Shazalli moves on to regional role
EFFECTIVE SEPTEMBER: He will lead Celcom Axiata’s Southeast Asian ops
CELCOM Axiata Bhd chief executive officer (CEO) Datuk Seri Mohammed Shazalli Ramly will move on to a new and bigger regional role effective September 1, where he will be responsible for Axiata Group Bhd’s Southeast Asian operations.
Shazalli, who will continue being a member of the Celcom board, will also be appointed to three other boards of Axiata’s operating companies.
Shazalli has been with Celcom for 11 years. His tenure, which expires by year-end, will be extended for another three years.
This move came on the back of Axiata’s transformation programme, which will see the acceleration of its digital programmes, development of innovative technologies and business models, industry consolidation and merger integration, costs restructuring as well as support of the operating companies’ turnaround programmes.
Axiata has also made changes involving multiple senior-level appointments. These include Dr Hans Wijayasuriya, who has been appointed regional CEO for South Asia operations.
Tan Sri Jamaludin Ibrahim, who is chairman of Celcom and president and group CEO of Axiata, will chair the executive committee, which is one of the directives taken to further accelerate the group’s growth.
Michael Kuehner, currently the CEO of Robi Axiata Ltd (Robi), Bangladesh’s third-largest mobile operator, will be appointed as the new CEO of Celcom effective September 1.
Kuehner is a board member of three operating companies, namely Robi, Cambodia-based Smart Axiata Company Ltd and Malaysiabased communications infrastructure solutions and services company, edotco Malaysia Sdn Bhd.
Kuehner, an international telecommunications leader with more than 30 years’ experience, was with Nokia and Siemens prior to joining
Axiata in September 2009.
Complementing him are two deputy CEOs, Azwan Khan Osman Khan and Mohamed Adlan Ahmad Tajudin.
Both of them have had significant roles in Celcom previously and were assigned to other operating companies for the last few years.
Azwan, currently the chief operating officer of Sri Lanka's largest telecommunications service provider, Dialog Axiata, since January 2013, will assume the role of deputy CEO of business operations.
This unit will be responsible for sales and marketing, product development, and all of Celcom’s commercial businesses.
Adlan, who has been chief financial officer of Indonesia’s PT XL Axiata Tbk since September 2011, will assume the role of deputy CEO of infrastructure and services.
This unit will be responsible for all network and information technology infrastructure as well as business support services.
“Since Axiata’s formation in April 2008, we have doubled the size of the group’s revenue and market capitalisation, but our past success is not necessarily the recipe for the future,” said Jamaludin in a statement.
“We have now entered into a new growth and transformation phase, while working on short-term challenges facing some of our businesses.
“We certainly need to critically relook and refresh our management teams across the group.
“Fortunately, we have a strong reservoir of great talent nurtured over the years. We are proud to bring back many outstanding local talents, with a refreshed mindset, to lead their respective national companies.
“We also plan to inject world-class external talents to further energise and enhance diversity within the group,” he added.