O2 today announced that it is to appoint a new head of its business development division.
Outgoing New Business Director Tim Sefton has announced his plans to launch a strategy and innovation consultancy service which will include O2 among its first clients.
Martin Harriman is to take up the role of New Business Director at O2. He joins from LightSquared where he has been Executive Vice-President since 2009.
Tim Sefton said ‘O2 has become widely respected for its brand built on customer focus and innovation. I’m privileged to have been a part of this and excited about the opportunity to develop similar strategies for a broad range of clients in the future.’
Martin Harriman said ‘Under Tim’s direction, O2 has demonstrated a nose for innovation and courage in execution and I’m greatly looking forward to taking O2 into the next stage of its development.’
Ronan Dunne, chief executive of Telefonica UK, said: “Tim has put O2 in a leading position in many areas of new industry growth and leaves us in a strong position. I wish him every success for his new venture and look forward to our continued association. We all thank him for his significant contribution to O2.”
As New Business Director, Tim and his team drove the creation of O2 Media, O2 Money, O2 Wifi, O2 Health, O2 Learn, Machine-to-Machine, Giffgaff and the acquisition of Jajah as well as leading the formulation of the proposed m’commerce joint venture, ‘Project Oscar’.
Martin Harriman will join O2 in April. He was previously Chief Commercial Director of Augere, of which he was a founding member. Before that he held a number of senior executive positions at Ericsson in Sweden. He has achieved notable success in the public and private sectors including setting up a new $5bn turnover business unit in an acknowledged global leader, founding a start-up wireless broadband business that attracted $150m of initial funding, and setting up a $5bn start-up national wireless operator in the US.
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