Ex-CEO of Orange becomes head of Australian operator Telstra

The Chairman of Telstra Corporation, Donald McGauchie AO, today announced that the Board had appointed Solomon (Sol) Trujillo as Chief Executive Officer and as an executive director of the company.

Mr Trujillo will take up his position on 1 July 2005. He will replace Dr Ziggy Switkowski, who will step down on 1 July 2005.

"During his career he has successfully managed fixed line, wireless, broadband and directory businesses - virtually every facet of Telstra's business. He has enormous depth, expertise and understanding in matters regulatory, operational, financial, marketing and sales and a deep understanding of technology", says Mr McGauchie.

The Board expects that Mr Trujillo will drive cultural and organisational change throughout Telstra, enabling the corporation to further embrace a service driven, customer focused way of doing business.

Mr Trujillo has been appointed on an ongoing contract. He holds a Bachelor of Business and a MBA degree from the University of Wyoming. He was previously a nonexecutive Director and then Chief Executive Office of Orange based in London, one of the largest mobile companies in Europe , was the CEO of hi-tech company, Gravitron and spent 26 years with US West Inc, including serving as its Chairman, CEO and President for 5 years.

Mr Trujillo is currently sitting on the boards of Pepsi, Target, Gannett, (the newspaper chain) and EDS. He will leave all but one of these board positions.

Mr Trujillo will receive a fixed remuneration package of AU$3 million per annum. He will also receive an annual short term incentive of up to the value of AU$3 million and an annual long term incentive of up to the value of AU$4 million. These incentive components are referable to significant performance milestones. He will receive an initial sign on payment of AU$1 million and fifty per cent of his first year incentive on commencement.