Major management changes at SLT
View(s):Greig Young steps down as CEO, likely to continue as director
By Bandula Sirimanna
Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) is heading for major management and structural changes with one of the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of its subsidiaries likely to take over as group CEO after CEO Greig Young’s said he was stepping down at the end of his 4-year contract.
Five SLT subsidiaries will be overhauled to better reflect the changing market and demands in the competitive environment and changing the business to focus on customers and future growth under the British Telecom (BT) Consultants restructuring plan, SLT sources said.
This plan was prepared by the BT consultants at a cost of Rs. 800 million four years ago.
All CEO positions of SLT subsidiaries including SLT Mobitel, SLT Sky Network, SLT Visioncom, SLT services, SLT Publications and SLT Manpower Solutions will be re-designated as Chief Operating Officers, a senior official of the company said.
He said one of the top officers attached to the Rs.9 billion i-Sri Lanka project who was allegedly sidelined by Mr Young will be given a key post at an SLT subsidiary.
Mr Young informed the staff on Thursday that he will be leaving the SLT CEO position at the end of January. In his message he said that “he took up the CEO SLT role on February 1st 2009, with a clear mandate in his 4-year contract to transform the company, to restructure and refocus it to meet the changing competitive and business environment, to establish a renewed strategic direction and to turn around the declining company and group financial situation”.
“The results we have achieved over the past years speak amply and don’t need further elaboration; culminating in our crowning with many peer awards and industry accolades in 2012”, he said.
His appointment was exclusively reported in the Business Times (then Financial Times) on November 1st 2008. The report said the SLT board of directors including four representatives of Malaysia’s Maxis has selected Australian national Greg Young to the post of SLT CEO through a global head-hunting search.
SLT sources said Mr. Young is likely to continue at SLT as a director of the SLT Board nominated by Maxis, a major shareholder at SLT, while concentrating on some of his private ventures here including launching a tourist hotel in the East.
However his visa expires on January 29 and so far it has not been renewed.
Minister of Telecommunication and Information Technology Ranjith Siyambalapitiya told Parliament on Wednesday that the Government is head hunting for a suitable Sri Lankan to take over this top position from February.
He revealed that Mr Young was employed since February 2009 on an annual emolument package exceeding US$400,000, in addition to the monthly allowance of $4,000.
He completed his tenure in January 2013 with no possibilities of an extension.
The minister disclosed these details when he responded to a question raised by UNP Parliamentarian Dayasiri Jayasekara.
SLT was privatized in 1997 and a stake and management given to Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT) and listed in the Colombo Stock Exchange.
NTT then sold its stake to Global Telecommunications Holdings N.V (acting on behalf of Maxis), which currently owns 44.98 per cent stake whilst 49.5 per cent is owned by the Government of Sri Lanka and the balance shares remain with the public.
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