Sunrise: Oliver Steil replaces Christoph Brand as CEO
Christoph Brand is leaving Sunrise following the failed merger between Sunrise and Orange. Oliver Steil is taking over as head of the Swiss telecommunications company effective immediately. The German executive is replacing Brand after four years as CEO.
Brand had actually planned to leave the company after the merger of Sunrise and Orange. Orange Switzerland boss Thomas Sieber was intended to head the new company. However, the ban on the merger by the Competition Commission (Weko) put a spanner in the works for Brand. Now, after almost four years, he wants to leave Sunrise at his own request and take on a new challenge.
As of October 15, 2010, the 40-year-old Bernese will become CEO and shareholder of St. Gallen-based Adcubum, which develops standard software for the insurance industry. In addition to expanding its offering for health insurers, the company intends to expand in the non-life business, as Adcubum announced on the same day, according to SDA.
"The optimum time has come"
Following the successful realignment and positioning of Sunrise as the largest private telecommunications provider in Switzerland, now is the ideal time to hand over his position to new hands, Brand was quoted as saying in a press release on Thursday. Under Brand, Sunrise had turned the corner after years of decline and returned to growth. In 2009, the subsidiary of the Danish telecoms group TDC reached the CHF 2 billion turnover mark for the first time in five years. The number of customers rose from 2.17 million in 2006 to 2.86 million at the end of March 2010. The market share in mobile telephony grew to over 20 percent.
Brand's successor will be Oliver Steil (photo). The 38-year-old worked at Debitel for two and a half years, where he rose to become the head of Germany's third-largest telecommunications company. However, the former McKinsey manager did not stay at the top for long. One year after his appointment, Steil left abruptly in October 2008. According to SDA, Debitel's scanty communiqué at the time spoke of the immediate "termination of his employment contract by mutual agreement". German media doubted this: In a press interview with Steil, it had become clear that there had been discord within the group.
(Image: Keystone)
As of October 15, 2010, the 40-year-old Bernese will become CEO and shareholder of St. Gallen-based Adcubum, which develops standard software for the insurance industry. In addition to expanding its offering for health insurers, the company intends to expand in the non-life business, as Adcubum announced on the same day, according to SDA.
"The optimum time has come"
Following the successful realignment and positioning of Sunrise as the largest private telecommunications provider in Switzerland, now is the ideal time to hand over his position to new hands, Brand was quoted as saying in a press release on Thursday. Under Brand, Sunrise had turned the corner after years of decline and returned to growth. In 2009, the subsidiary of the Danish telecoms group TDC reached the CHF 2 billion turnover mark for the first time in five years. The number of customers rose from 2.17 million in 2006 to 2.86 million at the end of March 2010. The market share in mobile telephony grew to over 20 percent.
Brand's successor will be Oliver Steil (photo). The 38-year-old worked at Debitel for two and a half years, where he rose to become the head of Germany's third-largest telecommunications company. However, the former McKinsey manager did not stay at the top for long. One year after his appointment, Steil left abruptly in October 2008. According to SDA, Debitel's scanty communiqué at the time spoke of the immediate "termination of his employment contract by mutual agreement". German media doubted this: In a press interview with Steil, it had become clear that there had been discord within the group.
(Image: Keystone)
