KPN appoints Joost Farwerck as the next CEO

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KPN appoints Joost Farwerck as the next CEO
October 1, 2019 08.25 Europe/London By Robert Briel
KPN has appointed Joost Farwerck as the next CEO and Chairman of the Board of Management, subject to Works Council advice.
The move follows KPN’s decision to withdraw the planned appointment of Dominique Leroy as CEO.
Farwerck, currently interim Chairman of the Board of Management, has been a member of the Board of Management since 2013 and is currently CCO, a role he has fulfilled since 2014.
Farwerck can assume the role of Chairman and CEO as part of his current board membership, the Supervisory Board intends to appoint him for a new four-year term as of 1 December 2019 to further ensure longer-term continuity in the Board of Management.
Duco Sickinghe, Chairman of the Supervisory Board: “With Joost assuming the role of CEO, the Supervisory Board is pleased to appoint an experienced telecommunications professional. He has been a member of the Board since April 2013 and is part of the leadership team that shaped the 2019-2021 strategy. Joost knows the company inside out and the environment the company is operating in. With Joost as CEO, the Supervisory Board is convinced that we will make good progress on the further development and execution of KPN’s strategy.”
Joost Farwerck, as of today CEO of KPN: “It is with pleasure that I assume the role of CEO of this great company which focuses on offering high speed connections to consumers, businesses and Dutch society. KPN is a company with a realistic strategy in place to perform in the competitive Dutch market. My primary focus will be to deliver on that strategy and explore how we can accelerate the execution even more to deliver organic sustainable growth. We have a great team and a lot of dedicated people in the company. I am eager to work with all of them to execute on that strategy.”
The Supervisory Board also announces its intention to appoint Chris Figee as CFO)as of 1 February 2020. Chris Figee, currently CFO at ASR Netherlands, succeeds Jan Kees de Jager who, after more than five years as CFO of KPN, is stepping down from his role and leaving KPN to continue his entrepreneurial career. De Jager will remain member of the Board until 1 March 2020 and will be available for the company thereafter in an advisory role to ensure a smooth transition.
Duco Sickinghe on the CFO transition: “We are pleased Chris Figee is joining KPN as CFO. Chris is a driven people-leader with a wealth of experience in finance, strategy and financial markets. He is also recognized as a seasoned CFO with a solid track record and in his recent interactions with the Board, Chris proved to be able to quickly grasp the insights of the telco sector. The Supervisory Board is confident that he will positively contribute to the further execution of KPN’s strategy and cost management performance in the 2019-2021 period. We also take this opportunity to thank Jan Kees for his five years of leadership and contribution to KPN. He has made a strong contribution to the simplification of the company and its finance function. We wish Jan Kees every success with his future endeavours.”
Jan Kees de Jager, CFO of KPN: “I am proud to have been part of building a more sustainable future of the company and confident that KPN is very well positioned to execute on its strategic initiatives. And while I am looking forward to pursuing new international entrepreneurial opportunities, I am committed to ensuring a seamless transition.”

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Sandra Kraujina joins Volia
October 1, 2019 08.43 Europe/London By Chris Dziadul
Sandra Kraujina has been appointed the marketing director of the leading Ukrainian cable operator Volia, effective October 1.
Kraujina has over 20 years of marketing experience, 18 in leadership positions. All of this has been in the telecom and media sectors for large Baltic and Scandinavian companies, including MTG, Viasat Baltics, Izzi and Baltcom.
For the past three years she has been developing content products and partnerships, including sports, at All Media Baltics.
Commenting on the appointment, Volia’s CEO Anton Dziubenko said: “I have already managed to work with Sandra in the Baltic countries. I know her style of work and share her principles. I am confident that at Volia Sandra will also be able to successfully develop our product lines and content, as she did at All Media Baltics. With her arrival, I also want to see positive changes in the positioning of our products and the company as a whole. We need to be a strong product and marketing company. We must not be afraid to bring about change, be creative in business development, offer new solutions and enter new markets. I know that Sandra can strengthen all of these areas and we will see the first results very soon”.
Viktoria Tsomaya, who previously held the position, will remain with the company as an independent consultant.

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Canal+ fights with Polish pirates
October 1, 2019 09.04 Europe/London By Chris Dziadul
The owner of the pirate site patrzajto.pl has been sentenced to eight months imprisonment for distributing original content shown by Poland’s Platforma Canal+, formerly known as nc+.
Media2.pl reports that the content in question was the second season of the series Belfer, produced by Canal+, and the verdict is final.
Quoting a member of the anti-piracy division at Platforma Canal+, it also says that the pirate intentionally did not share content through his own infrastructure and only employed the video players of external services, embedding them on a website.
This is the first such important judgement and can become a reference point for the future.
In May 2018 another pirate was fined PLN160,000 (€36,553) and received a prison sentence of 10 months, suspended for three years, for pirating football matches shown by nc+.

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Viacom recruits Maria Kyriacou
October 1, 2019 09.50 Europe/London By Chris Dziadul
Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN) has appointed Maria Kyriacou to head its pan-regional operations managed out of the UK.
As president for VIMN UK, Northern and Eastern Europe, she will have oversight of all its media networks and related businesses in 33 European countries, including Channel 5 in the UK. Kyriacou, who is currently president of international for ITV Studios, will report to David Lynn, president, CEO of VIMN.
Commenting on the appointment, Lynn said: “Maria has led the international expansion of ITV’s studios business and her track record of growing international revenues from production, content licensing and distribution at both ITV and Disney means she is ideally equipped to head our operations managed out of the UK. Her experience of acquiring, integrating and managing creative businesses and her deep knowledge of the international television market will add a valuable perspective to our fast evolving UK operations and I’m delighted to welcome her to the team. She will take the helm at an exciting time, with the merger to form ViacomCBS set to confirm us as one of the world’s most important content producers and providers and to open up new opportunities to licence our brands, content and IP.”
Kyriacou added: “I am incredibly excited to be joining David and the team. With the strength and breadth of its brands and its extensive reach, VIMN is in a great place to take advantage of the opportunities afforded by the dynamism of our industry. I’m looking forward to being part of this exciting future.”