iiNet appoints David Buckingham as new boss.Perth based telco iiNet has appointed David Buckingham as Chief Executive Officer. The appointment is effective immediately.
Buckingham has been Acting CEO since November after founder Michael Malone called it quits after 20 years at the helm.
He was appointed by iiNet today after a worldwide search failed to deliver a superior candidate.
Prior to that he was the firm’s top number cruncher and secretary for seven years and also worked as Finance Director at Virgin Media.
iiNet Chairman Michael Smith said the Board was unanimous in its decision to appoint Buckingham, and was an “obvious choice” and has “made the role his own.”
Company shares rose 1.36% to $ 7.4 after today’s announcement.
“Despite strong competition from applicants around the world, David proved an obvious choice as the person to lead iiNet now and into the future.”
“David has made the role his own over the past nine months, delivering the company’s strongest ever results, market-leading customer service, and organic growth.
“In his seven years with the company, David has taken iiNet to a level where it can genuinely compete with some of the largest companies in Australia.”
The ISP now has just short of one million customers, and is to build the country’s largest free Wi-Fi network in Canberra.
The iiNet leadership team has charted a 5-year business strategy to strengthen market share and ramp up profitability in new business areas.
Underlying net profit (NPAT) rose 19% to $31 million for the six months ended 31 December (H1 FY14) .
