Telia Company said it will overhaul its organisational set-up from 01 January 2017. Stein-Erik Vellan will replace Sonera CEO Valdur Laid, and both Vellan and Telia Norway CEO Abraham Foss will become part of Group Executive Management. There was no indication of what Laid would do next, nor any change to his LinkedIn profile.
Operations in Lithuania, Estonia and Denmark will form a cluster overseen by Henriette Wendt, who is currently head of corporate development and who remains in Group Executive Management.
Telia’s shareholdings in Turkcell and Megafon will be managed by a new unit called Corporate Holdings, led by Robert Andersson, who is currently head of Region Europe. He remains a member of Group Executive Management. Latvian operations LMT and Lattelecom, as well as Telia Carrier, will also become part of Corporate Holdings.
The new structure will enhance business focus and enable it to speed up decision-making while "ramping up execution" on the Nordic and Baltic markets, keeping an eye on its responsible business agenda at the same time, said Telia Company president and CEO Johan Dennelind.
Meanwhile, the division Corporate Development will be split into several parts. Corporate Affairs (previously Group Legal Affairs) will be responsible for mergers and acquisitions (M&A), People and Engagement will take on Sustainability and the CEO Office will be responsible for Group Strategy, Risk Management, and also overseeing Internal Audit (which reports to the Audit Committee). Ingrid Stenmark, Head of CEO Office, will become a member of the Group Executive Management.
Region Eurasia continues to be headed by Emil Nilsson, reporting to Dennelind, who also chairs the internal steering board governing the region. The mandate is to secure a responsible exit over time.
