Telus appoints CEO in leadership reshuffle

Canadian operator Telus has appointed chief commercial officer Joe Natale as president and CEO. Natale has been at the operator since 2003, joining as an executive vice president and has since held roles including president of Telus Business Solutions and president of Telus Consumer Solutions. He has been CCO since 2010.

Natale will also join Telus’ Board of Directors, where he will report to his predecessor, Darren Entwistle, who has been appointed executive chair at the operator.

“I am very pleased that our best in class succession planning process has resulted in Joe Natale being named as our next president and CEO and am excited to continue working with him in leading the progression of our national growth strategy,” said Entwhistle. “Clearly, Joe’s excellent progression through several executive roles, culminating in his most recent capacity as our chief commercial officer, has prepared him exceedingly well for this next step in his career.”

The operator also announced Dick Auchinleck’s appointment as lead director at the firm. Auchinleck joined the Telus Board in 2003 and will provide leadership to the Board in conjunction with Entwistle, while ensuring that the Board functions independently of management when required.

Non-executive chair Brian Canfield also announced his retirement following 58 years at the firm. The firm has honoured Canfield with the Chairman Emeritus distinction; a title to denote that he has been a key individual in the firm’s history.

In February, Telus shelled out C$1.14bn in the nation’s latest spectrum auction on licences equating to a national average of 16.6MHz in the 700MHz band. Rival Rogers Communications also spent C$3.29bn on two 12MHz blocks of paired lower 700MHz band spectrum licences. The Canadian government raised a sizeable total of C$5.27bn during the auction and the licences issued will remain valid for 20 years.

Telus has 7.8 million subscribers in Canada as of December 2013, according to Informa’s WCIS. It trails Rogers, which has 9.5 million subscribers according to the data, and is on a level footing with Bell Wireless which also has 7.8 million subscribers.

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