Cogeco combining Canadian and U.S. telecommunications operations
Cogeco announced Wednesday a new organizational structure combining the commercial, operational and technical functions of its Canadian telecommunications business Cogeco Connexion and its U.S. telecom business Breezeline into a single North American organization.
Cogeco said in a press release the streamlined structure “will enable the creation of strong cross-border centers of expertise in key strategic areas such as digital, advanced analytics, and technology.” In addition, it “will also accelerate the deployment of top talent and best practices across the organization and will facilitate the harmonization of systems and platforms,” Cogeco said.
“We identified a significant opportunity to increase our speed, drive new innovation and operate more efficiently,” Frédéric Perron, president and CEO of Cogeco, said in the press release. “Against the backdrop of a rapidly changing industry, this nimbler structure will increase our agility and bring our top leaders close to our customers and front-line teams.”
Changes to the leadership team reporting to Perron will become effective Sept. 1, including Sean Brushett becoming chief operating officer, responsible for the performance of Cogeco’s call centres, field operations, facilities and supply chain across Canada and the United States. Brushett previously held a similar role at Breezeline, where he was most recently vice-president of customer and technical operations. Prior to joining Breezeline in 2020, he held various executive positions at Comcast, Time Warner and US West Communications.
Nancy Audette, currently senior vice president and general manager, consumer, at Cogeco Connexion, is to become senior vice president of growth initiatives, responsible for growing Cogeco’s digital brands and wireless services across Canada and the U.S. Prior to joining Cogeco Connexion in 2021, Audette had served as vice-president and general manager of Rogers’s Fido wireless business for five years.
Marie Ginette Lepage is becoming senior vice president of transformation, responsible for orchestrating key revenue and cost initiatives across Cogeco. Lepage was previously senior vice president of mobile strategy and innovation at Cogeco. Before joining Cogeco in 2019, she had worked at Stingray, Videotron and Bell.
As part of the organizational changes, Paul Cowling is joining Cogeco on July 2 as chief legal and corporate affairs officer. Cowling “brings deep functional and industry experience to the role as well as an extensive understanding of the telecommunications sector, having spent 12 years in similar functions at Shaw, and most recently at Xplore,” Cogeco’s press release said.
Cogeco is currently conducting a search for the position of chief commercial officer, responsible for functions such as sales, marketing, product and digital across Canada and the U.S.
Members of Cogeco’s senior leadership team who will continue to lead their respective areas include chief financial officer Patrice Ouimet, chief technology and information officer Tim Dinesen, chief human resources officer Linda Gillespie, and Cogeco Media president Caroline Paquet.
As part of these changes, Breezeline president Frank van der Post and Cogeco chief legal and corporate affairs officer Valéry Zamuner have decided to leave Cogeco to pursue new opportunities, the press release said.
“Congratulations to our new executive team members. Their proven track records will be invaluable for this next phase of our strategy,” Perron said. “I would also like to thank our departing executives, Valéry Zamuner and Frank van der Post, for their contributions. Mr. van der Post has been instrumental in leading our U.S. operations for the past five years.”
Cogeco said this new operating model will not impact the reporting segments disclosed for financial reporting nor the legal structure of Cogeco and its subsidiaries.
Photos of (l-r) Sean Brushett, Nancy Audette, Marie Ginette Lepage and Paul Cowling borrowed from Breezeline’s and Cogeco’s websites and LinkedIn
