BT Wholesale names chief executive

Sally Davis will succeed Paul Reynolds as chief executive of BT Wholesale.

Reynolds, who was responsible for much of 21CN, the £10bn upgrade to the telco's UK network, is due to leave in September, when he will become chief executive of Telecom New Zealand.

Davis, who has been with BT for eight years — most recently as chief portfolio officer — will not assume control of 21CN, because that project was moved in a recent restructuring from BT Wholesale to two new divisions, BT Design and BT Operate. BT Wholesale is now more focused on "white label" managed services contracts, such as a recent deal with T-Mobile that will see BT supplying the mobile operator with connectivity for its base stations. 

"Sally has an exceptional level of experience and a proven track record in the communications industry on both sides of the Atlantic. This gives her a powerful insight into the needs and the opportunities of BT's wholesale customers," said BT's chief executive, Ben Verwaayen. Davis has previously worked for companies such as Bell Atlantic in the US and Mercury Communications in the UK.

Davis, who is also on the boards of Logitech and Henderson Smaller Cap Investment Trust, said that the future of BT Wholesale was "full of exciting possibilities in helping the nation's communication companies provide the best possible range of services to their end customers".

A fellow of University College London and a former journalist, Davis has previously been president of BT's Global Products division, director of Internet and Multimedia Strategy and the company's "disability champion". In the late 1980s she was also the managing director of Cable London, a North London telecoms company that was finally purchased by Telewest in 1999.