Local talent good enough to run Telstra: Trujillo

AAP General News (Australia)
02-10-2009
Local talent good enough to run Telstra: Trujillo

By Angela Harper

BRISBANE, Feb 10 AAP - Telstra boss Sol Trujillo says he hopes his successor can be
found within the telco, but has ducked questions about his imminent departure.

Mr Trujillo, whose pay package was nearly $13.4 million for the 2008 financial year,
said there was a wealth of talent within the Telstra leadership team that had been built
up over his time as CEO.

While not denying the departure rumours, he told the QUT Business Leaders' Forum on
Tuesday he's been planning his departure since the day he arrived in July 2005.

"The day that I took the job is the day I started the conversation with the board about
my succession," he said.

"Because things happen, sometimes you can get hit by a truck or you can fall out of
the air in an airplane.

"Hopefully there's that look at people who you've developed internally, because they
know the business.

"This (Telstra) is a very, very complex business ... boards have to make their choice
based on their view of where you go next."

Telstra has not formally confirmed whether the company will soon seek a new chief executive.

Mr Trujillo's contract is understood to not contain any details on the length of his tenure.

There are understood to about four to six serious candidates to fill Mr Trujillo's
shoes at Telstra.

They include the telco's long-standing finance chief John Stanhope and its group enterprise
and government head David Thodey, as well as Foxtel chief executive Kim Williams.

News Ltd has reported that global executive placement firm Egon Zehnder is to conduct
an international search to find a replacement for US-born Mr Trujillo.

AAP ahe/pjo

KEYWORD: TELSTRA TRUJILLO

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