Amsterdam headquartered carrier VimpelCom, which operates in Russia and the CIS and owns stakes in several other operations around the world, has appointed Rene Schuster as Group Chief Operating Officer, effective immediately.

Schuster is something of an industry veteran, having previously held the post of Chief Executive Officer of Telefónica Deutschland. Under his leadership, the company delivered consistent organic and market share growth. Prior to joining Telefonica, he was also CEO of the UK and Irish operations of Adecco, the recruitment and managed service business, which he joined from Vodafone Group where he was the Global Marketing Director.

Schuster has also held a number of other senior positions with companies including Hewlett Packard, Compaq, KPMG, IBM and General Electric.

He will assume direct responsibility for the operational and financial performance of VimpelCom’s business units, succeeding Jan Edvard Thygesen who has decided to retire at the conclusion of his contract in December 2014. Thygesen will focus on certain designated strategic projects in his remaining period of time with VimpelCom.

Yogesh Malik, Group Chief Technology Officer, Mikhail Gerchuk, Group Chief Commercial Officer and Romano Righetti, Group Chief Regulatory Officer, will now report directly to Lunder.