SINGAPORE, July 28 — StarHub, Singapore’s second biggest telco, announced yesterday that its chief executive officer (CEO) Peter Kaliaropoulos will be stepping down from the position on October 31 for family reasons.
In a statement issued by StarHub yesterday after trading on the Singapore Exchange closed, Kaliaropoulos said that he will be returning to Sydney, Australia to be closer to his family due to “unforeseen serious health-related matters of a close family member”.
StarHub’s board will immediately begin a global search for a new CEO, the statement said.
Kaliaropoulos, 61, took over the helm of StarHub in July 2018 and started transforming the company as a response to the challenges facing the telco industry.
Technological disruptions and intense competition with the setting up of more mobile virtual network operators such as Circles.Life has eaten into the traditional pie of mobile and broadband revenues of telcos.
Before joining StarHub as CEO, Kaliaropoulos served in several C-level roles in New Zealand, Australia and the Middle East. Before that, he was senior vice-president of commercial operations at StarHub in 1999 — his first stint at the telco.
In an audio conference call with the media convened right after StarHub’s announcement, Kaliaropoulos said that he has been in the telecommunications industry for more than 40 years and he has enjoyed working through its challenges.
“I enjoy every day that I work for StarHub, trying to transform, trying to be more competitive, more customer-focused, trying to grow the business, trying to improve the margins,” he said.
Unfortunately, the news of a close family member falling sick was “completely unexpected”, he said.
“(It) just has changed the world 180 degrees. And of course, when something like this happens to someone extremely close... you need to rethink priorities in life,” Kaliaropoulos said.
He also told the media that there is no other reason for his departure from the telco.
“In case there’s any speculation, it’s not. It’s just such a very personal matter, completely unexpected,” Kaliaropoulos said, as he requested the media to keep specific details of the family matter private.
StarHub’s board has also set up an executive committee which will support the management leadership team during the search for the next CEO and oversee his or her smooth transition into the role.
Kaliaropoulos will be serving as a member of this committee through his three-month notice period and until the new CEO is hired.
He told the media during the audio conference that StarHub is “in good hands” as the executive committee is made of “very experienced professionals” who will hopefully continue the transformation drive that he has started but is not yet complete.
When asked whether a Singaporean would be considered to be the next CEO, Kaliaropoulos said that StarHub has always looked internally within the company, and at the domestic and international market when selecting a CEO. He believes that this same process will be used this time.
“If the right person is found from the Singaporean market, certainly, he or she will be given the opportunity but the selection process has always been spread wide to try and find the best possible candidate,” he said, though he added that he is not speaking on behalf of the selection committee. — TODAY
