MTN promotes Pieter Verkade to CMO
MTN Group has appointed Pieter Verkade as its new chief commercial officer, effective February 2013. He replaces Christian de Faria, who retires this month after six years with the group.
In his new role, Verkade will oversee MTN's the innovation, products and services strategy, as well as marketing across the group.
Verkade is currently the CEO of MTN Cyprus, and his experience spans developed and emerging markets in Europe and Africa.
Prior to becoming CEO of MTN Cyprus, Verkade was the executive for commercial strategy and Mobile Money, overseeing the growth and deployment of MTN Mobile Money in 15 MTN markets.
Verakde was also CMO for MTN South Africa for two years, from 2008. His other positions have included CCO for Orange Netherlands, vice president commercial for Orange UK, CFO for KPN/Orange Belgium and senior VP at Telenor.
GSMA re-elects Telecom Italia’s Franco Bernabè as chairman
The GSMA has re-elected Franco Bernabè, chairman and CEO of Telecom Italia Group, as its chairman, and Jon Fredrik Baksaas, president and CEO of Telenor Group as its deputy chairman, for a second term in these roles.
The industry association also has elected new members to its board for the two-year period from January 2013 through December 2014.
The GSMA board has 26 members, including 25 operator representatives, such as Sha Yuejia (executive director and VP of China Mobile), Lu Yimin (president and vice chairman of China Unicom), Sanjay Kapoor (Bharti Airtel’s CEO for India and South Asia), Jamaludin Ibrahim (MD, president and group CEO of Axiata Group), and William Hague (EVP of International, AT&T Group).
The GSMA’s director general Anne Bouverot also serves on the board.
Former O2 UK and Vadafone executives join Teradata
Analytic data solutions company Teradata has appointed Franco Gridelli as executive program manager and Eric Bourland as director of BI strategic services for EMEA.
Formerly O2 UK’s program director, Gridelli will provide strategic support to Teradata’s customers, taking a leading role in creating and managing business-critical data warehouse programs in projects across EMEA. He will draw on his strong business focus and proven technical skills to maximize value from new and existing data warehouse implementations.
Bourland joins Teradata from Vodafone Group, where he was most recently network transformation program director. He had previously held several senior positions, including integration director for Vodafone Ghana and deputy general manager of strategy, planning and business integration for Vodafone Turkey.
Akamai announces CEO succession
Akamai Technologies has appointed company co-founder and chief scientist Dr. Tom Leighton as CEO, effective yesterday.
Leighton succeeds Paul Sagan who announced earlier this year that he intended to step down as chief executive by the end of 2013.
Sagan will become a senior advisor to the company, working with Leighton on business strategy and to ensure a smooth management transition. Both Leighton and Sagan will remain Akamai directors.
Separately, Akamai has appointed Robert Hughes as president of worldwide operations, and Rick McConnell president of products and development. Both are currently Akamai executive vice presidents and will take up their new roles on January 1.