Appointments
Telenor Group reshuffles top team
NEW DELHI: Berit Svendsen is stepping down from her position as CEO of Telenor Norway and head of the Scandinavia Cluster.
The Board of Directors of Telenor Norway has appointed Petter Furberg as the new CEO. Kaaren Hilsen is announced as the new CEO in Telenor Sweden. Morten Karlsen Sørby is appointed acting Cluster Head of Scandinavia after Svendsen.
Berit Svendsen has been the CEO of Telenor Norway for seven years and has held an additional role of Cluster Head for Scandinavia since March 2017.
During the last six months both Chair of the Board for Telenor ASA, Gunn Wærsted, and Telenor Group President and CEO, Sigve Brekke, have been in dialogue with Svendsen about further career development and potential new areas of responsibility.
Long-term work with management development
“It is important for the Board that the Group Executive Management team continuously broadens and develops its experience and competence, both professionally and geographically. The Board also wants Telenor to develop a wider range of leaders prepared to take on more extensive assignments in the Group, including potential successors to the Group CEO. Some candidates will benefit from more international experience whereas others will benefit from more exposure to the Norwegian market. The Board of Telenor ASA is pleased with how the Group CEO has followed up on the Board’s plans to develop internal successor candidates. Telenor Norway has delivered great results for seven years thanks to Berit’s leadership and, as a result, she is someone we saw as having a key role in Telenor’s future, and it’s a shame and very sad that Berit has decided to decline the offers of new roles presented to her. The Group CEO has really tried to accommodate her wishes,” said Gunn Wærsted, Chair of the Board of Telenor Group.
“At the same time it is satisfactory to see that the long-term work with building leadership means that a complete Group Executive Management and management of our business units are already in place and are ready to deliver on the ambitious plans being made. To succeed in a challenging environment with strong competition, the energy of all employees in Telenor must be directed at delivering the best services to our customers. The Board regrets the uncertainty experienced within the Norwegian Telenor organization in the past few weeks and the strain this has caused for our colleagues”, added Wærsted.
Rotation of roles
“I have tried to find a good solution tailored to Berit’s own wishes, while at the same time ensuring development of competence and experience both for her and others. I greatly respect and understand that international assignments aren’t always fitting. I have therefore explored all options to accommodate Berit’s needs and wishes. As Berit herself showed a strong interest in continuing to work with Scandinavia, and I wanted to keep her in the Group Executive Management, one of the offers was a new fulltime role as head of this cluster and to take my role as Chair of the Board for Telenor Norway,” said Sigve Brekke, Telenor Group President and CEO.
“Berit Svendsen has been a significant leadership figure in Telenor for many years, and she has made great contributions to the company and delivered solid results. I really hoped to continue working with Berit, while I was also clear that as leaders in Telenor, we must be prepared to rotate in the roles in order to increase the pool of competence and experience. It’s disappointing that we have not succeeded in finding a role that Berit wanted to take on,” added Brekke.
The parties have come to an agreement that means Berit Svendsen will step down from her position as CEO for Telenor Norway and Cluster Head for Scandinavia.
“I leave Telenor full of pride over having positively contributed to the company’s development and growth through 30 years. I have had the pleasure of being lifted up and forward by fantastic colleagues and employees. Together we have taken Telenor to new heights, and this has been noticed also outside of the company. I wish all my friends and colleagues in Telenor the best of luck. Now I will take some time off and reset before I surely will take on new and exciting challenges elsewhere,” added Berit Svendsen.
New leaders in Norway and Sweden
Petter Furberg has extensive experience from several of Telenor’s operations and business areas. Since joining the company in 1998, he has held a number of senior management positions, including CEO positions in Myanmar and Bangladesh, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Marketing Officer in dtac, Thailand, and Head of Financial Services for Telenor Group based at Fornebu. Today he is EVP, Cluster Head for Emerging Asia and part of Telenor’s Group Executive Management. Furberg started his Telenor career in the finance department of Telenor International in Norway.
