It’s been a tumultuous last couple of years at Wind Mobile with major executive staffing changes and disputes over its status as a Canadian-owned company. And now, the company will be led by a new CEO as Anthony Lacavera, the current CEO of Wind Mobile’s parent, Toronto-based Globalive Communications Corporation, takes over control as the new wireless player’s chief executive.
Lacavera said of Campbell’s departure and the executive shuffle, it’s a “positive step for the company.” He added that he has “nothing negative to say about Ken,” in fact “nothing against Ken whatsoever,” and that he “did a fantastic job of getting the business out of the gate.”
He said that Campbell’s leaving had more to do with Wind and Globalive’s future than it had to do with his job performance.
“He didn’t have direct experience beyond the wireless sector,” Lacavera says. “We needed a totally different experience [and] knowledge set than he had.” It’s been a long time coming as, “when we created our first wireless business plan, we were already talking bundles.”
Carmi Levy, independent technology analyst, doesn’t agree as “it’s odd that someone’s departure was ‘always planned’.” “No one ever accepts a role with a predefined best before date.”
The move to bundling, Lacavera said, is a question of “leveraging the wireline assets [Globalive] have.”
When asked, Lacavera said he’s unconcerned about rumours of Wind International pushing for more control by placing Corti in Wind Canada’s executive. In fact, he maintains it was his decision. As Globalive readies to move forward on bundling services, “I came to the decision we were going to reorganize in this way.”
Levy agrees, in fact, he said “if you didn’t know any better, you’d have thought Mr. Lacavera was CEO all along based on his ability to balance strategic planning with day-to-day implementation.”
As to who is responsible for what, now that Wind has a new CEO and COO, Lacavera said “we’re still organizing, [so] it’s too early to say,” but he is ready for “assuming more operating functions of the wireless operation.” Where daily operations are concerned, “I want my hands in it.”
Levy thinks, “the leadership shuffle should help WIND return its focus to its core business. If this is the only change needed to solidify the executive suite, then we can expect a relatively uninterrupted period of leadership harmony.” That said, he adds a caveat that, “if we see additional major leadership changes over the next few months, it could be a sign that all is not well.”
Looking to the future, Lacavera said both the bundles and getting more subscribers are top of mind, as “we have 300,000 but I’d love to have 500,000, obviously.”
