Dr Dirk Wössner, previously responsible for consumer business at Rogers Communications in Canada, will join the management board of Deutsche Telekom on January 1, 2018.
Wössner will replace Niek Jan van Damme as the head of Deutsche Telekom’s German business. “After intensive talks with our CEO Tim Höttges and the chairman of the supervisory board Ulrich Lehner, I have decided to resign from my current position as of the end of the year,” said van Damme. “It’s a bit earlier than I had originally intended, 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.”
Lehner thanked van Damme for his commitment and for the successful work over nine years as a member of Deutsche Telekom’s board of management: “A window of opportunity had opened up for Dirk Wössner otherwise he would have been tied for a longer period.”
Höttges said: “I am looking forward to working with Dirk Wössner and to his return. He knows this company better than nearly anyone else. In the recent years he spent outside the Deutsche Telekom Group, he was able to gather valuable experience, which he will be able to contribute to his work at Deutsche Telekom starting next year. He was responsible for consumer business at Rogers Communications, the Canadian market leader, for example, and successfully steered it back to a course of growth. Rogers has a long tradition as an innovation leader in North America: under Dirk Wössner’s leadership, Rogers was the first company to offer its customers 4K television and comprehensive broadband coverage with 1Gbps.”
“I want to thank Niek Jan van Damme profusely for his nearly 15 years of service. He contributed a great deal to Deutsche Telekom over this time: The list is extensive, but I wish to particularly emphasize the consolidation of fixed-network and mobile business in a single entity, the build-out and upgrade of our networks and the significant improvement in service quality at Deutsche Telekom. The company and I owe him a great deal,” added Höttges.
Wössner said: “I am looking forward to this new challenge and wish to thank everyone for the trust they are placing in me. Niek Jan van Damme has my special gratitude for his willingness to help me shape the transition together.”
Wössner, born in 1969, has been responsible for consumer business at Rogers Communications since April 2015. Prior to that, he had held a variety of management positions at Deutsche Telekom since 2002, most recently director of sales for business and consumer customers in Germany. He began his professional career at consulting firm McKinsey.
