S&P Global Market Intelligence presents a weekly rundown of executive and board changes in the European technology, media and communications industries.
TOP MOVES
* Dutch telecom operator KPN NV named Dominique Leroy CEO and management board chairman, effective Dec. 1. The new appointee will replace Maximo Ibarra, who was named chief executive of Sky Italia Srl, a unit of Comcast Corp.-owned pay TV giant Sky Ltd. Ibarra is stepping down Sept. 30, with KPN COO Joost Farwerck becoming interim management board and executive committee chairman from Oct. 1. Leroy joins KPN from Belgian telco Proximus, formerly Belgacom, where she has been CEO since 2014.
* Telia Co. AB appointed Christian Luiga acting president and CEO, effective Sept. 12. Luiga, who is executive vice president and CFO, will temporarily take over duties left by Johan Dennelind who announced his resignation in early August. The Swedish telco also appointed Douglas Lubbe acting CFO. Lubbe most recently was finance chief of Telia Sweden.
MEDIA INDUSTRY MOVES
* Luca Baratta will resign as chief accounting officer of Spotify Technology SA, effective Sept. 16. Paul Sawyer, Spotify's controller, will replace Baratta as the new accounting chief, according to an SEC filing.
* Akazoo Ltd. completed its merger with Modern Media Acquisition Corp. to form a new holding company, Akazoo SA. Modern Media Chairman and CEO Lew Dickey will become the combined entity's chairman.
* Red Arrow Studios International GmbH named Maria Arroyo senior sales manager for Italy, Spain, Portugal, Turkey and Israel. Arroyo joins the ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE unit from Spanish distributor Onza Entertainment SL, where she was international sales manager of scripted, non-scripted and factual content for Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Canada.
* European Commission President-elect Ursula von der Leyen proposed to retain Denmark's Margrethe Vestager as the competition commissioner as she presented her new 27-member executive team Sept. 10. Von der Leyen also nominated Vestager to helm the EU's digital policies in addition to her current role.
* Netflix Inc. hired former Constantin Medien AG executive Sasha Bühler to become the streaming company's director of original film for Germany, France and the Nordics, Deadline reported. Bühler will take on the role in December.
* London-based startup Veloce Esports appointed Eric Tveter chairman, Digital TV Europe reported. Tveter, who also became a major investor in the esports company, was formerly CEO of Liberty Global PLC's central and eastern European operations.
* Channel 4 (UK) said Sept. 10 that it appointed Lynsey Atkin executive creative director of the British public broadcaster's in-house agency 4creative. Lynsey will replace Alice Tonge, who stepped down in the summer. Chris Wood, who was 4creative's interim head following Tonge's exit, will become deputy executive creative director.
* Ralf Baumann is stepping down as CEO of online job platform StepStone A/S by end-2020, ahead of his retirement, according to a Sept. 10 statement. Baumann will remain on the executive board of StepStone's parent entity, Axel Springer SE.
* Spotify named Netflix executive Tony Jebara vice president of engineering for personalization, Fortune reported. Meanwhile, Nick Holmstén is stepping down as head of music at Spotify and will instead take an advisory role in the company's business segments, according to Hits Daily Double. Jeremy Erlich and Marian Dicus will take over responsibilities in Spotify's music segment as the company searches for Holmstén's replacement.
* Richard Allan is stepping down as Facebook Inc.'s vice president of policy solutions due to personal reasons, The Information reported, citing the social media company.
* Swisscom AG named Dominik Müller as the new CEO of its Swisscom Broadcast AG unit, effective Nov. 15. Müller will replace Jean-Paul de Weck, who is retiring after 12 years with the Swiss telecom group.
* Belgian company EVS Broadcast Equipment SA appointed Serge Van Herck as its new CEO. EVS Chairman Pierre De Muelenaere, who was also interim CEO, is leaving the company on Jan. 1, 2020.
* Spotify tapped David Rhodes as a consultant to help the company in its push into news and podcast programming, The Information reported, citing people familiar with the situation. Rhodes stepped down as president of CBS Corp. division CBS News Inc. in January. Spotify also recently hired Amy Hudson, who previously worked on sports partnerships at Facebook, to grow its sports offering.
* British Broadcasting Corp. unit BBC Studios Ltd. merged its Asian operations with those in Australia and New Zealand to form an Asia-Pacific regional business, according to a Sept. 6 statement. Jon Penn will lead the newly created business unit as executive vice president.
* British regulator Ofcom reappointed three nonexecutive directors to Channel 4's board. Paul Geddes and Roly Keating will serve for three years, starting Dec. 5, while Stewart Purvis will serve for one year, effective Sept. 1. Simon Bax will step down as a nonexecutive director when his term expires Dec. 4.
COMMUNICATIONS INDUSTRY MOVES
* Providence Strategic Growth Capital Partners LLC, an affiliate of asset management firm Providence Equity Partners Inc., bought I'Car Systems Groupe SAS-DATAFIRST SAS from Argos Wityu Partners SA. Patrick Prajs will become the French software development company's CEO, replacing Philippe Almouzni.
* U.K. content delivery software provider Velocix Solutions Ltd. appointed David Sharpley CEO. Sharpley most recently was CEO of Incognito Software Systems Inc. Volaris Group Inc. owns Velocix and Incognito.
* Technology solution provider Fujitsu Ltd. said Sept. 10 that it appointed Michael Verveckken as the new managing director of Fujitsu Belgium, replacing Yves de Beauregard.
* Russian mobile operator MegaFon appointed Andrey Levykin CEO of its Megafon Retail OJSC unit, replacing Kirill Shibanov who is leaving the company in September, Telecompaper reported Sept. 10.
* Mobile TeleSystems PJSC said Sept. 10 that it named Igor Mishin vice president in charge of media development. Mishin is a Russian producer and media personality.
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