TELUS appoints Joe Natale as CEO; Entwistle takes on executive chairman role

TELUS (NYSE: TU) is realigning its top management team, promoting Joe Natale, its current chief commercial officer, as its new CEO.

Joe Natale Telus

Natale

Natale, who has been with the Canadian telco since 2003, is taking over the role from Darren Entwistle, who will become executive chairman. He will also join TELUS' board of directors, reporting to the executive chair, Entwistle, and will continue to be based in Toronto.

Previously, Natale served as the president of TELUS' Business Solutions and president of TELUS Consumer Solutions. Before coming to TELUS in 2003, Natale held a number of senior management roles at KPMG Consulting, including country leader for Canada, global managing director for the automotive and transportation practice and managing partner for the consumer and industrial markets teams in Canada.

Entwistle himself served as the CEO of TELUS for 14 years. What he's most known for was leading a $5.4 billion deal to acquire wireless operator Clearnet, a move that gave it one of its most profitable business segments.  

He was no less aggressive in the consumer wireline broadband and business services arenas. Earlier this year, the service provider announced it would spend $121 million in Calgary and $99.5 million in its fiber and rural broadband facilities in the Edmonton region. These investments are part of its three-year, $1.93 billion commitment made a year ago to expand services in the region.

On the business services front, the service provider recently opened a new $67 million data center in Kamloops. Like the broadband expansion effort, the new data center build is part of a broader $2.7 billion investment program dedicated for infrastructure and facilities upgrades that TELUS is making across British Columbia from 2012 through 2014.

This latest management shift comes after Brian Canfield announced he will retire from the service provider after nearly 60 years with the company. Meanwhile, Dick Auchinleck, who has been on TELUS' board for over a decade, will become lead director.

For more:
- see the release
- Reuters has this article

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