Aussie CEO appointed Vodafone's 'Christchurch recovery director'
Ex-Vodafone Australia boss turned NZ retail supremo to lead effort in quake-hit city.
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Vodafone has appointed senior executive Russell Hewitt to lead its Christchurch business recovery efforts.
The gregarious Mr Hewitt is best known locally for his time as HP's New Zealand country manager.
After crossing the Tasman, he became chief executive of Vodafone Australia ahead of its merger with Hutchison (10% owned by Telecom NZ, which maintains a 5% share in the merged company).
He returned to New Zealand to take charge of retailer First Mobile, bought by Vodafone last year.
A spokeswoman told NBR that Mr Hewitt will spend several days each week in Christchurch, and continue his role as Vodafone First Mobile managing director.
In this new role Mr Hewitt will be working with Christchurch civil authorities to understand the local recovery needs and to align these with Vodafone’s own business recovery plan (the company has around 40 staff in the city, including staff who form one of four engineeriing hubs around the country).
Vodafone New Zealand CEO Russell Stanners says this is a key internal appointment for Vodafone.
"Rebuilding Christchurch is going to take a long time and we want to make sure that we are doing the right thing by our people, our customers and the City. Appointing an executive of Russell Hewitt's calibre, reporting directly to me, demonstrates just how seriously we take our role in the recovery of Christchurch."
Specifically Mr Hewitt will be focused on ensuring the company’s Christchurch based employees are fully supported, the needs of customers in the region are met, and challenges facing Vodafone and the local community are addressed both now and into the future.
NBR staff
Thu, 17 Mar 2011
Thu, 17 Mar 2011
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Aussie CEO appointed Vodafone's 'Christchurch recovery director'
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