Telecom recruits expatriate talent to head finances

By RICHARD BRADDELL

WELLINGTON - A New Zealander working in the United States has been appointed to replace Jeff White as Telecom's chief financial officer.

Marko Bogoievski, aged 36, now the chief financial officer of American start-up Dispatch Management Services, will join Telecom on May 1 to take over from Mr White, who finishes at the end of the week.

A Victoria University graduate with an MBA from Harvard, Mr Bogoievski was Ansett NZ's chief financial officer and the finance director of NZ Wines and Spirits before becoming its sales director.

He has held financial and investment positions with First Boston Corporation, Elders Finance Group and PricewaterhouseCoopers in New York, New Zealand and Australia.

Telecom's chief executive, Theresa Gattung, said he had gained hands-on experience in sales and a wide variety of finance and investment in some very competitive industries. "In addition, he has learned an enormous amount through working in US capital markets," she said.

Of Greek and Yugoslav parentage, Mr Bogoievski will no doubt have an important role in restoring Telecom's credit rating, which was downgraded last week by Standard & Poor's. The downgrade, foreshadowed in September, came as no surprise after Telecom invested $1.6 billion in the third-ranked Australian telco AAPT.

Telecom is widely expected to announce the sale of at least part of one of its high-growth businesses at the profit announcement on May 16, in a strategy aimed at unlocking value that it believes the present share price does not reflect.