Mikhail Gerchuk appointed chief commercial & strategy officer at Vimpelcom
MOSCOW. July 4. (Interfax) - Vimpelcom Ltd. has appointed Mikhail Gerchuk, previously Group Chief Commercial Officer, as its Group Chief Commercial and Strategy Officer with immediate effect, the company said in a press release.
"Mikhail will continue to report to Jan Edvard Thygesen, Group Deputy CEO and Chief Operating Officer for VimpelCom Group," it said.
"I am very pleased to announce this key appointment, which reflects our planning for the next stage of the Group's growth. Mikhail will be responsible for the development and direction of Group Strategy, a process which we have already commenced under his leadership," CEO of Vimpelcom Jo Lunder is quoted as saying in the press release.
After coming to Vimpelcom last October, Gerchuk told Interfax that he will be responsible not just for commerce and marketing on all markets of the company's presence (it operates in 19 countries), but will also participate in developing the company's strategy and monitoring its implementation.
Prior to Vimpelcom, Gerchuk worked at Russian top-3 cellular provider OJSC Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) since August 2007, at which he at various times held the positions of marketing director, vice president for commerce and vice president for marketing. In 2006-2007 he was commercial director at Vodafone Malta, and in 2002-2006 he was manager for marketing at Vodafone's British subdivision. Prior to that, he was a marketing specialist at PepsiCo and brand manager at Mars.
Vimpelcom Ltd. is the world's sixth largest mobile operator in terms of the number of its subscribers. It has operations in Russia, Italy, Algeria, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Armenia, Georgia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Canada, Burundi, Zimbabwe, the Central African Republic and Namibia.