Bharti Airtel nominates ex-banker to Airtel Africa’s board as non-executive director
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Charles Abuede
Airtel Africa plc, a leading provider of telecommunications and mobile money services across Africa, has announced the appointment of Kelly Bayer Rosmarin, who was formerly a group executive of institutional banking and markets at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, as a non-executive director, replacing Arthur Lang, who steps down from the position with effect from 27 October 2020.
Airtel Africa, in a memo, signed by Simon O’Hara, the group company secretary and filed at the exchanges in Lagos and London on Tuesday revealed that Bayer Rosmarin’s appointment is by the nomination of the controlling shareholder pursuant to the terms of relationship agreement dated 17 June 2019 between the company, Bharti Airtel, Airtel Africa Mauritius Limited, the majority shareholder and an indirect subsidiary of Bharti Airtel, and Bharti Telecom.
The telecoms giant said that Bayer Rosmarin will replace Arthur Lang who will step down as a non-executive director effective the same date.
Commenting on the appointment and change of non-executive director, group chairman, Sunil Bharti Mittal said: “On behalf of the board, I would like to thank Arthur, who joined the board in October 2018 and supported the company through its initial public offering (IPO), for his significant contribution to the success of our strategy to build Airtel Africa into a market-leading mobile service provider and wish him well for the future.
“I am delighted that Kelly has agreed to join the Airtel Africa board and we very much look forward to working closely with her,” Bharti further stated.
Prior to joining Airtel, Bayer Rosmarin was the CEO of Singtel Optus and Consumer Australia. She was previously with Commonwealth Bank of Australia, where she held several senior positions and varied portfolios, before being appointed as group executive of institutional banking and markets. Due to her wealth of experience, Bayer Rosmarin is recognised for leveraging technology, data and analytics to develop leading customer services
and experience.
Similarly, the ex-banker was named in the Top 10 Businesswomen in Australia and the Top 25 Women in Asia Pacific Finance and holds a variety of board and advisory responsibilities. Although Bayer Rosmarin has, since February 2019, served as an independent non-executive director on the board of OpenPay, a payments technology company based in Australia, and listed on the ASX, Airtel said she will continue in that role.