“Petter Furberg has broad experience from senior management roles across Telenor Group. He has been part of leading complex established organisations and has been responsible for building one of our mobile operations from scratch as well as new product areas. I am pleased that he has accepted the demanding role as CEO of Telenor Norway. As Berit, he is a leader who is able to engage people and build enthusiasm. We believe he is the right person to lead a company that is critical both for Telenor Group and for the digitalisation of Norwegian society,” said Brekke.
Bjørn Ivar Moen, current head of Telenor Norway’s Mobile division, will be acting CEO of Telenor Norway from today until Furberg starts. Moen will thereafter remain in Telenor Norway’s management team.
Kaaren Hilsen was until 2017 CFO in Telenor Sweden and has worked for Telenor’s operations in Montenegro and Thailand. She now returns to Telenor from the position of CFO for Betsson AB.
“Kaaren Hilsen is an experienced leader who knows Telenor’s businesses very well. I’m pleased that Kaaren is returning to Telenor after a brief period of time outside the company. Her broad international experience and ability to create results will contribute to further strengthening Telenor in the important Swedish market,” said Brekke.
“I’m pleased that Morten Karlsen Sørby has accepted the role as acting Cluster Head for Scandinavia and Chairman of the Board for the three Scandinavian business units for a period of one year. Few leaders are as well versed in Nordic and Scandinavian collaboration as him, and I’m confident in his ability to continue creating synergies between these three markets,” added Brekke.
Telenor’s Group Executive Management will have the following members after the changes:
Sigve Brekke, President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
Jørgen C. Arentz Rostrup, EVP and Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
Cecilie Blydt Heuch, EVP and Chief People Officer
Anne Kvam, EVP, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer (effective 1 October)
Ruza Sabanovic, EVP and Head of Technologies and Services
Svein Henning Kirkeng, EVP and Head of Products and Marketing
Morten Karlsen Sørby, EVP, acting Cluster Head Scandinavia (for one year)
Petter Furberg, EVP, Cluster Head, Emerging Asia (until he starts as CEO, Telenor Norway)
Albern Murty, EVP, Developed Asia Cluster and CEO of Digi
NEW DELHI: Bharti Airtel, India’s leading communications solutions provider, today announced the appointment of Naval Seth as the Head of Investor Relations. In this role, Naval will spearhead Airtel’s representation amongst investors, lenders, equity partners, & financial institutions and will report to Soumen Ray, Chief Financial Officer.
Welcoming Naval to the role, Soumen Ray, Chief Financial Officer, Bharti Airtel said: “We are delighted to have Naval with us. His deep relationships with the investment community, strong subject knowledge in Equity Research and Capital Markets will add immense value to the company as we steer ahead in our growth journey. I wish Naval the very best”
Naval joins Airtel from Emkay Global Financial Services Limited where he was Deputy Head of Research. Prior to that, he had worked with ICICI Securities Limited. Naval brings with him over 14 years of experience in Equity Research and Capital Markets. He has a deep research experience across both B2B and B2C facing businesses along with a trusted relationship with the investment community.
Over the years, Naval has been recognized for in-depth and differentiated research across the sectors- Telecom, Media and Consumer Discretionary. He has also been consistently voted by institutional investors and also ranked in Asia Money polls.
NEW DELHI: Taiwanese tech giant – ASUS, today, announced the appointment of Tribhuwan Joshi as Lead – Corporate Communications, PR and CSR, Consumer and ROG PC Business, ASUS India. He will oversee communications and brand reputation practice for ASUS’ consumer, lifestyle, and gaming device segments in the Indian market.
Commenting on the appointment, Paramjeet Singh Mehta, Marketing Head Consumer PC & Gaming, Systems Group at Asus India, said “As we continue to invest in talent, we are focused on identifying and providing opportunities to people where they can have the greatest impact on our business. Tribhuwan is a welcome addition to our team. His rich experience and in-depth understanding will help us in elevating the amazing work that we have been doing across the country.”
