Deutsche Telekom management Van Damme leaves position as Head of Deutsche Telekom Germany

Bonn · A surprising change on the board of management at Deutsche Telekom: Niek van Damme, the head of Telekom’s German business will leave the company at the end of the year.

His successor, Dirk Wössner will take over on January 1, 2018. Wössner is well-known at Deutsche Telekom as he served in management positions there from 2002 until 2015.

The announcement was made in a board meeting on Tuesday evening. Supervisory Board chair Ulrich Lehner said there was a window of opportunity for Dirk Wössner to make a change at this time, otherwise he may have been committed for a longer period of time.

Telekom CEO Tim Höttges expressed his gratitude to van Damme, saying he had contributed a great deal to Deutsche Telekom, especially merging the fixed-network and mobile business into a single entity. “The list is long,” Höttges said in referring to van Damme’s accomplishments.

Van Damme has served on the management board since 2009. From the Netherlands, he speaks fluent German. His exit comes a little earlier than planned, “but it’s a good fit with my personal life planning and the best way to ensure a seamless transition – similar to the situation with René Obermann and Tim Höttges four years ago,” he said on Tuesday. He thanked his colleagues and wished the firm the best of luck, saying he was convinced it would continue down a successful path.

Wössner has been at Rogers Communications in Canada since 2015, responsible for consumer business. At the time when Wössner left Deutsche Telekom, CEO Höttges had said there was always a door open if Wössner wanted to return. “He knows this company better than nearly anyone else,” said Höttges and he has gathered valuable experience in the last years which he can bring back to Telekom.

(Orig. Text: Florian Ludwig / Translation: ckloep)

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