Olson tipped to replace Houlden as Telecom's CFO

Telecom's group controller, Nick Olson, is tipped to replace exiting chief financial officer Russ Houlden.

An industry insider said Olson was a frontrunner to replace Houlden when he leaves Telecom to become chief financial officer at British listed infrastructure player United Utilities.

Olson, who began his eight-year career at Telecom as company treasurer, previously acted in the position for four months before Houlden's appointment to replace Marko Bogoievski.

Houlden announced his departure on Tuesday, citing a desire to return to Britain for family reasons. He will continue at Telecom until a replacement is appointed and United Utilities said it expected he would begin his new job in the northern autumn.

Headquartered in Warrington, United Utilities is Britain's largest listed water company with a turnover of £2 billion ($4.1 billion), operating water, wastewater, gas and electricity assets at home and in Australia, the Middle East, central and eastern Europe and the Philippines.

Houlden said he was excited to be joining as it begins a five-year investment upgrading water and wastewater systems at a cost of £3.6 billion.

He began working for Telecom in April 2008, having worked alongside chief executive Paul Reynolds at British Telecom between 2000 and 2002.