Karsten Wildberger is the new head of Telstra’s retail business. Source: News Corp Australia

Cynthia Whelan is the new group executive of international and new businesses. Source: News Corp Australia

Chief among them is the appointment of Karsten Wildberger as head of the telco’s retail business, a role which became vacant this week with the announcement of Gordon Ballantyne’s departure in December.

Dr Wildberger currently serves as group managing director of the consumer business, as well as acting group managing director of products.

In his new role he will be responsible for Telstra’s (TLS) $18 billion retail portfolio including the consumer and business divisions, product and digital business units.

Under Mr Ballantyne’s leadership, the division delivered more than $2 billion in top-line revenue growth and pursued a more customer-focused approach.

Mr Ballantyne was considered a strong candidate to replace former Telstra chief executive David Thodey in the top job, but was overlooked in favour of Mr Penn earlier this year.

He is the third senior executive, following Tim Chen and Robert Nason, to flag his departure since Mr Penn’s appointment was announced.

Dr Wildberger joined Telstra in January 2013 and has previously been a partner and managing director with The Boston Consulting Group advising on telecommunications, technology, industrial goods and utilities globally.

Other roles have included senior executive positions at Deutsche Telekom in the UK and Germany, as well as with Vodafone in Romania.

Also announced today was the appointment of Cynthia Whelan as group executive of international and new businesses, replacing Mr Chen, and Joe Pollard as chief marketing officer and group executive of media.

Ms Whelan, currently group managing director of strategic finance, will have responsibility for driving growth initiatives into new markets, including Telstra Health, Telstra Ventures, Smart Home Solutions and new premium services.

She has been serving as acting group executive of the international business.

Mr Penn said the trio of new appointments have already made significant contributions to the telco’s growth ambitions and will take even larger roles in this new structure.

“They bring significant international experience prior to joining Telstra,” Mr Penn said.

“These positions reflect our commitment to improving consumer and product offers to customers through one laser-focused team, to elevate our media and marketing activities and align them across the business, and our continued focus on growth.”

Business Spectator