Kevin Russell Leaving As Three UK CEO

You might have seen recently we have been doing work with networks as well as manufactures to bring a vast amount of content either news or reviews.  One of the networks we have been dealing with a lot recently is Three and they have loaned us many handsets to review for everyone and invited us to events to see new things.

So it came as a massive shock to myself and a lot of the industry today to learn of the news that Kevin Russell the CEO fo Three UK is to leave the company on 1st July.

In an official statement today Three have said:

Kevin Russell is planning a return to Australia with his family after four and a half years in the top job at Three UK.

Dyson joined Three UK as Chief Financial Officer in 2006 from Three Group’s Australian business, now Vodafone Hutchison Australia (VHA), where he was also CFO. Prior to that, he worked in the Group’s Swedish business as Deputy CFO. He became COO of Three UK in 2009. Working closely with Russell for the past nine years, first in Australia and then in the UK, he has played a pivotal role in turning Three UK’s business around. He has supported Russell in Three UK’s transformation into the leading provider of data services for the rapidly growing mobile broadband and smartphone markets.

Russell said: “This is a good succession plan for Three UK. Dave has a great track record working across Hutchison’s 3G businesses. He has been a key member of my team and I have enjoyed working with him immensely.”

Russell became CEO of Three UK in 2007. During his time in the UK , he focused on re-structuring the business and moving it into profit on a sustainable basis, a goal reached during 2010. Three UK is now growing strongly based on the strength of its high speed data network rated number one for smartphones and mobile broadband by UK consumers.

Dyson said: “Kevin has put a tremendous amount of energy into putting our UK business on a sound footing. His clear and decisive leadership has had a significant impact at Three and throughout the mobile communications sector. I know everyone at Three will join me in thanking him for all he has done to put our business firmly and positively on the map. We are in a very strong position and I am looking forward to building on the growth we are now seeing.”

Kevin and his family are moving back to their home in Australia. He is planning to take a six month sabbatical from work in order to spend time with his family as they fold back in to Australian life.

When Kevin came into power at the head of the UK company he had a massive uphill battle on his hands and in just four years has turned the company around to not only make a profit for the first time but to also have been a massive part in building the largest 3G network in the UK covering over 97% thanks to the groundbreaking deal with T-Mobile for mast sharing.

Kevin has also helped shape the UK market with the Terminate The Rate campaign lowering MTR and bringing the awesome One Plan to market blowing every other offer out of the water.

I had the pleasure of meeting Kevin when we took over the company when he visited stores due to working for the company at the time, for a CEO to take out the time to visit EVERY SINGLE STORE to say hi, meet the staff and ask how we are doing shows that he really was a people person and took care of business.

If this gets seen I would like to wish Kevin and his family all the best in the future and thank him for helping change the UK mobile phone market for the better.