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Lacavera named CEO of Wind Mobile

Itโ€™s been a tumultuous last couple of years at Wind Mobile with major executive staffing changes and disputes over its status as a Canadian-owned company. And now, the company will be led by a new CEO asย Anthony Lacavera, the current CEO of Wind Mobileโ€™s parent, Toronto-based Globalive Communications Corporation, takes over control as the new wireless playerโ€™s chief executive.

Lacavera said of Campbellโ€™s departure and the executive shuffle, itโ€™s a โ€œpositive step for the company.โ€ He added that he has โ€œnothing negative to say about Ken,โ€ in fact โ€œnothing against Ken whatsoever,โ€ and that he โ€œdid a fantastic job of getting the business out of the gate.โ€

He said that Campbellโ€™s leaving had more to do with Wind and Globaliveโ€™s future than it had to do with his job performance.

โ€œHe didnโ€™t have direct experience beyond the wireless sector,โ€ Lacavera says. โ€œWe needed a totally different experience [and] knowledge set than he had.โ€ Itโ€™s been a long time coming as, โ€œwhen we created our first wireless business plan, we were already talking bundles.โ€

Carmi Levy, independent technology analyst, doesnโ€™t agree as โ€œitโ€™s odd that someoneโ€™s departure was โ€˜always plannedโ€™.โ€ โ€œNo one ever accepts a role with a predefined best before date.โ€

The move to bundling, Lacavera said, is a question of โ€œleveraging the wireline assets [Globalive] have.โ€

When asked, Lacavera said heโ€™s unconcerned about rumours of Wind International pushing for more control by placing Corti in Wind Canadaโ€™s executive. In fact, he maintains it was his decision. As Globalive readies to move forward on bundling services, โ€œI came to the decision we were going to reorganize in this way.โ€

Levy agrees, in fact, he said โ€œif you didnโ€™t know any better, youโ€™d have thought Mr. Lacavera was CEO all along based on his ability to balance strategic planning with day-to-day implementation.โ€

As to who is responsible for what, now that Wind has a new CEO and COO, Lacavera said โ€œweโ€™re still organizing, [so] itโ€™s too early to say,โ€ but he is ready for โ€œassuming more operating functions of the wireless operation.โ€ Where daily operations are concerned, โ€œI want my hands in it.โ€

Levy thinks, โ€œthe leadership shuffle should help WIND return its focus to its core business. If this is the only change needed to solidify the executive suite, then we can expect a relatively uninterrupted period of leadership harmony.โ€ That said, he adds a caveat that, โ€œif we see additional major leadership changes over the next few months, it could be a sign that all is not well.โ€

Looking to the future, Lacavera said both the bundles and getting more subscribers are top of mind, as โ€œwe have 300,000 but Iโ€™d love to have 500,000, obviously.โ€

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