Optus Appointed NBN CEO Stephen Rue as Its New Chief

Optus hired NBN's chief to lead the company and restore trust of customers.

Monday, May 6, 2024 9:23 AM UTC

Rue, a former chief executive of the National Broadband Network (NBN) broadband firm, will lead Optus, replacing Kelly Bayer Rosmarin, who quit in November. The former chief resigned after facing strong criticism for how she handled the national network outage last year. It was also under her watch when a cyberattack happened in 2022.

Optus Strategy to Win Back Trust

According to Channel News Asia, the newly appointed CEO of Optus has been leading NBN since 2018, and his move to Singtel-owned telecom firm is anticipated. The company wants to rebuild and restore customer trust and believes Rue can help achieve these goals.

"An appointment of a new CEO at Optus has been well-awaited by the market. Mr Rue does not seem to have a mobile business background but has a sound financial expertise in running Australian businesses," Sachin Mittal, an analyst at DBS stated.

CEO Rue’s Official Appointment

Optus aims to expand its local market share through its recent agreement with TPG telecom company. They signed a deal to set up a regional multi-operator core network. In any case, with Stephen Rue taking over the CEO role, he will also become part of the board.

However, he will not work for Optus until November. Before this date, it was reported that Michael Venter, Optus' chief finance officer, would continue to serve as interim chief.

“Stephen was chosen after a rigorous process that involved a slate of high-quality candidates,” Paul O’Sullivan, Optus’s chairman, said in a press release. “We are extremely pleased to have someone of his caliber to lead the next chapter at Optus. We expect Stephen’s operational and financial background to lift service standards significantly for the benefit of our customers.”

Photo by: Optus Media Website