Optus CEO exit a ‘knee jerk’ reaction, say business leaders

The boss of travel giant Flight Centre has joined other corporate leaders in questioning whether the resignation of Optus chief executive Kelly Bayer Rosmarin was justified.

Optus’s now former chief executive, Kelly Bayer Rosmarin. Picture: Martin Ollman

Kelly Bayer Rosmarin’s unceremonious exit from the top job at Optus in the wake of the telco’s catastrophic network outage does not sit well with some business leaders.

Flight Centre boss Graham Turner said the board should have been aware of Ms Bayer Rosmarin’s abilities before the outage and whether she was capable of staying in the role.

Ms Bayer Rosmarin resigned from Optus on Monday, days after she faced a grilling from senators over the telco’s outage that affected 10 million Aussies. The announcement was made in a statement from Optus’ parent company Singtel.

“It is a tough one and I am not on the inside, but I would have thought the board would have had some idea about her capabilities and whether she was good at her job given she had been there for three years,” Mr Turner said.

“You would have to consider whether there was a knee-jerk reaction. It is setting a very high standard,” he said.

Tech rich-lister Cathie Reid, the co-founder of national cancer clinic operator Icon, also questioned whether Ms Bayer Rosmarin should have resigned.

Ms Reid said she understood the angst and anger felt by customers of Optus, but sometimes it was better to keep people in the job while the crisis was handled.

Flight Centre boss Graham Turner. Picture: Steve Pohlner

“Despite the baying for blood sometimes in a crisis you need to preserve the leadership even if it is just for the short term,” Ms Reid said.

Ms Reid said that although some commentators claimed Ms Bayer Rosmarin would have been treated differently if she was a man, she did not believe it was an issue of gender.

“I think it would be the same result if she was a man,” Ms Reid said.

Jo Ucukalo, the founder of complaints management company Handle My Complaint, said that customers usually forgave a mistake, but they lost patience when the aftermath was poorly handled.

“Optus should have had a well-tested crisis management strategy in place, clearly they didn’t,” Ms Ucukalo said.

“The cyber attack was a clear warning that they needed to be expertly prepared, but they ­appear not to have learnt the ­lessons they should have.

“Without a crisis management plan, you can’t respond ­effectively, no matter how good your intentions are.

Icon Group co-founder Cathie Reid.

“The issue Optus faced was not just a network problem, it was a public problem. Other organisations I’ve worked with regularly test their crisis management plan, monthly or even weekly, involving key department representatives.”

Before Ms Bayer Rosmarin announced she was leaving, Harvey Norman chairman Gerry Harvey slammed what he says was “very unfair” criticism of Optus after millions of ­customers were affected by a ­nationwide outage.

Mr Harvey told Perth radio station 6PR he felt the criticism of Optus was “very unfair” and calls for Ms Bayer Rosmarin to resign were “ridiculous”.

“You get a situation where you’re the CEO of a public company, and it could happen to any public company, the CEO doesn’t run the IT department,” he told the radio station.

Hutchinson Builders chairman Scott Hutchinson said it was difficult to comment on the situation, but in some cases ­companies required top executives to fall on their sword.

In a media release announcing her departure on Monday, Ms Bayer Rosmarin said she had come to the decision that her resignation was in the best interest of Optus moving forward.

Optus has appointed chief ­financial officer Michael Venter as interim chief executive while it searches for a full-time ­replacement.

Originally published as Optus CEO exit a ‘knee jerk’ reaction, say business leaders