By Gordon French
Caribbean Net News Guyana Correspondent
Email: gordon@caribbeannetnews.com
GEORGETOWN, Guyana: The Digicel Group has announced three appointments in Guyana, including a new Chief Executive Officer (CEO), saying the promotions were designed to position the company for its next round of development.
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| Mark Linehan, new CEO of Digicel Guyana |
From August 1, Mark Linehan will assume the post of CEO of Digicel Guyana, while other new appointments to the management team include Gabi Geva as Marketing Director and Guyana-born Gregory Dean as Financial Director.
Geva has been in Guyana for the past several weeks, signalling the changing of the guard at the cellular phone company.
Linehan replaces Tim Bahrani, whom the company said, successfully led Digicel’s launch in Guyana to become a major player in the mobile telecommunications industry and now moves on to pursue other business opportunities.
According to Digicel, Linehan has held many senior management positions in the company since he joined in January 2002. He has been instrumental in the development and success of the Digicel operations in the Eastern Caribbean, Trinidad & Tobago, Haiti and most recently French Guiana where he held the position as General Manager.
CEO of the Digicel Group, Colm Delves said the company was pleased to promote Linehan to its Guyana operations.
“We are confident that Mark will follow the tremendous work led by Tim Bahrani in growing the Guyana business at such a phenomenal rate. As our business in Guyana continues to grow, Mark along with all our Guyana management and staff will ensure that our customers continue to be our number one priority,” Delves stated.
According to a statement from the company, Dean brings eight years of international experience to his post of Financial Director. He has returned to Guyana from the UK where he held various financial roles in the healthcare and retail industries, most recently as Financial Controller for Habitat UK Limited.
Geva, the company stated, has over 19 years experience in Sales and Marketing and has previously held senior management positions in international telecommunications companies including GTS Group in South Africa, Angola Telecoms and SciTex Vision in the USA, Mexico and Brazil.
Earlier this month, the company announced the appointment of Kevin White as its Chief Operations Officer (COO)-Caribbean operations and Donal O’Shaughnessy, who has been with Digicel from its 2001 launch in Jamaica and had responsibility for building out the phone company's infrastructure, as new COO-Central America.
Additionally, the company announced that Niall Dorrian, who had the job of COO-Digicel Jamaica, will head the Trinidad and Tobago operations. While in Guyana, Linehan will report to White.
Digicel Guyana launched under the Digicel brand name on February 14, 2007, after Digicel acquired Cel*Star U Mobile, the second wireless operator in Guyana, in November 2006. The operation had 14,800 subscribers at the date of acquisition, which has now grown to more than 100,000 customers as of March 31, 2007. Employment has also grown from 110 to 159.
Digicel has invested in excess of US$60 million and according to the company, over the last nine months, it has built a state of the art network that brings crystal clear coverage from Lethem in the south, to Linden and Bartica in the centre of the country, and right up to Mabaruma in the north. |
