Today, TELUS announced there will be some changes in its leadership hierarchy. After being in charge for almost fourteen years, Darren Entwistle will step down as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and be appointed Executive Chair. During his tenure, TELUS has grown to the number two carrier in Canada, following only Rogers. Since 2000, TELUS has become the global leader amongst all telecom providers with a total shareholder return of 286-percent as well as both TELUS and Koodo receiving best-in-class service ratings from their Canadian customers. In 2013, under Entwistle’s watch, TELUS’ employee engagement was recognized as the best in the world for a company this size and workforce mix. Mr. Entwistle said:
“I am very pleased that our best in class succession planning process has resulted in Joe Natale being named as our next President and CEO and am excited to continue working with him in leading the progression of our national growth strategy. Joe is an exceptionally proven and highly capable leader…I look forward to continuing to work closely with Joe and the TELUS Board, including Dick Auchinleck as our Lead Director, as we strive to continuously create leading value for our investors, customers, team members and communities.”
Joe Natale, former Chief Commercial Officer, will be transitioning to the CEO’s position. Under his watch, he has led the team of over 25,000 responsible for providing TELUS customers ‘with innovative wireless voice and data services and home phone, internet and television, as well as businesses with leading-edge communications, data network and IT solutions.’ This has led to TELUS’ customer-friendly approach and the lowest churn rate among the Big Three. Mr. Natale said that he is looking, “…forward to working closely with Darren and the TELUS executive leadership team to further the progression of our national growth strategy and in particular, to continue advancing our top priority of always putting our customers first.”
The transitions will take place on May 8 during TELUS’ Annual General Meeting (AGM) where they will announce their Q1 results. This is also taking place as TELUS is set to integrate Public Mobile subscribers into Koodo, which has met with some resistance as Public Mobile customers must transition from their old CDMA network and devices to the faster HSPA+/LTE network – but the downside is that the Public Mobile customers must purchase a more modern and expensive new smartphone.