Thodey to be Telstra CEO: Reports

Telstra is expected to appoint its enterprise and government chieftain David Thodey as its new chief executive as early as today, according to multiple reports.

David Thodey (Credit: Telstra)

The move will represent the end of months of speculation on the replacement for incumbent Sol Trujillo, who confirmed in February that he would leave at the end of June.

As group managing director of Telstra's Enterprise and Government division, Thodey is responsible for the telco's relationships with some of its biggest customers, with groups such as the Department of Defence and the Commonwealth Bank of Australia spending hundreds of millions of dollars on services from the telco.

Thodey has held his current role since December 2002 after he shifted from leading Telstra's mobile division. Previous to joining the telco in late 2001, he was chief executive of Australia's largest non-telco technology firm, the local division of global giant IBM, where he has also held several other senior marketing and sales roles.

Thodey holds a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and English from Victoria University in New Zealand and attended the Kellogg Post-Graduate School General Management Program at Northwestern University in Chicago.

Speculation over the identity of Trujillo's replacement had focused on internal candidates such as Thodey and CFO John Stanhope over the past few weeks, with most commentators ruling an external candidate as unlikely.

Stanhope was the oldest internal candidate, having joined Telstra in 1967. He has been in the CFO position since 2003 where he moved from being the director of finance, playing key roles in the T1 and T2 sales. He has a number of directorships, including Telstra Super, TelstraClear, Sensis, SouFun, ChinaM, Sharp Point, the Telstra Foundation and AGL energy. He is chairman of CSL New World Mobility.

Another man who had previously put his hat in the ring, but who had not featured heavily in media speculation was David Moffatt, Telstra's group managing director of Consumer Marketing and Channels, who had also held the role of CFO. He moved to Telstra from heading up General Electric Australia and New Zealand, having risen from CEO General Electric Capital Australia and New Zealand.

Before joining General Electric, David held leadership roles with Palmer Tube Mills, Citibank and Bain & Company.