy. Hugues has also made an invaluable contribution to the communities in Eastern Québec, including Rimouski."
"Given that Telus will not be proceeding with a CEO of Telus Mobility as a result of the merger, I am currently in discussions with Wade Oosterman, executive vice-president and chief marketing officer, about future opportunities related to Telus," Entwistle added. "Wade has been the architect of Telus’ leading brand and an invaluable leader in delivering the enormous success of Telus Mobility over the years."
