Norway-headquartered Telenor today announced changes to its executive management team, which includes the appointment of Sharad Mehrotra (pictured), CMO of Telenor Myanmar, as its new India CEO.
Mehrotra will take the reins from Vivek Sood, who has been appointed as EVP and CMO at group level, with both men set to take a position in the company’s rejigged management team.
The wider shake-up means all 13 of the company’s international markets will now be represented in the executive team “to ensure faster execution of group strategy, and a closer connection to the customers”, Telenor said in a statement.
Mehrotra’s new role as CEO of Telenor India is one of several new appointments at group level, including Ruza Sabanovic as EVP and CTO, Sood as EVP and CMO, Wenche Agerup as EVO and chief corporate affairs officer and Jon Gravrak as EVP and chief digital officer.
In addition, Pal Wien Espen will take up a role as EVP and head of partner relations Asia, while Morten Karlsen, EVP, will be responsible for Telenor’s ownership in VimpelCom, which last week it decided to sell, describing its minority 33 percent ownership in the Netherlands-based group as “challenging”.
Nine of the new executive team, which now boasts 20 members, are non-Norwegian, which Telenor said “reflects the group’s international footprint”.
Speaking of the move, president and CEO Sigve Brekke said the company will be able to “increase our ability to execute and create value by more directly involving the business and CEOs in delivering on the global strategy and priorities”.
“Telenor provides internet to almost 200 million subscribers, and new customer needs are emerging,” he added.
CFO Richard Aa and chief people officer Jon Erik Haug will continue in their roles respectively, while three members (Kjell Morten Johnsen, Katja Nordgaard, Henrik Clausen ) are set to step down from the executive team.
CEOs of three subsidiaries, Malaysia’s DiGi, Thailand’s Dtac and Bangladesh’s Grameenphone, will also participate in Telenor’s group executive management committee.