Global connectivity and digital services provider, VEON announced the appointment of Kaan Terzioğlu and Sergi Herrero as joint Chief Operating Officers of the VEON Group. Sergi joined VEON on September 1st 2019 from Facebook and Kaan will join on November 1st 2019.
Commenting on the appointments earlier this week, Ursula Burns, VEON’s Chairman and CEO, says, “The pairing of Kaan and Sergi creates a formidable combination for VEON with each bringing complementary skills and experience. Together they will work to accelerate the delivery of our strategy and reflect the continued strengthening of our senior leadership team.”
Kaan joins as a member of VEON’s Group Executive Committee and reports to the Chairman and CEO, Ursula Burns, and will focus on executing the transformation of the core connectivity business. Sergi will continue as Chief Operating Officer, focused on developing new revenue streams and is a member of the Group Executive Committee. As Co-COOs, Kaan and Sergi will jointly drive the growth agenda of accelerating VEON’s core connectivity business while developing new high growth adjacent digital revenues and venture businesses.
Kaan Terzioğlu served as Turkcell’s CEO from April 2015 until March 2019. While there, he led the company’s successful transformation. Before joining Turkcell, Kaan held global managerial roles at Cisco and Arthur Andersen, working across Europe and the United States. He previously served on the GSMA Board, GSMA Foundation Board and the Advisory Board of the World Economic Forum’s Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
Before joining VEON in September this year, Sergi Herrero was Facebook’s Global Director of Payments and Commerce Partnerships, where he oversaw the launch and growth of payment and commerce capabilities for Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram. He has also led the deployment of Charitable Giving, the scaling and optimisation of the Facebook Ads payments business and drove the expansion of the platform’s global marketplace. Before joining Facebook in 2014, he held several senior roles in technology, banking and consulting.
Kaan and Sergi will succeed Kjell Johnsen, the current Group COO, on Friday, 1 November.
Edited by Jenna Cook
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