Deutsche Telekom announces management changes
September 2, 2026 13.25 Europe/London By Jörn Krieger

Deutsche Telekom is preparing a series of changes to its management team, including a new Chief Financial Officer and a new Board Member for Product and Technology.

Chief Financial Officer Christian Illek will leave the company after the 2027 Annual General Meeting at the end of April for age-related reasons. Dhananjay Mirchandani, currently Head of Group Controlling, will succeed him on 1 May 2027.

Jan Hofmeyr will join Deutsche Telekom as Board Member for Product and Technology on 1 November 2026. He will succeed Abdurazak (Abdu) Mudesir, who left the company at his own request in spring.

Hofmeyr, 58, joins from Amazon Web Services (AWS), where he most recently served as Vice President responsible for Product and Technology for AWS Edge services. He previously held senior positions covering networking and the telecommunications industry at AWS and spent more than a decade at Comcast. At Comcast, he was involved in building and launching the X1 platform, which has grown to more than 30 million devices.

Earlier in his career, Hofmeyr spent seven years at Microsoft, where he was Director of TV Strategy and co-founded the company’s eHome division. He began his career in South Africa, where he was involved in launching the country’s first digital television satellite service.

Mladen Mitic will become Deutsche Telekom’s new Chief Product & Digital Officer on 1 October 2026. He is currently Senior Vice President B2C Commercial Growth in Deutsche Telekom’s Europe segment. Mitic has 20 years of telecommunications industry experience and has previously held senior positions at Telenor Norway, TDC Business in Denmark and Slovak Telekom.

He will succeed Jonathan Abrahamson, who is leaving Deutsche Telekom at his own request.

Mirchandani, 51, joined Deutsche Telekom in 2019 as Head of Finance & Investment Management in Group Development. Since 2024, he has been Head of Group Controlling, responsible for the group’s financial planning, performance management, cash flow management and risk management.

Before joining Deutsche Telekom, Mirchandani worked at Vodafone Deutschland as Head of Broadband & TV and later as a capital markets analyst at Bernstein Research. He began his career at consulting firms A.T. Kearney and BCG.

Deutsche Telekom Supervisory Board Chairman Frank Appel described the appointments as part of a planned transition to the next generation of management. “The signal sent out by these appointments is clear: With these decisions, we are combining experience, renewal and international technological expertise,” Appel said. “That is why we have prepared the succession with great care.”

Deutsche Telekom CEO Tim Höttges also highlighted the continuity behind the changes, particularly Illek’s departure. “For me, the farewell to Christian is much more than a personnel matter. Christian and I have worked closely and trustingly together for over two decades,” Höttges said. “Christian is therefore not leaving behind an office – he leaves behind a well-ordered house. I particularly appreciate the fact that he is introducing his successor to the task with great professionalism. That’s leadership responsibility beyond his own term of office.”