Digicel announces new Group Chief Executive Officer

Digicel, the total communications and entertainment provider, last Friday announced the appointment of Alexander Matuschka Greiffenclau as Group chief executive, with effect from February 2018.

He will succeed Colm Delves, who had signalled to the board some time ago his intention to step down from his executive role for personal and family reasons. Delves will remain as a non-executive director of Digicel and will also provide advisory services to the Group.    

Under Colm’s leadership over the past 13 years, Digicel grew from US$478 million revenues in eight markets to $2.5 billion revenues across 32 markets, with a 10-fold increase in profitability and subscribers.

Alex joins from VEON, a leading global provider of telecommunications services, where he has served as Group chief performance officer since mid-2015. He previously served as chief transformation officer at Nokia Networks, where he was credited as playing a key role in its transformation. Prior to joining Nokia, he gained extensive experience in the automotive and machining industries.

Alex holds a joint business degree (Diplom-Kaufmann) in International Business Economy from International Business School Lippstadt in Germany and West Virginia University in the US.

Denis O’Brien, chair of Digicel Group, said: “I am very pleased to welcome Alex to lead our talented management team at a really exciting time for the business. Given his telecommunications credentials and his experience of working in dynamic and transforming sectors, he’s a natural fit for our business.

“Our enthusiastic welcome of Alex is tempered only by the fact that Colm will be stepping down from a role in which he excelled and where he led by example for more than a dozen years. Colm has led the diversification of Digicel from being purely a mobile company to a total communications and entertainment provider with major investments in Fibre-to-the-Home, Business Solutions and Digital Media. Most recently, he also successfully initiated and led Digicel’s 2030 Transformation Programme. We thank him for his enormous contribution to Digicel and we are very pleased that he has agreed to remain on board as a non-executive director.”

Commenting, Colm Delves said: “Having accrued more air-miles than I care to admit and with Digicel very well positioned to capitalize on our unique market positions, I have decided now is the appropriate time to step down from my executive role to spend a bit more time on personal and family priorities. 

“It has been my privilege to serve both as Group CEO and Group CFO of Digicel, a true business trail blazer that has invested over US$5 billion in 32 markets across the Caribbean, Central America and Asia Pacific. It has been my pleasure to work with talented, energetic colleagues to help develop a company that has become as ubiquitous in these markets as Coca-Cola.  I wish Alex every success in his new role and I look forward to continuing to support Denis and the board in my new role as a non-executive director,” Delves added.

Commenting, Alex Matuschka Greiffenclau, Group CEO designate, said: “I am very pleased to join the Digicel team. I view Digicel’s progress implementing Digicel 2030 as a truly ground breaking initiative and an opportunity to transform our customers’ communications and entertainment experience.  In my view, Digicel has first mover advantage in its customer engagement evolution and I aim to ensure we capitalize on that for the benefit of all stakeholders.”