Carrier brings in a new CFO and COO and promotes John Saw to CTO in the latest of a string of shake-ups as it looks to regain its footing in the US.

Sarah Thomas, Director, Women in Comms

August 3, 2015

2 Min Read
Sprint Swaps in a New CFO, COO & CTO

Sprint's executive shuffle is continuing as the carrier announced a new CFO, COO and CTO on Monday evening, just before its quarterly earnings will be announced.

Sprint Corp. (NYSE: S) has appointed Tarek Robbiati as chief financial officer and Günther Ottendorfer as chief operating officer, Technology. Current CFO Joseph Euteneuer will be leaving the company after a transition period this month. Chief Network Officer John Saw has also been promoted to chief technology officer, reporting to Ottendorfer.

Robbiati joins Sprint from FlexiGroup, an Australian consumer finance company where he was most recently CEO. He was previously CFO of telco Telstra Corp. Ltd. (ASX: TLS; NZK: TLS) and also held positions at Hong Kong wireless operator CSL Limited and at Orange (NYSE: FTE).

Ottendorfer is joining Sprint from Telekom Austria Group , where -- as CTO -- he helped drive the carrier's network virtualization strategy, which Sprint thinks might be important to it going forward. He will be heading up a newly created Technology Office at Sprint in charge of network planning and deployment functions, as well as information technology. Both Ottendorfer and Robbiati will report to Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure.

Junichi Miyakawa, who joined Sprint as technical chief operating officer last October, will become a senior technical adviser in the Office of the CEO and act as a liaison between SoftBank Corp. and Sprint for network strategy. Saw will take on the CTO role that Stephen Bye vacated this summer. (See Sprint CTO Goes Bye-Bye and SoftBank Man Joins Sprint as Technical COO.)

For more on wireless topics, visit the mobile content section here on Light Reading.

These are just the latest in a string of executive shake-ups that Claure -- and owner SoftBank -- has carried out at Sprint. (See Because They're Worth It?, Sprint Appoints Ex-Bell Media Exec as CMO , More Executive Shake-Ups at Sprint and Sprint Taps Brazilian Mobile Exec to Head Innovation.)

The carrier is working to transform its network in the US and is planning to deploy what it calls its Next-Generation Network, a plan to densify its network using Sprint's ample spectrum holdings. (See Sprint CEO Claims Next-Gen Network Will Be #1 and Sprint Maps Out Its Next-Generation Network.)

Sprint reports its fiscal first-quarter earnings ahead of the market Tuesday morning. Check back then for more.

— Sarah Thomas, Circle me on Google+ Follow me on TwitterVisit my LinkedIn profile, Editorial Operations Director, Light Reading

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About the Author(s)

Sarah Thomas

Director, Women in Comms

Sarah Thomas's love affair with communications began in 2003 when she bought her first cellphone, a pink RAZR, which she duly "bedazzled" with the help of superglue and her dad.

She joined the editorial staff at Light Reading in 2010 and has been covering mobile technologies ever since. Sarah got her start covering telecom in 2007 at Telephony, later Connected Planet, may it rest in peace. Her non-telecom work experience includes a brief foray into public relations at Fleishman-Hillard (her cussin' upset the clients) and a hodge-podge of internships, including spells at Ingram's (Kansas City's business magazine), American Spa magazine (where she was Chief Hot-Tub Correspondent), and the tweens' quiz bible, QuizFest, in NYC.

As Editorial Operations Director, a role she took on in January 2015, Sarah is responsible for the day-to-day management of the non-news content elements on Light Reading.

Sarah received her Bachelor's in Journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia. She lives in Chicago with her 3DTV, her iPad and a drawer full of smartphone cords.

Away from the world of telecom journalism, Sarah likes to dabble in monster truck racing, becoming part of Team Bigfoot in 2009.

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