Liberty Global is implementing an organisational change to its operations in Central and Eastern Europe.
It will see Betzalel Kenigsztein, currently MD of UPC Hungary, assume the new role of MD for the CEE region, reporting to Diederik Karsten, executive VP of Liberty Global’s European Broadband operations, on August 15.
He will be responsible for the CEE region and for the DTH activities there. Liberty says that following the acquisition of Virgin Media, which has seen the company grow significantly in size, there is a need for further rebalancing of its management structure.
“The announced change will enable the Central and Eastern European region to receive dedicated management attention, with a focus on the unique needs of the operations in the region. As these operations continue to benefit from the economies of scale within Liberty Global, this new focus will also allow the company to explore opportunities for more regional cooperation.”
Alongside Betzalel Kenigsztein’s appointment, Liberty Global has also chosen Severina Pascu, currently MD of UPC Romania, to the position of MD of UPC Hungary. As of August 15, she will hold both roles.
Commenting on the appointments, Diederik Karsten said: “Both Betzalel Kenigsztein and Severina Pascu are ideally positioned to take their new roles for the CEE region and UPC Hungary and UPC Romania respectively.
“Betzalel is ideally positioned to take this new role with 25 years of experience in the cable industry and a proven track record at Liberty Global. In 2004, Betzalel joined the company as CTO of UPC Netherlands leading a crucial phase of innovation of the UPC Netherlands network. In 2009 he was appointed CEO of UPC Hungary, a position he has held successfully since then. Before his time at UPC he held a range of senior management positions in the Israeli cable industry.
“Severina Pascu is also very experienced and was appointed Managing Director of UPC Romania in 2011 from her previous role as CFO for UPC Romania since 2008. As the MD of UPC Romania, she stabilized the operations and led it back to growth in the last year. Before her positions at UPC she worked as Director Corporate Finance for CAIB Romania, one of the leading investment banks in central Europe, and in other positions in Romania and the UK for American cable company Metromedia International and for KPMG.”