Vocus CEO Kevin Russell to retire

Vocus CEO Kevin Russell will relinquish the top job, handing over the reins to current chief operating officer Ellie Sweeney from next month.

In a statement, Vocus said that Russell, who spent five years as CEO and more than three decades in the telecommunications sector, had decided to retire.

“Kevin’s leadership over the past five years has returned Vocus to growth and established 

the company as a formidable challenger in the market,”Sweeney said.

“On behalf of the board and Vocus team I would like to congratulate and thank him for his significant contribution to the company.”

In Australia, Russell is a former group executive for Telstra Retail and a former chief operating officer and consumer business CEO for Optus.

However, he was perhaps best known as the long-time CEO of Hutchison Telecoms, which operated under the ‘Orange’ and then ‘Three’ retail brands.

Sweeney will take over as Vocus CEO from March 1.

“I am excited to be leading the team through the next phase of our growth ambition,” she said.

“At Vocus, we are a challenger that lives by its purpose of ‘building critical connections, enabling better possibilities’.

“In my four years as COO I’ve experienced how critical those connections are – both the fibre connections we construct, and the connections forged by our incredibly talented people with our customers.”

Vocus chair Penny Bingham-Hall said that having an internal successor as CEO “speaks volumes about Vocus’ shared sense of purpose and unity of culture.”