Australia Post today announced the appointment of a new CEO while DHL named a new head of itsglobal customer unit earlier this month.
Ahmed Fahour, a financial expert formerly with The Boston Consulting Group, Citigroup,National Australia Bank and most recently Gulf Finance House, has been appointed as the newManaging Director and Chief Executive Officer of Australia Post following a four-monthinternational search. He replaces long-serving Graeme John, who retires at the end of this year.
“The board of Australia Post is delighted to have appointed someone of Ahmed Fahour’scalibre. He is an experienced chief executive in both Australia and overseas, who has a proventrack record of growing a company’s profitability,” said Australia Post chairman David Mortimer.“The board’s challenge to Ahmed is to write the next chapter in our corporation’s proud history.This will involve proposing ambitious new strategies that further strengthen our balance sheet andimprove our profitability,” he added.
Fahour, the son of Lebanese immigrants to Australia, said he felt privileged to be selectedto lead one of Australia’s great icon companies and most trusted brands as it confronts thechallenges of a rapidly changing world. “Australia Post, as it has done many times over its twohundred year history, is in the process of reinventing itself. I’m excited at the prospect ofdirecting this reinvention,” he said.
“We all recognise that the world is changing faster than ever before, especially the world ofcommunications. Australia Post is responding to these changes. My primary role as Chief ExecutiveOfficer is to position the business to profit from these challenges through my leadership of aworld class management team.” Fahour will take up the role on 1 February 2010 after he and hisfamily have completed their relocation and settled back in Melbourne.
Meanwhile, DHL has named Rob Siegers as Chief Operating Officer for its Global CustomerSolutions (GCS) organisation. Siegers, a 57-year-old Dutch national, has been the head of GCS inEurope and Emerging Markets since 2004. GCS is DHL’s dedicated customer relationship managementorganisation for the group’s top 100 customers worldwide.
Siegers will play a key role in continuing to maximize customer relationship management on aglobal scale, in line with the Group’s First Choice vision – DHL’s global service and customerinitiative to become the preferred logistics provider for customers worldwide, the company said. Hewill also continue to ensure that customers benefit from GCS’ innovative approach to increasingsupply chain efficiencies and reducing costs, particularly in the current economic environment.
“We are very pleased to announce Rob’s new role and welcome his vast experience. Hisleadership of GCS will help customers drive optimisation of their supply chains throughimplementation of scalable and sustainable solutions,” said Frank Appel, CEO, Deutsche Post DHL.
