NBN construction partner MD resigns

National Broadband Network (NBN) construction partner Service Stream is on the hunt for a new managing director after Graeme Sumner announced his intention to resign from his post.

Sumner had been at the network services company since January 2010, and will leave the company by month's end.

His resignation comes just weeks after NBN Co announced that it would miss its June 2013 fibre construction forecast by up to 150,000 premises.

While Service Stream itself is undertaking much of the remediation and maintenance work for the NBN, the company's biggest involvement with the project is through its joint venture company with Lend Lease, known as Syntheo.

Syntheo has hit significant delays with its construction efforts in Western Australia and South Australia, and most recently handed back responsibility for construction in the Northern Territory to NBN Co.

Service Stream chairman Peter Dempsey said Sumner had been a key part of resolving a number of legacy issues within the company, as well as reducing debt and assembling a new management team.

"He is leaving the company well positioned for growth, and a new managing director will be able to capitalise on that platform," Dempsey said in a statement.

Brett Gallagher, who was a non-executive Service Stream board member, will be the interim executive director during the hunt for Sumner's replacement.

"I have achieved what I was brought on board to do, and the time has come for me to move onto other challenges," Sumner said in a statement. "I believe I have made some real inroads into improving the business over the past four years, and am leaving the company well positioned in each of its major markets and with a solid outlook for FY14."

According to his LinkedIn profile, Sumner was previously the managing director for New Zealand at Transfield Service for three years. Prior to that, he was the Siemens chief executive for New Zealand from 2000 to 2004.