SYDNEY: Telstra Corp’s Vicki Brady will take over as chief executive officer (CEO) of the telecommunications giant, becoming one of Australia’s few female CEOs among the country’s largest companies.

       Currently Telstra’s chief financial officer, Brady, 50, will take the helm on Sept 1, the Melbourne-based company said.

       She will replace Andrew Penn, who is retiring after more than seven years in the role.

       Brady joined Telstra in 2016 and has also been responsible for strategy since July 2019. She joins only Macquarie Group Ltd’s Shemara Wikramanayake as female leaders of a top 10 company in Australia’s benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index.

       Women make up just 9.5% of chairpersons, and 6.5% of CEOs across the index, the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors said this month.

       “I am proud to be the first female CEO of Telstra,” Brady said on a call with reporters.

       “I have two daughters, so I hope it inspires them to stay resilient and chase their dreams. And hopefully that inspires other women and girls to do that as well.”

       Penn departs after a sometimes volatile tenure, during which he sought to modernise and simplify the former phone monopoly to confront a new generation of digital rivals.

       “Penn has led Telstra during a period of significant change and will be known for his courage in setting a bold ambition,” chairman John Mullen said in the statement.

       He will leave a “positive and enduring legacy”. Telstra shares dropped 0.3% to A$3.92 (RM12.39) in Sydney, valuing the company at A$46bil (US$35bil or RM145.4bil).

       The stock has handed investors a total return, including reinvested dividends, of 9.3% during Penn’s tenure, trailing the benchmark index’s 88% total return, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

       Telstra has lost out to smaller rivals after its high-margin, fixed-line access business migrated to a state-run network, and mobile-phone competitors lured customers away with cheaper offerings.

       Brady’s priorities are likely to be the company’s mobile-phone division, which is Australia’s largest, said Daniel Mueller, a fund manager at Vertium Asset Management in Sydney. — Bloomberg