The Telstra Group Ltd (ASX: TLS) share price is under the spotlight after announcing a new member of its leadership team.
Telstra may be best known for its mobile segment, but it also has other divisions including the infrastructure segment.
Telstra hires Microsoft ANZ leader
The ASX telco share announced that the CEO of Telstra InfraCo, Brendon Riley, is going to retire on 30 September 2025. He’s going to be replaced by Steven Worrall, who is currently the Microsoft Managing Director of Australia and New Zealand. He will start on 1 September 2025.
Worrall currently leads a team of more than 3,000 people who support 10,000 partners and software vendors building or selling on Microsoft’s platform in Australia and New Zealand. He has been at Microsoft for 11 years.
Before that, he worked at IBM for 22 years, which included senior roles leading its software services group in Asia Pacific and international growth markets as well as heading its global WebSphere software business.
Worrall holds an honours degree in electrical engineering and a masters in business administration. He is also a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Management comments
The Telstra CEO Vicki Brady said Worrall was a highly regarded leader known for strong delivery in global tech, AI, and business and consumer segments and his collaborative approach to working with public and private sector partners, stakeholders and internal teams.
Brady commented on both the departure of Brendon Riley and the arrival of Steven Worrall:
We will miss his passion for the company, commitment to the development of its talent, his advocacy for customers and regional Australia, and the important role he has played as a senior leader. We all wish Brendon the very best as he moves to the next stage of his career as a non-executive director and advisor.
Under Brendon, Telstra InfraCo was launched and is now a strong digital infrastructure business. I’m looking forward to Steven building on this to further develop Telstra InfraCo’s leadership and credentials.
Steven’s approach to partnerships, such as Microsoft’s $5B Australian investment in cloud computing and AI infrastructure, coupled with his experience leading and growing technology and software businesses are great fits for our ambitions for Telstra InfraCo.
Final thoughts on the Telstra share price
The mobile segment is the most important one, in my opinion. But, the infrastructure segment is important too and I’d say it’s a bit of a coup to capture the local Microsoft leader.
Telstra shares have risen 14% this year, so I wouldn’t call it as good value as it was a few months ago. But, it’s impressive how its earnings and dividend are rising. I’d rather buy Telstra shares than the major ASX bank shares or miners right now.
