Bell Canada Announces Key Appointments to Leadership Team

BY: 

Dave Forde
August 1, 2006

MONTREAL, Québec, Aug. 1 /CNW Telbec/ – Bell Canada today announced two
key appointments to the company’s senior leadership team.
Wade Oosterman is appointed President of Bell Mobility and Bell
Distribution Inc. (BDI), as well as Chief Brand Officer of Bell Canada,
effective immediately.
Stéphane Boisvert, former Senior Vice-President, Global Client Solutions
Sales of Sun Microsystems Inc., is appointed President of Bell Canada’s
Enterprise business, effective August 3, 2006.
“We are delighted that these two accomplished individuals will take on
the leadership of two of the company’s important business units,” said Michael
Sabia, President and Chief Executive Officer of BCE Inc. and CEO of Bell
Canada. “Both Wade and Stéphane are recognized as leaders in their respective
fields with the proven ability to drive profitable growth in their businesses.
Their appointments underscore the intensity of our focus on executing our
strategy to position Bell as the communications company for the 21st century,”
Sabia added.
As President of Bell Mobility and BDI, Oosterman’s recognized expertise
in developing profitable growth strategies will enhance the company’s
leadership in wireless products, networks, and customer service for business
and consumer customers across Canada.
As Chief Brand Officer for Bell Canada, Oosterman will focus his renowned
branding expertise on advancing Bell’s position as Canada’s leading
communications company.

“Wade’s appointment – along with Stéphane’s – is the latest example of
Bell’s ongoing ability to attract top talent,” Sabia said.
“His commitment to revenue growth and cost reduction will be key
ingredients in accelerating Bell Mobility’s progress in the highly competitive
wireless industry,” Sabia added. “His unique strengths in delivering
innovative products, services, disciplined pricing, and effective distribution
structures will make him a major contributor to Bell Canada’s strategy to grow
next-generation services.”
“Wade is widely viewed as the pre-eminent marketing executive in the
Canadian communications industry, and has a recognized ability to infuse a
unified and consistent brand in all elements of the company’s operations,”
said George Cope, President and Chief Operating Officer of Bell Canada.
Boisvert will replace Isabelle Courville, who has decided to step down as
President of the Enterprise Group (see separate release).
As Senior Vice-President, Global Client Solutions Sales, at Sun
Microsystems in Menlo Park, California, Boisvert was responsible for the
company’s global technical sales force and professional services. During this
period he also served as Chairman of Sun Microsystems Canada.
“Stéphane understands complex technology solutions, new concepts and
trends, and how they can have a real impact on customers and their business,”
Sabia said. “His proven ability to coordinate sales consultants and solutions
architects will help Bell work with customers to determine what they really
need in terms of information communications technology services. He will also
play a significant leadership role for Bell in Québec.”
“Stéphane’s experience in creating and delivering new service solutions
while focusing on financial performance – in terms of revenue, profitability,
customer loyalty and market share, and employee satisfaction – will allow our
Enterprise Group to further leverage its value proposition in the
marketplace,” Cope said.ABOUT WADE OOSTERMAN

A 20-year veteran of wireless, Oosterman was instrumental in the national
build outs of two fast-growing wireless carriers, Clearnet and Telus Mobility.
He is recognized for his focus on profitable growth, having developed pricing
and product strategies that translated into industry-leading revenue, earnings
and cash flow growth for the two carriers.
Oosterman honed his expertise in driving both revenues and cost
efficiencies at the executive level with national wireless carrier Clearnet
communications where he served as Executive Vice-President of Sales and
Marketing until 2000. His disciplined approach to product, pricing and
national distribution development was key to the exceptionally strong
subscriber, revenue, and earnings growth at the fledgling carrier, including
what was the most successful launch by a new wireless company in North
American history.
In this role, Oosterman also developed Clearnet’s famed “future friendly”
brand and its popular nature-themed marketing campaigns, which garnered
multiple Canadian and international marketing, advertising, and design awards
for its fresh and friendly approach. The Clearnet brand was later assumed by
Telus Corp. after its $6.6 billion acquisition of Clearnet in 2000.
Oosterman became Executive Vice-President, Sales and Marketing for Telus
Mobility and chief Marketing Officer for Telus and played a key role in
transforming that company’s regional wireless operation into a competitive
national wireless carrier that led the industry in profitable growth.
Oosterman began his career in telecommunications as an executive with
Bell Cellular Distribution Services Inc., which became the largest sales agent
for Bell Mobility’s predecessor company, Bell Cellular.
He obtained a Master of Business Administration degree in 1986 from the
University of Western Ontario and is a Director of the Foundation Fighting
Blindness – Canada.

ABOUT STEPHANE BOISVERT

Over a 20-year business career at IBM and Sun Microsystems, Stéphane
Boisvert has a consistent track record of customer focus and business results.
From his first assignments as a client manager servicing small and medium
businesses in Montréal, through subsequent and more senior roles in Québec
City and Toronto dealing with large enterprise customers, leading to global
team leader assignments for new service offerings, Boisvert has repeatedly and
successfully developed new business solutions to better address customers
needs.
Selected as one of Canada’s “Top 40 under 40” in 2000, Boisvert’s work
experience includes leadership roles in sales and marketing, e-business
solutions, mergers and acquisitions and lead executive responsibility for
integrating acquisitions.
In his most recent assignment, as Senior Vice-President, Global Client
Solutions Sales, he was named to Sun’s Executive Management Group and as such,
was listed as one of the top 25 executives in the global company.

A native of Montréal, Boisvert is a graduate of McGill University.

Boisvert currently serves as a Director of the Board of Wellspring, a
cancer support organization with multiple centers in Ontario, and as a
Director of the Board of the Canadian-American Chamber of Commerce.

About Bell Canada

Bell Canada is Canada’s national leader in communications with 28 million
customer connections across the country. The company provides consumers with
simple solutions to all their communications needs, including telephone
services, wireless communications, high-speed Internet, digital television and
voice over IP. Bell also offers integrated information and communications
technology (ICT) services to businesses and governments, and is the Virtual
Chief Information Officer (VCIO) to small and medium businesses (SMBs). Bell
is proud to be a Premier National Partner and the exclusive Communications
Partner to the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. Bell is
wholly-owned by BCE Inc. For information on Bell’s products and services,
please visit www.bell.ca, and for corporate information on BCE, please visit
www.bce.ca.

For further information: Ronald Alepian, Bell Canada, Media Relations,
(514) 870-5077, [email protected]

[ad][tags] Bell Canada, Bell Mobility, Bell Canada Enterprise, Company Appointments [/tags]

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Dave Forde


Dave “The Connector” Forde has been involved in the marketing, public relations and technology industry across Canada for over 20 years in various sales and marketing roles, he launched The Connected One network of business sites which connects buyers to the right sellers. Profectio and PR In Canada covers news about the marketing and public relations industry each day helping professionals advance their career and businesses. He also serves as an advisor to a number of businesses across the country. Find Dave on LinkedIn and Twitter.


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