Optus pinches Telstra exec as business MD

Just weeks after pinching the former Hutchison CEO, Optus has now landed a former Telstra executive for the role of managing director of Optus Business.

John Paitaridis
(Credit: Optus)

John Paitaridis comes to the role with over 20 years in the industry, most recently with Telstra as the company's executive director of Network Products and Services for the telco's Enterprise and Government division.

Paitaridis will be responsible for business sales, marketing, products and operations, as well as the Optus Business subsidiaries Alphawest and Uecomm.

Rob Parcell has been acting managing director for Optus Business since mid-2010, when he filled in for then MD John Simon who has since gone on to be the managing director of Optus Strategy. Optus told ZDNet Australia that a new role for Parcell will be announced in the coming weeks. Parcell had been CEO of Alphawest, but ZDNet Australia understands that Ian Smith will remain acting CEO of Alphawest.

In a statement, Paitaridis said that on the back of recent contract wins, the company was upping the ante in enterprise.

"This is an exciting time to join Optus Business, which has made strong in-roads in the government and enterprise market in the last 12 to 18 months after winning contracts with Sydney Water, Tabcorp and NRMA. Optus Business is an established whole-of-business ICT solutions provider with the capability to scale services across APAC as part of the SingTel Group, coupled with a strong customer focus," he said.

"In 2012 we will up the ante in the enterprise market by striving to deliver the most compelling ICT solutions and become the service provider of choice for corporate and government customers."

Earlier this month, Optus announced it had picked up the former CEO of rival company Hutchison, Kevin Russell, for the newly created role of chief operating officer.