Telstra has promoted its group executive of consumer and small business Michael Ackland to chief financial officer and group executive for strategy and finance.
Telstra said in a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange today that Ackland would replace current CFO Vicki Brady, who was nominated last month as successor to CEO of seven years Andrew Penn, on his departure in September.
“Telstra will now commence an internal and external recruitment process for the role of group executive consumer and small business,” the telco said.
Brady expressed her delight at Ackland’s promotion, citing his strong financial and commercial acumen as well as his extensive strategic and operational expertise of Telstra’s operations.
“I was ecstatic that we were able to pick an internal candidate for the position – Michael has outstanding credentials and is well positioned to continue to drive Telstra’s financial outlook and performance.”
“He has extensive telecommunications knowledge, and his skill set will considerably enhance the CFO function.” I’m excited to start working with Michael on September 1st.”
“His contribution to the transition was made as we were dealing with major Covid repercussions on our customers and employees.”
“Michael’s promotion to CFO demonstrates the depth of our internal expertise, and I look forward to continuing to collaborate with him as T22 comes to a close.”
Telstra appointed Ackland as executive director of Country Wide in 2016, then advanced him to executive of sales and service in 2017 and global executive of consumer and small business in 2018.
Before to Telstra, Ackland was the ANZ productivity leader for GE Capital from 2004 to 2006. In 2005, he was moved to Australia’s credit card operations leader, then to ANZ chief operating officer in 2008, then to General Electric’s ANZ vice president of strategy and growth in 2011, and finally to ANZ CEO of GE Healthcare in 2012.