Tribhuwan will be driving Integrated Communications Strategy, Reputation Management, Brand Communications CSR Initiatives, Influencer & KOL Management for corporate & consumer campaigns, and drive market-specific campaigns for ASUS India. He has over 15 years of cross-functional experience across corporate and agencies. He has looked after communications strategy for some renowned organizations including Fujifilm India, HTC India, Panasonic India, Anchor by Panasonic, MSL Group India, and Team Orange PR.
On the announcement, Tribhuwan Joshi, Head – Corporate communications, PR and CSR, Consumer and ROG PC Business, ASUS India said, “It has been an absolute delight to have been associated with a robust brand like ASUS, which has been one of the leaders in the technology space. I am thrilled and ecstatic to embark upon this new journey and responsibility. I keenly look forward to working with the leadership team in strengthening the brand and its communications approach, while being devoted to exploring the best for the company’s growth.”
NEW YORK: Sriram Krishnan, an Indian-American technology executive, is helping out Twitter’s new owner Elon Musk as he revamps the social media giant following its acquisition by the billionaire entrepreneur.
Krishnan is a general partner at Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z).
Now that the word is out: I’m helping out @elonmusk with Twitter temporarily with some other great people. I (and a16z) believe this is a hugely important company and can have a great impact on the world and Elon is the person to make it happen, Krishnan tweeted.
Krishnan added that he is still very much in my day job at @a16zcrypto. If you’re a crypto founder, you know how to find me!.
According to his profile on Andreessen Horowitz’s website, Krishnan invests in early-stage consumer startups and serves on the boards of companies Bitski, Hopin, and Polywork.
Prior to joining a16z, Chennai-born Krishnan held numerous senior product roles and most recently, he led core consumer teams at Twitter where he was responsible for products including the home timeline, new user experience, search, discovery, and audience growth, his profile said.
Previously, he created and oversaw various mobile ad products for Snap and Facebook, including Snap’s Direct Response ads business and the Facebook Audience Network, one of the largest networks in display advertising, his profile said. Krishnan started his career at Microsoft where he touched numerous projects related to Windows Azure.
Author of “Programming Windows Azure” published by O’Reilly, he also co-hosts with his wife Aarthi Ramamurthy The Good Time Show’ on Clubhouse, a nightly show through which they interview innovators around tech and culture.
He is an alumnus of SRM Engineering College, Anna University where he did his Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech) in Information Technology, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Last week, Musk completed the USD 44 billion acquisition of Twitter and ousted chief executive Parag Agrawal, legal executive Vijaya Gadde, Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal and General Counsel Sean Edgett.
Musk, according to reports, plans to rethink the company’s content moderation policies and permanent bans for users who previously violated the platform’s policies, including former President Donald Trump, although he said over the weekend that no major decisions have been made yet. He also is reported to be planning large layoffs at the company.
Musk has said the process of gaining a prestigious “blue tick” will be revised. Reports said the firm could start charging USD 20 per month to be verified. Many of Twitter’s most prominent verified users said they would leave if it tried to implement the plan.
Stephen King, an American author, tweeted: “USD 20 a month to keep my blue check? F that, they should pay me. If that gets instituted, I’m gone like Enron.
Hours later, Musk replied to King: We need to pay the bills somehow! Twitter cannot rely entirely on advertisers. How about USD 8?
A blue tick is currently free and a way of signalling an account is authentic. While there has been no official confirmation of the plan, on Monday Musk appeared to acknowledge the speculation in a new tweet which said: “On no, all our diabolical plans have been revealed!!”
In a separate development, Musk has denied a New York Times report that he plans to lay off Twitter workers before the start of next month to avoid having to make payouts.
The New York Times reported that Musk had ordered major job cuts across Twitter’s workforce.
Citing people with knowledge of the situation, the report said that some managers were being asked to “draw up lists of employees to cut.
The newspaper said the layoffs would take place before November 1, when workers were due to receive grants of shares in the company as a major part of their pay deals. But replying to a Twitter user asking about the report, he said: “This is false.”
The takeover has prompted discussion among Twitter users over what the platform will look like under Musk’s ownership, the BBC said.
Some have voiced concerns that more lenient free speech policies would mean people banned for hate speech or disinformation may be allowed back to the platform.
Source: Press TRust of India
