Allison Kirkby has been named as the new CEO of Tele2(OMX:TEL2), succeeding Mats Granryd, who will take on the role of director general at the GSMA
Allison Kirkby has been named as the new CEO of Tele2(OMX:TEL2), succeeding Mats Granryd, who will take on the role of director general at the GSMA.
Kirkby joined Tele2 in May 2014 as CFO and the board said it had already identified her as the next CEO in the event that Granryd left.
After five years leading Tele2, Granryd said he felt the time was right for a new opportunity. At the GSMA, Granryd will advocate for the industry with governments and regulators, bring operators together for meetings and events, such as Mobile World Congress, and lead programmes that will create new industry standards in networks.
He will take the reins from Alex Sinclair, the GSMA’s CTO and interim director general, on 1 January 2016. Sinclair has been acting in the role since Anne Bouverot, the GSMA’s director general since 2011, left at the end of July to lead French security solutions firm Morpho.
Granryd will stay with Tele2 until the 31st of December 2015 to ensure a smooth transition. Kirkby will begin in her new post on 1 September. In a statement the Stockholm-based telco said Kirkby has proven she could “drive and manage operational excellence throughout the organisation” in her role as CFO.
“Her strong operational experience makes her extremely well suited to lead Tele2, as it continues to focus on profitable growth across its core markets,” the company said.
Commenting on his time as CEO of Tele2, Granyrd said he was particularly proud of the operator’s “ability to constantly outgrow the industry within mobile services and the way we have created shareholder value to our owners through strong business performance and inorganic activities”, and would miss “its relentless challenger spirit”.
Tele2 has mobile operations in Sweden, Austria, Croatia, Estonia, Germany, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, and the Netherlands. It also has an M2M business.