Telstra CEO Andrew Penn has announced he’s retiring from the teclo, to be replaced by incumbent CFO, Vicki Brady. The 58-year-old has been in charge of the company for the last seven years, with Brady taking over the position from next September.
Andrew Penn led the tele-communications firm through a difficult period, including the T22 cost-cutting program, during which they were forced to let go of over 2,000 employees in an effort to reduce their deficits by $2.5 billion.
Vicki Brady has been working for Telstra since 2016 and was one of the chief architects of the company’s T22 strategy. She also has extensive executive leadership experience in telecommunications and services companies in Australia and internationally, having worked for organisations including Optus, SingTel and KPMG.
She’s also been influential on the development of the upcoming T25 strategy, which Brady himself will lead Telstra into.
Telstra chairman John Mullen hailed Penn’s accomplishments with the firm in a statement: “Andy has led Telstra during a period of significant change and will be known for his courage in setting a bold ambition through the T22 strategy to deliver a transformed experience for customers, shareholders and employees.
“There is no doubt the strategy has delivered beyond expectations and has laid the foundations for Telstra’s recently announced T25 strategy and a renewed focus on growth and innovation.”
Mr Mullen went on to praise Penn’s ability to create a strong team during his tenure as CEO: “The greatest testament to this is the ability to announce an internal successor to the role of CEO and I am thrilled to be able to announce Vicki in the role today,” said Mr Mullen.
