On Tuesday 11 May, Orange and T-Mobile announced their plans for when the merger officially goes through on 1 July. Not only is there a new name, but a new management team. The team will be made up of 25 people, who have mostly come from Orange – only nine people in the top ranks have come from T-Mobile.
The strategy is already starting to pan out, with management being split into four different categories.
Andrew Ralston, chief commercial officer
Ralston was recruited to Orange by Tom Alexander in January 2008 as chief operations officer, so his role has not changed. He previously worked at Virgin alongside Alexander. He was charged with the day to day running and ensuring competitiveness when he
first joined.
Gerry McQuade, chief development officer
McQuade was one of the three senior appointments made by Tom Alexander at the start of 2008. As chief development officer, he was given the responsibility of overseeing a new development board to ensure Orange had clearly defined priorities. He previously worked at Orange with Alexander.
Richard Moat, chief financial officer and deputy CEO
Pippa Dunn, VP Orange propositions
Dunn was previously Orange’s pay-as-you-go director involved in the launch of the Monkey and Camel tariffs, specifically focused on the youth market. As VP of Orange propositions, she will continue to focus on creating competitive Orange tariffs for the market.
Guillaume van Gaver, VP of marketing
This high flying French man is a France Telecom veteran who has done stints in the US, Egypt and France. He returned to the UK in September 2009 as VP of sales and loyalty. He was closely involved with Orange’s launch of the iPhone.
Martin Stiven, VP of business
Stiven is a relative newcomer replacing Paul Tollett as Orange’s VP of business last November, working closely with Tom Alexander. Stiven has the key role of knocking Vodafone off its enterprise perch using the expanded network as a key selling point. He was previously at O2 for eight years and was most recently head of new business channels.
Marc Overton, VP of wholesale
Marc Overton keeps his role as VP of wholesale, business development and channels. At Orange, he has been responsible for an aggressive drive into the MVNO market, a strategy this new ‘super network’ is sure to continue.
Neal Milsom, VP of finance
Rui Pereira, VP of programme management office
Linda Kennedy, chief change officer
Ian Pitcher, VP of people operation
Lysa Hardy, VP of T-Mobile propositions
Hardy was T-Mobile’s first UK brand and communications head. She joined T-Mobile in 2005 as head of prepay marketing. Before that she was Orange head of prepay and has worked across a number of marketing roles within T-Mobile.
Mark Duncan, VP of sales and loyalty
Duncan is one of only eight T-Mobile directors to join to the top ranks of ‘Everything Everywhere’s’ management team. Duncan has been T-Mobile’s sales director since June 2009 and has been with the company for almost 10 years in a variety of roles. He has now been pushed up to
the role previously held by van Gaver.
Bruno Duarte, VP of home
Russell Taylor, VP of business development and online
Taylor was a previously director of customer experience at T-Mobile and has also held the position of retail director. Before that he was T-Mobile’s head of business. He cites his talents as inspirational leadership leading to transformational change in large organisations.
Jackie O'Leary, VP of customer operations
Emin Gurdenli, VP of network
Emin Gurdenli, VP of network, moves from his role of technical director at T-Mobile, where he was responsible for all network operations. His new role sees his empire more than double in terms of network size. He is also expected to head up the joint venture’s next generation 4G technology strategy.
Steven Day, VP of brand and communications
Steven Day was drafted in to Orange when a specific role was created for him: chief of staff, brand and communications. He was drafted in by Alexander along with McQuade and Ralston. His role at Orange included internal and external communications and it appears as if that will continue at Everything Everywhere.
Nicholas Ott, VP of planning, strategy and regulatory
Andrew Coull, VP of retail
Coull’s extensive experience in retail across high profile businesses may explain why Orange has not appointed a new retail director. Coull has worked with Marks and Spencer, Sainsbury’s and Superdrug, and has been T-Mobile retail director since March 2008. Orange retail director Sian Doyle left in March this year.
Fotis Karonis, VP of IT
John Cromack, VP of purchasing
James Blendis, VP of legal
Ben Messore, VP of strategy
