Telstra’s Michael Ackland appointed CFO as Vicki Brady gets set to move into CEO role

Michael Ackland may have missed out on the telco heavyweight’s top job but the executive will be sticking around in a new role.

Telstra executive Michael Ackland has been appointed the telco’s new chief financial officer, replacing Vicki Brady who will take on the top job in September. Source: Supplied

Telstra executive Michael Ackland has been appointed the telco’s new chief financial officer, replacing Vicki Brady who will be elevated to the chief executive role in September.

Mr Ackland, who is currently Telstra’s executive in charge of consumer and small business, was considered one of the frontrunners to replace outgoing CEO Andy Penn, along with Brendon Riley, the CEO of Telstra’s infrastructure arm InfraCo.

Instead, the top job will go to Ms Brady, and Mr Ackland will take over as CFO on September 1. He previously held executive roles at GE and Boston Consulting before joining Telstra in 2016.

Telstra had considered both internal and external candidates for its next CFO. The company’s board had rankled some top executives in its selection process for the CEO role.

“I was thrilled that we were able to appoint an internal candidate to the role. Michael has exceptional credentials and is well placed to continue to drive Telstra’s financial outlook and success,“ Ms Brady said in a statement on Monday.

“He has strong telecommunications experience and his combination of skills will benefit the CFO role greatly.”

Mr Penn said Mr Ackland had driven key changes for the telco including slashing its number of plans from 1800 to 20.

Telstra incoming chief executive Vicki Brady. Source: Supplied

“Michael’s appointment to the CFO role also reinforces the strength of our internal talent and I look forward to continuing to work closely with him as we close out T22,” Mr Penn said.

Telstra shares fell down slightly, slipping 1.4 per cent to $3.98 at 12pm AEST.

Mr Penn in an interview last month said he had spoken to his direct team after a report in The Australian identified disquiet over the search for his replacement.

“It’s a very cohesive team, it’s a very talented team … I’m not aware of anybody being miffed.”

Ms Brady will take the reins in September, and takes over at a time of renewed competition from rivals TPG and Optus, and at a critical juncture for Telstra as it embarks on its T25 ‘strategy for growth’, following years of heavy cost-cutting and job cuts as part of T22 which completes this year.

The company’s shares are down 5.8 per cent over the year to date, but are up nearly 14 per cent over the past 12 months.

Ms Brady began her career with KPMG and also served as a senior executive with Optus and its parent company SingTel before joining rival Telstra.

“One of the things Andy told me recently is the CEO role might look incredibly daunting, but once you step into it there is an incredible team and access to people and expertise,” she said in a recent interview.

“I’m not sure you’re ever fully prepared for it but I’m just making sure I set myself up as well as I can and I’ll be drawing on Andy through this five month period to help me get in the best possible position.”