NBN Co's Brad Whitcomb to head to Telstra

NBN Co’s chief customer officer Brad Whitcomb is set to shift to Telstra after almost eight-and-a-half years with the government-backed network operator.

Brad Whitcomb.

Telstra said in a statement that Whitcomb would replace Michael Ackland as group executive of consumer and small business.

Ackland was promoted to chief financial officer at Telstra in early May, replacing Vicki Brady who is now the incoming Telstra CEO.

Brady said that Whitcomb “has had a remarkable career with a long list of customer-focused roles across the US, Japan and Australia.”

“In his current role as chief customer officer for NBN Co, he is accountable for delivering more than $5 billion in annual wholesale broadband services revenue across a range of access technologies, giving him an intrinsic understanding of the Australian telco market,” she said.

“While much of his career has been in telco, he has also helped found a software business, worked for an energy utility and a smart metering business. Brad’s mix of strategic ability, strong leadership and telecommunications track record position him well for the role.

“Brad currently works closely with NBN Co’s retail partners to deliver end-to-end customer solutions to Australian consumers so he understands that customer experience is at the heart of our business.”

Whitcomb has also held strategy, culture and business transformation roles at NBN Co.

Immediately prior to joining NBN Co back in 2014, he was the chief strategy and business transformation officer at Vodafone Hutchison Australia (VHA).

He is set to join Telstra from January 16 next year.

Amanda Hutton will act in the group executive of consumer and small business role until that time.